CHAPTER XVIII

Of Apparitions of Demons, or Spectres.
Argument.
T must be known that there are
many kinds of demons differing among themselves by fixed degrees. The first kind is the Fiery, for they dwell in the upper air and will never sink to the lower regions until the Day of Judgement, and these have no dealings on earth with men.
The second is the Aérial, for they dwell in the air about us. These can descend to Hell and, by assuming bodies formed from the denser air, can at times appear to men. More often, with the permission of God, they disturb the air and raise thunders and tempests; and they all conspire together for the ruin of the human race.
The third sort is Terrestrial; and we may not doubt that these were cast from Heaven upon earth for their sins. Some of these devils dwell in woods and forests, and lay snares for hunters; some dwell in the fields and lead nightfarers astray; others dwell in hidden places and caverns; while others delight to live in secret with men.
A fourth sort is of the Water; for
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they dwell under water in rivers and lakes; and are full of wrath, turbulent, unquiet and fraudulent. They raise up storms at sea, sink ships in the deep, and destroy life in the waters. When such demons appear, they are more often women than men; for they live in humid places and lead a softer manner of life. But those which live in drier and harder places usually appear as men.
The fifth sort is Subterranean, for they live in caves and caverns in the mountains. These demons are of the worst disposition, and chiefly molest those who dig pits or mines and look for treasure in the earth; and they are ever ready to harm the human race. They cause earthquakes and winds and fires, and shake the foundations of houses.
The sixth sort is called Lucifugous, because they chiefly abhor and detest the light, and never appear by day, nor can they assume a bodily form except at night. This kind of demons is altogether inscrutable and of a nature beyond human understanding, being all dark within, and shaken with icy passions; malicious, restless, and perturbed; and when they meet men at night they violently oppress them and, with the permission of God, often kill them by some breath or touch. Of this sort, perhaps, was that Asmodeus* of whom we read in the story of Tobias. This kind of demons has no dealings with witches ; neither can they be kept away by incantations, for they shun the light and the voices of men and every sort of noise.
It is further to be noted that the demon manifests himself in many various forms of spectres, such as dogs, cats, goats, oxen, Men, women, or a horned owl. But, that his deceptions may be made known to us, Almighty God will not allow him to appear in
* ““Asmodeus.”’ Possibly this demon corre- sponds with the demon called Abaddon, the De- stroyer, mentioned in the Apocalypse, IX, it.
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certain other forms, such as doves, lambs, or sheep; for the true Lamb is Christ, the Good Shepherd, and the Holy Spirit is won to make His appearance in the form of a dove: also, because these animals are with- out guile and do no harm, God does not permit him to appear in their form. But because the human form is in all respects the most perfect and beautiful, therefore he _ generally appears in that form to us. For, as Marulli* writes, the human form is adapted to nearly every purpose.
X
Examples.
A certain wagoner from Nancy was in a fenny copse on the outskirts of the town of Nancy, cutting wood, when a fierce storm suddenly arose. He made haste towards a cottage to find shelter, and on the way rested under a thick wide-spreading tree, and waited for the storm to abate. There he was surprised to see standing near him another woodman; and when he looked at him more closely (as we do when we meet a stranger) he saw that his nose kept shooting out to the length of a stick and then quickly contracting to its former shape and size; that his feet were cloven hooves; and that his whole body was of immoderate size. He was struck nearly dead with sheer terror at this, and then (as is the Christian custom in difficulties) made the sign of the Cross, after which he found himself alone as before. But he remained so stupefied by his experience that, though he was used to say that he could find his way about Nancy blindfold, now he could not do so even with the most diligent attention; but came to that city with his tongue sticking and his eyes staring and so trembling all over that it was easy
* “Marullt.”” Cesare Marulli, Archbishop of Palermo (1578).
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to believe what he said had happened. This belief was largely borne out by the report of what some other wood- men had seen at a distance; for they said that it had appeared to them that in that place the air had become thick and wrapped in a dense cloud.
In the same chapter Remy tells of a similar occurrence in 1588. One Nicolas Stephen had been com- missioned by Master Desiderius, the Mayor’s cellarman, to buy some wine vessels for him; and, having done so, he sent his wife Jacobeta (who was a witch) time and again to ask for the purchase money to be paid to him, but in vain. Jacobeta grew tired of asking and angry at so much waste of time and trouble, and turned her whole attention to finding the means and occasion to punish Desiderius for his tricks and subterfuges. Meanwhile it fell aptly enough that Desiderius was forced by an outbreak of the plague in his house to take refuge in the open fields, and lived there away from his household in a hut. As he was there with his only son there appeared to him late at night (through the agency of Jacobeta) a demon with so terrible a shrieking and groaning that it seemed as if the whole heaven had burst from its foundations and was falling upon his hut. And that this was no feigned terror maliciously assumed by Desiderius, as it was emptily rumoured, was afterwards proved by the fact that he and his son became so ill because of it that every- body who saw them despaired of them.
The following happened within our own memory at Colombiéres, a village six miles from Toul. At the extreme end of the village where the road goes to Salsure, a peasant lived in a humble cottage which was, how- ever, as clean and neat as his means would allow and had never been rumoured to be haunted by spectres. Yet it became occupied by a demon who was at first content with throw- ing stones at night at the servants without hurting them; but as they
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grew used to this they ignored it and treated it as a joke. The demon could not tolerate this contempt, so one dark night he set fire to the cottage, which was quickly burned almost to the ground. Some days later I was travel- ling that way and heard of this from the inhabitants; so I went myself to see the ruins of the cottage so that I could tell the story to others more clearly and with the greater authority.
The Spanish author Antonio de Turrecremata (Torquemada) writes as follows in his native tongue, and this is from his Fardin de las Flores curiosas. “‘At Salamanca there was a matron whose house was popularly said to be haunted by stone-throwing. The Mayor of the city, was incited by this rumour to test for himself whether the persistent report concerning that house was true, or whether it was not rather invented by the servants in order to cover some naughty pranks of theirs; for there were among them two young girls of no mean beauty, and it was suspected that the whole of this story had been fabricated in order to facilitate their meetings with their lovers. So the Mayor went to the house at the time when the stoning was said to be most frequent; and there went with him no less than twenty of the townsmen, some of whom he sent with a light to search the upper part of the house to see who it was who threw stones at the ser- vants. They searched diligently every- where, and came back and said they had found nothing at all alarming. He then decided to examine the cellars, to which some steps led down from the dining-room, and to spend some time in a further search in that direction. And lo! hardly had they reached the place before there was a great noise and stones began to be hurled at them and swept them off their legs, but without harming them. So they were sent again to see where this shower of stones came from; and although they found no one in the place, the shower of stones kept falling.
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This went far to confirm the opinion which many had formed, that the phenomena were all due to devil’s work and magic; and this belief they more stoutly maintained as the stones kept falling about their heads. Some of them there rushed from the house in terror; but one of them, feeling bolder at a safe distance, took up and care- fully noted the appearance of one particular stone and threw it into the house, saying: ‘If this came from you, O demon, throw the same stone back at me.’ And when this was at once done, there was no more room for doubt that the house was haunted by demons as the Matron had said.”
I remember, when the plague was raging at Toulouse about the year 1563 I was in Auch spending the night gaming and playing in amanner fitting my age and leisure, with my good friend Master Abel, a member of the Cathedral Chapter. And to all of us who were in that house a petu- lant demon of this sort manifested, as we were playing, noslight disturbance, hurling stones roughly here and there, although they fell to the ground with- out hurting anyone. The room was locked from the inside and there was no furniture, except the gaming table and the seats, so that there was no place where any mechanical device could have been hidden.
In such ways do good and evil demons approach men, with hatred, terror, hurt and injury. So says Remy as above quoted.
Nider in his Formicarius relates that when the Kingdom of Bohemia was shaken with tumults and massacres because of its heresies, near a valley on the boundary of that country there were heard shouts at night, and the clashing together of horsemen, who were often seen to be clothed in various colours. There were two bold standard- bearers in the camp not far from the valley of spectres, who determined to learn the whole truth and what these visions portended; so they went one night to the haunted valley and
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saw the usual spectres, but before they dared to come near to it one of them grew afraid and said to the other: “It is quite enough that we have seen these things at a distance; I shall not go near to them. For it is an old saying that no one should joke with such matters.” The other called him a coward and spurred his horse forward and drew near to the whole ghostly army, whereupon one of them came and cut off his head and returned to his companions. When the one who had loitered behind owing to his apprehensions saw this he took to flight and spread the news of this horror. And the next day they found the headless body and the head in the valley where the armies had been seen, but there was no trace of man or horse; and only the marks of some birds were seen in muddy places. Nider adds another story worthy of belief, which was told him by the Bishop of Mayence. He said that he knew a soldier from the Rhine, whose son was still living where he heard this story, who was remarkable for his intrepidity in warfare; and because of his boldness and pugnacity others were often involved in quarrels on account of which he used fre- quently to ride by night to suitable meeting places. One night he was thus riding with his attendants and came into a wood near the Rhine; but before coming out of the wood, since a wide plain lay beyond it, he sent one of his attendants, as is the habit of those who suspect an am- bush, to discover if there were any lurking enemies lying in wait for him in the plain at the end of the wood. It was a clear moonlight and star-lit night, and he had no difficulty in see- ing: so the attendant spied through the branches of the trees and saw a wonderful army extending right across the plain and advancing on horse- back, and came back and told his master, who said: ‘‘Let us stand still a little; for it is likely that a rearguard will follow this army, and we will ride
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up to those and inquire whether the main army are friends or enemies; nor will we be afraid of a few men.” After a short pause the soldier and his attendants came into the plain, and found no one except one man riding a horse and leading another by the bridle. The soldier went up to him and asked: ‘“‘Are you not my cook?”’ For so it seemed to him at a distance. That cook had died a little before this, and now answered: “I am _ he, Master.” The soldier then asked: ‘What are you doing here? And who are those who went before?’ The dead man answered: ‘“‘Master, they who went before are nobles and knights ’’(and he named many of them by name), ‘‘and they and I must this night be at Jerusalem, for that is our punishment.’ The soldier then asked: ‘“‘What is the meaning of this horse which you lead without a rider?” ‘*That,”’ he said, “‘is for your use if you will come with me to the Holy Land. Be assured by the Christian Faith | that I shall bring you back alive and safe if you obey my words.” Then said the soldier: “‘In my day I have done marvels, and I will not shrink from adventure too.” And though his attendants tried to dissuade him, he dismounted from his own horse and mounted that of the dead man, and they both vanished from their sight. On the next day, as his attend- ants were waiting by the same place, the soldier and the dead man returned to the place where they had first met, and the dead man said: “Lest you should think that this is nothing but a false phantasm, I give you two rare things which you must keep in memory of me—a small piece of cloth no fire can burn or scorch, and a knife in a sheath. The first, when it is dirty, you must clean in the flames: the second you must handle with care, for whoever is wounded by it, is poisoned.”
Cromerus, a diligent author, tells the following. Wratislaw I, King of Poland, was besieging Dramburg, a
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very strong city of Pomerania. One moonlight night the sentries saw a great host of armed enemies riding over the open fields and attacking the Polish lines: and when this happened many times the Poles became angry because they could never engage these enemies in hand-to-hand fighting. So one night, when this enemy army was announced to be at hand, they charged furiously out of the camp, troop after troop, and pursued the fleeing enemy for a long way in vain. Hearing this uproar in the Polish camp and seeing their charge from the camp, the besieged army made a sudden sortie and set fire to the military works and soldiers’ quarters, with burning straw and reeds, and so, since only a few had been left to guard the camp, easily burned all the works and the greater part of the camp. It is said that these were shadows of the night who, with divine permission, disturbed the Poles in this way because, in contempt of the usage and institutions of the Catholic Church, they had dared on a former expedition to desecrate the solemn Forty Days’ Fast of all Christians by the ungodly eating of flesh and milk foods. God sometimes permits such apparitions because of sin, either as a trial for the righteous, or to announce plagues, wars, changes in kingdoms, and such things, as the following examples show.
On the night before the sedition of Antioch, a huge woman of formidable appearance was seen, beating a bronze shield so violently that the sound was heard all over the city.
Gennadius, Patriarch of Constanti- nople, went one night to the altar to pray to God for the public safety, when there appeared to him a horrible spectre which, on being conjured according to the sacred ritual of exorcism, said that as long as Gennad- ius lived he was not allowed to inflict the injuries which were threatening that Church; but that when he was dead he would rage terribly against it.
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Cabades, King of Persia, heard that on the boundary between Persia and India, in a strongly fortified place named, there was a huge treasure of precious stones and gold and silver guarded by demons, who kept all mortals from coming near. He there- fore set out with an army and tried to take the place by storm, but the demons fought fiercely and drove him off. He then tried the arts of the Jews and Magicians, but these were equally useless. At last he was persuaded that he could win his desire by the prayer of Christians to God, and asked help from a Christian Bishop living in Persia. This Bishop ordered the Christians to fast, and with prayers performed the Divine mysteries before the congregation, and going to the place conjured the demons living there and drove them out, and with no trouble gave the fortress to Cabades. Of this sort was that demon of Basle which we have already mentioned.
Philinnion,* the daughter of Demo- stratus and Charito, fell in love with their guest Machates; but since her parents refused to countenance this, she died of grief and was publicly buried. Six months after her death, Machates returned to that house, and Philinnion entered to him and took supper with him and was entwined with him more than once that even- ing; and Machates gave her an iron ring and a gold cup, while she gave him a gold ring and a girdle. Now as her old nurse came to make sure that the guest lacked nothing, she saw her charge lying in bed with him, and joyfully told it to the girl’s parents. They ran up in astonishment, and the next morning found them both, and
* “Philinnion.” This is from Phlegon of Tralles, ‘‘Mirabilia,’’ No. 30. It may be read apud “‘Fragmenta Historicorum Graeco- rum.” Ed. Carolus Miillerus, Parisiis, Didot, 1849, vol. Ill, pp. 611-13. See ““The Vam- pire in Europe,” by Montague Summers, Chap- ter I, ““The Vampire in Greece and Rome,”
Pp. 34-37.
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with cries of joy embraced their daughter as she lay sleeping with their guest. But Philinnion looked at them with stern eyes and said: “‘O you cruel parents to your daughter! Did you then begrudge me three short days in my father’s house with my Machates? Whether it be curiosity or cruelty on your part, it will bring you great misfortune, for you will renew your former grief, and once more bury your daughter.’’ When she had said this, she grew pale and fell down like the dead corpse which she actually was; and her parents were overcome with sorrow. When. this matter became known to the people and the Magistrate, they ordered the tomb to be opened, and found it empty of any corpse; for there were in it only an iron ring and a gold cup, the gifts of Machates. But the corpse of Philinnion was found in the bed in his bedroom, and on the advice of a certain seer named Hyllus it was cast out of the city as a prodigy, to be devoured by the birds and beasts. As for Machates, when he saw that he had been mocked by a spectre, he would not bear the ignominy of it, and before long he laid violent hands upon himself.
Such are the many false resurrec- tions of the heathen: and just as it is agreed that the devil has to do with witches in an assumed body, either as Incubus or Succubus, so also in this kind of spectre a nauseating charnel smell is perceived.
Among the writings of the Germans (says Remy, I, 2) there is a popular story of a certain Aulicus, who received news of his wife’s death and of the manner of her burial. He at once returned home to see to his domestic concerns; and as he kept thinking of his wife during the night (as is usual when anyone has a deep-seated desire for anything), he saw her undressing herself as usual ready to come to bed with him. He made some effort to prevent her from doing this, since he had been assured that she was dead;
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but he was overborne by the sound of her voice and the sight of her body, and allowed her to lie down with him. And so he continued for some days, until the potent words of an Exorcist drove away the demon who had inhabited the corpse in order to delude and, if he could, destroy the husband. And certainly this could not have been done if the body had been informed with its own proper soul. But just as the law has power to eject an usurper, so let no one, who knows the power of adjurations and exorcisms, wonder that the demon can be cast out from his insidious occupation of a dead body.
Philostratus, in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, IV, xxv, records that a similar thing once happened to Menip- pus, the disciple of Demetrius the Cynic. He was going from Corinth to Cenchree, when he met a graceful and apparently rich foreign girl who said that she was seized with love for him, and familiarly invited him to turn aside into her house. Since he in his turn was taken with love for her, he lay with her many times and began to think of marrying her; for she had a house decked like a king’s palace. But as soon as Apollonius looked at the house he cried out that she was a Lamia who would soon either entirely devour him, or bring some terrible injury upon him.
Thomas of Brabant,*in his De bono uniuersali, II, 57, relates the following history. In Genappe, a sober and noted town of Brabant, a certain young man loved a girl who was a virgin, and spoke to her parents with a view to marrying her; but they refused. In the middle of the night the girl fell into an acute fever and
* “Thomas of Brabant.”? A Dominican and suffragan bishop, r201-70. He is gener- ally referred to as Thomas Cantimpratanus, or Thomas of Cantimpré. His famous work *““Bonum untuersale de Apibus’’ was immensely popular, but now is of the last rarity. I have used the Douai edition of 1597.
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grew so ill that they all thought she was dead; and they mourned and tolled the bell as if for the dead. The young man her lover was going that evening from that town to another, and as he was going by a thicket he heard the sound of a woman weeping. He anxiously ran up and, seeking for the woman he had heard, found the girl whom he thought to be dead, and said to her: “Your parents are mourn- ing you as dead! Whence have you come here?” “‘See,”’ she cried, ‘“‘the man going before me, who led me away.” The young man was aston- ished at this, since he saw no one except the girl; and he boldly caught her up and hid her in a house outside the town. Returning to the town, he spoke to his friends, and then went to the girl’s father as he sat with his friends at the funeral feast, and asked him if he would give him his daughter whom he was mourning as dead. The father answered in surprise: ‘‘Are you God, to raise up and wed the dead?”’ But the young man said: ‘Only promise me that I shall have your daughter as my wife if I bring her back alive and safe.” To this the father agreed, and confirmed his promise in presence of them ll. The young man then raised the shroud which hid the body, and they found an image so wonderful that it could have been the work of no man. For they who have seen such images made by the devil say that they are like rotten wood inside, but are covered outside with a delicate skin. After this the girl was brought back safe and sound to her father, and a few days later married the young man, and lived safely right up to our own times.
An old author tells in the Life of S. Robert* the Abbot that one night the Holy man saw a foul demon standing at the entrance of the Choir and repeatedly trying to enter, butin vain. He had the form of a peasant in a
* ‘°S'. Robert.” Abbot of Molesme; c. 1029-IIII.
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rough smock with long bare legs, carrying a basket on his back and a piece of wood slung in front of him; and he kept going about the Choir with his neck stretched out, looking attentively at the Brothers to see whether he could find in any of them a quality favourable to himself. The Man of God prayed earnestly and roused the Brothers from their torpor ; and when the wicked spy had waited a long time in vain and saw that he was meeting with no success, he mocked the sleepy Brothers with bitter laughter and, leaping about with extraordinary agility, applauded them whenever their thoughts were turning to evil. At last he found among them a young Brother whose thoughts kept wandering upon forbidden things, his body only being present in that place, for he was even meditating a secret flight. Seeing that this man was ripe for his purpose, the devil seized him with his pitch-fork and thrust him into his basket and quickly ran away with him. Perceiving this, the Holy man was in great anxiety for that Brother’s safety, and diligently sought for him in the morning. But he had escaped before the dawn and had become an outcast, throwing off the easy yoke of Christ and following the Enemy; for he joined himself with the worst criminals and gave himself up to brigandage, and was not long afterwards captured and miserably punished with death.
Ranulf Higden,t the author of the Polychronicon, writes that Count Richard went one night alone into the church to pray, and found there a coffin with a corpse in it. While the Count was praying, the corpse burst from its shroud with a great cry and
+ “Ranulf Higden.”’ Benedictine chroni- cler; a monk of S. Werburg, Chester; died 1364. The “‘Polychronicon,” a universal history to his own times, was translated into English by John of Trevisa in 1387, and this version was printed by Caxton in 1482, and by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495.
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rushed with arms outstretched as if to embrace him. The Count made the sign of the Cross on his brow, and having adjured it in vain to depart, drew his sword and cut it in two; and he then ordered that the Office for the dead with Requiem Masses should be solemnly sung throughout the whole land.
More wonderful than any is the following, taken from the description of Muscovy by Guagninus.* He writes that certain inhabitants of the Livonian district of Russia die every year on the 27th of November on account of the intense cold, just like swallows and frogs; and on the 24th of April in the next spring they come to life again. He adds that when they feel their annual death approaching, they put their possessions in a certain place; and their neighbours, the Ruthenians and Courlanders, take these away, leaving equivalent goods in their place. When they come to life again, they take their goods if they seem to be just; but if they do not appear just they demand their own back. And therefore much strife and warfare are said to arise between them.
Sigismund, Baron Herbestein,} it
* “Guagninus.” Alessandro Guagnini (or Alexander Gwagnin, as he turned his name) was born at Verona in 1538 and died at Cracow in 1614. His whole life was spent in Poland, and he became a naturalised Pole. For a full study of this curious and most interesting man see Carlo Cipolla’s ‘“‘Un Italiano nella Polonia e nella Svezia tra il XVI e il XVII secolo,”” Torino, 1887. The work of Guagnini from which Guazzo quotes 1s the monumental ““Sarmatiae Europeae Descriptio, quae Reg- num Poloniae, Lituaniam, Samogitiam, Rus- stam, Masouiam, Prussiam, Pomeraniam, Liuoniam, et Moschouiae Tartartaeque partem complectitur, Alexandri Gwagnini Ueronensis, Equitis Aurati peditumque praefecti, diligentia conscriptae,”’ Cracow, 1578.
t “Baron Herbestein.” Sigismund, Baron Herbestein was born in 1486. He was pro- moted and became eminent in the Austrian ser- vice, and acted as Ambassador to Russia and to Constantinople. He died in 1566. The De-
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is true, relates the same story in his Rerum Moscouitarum Commentarit, but he makes it quite clear that he regards it as a mere fable.
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