The history of witchcraft and demonologySummers, Montague
History
The history of witchcraft and demonology
Summers, Montague
Demonology; Demonology -- History; Witchcraft; Witchcraft -- History
When the priest appeared the girl was being held down in bed by two women
who were forced to put forth all their strength, and as soon as she saw
him—he was a complete stranger to her nor could his sacred profession
be recognized by his attire—so terrible were her struggles that her
husband was bound to lend his aid also to master her writhing limbs.
Presently she fell into a state of complete exhaustion, and Father Peach,
dismissing the rest of the company, was able to talk to her long and
seriously. He seems to have been quite satisfied that it was a genuine
case of diabolic possession, and his evidence, carefully expressed and
marshalled with great moderation, leave no reasonable doubt that this
strange sickness owned no natural origin. In the course of conversation
it appeared that she had never been baptized. A simple instruction was
given and finding her in excellent dispositions Father Peach at once
baptized her. During the administration of this sacrament she trembled
like a leaf, and as the water fell upon her she winced pitifully, a spasm
of agony distorting her countenance. She afterwards averred that it gave
her as much pain as if boiling water had been poured upon her bare flesh.
Immediately afterwards there followed a truly remarkable change in her
health and spirits; her husband and sister were overjoyed and thought
it no less than a miracle. The next day Father Peach visited her again
and noticed a rapid improvement. Save for a slight weakness she seemed
perfectly restored, and, says the good father, writing a twelvemonth
later than the event from notes he had taken at the time, there was no
return, nor the least lingering symptom of her terrible and distressing
malady.
In its issue of 11 October, 1925, _The Sunday Express_, under the heading
“Evil Spirit Haunts A Girl,” devoted a prominent column to the record of
some extraordinary happenings. The account commences:
“Haunted for twelve months and more by a mischievous spirit—called a
Poltergeist—driven almost to a state of distraction, threatened with a
lunatic asylum, and then cured by the help of a band of spirit Indians,
is the extraordinary experience of the nineteen-year-old Gwynneth Morley,
who lives with her widowed mother at Keighley, and who was employed in
the spinning mills of Messrs. Hay and Wright.”
These phenomena were communicated to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who
informed Mr. Hewet McKenzie, with the result that the girl was brought
to London for psychic treatment, Mr. McKenzie being “honorary principal
of the British College of Psychic Science,” an institution which is
advertised as the “Best equipped Centre for the study of Psychic
Science in Britain,” and announces “Lectures on Practical Healing,”
“Public Clairvoyance,” “A Small Exhibition of notable water colours ...
representing Soul development, or experience of the Soul in ethereal
conditions.” “The College” is, I am given to understand, a well-known
centre for spiritistic séances.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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