The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-22
A HAUNTED FAMILY.

A HAUNTED FAMILY.
| Remarkable Sights and Sounds With
Which Its rlembers Are Tormented.
| YZeures, a picturesque little town in
| Indre- not far from Roche
| Posay and Fontgombault, was till re-
Gently a place of which the existence
was unknown even to most Frenchmen.
1t had no history, but it has now be-
gun to obtain that. perhaps, unenviable
notority attached to the possession of a
| haunted house. 1t is not, however,
| quite correct to call the dwelling in
which the manifestations occur a
| haunted house." for it is less the
building than the family inhabiting it
that is haunted Twenty years ago
NJ. and Nine. Sabourault, then a new
| ly-married couple, who took up their
residence at Poitiers, first witnessed the
extraordinary phenomena which still
occur at their house. At Bourneau and
Loudun, where they lived successfully
! before coming to Yzeures they We're
the victims of the same prosecutions,
the phenomena sometimes ceasing for
a While, only to recommence with re-
newed intensity.
| In this case a girl of about II years
| of age, Mile Renee Sabourault, seems
to be the involuntary medium. In any
| case, it is she who is at the present
time particularly prosecuted. For in
stance, when by chance she goes on q
visit to friends or relations the pheno-
mena follow her to the place where she
may temporarily reside. The manfes-
tatiOnS which have accompanied NJ.
and Nine. Sabourault ever since their
wedding day have been various. The
| displacement of objects has seldom Oc-
Cured, but Enthusiastically shaped phan-
toms have been seen more frequently,
especially in recent years, by Mile.
Renee, and noises of all sorts have been
and are still constantly heard. AT
Yzeures a large number of the inhabi-
tants have heard the sounds, which
| they regard as supernatural, but such
stories would scarcely merit any atten-
ton whatever if they had not been sup
ported by more trustworthy testimony
NJ. Raymond Duplautier, a barrister
at Poitiers, having learned that one of
his friends, NJ. Urban, and several 9TH
| er persons living at YZeures, had heard
the unaccountable sounds, resolved to
go with a few strong-hearted friends to
expose the fraud. They went to Yzeures
| four times-once in Decembar, twice in
January and once in February. On
| each occasion NJ. Duplautier and his
| friends spent a night in the haunted
house with the Sabourault family. They
commenced by inspecting every nook
| and corner, and then spent the night
in the bedrooms inha bited by the men,
bers Of the Sabourault family, who
We're thus kept under strict observation
the whole time. Generally lights were
kept burning the whole night, but when
| that was not done the lamp was light
ed on the first sound being heard. The
| phenomena, therefore, took place in full
| light.
| In a long, detailed account of his four
visits to Yzeures, NJ. r. Duplautier de-
clares that on the first occasion he and
his friends heard six loud knocks on
the stairs. The second night they spent
under NJ. Saborault's roof was a little
more interesting. After 1:30 in the
morning a great deal of knocking oc-
CURED on the stairs, on the walls and
all around some the blows seeming to
be struck in the air several meters
above the roof of the house. Then came
scratching at a partition wall, followed
by the noise of the walking of a man in
a garnet above, and the pattering of a
four-f footed animal. Immediately those
! unaccountable sounds were heard. NJ.
Duplautier and his friends examined
anew the rooms from which they seemed
to issue, but could discover nothing
which could have produced them. AS
/ soon as the door was opened the noise
| ceased, but began again Immediately
| it was closed after the inspection of the
room. During the third night the man
ifestations We're very similar to those
| observed on the second.
But on NJ. Duplautier's fourth visit
they were for the Poitiers barrister and
| his friends yet more extraordinary.
Some invisible hand, which from the
sound might be nothing but bone, be-
gan knocking at a partition wall as
early as 10 o'clock in the evening. The
questions put by NJ. Duplautier We're
| invariably answered by three clear
knocks mad energetic scratching at the
wall. After that five hours elapsed
without anything extraordinary occur
ring. but at 3 o'clock in the morning the
wooden stairs were heard to crack and
groan under the weight of a colossal
| though invisible being. Describing
what occurred, NJ. Deplautier says:
I'VE heard on each step of the stairs
the noise of immense feet shuttle heav
lily down one after the other till the
last step was reached During all the
time the stairs, though they are new
and strong, groaned and cracked. Then
it was the turn of the partition wall
separating the passage from the room
sudden and energetic blows With a
light we looked about everywhere. We
searched the garnet, the staircase and
the passage, which were absolutely
empty. During the rest of the night
distant knocking was heard. The blows
seemed to be struck above the house"
NJ. DuDlautier concludes his commu
nication with the remark that, though
what he and his friends observed at
YZeures is insignificant compared with
what the Sabourault family witness
constantly, it is sufficient to merit at
tention. as he regards it as impossible
to be explained by natural causes or
fraud Paris Correspondence of the
London Standard.
A Temperance Illustration.
A remarkable temperance sermon was