1884 LivingVampiresVGraveIOSocialIns DrFortin

# Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions

Dr Fortin

Monsieur Thorel and one of his friends, a physician, visited me in Paris. These gentlemen came to inform me of some extraordinary things which were going on at Genecy, a village situated near Ruffee. A girl named Eugenie, whose physiological characteristics were very extraordinary, had been living for twelve years in a cottage at that place. For twelve years this girl had been bed-ridden and lived without eating. A small quantity of pure water was sufficient to satisfy all her wants. The most extraordinary phenomena occurred around her person; such as raps and knocks on the walls, answers to mental questions, apparitions of spectres, hands isolated in space, an invisible force which took hold of objects that were held in the hands of the spectators; but the most extraordinary thing of all was that her clean clothes, locked up in a box, were put on her and exchanged for those she wore while she was lying quietly in bed.

* Noticed in the Theosophist for December 83 and Jnnv. 64 on pag8 101.

People from all parts came to see her. As Ruffee was situated on the Bordeaux line, a road which was much used by the Government officers of that time, Eugenie was visited, amongst others, by Monsieur Thiers, who passed there a n ig h t to witness these things. All the people of the Government, delegates and ministers, came to see the seeress of Genecy. After I had been told of these phenomena, I hurried to see them myself and started for the place with Monsieur Thorel and his friend, Dr. Boudoin. I took with me Doctor de Guerne, so as to be more secure in our observations ; because at that time I was only a student of medicine. I had at that time a som nam bulic person a3 subject in hand. She had extraordinary clairvoyant powers, and so, of course, we took her with us, and we expected to make use of her for the purpose of controlling the phenomena of Eugenie.

When we arrived at Ruffee, we said nothing about our project. We started at night for Genecy, hoping to surprise Eugenie before she would be able to hear of our arrival. Monsieur Thorel had selected the best horse in his stable, and our trip seemed to come to an end without any remarkable incident, when suddenly the horse stopped and refused to advance further. Monsieur Thorel took it by the bridle and attempted to lead it on ; but all his efforts were in vain. The horse, covered with sweat, was trembling in every limb and neighing in a manner indicating terror and pain.

I then invited my somnambule to come out of the carriage and magnetised her to find out what was the matter. She described phantoms and monstrous beasts who obstructed the road in front of our horse. The cause of this phenomenon was explained to us in this manner. Having arrived at Genecy near the residence of Eugenie, she had already perceived us by her clairvoyant sight and knew our object. We were forced to take another route, which was pointed out to us by our Clairvoyant. The cottage in which Eugenie lived was an isolated house by the side of the road. Its appearance was very miserable, and in the interior there was only one window through which the light of day fell upon the seeress, who was lying in a bed, the serge-curtains of which were fastened to the bed posts. The white clothes which the seeress wore, formed quite a contrast with the squalid appearance of the surrounding furniture, which consisted

Of a table, four chairs and a trunk. Eugenie seemed to be from 35 to 40 years of age, of a dark complexion and nervo-bilious temperament. Her face was round, her hair black as the wings of a raven, her eyes projecting and round, grey with a green tint, spotted with brown. They shone with a feverish glare, the pupils were slightly dilated and had all the characteristic appearances indicating an amaurotic condition. Her eyes were insensible to even strong light, her mouth was large and her teeth foul; her hands were extraordinarily fine. Her abdomen was considerably extended and swollen, and her legs looked dropsical. Her temperature was below the normal point.

We got two ladies, to whom Eugenie seemed to be particularly attached, to introduce us, hoping so to gain her confidence and to obtain thereby a true and detailed account of her condition. To all our friendly questions she answered with an uncertain voice and in a dry manner, indicative of uneasiness. I know the object of your visit, she said.“ You want to take me to Paris, but I do not want to go. I would produce no miracles there, I am satisfied where I am now.” The next day we found her better disposed of. We heard sounds, saw a phantom in the form of a woman dressed in white and veiled. A silver piece of five franca present­ed by Doctor de Guerne was taken up as by an invisible hand and held in space in spite of our efforts to remove it, until it finally fell on the floor. Other phenomena occurred, but I shall restrict myself to a description of the most important ones, We had a box made of 0 ,6 0 by 0, 40 centimeter depth, which could be closed by a double lock and added a secret chain.

In this box we put a nightgown, a shirt and a bonnet (cap), each of which articles were marked secretly by each of us with private signs and our signatures. Doctor Boudoin insisted on sewing to the gown a piece of his handkerchief, which he tore for that purpose, and to one of the ribbons of the bonnet he fastened a ring which he took from his finger. After locking the box we took some strong glue and glued four layers of paper one on top of the other, over the same. Doctor de Guerre then took the box in his arms and we waited. Presently Eugenie commenced to laugh, but, imagine our surprise, when we saw on her head tho bonnet, to which the ring of Dr. Boudoin was fastened. All this was done without our being able to see a single motion, and Dr. Guerne, who held the box, felt not the slightest shock. When we opened the box, we could not deny the evidence. Bonnet, gown and shirt were completely exchanged. For five days and six nights one of us remained constantly with Eugenie without losing sight of her. A little pure and cold water was all she took, but the visits of several women, who came with their children to have them touched or blessed by the seeress, soon led to a relation.

First came a woman with four children, the oldest of who was about eight years of age. A small boy of four years was the first one to be presented to her. Eugenie took him up in her arms, and while a shiver of excitement seemed to run through her, she covered him with kisses. She kissed passionately his lips, his eyes, his head, his neck; she seemed to suck him, to inhale him; her face had suddenly become transfigured by an expression of frenzy; there was a wild and fiery look in her eyes, and the child crying piteously attempted in vain to escape from her embrace. Ten times we witnessed the same performance. I was selected to attempt to magnetise Eugenie by surprise, for we hoped that by doing so we might obtain still more information. For this purpose I posted my own somnambule, after having magnetised her first, at the foot of the bed, with the object of thereby obtaining a double control. By my touch I established a communication between the two sensitives.

Next, following the advice given me b y my seeress, I threw the bed clothes suddenly off, and grasped the legs of Eugenie, put her two feet against my own breast, and pointing with m y right hand at her face I commanded her with a loud voice to sleep. I was young, I had Faith. At once Eugenie gave a terrible cry, followed by strange hissing sounds. The commotion was so great, that a uterine hemorrhage appeared, which literally covered me with blood. My somnambule, having been overcome by faintness, t had left the cottage and fallen down on the way. Monsieur Thorel, who was standing near the door, seeing her in such a critical condition, came to take me away from the bed of Eugenie, and I went to the assistance of our poor somnambule, who was lying there, vomiting blood.

It was Sunday; a lot of country people had collected and made hostile demonstrations. A rumour had spread that the physicians of Paris intended to carry off Eugenie against her will. Things looked quite different, when they saw a strange woman rolling in the street and a man who was covered with blood come out of the house of Eugenie. There was no more doubt. Evidently we wanted to assassinate her. I took my subject up in my arms and attempted to seek shelter a t the foot of a large cavalry nearby, which was surrounded by walls; when fortunately the officers of police, who had been already notified, came running up to us, followed by the Catholic priest and the mayor of the village. The country doctor and the Thorel family, whose authority was respected at that place, explained rapidly the situation to the authorities. Let us review the facts and make our scientific deductions. E ugenie found herself, after the death of her mother, alone with her father and went to the neighbouring town of AngoulSm e to take a situation as a servant.

She obtained such a situation in the house of a doctor, who found that she was clairvoyant. He magnetised her regularly for six years. Suddenly this doctor died without having provided for the future of the poor girl, and Eugenie returned to her village, where she lived w ith her father, and by force of habit she fell at certain hours into the magnetic sleep. Her father, having received instructions by his daughter, granted consultations and p re ­ scribed medicines, etc. They went on living in this manner for two years, when the father died, Eugenie, who was now alone and without support, fell several times into a cataleptic condition, in which she was believed to be dead. The first time this condition lasted 21 days and the last time was 17 days. A tour visit she had been lying in bed for 12 years, and she was very much emaciated. Nobody ever saw lier take any food,— a fact which has been ascertained by an almost constant surveillance, and it is certain that very often she was unremittingly watched for 15 to 20 days at a time. All that anyone ever saw her partake of, was a little pure and cold water. Doctor Boudoin, who was practising in that part of the country, informed us that two of his friends remained alternatively with her for 14 days to watch her without interruption.

With her last cataleptic fit her menstruation ceased and her abdomen began to take size and form of a state of pregnancy at tlio full term. During the period of such suppression she used to complain of having a taste of blood. May we not suppose that this girl vampirized herself? Her blood, which was all the time retained, may have become assimilated and served as nourishment? During winter her condition grew worse. She became weaker and had the appearance of a corpse, especially in consequence of her immobility. Her voice was very weak and seemed to come out of our abdomen. At such times her seership was very great. In Springtime the inhabitants and tho physicians of the neighbourhood assisted at a veritable resurrection. Eugenie came slowly and laboriously to life again. How can we explain this last phenomenon? By the vampirism which she exercised upon those children that were brought to her that she may touch and bless them. Indeed, in winter roads become very bad, there are no more visitors and no more children to be vampirized.

One more remark. At the time when I attempted to magnetize her, her blood was red as vermilion. We examined it carefully with the microscope. Nothing indicated a cliloratic condition or a change in its constituent particles. After the described event took place, Eugenie became hungry, recovered life, rose and went out. I expected to tako lier to iny house, to continue my experiments; but was called back to Paris, where I had to remain for several Hays, and when I returned to take her with me, she had left the country in company with a stranger.
(To be continued.)

(Continued from the last Number.)
LIVING VAMPIRES AND VAMPIRISM OF THE GRAVE IN OUR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
By Dr. Fortin, President, Theosophical Society of the Occultists of France.
Second Observation.

In 1368 there was at Paris in the rue Rochechuart, a woman, whose old age was a. mystery. Everyone who knew her noticed that she always had some young girl with her as “Demoiselle de compagnie,” and that she changed those companions very often. Those girls were seen to enter into the old lady’s service in perfect health but soon they showed signs of withering, which always affected their health and often caused their death. When the parents complained, they were quieted by some presents or by money. 'In spite of all this generosity, public opinion began to peak, and the old lady was said to eat the girls to prolong her own life. She was declared to be a veritable vampire. The last young girl in her service was the daughter of a coachman. The father seeing his daughter losing her health, and having heard the accounts of the fate of the other girls which preceded her in that service, complained to the “ Commissaire de Police."
An examination was held, the physicians gave evidence that it would be dangerous to let children or young girls stay with the old lady. She was therefore fined a sum of money as indemnity to the coachman's daughter and then died a month afterwards.

Shall we draw the conclusion from these two observations that Vampirism is a law of nature? Man must learn to assist his evolution by science.\* The subjects which can be affected by vampirism are of different classes. The lowest order (sorcerers and pythonesses), when they are left to themselves without guidance, may fall in a state of catalepsy, whose special character is its eminent resemblance to death. Buried in such a state of death-like trance, the phenomenon of “dedoublement (or division of two sets of principles) results. The principles which constitute the animal soul (Kama Rupa)† impart of the vampire two characteristics. He will go to where he is attracted and feast on the blood of his friends or his parents, to sustain the vital principle of his body, which is imprisoned in the grave.

There are also vampires which form a class of elementaries. They are the assistants of men in the performance of black magic. To speak in general terms ;—all the blood which is spilt can attract those phantoms. This is a method employed by necromancers to evoke the dead.‡ Sacrifices made by the shedding of the blood of animals are apart of the ceremonies of black magic. In olden times sacrifices were made in the regular places of worship according to prescribed religious rites, and the selection of animals was an exact science.

* At the Court of King David there were enough young girls, Nevertheless the Bible says: “The King, having grown old and unable to warm himself, search was made through all the tribes of young virgins. Abissay - Seunamite was selected as able to furnish the requir­ed physiological conditions, which were then known. She was taken to the King, ‘who knows her not.’ She never left the King and slept on David’s bosom.” We cannot explain this fact without admitting that this was an act of vampirism by which the old King prolonged his life.

† That which remains, after the separation of the higher principles from the lower ones by the process of dying is complete, consists of the fourth principle and the lower parts of the fifth. This — the animal goal— has still a more or less indistinct consciousness of its own, and its actions resemble those of a person walking in his sleep. It has also a remnant of will, in a more or less latent condition. But as the higher principles have left this, will is no more guided by any moral considerations and cannot exert itself in any other way than by following its attractions. Its slower passions, animal desires and material attractions, still remain, and in proportion as they have been more or less developed, nursed or fortified, during earth life, in the same proportion will they act more or less powerfully after the death of the physical body. No­thing likes to starve: — each body as well as each principle has a powerful attraction and craving for those elements which are necessary for its subsistence. The principles of lust, gluttony, envy, avarice, roven go ,
intemperate, etc ,wilt rush blindly to the place to which they are attracted and who their craving can be temporarily gratified ;— either directly as in the case of vampires, by imbibing the emanation of fresh blood, or indirectly by establishing magnetic relations with sensitive
persons (mediums), whose inclinations correspond with their own. If there is still a magnetic relation existing between the vampire (elementary)and its buried physical body, it will return to the grave. If there is no such relation, it will follow other attractions. It craves for a body, and if it cannot find a human body, it may be attracted to that of an animal. The gospel account of these into which Jesus drove the evil spirits” may be a fable in its historical application, but it is a truth, not only a possibility, with reference to many such parallel cases .— Trans.

‡ The physicians at Paris prescribe at present fresh blood to cure the anaemic conditions of chlorosis and other cases of loss of power. It is a strange sight to witness every day the rush of a great number of people for the slaughter houses, where young women and girls drink the warm blood of butchered animals. It is all the rage, it is the fashion. Nevertheless it is certain that the blood in all its parts does not assimilate with the human system. It is difficult to digest and produces horrible night-mares, but it is the fashion. We hope that Science, which is ignorant of the effects of blood - drinking, will soon cease to advise people to drink the blood of animals.

* All through antiquity science and the greatest legislators have prohibited the drinking of blood on account of its pernicious consequences.

I have had a young lady undertreatment, who became iu s a n o inconsequence of visions which horrified her. Haying drank blood on three occasions , she saw after the third time enraged oxen and sheep rush upon her. No more pitiful sight could be seen thau to behold this poor young lady. Two more such cases were mentioned to me by a friend, a physician. From the observations 'we must conclude that blood can produce dangerous results,' especially when the patients have the gift of clairvoyance. But in any case a we ought to desist from drinking
it.'

I know an executioner at, who was sick before each execution. He saw those phantoms throwing themselves upon the blood of the guillotine, and what the most terrible thing was, that amongst them who recognised his deceased friends and parents. I have attempted to obtain information amongst the butchers. Amongst fifty whom I interrogated, four had been forced to quit their occupa­tion of killing animals. They too saw those phantoms come to gorge themselves with blood. Although the exuberant healthy appearance of butchers generally is said to be due to the vapors of blood, butchers usually do not reach an old age. Amongst the Israelites seers were so numerous that the legislators established the office of sacrificers in consequence. We frequently meet with people today, who become ill at the sight of blood.

Human sacrifices were of two orders, either voluntary aud by consent of the victim, or involuntary, when they attempted to resist. At Babylon, where compulsory human sacrifices were a national institution, where black magic was taught like any other official science, those practices attracted bad influences, which soon transformed that city of wonders into a fated place. Thenceforward Babylon was doomed to destruction. Here we see the action of the inexorable law. These sacrilegious immolations were a double crime. First the act in itself whose consequences react upon its authors in life and in death, and next as being an outrage of the divine laws.

A voluntary human sacrifice is a human bolocanst. Man may give his life by devoting himself to wlmt he believes to be useful to humanity, or it may be demanded by our social institutions. There is a holocaust. The Druids sacrificed virgins in the island of Bayne, because those virgin priestesses of high seership by spilling their blood gave divine revelations for the salvation of their country. This means the collectivity ; the mystery of blood, the mystery of revelation. This is the science of the Druids.

The modern world, being unable to grasp the spirit of antiquity, will say that nothing was found. This is an error. An evolution has been accomplished, a halting a place on the grand route of humanity has been reached. Gaul has become France. None can avoid the law of transformation. S ta b ility . would be death. Modern science seems to become more and more neglectful as to the world of causes and the principles of transcendental metaphysics. Our highest scientific authorities study Matter in its various states, to utilize its forces for the benefit of man. Will this laudable object be accomplished, and do the results justify the efforts used to obtain them ? Is the individual more happy now ? Is the family better situated ? I leave others to answer these questions-\*

It seems to me that modern science is going in an unfortunate direction. While she denies the vampires of the graves which sucks the blood of the living, she organizes an official vampirism, a vampirism of sentiments, a vampirism of physical forces, and a vampires of the grave. Modern life has created a social condition, in which solitude, so salutary to spiritual meditation, cannot be realized ; it is a human whirlpool to which vampirism has become allured. Woe to the people of Europe, who could not find another method of educating aud saving their children, (the Futuro) than by sh u tting them up in colleges and boarding schools which make them victim s of vampirism \* by this monastic seclusion.

Nature punishes terribly those who transgress her laws. Science does not belong to any particular person, she is the transferable inheritance of every member of the great human family. Occult Science beckons to us from the East to reascend her mountain-heights. There we shall find the cornerstone upon which humanity will build laer church, against which error and immobility will battle in vain.

* A new danger appears on the scientific horizon in the form of a proposed inoculation of carbon in the animals whose flesh is eaten. Official science shows that the virus may remain in a late nts ta to for an unlimited time without apparently manifesting itself. We are therefore in danger of having poisoned meat to eat.

## Print Information

### Part 1

* Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions
* By Dr. Fortin, F.T.S.
* The Theosophist 1884 v5 n6 n54 March
* Publisher: Theosophical Society.
* Editor: H.P. Blavatsky, H.S. Olcott; Annie Besant
* Pages (text) 148-149
* Pages (pdf) 18-19

### Part 2

* Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions
* By Dr. Fortin, F.T.S.
* The Theosophist 1884 v5 n7 n55 April
* Publisher: Theosophical Society.
* Editor: H.P. Blavatsky, H.S. Olcott; Annie Besant
* Pages (text) 158-160
* Pages (pdf) 4-6

## Links

Digital Archive http://iapsop.com/

* Part 1: http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n54\_march\_1884.pdf
* Part 2: http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n55\_april\_1884.pdf

### Further Reading

* https://universaltheosophy.com/articles/hpb/on-the-kama-rupa-and-vampires/
* http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v6/y1884\_024.htm

## Citations

### Part 1

APA Dr. Fortin. (1884, March). Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 1. The Theosophist, 5(6), 148–149. http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n54\_march\_1884.pdf.

MLA Dr. Fortin. “Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 1.” The Theosophist, Mar. 1884, pp. 148–149, iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n54\_march\_1884.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb. 2021.

Chicago Dr. Fortin. “Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 1.” The Theosophist 5, no. 6, March 1884. http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n54\_march\_1884.pdf.

Harvard Dr. Fortin (1884) “Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 1,” The Theosophist, March, pp. 148–149. Available at: http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n54\_march\_1884.pdf (Accessed: February 25, 2021).

Vancouver Dr. Fortin. Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 1. The Theosophist [Internet]. 1884Mar [cited 2021Feb25];5(6):148–9. Available from: http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n54\_march\_1884.pdf

### Part 2

APA Dr. Fortin. (1884). Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 2. The Theosophist, 5(7), 158–160. http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n55\_april\_1884.pdf.

MLA Dr. Fortin. “Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 2.” The Theosophist, 1884, pp. 158–160, iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n55\_april\_1884.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb. 2021.

Chicago Dr. Fortin. “Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 2.” The Theosophist 5, no. 7, 1884. http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n55\_april\_1884.pdf.

Harvard Dr. Fortin (1884) “Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 2,” The Theosophist, pp. 158–160. Available at: http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n55\_april\_1884.pdf (Accessed: February 25, 2021).

Vancouver Dr. Fortin. Living Vampires And The Vampirism Of The Grave In Our Social Institutions 2. The Theosophist [Internet]. 1884 [cited 2021Feb25];5(7):158–60. Available from: http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/theosophist/theosophist\_v5\_n55\_april\_1884.pdf