Page 56 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

36 Ghosts and Phantoms

Maurice, the son of M. and Mme. de X. Terri- Sunday in September, the drawing room furni-
ble screams sounded outside his room, and the ture was arranged in horseshoe fashion with
violence of the successive blows on his door the couch in the middle. A few days after-
shook every window on the floor. ward, Mme. de X. lay terrified in her bed and
On the night of January 26, the parish watched the latch to her room unbolt itself.
priest arrived with the intention of conduct- M. de X. was out of the castle for a few days on
ing the rites of exorcism. He had also arranged business, and she was alone with the servants.
for a Novena of Masses to be said at Lourdes The duration of the phenomena was much
that would coincide with his performance of briefer this time, and the restless ghost seemed
the ancient ritual of putting a spirit to rest. to be content to play the organ and to move
The priest’s arrival was greeted by a long, an occasional bit of furniture about the room
drawn-out cry and what sounded like a stam- of Maurice’s new tutor. Eventually the phe-
pede of hoofed creatures running from the first nomena became weaker and weaker until the
floor passage. There came a noise similar to only thing that haunted Calvados Castle was
that of heavy boxes being moved, and the the memory of those terrible months when
door to Maurice’s room began to shake as if the haunting phenomena had run rampant.
something demanded entrance.
M Delving Deeper
The rites of exorcism reached their climax
Flammarion, Camille. Haunted Houses. London: T.
at 11:15 on the night of January 29. From the
Fisher Unwin, 1924.
stairway came a piercing cry, like that of a beast
Hauck, Dennis William. International Directory of
that had been dealt its deathblow. A flurry of
Haunted Places. New York: Penguin, 2000.
rappings began to rain on the door of the green
Sitwell, Sacheverell. Poltergeists. New York: Universi-
room. At 12:55, the startled inhabitants of Cal-
ty Books, 1959.
vados Castle heard the voice of a man in the
first-floor passage. M. de X. recorded in his jour-
nal that it seemed to cry Ha! Ha!, and immedi- Epworth Rectory
ately there were 10 resounding blows, shaking One of the most famous cases in the annals of
everything all around. A final blow struck the noisy hauntings is the one that visited the
door of the green room; then there was the Reverend Samuel Wesley and his family at
sound of coughing in the first-floor passage. Epworth Rectory in 1716. Among the 19 chil-
The family rose and cautiously began to dren of the Reverend Wesley who witnessed
move about the castle. The priest slumped in the phenomena were John and Charles, the
exhaustion, sweat beading his forehead from the founders of Methodism and the authors of
long ordeal. There was no sound of the hammer- some of Christendom’s best-loved hymns.
ing fist, no raucous screams, no shaking of doors, It was on the first of December that the
no shifting of furniture. They found a large children and the servants began to complain
earthenware plate that had been broken into 10 of eerie groans and mysterious knockings in
pieces at the door to Mme. de X.’s room. No one their rooms. They also insisted that they could
had ever seen the plate before that night. hear the sound of footsteps ascending and

Although it appeared that the haunting descending the stairs at all hours of the night.
was over, several days after the exorcisms had Reverend Wesley heard no noises for
been performed, Mme. de X. was sitting at a about a week and severely lectured the child
writing desk when an immense packet of holy or servant who brought him any wild tale
medals and crosses dropped in front of her on about a ghost walking about in the rectory. If
her paper. It was as if the ghost had but suf- there were any noises in the rectory, he told
fered a momentary setback and was announc- his family one night at dinner, they were
ing that it must retreat for a time to recuperate undoubtedly caused by the young men who
and lick its wounds. came around in the evenings. The reverend

Towards the end of August, soft knockings had four grown daughters who had begun to
and rappings began to be heard. On the third entertain beaus and suitors, and their father’s

The Gale Enc y clopedia of the Unusu al and Unexplained