Possession, Demoniacal And Other

by T K Oesterreich

  This great power which the exorcists alone have exerted has been described by St Jerome (348–420) in the episode of Hilarion the anchorite which is contained in the highly apocryphal biography of the latter. The facts are, however, not beyond the bounds of possibility.

  Nor must we omit to tell that Orion, a leading man and wealthy citizen of Aira, on the coast of the Red Sea, being possessed by a legion of demons was brought to him. Hands, neck, sides, feet, were laden with iron, and his glaring eyes portended an access of raging madness. As the saint was walking with the brethren and expounding some passage of scripture the man broke from the hands of his keepers, clasped him from behind and raised him aloft. There was a shout from all, for they feared lest he might crush his limbs, wasted as they were with fasting. The saint smiled and said: “Be quiet and let me have my rival in the wrestling match to myself.” Then he bent back his hand over his shoulder till he touched the man’s head, seized his hair and drew him round so as to be foot to foot with him; he then stretched both his hands in a straight line, and trod on his two feet with both his own, while he touched the man’s head, seized his hair and drew him round so as to be foot to foot with him; he then stretched both his hands in a straight line, and trod on his two feet with both his own, while he cried out again and again. “To torment with you! Ye crowd of demons, to torment!” The sufferer shouted aloud and bent back his neck till his head touched the ground, while the saint said, “Lord Jesus, release this wretched man, release this captive. Thine it is to conquer many, no less than one.” What I now relate is unparalleled: from one man’s lips were heard different voices and as it were the confused shouts of a multitude. Well, he too was cured, and not long after came with his wife and children to the monastery bringing many gifts expressive of his gratitude…1

  In more than one case the demon lays down conditions on which he will depart. Bälz has observed some of these cases in Japan. Here is one:

  At the end of some weeks a renowned exorcist of the sect of the Nuhiren was summoned and proceeded to solemn exorcism. Neither excommunication nor censing nor any other endeavour succeeded, the fox saying ironically that he was too clever to be taken in by such manœuvres. Nevertheless he consented to come out freely from the starved body of the sick person if a plentiful feast was offered to him. “How was it to be arranged?” On a certain day at four o’clock there were to be placed in a temple sacred to foxes and situated twelve kilometres away two vessels of rice prepared in a particular way, of cheese cooked with beans, together with a great quantity of roast mice and raw vegetables, all favourite dishes of magic foxes: then he would leave the body of the girl exactly at the prescribed time. And so it happened. Punctually at four o’clock when the food was placed in the distant temple the girl sighed profoundly and cried: “He has gone!” The possession was cured.1

  Exorcism is not, however, efficacious in all cases, but generally speaking we have as yet no precise evidence as to why suggestion is used with effect in one case and not in another.

  A case in which all the forms of suggestion, even hypnotic, failed, was observed by Bälz at Tokio. We shall have occasion to quote it again later.

  My efforts to produce a cure by verbal suggestion or otherwise——by hypnosis, electrical manipulations, etc.—did not succeed. The patient had passed without success through the hands of so many professional suggestionists, priests, and exorcists of all sorts that I could do nothing more in that direction. Her malady had taken the form of a regularly periodic obsession and she tried to make terms with it. Between the fits she had the full use of her reason, except that she was easily frightened. Her memory had not suffered essentially, nor was there any sign of degeneration. I do not know what became of her.2

  The following is a cure of a somewhat violent nature also reported by Bälz:

  Many cases of cure by the threat of sharp weapons are known. In Japan a despairing father tied his youngest daughter, who was possessed by a fox, to a pillar and rushing upon her with drawn sword cried: “Wicked spirit, if thou dost not forthwith leave this child I will kill you both!” The girl was cured.3

  The phenomena of exorcism correspond to those of the genesis of possession. Like the intruding spirit the spirit to be expelled is in most cases conceived as something subtly material which must be driven from the body and which leaves it by a specific place.

  For this reason it sometimes happens that the spectators are subject to delusions or even hallucinations. For example, an account of a case of possession dating from 1559 relates:

  … and the evil spirit was at length driven out of the girl and made its way through the window like a swarm of flies.1

  We will quote by way of curiosity a modern case observed by d’Allonnes, in which every method of treatment, religious exorcism and medical hypnotism alike, was fruitless until the cure was operated by the sole and unaided virtue of—methylene blue.

  … At length she even had recourse to doctors. It must be admitted that they are the only persons who obtained any result. They prescribed pills containing methylene blue, the sole effect of which is to colour the urine. This coloration produced a great effect on Alexandra and her devil; he no longer dared approach that part of the body which he believed to be poisoned.2

  But there are also cures by simple autosuggestion, the most remarkable of which is that of the maid of Orlach. Its starting-point was a hallucination occurring at a time when there was as yet no possession,

  … That same day at half-past seven the girl perceived at the back of the cowshed, against the wall, the grey shape of a woman whose head and body were enveloped in something like a black band. This apparition beckoned to the girl with its hand.

  An hour later when she was giving forage to the stock the same form appeared to her again and began to speak to her. It said: “Flee from the house! Flee from the house! If it is not pulled down before the 5th of March of the coming year a misfortune will happen to you.… Promise me that you will do it!”

  The girl then gave the promise. Her father and brother were present and heard her speaking, but saw and heard nothing else.3

  On the 23rd of August there was a new hallucination, the apparition of a white spirit which again recalled the promise to pull down the house on the given date. From this moment onwards the girl’s father made arrangements to demolish his house and build a new one, so marvellous did this appear to many people.4

  After more than five months the possessed was brought to Kerner. As he records, he encouraged the parents’ belief—

  … “in the demoniacal possession of their child, and this was mainly for the girl’s sake and in order to be able to subject her to a more searching observation. I explained her state solely as a malady against which all the usual medicaments would be useless so that they had up to that time rightly refused for their daughter the aid of all the chemists’ bottles, boxes of pills, and pots of ointment. To the girl also I recommended no remedy except prayer and low diet. As for the action of magnetic passes which I only tried upon her two or three times, the demon tried to neutralize them immediately by counter-passes made with the girl’s hands. This remedy also failed as did, generally speaking, all others without this causing me any anxiety, because I had in any case recognized the girl’s state as demoniaco-magnetic and had confidence in the divination of the better spirit, that which had promised her cure before the 5th of March. I left her in this belief without anxiety.”1

  See below the account of the real healing.

  Yet more remarkable is the following self-cure, on the occasion of which an exorcist had an hallucination and spoke automatically by the mouth of the possessed, so that another possession supervened side by side with the demoniacal one. (I shall not study this phenomenon.)

  On January 26th at eleven o’clock in the morning, the very hour that the girl in a waking state (told, as she said, by an angel), had announced as the hour of her deliverance, the cessation of these incidents (fits) took place. The last that was heard was a voice iss
uing from the girl’s mouth and crying: “Impure spirit, come out of this child! Knowest thou not that this child is my best-beloved!” Then she recovered consciousness.

  On January 31st the same state returned with all its symptoms.… On February 9th, which had similarly been indicated by the girl on January 31st as the day of deliverance, her torments came to an end in the same way as the first time. On February 9th at noon, after the same voice had several times announced his departure, these words were heard to come from the girl’s mouth: “Hence, impure spirit! This is a sign of the last time!” The girl awoke and has remained in good health up to the present day.2

  Finally in many cases where, as in the epidemics of possession, the fits had generally no deep-seated foundation in an hysterical affection but were more or less voluntarily induced, it was sufficient simply to isolate the patients in order to restore their peace of mind. This was the case with Jeanne des Anges and her companions: with isolation all the phenomena ceased at once.3 (Owing to fresh exorcisms they were subsequently called forth again.)

  Janet undertook a psychological exorcism of a refined nature upon one of his patients who had already been ill for four months before coming into his hands. He first assured himself that the psychological cause of the phenomena of compulsion was remorse of conscience for a conjugal fault. The procedure employed by Janet to end the possession consisted simply in putting the patient into a state of somnambulistic suggestion and then sorting out and gradually effacing all the memories which tormented him. The apogee and crux of this treatment was to suggest the presence of the patient’s wife who appeared before his hallucinated eyes and solemnly forgave him.

  This scene of pardon was only an hallucination, but although its elements were therefore false they constituted for the patient’s conscience a living reality so strong in its effect that the oppressive memory and remorse disappeared in him, together with all the phenomena of possession.

  By reason of its interest, I will quote the principal passages of Janet’s account.

  The patient is a man of thirty-three years who was brought to the Saltpêtrière four years ago in Charcot’s time. I was able closely to examine this person confided to my care, and was fortunate enough to restore his reason completely in a few months. The cure has been maintained for more than three years and the patient has been followed up for a sufficient length of time to render it possible now to study his delirium, examining the means which effected the cure and which may be called modern exorcism, and finally to extract from this observation the maximum of information possible. There is, moreover, no objection to my relating the misadventures of this unfortunate man; I will give him a false name and change that of his native place together with his social position; the psychological and medical facts alone will be accurate.…

  Achille, as we will call him, belonged to a family of peasants in a small way in the south of France; he was brought up amongst simple people, evidently without much education. This confirms Esquirol’s remark that the delirium of possession is to-day practically confined to the lower classes. His parents and the villagers were superstitiously inclined and strange legends were current about his family. His father was accused of having at some previous time given himself to the devil and of going every Saturday to an old tree-trunk to converse with Satan who handed him a bag of money.…

  … Achille was hereditarily predisposed to insanity …: he was a degenerate in the classic sense of the word.

  Achille had a normal childhood; he was educated in a little grammar school and showed himself studious and diligent although of only average intelligence; he had in particular a very good memory and read voraciously without much selection. He was sensitive to impressions, took everything seriously “as if it had really happened,” as he said, and remained upset for a long time after a fright, a punishment, or the slightest incident. He did not share the superstitions of his village and even had very few religious beliefs. He might have been declared almost normal had he not frequently had sick headaches and had certain small facts which seem to me to have their significance not been observed. Although very sensitive and affectionate he did not succeed in making friends, but was always alone and rather an object of ridicule to his schoolfellows.…

  Achille, having left school early … engaged in a small business.… A very fortunate thing for him was that he married early, towards the age of twenty-two years, a kindly and devoted woman who corrected several imaginative aberrations and made him sensible and happy for several years. He had one child, a little girl who grew up absolutely normal, and everything: went well with him for about ten years. Achille was thirty-three years old when he experienced a series of accidents which brought him in the course of a few months to the Saltpêtrière.…

  Towards the end of the winter of 1890 Achille had to make a short journey necessitated by his business, and returned home at the end of a few weeks. Although he said he was quite well and made efforts to appear in good spirits, his wife found him changed. He was gloomy, preoccupied, he scarcely ever kissed his wife and child and spoke very little. At the end of several days this taciturnity increased and the poor man had difficulty in muttering a few words during the course of a day. But his silence assumed a quite peculiar aspect: it ceased to be voluntary as at first; Achille was no longer silent because he did not wish to speak, but because he was not able to speak. He made fruitless efforts to utter a sound and could no longer manage it; he had become dumb. The doctor consulted shook his head and found the case very grave; he tested the heart, examined the urine, and concluded that it was general debility, a modification in the humours, dyscrasia, perhaps diabetes, etc., etc. The fear of all these drove Achille distracted—he rapidly recovered his speech in order to complain of all sorts of pains.…

  As at the end of a full month there was no perceptible improvement, Achille went to consult another doctor (who diagnosed angina pectoris).

  The unfortunate man took to his bed and was overcome by the blackest depression. He no longer did anything and moreover no longer understood a word of what he read, often seeming unable even to grasp the remarks addressed to him. To all the questions of his despairing wife, he replied that he did not know what depressed him in this way, that he still kept a stout heart, but that in spite of himself he felt the most gloomy presentiments. He slept from time to time, but even in sleep his lips moved and murmured incomprehensible words while tears streamed from his eyes. At length his presentiments appeared to be realized. One day when he was more depressed than usual he called his wife and child, embraced them despairingly, then stretched himself upon his bed and made no further movement. He remained thus motionless during two days while those who watched beside him expected at every moment to see him breathe his last.

  Suddenly, one morning, after two days of apparent death, Achille arose, sat up with both eyes wide open, and broke into a frightful laugh. It was a convulsive laugh which shook his whole body, a laugh of unnatural violence which twisted his mouth, a lugubrious laugh which lasted for more than two hours and was truly satanic.

  From that moment everything was changed. Achille leapt out of bed and refused all attention. To every question he replied: “Do nothing, it is useless, let us drink champagne, it is the end of the world.” Then he uttered horrible cries, “They are burning me, they are cutting me to pieces.” These cries and wild movements lasted until the evening, then the unhappy man fell into a troubled sleep.

  The reawakening was no better; Achille related to his assembled family a thousand dreadful things. The demon, said he, was in the room, surrounded by a crowd of little horned and grimacing imps; still worse, the devil was within him and forced him to utter horrible blasphemies. In fact Achille’s mouth, for he declared that he had nothing to do with it, abused God and the saints and repeated a confused mass of the most filthy insults to religion. Yet graver and more cruel was the fact that the demon twisted his legs and arms and caused him the most hideous sufferings which wrung horrible cries from the poor
wretch. This was thought to be a state of high fever with transitory delirium, but the condition was lasting. Achille but rarely had calmer moments when he embraced his daughter, weeping and deploring his sad fate which had made him the prey of demons. He never expressed the least doubt as to his possession by the devil, of which he was absolutely convinced. “I have not believed sufficiently in our holy religion nor in the devil,” he often said; “he has taken a terrible revenge, he has me, he is within me and will never leave me.”

  When he was not watched, Achille escaped from the house, ran across the fields, hid in the woods where he was found the next day completely terrified. He tried especially to get into the cemetery, and several times was found lying asleep upon a grave. He seemed to long for death for he took poisons; he swallowed laudanum and part of a little bottle of Fowler’s drops; he even tied his feet together and thus bound threw himself into a pond. He nevertheless managed to get out, and when found on the edge said sadly: “You can see well enough that I am possessed by the devil, since I cannot die. I have made the test demanded by religion, thrown myself into the water with my feet tied together, and I floated. Ah, the devil is certainly in me!” It was necessary to shut him up in his room and watch him closely; after three months of this raving, which terrified his poor family, they had to make up their minds, somewhat tardily and on the advice of a wise doctor, to take him to the Saltpêtrière as the most propitious place to-day for the exorcism of the possessed and the expulsion of demons.

  When Charcot and my friend Mr. Dutil, who was the head of his clinic, handed over this interesting case to me, I at once remarked in him all the recognized signs of possession as described in the mediæval epidemics.… He (Achille) muttered blasphemies in a muffled and solemn voice: “Cursed be God,” said he, “cursed the Trinity, cursed the Virgin!” … then in a shrill voice and with eyes full of tears: “It is not my fault if my mouth says these horrible things, it is not I.… I press my lips together so that the words may not escape, may not break out, but it’s no use, I can feel plainly that he says them and makes my tongue speak in spite of me.… It is the devil who drives me to do all these other things,” said Achille again. “I do not want to die, and he drives me against my will to make away with myself.… For instance, he is speaking to me at this moment …” and he resumes in his deep voice: “Priests are a worthless lot!” then in his high voice: “No, I won’t believe it!” and there he was talking with the devil and arguing with him. It often happened that he disputed in this way with his demon who had the bad habit of criticizing him incessantly. “You lie,” said the devil to him. “No, I am not lying,” replied the poor man.…