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015 - Chapter Xv Anomalous Case--the Human Hyena · Book of Werewolves

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen of the Book of Werewolves. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All librifox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Martine van Happen, Amsterdam. The Book of Werewolves
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  Speaker 1: by Sabine Baring Gould, Chapter fifteen anomalous case the human
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  Speaker 1: hyena ghouls story from Furnarie, quotation from Apulius incident mentioned
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  Speaker 1: by marquesses cemeteries of Paris violated, discovery of violator, confession
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  Speaker 1: of Monsieur Bertrand. It is well known that Oriental romance
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  Speaker 1: is full of stories of violators of graves. Eastern superstition
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  Speaker 1: attributes to certain individuals a passion for unearthing corpses and
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  Speaker 1: mangling them. Of a moonlight night, weird forms are seen
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  Speaker 1: stealing among the tombs and burrowing into them with their
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  Speaker 1: long nails, desiring to reach the bodies of the dead,
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  Speaker 1: ere the first streak of dawn compels them to retire.
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  Speaker 1: These ghules, as they are called, are supposed generally to
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  Speaker 1: require the flesh of the dead for incantations or magical compositions,
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  Speaker 1: but very often they are actuated by the sole desire
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  Speaker 1: of brending the sleeping corpse and disturbing its repose. There
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  Speaker 1: is every probability that these ghules were no mere creations
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  Speaker 1: of the imagination, but were actual resurrectionists. Human fat and
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  Speaker 1: the hair of a corpse which has grown in the
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  Speaker 1: grave form ingredients in many an achromatic recept and the
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  Speaker 1: witches who compounded these diabolical mixtures with unearth corpses in
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  Speaker 1: order to obtain the requisite ingredients. It was the same
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  Speaker 1: in the Middle Ages, and to such an extent did
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  Speaker 1: the fear of ghuls extent that it was common in
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  Speaker 1: Brittany for churchyards to be provided with lamps kept burning
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  Speaker 1: during the night, that witches might be deterred from venturing
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  Speaker 1: under cover of darkness to open the graves. For Nari
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  Speaker 1: gives the following story of a ghoul in his History
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  Speaker 1: of Sorcerers. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, there
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  Speaker 1: lived at Baghdad an aged merchant who had grown wealthy
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  Speaker 1: in his business, and who had an only son to
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  Speaker 1: whom he was tenderly attached. He resolved to marry him
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  Speaker 1: to the daughter of another merchant, a girl of considerable fortune,
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  Speaker 1: but without any personal attractions. Abul Hassan, the merchant's son,
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  Speaker 1: on being shown the portrait of the lady, requested his
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  Speaker 1: father to delay the marriage till he could reconcile his
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  Speaker 1: mind to it. Instead, however, of doing this, he fell
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  Speaker 1: in love with another girl, the daughter of a sage,
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  Speaker 1: and he gave his father no peace till he consented
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  Speaker 1: to the marriage with the object of his affections. The
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  Speaker 1: old man stood out as long as he could, but
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  Speaker 1: finding that his son was bent on acquiring the hand
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  Speaker 1: of the fair nadilla and was equally resolute not to
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  Speaker 1: accept the rich and ugly lady, he did what most
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  Speaker 1: founders under such circumstances are constrained to do. He acquiethed.
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  Speaker 1: The wedding took place with great pomp and ceremony, and
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  Speaker 1: a happy honeymoon ensued, which might have been happier but
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  Speaker 1: for one little circumstance which led to very serious consequences.
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  Speaker 1: Abul Hassan noticed that his bride quitted the nuptial couch
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  Speaker 1: as soon as she thought her husband was asleep, and
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  Speaker 1: did not return to it till an hour before dawn.
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  Speaker 1: Filled with curiosity, Hassan one night fainted in sleep and
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  Speaker 1: saw his wife rise and leave the room as usual,
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  Speaker 1: He followed cautiously and saw her enter a cemetery by
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  Speaker 1: the straggling moonbeams. He beheld her go into a tomb.
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  Speaker 1: He stepped in after her. The scene within was horrible.
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  Speaker 1: A party of ghouls were assembled with the spoils of
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  Speaker 1: the graves they had violated, and were feasting on the
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  Speaker 1: flesh of the long buried corpses. His own wife, who
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  Speaker 1: by the way, never touched supper at home, played no
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  Speaker 1: inconsiderable part in the hideous banquet. As soon as he
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  Speaker 1: could safely escape, abul Hassan stole back to his bed.
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  Speaker 1: He said nothing to his bride till next evening, when
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  Speaker 1: supper was laid and she declined to eat. Then he
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  Speaker 1: insisted on her partaking, and when she positively refused, he
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed wrathfully, yes, you keep your appetite for your feet
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  Speaker 1: with the ghouls. Nadilla was silent. She turned pale and trembled,
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  Speaker 1: and without a word, sought her bed. At midnight, she rose,
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  Speaker 1: fell on her husband with her nails and teeth, tore
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  Speaker 1: his throat, and, having opened a vein, attempted to suck
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  Speaker 1: his blood. But abou Hassan, springing to his feet, threw
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  Speaker 1: her down and with a blow killed her. She was
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  Speaker 1: buried next day. Three days after, at midnight, she reappeared,
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  Speaker 1: attacked her husband again, and again attempted to suck his blood.
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  Speaker 1: He fled from her, and on the morrow opened her tomb,
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  Speaker 1: burned her to ashes, and cast them into the tigris.
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  Speaker 1: This story connects the ghoul with the vampire, as will
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  Speaker 1: be seen by a former chapter. The werewolf and the
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  Speaker 1: vampire are closely related. That the ancients held the same
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  Speaker 1: belief that the witches violate corpses is evident from the
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  Speaker 1: third episode in The Golden Ass of Apulius. I will
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  Speaker 1: only quote the words of the crier, I pray thee
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  Speaker 1: tell me, replied, I of what kind are the duties
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  Speaker 1: attached to this funeral gardenship? Duties, quoth the crier. Why
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  Speaker 1: keep wide awake all night with thine eyes fixed steadily
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  Speaker 1: upon the corpse, neither winking nor blinking, nor looking to
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  Speaker 1: the right nor looking to the left, either to one
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  Speaker 1: side or the other. Be it even little for the witches,
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  Speaker 1: infamous wretches that they are, can slip out of their
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  Speaker 1: skins in an instant and change themselves into the form
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  Speaker 1: of any animal they have a mind, and then they
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  Speaker 1: crawl along so slyly that the eyes of justice, nay
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  Speaker 1: the eyes of the sun himself, are not keen enough
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  Speaker 1: to perceive them. At all events, their wicked devices are
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  Speaker 1: infinite in number and variety, and whether it be in
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  Speaker 1: the shape of a bird, or a dog, or a mouse,
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  Speaker 1: or even of a common house fly, that they exercise
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  Speaker 1: their dire incantations. If thou art not vigilant in the extreme,
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  Speaker 1: they will deceive thee one way or the other, and
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  Speaker 1: overwhelm thee with sleep. Nevertheless, as regards the reward, t
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  Speaker 1: will be from fort to six hourly eye. Nor although
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  Speaker 1: tissapperilous service, wilt thou receive more. Nay, hold I had
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  Speaker 1: almost forgotten to give thee a necessary caution. Clearly understand
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  Speaker 1: that if the corpse be not restored to their relatives entire,
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  Speaker 1: the deficient pieces of flesh torn off by the teeth
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  Speaker 1: of the witches must be replaced. From the face of
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  Speaker 1: the sleepy guardian. Here we have the rending of corpses
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  Speaker 1: connected with the change of form. Marquessius relates that after
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  Speaker 1: a long war in Syria, during the night, troops of Leamias,
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  Speaker 1: female evil spirits appeared upon the field of battle, unearthing
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  Speaker 1: the hastily buried corpses of the soldiers and devouring the
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  Speaker 1: flesh of their bones. They were pursued and fired upon,
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  Speaker 1: and some young men succeeded in killing a considerable number.
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  Speaker 1: But during the day they had all of them the
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  Speaker 1: forms of wolves or hyaenas. That there is a foundation
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  Speaker 1: of truth in these horrible stories, and that it is
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  Speaker 1: quite possible for a human being to be possessed of
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  Speaker 1: a depraved appetite for rending corpses is proved by an
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary case brought before a court martial in Paris so
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  Speaker 1: late as July tenth, eighteen forty nine. The details are
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  Speaker 1: given with fullness in the Annal Medical Psicologique for that
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  Speaker 1: month and year. They are too revulting for reproduction. I will, however,
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  Speaker 1: give an outline of this remarkable case. In the autumn
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  Speaker 1: of eighteen forty eight, several of the cemeteries in the
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  Speaker 1: neighborhood of Paris were found to have been entered during
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  Speaker 1: the night, and the graves to have been rifled. The
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  Speaker 1: deeds were not those of medical students, for the bodies
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  Speaker 1: had not been carried off, but were found lying about
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  Speaker 1: the tombs in fragments. It was at first supposed that
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  Speaker 1: the perpetration of these outrages must have been a wild beast,
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  Speaker 1: but footprints in the soft earth left no doubt that
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  Speaker 1: it was a man. Close watch was kept at Perlecherise,
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  Speaker 1: but after a few corpses had been mangled there, the
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  Speaker 1: outrages ceased. In the winter, another cemetery was ravaged, and
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  Speaker 1: it was not till March eighteen forty nine that the
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  Speaker 1: spring gun, which had been set in the cemetery of Saintpranas,
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  Speaker 1: went off during the night and warned the guardians of
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  Speaker 1: the place that the mysterious visitor had fallen into their trap.
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  Speaker 1: They rushed to the spot, only to see a dark
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  Speaker 1: figure in a military mantle leap the wall and disappear
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  Speaker 1: in the gloom. Marks of blood, however, gave evidence that
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  Speaker 1: he had been hit by the gun when it had discharged.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, a fragment of blue cloth torn
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  Speaker 1: from the mantle was obtained and afforded the clew towards
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  Speaker 1: the identification of the raffisher of the tombs. On the
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  Speaker 1: following day, the police went from barrack to barrack, inquiring
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  Speaker 1: whether officer or man, was suffering from a gunshot wound.
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  Speaker 1: By this means they discovered the person. He was a
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  Speaker 1: junior officer in the first Infantry Regiment of the name
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  Speaker 1: of Bertrand. He was taken to the hospital to be
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  Speaker 1: cured of his wound, and on his recovery he was
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  Speaker 1: dried by court martial. His history was this. He had
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  Speaker 1: been educated in the theological cemetery of Longe till at
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  Speaker 1: the age of twenty he entered the army. He was
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  Speaker 1: a young man of retiring habits, frank and cheerful to
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  Speaker 1: his comrades, so as to be greatly beloved by them,
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  Speaker 1: of feminine delicacy and refinement, and subject to fits of
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  Speaker 1: depression and melancholy. In February eighteen forty seven, as he
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  Speaker 1: was walking with a friend in the country, he came
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  Speaker 1: to a churchyard, the gate of which stood open. The
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  Speaker 1: day before a woman had been buried, but the saxon
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  Speaker 1: had not completed filling in the grave, and he had
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  Speaker 1: been engaged upon it on the present occasion, when a
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  Speaker 1: storm of rain had driven him to shelter, bertand noticed
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  Speaker 1: the spade and pick lying beside the grave, and to
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  Speaker 1: use his own words, I sat fudizsi de noirmeval ju
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  Speaker 1: commnvilloulan melded tite monteur BERTI affecforce giin nemea posdeplu. He managed,
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  Speaker 1: by some excuse to get rid of his companion, and then,
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  Speaker 1: returning to the churchyard, he caught up a spade and
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  Speaker 1: began to dig into the grave. Soon I dragged the
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  Speaker 1: corpse out of the earth and began to hash it
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  Speaker 1: with the spade. Without well knowing what I was about,
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  Speaker 1: a laborer saw me, and I laid myself flat on
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  Speaker 1: the ground till he was out of sight, and then
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  Speaker 1: I cast the body back into the grave. I then
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  Speaker 1: went away, bathed in cold sweat, to a little grove,
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  Speaker 1: where I reposed for several hours, notwithstanding the cold rain
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  Speaker 1: which fell, in a condition of complete exhaustion. When I rose,
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  Speaker 1: my limbs were as if broken and my head weak.
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  Speaker 1: The same prostration and sensation followed each attack. Two days after,
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  Speaker 1: I returned to the cemetery and opened the grave with
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  Speaker 1: my hands. My hands bled, but I did not feel
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  Speaker 1: the pain. I tore the corpse to shreds and flung
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  Speaker 1: it back into the pit. He had no further attack
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  Speaker 1: for four months till his regiment came to Paris. As
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  Speaker 1: he was one day walking in the gloomy, shadowy alleys
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  Speaker 1: of Perlachise, the same feeling came over him like a flood.
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  Speaker 1: In the night, he climbed the wall and dug up
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  Speaker 1: a little girl of seven years old. He tore her
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  Speaker 1: in half. A few days later he opened the grave
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  Speaker 1: of a woman who had dined in childbirth and had
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  Speaker 1: lain in the grave for thirteen days. On the sixteenth
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  Speaker 1: of November, he dug up an old woman of fifty,
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  Speaker 1: and ripping her to pieces, rolled among the fragments. He
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  Speaker 1: did the same to another corpse on the twelfth of December.
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  Speaker 1: These are only a few of the numerous cases of
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  Speaker 1: violation of tombs to which he owned. It was on
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  Speaker 1: the night of the fifteenth of March that the spring
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  Speaker 1: gun showed him bertrand declared at his trial that whilst
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  Speaker 1: he was in the hospital he had not felt any
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  Speaker 1: desire to renew his attempts, and that he considered himself
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  Speaker 1: cured of his horrible propensities, for he had seen men
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  Speaker 1: dying in the beds around him, And now she Swigerie
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  Speaker 1: Carrochodwi Shippeur de mourt. The fits of exhaustion which followed
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  Speaker 1: his successes are very remarkable, as they precisely resemble those
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  Speaker 1: which followed the berserker rages of the Northmen and the
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  Speaker 1: expeditions of the lycanthropists. The case of Monsieur Bertrand is
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  Speaker 1: indubitably most singular and anomalous. It scarcely bears the character
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  Speaker 1: of insanity, but seems to point rather to a species
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  Speaker 1: of diabolical possession. At first, the excesses chiefly followed upon
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  Speaker 1: his drinking wine, But after a while they came upon
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  Speaker 1: him without exciting cause. The manner in which he mutilated
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  Speaker 1: the dead was different. Some he chopped with the spades,
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  Speaker 1: Others he tore and ripped with his teeth and nails.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes he tore the mouth open and brent the face
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  Speaker 1: back to the ears. He opened the stomachs and pulled
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  Speaker 1: off the limbs. Although he dug up the bodies of
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  Speaker 1: several men, he felt no inclination to mutilate them, whereas
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  Speaker 1: he was delighted in rending female corpses. He was sentenced
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  Speaker 1: to a year's imprisonment and of chapter five fifteen recording
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  Speaker 1: by Martine van Happen, Amsterdam,