Example 2 - LEMAIRE.

Evocation. — A. Here I am.

Seeing us, what sensation do you feel? — A. That of shame.

Did you retain your senses until the last moment? — A. Yes.

After the execution did you have an immediate awareness of this new existence? — A. I was plunged into great confusion, from which, moreover, I have not yet freed myself.

I felt an immense pain, and it seemed to me that it was the heart that suffered it. I saw something or other rolling at the foot of the scaffold; I saw the blood that flowed, and my pain became all the more piercing. 3 — Q. Was it a purely physical pain, analogous to that which would come from a great wound, from the amputation of a limb, for example? — A. No; picture to yourselves rather a remorse, a great moral pain. 4 — Q. When did you begin to feel that pain? — A. From the moment I was set free.

But the physical pain of the torment, who felt it: the body or the Spirit? — A. The moral pain was in my Spirit, while the body felt the physical pain; but the detached Spirit also suffered from it.

Did you see the mutilated body? — A. I saw something shapeless, to which I seemed to be joined; yet I recognized myself as intact, that is, that I was myself… 2 — Q. What impressions came to you from that fact? — A. I felt my pain very much, I was lost in it.

Is it true that the body still lives a few instants after decapitation, the executed person being conscious of his ideas? — A. The Spirit withdraws little by little; the more the material bonds retain it, the less prompt is the separation.

It is said that the expression of anger and movements have been noticed in the countenance of certain executed persons, as if they wished to speak; is that the effect of nervous contractions, or an act of will? — A. Of the will, since the Spirit has not detached itself.

What was the first feeling you experienced upon entering your new existence? — A. An intolerable suffering, a kind of piercing remorse whose cause I did not know.

Did you by chance find yourself reunited with your accomplices who were executed at the same time? — A. Unfortunately, yes, to our misfortune, for this mutual sight is a continual torment, as we reproach one another for our crimes.

Have you encountered your victims? — A. I see them… they are happy; their gazes pursue me… I feel them pierce my being and in vain do I try to flee from them. 2 — What impression do those gazes cause you? — A. Shame and remorse. I caused them voluntarily and I still abhor them. 3 — And what impression do you cause them? — A. Pity.

Will they in turn feel hatred and the desire for vengeance? — A. No; the gazes they cast remind me of my expiation.

You cannot gauge the horrible torment of owing everything to those whom we hate.

Do you lament the loss of bodily life? — A. I lament only my crimes.

If the deed still depended on me, I would no longer succumb.

Was the inclination toward evil in your nature, or were you also influenced by the environment in which you lived? — A. Being an inferior Spirit, the tendency toward evil was in my own nature.

I wished to rise quickly, but I asked more than my strength could bear. Believing myself strong, I chose a harsh trial and ended up yielding to the temptations of evil.

If you had received sound principles of education, would you have turned away from the criminal path? — A. Yes, but I had chosen the condition of birth. 2 — Could you not perhaps have made yourself a man of good? — A. A weak man is incapable, both for good and for evil.

I might, perhaps, correct in life the evil inherent in my nature, but never rise to the practice of good.

When incarnate, did you believe in God? — A. No. 2 — But it is said that at the last hour you repented… — A. Because I believed in a vengeful God, it was natural that I should fear Him… 3 — And now is your repentance more sincere? — A. Indeed! I see what I did… 4 — What do you think of God, then? — A. I feel Him and I do not understand Him.

Does the punishment they inflicted on you on Earth seem just to you? — A. Yes.

Do you hope to obtain pardon for your crimes? — A. I do not know. 2 — How do you intend to repair them? — A. By new trials, although it seems to me that an eternity exists between them and me.

Where are you now? — A. I am in my suffering. 2 — We ask in what place you find yourself… — A. Near the medium.

Since that is so, in what form would we see you, if it were possible for us? — A. You would see me in my bodily form: the head separated from the trunk. 2 — Could you appear to us? — A. No; leave me.

Could you tell us how you escaped from the prison of Montdidier? — A. I know nothing more… my suffering is so great that I keep only the memory of the crime… Leave me.

Could we contribute to relieving you of that suffering? — A. Make vows that the expiation may come.