Fire Spirit in the Fuldenses

Not far from the successful port town of Bingen am Rhein, which is situated on the confluence of the rivers Rhine and Nahe, once sat a small town by the name of Caput Montium (sometimes misnamed as Chamund). It was named thusly because it was nestled just where the mountains along the nearby valley of the Rhine began. I am using the past tense to refer to this undoubtedly pleasant German village is because it was destroyed in 861. This destruction was seemingly wrought by the invisible hands of a poltergeist. Let me tell you a story...

## Caput Montium Kaput

Caput Montium was only a stone's throw away from Bingen - and so perhaps the poltergeist was just trying to bring it closer to its neighbours when it started its bizarre rampage in the year of 858 by hurling rocky projectiles through the air. As well as raining rocks upon the accursed inhabitants of the village, it started knocking on the walls of houses throughout the settlement '*as if with a hammer*' - causing great annoyance among the villagers. This seemingly inconsequential phenomenon quickly progressed, and soon the spirit was speaking '*openly*' with various villagers - using these conversational opportunities to discuss possessions which had been stolen from notable people around the village. It also showed a passion for starting fights and sowing discord, which it did to a great extent among the residents of the unfortunate settlement - using its words as weapons just like it had done with stones.

Eventually, the entity seemingly decided to narrow the scope of its infernal harassment - targeting just one villager as opposed to toying with everyone at once. This hapless citizen was never named in the source, but what was detailed was how the spirit would immediately start fires in any building into which the luckless man entered. This frightening phenomenon would eventually cause so much panic in the village that the man was forced to move out of Caput Montium and into the fields outside, taking his wife and children with him. Even there, however, he was seemingly not permitted to take a rest from the endless spiritual attacks - for when he had gathered his crops and arranged them in a pile, the entity suddenly made its presence known once more and set the stack ablaze. At this point, the residents of Caput Montium had been so totally turned against this man by the poltergeist interference that they now wanted to kill him for the crimes they had assumed he must be guilty of - '*as if it were for his sins that everyone had to suffer such things*'. In an effort to prove himself innocent and thus save his life, he elected to undergo a trial by ordeal - letting himself be burnt with scalding hot iron. This seemingly satisfied the panicked mob.

Now that everyone knew that the luckless man had not been to blame for the phenomenon, priests and deacons were dispatched from the nearby town of Mainz to help exorcise the evil spirit. They came equipped with crosses and holy relics - and entered a house in which the poltergeist had been particularly active in order to sprinkle it with holy water while saying litany prayers. Likely in response to the attempt at exorcism, the spirit quickly made its presence known by throwing rocks at the clergymen. These rocks hit their targets and drew blood.

After the priests retreated in fear, the victorious spirit started talking widely and openly to the inhabitants of the village. It named one particular priest and said that it had been stood '*underneath his cope*' while holy water had been being spread around the building. As the listening villagers crossed themselves in terror, the entity continued to talk - announcing that the targeted priest was actually his servant due to it having conquered him. It said that it had tempted him into sleeping the daughter of the town's bailiff - which was a truth not known to anyone but the priest and his lover. The entity continued to lay seige to the town for three more years - never once desisting with its tricksterish and destructive deeds until almost every building in Caput Montium had been consumed by flames. Caput Montium was either completely wiped off the map, or still exists somewhere today under a different name. Whatever the case may be - Caput Montium is kaput.

## Source

*The Annales Fuldenses* - A medieval chronicle covering the events that took place across East Francia (the precursor to the Holy Roman Empire) from roughly 840-900CE.