Noisy spirits. How to rid oneself of them.

— We are written from Gramat (Lot):

“In a house of the hamlet of Coujet, commune of Bastit (Lot), extraordinary noises have been heard for about two months. At first they were sharp blows very similar to the striking of a club on the floor, heard from all sides: under the feet, over the head, on the doors, on the furniture; soon after, the footsteps of a barefoot man and the drumming of fingers on the windowpanes. The inhabitants of the house became frightened and had masses said; the population, uneasy, went to the hamlet and listened. The police intervened and conducted several inquiries but the noise increased. Soon the doors were opened, objects knocked over, chairs hurled against the staircase, furniture carried from the lower floor to the attic. All that I relate, attested by a great number of persons, took place in broad daylight. The house is not an old cottage, dark and blackened, whose aspect makes one dream of phantoms; it is a recently built and cheerful house; the owners are good people, incapable of wishing to deceive and dying of fear. Yet they often think that there is nothing supernatural there, seeking to explain everything extraordinary that happens by physics or by the bad intentions which they attribute to the inhabitants of the house. I, who saw and believed, resolved to address myself to you to learn which spirits make this noise and to know the means, if it exists, of silencing them. It is a service you would render to those good people, etc.…”

— Facts of this nature are not rare; they all resemble one another more or less and in general differ only by their intensity or by their greater or lesser tenacity. When they are limited to a few noises without much consequence they cause no uneasiness, but when they acquire a certain proportion they turn into a veritable calamity. Our honored correspondent asks which spirits make this noise. The answer leaves no doubt: spirits of a very inferior order are the only culprits. Superior spirits, like grave and serious men among us, do not amuse themselves by making a racket. We have often called them to ask them the reason that thus impels them to disturb the repose of others. The majority have no other object than to amuse themselves. They are frivolous spirits rather than wicked ones, who smile at the fears they occasion and at the useless searches made to discover the cause of the tumult they provoke. Frequently they fasten upon an individual, delighting in vexing him and pursuing him from house to house; at other times they attach themselves to a place without any motive, save by caprice. Sometimes too it is a vengeance they exercise, as we shall have occasion to see. In certain cases their intention is more praiseworthy: they wish to draw attention and establish contact, either to give a useful warning to the person they address, or to request something for themselves. We have often seen some of them ask for prayers, others request the fulfillment, in their name, of promises they could not pay; and, finally, in the interest of their own repose, others wishing to repair a bad action committed when they lived among us.

— In general there is no reason to be frightened; their presence may be importunate but offers no danger. It is understandable, moreover, that we should have a desire to rid ourselves of them; nevertheless, we do exactly the contrary of what we ought to do. If they are spirits who amuse themselves, the more seriously we take the thing, the more they persist, like mischievous children who annoy all the more the more they see that we grow impatient, and who frighten the faint-hearted. If we took the wise course of laughing at their pranks, they would end by tiring and would leave us in peace. We know someone who, far from growing irritated, excited them, challenging them to do this or that thing, so that at the end of a few days they no longer appeared. But, as we have already said, there are others whose motive is less frivolous. This is why it is always useful to know what they want. If they ask for something, let us be sure that their visits will cease as soon as their desire is satisfied. The best way to inform ourselves on this subject is to evoke the spirit through a good writing medium. By their answers we shall see immediately with whom we are dealing and, consequently, how we may act; if it is an unfortunate spirit, charity bids us treat it with the care it deserves. If it is a joker of bad taste, we may act upon it at will; if it is malevolent, we must ask God to make it better. In any case, prayer can only give good results. Yet the gravity of the formulas of exorcism makes them laugh and is taken into no consideration. If we can enter into communication with them, we must beware of the burlesque or frightening qualifications they sometimes give themselves, in order to amuse themselves with our credulity. In many cases the difficulty consists in having a medium at one’s disposal. It is necessary, then, that we seek to become one of them or to interrogate the spirit directly, according to the precepts we offer in our Practical Instructions on the Manifestations. [see The Mediums’ Book.]

These phenomena, although executed by inferior spirits, are often provoked by spirits of a more elevated order, with the aim of convincing us of the existence of incorporeal beings and of a power superior to that of man. The repercussion resulting therefrom, the very fear they cause, draw attention and will end by opening the eyes of the most incredulous. These latter find it easier to reduce such phenomena to the plane of the imagination, an explanation that is, moreover, very convenient and dispenses with others. Yet when objects are overturned or thrown at our head it would require a very obliging imagination to suppose that such things happened, when in fact they do not happen. If we observe any effect, that effect necessarily has a cause. If a cold and calm observation demonstrates to us that this effect is independent of all human will and of any material cause; if, moreover, it gives us evident signs of intelligence and of free will, which constitutes the most characteristic sign, we are then forced to attribute it to a hidden intelligence. What are these mysterious beings? It is what Spiritist studies teach us in the most peremptory manner, by the means they offer us of entering into communication with them. Furthermore, these studies teach us to separate what is real from what is false or exaggerated, in phenomena whose causes we do not perceive. If an unusual effect is produced: noise, movement, the apparition itself, the first thought we ought to have is that it is due to a natural cause, this being more probable. It is necessary then to investigate this cause with the greatest care and not to admit the intervention of spirits except with knowledge of the cause. It is the only means of not deluding ourselves.