Demoniacal Outrages in the Church and Parsonage of Prunoy sous Ablis.
The Revue Spiritualiste, vol. ii., p. 350, gives the following remarkable case at Prunoy sous Ablis, in France, as signed by Langlois, Cure of Prunoy, Hacquard, Cure of Ablis, and various parishioners, and sent to the bishop..
Cure Langlois says: – “On the 1st of October, 1835, at eight o’clock in the evening, a quantity of stones of an average size were thrown against the window of my study, in the parsonage of Prunoy; having caused the window to be covered with a linen cloth as quickly as possible, the stones were then directed against the glass door of the study. This attack was repeated several times in the same room, and always from within, the stones striking against the panes and against the glass door without breaking them or without hitting anyone, although the room was frequently full of people whom I had called to witness the fact.
The next day a box full of filth was found in a kneading-trough where the bread was usually kept, and again stones were flung against the window of the study.
On the 3rd of October, the doors being closed at three o’clock in the afternoon, many handfuls of ashes, a lettuce, a spoon, charcoal, and rotten fruit came flying into the study, and struck against the windows. A child who was come to receive its lessons from me was covered by the dust of these things. Let it be observed that these scenes took place day and night in the interior of the study and of the kitchen, sometimes in other apartments of the house, the doors and windows being carefully closed.
The same day, alarmed at these disgusting spectacles, I prayed M. the Cure of Ablis to come, that he might witness them. At six o’clock whilst stones were being thrown against the windows of the study, M. the Cure of Ablis said in joke that pieces of money would be prefereable to stones. “At least,” he said, “if these spirits would but throw us silver;” and at the same instant some farthings were thrown with force against the window.
Desiring to put an end to these things, we went at midnight to the sacristy for the necessary vestments to bless the house in, and at that moment stones were thrown against the window of the sacristy, also from within. We continued a long time in the church, and had great satisfaction in observing that the holy places were, at least, respected. Returning to the house, while M. the Cure Ablis prepared the holy water in the study for blessing the [apartments?], a piece of money was again launched with extraordinary force against the window.
On the 4th of October, the hour of mass having arrived, I found in the kneading-trough my chamber tongs, on the tongs a piece of butter taken from a vessel near, and a knife stuck in the butter.
The next day, at the moment of going to church to celebrate mass to obtain from heaven the cessation of this plague, a vase full of sand was found in the water bucket. Arriving at the church and about to enter the sacristy, pieces of plaster struck the wall inside and fell at my feet. The mass being finished, the same thing was repeated. On my return home, three pebbles were thrown into the window of the study. After dinner, [?] of grapes, pebbles, pieces of charcoal struck against the window of the kitchen. At six o’clock of the same day, a little [?] having a biscuit lying by it, saw it carried to the window and then fall again near its hand. At nine o’clock in the evening M. the Cure of Ablis and many other persons with him saw the fall of many pieces of plaster, which appeared to spring from the corners of the walls.
On the 6th, in the night, the curtain of the bed occupied by a relative was pierced by eight holes in a direct line, and the pieces taken out of the holes were found on the floor of my room.
At nine o’clock of the next evening, the servant entering my chamber found everything in such disorder that she fainted and continued insensible for about ten minutes; and at [?] o’clock of the same night my relative, sleeping in a bed in my room, cried out aloud that his legs were tied. I started trembling in the midst of a great noise, which seemed to come from a corner of the chamber. Terror prevented me for some time obtaining a light, but when I got one I found that really the young man had his legs tied above the knees by a cord nine feet four inches long, and which passed five times round the legs; his night-cap was found far from his bed.
From the 7th of October to the 14th these scenes appeared to have terminated – we were quiet. On the 14th the cook found charcoal, chips, and various kinds of filth endeavouring to drop into the food. The following two days were quiet.
On the 17th, at three o’clock in the morning, the throwing of stones recommenced, sometimes against the window, sometimes against the glass door; the same thing again at seven in the evening, and at the moment that the domestic and my relative quitted the study to seek for me that I might witness these fresh facts, they found, to their astonishment, a fire lit in the fire-place where there had not been one for a long time, and as they ascended the stair-case with a light in the young man’s hand, he found his cap lifted from his head; he instantly raised his hand, but it was gone. Quitting the chamber in turn, we descended, and making a search we found the cap thrust into the chimney.
On the 18th the domestic and my relative quitting the study, heard, as they were about to close the door, a noise within; they re-entered, and found a ball of paper containing three other balls, the last containing enough gunpowder for two charges. This ball was tied in three different places, a hole was pierced to the powder, and close to it was a fuse.
Abundance of such facts took place till the 23rd, since which time we have been at peace, except in the following instances. These terrible scenes have now lasted so long that they have lost some of their first intensity, yet they still often present surprising natures. In the sandy walks of the garden we see the prints of the feet of griffins of an astonishing size, especially before the window of the study and the dining room, where they have seemed to us to try to open the door as we have sate at supper. Since then, during the night, strokes at different times have resounded in the corridors, which have been heard by the aunt of M. the Abbe Granger, as well as by us. As for me, I see in these things the work of witchcraft, and I must tell you that it is the fifth time within thirty years that such occurrences have taken place in the parish of Prunoy.
From the 25th day of October to the 18th of November, there was an entire cessation of the mischief, and we hoped that it was all over, but on the 19th, the throwing of stones began again, and one of the parishioners being present was so terrified, that he hastened out trembling, and his wife would have divined the cause of his agitation had he not used much discretion.
On the 20th the aunt of M. the Abbe Granger found her chamber all in confusion on returning from church. The next morning, the doors and windows being closed, she saw all at once the carpet of the next room lying in hers. The same day there was a dreadful noise in one of the rooms as of all the furniture jostling and striking against each other, and on entering, mortar fell from the ceiling of the apartment, which so much terrified the child which comes to be taught, that we had great difficulty in appeasing it, having before attributed all the noises to rats.
On the 22nd on returning from mass, I found on a chair in the dining room, a cooking vessel, on which was placed a dictionary in form of a pulpit with a candle by the side of the cooking vessel.”
…
The worthy Cure adds that as some of the family were going into the cellar, knives and stones were flung after them. Hearing the outcry, he and a parishioner, the father of the child mentioned, went down the cellar steps, and a kitchen instrument and several great stones were forcibly thrown after them. On going to his room after supper, he saw several pieces of wood which he had laid by the stove were gone, and on going to bed he found the pieces of wood laid in the bed in the form of a cross. He locked his door and sought every nook of the chamber to discover if any one was there, and struck about with a stick, and that he confesses, on the hypothesis that it is possible for a man to render himself invisible. Nothing could be perceived, yet, spite of all these precautions, on rising in the morning, he found a part of his dress in a large jug of water.
He concludes by the observation that he has never doubted that he was the victim of witchcraft. Yet, on thinking over all his parishioners, he could not call to mind one to whom he had given any cause for such cruel treatment. If the cure had extended his thoughts to the spirits of the lower regions of the invisible world, he could not have found much difficulty in accounting for the malignant visitation. Besides several respectable parishioners, M. Langlois gives M. Hacquard, formerly Cure of Ablis, but then Vicar of Notre-Dame, Versailles, and M. the Cure of Houilles, as witnesses of these strange phenomena.
‘Throwing of Stones and other Substances by Spirits.‘ Part 2. By William Howitt. In ‘The Spiritual Magazine’ Vol. 6, No. 2, February 1865. (This seems much better than the version below, which does not explain that the stones thrown at the windows came from within the room!)
Spiritualism in France.
The two extraordinary narratives we are now about to present to our readers are furnished by A.J. Riko, Esq., of the Hague, and although their substance is to be found in several printed records, Mr Riko’s plain unvarnished descriptions correspond so closely with the accounts given orally to the Author by an eye-witness, that we prefer to transcribe – as far as possible – our kind correspondent’s own words. The first case is headed: –
“The Phenomena at the Abbey of Prunois-sous-Ablis – Arrondisement of Rambouillet, France.
“One of the most interesting records extant on the subject of Spirit power is an account of the disturbances which took place at the above-named Roman Catholic Abbey in the year 1835. On October 1st at eight o’clock in the evening, a great many stones were thrown at the window of the Presbytery. Several witnesses were present, and numbers of others were called by the priest to watch the proceedings. The stones were thrown by no visible agency, and struck the window panes in showers, without breaking any.
“October 2nd. A box filled with dirt and refuse, was found in the place usually kept for the bread, which was thrown on the ground close by. Stones were thrown all that day at intervals, but though the windows were struck in showers, no glass was broken.
“October 3rd. At three in the afternoon, all the doors of the Abbey being shut, a quantity of ashes – salad plants, spoons, coals, and rotten fruit – fell about the floor and furniture of the Presbytery, also in several of the other rooms, every door and window being shut. The showers continued falling till ten o’clock, when one of the witnesses, the Cure of Alix, said jokingly, that money would have been more welcome than stones. As he spoke, every one in the room was pelted with ‘liards’.[small coins]
“October 4th. The fire irons – brought without noise from the Priest’s private room – were found in a locked chest. Pieces of butter and knives used in the larder, were found in another locked chest. As the Abbe was passing out to go to service, a pot full of sand was tossed into a pail of water before his eyes. No disturbance took place in the church, but when he returned, chalk from the walls and ceiling, coals, ashes, fruit, bread, and all sorts of objects were thrown hither and thither through the house, and the stones were flung from outside against the windows all day.
“October 6th. The bedclothes in the Priest’s room, and those of several of the inmates, were pierced with round holes, and the pieces taken out were found in distant closed rooms.
“October 7th. At nine o’clock the servant maid retired to her room, but found everything displaced, and the furniture in such disorder that she swooned from fear. That night one of the Priest’s relatives whom he requested to pass the night in the same room with him, called out in great terror, that his legs were being tied together. When the Priest succeeded in getting a light, he found the young man thrown into a corner, with his legs tightly bound together above the knees with a cord nine feet in length.
“October 14th. The cook found pieces of coal, sweepings, dust and filth in every article she was using to prepare the meals, in fact she could not put a dish or saucer out of her hand, but what it was instantly but noiselessly filled with rubbish. The same was found in all the pots and kettles. Watchers stationed in all directions failed to find any visible agent.
“October 17th. Stones were thrown in larger numbers and more incessantly than ever. Fires were lighted on hearths in empty rooms. The young man before mentioned – the priest’s relation – had his cap taken from his head and it was afterwards found in a chimney in a distant part of the house.
“October 18th. A violent noise being heard in the Presbytery, the party who rushed to the spot found a ball of paper containing a large quantity of gunpowder. The ball was tied with a string, and a hole was cut in the wrapping; close by was a match. Soon after this the disturbances increased, and the garden walks were found indented with marks of huge claws, not belonging to any known animal. Heavy blows and sounds of tramping feet were now heard during the night in the corridors. As a large number of watchers were stationed day and night within and without the Abbey, it soon transpired that similar disturbances had occurred several times within the last thirty years, though never with such violence as now.
October 22nd. The cook was pelted with stones, coal, &c., wherever she went – nothing struck her, though objects fell in showers around her. The Priest, on going to bed, found the wood which had been laid in the grate ready for lighting, taken out and all arranged on his bed in the form of a cross. In the morning, his clothes were found stuffed tightly in a large pitcher full of water – and this, though the door was locked inside, and the window made fast.”
Mr Riko follows up this narrative with a long list of witnesses’ names, many of whom were persons of high respectability, holding official situations. It may be added, that in the course of three months, the disturbances died out, though no cuase could ever be discovered for their occurrence.
Nineteenth century miracles, or, Spirits and their work in every country of the earth. Emma Britten (1884).