During our visit with the Spiritists of Brussels the following fact took place in our presence in a private meeting of seven or eight persons on September 13th:
A lady medium was requested to write but without any evocation in particular. She begins to write large characters with an extraordinary agitation, and after having violently scribbled on the paper she writes these words: “I regret, I regret. Latour.”
Surprised by these unexpected and unprovoked words and by the fact that nobody knew the miserable person or heard about his death, a few words of consolation and encouragement were addressed to him. He was then asked this:
- What was the reason that made you come here and not elsewhere to communicate since we did not call you?
- I saw that you were good souls and that you would have pity on me whereas others instead evoke me more out of curiosity than true charity or move away from me in horror.
The medium that is also a speaking medium responded out loud:
Then an indescribable scene began that lasted about half an hour. The medium added gestures and expressions of the face to his words, making it clear that the Spirit had identified with him; the tone of despair are sometimes so devastating, he paints his anguishes and sufferings so vividly, his supplications are so strong that all of those around become profoundly touched.
Some were even terrified by the super excitation of the medium but we thought that a Spirit that is regretful and that implores pity cannot offer any danger. It he borrowed the organs of the medium was to paint his situation and provoke more interest to his fate, but not like the obsessing and possessing Spirits that aim at taking the mediums over. That was undoubtedly allowed to him for his own benefit and perhaps for the instruction of those persons that were present.
The Spirit says:
-“Oh yes, pity! I need pity because you don’t know what I suffer! No, you don’t know; you cannot understand… it is horrible! The guillotine! What is guillotine compared to what I suffer now? Nothing; an instant. This fire that consumes me is worse, it is a continuous torture, a nonstop, endless suffering… And my victims around me… they show me their injuries… their eyes follow me! They are here, right in front of me… I see them all… yes, all… I cannot avoid it! And this sea of blood? How about this gold stained by blood… Everything is always here, before my eyes… Do you feel the smell of blood? Blood, always blood… Look at these poor victims; they begged me but I hurt them mercilessly… I hurt them… blood intoxicates me! I believed that everything would be over after my death and for that reason I faced the ordeal; I defied God and denied him! I there I was, believing that I was annihilated forever and a terrifying awakening takes place; Oh yes, terrible… I was surrounded by cadavers, threatening creatures… I walk on blood… I thought I was dead but I am alive! I live to see all that again! To see incessantly… it is horrific, horrible! More horrifying than all ordeals of Earth! Oh if every person could know what there is beyond life! They would know the price of evilness; there would be no murderer, no criminal, no bad people! I wanted every assassin to be able to see what I see today and suffer today… Oh no more… It is too much to suffer what I suffer today!
I know very well that I deserved that, oh God, because I did not have pity on my victims. I threw their hands away when they reached out, begging for clemency. Yes, I was cruel; I killed them cowardly to take their gold… I was impious; I renegaded them; I said blasphemy against your sacred name… I wanted to get high because I wanted to persuade myself that you did not exist… Oh my God! I am a terrible criminal! Now I understand. Won’t you have pity on me? You are God, that is, mercy and goodness! You are Almighty! Pity on me, Lord! Oh pity! Pity! I beg you not to be inflexible; free me from this hateful vision, those horrible images… that blood… my victims, their looks that trespass my heart like a dagger!
You that are here and hear me, you are good souls, charitable souls; yes, I see you, you will have pity on me, won’t you? Pray for me… Oh I beg you! Do not send me away. You will ask God to remove this horrible spectacle from my sight. He will listen to you because you are good… I beg you do not send me away like I did to the others… Pray for me!”
Touched by his lament the participants addressed him with words of consolation and encouragement. They said:
“God is not inflexible. What he expects from the guilty one is a true regret and the sincere wish to repair the harm that was done. Considering that your heart is not toughened and that you ask for forgiveness for your crimes God will cast his mercy upon you if you keep you good resolutions to repair the bad things you did. You undoubtedly cannot return the life that you subtracted from your victims but if you ask him with fervor God will allow you to meet them again in a new existence in which you will be able to demonstrate as much devotion as your cruelty to them. And when he sees that the reparation is sufficient you will find grace before him.
The duration of your punishment is therefore in your own hands; it is up to you to abbreviate it. We promise you to help with our prayers and request the help of the good Spirits to you. On your behalf we will say the prayer on contained in the Imitation of the Gospel for the suffering and regretful Spirits. We will not say the one for the bad Spirits because you regret, implores the mercy of God and renounces to the practice of evil and to our eyes you are an unhappy but not malevolent Spirit.”
The prayer was said and after a few moments of calmness the Spirit continued:
“Thank you my God! Oh thank you! You had pity of me. Those horrible images move away… Do not abandon me… Send me the good Spirits to help me out… Thank you!
After that and for some time the medium remained prostrated and abated; her limbs were fatigued. In the beginning he kept only a vague memory of what had just happened; then gradually remembers some words that were used and that he had used unwillingly. He felt that it was hot him that spoke.
The next day there is a new meeting and the Spirit communicates again and restarts the previous scene for a few minutes only with the same drama but less violent this time. He then writes through the same medium with a febrile agitation the following words: “Thank you for your prayers. I can feel a noticeable improvement. I prayed to God with such a fervor that he allowed my sufferings to be alleviated for a moment. But I will still see my victims… Here they are… Can you see the blood?”
The prayer of the previous gathering was repeated and the Spirit continues, addressing the medium: “I am sorry to bother you. Thank you for the relief that you brought to my sufferings. I beg for your forgiveness for the harm I caused you but I do need to communicate. It is only you that can… Thank you! Thank you! There has been some relief but my trial is not over. My victims will soon return. That is the punishment. I deserved that, my God but be indulgent. All of you, pray for me, have pity on me.”
Latour
Observation: Although we do not have material identity of the Spirit that communicated we don’t have reasons to doubt either. At any rate that is undoubtedly a very guilty Spirit but a regretful one, horribly unhappy and tortured by remorse. Under that point of view the communication is very instructive because we cannot ignore the profoundness and reach of certain words that it contains; besides it offers the view of punished Spirits however with the presentiment of God’s mercy. The mythological allegory of the Eumenides is not therefore so ridiculous as one might think and the demons, official executioners of the invisible world that replace them in modern beliefs, are less rational with their antlers and tridents than those victims, serving themselves to the punishment of the sinner.
Admitting the identity of this Spirit some perhaps will be surprised by the sudden change in his moral state. The fact is, like we noted on another occasion, that there are frequently more resources in a Spirit that is brutally bad than on another one that is dominated by pride or that hide his vices under the mantle of hypocrisy. The rapid return to better feelings indicates a nature that is more savage than perverse and that only lacked good direction. Comparing his language to another one cited in the July 1864 issue of the Spiritist Review with the title Punished by Light, it is easy to verify which one of the two is more advanced despite the difference in education and social position: one obeyed a natural instinct of ferocity, a kind of super excitation, while the other brought to the actions of crime a calm and cold blood of a slow and perseverant combination, and after his death he still faced punishment with pride; he suffers but does not wish to surrender. The other one is restrained immediately. One can therefore forecast which one will suffer the longest.
