Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters

Halloween in France

Hi, Ghouls and Demons, I thought it would be fun to share some facts about Halloween in France. On this day it was believed that the spirits rose from the dead to mingle with the living. The Celts left food at their doors to lure good spirits and wore masks to scare off evil spirits. The celebration of Samhain celebrated at the end of the harvest and honoring the dead. Centuries later the Roman Catholic church established November 1st as All Saints Day ( La Toussaint ) to honor Saints who don’t have their own Holy day. They wanted to detract attention away from celebrating Samhain considered a Pagan celebration.

Some say the Celts in northern France celebrated Halloween, but this can’t be confirmed. Halloween is not a traditional French holiday, yet  becomes more and more popular every year due to cultural influence and corporate marketing. The French have been hearing about Halloween from foreigners, tourists and in their English …

Witch Hunting in Berrichonne

Berry, is an historical province in France. Having been the capital of Bourges. The inhabitants are known as Berrichonne. This region has a very rich history of witches, dating from 1450 – 1700. These traditions of “evil practices”, shift-shaping and the foulest forms of magic were there can be no doubt were being practiced extensively throughout the countryside at that era. Three notorious witches being, la Crèancier, la Ducatel, la Loysel and a warlock named Picault.

In Berry the practice of witchcraft in the middle ages was subsient to small isolated villages. The country people are very superstitious. They have strange creatures called “brittes”, or a dangerous pack of wolves that poison the cattle. “Brittes” wore wild boar skins or wolves skins on their shoulders, and they haunt the countryside; There is a head “wolf” who commands the pack and they dance in the light of the moon.

Witchcraft in France can be dated as early as 1275. An inquisition …

The Gargoyle in France

The Gargoyle often makes his perch On a cathedral or church where mid ecclesiastic style He smiles an early gothic smile ~ Oliver Herford.

These peculiar race of creatures which inhabit many places in France dating to 600 B.C. The purpose of a gargoyle was to drain water from a building. The word comes from the French ” gargouille” meaning “throat or pipe”. The statues have migrated away from churches and can be found on other buildings.

In medieval times people had a powerful belief in God. The cathedral was a “sermon in stone” which could be “read” by an illiterate population. Some gargoyles are illustrating Bible stories, from Eve’s first reach for the apple, to the images of eternal damnation. Not all were for religious instruction, many are simply grotesque, they were made so to scare off evil spirits and that’s why they were put on buildings.

If you have seen gargoyles you will notice a recurring theme of …

Paranormal Caught in Pictures?

Today I am posting a few interesting pictures that were sent in to us by Karen Morfu. Karen is interested in what others might think about these pictures. Was something paranormal caught by the photographer? There is certainly a lot of controversy over the legitimacy of ghost pictures but that in no way rules out the possibilities that something supernatural may actually be caught on “film”.

At first glance you might be tempted to say that what is actually in these pictures is a camera strap or cable. I mentioned this to her and she said, “there was no strap like that on the camera, I know there are a lot of people who are skeptics out there, even here in France they said that it was because of a light in the window, but the same thing showed up in the restaurant.”

These images were scanned directly from the original photographs and have not been altered or enhanced in …