CASTING OUT A DEVIL BY FIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 23, 28 January 1922, Page 19

CASTING OUT A DEVIL BY FIRE.

An atempt t.. cast a dev.il out of a woman living In a village uf the I-auciihurg district of I'oineranlu. nn the Polish fronlliT. lis des-crlbeu by the ■'Times" Berlin corres- ■ pondeut. ! The woman appears to have been of a ' sour and somewhat hysterical temperament. : and three of the village gossips came to j the coucluslon the she was a victim of dlaboH-cal possession and resolved to effect ia cure hy m.-ans of enchainment. I They tlrst of all gathered the herbs needed J for rue purpose ill the rortst at the pmppr conjunction of the stars. Tli-ori a tripod J was formed of three chairs, aud to these I the "patient" was bound. ■Beneath her was fixed a pail of red-foot coal, on which the herbs were scattered. lAs the fumes of the burning weeds veiled j the victim the neighbours crooned the prescribed exorcism. Tile louder the -woman. slirioke-I the louder they sang, and after the process I had been continued long enough to prove effective, in their opinion, they r:yn away. I believing that the devil would run out or the woman after them. She, hvwever. continued to shriek. Her cries were eventually heard by a man, who released her.