Case LXXXI

"The first battalion of the regiment of Latour d'Auvergne, in which I was first surgeon," says Dr. Parent, "when in garrison at Palmi, in Calabria, received orders to leave the place at midnight, and hasten to Tropea, in order to oppose the disembarkation of a flotilla. It was in the month of June; the troops had forty miles to march; they departed at midnight, and did not reach their destination until seven o'clock at night, having rested but a short time, and suffered considerably from the heat of the sun. On arriving, the soldiers found their mess and lodging prepared for them.

"As the battalion had come from the farthest point and was the last to arrive, the worst barrack was assigned to it; and eight hundred men were placed in a spot, which ordinarily would not hold more than half the number. They were huddled together on the floor, on straw, without coverings, and consequently could not undress. It was an old deserted abbey. The inhabitants informed us that the battalion could not rest in that place, because it was nightly haunted by ghosts, and that several regiments had already made the unfortunate attempt. We laughed at their credulity; but what was our surprise, at midnight, to hear the most alarming cries proceeding from every part of the barrack, and to see all the soldiers rush out in terror! I interrogated them as to the cause of their fear, and they replied that the devil inhabited the abbey; that he had entered through a hole in the door, under the form of a huge dog with long black hair, who rushed upon them, flew over their breasts with the rapidity of lightning, and disappeared by the door opposite to that at which he had entered.

* Jason, De Morbis Cerebri, etc., cap. xxvi., et Schoenkius, Obs. 253.

"We laughed at their fears, and endeavored to prove that this phenomenon arose from causes quite simple and natural, and was only the effect of imagination. Neither by persuasion nor threats could we prevail on them to return to the barrack; they passed the remainder of the night dispersed on the seashore, and in various parts of the town. The next day, I again interrogated the sub-officers and the oldest soldiers. They assured me that they were above all kinds of fear, that they believed neither in spirits nor ghosts, yet they appeared quite persuaded that the scene of the barrack was not an effect of imagination, but a reality. They insisted that they were not asleep when the dog came in, but that they had seen him, and were wellnigh smothered when he jumped on their breasts.

"We remained all day at Tropea, and as the town was filled with troops, were obliged to return to the same lodging, but we could persuade the soldiers to lie down only by promising to pass the night with them. Accordingly, at half-past eleven, the commander of the battalion and myself entered; the other officers had, out of curiosity, dispersed themselves about the different rooms. We did not expect that the scene of the preceding evening would be renewed; the soldiers, encouraged by the presence of their officers, who watched, had gone to sleep, when, towards one in the morning, and in every room at the same instant, the cries were renewed, and the men who had seen the dog leap on their breasts, fearful of being smothered, rushed from the barrack, never to re-enter it. We were up, quite awake, and on the watch to see what would happen, and, as may be supposed, we saw nothing.

"The enemy's fleet having dispersed, we returned the next day to Palmi. Since this event, we have traversed the kingdom of Naples in every way and at all seasons; our soldiers have frequently been packed in a similar manner, but we have never had a recurrence of this phenomenon."*

The forced march which these soldiers had been obliged to make during a very warm day, had, probably, by fatiguing the organs of respiration, weakened them, and predisposed them to the nightmare (incubus, ephialtes). Doubtless, also, the exciting cause was the constrained position in which they were obliged to remain with their clothes on, as well as the rarefaction of the air; and, perhaps, the result was partially due to the influence of some noxious gas.