Calvados Castle Exorcism
On January 20th, 1876, The Master left for a two-day visit to his brother, leaving his wife to keep up the journal of the haunting. Madame. de X. recorded that she heard an eerie bellowing, like that of a bull, which bothered everyone during the master's absence. A weird drumming sound was also heard, and a noise much like someone striking the stairs with a stick.
Upon the master's return to Calvados, the ghost became more violent than it had ever been before. It stormed into the rooms of Auguste the gardener and Emile the coachman and turned their beds over. It whirled into the master's study and heaped books, maps, and papers on the floor. The midnight screams increased in shrillness and urgency and were joined by the roaring of a bull and the furious cries of animals. For the first time, the rapping's seemed to direct themselves to the door of Maurice, the son of the Master and Madame. de X. Terrible screams sounded outside his room, and the violence of the successive blows on his door shook every window on the floor.
On the night of January 26th, the parish priest arrived with the intention of conducting the rites of exorcism. He had also arranged for a Novena of Masses to be said at Lourdes that would coincide with his performance of the ancient ritual of putting a spirit to rest. The priest's arrival was greeted by a long, drawn-out cry and what sounded like a stampede of hoofed creatures running from the first floor passage. There came a noise similar to that of heavy boxes being moved, and the door to Maurice's room began to shake as if something demanded entrance.
The rites of exorcism reached their climax at 11:15 on the night of January 29th. From the stairway came a piercing cry, like that of a beast that had been dealt its deathblow. A flurry of rapping's began to rain on the door of the green room. At 12:55, the startled inhabitants of Calvados Castle heard the voice of a man in the first-floor passage. The Master recorded in his journal that it seemed to cry Ha! Ha!, and immediately there were 10 resounding blows, shaking everything all around. A final blow struck the door of the green room; then there was the sound of coughing in the first-floor passage.
The family rose and cautiously began to move about the castle. The priest slumped in exhaustion, sweat beading on his forehead from the long ordeal. There was no sound of the hammering fist, no raucous screams, no shaking of doors, no shifting of furniture. They found a large earthenware plate that had been broken into 10 pieces at the door to Madame. de X.'s room. No one had ever seen the plate before that night.
Although it appeared that the haunting was over, several days after the exorcisms had been performed, Madame. de X. was sitting at a writing desk when an immense packet of holy medals and crosses dropped in front of her on her paper. It was as if the ghost was making the occupants aware that it had not gone for good.
Towards the end of August, soft knockings and rapping's began to be heard. On the third Sunday in September, the drawing room furniture was arranged in horseshoe fashion with the couch in the middle. A few days afterward, Madame. de X. lay terrified in her bed and watched the latch to her room unbolt itself, the door slowly opened then slammed shut again. Her husband was out of the castle for a few days on business, and she was alone with the servants.
The duration of the phenomena was much briefer this time, and the restless ghost seemed to be content to play the organ and to move an occasional bit of furniture about the room of Maurice's new tutor. Eventually the phenomena became weaker and weaker until the only thing that haunted Calvados Castle was the memory of those terrible months when the haunting phenomena had run rampant.
Read More:
Calvados Castle PoltergeistCalvados Castle Green Room
Calvados Castle The Haunting
Calvados Castle Exorcism
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