The Phantom World; Or, The Philosophy Of Spirits, Apparitions, &C, &C. - free ebook by Augustin Calmet

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The Phantom World; Or, The Philosophy Of Spirits, Apparitions, &C, &C.

Augustin Calmet

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My dear Henry — I inscribe these volumes with your name to record a friendship which has lasted from our infancy, taint suspicion, and darkened by no shadow. So long as eminent talents can challenge admiration, varied and extensive acquirements command respect, and unfeigned virtues ensure esteem and regard, so long will you have no common claim to them all; and none will pay the tribute more gladly than your affectionate Friend and Cousin, HENRY CHRISTMAS. Sion College , March, 1850....

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INTRODUCTION.

INTRODUCTION.

Among the many phases presented by human credulity, few are more interesting than those which regard the realities of the invisible world. If the opinions which have been held on this subject were written and gathered together they would form hundreds of volumes—if they were arranged and digested they would form a few, but most important. It is not merely because there is in almost every human error a substratum of truth, and that the more important the subject the more important the substratum,

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PREFACE.

PREFACE.

The great number of authors who have written upon the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls is not unknown to me; and I do not presume sufficiently on my own capacity to believe that I shall succeed better in it than they have done, and that I shall enhance their knowledge and their discoveries. I am perfectly sensible that I expose myself to criticism, and perhaps to the mockery of many readers, who regard this matter as done with, and decried in the minds of philosophers, learne

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ADVERTISEMENT.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Every body talks of apparitions of angels and demons, and of souls separated from the body. The reality of these apparitions is considered as certain by many persons, while others deride them and treat them as altogether visionary. I have determined to examine this matter, just to see what certitude there can be on this point; and I shall divide this Dissertation into four parts. In the first, I shall speak of good angels; in the second, of the appearance of bad angels; in the third, of the appa

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THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

The apparitions or appearances of good angels are frequently mentioned in the books of the Old Testament. He who was stationed at the entrance of the terrestrial Paradise[ 3 ] was a cherub, armed with a flaming sword; those who appeared to Abraham, and who promised that he should have a son;[ 4 ] those who appeared to Lot, and predicted to him the ruin of Sodom, and other guilty cities;[ 5 ] he who spoke to Hagar in the desert,[ 6 ] and commanded her to return to the dwelling of Abraham, and to

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THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

The books of the New Testament are in the same manner full of facts which prove the apparition of good angels. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, and predicted to him the future birth of the Forerunner.[ 22 ] The Jews, who saw Zachariah come out of the temple, after having remained within it a longer time than usual, having remarked that he was struck dumb, had no doubt but that he had seen some apparition of an angel. The same Gabriel announced to Mary the f

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UNDER WHAT FORM HAVE GOOD ANGELS APPEARED?

UNDER WHAT FORM HAVE GOOD ANGELS APPEARED?

The most usual form in which good angels appear, both in the Old Testament and the New, is the human form. It was in that shape they showed themselves to Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Manoah the father of Samson, to David, Tobit, the Prophets; and in the New Testament they appeared in the same form to the Holy Virgin, to Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, to Jesus Christ after his fast of forty days, and to him again in his agony in the Garden of Olives. They showed themselves in th

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OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, CHRISTIANS, MAHOMETANS, AND ORIENTAL NATIONS CONCERNING THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD ANGELS.

OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, CHRISTIANS, MAHOMETANS, AND ORIENTAL NATIONS CONCERNING THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD ANGELS.

After what we have just related from the books of the Old and New Testament, it cannot be disavowed that the Jews in general, the apostles, the Christians, and their disciples have commonly believed in the apparitions of good angels. The Sadducees, who denied the existence and the apparition of angels, were commonly considered by the Jews as heretics, and as supporting an erroneous doctrine. Jesus Christ refutes them in the Gospel. The Jews of our days believe literally what is related in the Ol

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OPINION OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS ON THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD GENII.

OPINION OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS ON THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD GENII.

Jamblichus, a disciple of Porphyry,[ 69 ] has treated the matter of genii and their apparition more profoundly than any other author of antiquity. It would seem, to hear him discourse, that he knew both the genii and their qualities, and that he had with them the most intimate and continual converse. He affirms that our eyes are delighted by the appearance of the gods, that the apparitions of the archangels are terrible; those of angels are milder; but when demons and heroes appear, they inspire

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THE APPARITION OF BAD ANGELS PROVED BY THE HOLY SCRIPTURES—UNDER WHAT FORM THEY HAVE APPEARED.

THE APPARITION OF BAD ANGELS PROVED BY THE HOLY SCRIPTURES—UNDER WHAT FORM THEY HAVE APPEARED.

The books of the Old and New Testament, together with sacred and profane history, are full of relations of the apparition of bad spirits. The first, the most famous, and the most fatal apparition of Satan, is that of the appearance of this evil spirit to Eve, the first woman,[ 88 ] in the form of a serpent, which animal served as the instrument of that seducing demon in order to deceive her and induce her to sin. Since that time he has always chosen to appear under that form rather than any othe

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OF MAGIC.

OF MAGIC.

Many persons regard magic, magicians, witchcraft, and charms as fables and illusions, the effects of imagination in weak minds, who, foolishly persuaded of the excessive power possessed by the devil, attribute to him a thousand things which are purely natural, but the physical reasons for which are unknown to them, or which are the effects of the art of certain charlatans, who make a trade of imposing on the simple and ignorant. These opinions are supported by the authority of the principal parl

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OBJECTIONS TO THE REALITY OF MAGIC.

OBJECTIONS TO THE REALITY OF MAGIC.

I shall not fail to be told that all these testimonies from Scripture do not prove the reality of magic, sorcery, divination, and the rest; but only that the Hebrews and Egyptians—I mean the common people among them—believe that there were people who had intercourse with the Divinity, or with good and bad angels, to predict the future, explain dreams, devote their enemies to the direst misfortunes, cause maladies, raise storms, and call forth the souls of the dead; if there was any reality in al

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REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS.

REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS.

In answer to these, I allow that there is indeed very often a great deal of illusion, prepossession, and imagination in all that is termed magic and sorcery; and sometimes the devil by false appearances combines with them to deceive the simple; but oftener, without the evil spirit being any otherwise a party to it, wicked, corrupt, and interested men, artful and deceptive, abuse the simplicity both of men and women, so far as to persuade them that they possess supernatural secrets for interpreti

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EXAMINATION OF THE AFFAIR OF HOCQUE, MAGICIAN.

EXAMINATION OF THE AFFAIR OF HOCQUE, MAGICIAN.

Monsieur de St. André, consulting physician in ordinary to the king, in his sixth letter[ 144 ] against magic, maintains that in the affair of Hocque which has been mentioned, there was neither magic, nor sorcery, nor any operation of the demon; that the venomous drug which Hocque placed in the stables, and by means of which he caused the death of the cattle stalled therein, was nothing but a poisonous compound, which, by its smell and the diffusion of its particles, poisoned the animals and cau

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MAGIC OF THE EGYPTIANS AND CHALDEANS.

MAGIC OF THE EGYPTIANS AND CHALDEANS.

All pagan antiquity speaks of magic and magicians, of magical operations, and of superstitious, curious, and diabolical books. Historians, poets, and orators are full of things which relate to this matter: some believe in it, others deny it; some laugh at it, others remain in uncertainty and doubt. Are they bad spirits, or deceitful men, impostors and charlatans, who, by the subtilties of their art, make the ignorant believe that certain natural effects are produced by supernatural causes? That

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MAGIC AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.

MAGIC AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.

The Greeks have always boasted that they received the art of magic from the Persians, or the Bactrians. They affirm that Zoroaster communicated it to them; but when we wish to know the exact time at which Zoroaster lived, and when he taught them these pernicious secrets, they wander widely from the truth, and even from probability; some placing Zoroaster 600 years before the expedition of Xerxes into Greece, which happened in the year of the world 3523, and before Jesus Christ 477; others 500 ye

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EXAMPLES WHICH PROVE THE REALITY OF MAGIC.

EXAMPLES WHICH PROVE THE REALITY OF MAGIC.

St. Augustine[ 165 ] remarks that not only the poets, but the historians even, relate that Diomede, of whom the Greeks have made a divinity, had not the happiness to return to his country with the other princes who had been at the siege of Troy; that his companions were changed into birds, and that these birds have their dwell ing in the environs of the Temple of Diomede, which is situated near Mount Garganos; that these birds caress the Greeks who come to visit this temple, but fly at and peck

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EFFECTS OF MAGIC ACCORDING TO THE POETS.

EFFECTS OF MAGIC ACCORDING TO THE POETS.

Were we to believe what is said by the poets concerning the effects of magic, and what the magicians boast of being able to perform by their spells, nothing would be more marvelous than their art, and we should be obliged to acknowledge that the power of the demon was greatly shown thereby. Pliny[ 168 ] relates that Appian evoked the spirit of Homer, to learn from him which was his country, and who were his parents. Philostratus says[ 169 ] that Apollonius of Tyana went to the tomb of Achilles,

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OF THE PAGAN ORACLES.

OF THE PAGAN ORACLES.

If it were well proved that the oracles of pagan antiquity were the work of the evil spirit, we could give more real and palpable proofs of the apparition of the demon among men than these boasted oracles, which were given in almost every country in the world, among the nations which passed for the wisest and most enlightened, as the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, Syrians, even the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. Even the most barbarous people were not without their oracles. In the pagan religion

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THE CERTAINTY OF THE EVENT PREDICTED IS NOT ALWAYS A PROOF THAT THE PREDICTION COMES FROM GOD.

THE CERTAINTY OF THE EVENT PREDICTED IS NOT ALWAYS A PROOF THAT THE PREDICTION COMES FROM GOD.

Moses had foreseen that so untractable and superstitious a people as the Israelites would not rest satisfied with the reasonable, pious, and supernatural means which he had procured them for discovering future events, by giving them prophets and the oracle of the high-priest. He knew that there would arise among them false prophets and seducers, who would endeavor by their illusions and magical secrets to mislead them into error; whence it was that he said to them:[ 190 ] "If there should arise

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REASONS WHICH LEAD US TO BELIEVE THAT THE GREATER PART OF THE ANCIENT ORACLES WERE ONLY IMPOSITIONS OF THE PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES, WHO FEIGNED THAT THEY WERE INSPIRED BY GOD.

REASONS WHICH LEAD US TO BELIEVE THAT THE GREATER PART OF THE ANCIENT ORACLES WERE ONLY IMPOSITIONS OF THE PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES, WHO FEIGNED THAT THEY WERE INSPIRED BY GOD.

If it is true, as has been thought by many, both among the ancients and the moderns, that the oracles of pagan antiquity were only illusions and deceptions on the part of the priests and priestesses, who said that they were possessed by the spirit of Python, and filled with the inspiration of Apollo, who discovered to them internally things hidden and past, or present and future, I must not place them here in the rank of evil spirits. The devil has no other share in the matter than he has always

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ON SORCERERS AND SORCERESSES, OR WITCHES.

ON SORCERERS AND SORCERESSES, OR WITCHES.

The empire of the devil nowhere shines forth with more lustre than in what is related of the Sabbath (witches' sabbath or assembly), where he receives the homage of those of both sexes who have abandoned themselves to him. It is there, the wizards and witches say, that he exercises the greatest authority, and appears in a visible form, but always hideous, misshapen, and terrible; always during the night in out-of-the-way places, and arrayed in a manner more gloomy than gay, rather sad and dull,

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INSTANCES OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING, AS THEY SAID, TRANSPORTED TO THE SABBATH.

INSTANCES OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING, AS THEY SAID, TRANSPORTED TO THE SABBATH.

All that is said about witches going to the sabbath is treated as a fable, and we have several examples which prove that they do not stir from their bed or their chamber. It is true that some of them anoint themselves with a certain grease or unguent, which makes them sleepy, and renders them insensible; and during this swoon they fancy that they go to the sabbath, and there see and hear what every one says is there seen and heard. We read, in the book entitled Malleus Maleficorum , or the Hamme

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STORY OF LOUIS GAUFREDI AND MAGDALEN DE LA PALUD, OWNED BY THEMSELVES TO BE A SORCERER AND SORCERESS.

STORY OF LOUIS GAUFREDI AND MAGDALEN DE LA PALUD, OWNED BY THEMSELVES TO BE A SORCERER AND SORCERESS.

This is an unheard-of example; a man and woman who declared themselves to be a sorcerer and sorceress. Louis Gaufredi, Curé of the parish of Accouls, at Marseilles,[ 218 ] was accused of magic, and arrested at the beginning of the year 1611. Christopher Gaufredi, his uncle, of Pourrieres, in the neighborhood of Beauversas, sent him, six months before he (Christopher) died, a little paper book, in 16mo., with six leaves written upon; at the bottom of every leaf were two verses in French, and in t

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REASONS WHICH PROVE THE POSSIBILITY OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING TRANSPORTED TO THE SABBATH.

REASONS WHICH PROVE THE POSSIBILITY OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING TRANSPORTED TO THE SABBATH.

All that has just been said is more fitted to prove that the going of sorcerers and witches to the sabbath is only an illusion and a deranged imagination on the part of these persons, and malice and deceit on that of the devil, who misleads them, and persuades them to yield themselves to him, and renounce true religion, by the lure of vain promises that he will enrich them, load them with honors, pleasures, and prosperity, rather than to convince us of the reality of the corporeal transportation

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CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.

CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.

We cannot reasonably dispute the truth of these ecstatic trances, the elevations of the body of some saints to a certain distance from the ground, since these circumstances are supported by so many witnesses. To apply this to the matter we here treat of, might it not be said that sorcerers and witches, by the operation of the demon, and with God's permission, by the help of a lively and subtile temperament, are rendered light and rise into the air, where their heated imagination and prepossessed

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OBSESSION AND POSSESSION OF THE DEVIL.

OBSESSION AND POSSESSION OF THE DEVIL.

It is with reason that obsessions and possessions of the devil are placed in the rank of apparitions of the evil spirit among men. We call it obsession when the demon acts externally against the person whom he besets, and possession when he acts internally, agitates them, excites their ill humor, makes them utter blasphemy, speak tongues they have never learnt, discovers to them unknown secrets, and inspires them with the knowledge of the obscurest things in philosophy or theology. Saul was agit

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THE TRUTH AND REALITY OF POSSESSION AND OBSESSION BY THE DEVIL PROVED FROM SCRIPTURE.

THE TRUTH AND REALITY OF POSSESSION AND OBSESSION BY THE DEVIL PROVED FROM SCRIPTURE.

But the possibility, the verity and reality of the obsessions and possessions of the devil are indubitable, and proved by the Scripture and by the authority of the Church, the Fathers, the Jews, and the pagans. Jesus Christ and the apostles believed this truth, and taught it publicly. The Saviour gives us a proof of his mission that he cures the possessed; he refutes the Pharisees, who asserted that he expelled the demons only in the name of Beelzebub; and maintains that he expels them by the vi

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EXAMPLES OF REAL POSSESSIONS CAUSED BY THE DEVIL.

EXAMPLES OF REAL POSSESSIONS CAUSED BY THE DEVIL.

We must now report some of the most famous instances of the possession and obsession of the demon. Every body is talking at this time of the possession (by the devil) of the nuns of Loudun, on which such different opinions were given, both at the time and since. Martha Broissier, daughter of a weaver of Romorantin,[ 255 ] made as much noise in her time; but Charles Miron, Bishop of Orleans, discovered the fraud, by making her drink holy water as common water; by making them present to her a key

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CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.

CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.

There was in Lorraine, about the year 1620, a woman, possessed (by the devil), who made a great noise in the country, but whose case is much less known among foreigners. I mean Mademoiselle Elizabeth de Ranfaing, the story of whose possession was written and printed at Nancy, in 1622, by M. Pichard, a doctor of medicine, and physician in ordinary to their highnesses of Lorraine. Mademoiselle de Ranfaing was a very virtuous person, through whose agency God established a kind of order of nuns of t

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OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE OBSESSIONS AND POSSESSIONS OF THE DEMON—REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS.

OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE OBSESSIONS AND POSSESSIONS OF THE DEMON—REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS.

Several objections may be raised against the obsessions and possessions of demons; nothing is subject to greater difficulties than this matter, but Providence constantly and uniformly permits the clearest and most certain truths of religion to remain enveloped in some degree of obscurity; that facts the best averred and the most indubitable should be subject to doubts and contradictions; that the most evident miracles should be disputed by some incredulous persons on account of circumstances whi

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CONTINUATION OF OBJECTIONS AGAINST POSSESSIONS, AND SOME REPLIES TO THOSE OBJECTIONS.

CONTINUATION OF OBJECTIONS AGAINST POSSESSIONS, AND SOME REPLIES TO THOSE OBJECTIONS.

We read in works, published and printed, composed by Catholic authors of our days,[ 263 ] that it is proved by reason, that possessions of the demon are naturally impossible, and that it is not true, in regard to ourselves and our ideas, that the demon can have any natural power over the corporeal world; that as soon as we admit in the created wills a power to act upon bodies, and to move them, it is impossible to set bounds to it, and that this power is truly infinite. They maintain that the de

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OF FAMILIAR SPIRITS.

OF FAMILIAR SPIRITS.

If all that is related of spirits which are perceived in houses, in the cavities of mountains, and in mines, is certain, we cannot disavow that they also must be placed in the rank of apparitions of the evil spirit; for, although they usually do neither wrong nor violence to any one, unless they are irritated or receive abusive words; nevertheless we do not read that they lead to the love or fear of God, to prayer, piety, or acts of devotion; it is known, on the contrary, that they show a distas

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SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF ELVES.

SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF ELVES.

On the 25th of August, 1746, I received a letter from a very worthy man, the curé of the parish of Walsche, a village situated in the mountains of Vosges, in the county of Dabo, or Dasburg, in Lower Alsatia, Diocese of Metz. In this letter, he tells me that the 10th of June, 1740, at eight o'clock in the morning, he being in his kitchen, with his niece and the servant, he saw on a sudden an iron pot that was placed on the ground turn round three or four times, without its being set in motion by

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SPIRITS THAT KEEP WATCH OVER TREASURE.

SPIRITS THAT KEEP WATCH OVER TREASURE.

Everybody acknowledges that there is an infinity of riches buried in the earth, or lost under the waters by shipwrecks; they fancy that the demon, whom they look upon as the god of riches, the god Mammon , the Pluto of the pagans, is the depositary, or at least the guardian, of these treasures. He said to Jesus Christ,[ 292 ] when he tempted him in the wilderness, showing to him all the kingdoms of the earth, and their glory: "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship

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OTHER INSTANCES OF HIDDEN TREASURES WHICH WERE GUARDED BY GOOD OR BAD SPIRITS.

OTHER INSTANCES OF HIDDEN TREASURES WHICH WERE GUARDED BY GOOD OR BAD SPIRITS.

We read in a new work that a man, Honoré Mirable, having found in a garden near Marseilles a treasure consisting of several Portuguese pieces of gold, from the indication given him by a spectre, which appeared to him at eleven o'clock at night, near the Bastide , or country house called du Paret , he made the discovery of it in presence of the woman who farmed the land of this Bastide , and the farm-servant named Bernard. When he first perceived the treasure buried in the earth, and wrapt up in

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SPECTRES WHICH APPEAR, AND PREDICT THINGS UNKNOWN AND TO COME.

SPECTRES WHICH APPEAR, AND PREDICT THINGS UNKNOWN AND TO COME.

Both in ancient and modern writers, we find an infinite number of stories of spectres. We have not the least doubt that their apparitions are the work of the demon, if they are real. Now, it cannot be denied that there is a great deal of illusion and falsehood in all that is related by them. We shall distinguish two sorts of spectres: those which appear to mankind to hurt or deceive them, or to announce things to come, fortunate or unfortunate as circumstances may occur; the other spectres infes

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OTHER APPARITIONS OF SPECTRES.

OTHER APPARITIONS OF SPECTRES.

Plutarch, whose gravity and wisdom are well known, often speaks of spectres and apparitions. He says, for instance, that at the famous battle of Marathon against the Persians, several soldiers saw the phantom of Thesus, who fought for the Greeks against the enemy. The same Plutarch, in the life of Sylla, says that that general saw in his sleep the goddess whom the Romans worshiped according to the rites of the Cappadocians (who were fire-worshipers), whether it might be Bellona or Minerva, or th

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EXAMINATION OF THE APPARITION OF A PRETENDED SPECTRE.

EXAMINATION OF THE APPARITION OF A PRETENDED SPECTRE.

Business[ 308 ] having led the Count d'Alais[ 309 ] to Marseilles, a most extraordinary adventure happened to him there: he desired Neuré to write to our philosopher (Gassendi) to know what he thought of it; which he did in these words: the count and countess being come to Marseilles, saw, as they were lying in bed, a luminous spectre; they were both wide awake. In order to be sure that it was not some illusion, they called their valets de chambre; but no sooner had these appeared with their fla

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OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT HOUSES.

OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT HOUSES.

There are several kinds of spectres or ghosts which haunt certain houses, make noises, appear there, and disturb those who live in them: some are sprites, or elves, which divert themselves by troubling the quiet of those who dwell there; others are spectres or ghosts of the dead, who molest the living until they have received sepulture: some of them, as it is said, make the place their purgatory; others show themselves or make themselves heard, because they have been put to death in that place,

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OTHER INSTANCES OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT CERTAIN HOUSES.

OTHER INSTANCES OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT CERTAIN HOUSES.

Father Pierre Thyree,[ 316 ] a Jesuit, relates an infinite number of anecdotes of houses haunted by ghosts, spirits, and demons; for instance, that of a tribune, named Hesperius, whose house was infested by a demon who tormented the domestics and animals, and who was driven away, says St. Augustin,[ 317 ] by a good priest of Hippo, who offered therein the divine sacrifice of the body of our Lord. St. Germain,[ 318 ] Bishop of Capua, taking a bath in one particular quarter of the town, found ther

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PRODIGIOUS EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION IN THOSE MEN OR WOMEN WHO BELIEVE THEY HOLD INTERCOURSE WITH THE DEMON.

PRODIGIOUS EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION IN THOSE MEN OR WOMEN WHO BELIEVE THEY HOLD INTERCOURSE WITH THE DEMON.

As soon as we admit it as a principle that angels and demons are purely spiritual substances, we must consider, not only as chimerical but also as impossible, all personal intercourse between a demon and a man, or a woman, and consequently regard as the effect of a depraved or deranged imagination all that is related of demons, whether incubi or succubi, and of the ephialtes of which such strange tales are told. The author of the Book of Enoch, which is cited by the fathers, and regarded as cano

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RETURN AND APPARITIONS OF SOULS AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY, PROVED FROM SCRIPTURE.

RETURN AND APPARITIONS OF SOULS AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY, PROVED FROM SCRIPTURE.

The dogma of the immortality of the soul, and of its existence after its separation from the body which it once animated, being taken for indubitable, and Jesus Christ having invincibly established it against the Sadducees, the return of souls and their apparition to the living, by the command or permission of God, can no longer appear so incredible, nor even so difficult. It was a known and received truth among the Jews in the time of our Saviour; he assumed it as certain, and never pronounced

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APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS PROVED FROM HISTORY.

APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS PROVED FROM HISTORY.

St. Augustine[ 344 ] acknowledges that the dead have often appeared to the living, have revealed to them the spot where their body remained unburied, and have shown them that where they wished to be interred. He says, moreover, that a noise was often heard in churches where the dead were inhumed, and that dead persons have been seen often to enter the houses wherein they dwelt before their decease. We read that in the Council of Elvira,[ 345 ] which was held about the year 300, it was forbidden

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MORE INSTANCES OF APPARITIONS.

MORE INSTANCES OF APPARITIONS.

Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, relates that a good priest named Stephen, having received the confession of a lord named Guy, who was mortally wounded in a combat, this lord appeared to him completely armed some time after his death, and begged of him to tell his brother Anselm to restore an ox which he Guy had taken from a peasant, whom he named, and repair the damage which he had done to a village which did not belong to him, and which he had taxed with undue charges; that he had forgotte

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ON THE APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS WHO IMPRINT THEIR HANDS ON CLOTHES OR ON WOOD.

ON THE APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS WHO IMPRINT THEIR HANDS ON CLOTHES OR ON WOOD.

Within a short time, a work composed by a Father Prémontré, of the Abbey of Toussaints, in the Black Forest, has been communicated to me. His work is in manuscript, and entitled, "Umbra Humberti, hoc est historia memorabilis D. Humberti Birkii, mirâ post mortem apparitione, per A. G. N." This Humbert Birck was a burgess of note, in the town of Oppenheim, and master of a country house called Berenbach; he died in the month of November, 1620, a few days before the feast of St. Martin. On the Satur

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OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, GREEKS, AND LATINS CONCERNING THE DEAD WHO ARE LEFT UNBURIED.

OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, GREEKS, AND LATINS CONCERNING THE DEAD WHO ARE LEFT UNBURIED.

The ancient Hebrews, as well as the greater number of other nations, were very careful in burying their dead. That appears from all history; we see in the Scripture how much attention the patriarchs paid in that respect to themselves and those belonging to them; we know what praises are bestowed on the holy man Tobit, whose principal devotion consisted in giving sepulture to the dead. Josephus the historian[ 369 ] says that the Jews refused burial only to those who committed suicide. Moses comma

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EXAMINATION OF WHAT IS REQUIRED OR REVEALED TO THE LIVING BY THE DEAD WHO RETURN TO EARTH.

EXAMINATION OF WHAT IS REQUIRED OR REVEALED TO THE LIVING BY THE DEAD WHO RETURN TO EARTH.

The apparitions which are seen are those of good angels, or of demons, or the spirits of the dead, or of living persons to others still living. Good angels usually bring only good news, and announce nothing but what is fortunate; or if they do announce any future misfortunes, it is to persuade men to prevent them, or turn them aside by repentance, or to profit by the evils which God sends them by exercising their patience, and showing submission to his orders. Bad angels generally foretell only

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APPARITIONS OF MEN STILL ALIVE, TO OTHER LIVING MEN, ABSENT, AND VERY DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER.

APPARITIONS OF MEN STILL ALIVE, TO OTHER LIVING MEN, ABSENT, AND VERY DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER.

We find in all history, both sacred and profane, ancient and modern, an infinite number of examples of the apparition of persons alive to other living persons. The prophet Ezekiel says of himself,[ 402 ] "I was seated in my house, in the midst of the elders of my people, when on a sudden a hand, which came from a figure shining like fire, seized me by the hair; and the spirit transported me between heaven and earth, and took me to Jerusalem, where he placed me near the inner gate, which looks to

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ARGUMENTS CONCERNING APPARITIONS.

ARGUMENTS CONCERNING APPARITIONS.

After having spoken at some length upon apparitions, and after having established the truth of them, as far as it has been possible for us to do so, from the authority of the Scripture, from examples, and by arguments, we must now exercise our judgment on the causes, means, and reasons for these apparitions, and reply to the objections which may be made to destroy the reality of them, or at least to raise doubts on the subject. We have supposed that apparitions were the work of angels, demons, o

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OBJECTIONS AGAINST APPARITIONS, AND REPLIES TO THOSE OBJECTIONS.

OBJECTIONS AGAINST APPARITIONS, AND REPLIES TO THOSE OBJECTIONS.

The greatest objection that can be raised against the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, takes its rise in the nature of these substances, which being purely spiritual, cannot appear with evident, solid, and palpable bodies, nor perform those functions which belong only to matter, and living or animated bodies. For, either spiritual substances are united to the bodies which appear or not. If they are not united to them, how can they move them, and cause them to act, walk, spea

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SOME OTHER OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES.

SOME OTHER OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES.

In order to combat the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, we still bring forward the effects of a prepossessed fancy, struck with an idea, and of a weak and timid mind, which imagine they see and hear what subsists only in idea; we advert to the inventions of the malignant spirits, who like to make sport of and to delude us; we call to our assistance the artifices of the charlatans, who do so many things which pass for supernatural in the eyes of the ignorant. Philosophers, by

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THE SECRETS OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY TAKEN FOR SUPERNATURAL THINGS.

THE SECRETS OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY TAKEN FOR SUPERNATURAL THINGS.

It is possible to allege against my reasoning the secrets of physics and chemistry, which produce an infinity of wonderful effects, and appear beyond the power of natural agency. We have the composition of a phosphorus, with which they write; the characters do not appear by daylight, but in the dark we see them shine; with this phosphorus, figures can be traced which would surprise and even alarm during the night, as has been done more than once, apparently to cause maliciously useless fright. L

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CONCLUSION OF THE TREATISE ON APPARITIONS.

CONCLUSION OF THE TREATISE ON APPARITIONS.

After having made this exposition of my opinion concerning the apparitions of angels, demons, souls of the dead, and even of one living person to another, and having spoken of magic, of oracles, of obsessions and possessions of the demon; of sprites and familiar spirits; of sorcerers and witches; of spectres which predict the future; of those which haunt houses—after having stated the objections which are made against apparitions, and having replied to them in as weighty a manner as I possibly c

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WAY OF EXPLAINING APPARITIONS.

WAY OF EXPLAINING APPARITIONS.

Apparitions in dreams, for instance, that of the angel[ 439 ] who told St. Joseph to carry the infant Jesus into Egypt because King He rod wished to put him to death; there are two things appertaining to this apparition—the first is, the impression made on the mind of St. Joseph that an angel appeared to him; the second is, the prediction or revelation of the ill-will of Herod. Both these are above the ordinary powers of our nature, but we know not if they be above the power of angels; it is cer

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THE DIFFICULTY OF EXPLAINING THE MANNER IN WHICH APPARITIONS MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE, WHATEVER SYSTEM MAY BE PROPOSED ON THE SUBJECT.

THE DIFFICULTY OF EXPLAINING THE MANNER IN WHICH APPARITIONS MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE, WHATEVER SYSTEM MAY BE PROPOSED ON THE SUBJECT.

The difficulty is much greater, if we suppose that these spirits are absolutely disengaged from any kind of matter; for how can they assemble about them a certain quantity of matter, clothe themselves with it, give it a human form, which can be discerned; is capable of acting, speaking, conversing, eating and drinking, as did the angels who appeared to Abraham,[ 441 ] and the one who appeared to the young Tobias,[ 442 ] and conducted him to Ragés! Is all that accomplished by the natural power of

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PREFACE.

PREFACE.

Every age, every nation, every country has its prejudices, its maladies, its customs, its inclinations, which characterize them, and which pass away, and succeed to one another; often that which has appeared admirable at one time, becomes pitiful and ridiculous at another. We have seen that in some ages all was turned towards a certain kind of devotion, of studies and of exercises. It is known that, for more than one century, the prevailing taste of Europe was the journey to Jerusalem. Kings, pr

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THE RESURRECTION OF A DEAD PERSON IS THE WORK OF GOD ONLY.

THE RESURRECTION OF A DEAD PERSON IS THE WORK OF GOD ONLY.

After having treated in a separate dissertation on the matter of the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, the connection of the subject invites me to speak also of the ghosts and excommunicated persons, whom, it is said, the earth rejects from her bosom; of the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland; and of the vroucolacas of Greece. I shall report first of all, what has been said and written of them; then I shall deduce some consequences, and bring forward t

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ON THE REVIVAL OF PERSONS WHO WERE NOT REALLY DEAD.

ON THE REVIVAL OF PERSONS WHO WERE NOT REALLY DEAD.

The resuscitation of some persons who were believed to be dead, and who were not so, but simply asleep, or in a lethargy; and of those who were supposed to be dead, having been drowned, and who came to life again through the care taken of them, or by medical skill. Such persons must not pass for being really resuscitated; they were not dead, or were so only in appearance. We intend to speak in this place of another order of resuscitated persons, who had been buried sometimes for several months,

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REVIVAL OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN INTERRED FOR THREE YEARS, AND WAS RESUSCITATED BY ST. STANISLAUS.

REVIVAL OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN INTERRED FOR THREE YEARS, AND WAS RESUSCITATED BY ST. STANISLAUS.

All the lives of the saints are full of resurrections of the dead; thick volumes might be composed on the subject. These resurrections have a manifest relation to the matter which we are here treating of, since it relates to persons who are dead, or held to be so, who appear bodily and animated to the living, and who live after their return to life. I shall content myself with relating the history of St. Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, who restored to life a man that had been dead for three years,

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CAN A MAN WHO IS REALLY DEAD APPEAR IN HIS OWN BODY?

CAN A MAN WHO IS REALLY DEAD APPEAR IN HIS OWN BODY?

If what is related of vampires were certainly true, the question here proposed would be frivolous and useless; they would reply to us directly—In Hungary, Moravia, and Poland, persons who were dead and interred a long time, have been seen to return, to appear, and torment men and animals, suck their blood, and cause their death. These persons come back to earth in their own bodies; people see them, know them, exhume them, try them, impale them, cut off their heads, burn them. It is then not only

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REVIVAL OR APPARITION OF A GIRL WHO HAD BEEN DEAD SOME MONTHS.

REVIVAL OR APPARITION OF A GIRL WHO HAD BEEN DEAD SOME MONTHS.

Phlegonus, freed-man of the Emperor Adrian,[ 458 ] in the fragment of the book which he wrote on wonderful things, says that at Tralla, in Asia, a certain man named Machates, an innkeeper, was connected with a girl named Philinium, the daughter of Demostrates and Chariton. This girl being dead, and placed in her grave, continued to come every night for six months to see her gallant, to drink, eat, and sleep with him. One day this girl was recognized by her nurse, when she was sitting by Machates

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A WOMAN TAKEN ALIVE FROM HER GRAVE.

A WOMAN TAKEN ALIVE FROM HER GRAVE.

We read in a new work, a story which has some connection with this subject. A shopkeeper of the Rue St. Honoré, at Paris, had promised his daughter to one of his friends, a shopkeeper like himself, residing also in the same street. A financier having presented himself as a husband for this young girl, was accepted instead of the young man to whom she had been promised. The marriage was accomplished, and the young bride falling ill, was looked upon as dead, enshrouded and interred. The first love

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LET US NOW EXAMINE THE FACT OF THE REVENANS OR VAMPIRES OF MORAVIA.

LET US NOW EXAMINE THE FACT OF THE REVENANS OR VAMPIRES OF MORAVIA.

I have been told by the late Monsieur de Vassimont, counsellor of the Chamber of the Counts of Bar, that having been sent into Moravia by his late Royal Highness Leopold, first Duke of Lorraine, for the affairs of my Lord the Prince Charles his brother, Bishop of Olmutz and Osnaburgh, he was informed by public report that it was common enough in that country to see men who had died some time before, present themselves in a party, and sit down to table with persons of their acquaintance without s

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DEAD PERSONS IN HUNGARY WHO SUCK THE BLOOD OF THE LIVING.

DEAD PERSONS IN HUNGARY WHO SUCK THE BLOOD OF THE LIVING.

About fifteen years ago, a soldier who was billeted at the house of a Haidamagne peasant, on the frontiers of Hungary, as he was one day sitting at table near his host, the master of the house saw a person he did not know come in and sit down to table also with them. The master of the house was strangely frightened at this, as were the rest of the company. The soldier knew not what to think of it, being ignorant of the matter in question. But the master of the house being dead the very next day,

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ACCOUNT OF A VAMPIRE, TAKEN FROM THE JEWISH LETTERS (LETTRES JUIVES); LETTER 137.

ACCOUNT OF A VAMPIRE, TAKEN FROM THE JEWISH LETTERS (LETTRES JUIVES); LETTER 137.

This is what we read in the "Lettres Juives," new edition, 1738, Letter 137. We have just had in this part of Hungary a scene of vampirism, which is duly attested by two officers of the tribunal of Belgrade, who went down to the places specified; and by an officer of the emperor's troops at Graditz, who was an ocular witness of the proceedings. In the beginning of September there died in the village of Kiv siloa, three leagues from Graditz, an old man who was sixty-two years of age. Three days a

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OTHER INSTANCES OF GHOSTS—CONTINUATION OF THE GLEANER.

OTHER INSTANCES OF GHOSTS—CONTINUATION OF THE GLEANER.

In a certain canton of Hungary, named in Latin Oppida Heidanum , beyond the Tibisk, vulgo Teiss, that is to say, between that river which waters the fortunate territory of Tokay and Transylvania, the people known by the name of Heyducqs [ 463 ] believe that cer tain dead persons, whom they call vampires, suck all the blood from the living, so that these become visibly attenuated, whilst the corpses, like leeches, fill themselves with blood in such abundance that it is seen to come from them by t

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ARGUMENTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THE "LETTRES JUIVES," ON THE SUBJECT OF THESE PRETENDED GHOSTS.

ARGUMENTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THE "LETTRES JUIVES," ON THE SUBJECT OF THESE PRETENDED GHOSTS.

There are two different ways of effacing the opinion concerning these pretended ghosts, and showing the impossibility of the effects which are made to be produced by corpses entirely deprived of sensation. The first is, to explain by physical causes all the prodigies of vampirism; the second is, to deny totally the truth of these stories; and the latter means, without doubt, is the surest and the wisest. But as there are persons to whom the authority of a certificate given by people in a certain

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CONTINUATION OF THE ARGUMENT OF THE "DUTCH GLEANERS," OR "GLANEUR HOLLANDAIS."

CONTINUATION OF THE ARGUMENT OF THE "DUTCH GLEANERS," OR "GLANEUR HOLLANDAIS."

On examining the narrative of the death of the pretended martyrs of vampirism, I discover the symptoms of an epidemical fanaticism; and I see clearly that the impression made upon them by fear is the true cause of their being lost. A girl named Stanoska, say they, daughter of the Heyducq Sovitzo, who went to bed in perfect health, awoke in the middle of the night all in a tremble, and shrieking dreadfully, saying that the son of the Heyducq Millo, who had been dead for nine weeks, had nearly str

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NARRATION EXTRACTED FROM THE "MERCURE GALENT" OF 1693 AND 1694, CONCERNING GHOSTS.

NARRATION EXTRACTED FROM THE "MERCURE GALENT" OF 1693 AND 1694, CONCERNING GHOSTS.

The public memorials of the years 1693 and 1694 speak of oupires , vampires or ghosts, which are seen in Poland, and above all in Russia. They make their appearance from noon to midnight, and come and suck the blood of living men or animals in such abundance that sometimes it flows from them at the nose, and principally at the ears, and sometimes the corpse swims in its own blood oozed out in its coffin.[ 472 ] It is said that the vampire has a sort of hunger, which makes him eat the linen which

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CONJECTURES OF THE "GLANEUR DE HOLLANDE," DUTCH GLEANER, IN 1733.—NO. IX.

CONJECTURES OF THE "GLANEUR DE HOLLANDE," DUTCH GLEANER, IN 1733.—NO. IX.

The Dutch Gleaner, who is by no means credulous, supposes the truth of these facts as certain, having no good reason for disputing them, and reasons upon them in a way which shows he thinks lightly of the matter; he asserts that the people, amongst whom vampires are seen, are very ignorant and very credulous, so that the apparitions we are speaking of are only the effects of a prejudiced fancy. The whole is occasioned and augmented by the bad nourishment of these people, who, the greater part of

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ANOTHER LETTER ON GHOSTS.

ANOTHER LETTER ON GHOSTS.

In order to omit nothing which can throw light on this matter, I shall insert here the letter of a very honest man, who is well informed respecting ghosts. This letter was written to a relation. "You wish, my dear cousin, to be exactly informed of what takes place in Hungary concerning ghosts who cause the death of many people in that country. I can write to you learnedly upon it, for I have been several years in those quarters, and I am naturally curious. I have heard in my lifetime an infinite

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PRETENDED VESTIGES OF VAMPIRISM IN ANTIQUITY.

PRETENDED VESTIGES OF VAMPIRISM IN ANTIQUITY.

Some learned men have thought they discovered some vestiges of vampirism in the remotest antiquity; but all that they say of it does not come near what is related of the vampires. The lamiæ, the strigæ, the sorcerers whom they accused of sucking the blood of living persons, and of thus causing their death, the magicians who were said to cause the death of new-born children by charms and malignant spells, are nothing less than what we understand by the name of vampires; even were it to be owned t

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OF GHOSTS IN THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES.

OF GHOSTS IN THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES.

Thomas Bartholin, the son, in his treatise entitled " Of the Causes of the contempt of Death felt by the Ancient Danes while yet Gentiles ," remarks[ 480 ] that a certain Hordus, an Icelander, saw spectres with his bodily eyes, fought against them and resisted them. These thoroughly believed that the spirits of the dead came back with their bodies, which they afterwards forsook and returned to their graves. Bartholinus relates in particular that a man named Asmond, son of Alfus, having had himse

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GHOSTS IN ENGLAND.

GHOSTS IN ENGLAND.

William of Malmsbury says[ 481 ] that in England they believed that the wicked came back to earth after their death, and were brought back in their own bodies by the devil, who governed them and caused them to act; Nequam hominis cadaver post mortem dæmone agente discurrere . William of Newbridge, who flourished after the middle of the twelfth century, relates that in his time was seen in England, in the county of Buckingham, a man who appeared bodily, as when alive, three succeeding nights to h

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GHOSTS IN PERU.

GHOSTS IN PERU.

The instance we are about to relate occurred in Peru, in the country of the Ititans. A girl named Catharine died at the age of sixteen an unhappy death, and she had been guilty of several sacrilegious actions. Her body immediately after her decease was so putrid that they were obliged to put it out of the dwelling in the open air, to escape from the bad smell which exhaled from it. At the same time they heard as it were dogs howling; and a horse which before then was very gentle began to rear, t

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GHOSTS IN LAPLAND.

GHOSTS IN LAPLAND.

Vestiges of these ghosts are still found in Lapland, where it is said they see a great number of spectres, who appear among those people, speak to them, and eat with them, without their being able to get rid of them; and as they are persuaded that these are the manes or shades of their relations who thus disturb them, they have no means of guarding against their intrusions more efficacious than to inter the bodies of their nearest relatives under the hearthstone, in order, apparently, that there

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REAPPEARANCE OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR SOME MONTHS.

REAPPEARANCE OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR SOME MONTHS.

Peter, the venerable[ 483 ] abbot of Clugni, relates the conversation which he had in the presence of the bishops of Oleron and of Osma, in Spain, together with several monks, with an old monk named Pierre d'Engelbert , who, after living a long time in his day in high reputation for valor and honor, had withdrawn from the world after the death of his wife, and entered the order of Clugni. Peter the Venerable having come to see him, Pierre d'Engelbert related to him that one day when in his bed a

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EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS WHO GO OUT OF THE CHURCHES.

EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS WHO GO OUT OF THE CHURCHES.

St. Gregory the Great relates[ 490 ] that St. Benedict having threatened to excommunicate two nuns, these nuns died in that state. Some time after, their nurse saw them go out of the church, as soon as the deacon had cried out, "Let all those who do not receive the communion withdraw." The nurse having informed St. Benedict of the circumstance, that saint sent an oblation, or a loaf, in order that it might be offered for them in token of reconciliation; and from that time the two nuns remained i

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SOME OTHER INSTANCES OF EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS BEING CAST OUT OF CONSECRATED GROUND.

SOME OTHER INSTANCES OF EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS BEING CAST OUT OF CONSECRATED GROUND.

We see again in history, several other examples of the dead bodies of excommunicated persons being cast out of consecrated earth; for instance, in the life of St. Gothard, Bishop of Hildesheim,[ 500 ] it is related that this saint having excommunicated certain persons for their rebellion and their sins, they did not cease, in spite of his excommunications, to enter the church, and remain there though forbidden by the saint, whilst even the dead, who had been interred there years since, and had b

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AN INSTANCE OF AN EXCOMMUNICATED MARTYR BEING CAST OUT OF THE EARTH.

AN INSTANCE OF AN EXCOMMUNICATED MARTYR BEING CAST OUT OF THE EARTH.

We read in the menées of the Greeks, on the 15th of October, that a monk of the Desert of Sheti, having been excommunicated by him who had the care of his conduct, for some act of disobedience, he left the desert, and came to Alexandria, where he was arrested by the governor of the city, despoiled of his conventual habit, and ardently solicited to sacrifice to false gods. The solitary resisted nobly, and was tormented in various ways, until at last they cut off his head, and threw his body outsi

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A MAN REJECTED FROM THE CHURCH FOR HAVING REFUSED TO PAY TITHES.

A MAN REJECTED FROM THE CHURCH FOR HAVING REFUSED TO PAY TITHES.

John Brompton, Abbot of Sornat in England,[ 502 ] says that we may read in very old histories that St. Augustin, the Apostle of England, wishing to persuade a gentleman to pay the tithes, God permitted that this saint having said before all the people, before the commencement of the mass, that no excommunicated person should assist at the holy sacrifice, they saw a man who had been interred for 150 years leave the church. After mass, St. Augustin, preceded by the cross, went to ask this dead man

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INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF LIFE AFTER THEIR DEATH, AND WHO HAVE DRAWN BACK FROM RESPECT, TO MAKE ROOM OR GIVE PLACE TO SOME WHO WERE MORE WORTHY THAN THEMSELVES.

INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF LIFE AFTER THEIR DEATH, AND WHO HAVE DRAWN BACK FROM RESPECT, TO MAKE ROOM OR GIVE PLACE TO SOME WHO WERE MORE WORTHY THAN THEMSELVES.

Tertullian relates[ 503 ] an instance to which he had been witness— de meo didici . A woman who belonged to the church, to which she had been given as a slave, died in the prime of life, after being once married only, and that for a short time, was brought to the church. Before putting her in the ground, the priest offering the sacrifice and raising his hands in prayer, this woman, who had her hands extended at her side, raised them at the same time, and put them together as a supplicant; then,

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OF PERSONS WHO PERFORM A PILGRIMAGE AFTER THEIR DEATH.

OF PERSONS WHO PERFORM A PILGRIMAGE AFTER THEIR DEATH.

A scholar of the town of Saint Pons, near Narbonne,[ 508 ] having died in a state of excommunication, appeared to one of his friends, and begged of him to go to the city of Rhodes, and ask the bishop to grant him absolution. He set off in snowy weather; the spirit, who accompanied him without being seen by him showed him the road and cleared away the snow. On arriving at Rhodes, he asked and obtained for his friend the required absolution, when the spirit reconducted him to Saint Pons, gave him

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ARGUMENT CONCERNING THE EXCOMMUNICATED WHO QUIT CHURCHES.

ARGUMENT CONCERNING THE EXCOMMUNICATED WHO QUIT CHURCHES.

All that we have just reported concerning the bodies of persons who had been excommunicated leaving their tombs during mass, and returning into them after the service, deserves particular attention. It seems that a thing which passed before the eyes of a whole population in broad day, and in the midst of the most redoubtable mysteries, can be neither denied nor disputed. Nevertheless, it may be asked, How these bodies came out? Were they whole, or in a state of decay? naked, or clad in their own

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DO THE EXCOMMUNICATED ROT IN THE GROUND?

DO THE EXCOMMUNICATED ROT IN THE GROUND?

It is a very ancient opinion that the bodies of the excommunicated do not decompose; it appears in the Life of St Libentius, Archbishop of Bremen, who died on the 4th of January, 1013. That holy prelate having excommunicated some pirates, one of them died, and was buried in Norway; at the end of seventy years they found his body entire and without decay, nor did it fall to dust until after absolution received from Archbishop Alvaridius. The modern Greeks, to authorize their schism, and to prove

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INSTANCES TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE EXCOMMUNICATED DO NOT DECAY, AND THAT THEY APPEAR TO THE LIVING.

INSTANCES TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE EXCOMMUNICATED DO NOT DECAY, AND THAT THEY APPEAR TO THE LIVING.

The Greeks relate[ 514 ] that under the Patriarch of Constantinople Manuel, or Maximus, who lived in the fifteenth century, the Turkish Emperor of Constantinople wished to know the truth of what the Greeks asserted concerning the uncorrupted state of those who died under sentence of excommunication. The patriarch caused the tomb of a woman to be opened; she had had a criminal connection with an archbishop of Constantinople; her body was whole, black, and much swollen. The Turks shut it up in a c

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INSTANCE OF THE REAPPEARANCES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED.

INSTANCE OF THE REAPPEARANCES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED.

Ricaut, in the history he has given us of the present state of the Greek church, acknowledges that this opinion, that the bodies of excommunicated persons do not decay, is general, not only among the Greeks of the present day, but also among the Turks. He relates a fact which he heard from a Candiote caloyer, who had affirmed the thing to him on oath; his name was Sophronius, and he was well known and highly respected at Smyrna. A man who died in the Isle of Milo, had been excommunicated for som

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VROUCOLACA EXHUMED IN PRESENCE OF MONSIEUR DE TOURNEFORT.

VROUCOLACA EXHUMED IN PRESENCE OF MONSIEUR DE TOURNEFORT.

Monsieur Pitton de Tournefort relates the manner in which they exhumed a pretended vroucolaca, in the Isle of Micon, where he was on the 1st of January, 1701. These are his own words: "We saw a very different scene, (in the same Isle of Micon,) on the occasion of one of those dead people, whom they believe to return to earth after their interment. This one, whose history we shall relate, was a peasant of Micon, naturally sullen and quarrelsome; which is a circumstance to be remarked relatively t

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HAS THE DEMON POWER TO CAUSE ANY ONE TO DIE AND THEN TO RESTORE THE DEAD TO LIFE?

HAS THE DEMON POWER TO CAUSE ANY ONE TO DIE AND THEN TO RESTORE THE DEAD TO LIFE?

Supposing the principle which we established as indubitable at the commencement of this dissertation—that God alone is the sovereign arbitrator of life and death; that he alone can give life to men, and restore it to them after he has taken it from them—the question that we here propose appears unseasonable and absolutely frivolous, since it concerns a supposition notoriously impossible. Nevertheless, as some learned men have believed that the demon has power to restore life, and to preserve fro

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EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION WHICH CONCLUDES THAT THE DEMON CAN RESTORE MOTION TO A DEAD BODY.

EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION WHICH CONCLUDES THAT THE DEMON CAN RESTORE MOTION TO A DEAD BODY.

We cannot approve these opinions of Jews which we have just shown. They are contrary to our holy religion, and to the dogmas of our schools. But we believe that the spirit which once inspired Elijah, for instance, rested on Elisha, his disciple; and that the Holy Spirit which inspired the first animated the second also, and even St. John the Baptist, who, according to the words of Jesus Christ, came in the power of Elijah to prepare a highway for the Messiah. Thus, in the prayers of the Church,

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INSTANCES OF PHANTOMS WHICH HAVE APPEARED TO BE ALIVE, AND HAVE GIVE MANY SIGNS OF LIFE.

INSTANCES OF PHANTOMS WHICH HAVE APPEARED TO BE ALIVE, AND HAVE GIVE MANY SIGNS OF LIFE.

Le Loyer, in his book upon spectres, maintains[ 536 ] that the demon can cause the possessed to make extraordinary and involuntary movements. He can then, if allowed by God, give motion to a dead and insensible man. He relates the instance of Polycrites, a magistrate of Ætolia, who appeared to the people of Locria nine or ten months after his death, and told them to show him his child, which being born monstrous, they wished to burn with its mother. The Locrians, in spite of the remonstrance of

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DEVOTING TO DEATH, A PRACTICE AMONG THE PAGANS.

DEVOTING TO DEATH, A PRACTICE AMONG THE PAGANS.

The ancient heathens, both Greeks and Romans, attributed to magic and to the demon the power of occasioning the destruction of any person by a manner of devoting them to death, which consisted in forming a waxen image as much as possible like the person whose life they wished to take. They devoted him or her to death by their magical secrets: then they burned the waxen statue, and as that by degrees was consumed, so the doomed person became languid and at last died. Theocritus[ 539 ] makes a wom

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INSTANCES OF DEVOTING OR DOOMING AMONGST CHRISTIANS.

INSTANCES OF DEVOTING OR DOOMING AMONGST CHRISTIANS.

Hector Boëthius,[ 550 ] in his History of Scotland, relates that Duffus, king of that country, falling ill of a disorder unknown to the physicians, was consumed by a slow fever, passed his nights without sleep, and insensibly wasted away; his body melted in perspiration every night; he became weak, languid, and in a dying state, without, however, his pulse undergoing any alteration. Everything was done to relieve him, but uselessly. His life was despaired of, and those about him began to suspect

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INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE PROMISED TO GIVE EACH OTHER NEWS OF THE OTHER WORLD AFTER THEIR DEATH.

INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE PROMISED TO GIVE EACH OTHER NEWS OF THE OTHER WORLD AFTER THEIR DEATH.

The story of the Marquis de Rambouillet, who appeared after his death to the Marquis de Précy, is very celebrated. These two lords, conversing on the subject of the other world, like people who were not very strongly persuaded of the truth of all that is said upon it, promised each other that the first of the two who died should bring the news of it to the other. The Marquis de Rambouillet set off for Flanders, where the war was then carried on; and the Marquis de Précy remained at Paris, detain

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EXTRACT FROM THE POLITICAL WORKS OF M. L'ABBE DE ST. PIERRE.[556]

EXTRACT FROM THE POLITICAL WORKS OF M. L'ABBE DE ST. PIERRE.[556]

I was told lately at Valogne, that a good priest of the town who teaches the children to read, had had an apparition in broad day ten or twelve years ago. As that had made a great deal of noise at first on account of his reputation for probity and sincerity, I had the curiosity to hear him relate his adventure himself. A lady, one of my relations, who was acquainted with him, sent to invite him to dine with her yesterday, the 7th of January, 1708, and as on the one hand I showed a desire to lear

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DIVERS SYSTEMS FOR EXPLAINING THE RETURN OF SPIRITS.

DIVERS SYSTEMS FOR EXPLAINING THE RETURN OF SPIRITS.

The affair of ghosts having made so much noise in the world as it has done, it is not surprising that a diversity of systems should have been formed upon it, and that so many manners should have been proposed to explain their return to earth and their operations. Some have thought that it was a momentary resurrection caused by the soul of the defunct, which re-entered his body, or by the demon, who reanimated him, and caused him to act for a while, whilst his blood retained its consistency and f

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VARIOUS INSTANCES OF PERSONS BEING BURIED ALIVE.

VARIOUS INSTANCES OF PERSONS BEING BURIED ALIVE.

Plutarch relates that a man who fell from a great height, having pitched upon his neck, was believed to be dead, without there being the appearance of any hurt. As they were carrying him to be buried, the day after, he all at once recovered his strength and his senses. Asclepiades[ 562 ] meeting a great funeral train of a person they were taking to be interred, obtained permission to look at and to touch the dead man; he found some signs of life in him, and by means of proper remedies, he immedi

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INSTANCES OF DROWNED PERSONS RECOVERING THEIR HEALTH.

INSTANCES OF DROWNED PERSONS RECOVERING THEIR HEALTH.

Here follow some instances of drowned persons[ 568 ] who came to themselves several days after they were believed to be dead. Peclin relates the story of a gardener of Troninghalm, in Sweden, who was still alive, and sixty-five years of age, when the author wrote. This man being on the ice to assist another man who had fallen into the water, the ice broke under him, and he sunk under water to the depth of eight ells, his feet sticking in the mud: he remained sixteen hours before they drew him ou

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INSTANCES OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN BELIEVED TO BE DEAD, AND WHO HAVE COME TO LIFE AGAIN.

INSTANCES OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN BELIEVED TO BE DEAD, AND WHO HAVE COME TO LIFE AGAIN.

Very clever physicians assert[ 570 ] that in cases of the suffocation of the womb, a woman may live thirty days without breathing. I know that a very excellent woman was six-and-thirty hours without giving any sign of life. Everybody thought she was dead, and they wanted to enshroud her, but her husband always opposed it. At the end of thirty-six hours she came to herself, and has lived a long time since then. She told them that she heard very well all that was said about her, and knew that they

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CAN THESE INSTANCES BE APPLIED TO THE HUNGARIAN GHOSTS?

CAN THESE INSTANCES BE APPLIED TO THE HUNGARIAN GHOSTS?

Some advantage of these instances and these arguments may be derived in favor of vampirism, by saying that the ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, and Poland are not really dead, that they continue to live in their graves, although without motion and without respiration; the blood which is found in them being fine and red, the flexibility of their limbs, the cries which they utter when their heart is pierced or their head being cut off, all prove that they still exist. That is not the principal difficul

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DEAD PERSONS WHO CHEW IN THEIR GRAVES LIKE HOGS, AND DEVOUR THEIR OWN FLESH.

DEAD PERSONS WHO CHEW IN THEIR GRAVES LIKE HOGS, AND DEVOUR THEIR OWN FLESH.

It is an opinion widely spread in Germany, that certain dead persons chew in their graves, and devour whatever may be close to them; that they are even heard to eat like pigs, with a certain low cry, and as if growling and grunting. A German author,[ 575 ] named Michael Rauff, has composed a work, entitled De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis —"Of the Dead who Masticate in their Graves." He sets it down as a proved and sure thing, that there are certain dead persons who have devoured the linen a

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SINGULAR INSTANCE OF A HUNGARIAN GHOST.

SINGULAR INSTANCE OF A HUNGARIAN GHOST.

The most remarkable instance cited by Rauff[ 580 ] is that of one Peter Plogojovitz, who had been buried ten weeks in a village of Hungary, called Kisolova. This man appeared by night to some of the inhabitants of the village while they were asleep, and grasped their throat so tightly that in four-and-twenty hours it caused their death. Nine persons, young and old, perished thus in the course of eight days. The widow of the same Plogojovitz declared that her husband since his death had come and

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REASONINGS ON THIS MATTER.

REASONINGS ON THIS MATTER.

Those authors have reasoned a great deal on these events. 1. Some have believed them to be miraculous. 2. Others have looked upon them simply as the effect of a heated imagination, or a sort of prepossession. 3. Others again have believed that there was nothing in all that but what was very simple and very natural, these persons not being dead, and acting naturally upon other bodies. 4. Others have asserted[ 582 ] that it was the work of the devil himself; amongst these, some have advanced the o

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ARE THE VAMPIRES OR REVENANS REALLY DEAD?

ARE THE VAMPIRES OR REVENANS REALLY DEAD?

The opinion of those who hold that all that is related of vampires is the effect of imagination, fascination, or of that disorder which the Greeks term phrenesis or coribantism , and who pretend by that means to explain all the phenomena of vampirism, will never persuade us that these maladies of the brain can produce such real effects as those we have just recounted. It is impossible that on a sudden, several persons should believe they see a thing which is not there, and that they should die i

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INSTANCE OF A MAN NAMED CURMA WHO WAS SENT BACK INTO THE WORLD.

INSTANCE OF A MAN NAMED CURMA WHO WAS SENT BACK INTO THE WORLD.

St. Augustine relates on this subject,[ 596 ] that a countryman named Curma, who held a small place in the village of Tullia, near Hippoma, having fallen sick, remained for some days senseless and speechless, having just respiration enough left to prevent their burying him. At the end of several days he began to open his eyes, and sent to ask what they were about in the house of another peasant of the same place, and like himself named Curma. They brought him back word, that he had just expired

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INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO COULD FALL INTO A TRANCE WHEN THEY PLEASED, AND REMAINED PERFECTLY SENSELESS.

INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO COULD FALL INTO A TRANCE WHEN THEY PLEASED, AND REMAINED PERFECTLY SENSELESS.

Jerome Cardan says[ 604 ] that he fell into a trance when he liked; he owns that he does not know if, like the priest Pretextat, he should not feel great wounds or hurts, but he did not feel the pain of the gout, or the pulling him about. He adds, the priest of Calama heard the voices of those who spoke aloud near him, but as if from a distance. "For my part," says Cardan, "I hear the voice, though slightly, and without understanding what is said. And when I wish to entrance myself, I feel about

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APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING INSTANCES TO VAMPIRES.

APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING INSTANCES TO VAMPIRES.

Supposing these facts, which I believe to be incontestably true, may we not imagine that the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, and Moldavia, are some of those men who have died of maladies which heat the blood, and who have retained some remains of life in their graves, much like those animals which we have mentioned, and those birds which plunge themselves during the winter in the lakes and marshes of Poland, and in the northern countries? They are without respiration or motion, but still not desti

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EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION THAT THE DEMON FASCINATES THE EYES OF THOSE TO WHOM VAMPIRES APPEAR.

EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION THAT THE DEMON FASCINATES THE EYES OF THOSE TO WHOM VAMPIRES APPEAR.

Those who have recourse to the fascination of the senses to explain what is related concerning the apparition of vampires, throw themselves into as great a perplexity as those who acknowledge sincerely the reality of these events; for fascination consists either in the suspension of the senses, which cannot see what is passing before their sight, like that with which the men of Sodom were struck[ 611 ] when they could not discover the door of Lot's house, though it was before their eyes; or that

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INSTANCES OF PERSONS RESUSCITATED, WHO RELATE WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN IN THE OTHER WORLD.

INSTANCES OF PERSONS RESUSCITATED, WHO RELATE WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN IN THE OTHER WORLD.

We have just seen that the vampires never speak of the other world, nor ask for either masses or prayers, nor give any warning to the living to lead them to correct their morals, or bring them to a better life. It is surely very prejudicial to the reality of their return from the other world; but their silence on that head may favor the opinion which supposes that they are not really dead. It is true that we do not read either that Lazarus, resuscitated by Jesus Christ,[ 615 ] nor the son of the

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THE TRADITIONS OF THE PAGANS CONCERNING THE FUTURE LIFE ARE DERIVED FROM THE HEBREWS AND EGYPTIANS.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE PAGANS CONCERNING THE FUTURE LIFE ARE DERIVED FROM THE HEBREWS AND EGYPTIANS.

All these traditions are clearly to be found in Homer, Virgil, and other Greek and Latin authors; they were doubtless originally derived from the Hebrews, or rather the Egyptians, from whom the Greeks took their religion, which they arranged to their own taste. The Hebrews speak of the Rephaims ,[ 621 ] of the impious giants "who groan under the waters." Solomon says[ 622 ] that the wicked shall go down to the abyss, or hell, with the Rephaims. Isaiah, describing the arrival of the King of Babyl

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INSTANCES OF CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN RESUSCITATED AND SENT BACK TO THE WORLD—VISION OF VETINUS, A MONK OF AUGIA.

INSTANCES OF CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN RESUSCITATED AND SENT BACK TO THE WORLD—VISION OF VETINUS, A MONK OF AUGIA.

We read in an old work, written in the time of St. Augustine,[ 629 ] that a man having been crushed by a wall which fell upon him, his wife ran to the church to invoke St. Stephen whilst they were preparing to bury the man who was supposed to be dead. Suddenly they saw him open his eyes, and move his body; and after a time he sat up, and related that his soul, having quitted his body, had met a crowd of other souls of dead persons, some of whom he knew, and others he did not; that a young man, i

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THE VISION OF BERTHOLDUS, AS RELATED BY HINCMAR, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS.

THE VISION OF BERTHOLDUS, AS RELATED BY HINCMAR, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS.

The famous Hincmar,[ 632 ] Archbishop of Rheims, in a circular letter which he wrote to the bishops, his suffragans, and the faithful of his diocese, relates, that a man named Bertholdus, with whom he was acquainted, having fallen ill, and received all the sacraments, remained during four days without taking any food. On the fourth day he was so weak that there was hardly a feeble palpitation and respiration found in him. About midnight he called to his wife, and told her to send quickly for his

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THE VISION OF SAINT FURSIUS.

THE VISION OF SAINT FURSIUS.

The Life of St. Fursius,[ 634 ] written a short time after his death, which happened about the year 653, reports several visions seen by this holy man. Being grievously ill, and unable to stir, he saw himself in the midst of the darkness raised up, as it were, by the hands of three angels, who carried him out of the world, then brought him back to it, and made his soul re-enter his body, to complete the destination assigned him by God. Then he found himself in the midst of several people, who we

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VISION OF A PROTESTANT OF YORK, AND OTHERS.

VISION OF A PROTESTANT OF YORK, AND OTHERS.

Here is another instance, which happened in 1698 to one of the so-called reformed religion.[ 636 ] A minister of the county of York, at a place called Hipley, and whose name was Henry Vatz (Watts), being struck with apoplexy the 15th of August, was on the 17th placed in a coffin to be buried. But as they were about to put him in the grave, he uttered a loud cry, which frightened all the persons who had attended him to the grave; they took him quickly out of the coffin, and as soon as he had come

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CONCLUSIONS OF THIS DISSERTATION.

CONCLUSIONS OF THIS DISSERTATION.

To resume, in a few words, all that we have related in this dissertation: we have therein shown that a resurrection, properly so called, of a person who has been dead for a considerable time, and whose body was either corrupted, or stinking, or ready to putrefy, like that of Pierre, who had been three years buried, and was resuscitated by St. Stanislaus, or that of Lazarus, who had been four days in the tomb, and already possessing a corpse-like smell—such a resurrection can be the work of the a

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THE MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE REVENANS COMING OUT OF THEIR GRAVES.

THE MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE REVENANS COMING OUT OF THEIR GRAVES.

I have already proposed the objection formed upon the impossibility of these vampires coming out of their graves, and returning to them again, without its appearing that they have disturbed the earth, either in coming out or going in again. No one has ever replied to this difficulty, and never will. To say that the demon subtilizes and spiritualizes the bodies of vampires, is a thing asserted without proof or likelihood. The fluidity of the blood, the ruddiness, the suppleness of these vampires,

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WHAT IS RELATED CONCERNING THE BODIES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED LEAVING THE CHURCH, IS SUBJECT TO VERY GREAT DIFFICULTIES.

WHAT IS RELATED CONCERNING THE BODIES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED LEAVING THE CHURCH, IS SUBJECT TO VERY GREAT DIFFICULTIES.

Whatever respect I may feel for St. Gregory the Great, who relates some instances of deceased persons who died in a state of excommunication going out of the church before the eyes of every one present; and whatever consideration may be due to other authors whom I have cited, and who relate other circumstances of a similar nature, and even still more incredible, I cannot believe that we have these legends with all the circumstances belonging to them; and after the reasons for doubt which I have

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REMARKS ON THE DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE SPIRIT WHICH REAPPEARED AT ST. MAUR DES FOSSES.

REMARKS ON THE DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE SPIRIT WHICH REAPPEARED AT ST. MAUR DES FOSSES.

The following Dissertation on the apparition which happened at St. Maur, near Paris, in 1706, was entirely unknown to me. A friend who took some part in my work on apparitions, had asked me by letter if I should have any objection to its being printed at the end of my work. I readily consented, on his testifying that it was from a worthy hand, and deserved to be saved from the oblivion into which it was fallen. I have since found that it was printed in the fourth volume of the Treatise on Supers

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DISSERTATION BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER.

DISSERTATION BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER.

Answer to a Letter on the subject of the Apparition of St. Maur. "You have been before me, sir, respecting the spirit of St. Maur, which causes so much conversation at Paris; for I had resolved to send you a short detail of that event, in order that you might impart to me your reflections on a matter so delicate and so interesting to all Paris. But since you have read an account of it, I cannot understand why you have hesitated a moment to decide what you ought to think of it. What you do me the

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ON MAGIC.

ON MAGIC.

My Reverend Father It is to the goodness of your reverence, in regard to myself, that I must attribute the curiosity you appear to feel to know what I think concerning the book which the Sieur Jerome Tartarotti has just published on the Nocturnal Assemblies of the Sorcerers . I reply to you with the greatest pleasure; and I am going to tell my opinion fully and unreservedly, on condition that you will examine what I write to you with your usual acuteness, and that you will tell me frankly whatev

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From the Reverend Father Dom. Augustine Calmet, Abbot of Sénones, to M. de Bure Senior, Librarian at Paris.

From the Reverend Father Dom. Augustine Calmet, Abbot of Sénones, to M. de Bure Senior, Librarian at Paris.

Sir —I have received The Historical and Dogmatical Treatise on Apparitions, Visions, and particular Revelations, with Observations on the Dissertations of the Reverend Father Dom. Calmet, Abbot of Sénones, on Apparitions and Ghosts. At Avignon, 1751. By the Abbé Lenglet du Frenoy. I have looked over this work with pleasure. M. du Frenoy wished to turn to account therein what he wrote fifty-five years ago, as he says himself, on the subject of visions, and the life of Maria d'Agreda, of whom th

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THE END.

THE END.

Original does not include pages 1-36. Blank spaces represent corresponding blank spaces in the original. Punctuation in footnotes has been standardized. Footnote marker removed on page 268; no corresponding footnote text. Original text: "the passage of the book of Tobit;[1]..." Other than noted corrections, spelling and punctuation is presented as in the original. Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragra

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