THE APPARITIONS IN FRANCE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue XI, 12 September 1896, Page 322

THE APPARITIONS IN FRANCE.

• The devil is abroad in France !’ This is now the cry throughout the length and breadth of that country. Never within the memory of man has there been such a scare ; never have there been so many blood curdling stories of awful supernatural apparitions. From these stories one would imagine that the whole infernal host and a battalion or two of celestial angels had broken loose. We hear of Belial, of Ashtaroth, of Apollyon, of several other uncanny and undesirable demons. We hear, too, of sylphs, of shapeless monsters like incubi, of pallid ghosts, of fiery serpents and of a marvellous woman, who is supposed to be the Virgin Mary. Of sorcerers, too, and their strange doings we hear somewhat, as also of witches and their magical pranks. The denizens of the other worlds made their first appearance at Tilly-sur-Seulle. All Europe heard of and marvelled at these apparitions, aud finally they caused so much stir that the French Society of Psychical Sciences started an investigation. Abbe Brettes went to Tilly, spent several days there, and finally returned and made his report. Here is what this churchman and scientist says : —

‘ I am absolutely convinced that apparitions were really seen at Tilly. I have obtained all possible testimony on the subject, and the proofs that the apparitions were genuine are incontestable. Legends and traditions show that this region has been always haunted. A wellknown Government official, it is said, saw the Virgin Mary one evening wreathed in flames. Apparitions began to appear on March iBth,and since then they have appeared several times daily. The school children were the first to see the Virgin Mary, and they spread the story everywhere, the result being that immense crowds have been coming to Tilly, as many as 18,000 arriving on one single day. ‘ During my investigation I examined more than fifteen hundred witnesses, among whom were representatives of all classes and of all ways of thinking—magistrates, teachers, believers, and unbelievers. 1 closely questioned them all, aud they told me the same story. My conclusion is that we cannot dispute this evidence. The supernatural certainly exists, aud defies materialism aud free thought. These phenomena appear to be both divine and diabolical. If they caunot be both at the same time, then the diabolical influence preponderates, for while an angel of darkness can assume the appearonce of an angel of light, an angel of light never assumes the guise of an angel of darkness. ‘ 1 am convinced that if the spot where these apparitions have appeared is thoroughly dug, we shall discover the ruins of a chapel or a convent, or of some monument dedicated to the Virgin. In conclusion, let me say that we should net be surprised at the frequent appearances of supernatural phenomena in these days. Such phenomena have appeared at all times, but persons paid no attention to them. To-day we are at the height of the reaction against free thought ; the psychical sciences

have made great progress and have greatly helped to arouse the attention of the men and women who have for some time been shaken in the faith of their childhood and are now coming back to honest belief after an era of doubt. The history of the world is full of such reactions.’ A little girl named Poliniere has' already seen the apparition of the Virgin thirty times at Tilly, and touching is her description of the manner in which she feels herself impelled by some mysterious force to remain ever near the spot where the wondrous vision appears. Sometimes, in place of the Virgin, appear chapels, statues, angels and globes of fire. Out of the ground they seem to come, enveloped in a cloud, which gradually disappears, only to appear again after the vision has fully manifested itself. On Ascension Day two hundred witnesses say they saw a rosy cloud, while eighty say they saw a Calvary and sixty a cross. Some young persons who tried to play on the creduality of the pilgrims found themselves hunted by three fiery bullets, at which they fired their revolvers in vain. Others say they have seen headless bloody phantoms and have heard invisible bells ringing ; nay, one day a lion devouring his prey is said to have appeared to a large number of persons, among them being a child who was nearly frightened to death. AN EXTRAORDINARY INCIDENT. But here is a yet more extraordinary incident. On the robe in which one of the latest apparitions of the Virgin was clothed were written four letters. Marie Laine, who saw this vision, does not know how to read. She asked some one to show her an alphabet which being done she straightway pointed out the letters that she had seen on the Virgin’s robe. They were the letters U.S.P.Q. What could they mean ? This was the question every one asked. Among the others Abbe Brettes was puzzled until he returned to Paris, for there he found a letter from Caon, saying that the hidden meaning of these letters had been revealed to a child in a dream. They are the first four letters of the four Latin words, ‘ Unum sacellum pium quaeso,’ the meaning of which is, ‘I am looking for a holy chapel.’ The child who made this discovery knows no Latin any more than Marie Laine, who first saw the letters, knows howto read. The savour of diabolism about this extraordinary phenomenon has caused widespread awe, which is intensified by the inexplicable conduct of a strange woman who has been at Tilly for some days. She is clothed entirely in black, for which reason she isknown farandwide as ‘the black woman,’and rumour has it that she sees most terrible sights. A pitiful sight she is, so much does she seem to suffer. On her forehead are ever great beads of perspiration. Her eyes are red with weeping, and at times her whole face is convulsed as though with horror at some diabolical vision. Abbe Brettes questioned her as to her trouble, and she confessed to him that she was constantly beset with visions of Legion, who, be it known, is a most potent demon. She begged the abbe to free her from her tormentor, a request which the abbe, though entirely willing, was unable to grant, as Legion, with demoniac persistency,

declined to show himself while the abb6 was present. So * the black woman ’ still weeps and shudders in the grip of the hideous demon. Taking all these alleged facts into consideration, the Society of Psychical Sciences arrived at the following conclusions:— 1. The supernatural, as manifested at Tilly, bids defiance to all the laws of materialism. 2. Certain facts, but only those which have been clearly proven, seem to be of divine origin ; others betray their diabolical origin. Therefore we must admit either that Tilly is the ground on which a battle is being fought between the divine supernatural and the diabolical supernatural, or that all the phenomena of which we have spoken are the results of a demoniac influence. 3. Finally, our practical conclusion is this That it is necessary to make excavations in the place where the apparitions have appeared, as it is likely that thus we may obtain valuable elements of information. Very strange is the story of the haunted house at Valence-en-Brie. This house has been the theatre of inexplicable sounds, most mystifjing being a voice, the owner of which has hitherto eluded all human eyes. For seventeen days this mysterious voice has been making itself heard throughout the house, now insulting, now terrifying, now pleading. Policemen have tried to find the owner, aud the weird voice has laughed them to scorn. Dr. Pate, the family physician, has investigated, and the taunting voice has covered him with contumely. Furniture has been smashed by the invisible destroyer, and after one wreck of this kind the voice shouted maliciously—‘ Hurrah, lam doing good work; lam content with myself I’ A curious explanation of this mystery has just been offered. Isabelle Pellettier, the servant in this house, occupied, it appears, two situations before her present one, and in each of them occurred phenomena somewhat resembling those now occurring in the haunted house. These phenomena, too, it is said, only occurred in her presence or when she was near. Now, it is a remarkable fact that in every so called haunted house there is said to be either a sensitive young girl or some man who is suffering from a nervous malady. The theory is that the strange phenomena that occur in such houses are due to the presence of men with diseased nerves, or, which is far more often the case, of high-strung young girls from thirteen to twenty years of age. The experiments of M. de Rochas and of Dr. Baraduc prove that man is possessed of a fluid envelope, which, in its normal state, is impalpable and invisible, but which under known conditions can leave the body and become materialized, after which it impregnates inert bodies to such an extent as to communicate to them a sort of life. In the case of some persons certain effluvia escape from this fluid in the form of waves, becoming more intense when the subject is in direct contact with the ground, without the interposition of isolating substances. Dr. Baraduc has especially shown, by means of photography, that the phenomenon of aspiration and exwhation is manifested by the cosmic substances with pirich this envelope is nourished.