Ghost Stories, December, 1926
In the House of Screaming
Skulls
by M. Bouillard As told to Ed Poirers
Those skulls were broken to fragments-battered against walls — hurled from windows—and still they continued to scream their curse on the house of Bouillard ON the banks of the Lugre stands the Chateau
during recent years, the old chateau still
Lavignac. It is set upon the crest of Lavignac retains an atmosphere of age coupled with
Hill, overlooking the town and commanding a
something that to the sensitive and
very beautiful view of the river for many
superstitious is peculiarly uncanny.
miles. It is the ancestral home of my parents.
Is it any wonder that I have been
For centuries it has been the dwelling place of unable to sell or rent the place? Terrible tales the Bouillards. Though it has been renovated
have been told all over the countryside about
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2
the chateau. It is called by the superstitious owned, however, none were so desirable for
folk the “Chateau of the Screaming Skulls.”
the site of this house as the land held by
There is an old story handed from Neighbor DeFronte. Time and time again they generation to generation by word of mouth;
made offers to DeFronte to buy his land, but
and if it were not for the fact that I have seen he would not sell. He could not bear to part
these skulls with my own eyes I would be
with the land that had been his father’s
inclined to doubt the veracity of this weird
father’s.
tale. I have never heard the screams, but I
Many times Bouillard went to him
have seen the skulls. I cannot say that I am
offering inducements—but to no avail.
very proud of the story and it isn’t often that I DeFronte was obdurate. He would not sell on
tell it, for it does, no credit to my illustrious any condition.
ancestors. Of course, in those days might was
As the story runs, my noble and none
right.
too scrupulous ancestor came back from one
Back in the seventeenth century before
of those meetings vowing to himself that he
Chateau Lavignac was built, the land upon
would get the DeFronte farm, if not by fair
which it now stands was owned by one Jules
means, then by foul.
DeFronte. He was a small farmer, tilling his
Whether or not Madam Bouillard was
soil and loving it for what it yielded. He lived the author of the wicked deed that was done, I with his wife in a little cabin. They were a
can not say. It is not fair to intimate she
hard working, thrifty couple who loved their
instigated the dastardly crime that followed,
little home, set upon the hilltop nestled among without being definitely certain. It is a known the pines. Their few acres of ground were to
fact, however, that she had a hand in it, and, if them as their life’s blood, for they had been
she was not the prime mover, she at least was
handed down to DeFronte through a long well up in the front. Some women do series of generations.
influence men to crime and, when a man is
Now, there were in the town of under the influence of such a woman, who am Lavignac, Jacques Bouillard and his wife, the
I to say which one is most to blame?
good Madam Bouillard. He was the first of my
noble ancestors of which there is any trace.
A FEW days after the final meeting with
Before him they were nobodies. Bouillard had
DeFronte, in which he received the decided
acquired a good-sized fortune and was the
answer, Monsieur Bouillard rode over to the
head of a large and rather influential family.
DeFronte cottage. Smiling, he offered his
Though he was not titled, he was of wealthy
hand to DeFronte, telling him that he had
bourgeoisie that could meet the nobility on
given up all desire to buy his land and that he terms of equality, due to his tremendous had decided to build the chateau on the land wealth and his power over the country people.
which he himself owned. He expressed a very
Bouillard owned all of Lavignac Hill, with the sincere wish that since they were to be
exception of the piece of land held by neighbors, they should bury the past, be DeFronte.
friends, and he hoped the few harsh words he
had spoken would be forgotten. To show his
MADAM BOUILLARD was very beautiful
sincerity and sorrow for the way he had
and intensely ambitious. With Monsieur treated Monsieur DeFronte, he invited him Bouillard she had planned to build a fine and his wife to be his guests at his home in house on Lavignac Hill, that would be the talk town on Christmas Day, which was then only
of the countryside. Of all the acres they two weeks away.
In the House of Screaming Skulls 3
Of course, an invitation to the have attracted the attention of all those at the Bouillard’s on Christmas was not to be table, both to the farmer and the goblet. It also neglected in the town of Lavignac, at least, not served to connect them both in the minds of
by people in the humble position of the those present. The fact that DeFronte had paid DeFrontes. So when Christmas Day rolled particular attention to the work was registered around Jules DeFronte and his wife mingled
with those at the table.
with Bouillard’s other guests, probably
Two days after the dinner, soldiers
looking, in their plain homespun clothes, like came to the house of DeFronte and arrested
two sparrows at a peacock picnic.
him and his wife. They were thrown into
As the story goes, my noble ancestors
prison without being informed of the charge
went out of their way to make the DeFrontes
upon which they were arrested. They were left
comfortable, taking great pains to have them
there for two weeks, then taken out and hauled introduced to all the guests and deeply before the magistrate. Monsieur and Madam resenting any attitude of indifference shown
Bouillard appeared and accused the prisoners
toward them. It was plain that they were to be of stealing the valuable goblet. The poor
considered the guests of honor. When the farmer and his wife were disconsolate, for DeFrontes sat down to dinner they felt morose
they had no more stolen that goblet than I had.
and decidedly uncomfortable. They remained
At the trial many witnesses bore
noticeably silent. This can easily be testimony to the effect that Farmer DeFronte understood.
had paid particular attention to the goblet at My ancestor’s jewels were the talk of
the dinner in Bouillard’s house on Christmas
the countryside. He was famous for his Day. Madam Bouillard told a damning story, collection of antique plate, specially wrought the most of it, I am frank to admit, untrue. She silverware and golden vessels. Around the told of the conversation that took place, how DeFrontes were placed many dishes of the
the goblet had been set before the prisoner for finest workmanship, their
value a well him to use, and how she had been attracted by established fact The poor farmer and his wife
the attention he had paid to it. Two of the
never had seen such exquisite things and they
Bouillard’s servants came forward and said
could not keep their gaze away from them.
that they had observed Madam DeFronte and
They relieved their embarrassment by staring
her husband lingering in the dining room after at these various works of art. Jules DeFronte’s the rest of the guests had withdrawn to the
attention was especially fixed on a small parlor.
goblet that was placed at the right hand side of Finally, the goblet itself was produced
his seat. It was filled with the most exquisite and two soldiers swore that, when they had
wine my ancestor had out of his cellar. Out of searched DeFronte’s cottage after the arrest,
it DeFronte drank, during the course of the
they had found it hidden in a cupboard.
meal, and he continued to gape at it and fondle In face of such a formidable array of
it whenever his hands came near it.
testimony the denials of the poor farmer and
A lull came in the conversation, giving
his wife were useless. So, according to the
Madam Bouillard a chance to remark.
cruel code of the time, they were sentenced to
“I see, good neighbor DeFronte, that
death. Neither had spoken while the trial was
you greatly admire that goblet. It is well worth in progress, but as the magistrate finished
your attention, for it is valued at over three pronouncement of penalty, Madam DeFronte
thousand francs.”
sprang from her chair, pointed her finger at
DeFronte started. This remark must Bouillard and his wife, and her voice rang
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4
with a weird prophetic note as she said forgotten, so Madam Bouillard paid no heed vehemently:
to the weird dancing shadows. She walked
“As there is a just God in Heaven,
resolutely up the stairs.
Jacques Bouillard, you and your wife will rue
Suddenly she stopped, frozen with
this crime. It will haunt you to your graves.
terror. She screamed—and a piercing,
You have damned yourself to grab our land.
agonized scream it was. The guests ran out
Neither you nor your breed will prosper with
and up the stairs to where their trembling
it. Your friendship shall be fatal and all those hostess was standing. She was rigid as one
that you and your children shall love will die petrified. Her lips moved, but she was
in sorrow. You will have no happiness in this
speechless. All she could do was to point to
world and will burn in eternal fire in the next.
the landing above her. The guests looked and
As sure as they die, Jules DeFronte and his
were aghast at what they saw.
wife will be with you day and night until
Sitting on the stair railing were two
eternity. Never, as long as your blood flows
grinning, leering skulls. A sickly, repulsive
upon this earth, shall you or your posterity be grin was on each, and the eye sockets were
rid of the specters of Jules DeFronte and his
distorted to give a most grotesque slant to the wife. Remember.”
whole head. It was horrifying.
She was quickly silenced and dragged
One of the guests, more adventurous
off to prison with her husband. Two days later and playful than the others, approached them.
they were dead; but Jacques Bouillard was to
He came within three feet of them when they
find that the curse of Madam DeFronte was to
let out a most bloodcurdling series of cries and come to pass.
moans. Undaunted, this brave fellow struck at
them with his sword and they fell clattering to NO sooner were the DeFrontes dead than my
the floor. They were real skulls, no phantoms
most worthy ancestor seized their land. He cut of distorted minds. They crashed to the floor
down their loved trees and wrecked their with a noise that resounded throughout the homestead; he began building the house of his
halls of the great house; and there they were
dreams in its place.
broken into bits.
Before many moons had passed over
“This is a trick,” someone said; and
Lavignac Hill the mansion was complete, and
everyone present was inclined to agree with
arrangements were made for a monster house-
him. Here were two real skulls, and it was
warming to which the gentry for miles around
hard for any normal-minded person to believe
were invited. It was a gala occasion for that they came of their own free will. They Lavignac. The gentry came in silks and satins.
must have been propelled by some outside
Merriment ran high. Huge bonfires were built
force and what could be more logical than to
on the grounds, while inside the great hall a
assume that that outside force was a pair of
feast such as was never seen in Lavignac, was
human hands?
spread.
Suspicion immediately fell upon a
During the course of the evening, servant of the house and he was flogged to Madam Bouillard left the great hall to get
make him confess. But the poor fellow was
some of her rare jewels to exhibit to the innocent. This was soon proven. My ancestors guests. The great staircase was dimly lighted
were convinced that it was not the servant
by candles placed in niches especially built
who was the instigator of the trick, but some
into the wall and grotesque shadows played on
supernatural power.
the wall. The curse of Madam DeFronte was
In the House of Screaming Skulls 5
ABOUT a week later when Monsieur and
heels of the family. Jacques Bouillard lost
Madam Bouillard were preparing to visit the
most of his fortune. Every venture into which
home of a neighbor some miles away, the
he went was fatal. His most intimate friends
skulls appeared again. This time they came
met with great distress, and they died some of when the house was asleep, resting for the
the most horrible deaths one could imagine.
morrow’s journey. At two o’clock in the After a few years, shunned by all of their morning terrible screams went reverberating
friends, tired of life and sick at heart, the
through the halls of Chateau Lavignac. master and mistress of Chateau Lavignac died, Instantly all was in confusion. The ghoulish
leaving their son little save the chateau.
yells came again. Faces peered out of doors,
and half dressed men came running out into
WHEN the heir of Jacques Bouillard took
the halls. There, perched on the staircase, were over the house, the skulls screamed all night.
the two skulls.
In his headstrong youth he tried to get rid of Not very much sleeping was done in
them by breaking them again as his father had
Chateau Lavignac that night. In the morning,
done, but the very next night they reappeared
Monsieur Bouillard took the skulls and threw
as before. From subsequent developments it
them into the co
urtyard, where he watched
seemed that the fury of the specters lessened
them break with a resounding crash into a
after the death of Jacques and Madam
thousand pieces. But the very next night they
Bouillard. At any rate, so the story goes, they were back in the house again.
only appeared at Christmas when they howled
As time wore on, my worthy ancestors
all night. There never has been a happy
led a most intolerable existence. Every time
Christmas in the Bouillard family since that
any great event would happen at Lavignac, the
dreadful night when the DeFrontes came to
skulls would appear and let out their fiendish dinner.
cries. No servant would stay at Lavignac, not
When the next in line of the Bouillards
even overnight. Guests became fewer and was married, the skulls screamed in fiendish fewer, and only the oldest and most delight on his bridal night, nearly scaring his courageous friends dared visit the Bouillards
young wife to death.
at all. Invitations were declined, for people
There are two restrictions that the
remembered the curse of Madam DeFronte
skulls impose on every generation of the
which prophesied misfortune to all friends of
Bouillard family: They must not be removed
Bouillard. Yet no one can say that my worthy
from the house. At frequent intervals this is
ancestor was lacking in courage, for he went
tried by some headstrong member of the
on living in the chateau, regardless of the
family, with the result that they scream all
ghoulish disturbances.
night long. Nor can anyone give a dinner at
It was the stark reality of the skull that
the chateau. It has been tried, but each time
added the touch of horror to the curse. If they the guests have fled in terror when the skulls had been mere ghostly wraiths, it would not
began their unearthly howling.
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