France.
M. Raymond Duplantier, a barrister of Poitiers, has made a study of a haunted house at Yzeures, in Touraine. Properly speaking, it is not the house which is haunted, but the family which inhabits it. Some 20 years ago M. and Madame Sabourault began to notice remarkable phenomena around them. These have continued ever since. Wherever the couple went the strange occurrences followed them, and were especially violent when a death happened in the family. At present the chief victim of the persecution is a little girl of 12.
The phenomena are of various kinds, and are similar to those observed by Crookes, Lombroso, and De Rochas. It is only occasionally that objects are displaced, a much more frequent occurrence being the apparition of phantoms. Noises of all descriptions are heard, scratchings, knockings, the overturning of furniture, and footsteps of men or animals. Persons have even carried on conversations by rappings with the author of the disturbances.
M. Duplantier, in the course of his investigation, heard noises which seemed to come from away above the roof of the house, and soon afterwards the tread of a person wearing wooden shoes on the floor of a room. Violent knocks were heard on a thin partition between two rooms, both of which were occupied at the time, the partition being shaken by the force of the blows.
On another occasion the sound made it appear as if a gigantic being were descending the staircase from the loft, each step being distinctly heard, and the staircase, which was new and very solid, creaking and groaning as if under a very heavy weight. The impression conveyed was exactly that of some enormous creature walking slowly down.
M. Duplantier says there was no possibility during his investigation of any fraud or deceit. Anybody can go to Yzeures and have the same experience as himself, while the names of many honourable witnesses are at the disposal of scientists or scientific societies who may desire to inquire further into the phenomena.
Almost at the same time that M. Duplantier’s report is published comes the announcement that Mgr. Hugonin, Bishop of Bayeux, has forwarded to Rome his report on the apparitions of Tilly-sur-Seulles…
Morning Post, 26th February 1897.
A French Ghost.
They have developed a ghost in France which does not direct its attentions to haunting a house, but a family. A sceptical barrister, having heard of the manifestations, determined to investigate for himself, and took several other sceptical friends with him. Nothing was seen on the four occasions when this gentleman paid his visits, but loud noises were heard at all hours of the night, and in the full light of the lamp, which was kept lighted, and the barrister maintains that it is impossible to explain the manifestations by natural causes or fraud.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 9th March 1897.
A Case for “Psychical Research.”
Another “Haunted House” Story.
The Paris correspondent of the Standard comes forward to-day with a ghost story. Twenty years ago M. And Madame Sabourault, then a newly-married couple, who took up their residence at Poitiers, first witnessed the extraordinary phenomena which still occur at their house. At Bourneau and Loudon, where they lived successively before coming to Yzeures, they were the victims of the same persecutions, the phenomena sometimes ceasing for awhile, only to recommence with renewed intensity.
In this case a girl of about twelve years of age, Mdlle. Renee Sabourault, seems to be the involuntary medium. In any case, it is she who is at the present time particularly persecuted. For instance, when by chance she goes on a visit to friends or relations, the phenomena follow her to the place where she may temporarily reside.
The displacement of objects has seldom occurred, but fantastically-shaped phantoms have been seen more frequently, especially in recent years, by Mdlle. Renee, and noises of all sorts have been, and are still, constantly heard.
At Yzeures a large number of the inhabitants have heard the sounds. M. Reymond Duplautier, a barrister at Poitiers, having learned that one of his friends, M. Urbain, and several other persons living at Yzeures had heard the unaccountable sounds, resolved to go with a few strong-nerved friends to expose the fraud. They went to Yzeures four times. Generally lights were kept burning the whole night, but when that was not done, the lamp was lighted on the first sound being heard. The phenomena, therefore, took place in full light.
In a long, detailed account of his four visits to Yzeures, M. R. Duplautier declares that on the first occasion he and his friends heard six loud knocks on the stairs. The second night they spent under M. Sabourault’s roof was a little more interesting. After half-past one o’clock in the morning a great deal of knocking occurred on the stairs, on the walls, and all around, some of the blows seeming to be struck in the air several metres above the roof of the house. Then came scratching at a partition wall, followed by the noise of the walking of a man in a garret above, and the pattering of a four-footed animal. Immediately those unaccountable sounds were heard, M. Duplautier and his friends examined anew the rooms from which they seemed to issue, but could discover nothing which could have produced them. As soon as the door was opened the noise ceased, but began again immediately it was closed after the inspection of the room.
On the third night the manifestations were very similar to those observed on the second. But on M. Duplautier’s fourth visit they were for the Poitiers barrister and his friends yet more extraordinary. Some invisible hand, which from the sound might be nothing but bone, commenced knocking at a partition wall as early as ten o’clock in the evening. The questions put by M. Duplautier were invariably answered by three clear knocks and energetic scratching at the wall. After that, five hours elapsed without anything extraordinary occurring; but at three o’clock in the morning the wooden stairs were heard to crack and groan under the weight of a colossal, though invisible, being. M. Duplautier regards the phenomena as impossible to be explained by natural causes or fraud.
Westminster Gazette, 8th March 1897.
[largely as above, to ‘the weight of a colossal, though invisible, being:] Describing what occurred, M. Duplautier says:- “We heard on each step of the stairs the noise of immense feet shuffle heavily down one after the other till the last step was reached. During all the time the stairs, though they are new and strong, groaned and cracked. Then it was the turn of the partition wall separating the passage from the rooms leading out of it, which was shaken by sudden and energetic blows. With a light we looked about everywhere. We searched the garret, the staircase, and the passage, which were absolutely empty. During the rest of the night distant knocking was heard. The blows seemed to be struck above the house.”
M. Duplautier concludes his communication with the remark that, though what he and his friends observed at Yzeures is insignificant compared with what the Sabourault family witness constantly, it is sufficient to merit attention, as he regards it as impossible to be explained by natural causes or fraud.
Waterford Standard, 10th March 1897.
Fact, or reputed fact, has again stolen a march upon fiction. While the “weird” romancer is everywhere seeking new locations for the ghostly, and novel surroundings for the gruesome, actuality has “chipped in” – if the expression may be allowed – and produced the “haunted family.” It is an invention so startling in itself, and so far-reaching in its possibilities, that it might almost take a novelist’s breath away to contemplate it. Ghosts hitherto have been always supposed to resemble cats, in attaching themselves “to places and not to people.” They “savoured of the realty” in the old legal phrase: they “ran with the land,” and no one ever imagined before this that they were capable of becoming a subject of personal, still less of portable, property.
The unfortunate SABOURAITS, when moving – whose continually moving – tale was unfolded yesterday by our Paris Correspondent, probably shared the popular impression on the subject. For a long time, no doubt, they simply regarded themselves as singularly unlucky in their choice of abode. When, after one of their numerous removes to a new dwelling-place, the silence of the night was broken by an appalling noise, as that of a huge drum beaten by a mighty hand; Sabourait pere would, perhaps, turn uneasily on his couch, and with the muttered ejaculation “Name of a cabbage!” or more appropriately, perhaps, “A thousand thunders! Another haunted house!” would compose himself to slumber with the resolve to make arrangements on the following morning for the speediest possible determination of his tenancy.
When, however, after half a dozen house-movings – the equivalent of two fires – the Sabouraits found themselves still pursued by these mysterious noises, and it began to dawn upon the unhappy family that it was they themselves, and not their successive residences, that were haunted, a psychological situation as novel as it must needs be painful was at once created. The subtlest of analytical novelists could desire no worthier opportunity for the exercise of his powers than in describing a “conseil de famille” at the Sabourait interior, endeavouring to devise measures for their relief from this persecution, while the spectral drum boomed overhead, and the stairs creaked as though beneath the weight of a “gigantic but invisible being” slowly descending from the upper storey.
This, however, is not all nor the worst of their misfortune. For there is anothe rlegal incident of a still more inconvenient character attaching to the Sabourait “possession.” It is an “incorporeal hereditament.” Like other forms of property it is capable of devolution, and has in fact devolved upon the elder daughter of the house. She is now twelve years old, and ever since she came into the world “the trouble,” it seems, “has gone on increasing.” It has at last become so acute that a party of psychical investigators from Paris thought it worth while to pay a visit to the house in which the family are at present living, and were witnesses of the strange occurrences described yesterday in our column. They heard the “tremendous noise as of loud hammering” proceeding from the young woman’s couch, and apparently saw the “red mark” which had been produced on her arm by the “invisible hand” which had tugged at her until it made her scream.
We pass over the more commonplace manifestations of spiritualised furniture and household utensils, of smashed statuettes, “heaving and swaying” beds, saltatory saucepans and high-kicking kettles, and confine ourselves to the phenomena which seem to be personal to Mademoiselle Sabourait. This young woman will evidently be very difficult to settle in life, so long at least as she is attended by those mysterious and appalling noises; and it rather looks as if she had become the sole heiress to the “possessions” of the family. We do not, at any rate, hear that her father, who has taken up his quarters at a hotel, was entertained by any ghostly performances on the big drum, or received any other personal attentions from the invisible world during the night in which the Parisian visitors were pursuing their inquiries at his cottage.
If this should prove to be the case, and the full force of these occult influences has concentrated itself on the daughter, it will place her parents in a very embarrassing position when she arrives at a marriageable age. It is, indeed, a position without a precedent, and no known code of casuistry prescribes the proper course of parental conduct “in the premises.” Ought the mysterious facts of the case to be disclosed to a suitor or may they be concealed from him? When the predestined young man arrives and calls to “ask Papa,” will Papa be bound to reply with grave tenderness, “Jeune homme, my well-beloved daughter has every quality which would fit her to become an excellent wife; but it is my painful duty to inform you that she is haunted”?
Perhaps he may think himself justified in withholding the information, but in that case what a risk will be run! Ghosts, like murder, will out, and it is impossible to say at what juncture they might take it into their heads to divulge the awful secret. They might select the most impassioned moments of courtship; the popping of the question might be instantaneously followed by the rolling of the drum, than which anything more calculated to disconcert a bashful swain in the act of declaring his passion can hardly be imagined. It is not as though it were soft music – “tremolo” on the violins, such as a theatrical orchestra is wont to perform in emotional situations. That would be no bar to happiness; but to be attended throughout his wedded life by the bang and boom of an instrument so wanting in “light and shade” – the prospect would make any young man rise hastily from his knees and change the conversation.
Yet, on the other hand, if the spirits kept quiet during the courtship, the maiden would never feel safe until the knot was actually tied. What if the voice of the officiating clergyman asking the couple whether they plighted their troth to each other were to be drowned by a terrific tattoo, or the same “invisible hand” that we have heard of were to snatch the ring from the bridegroom’s astonished fingers? After marriage, it is true, the rolling drum might occasionally come in useful; there have been passages in matrimonial life in which even an accompaniment of fifes would not be out of place. But a suitor forewarned of the nature of the instrument would almost certainly draw back.
If a wife is to “have music wherever she goes,” let it be of the gentle and silvery note affected by the old lady of Banbury Cross. To have “bells on her toes” need not disqualify any young woman for having a ring put on her finger; but to have a big drum perpetually thumped by ghostly drumsticks in the air above is another matter.
Daily Telegraph and Courier (London), 8th April 1897.
A Haunted Family
The Paris correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” tells the following curious story –
Your readers may remember the alleged phenomena alleged to have been noticed at a cottage at Yzeures, in the neighbourhood of Chatellerault, some time ago. During the night an appalling noise, as that of a huge drum beaten by a mighty hand, resounded at intervals in the open air above the roof, and was varied by the creaking of the stairs, as if an invisible, but gigantic, being was slowly descending.
The case excited so much interest that several men of science specially made journeys from Paris to study the affair on the spot. They have arrived at the conclusion that if there is any haunting at all it is the family and not the cottage which is the object of the strange visitations. The Saubouraits, for such is their name, declare that during the past twenty years they have known little peace. They have gone from one place to another, seeking rest, and finding none. The father is a contractor, and some months ago took up his abode at Yzeures for the purpose of building a church. Scarcely, however, had he settled in the cottage when the experiences which had rendered his life a burden elsewhere were repeated. There are two children, both girls, and since the elder, who is now twelve years of age, came into the world the trouble has gone on increasing.
The gentlemen from Paris were allowed to spend several nights in the cottage, where the mother remained with her daughters, while the father repaired to an hotel, lest he might be suspected of playing any tricks. On one occasion, as they relate, a member of the party had taken leave of his companions, who were in an upper chamber watching the mother and the elder girl, both lying in bed, when, as he had nearly reached the bottom of the staircase, he heard cries of “Come back,” and on returning to the room noticed that a tremendous noise as of a loud hammering was proceeding from the coach. He ascertained at the same time that the call back had not emanated from anyone in the house. In the report which the investigators have drawn up, they say that they could not find out the causes of these sounds, which lasted from thirty to a hundred seconds.
Meanwhile, according to different accounts, the mysterious rappings continue, always in proximity to the elder girl Renee, who is described as quiet and intelligent, as never having dabbled in spiritualism or been hypnotised, and a being the image of her mother.
Statuettes, it is said, are still thrown down on the floor and smashed; saucepans and kettles jump about, and indulge in curious antics; and the beds heave and sway about like ships in a storm. The father is reported to have exclaimed recently, while the confusion was at its height, “Renee is not the same child since yesterday, her face is so swollen. We have noticed that whenever her face is like that there is a shindy.”
Last week, it is said, the girl complained that an invisible hand was tugging at her arm, and at last she began to scream. The limb was bared, and a red mark, which remained for some time, was distinctly to be seen.
The unlucky contractor has determined on giving up the building of the church, and on removing to Poitiers. He has consulted several doctors, but only one has expressed the opinion that the girl is hysterical, and, in his despair, he has even had recourse to a so-called sorceress. The family has enjoyed an excellent reputation, and the utmost sympathy is felt for the poor man. Possibly a very prosaic explanation may be forthcoming some day wherewith to scatter a whole network of eccentric theories and wild conjectures.
Dublin Daily Express, 9th April 1897.
Paris Day By Day.
The Haunted Family.
By Special Wire from our own correspondent. Paris, Monday Evening.
[…] Those among your readers who may be interested in the welfare of the “haunted family” will be distressed to learn that its recent removal from Yzeures to Poiters has brought to it no alleviation of its trials and tribulations. For a few days comparative peace reigned in the new dwelling, but by degrees affairs assumed an ominous complexion. Chairs and tables began to conduct themselves in a lively and undignified manner; strange rappings and scratchings resounded from the walls; and last, not least, the beat of that awful big drum echoed high above the roof.
One of the Poitiers barristers who went to Yzeures for the express purpose of unravelling the mystery is now devoting his leisure to a searching investigation, and believers in the marvellous and supernatural are much excited, as he has pressed a photographer into the service, and they fondly imagine that the misty form of some ghostly being may, perchance, be caught and reproduced.
Meanwhile, it is calmly suggested that some of the sceptics who are disposed to poke fun at the curious adventures of the “haunted family” might do well to prove that they have the courage of their opinions by betaking themselves to Poitiers and challenging the “being” to “come on.” Thus would they have an excellent opportunity of exposing the trick, if such there be, in a sharp struggle with an individual on whose solid and substantial flesh their fists and sticks might make a lasting impression.
It is, however, amusing to add that those who propose this course do not for one moment think that it will be followed. As a matter of fact, the idea that some sort of supernatural agency is at work is steadily gaining ground, and this, too, at the close of our enlightened nineteenth century.
Daily Telegraph and Courier (London), 13th April 1897.
Some time ago I wrote to you of a “haunted” family named Sabourau, then living at Yzeure, near Poitiers. Strange noises and mysterious footsteps were heard in the Sabouraus’ house, and many journalists and savants went to investigate them. The villagers finally became terrified, and the priest went in great state to exorcise the supposed evil spirit. The Sabouraus’ have since been forced to leave Yzeure, and are completely ruined through these curious manifestations, which seem particularly to affect a little girl of the family.
They tried to stay at Poitiers, but the inhabitants made the town untenable for them, and now they have come to Paris. Even here it appears that they cannot find a house, and Sabourau cannot obtain work even as a mason, though he had become a contractor at Yzeure. Consequently they are in danger of being taken to prison as vagabonds. If they are imposters, as some journalists have asserted, it cannot be denied that they are carrying on the imposition at some personal inconvenience.
Morning Post, 2nd July 1897.
A Haunted Family
By Special Wire
From our own correspondent. Paris, Thursday Night.
Melancholy is the condition of the haunted family, which has gone from town to village, and from village to town, seeking quiet, and finding none. Previous adventures of these unlucky folk have recently been described in your columns; how they removed from one place to another, always to discover, to their infinite horror, that the perturbations had followed closely on their weary footsteps; how in the dead of night sounds, as of the beating of a huge drum by a giant hand, echoed above their dwelling, while walls were banged, stairs creaked, beds swayed to and fro like ships in a storm, and tables and chairs toppled over. At least, so the story ran, and it was endorsed by gentlemen who had made a special study of these alleged phenomena on the spot.
These unfortunate people left Yzeure, where the nuisance had attained its climax, for Poitiers, but they could not induce a single landlord to provide them with an abode, and now they are in Paris in the same deplorable plight. Although they have wandered about in search of a habitation from one district of this city to another, not one concierge, as we are assured to-day, will have anything to say to them. Everyone, in fact, is afraid of the “spirits,” and the prospect of having lodgers disturbed in their slumbers by loud and uncanny noises has led every house-owner to whom they have applied to turn a deaf ear to their pleadings.
The father, who was a contractor, is now ready to accept any work that he can get, even down to manual labour as a mason, but there seem to be difficulties in the way, and the luckless family bids fair to become destitute as well as homeless unless matters take an unexpected turn for the better. Such is the sad position of these ill-fated people in this enlightened age. Truly it is far worse to be a haunted family than to possess a haunted house, which, indeed, may have its attractions for lovers of the antique and the marvellous.
Daily Telegraph and Courier (London), 2nd July 1897.