The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

Maid of Orlach Possession 163
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Maid of Orlach Possession (1831) The most remarkable
POSSESSION case from the files of the German mesmerist
Justinus Kerner. The Maid of Orlach was a
dairymaid over whom a White Spirit and a Black Spirit
fought for control. The spirits were those of a sinning
nun and a murderous monk. In the end, a house had to
be destroyed to get rid of the possessing DEMON. The
account of the maid is in Kerner’s 1834 book Geschichten
Besessener neurer Zeit (Histories of Modern Possession).
Strange events began in February 1831 at the farm home
of a Lutheran peasant named Grombach, who lived in the
tiny village of Orlach, Wurtemberg, Germany. The activity
centered in the cowhouse and involved his daughter, Magdalene,
the “maid.” First, the cows were affected and poltergeist
phenomena occurred. The cows would be mysteriously
tied to new spots, and their tails were braided. Grombach
kept watch but caught no visible person in the act.
Magdalene one day received a sharp blow to one of her
ears that sent her cap flying. From February 8 through
February 11, mysterious fires broke out in the cow house.
Then, Magdalene heard a child whimpering in the cottage
house, but none could be seen.
A shadowy gray apparition of a woman appeared to
Magdalene against a wall in the cow house. The spirit,
which became known as the White Spirit, said the fires had
been caused by an evil spirit, but that she had protected
the family. She said that 400 years earlier, she had been a
14-year-old girl who was sent against her will to a convent,
where she had committed a sin she could not reveal. She
told Magdalene that the house must be destroyed by March
5 the following year. It told her, “Flee from the house! Flee
from the house! If it is not pulled down before the fifth of
March of the coming year a misfortune will happen to you
. . . promise me that you will do it!” The girl agreed.
The White Spirit appeared frequently to the maid until
May. It also spoke in religious language and prayed the
112th Psalm. It read Magdalene’s thoughts and accurately
predicted future events. No one but she could see it.
In May, the White Spirit announced that she would
not be able to visit for some time, and Magdalene would
be persecuted by the Black Spirit, her evil companion.
Magdalene should never answer him, no matter what
happened.
The Black Spirit took various guises, such as frogs, a
black cat, dogs, a headless horse, and disembodied male
voices that followed the maid, mocking her. Then, it began
showing up as a monk, tempting her with questions.
The Black Spirit sometimes imitated the voices of neighbors
in order to trick the girl into answering, but she held
fast in her silence to him.
A bag of coins mysteriously appeared in the barn, and
the Black Spirit said he put it there to compensate the
maid for the box on the ear. Soon, the White Spirit appeared
and told the maid that the money must be given
to the poor. It was.
After this, the Black Spirit intensified his attacks on
Magdalene. He appeared as a bear on July 15 and threatened
to plague her if she would not answer him. From
then on, he appeared in various monstrous, animalistic
shapes, promising her money and threatening her with
torture.
On August 21, the Black Spirit appeared as a horrible
animal with its neck in the middle of its body. The maid
fainted and was unconscious for several hours. The fainting
episodes happened again on the following days. She
could answer questions while entranced but could not remember
anything when she awakened. She said that the
Black Spirit came upon her and then disappeared when
the White Spirit arrived.
On August 23, the White Spirit said she would protect
Magdalene from harm but urged her to proceed with
demolishing the family’s house, to end her suffering. The
spirit said that the Black Spirit would take complete possession
of her, but that she, the White Spirit, would take
Magdalene away to a place of safety when that happened.
These developments finally prompted Magdalene’s father
to begin tearing down the house.
Beginning on August 25, Magdalene fell under intensified
attacks from the Black Spirit, who was able to take
over her body and speak through her mouth. A description
of the manner of possession is as follows:
In the midst of her work she would see the figure of a
man clothed in a monk’s frock, which seemed to be made
from black mist, approach and say, when she refused to
answer his questions: “Now I will enter thy body in spite
of thee.” Then she always felt him tread on her left side,
seize her with five cold fingers at the back of the neck
and then enter her body. She lost consciousness and
individuality. Her voice was no longer her own, but that
of the monk’s. The speeches which she uttered when
in this state were worthy of a demon. Magdalene lay
during the whole time with her head sunk towards her
left side, and her eyes firmly closed; if the eyelids were
raised the pupils would be discovered upwards. The left