Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1865

We received the following letter from Kharkov, Russia:

“By writing to you, Mr. President, I dare expect that Spiritism may shed some light upon this, up until now, inexplicable fact, and that I believe to be of great interest. I got it from an eye witness, a close relative of the person in question. Here is what I was told:

All members of the R… family were noticeable by their original character and inclinations. I will only mention the two brothers, Alexandre and Voldemar. Both held very impressive eye expressions, impossible to describe. We used to play around together in our childhood, and even jokingly I could not bear their staring eyes. I mentioned that to my father who then said that he also had felt the same discomfort and advised me to avoid it. As it seems, Voldemar was not the family’s favorite. When the time was right both brothers joined the University of Kazan. Voldemar soon stunned his teachers and colleagues for his strange attitudes; he frequently bullied his own brother that he had chosen for his mockeries. His joy was short living. He died, at the age of sixteen, in his brother’s arms. His brother is the one we are going to talk about. Although with less intensity, Alexandre also had that fascinating magnetism in his eyes, something that was shocking in his brothers. He did not show the same brilliance either, but he was determined and was quick to learn. His brother’s death caused a huge impression in him, turning him into a different person. Six weeks after the fact he kept his eyes closed, did not change or wash under any circumstance, so much so that his clothes decomposed and ragged on his own body. He was then to the countryside by his mother. He was entrusted to an uncle that promised to help him forgot his whole misery. The uncle then warned him that he would not spare any means to make him change such attitude in his house. Alexandre soon became reasonable; he did not offer any resistance to his uncle’s commands but secretly sent for his mother to come and rescue him from that executioner. His mother attended his wishes. Once away from his uncle, his bizarre behavior started again and intensified. Among other things, he demanded to have the Church’s bell ringing at meal time. They thought he had some sort of mental illness so that he was taken in to a hospital in Kazan. Something strange happened. He changed again, completely. He seemed perfectly normal in his acts and words. The doctors thought it was a family feud and no longer observed him closely. On one occasion, at night, when everybody was asleep, he dressed like a doctor and found his way out of the hospital, passing by the doorman in disguise, walking 30 versts^[1] to reach his farm.

He then went to a kind of hen shed, undressed completely and claimed that the only thing he needed in his life was that one squared toise.^[2]

His mother uselessly begged him to change his mind; in vain people tried to persuade him to allow them to build a shelter for his tent. He remained adamant; he only wanted an old servant by his side, a person that had always been with him and that had always shown a dog like fidelity. Since nothing was achieved his father ordered all the peasants to move to a place 7 versts away; he then left as well, calling the place a “lost village”. They thought they should lease out the property and organized a committee for that but Alexander that was always forewarned dressed up, even without underwear, and came out to meet everybody. He responded to every question with common sense and accuracy, so much so that the committee that thought they were dealing with a mad person, left in disappointment. All that happened in 1842 and up until now Alexander remains in the same state. He remains standing, no clothes, in a shanty place without doors and windows, exposed to the environment and in a region where the winter temperature goes down to 30°C below zero. He eats a little of grape jelly that is brought to him once a day in a clay bowl; he catches in the air the food that is thrown to him with a spoon, like an animal, communicating with growling, no longer using human language. For keeping his head down for such a long time, he can no longer raise it; his feet widened a lot so that he can no longer walk. He, sometimes, allows himself to be tucked in with a sheepskin. There is nothing extraordinary about his appearance with the exception of his eyes. He is neither fat nor slim. His face shows he is suffering. Once he was asked why such a behavior, to which he answered: “- don’t mention that; I lack the will.” Nothing more. What did he mean by lack of will? Was that a pledge? He sometimes pronounces the name of the dead brother; on other occasions he asks: “- When will this end?”. He does not follow any precept from his religion. A piece of his hair had been sent to a somnambulist in London. The answer was that he had the illness of Nebuchadnezzar. Yet, he is not mad. Something extraordinary is that besides such animal life there is intelligent life in him. He continues to be interested in everything that happens around the world. He receives many newspapers but since his shelter is dimly lit, he allowed people next to his place and have someone else reading them for him. They do that from the same place where his mother used to read for him but since she is now dead, she was replaced by a hired reader. The task force in charge of studying the case obtained the details below that only confused the case. D…, Alexander’s college mate, said that when they were together, he learned that he was in love with the wife of a pharmacist that was really beautiful and virtuous. Alexander rode his horse daily, just to ride by her window and have the pleasure of eventually seeing her from afar. That summarized their affair. Everyday, nonetheless, a sealed letter was delivered to him and if there were anybody else in the room, he promptly concealed it in a drawer. D... was persuaded that they contained love messages and was not interested in knowing the contents. Later, when the investigation began, only two of those letters were found since he had burnt all others, supposedly those that he received while in college. The first letter was somewhat in the following terms: “– Yesterday a strange thing happened. I was coming back from the Russian Switzerland (name of a touristic spot around Kazan), walking through the fields of Ars when I heard a scream for help. I screamed back and dashed into the place from where I heard the cry; when I got there, I saw a fenced cemetery. The figure of a young man appeared on the fence, vividly thanking my intervention, saying that he had been attacked by thieves that ran away when they heard me. (Note: there was a fabric manufacturing plant in Ars that was shuttered due to the lack of orders and some workers turned into thieves as an alternative to the lack of job.)

We walked together towards downtown holding a very interesting and lively conversation. I still cannot tell you what it was all about, but I will when we meet again. We then got to my unknown acquaintance’s house and we spent the afternoon there. He indicated to me a place where he used to go every day at a certain time and said that I could see him there if I wanted. What is really strange is that when I returned to my own house, I could not remember the street and the house that I had just visited, although I know perfectly well the town where I live for four years now. I then decided to meet that person again at the place that was indicated. I will go to his house again and this time I will certainly remember.”

There was no signature. Here the second letter, a continuation of the previous one, but this time shorter:

“I some the unknown person at the indicated place; he invited me to his house; we spent the afternoon together but on returning home I totally forget the street and the house again.”

No signature. Having the handwriting examined carefully it seemed that it was from one of his comrades that laughed at that when he saw the letters, saying that he had never written such things.

The investigation ends here. It seems that there is a huge mystery in all this and that such mystery is only known by three persons. First, his mother, then the old servant lady that was always by his side and finally his sister. The two first ones are dead; the third one lives in the same village as Alexander with her husband. She visits him every day and remains there for three or four hours. What would they talk about? Will the brother forget the growling and return to human language? Nobody knows that. It is remarkable that such a singular phenomenon be little known. It has never been published by any newspaper and yet it happens very near Kazan where there is a university, there are scientists and doctors. It is true that it was investigated in the beginning, but it seems to me that it was soon discouraged. Still, it seems a vast field of research for science, not to mention the psychological aspect. It is a contemporary fact that can be attested by anyone.

Could Spiritism, that explains everything, give an explanation to this phenomenon? I dare not ask you for a written answer since I know you time is precious. I just ask you to give your opinion in the Spiritist Review, in case you consider it worthwhile.

Yours truly, etc.”



There is one thing that sticks out from this report. It is the fact that this young man is not mad, in the scientific meaning of the term; he enjoys fool reason, when he wishes. What could be the cause of such eccentricity at that age? We believe that it will still be a long time before science uncovers that with its essentially material resources. However, there is something that is not a simple mania: the assimilation of sounds and gestures of animals. It is true that we have seen individuals abandoned in the woods since early age that live like beasts, adopting their howling and gestures by imitation. But that is not the case.



This young man did serious studies, lives in his own land in a village; he is daily in contact with human beings. Therefore, in this case it is not a question of habit and isolation. The somnambulist of London said it was an illness like that of Nebuchadnezzar. But what is that disease? Isn’t the story of that King a legend? Is it possible that a man turn into a beast? If we, however, compare the biblical report to the current fact of Alexander R… we will find more than a common point between them. Something that happens today may have happened in the past and the King of Babylon may have been hit by something similar. If then that King, dominated by a similar influence, left his palace, like Alexander R… left his castle; if he lived and screamed like him, like animals, they could have then said, in the language of those days, that he was transformed into a beast. It is true that it kills the miracle. But how many more miracles now fall before the laws of nature that are discovered every day? Religion gains from this if something that was miraculous is now considered natural. When the adversaries of Spiritism say that it resuscitates the supernatural and the superstitious, they demonstrate ignorance regarding the first words because, on the contrary, Spiritism comes to demonstrate that certain facts considered mysterious are not but natural effects.

After reading the subject above in the Parisian Society, as an object of study, it was requested that a medium evoked the Spirits to provide an explanation. The three communications below were obtained. One from the dead brother, Voldemar; the second from the protecting Spirit of the two brothers, and the third from a spiritual guide of another medium.



Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, October 13^th, 1865
Medium: Mr. Desliens

I

Here I am! What do you want? How come you get involved into private family business? Know this: nobody has ever offended me and remained unpunished; watch my wrath when you try to scavenge a secret that is none of your business! Do you want the keys that explain the reasons why my brother was led to do such things? You must know that it is all on me that punished him for his lack of faith and for his guilt towards me. We were united by a terrible link of death! He should have honored his word and he did not; he was a coward! May he suffer for the injury that would not find shelter in me! As my accomplice in the action, he should have followed in the ordeal. Why did he hesitate? He suffers today as a punishment for his hesitation. Since I could not force him to follow me, at least immediately, I employed the magnetic force that I have at a high degree, forcing him to abandon his own will and yield to mine. Is he suffering? Even better! Each one of his moans gives me a kick of pleasure. Are you happy with my civility? Are you happy with my explanations? No. Do you want to moralize me? But who are you to give me sermons? Are you a priest? No. Then, how come do you want me to listen to you? I want to hear nothing and I am going back to the place that I should not have left. He understands his issues now. His will may react upon matter! Damn you if you allow him to escape from my domination!

Voldemar R…



II

Do not try, at least for now, to impel this poor senseless mind to listen to you. He could not do it and your words would only excite his brutal rage. I come in his place to give you some explanations that will shed some light onto the somber drama that was authored by these two players in another existence. At this time they atone, suffering the consequences of the criminal action whose details I cannot elaborate today. You must only know that from those two, Alexander reported to Voldemar under another name and in another time, in a social condition that you can presume from a few words that are in the report that you read. Think about the passage in which Alexander demanded that the bell rang at the beginning of his meals and you are on the right path. As I said, subordinated to Voldemar and instigated by him, he did a number of things whose responsibility are shared by both today and that are the source of their sufferings. Alexander was, and still is, a feeble and vacillating character that was easily dominated when there was an opportunity. Regarding anybody else he was arrogant, despotic and brutal. In short, he was under the domination of his brother. What both did will be revealed to you later, in this study. Let us move to the results.

They vowed to never betray one another or to move away from each other, and in addition Voldemar reserved the right, to cast the full weight of his strong will power onto his accomplice. You saw that he had transformed him into the main target of his jokes, in the fragments of existences that they shared. Highly intelligent individuals, they had previously formed a scary allegiance against society, by the association of their bad tendencies. Voldemar was retrieved back, by design of the Providence that thus prepared the way for the renovation of both creatures. Alexander pledged to follow his brother in the grave but his affection to one person mentioned in the report and the fatigue for carrying a load that he was painstakingly carrying made him fight back. His brother could not kill him physically but did so mentally, surrounding him by a beam of influences that determined the cruel obsession whose consequences you know. The somnambulist that classified his illness as the disease of Nebuchadnezzar was not far from the truth as it might be thought because Nebuchadnezzar was an obsessed mind that was convinced that he was a beast. It is therefore an obsession that does not exclude, as you know, the intelligence and does not definitely annihilates it. It is one of the most remarkable cases whose study may be beneficial to all. Tonight, this matter would take us a long way given all the necessary explanations. I will stop at this point, asking you to gather your spiritual forces to evoke Voldemar. Since he fears him, with reason, in his absence the brother recovers his energy and may be able to free himself. That is why he rejects to leave him and exerts a continual magnetic action.

The guide of both.

Paulowitch



III

(Medium: Mrs. Delanne)

My beloved brothers, certain facts reported in the Scriptures are overlooked by many as fables to children. They were disdained because they were not understood, and people refused to give them credit. Despite that, once undressed from its allegoric meaning, the bottom line is true, and only Spiritism could decode them. Events of several kind are going to take place not only with the Spiritists but with everybody and all over the world, compelling scientists to study and be convinced, despite what some people say, that Spiritism teaches new things because it is through Spiritism that one will have the explanation of what has remained misunderstood up until now. Weren’t you told that obsession would take new forms? This is an example. The punishment of Nebuchadnezzar is not, therefore, a fable. He was not, as you rightfully said, transformed into a beast; but he was, as in the case that you discuss now, for some time deprived of his intellectual skills, and that in conditions that approached him to the beasts and transformed the powerful tyrant in an object of pity to all. God hit his pride.

All these issues are related to fluids and magnetism. There is obsession and subjugation in this young man. He is very lucid as a Spirit and his brother exerts an irresistible magnetic influence; he easily attracts him out of his body when there is no friend or sympathetic person near to refrain him. He then suffers when detached; to him it is also a punishment and that is when he howls ferociously.

Don’t be so quick in condemning what is written in the sacred books, as does the majority that only sees the letter and not the Spirit. You are better enlightened every day and new truths shall be unveiled before your eyes for you are far from having exhausted every application of what you know about Spiritism.

St. Benedict



If follows from this eminently rational explanation that this young man is enduring an obsession, or better said, a terrible subjugation, like that of King Nebuchadnezzar. Does it destroy God’s justice that had punished the monarch of pride? Absolutely not for we know that obsessions are at the same time trial and atonement. Thus, God could punish him by placing him under the influence of a maleficent Spirit that impelled him to behave like an animal without transforming him in a beast. The first of those punishments is natural and is explained by the law of relationships between the visible and the invisible word; the other one is anti-natural, fantastic and does not explain itself. One presents itself as a reality in our days, in the different forms of obsession; the other is only found in fairy tales. Finally, one is accepted by reason, the other does not.

From the point of view of Spiritism, this fact offers an important theme for study. Obsession is presented in a new way regarding the form and the determining cause, but it has nothing remarkable after what we see every day. St. Benedict is totally right when he says that we are far have exhausted all the applications of Spiritism and of having understood everything it can explain to us. As it is, it offers us a rich mine to explore, helped by the laws that we are taught. Before we say that it is stationary, let us take advantage of what it can teach us.

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[1] Obsolete Russian unit of length; 1 verst = approximately 1km or 0.66 miles


[2] Obsolete unit of measure, approximately 1.8x1.8 m² or 6x6 ft²