The Munchshofe Saturnalia.
M. Bizouard gives some further details from Gorres of the strange events at Munchshofe, situated a league from Voitsberg, and three leagues from Gratz. They occurred in the house of a Herr Obergemeiner, and were observed and recorded by Dr. J.H. Aschauer, his father-in-law, a very learned physician and professor of mathematics at Gratz.
They commenced in October, 1818, by the flinging of stones against the windows on the ground floor in the afternoon and evening. The noise generally ceased when they went to bed. As nobody could discover the cause, towards the end of the month, Obergemeiner without saying anything to his family, engaged about thirty-six of the peasants of the environs, and placed them in cordon all round the house well armed, and with orders to allow no one to go in or out of the house. He then took into the house with him Koppbauer and some others, assembled all his people to see that none were missing, and thoroughly examined every apartment from the attics to the cellar. It was about half-past four in the afternoon.
The peasants formed their circle, and saw that no one was concealed within it, nor was able to pop in or out; notwithstanding, the throwing of stones commenced against the windows of the kitchen. Koppbauer, placed at one of them, endeavoured to ascertain their direction. Whilst Obergemeiner was in the kitchen with the others, a great stone was launched against the window where he stood, and broke many of the panes. It was previously thought that the stones were thrown from the interior, and it was in effect from that direction that they now continued to come till half past six in the evening, when the whole ceased. Every place in the house where a man could possibly conceal himself was visited, and the guard without continued its position.
At eight o’clock in the morning the stone-throwing re-commenced before more than sixty persons, and they were convinced that, issuing from beneath the benches of the kitchen, they struck the windows in a manner inexplicable. Pieces of limestone weighing from a quarter of a pound to five pounds were seen flying in all directions against the windows; and immediately afterwards all the utensils, spoons, pots, plates, full and empty, were launched from the midst of the spectators against the windows and the doors with a velocity inconceivable.
Some broke the glass, some remained sticking in the broken panes, and others only appearing to touch the glass, fell into the interior. The spectators when struck by the stones, felt only a slight blow. Whilst utensils were being carried from the kitchen, they were forced from the hands of those who bore them, or they were knocked over on the table on which they were placed. The crucifix alone was respected, the lights before it were forcibly flung down. At the end of two hours all the glass in the kitchen, and all the fragile objects were broken, even those which they had carried away. A plate full of salad carried up to the first floor, in the act of being carried down again by a servant, was snatched from her hands and flung into the vestibule. The disorder ceased at eleven o’clock. We omit many particulars which took place at this time.
M. Aschauer having heard this strange news from his son-in-law, desired to know when anything further took place, and being sent for, as he entered he saw his daughter with the man named Koppbauer picking up the fragments of a pot which had been thrown on the floor just as he entered. Then, all at once, a great ladle was launched from the shelf on which it lay, and with incredible velocity, against the head of Koppbauer, who, instead of a severe contusion, only perceived a very light touch.
M. Aschauer saw nothing further till the next day, when, issuing from the kitchen on account of the smoke, some stones were thrown against the windows. This physician examined the lightning conductor and everything else with an electrometer, but neither he nor Obergemeiner, who had offered a reward of a thousand francs to any one who could discover the cause, could detect anything.
On the second day, about four o’clock in the afternoon, Aschauer, troubled at these strange occurrences, was standing at the end of the kitchen, having opposite to him a shelf on which stood a large metal soup tureen, when he saw the tureen suddenly dart towards him in a nearly horizontal position, and with surprising velocity, and pass so near his head that the wind of it raised his hair, and the tureen then fell to the earth with a great noise.
Curiosity caused people to hasten from all parts, who were struck dumb with astonishment at these phenomena, and others of a similar nature. Towards five o’clock came a stranger who pretended that a man must be concealed in the chimney. This ridiculous explanation excited the anger of M. Aschauer, and he led him towards the door, whence nothing could be seen from the chimney, and pointing to a copper dish upon a shelf, he said, “What would you say, monsieur, if that dish should, without any one touching it, be thrown to the other side of the kitchen?” Scarcely were the words uttered, when the dish, as if it had heard them, flew across. The stranger stood confounded.
We omit many particulars because they are of the same kind. A pail of water, weighing fifteen pounds, which had been set on the floor, fell from the ceiling without any one being able to conceive how it got there, for there was nothing to hang it upon. As they were seated round the fire, a pot, which none of them could touch, was suddenly turned over and emptied itself little by little, contrary to the law of such a fall. Then came egg-shells flying from every corner, nobody being there to throw them, and no one being able to imagine whence they came. After the departure of M. Aschauer, the wheels of a mill, about six minutes walk from the house, stood still from time to time, the miller was thrown out of his bed, the bed turned over, the lights were extinguished and various objects thrown to the ground.
After this nothing more is said to have happened; at all events, M. Obergemeiner, who did not love to speak of these things, made no report of any. They made a great sensation, however, amongst the Government officials, and the district of Ober-Greiffenneck sent its report to the circle of Gratz. “Although it is said that we exist no longer in the times of ignorance when phenomena which could not be comprehended were attributed to demons, &c., it is remarkable that at an epoch in which civilisztion and the progress of the natural sciences have put them to flight, we yet see extraordinary things which the savans cannot explain.” The report accords with the recital of M. Aschauer, and a mention is made in it of an inquiry by order of the magistrates, conducted by M. Gayer, with his electric apparatus; and the report concludes by recommending a further inquiry, “as a natural solution can alone combat the hypocrisy of some, and the superstition of others.”
We do not ask the reader to imagine the conclusion to which the Government came on this matter, for he never could divine it. It was “that a man concealed in the tunnel of the chimney was probably the cause!” These professors of natural science were, however, charged to proceed to a further inquiry, but they considered it beneath their dignity and refused. Afterwards an agent of the police visited the house, and Gorres says that amongst the various cauases that he imagined, the most amusing was that M. Aschauer had only astonished the people by a series of scientific tricks. Gorres, however, stating that his account is literally found in a letter of M. Aschauer to a friend, dated January 21, 1821, and in details communicated to himself at a later period, assures us that M. Aschauer was not only a man of the profoundest science but of the profoundest regard to truth, and one who feared no ridicule in stating it, however strange it might be. On this occasion he asserted that no master of legerdemain was capable of producing the things which he saw. Neither was the force employed a mere scientific or physical force, it was a force free and reasoning, and these effects were the sport of a spirit or spirits, immaterial or invisible. Gorres, tom. III, p.314-324.
‘Throwing of Stones and other Substances by Spirits.‘ Part 2. By William Howitt. In ‘The Spiritual Magazine’ Vol. 6, No. 2, February 1865.