Chapter 25

Consultation with Pinel

On April 24, 1816, I went to the house of Philippe Pinel, who was living on the rue des Postes, near the Estrapade [1]. His servant introduced me when he returned home. I told him that I had been sent to him on the recommendation of the great confessor of Notre-Dame, in the hopes that he would grant me some relief from my ills. I gave him some account of their beginnings, of the various places the evil spirits had exercised their power and hatred on me. He listened to this with the greatest attention, assuring me that this sort of disease was within his knowledge, and he had treated several people with the condition, and they had made a recovery. I could tell my confessor that I would make a full recovery. At this I felt a surge of great joy, and he ordered me to take a series of eight baths. 

I had told him how  Moreau and the Vandeval women were my most pernicious and cruel enemies. He promised to meet with them, to learn why they were in my house, and asked me to join him the next morning. I said I would, but first needed to speak with the grand confessor, to keep him informed of these conversations. The minister seemed satisfied, congratulating himself on having sent me to Pinel’s office. 

The doctor asked if, when I heard the noises of animals, I had ever seen them? I said no, it was always a noise under my bed, or the sensation of people touching me in bed. He laughed, saying it would all be in order soon and I would get over it. 

I spent the whole day thinking about the questions and answers made by both sides in this interview, and finally went to bed. Though I felt a spectral touch around midnight, I said nothing, assuring myself that there would soon be a positive change in my life. 

After waking up, I hurried to the doctor. His servant told me that he had left on his errands, and would not be back until noon the following day, and I would have to wait for his return. In his absence, I wanted to see my confessor, to tell him what I experienced during the night, but in the end, I decided I should first discuss this with my doctor. The servant had mentioned that he might be at his house, and surprisingly I found him there. I told him what I endured during the night, that what I’d experienced over the past two nights suggested that he had some connection to the infernal spirits that tormented me, and begged him to use art and connections, particularly with the goblin spirits, to deliver me from my enemies. 

He smiled at me, perhaps pained by my observations, and urged me to take the baths he prescribed. I responded as one who never deviates from the right path might, even though he has taken advice several times from people who abused his credulity even as they promised to heal him. The righteous person must look to Providence for his needs, and never give up hope! 

I took my leave of Pinel. I had expected, from my honest explanations to him and the assurances he had given me, to gain some improvement, some lessening of my persecutions, but it was in vain. What can we hope from creatures who live for vengeance and rejoice in the harm they cause! The doctor was not worth two cents. He was no better than Vandeval, part of the same society and working in concert with them. I went to the confessor then with very little of the confidence I had earlier, and found no more rest that night, my situation always worse. 

The priest urged me to follow his advice. I told him of the four apparitions I’d mentioned before, and went into detail on them. Again, he told me to put my faith in Providence, and then to visit Mr. Audry, doctor of medicine, rue du Temple. I told him that I appreciated his concern for me and went to the doctor, giving a faithful account of everything I’d experience since the beginning of my suffering up to that point, the names of the authors of my ills, whose vengeance I had never provoked. He listened to me until the very end, and then ordered me to calm down. My health was made worse by the suffering I had experienced, my blood was agitated, and I should use a softener, there being no better treatment. The ones I had used already had been very good, but produced no useful effect, because the persons who prescribed them to me were the very enemies that persecuted me. 

The doctor encouraged me to see my priest again. I did, begging him to intercede for me through Providence, to deliver me form the invisible beings who tormented me in so many forms, disrupting my life and depriving me of rest. The minister calmed my concerns with a moral conversation, and told me to never again consult with any physician other than the Almighty, the only one capable of delivering me from these monsters, the enemies of the human species, who every day show that their actions are directed purely toward bringing about evil by flattering and tempting with perfidious pleasure, dragging us with them into an eternal abyss. 

He ordered me to reflect before taking action, to thwart their efforts; to deprive myself of drink, and observe the fasts ordained by the church. I gave my pastor a report of my daily conduct, and he expressed his satisfaction, knowing that the trials ordained by God and my priest would lead me to resisting evil, earning his benevolence and my peace through my actions, though always persecuted by these evil spirits. The priest asked me to see him often, tell me of my condition, and by this let me know if his advice brought some positive effect in my life, though I would have done so anyway. I could not imagine a better priest, and one who seemed so interested in me besides. 

He invited me to see the Grand Vicar-General, Joubert, and on my visit I told him the history of what I’d been so long experiencing, particularly regarding Dr. Pinel. He asked if I’d fulfilled the obligations of the church. I had, and beyond that, did everything I believed would be pleasing to God. He instructed me to visit four churches every day: Notre-Dame, Saint-Amorain near Sainte-Genevieve, Sant-Germain-’Auxerriois, and Saint-Roch. Nothing could have stopped me from carrying out these instructions.

 [1] It seems significant that the public square called  Place dl’ Estrapade is the “place of torture,” named for the tortures inflicted on prisoners there.