Note XII.

As proof of what has been said about the confusion of ideas that accompanies the first moment of death, and as confirmation of several essential points of the Spiritist Doctrine, we have thought it well to cite here the evocation of a man who murdered out of vengeance and jealousy, and who until the very last instant had manifested neither repentance nor sensibility. The sentiments he expresses will be a useful instruction for those who doubt the future of the soul. (The executed man, after the evocation, answers): — I am still bound to the body.

Has your soul not yet completely detached itself from the body? — No... I am afraid... I do not know... Wait until I recover myself... I am not dead, am I?

Are you repentant for what you did? — I did wrong in killing, but to that I was led by my character, which could not tolerate humiliations... You will evoke me another time.

Why do you already want to leave? — I would be terrified if I saw him, for fear that he (his victim) might do the same thing to me.

But you have nothing to fear, since your soul is separated from the body. Cast off all disquiet, which is not reasonable now. — What would you have? Are you, perchance, master of your own impressions?... I do not know where I am... Am I mad?

Try to calm yourself. — I cannot, because I am mad... Wait!... I shall recover all my lucidity.

If you were to pray, perhaps you could concentrate your thoughts. — I am afraid... I do not dare to pray.

Pray, then, for the mercy of God is great! We shall pray with you. — Yes, the mercy of God is infinite; I always believed in it.

Do you now understand your situation better? — It is so extraordinary that I still cannot understand it.

Do you see your victim? — It seems to me that I hear a voice like his, saying to me: I no longer want you. Is it, perhaps, an effect of my imagination? I am mad, I assure you, for I see my body on one side and the head on the other... And yet, I see myself in space, between the Earth and what you call heaven... I feel as if a cold blade were about to sever my neck... But that is the fear of death... It also seems to me that I see a multitude of Spirits around me, looking at me with compassion... They speak to me, but I do not understand them. Is there, perchance, among these Spirits one whose presence humiliates you because of your crime? — Only one terrifies me: that of the one I killed.

Do you remember your previous existences? — No; everything is vague... I think I am dreaming. Once again, I need to come back to myself.

(Three days later) — Do you recognize yourself now? — I know that I no longer belong to that world, and I do not lament it. I regret what I did, but my Spirit is more free. I know, besides, that there is a series of existences that give us useful knowledge, in order to make us as perfect as is possible to the human creature.

Are you punished for the crime you committed? — Yes; what I did is lamentable, and that makes me suffer.

In what manner are you punished? — I am punished because I am conscious of my fault, and for it I ask forgiveness of God; I am punished because I recognize my disbelief in God, and because I know that we must not shorten the days of the life of our brothers; I am punished by the remorse of having delayed my progress, taking a wrong path, without heeding the cry of my own conscience that told me it was not by murder that I would attain my goal. I let myself be dominated by envy and pride; I was mistaken and I repent, for man must always strive to dominate the evil passions, which I failed to do. What sensation do you experience when we evoke you? — Of pleasure and of fear, since I am not wicked.

In what does this pleasure and this fear consist? — Pleasure of conversing with men and of being able in part to repair my faults by confessing them; a fear that I cannot define, a kind of shame at having been a murderer.

Do you wish to reincarnate on Earth? — Yes, I ask for it; I wish to find myself constantly exposed to murder, experiencing the fear of it.” 135 [135] Tr. N.: This concerns the priest Verger, murderer of Monsignor Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, a crime committed as the latter was leaving the Church of Saint-Étienne du Mont, after a religious service. Condemned to death and guillotined on January 30, 1857, Verger was evoked on the very day of the execution. Although at that time Allan Kardec was not yet fully aware of the real extent of his later works in the Codification of Spiritism, he thought it well to preserve these records, obtained before and after the publication of the 1st edition of The Spirits' Book and which, later, proved to be of great value, as this evocation proves, inserted in 1865 in Heaven and Hell, 2nd part, chapter VI, illustrating the theme “Repentant criminals.”