A STRANGE STORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 264, 6 November 1937, Page 22

A STRANGE STORY.

WITCHCRAFT IK HUNGARY., BUDAPEST. The mysterious case of a peasant family, named Demeter, who have been dumb for some months, is reported in the paper*. The matter was recently made public when the bailiff called on the farmer to collect a few pengos for j taxes, and found that he. his wife, their | daughter, aged .'SO. and their son, aged . 20, had all apparently been deprived of j the power of speech. A medical exami- i nation has proved that the Demetera j are neither ill nor insane, and that their i sight and hearing are unaffected. No | physical symptom can be found except an extreme exhaustion of the nerves, which has reached the point of complete apathy. A representative of the "Nemzeti Ujsag," who accompanied the local priest to their hou<se, describes the desolate aspect of what a few months ago was a prosperous farm of 20 acres. When a forced entrance had been made, ! the farmer with his wife and daughter ; and son were found standing in a row like figures made of wood. They neither spoke nor made any -sign that they ' realised the presence of their visitors. ! The condition of the house, which had not been swept or aired for months, was deplorable. Neither bread nor flour was ui the larder, though 12 sacks of corn were ready for milling. The sides of bacon which hung from the rafters were untouched, and it was discovered that the family had eaten nothing but raw potatoes for months. According to the neighbours living in the adjoining farms, the Demeter couple and their daughter became dumb at the end of the winter. The son, however, made secret visits to the neighbours for a time, and told them his mother wished him to become dumb. He said the "tie" would not be binding unless he accepted dumbness with his parents; if he did not, a curse would fall on the family. Belief in witchcraft dies hard in Hungary, and the neighbours believe that the Demeters have been persuaded to remain dumb for two years by witches who appear in the shapes of gipsy women. The reward for this penance, which includes abstention from selling their stock or taking their produce to market, is a large fortune and rich marriage for the daughter and son; while they will be exterminated by indescribable catastrophies if they fail to carry out the witches' injunction.