So Supernatural - HAUNTED: The Loudun Possessions

Episode Date: February 3, 2021

In 1632, the Devil came to Loudun, France. For nearly five years, dozens of priests performed hundreds of public exorcisms on a convent of nuns who claimed they were possessed by demons. The nuns accused a parish priest, Urbain Grandier, of making a deal with the Devil.

At this point, I think we can all agree that if you isolate people for a long time inside their homes, they get a little stir crazy. But for most of us, that means learning how to homebrew kombucha or teach yourself to salsa, not playing host to 46 demons. But in 1632, after months of quarantining during a plague outbreak, the Ursula nuns of Loudun, France underwent a terrifying transformation. Their bodies had become homes to dozens of demons. What followed was perhaps the most famous case of mass possession in history. So who invited the devil to Ludun? According to the demons themselves, it was an unlikely source, Ludun's very own parish priest. This is Supernatural. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. This week, I'm taking an inside look at the Ludun possessions.

From 1632 to 1637, a group of clergymen repeatedly exorcised 27 nuns and laywomen at the town's local convent. The ladies had been infested by an army of demons who claimed they'd made a pact with the local priest. Even today, people believe the devil really did come to Loudun, just not in the way we originally thought. We have all of that and more coming up. Stay with us. In the fall of 1632, the town of Loudun is a mess. Located in western France, the medieval city had been ravished by a bout of plague. About 4,000 people have died by the time the outbreak finally starts to die down. Inside Loudun's new Ursuline convent, 17 young nuns and at least 10 other Catholic laywomen have been

quarantining for months. They've had nothing to do but fast, meditate and pray, and they don't know it yet, but things are about to get weird. On September 22nd, 1632, a junior nun named Sister Marthe de Saint-Monique wakes up to the sound of a male voice coming from inside her room. She looks towards the foot of her bed and sees the shadowy figure of a priest looming over her. He's hunched over, holding a white book. As her eyes adjust, Marthe recognizes that it's Prior Mousseau, the convent priest who normally takes confessions. There's only one problem. Prior Mousseau is dead. In fact, he died weeks before. But somehow, the confessor is not only looking pretty lively, he's weeping at the foot of her bed. The ghost priest claims he's in great pain and he begs Mart to pray to God on his behalf. Then he offers her a book to read.

I'm not sure what the book is, but Mart refuses. Still, Prior Musso continues to stand there crying for a full three hours. And Mart is just absolutely paralyzed. I mean, she's so freaked out she can't even bring herself to get help. Then, suddenly, the priest just fades away. The next morning, Mart discovers that Prior Mousseau appeared to two other nuns at the convent. Apparently, he asked them all the same thing, to pray for him and to look at his weird book. As far as I know, all the nuns refused, and Prior Mousseau never showed up again.

But this is just the beginning, because over the next weeks, the rest of the women at the convent start having bizarre experiences. Some of them hear voices at night, invisible hands hit and slap them. Others have bits of uncontrollable laughter and full body convulsions. One even reports a giant black ball that crashed into her body, throwing her to the ground. But it all culminates with their 30-year-old

mother superior, a nun named Jeanne. Jeanne claims she's receiving visits from a new ghostly priest, and he doesn't ask for help. This mysterious cleric has more amorous intentions. Instead of crying, he tries to seduce Jeanne. Not only is it very weird and creepy, but Jeanne has literally taken an oath of celibacy, so this kind of proposal is deeply offensive. And overall, whatever is attacking the convent seems to hate their Catholic traditions. This starts to manifest in different ways. For example, the nuns apparently have strong reactions whenever they take Holy Communion. Their bodies spasm like they're rejecting the bread and wine, which isn't unheard of. To the Catholic Church, it's a hallmark

symptom of demonic possession. Obviously, this is freaking everyone out. Soon enough, word spreads through Ludun and beyond, alarming all the nearby clergy. And by October 5th, barely two weeks since this all started, multiple priests have descended on the convent, where they immediately begin performing exorcisms. Before the month was over, there would be 14 total. At this point, multiple nuns are acting possessed. Day after day, they each undergo a grueling exorcism, sometimes even twice a day. Most of these sessions follow the same script. A priest prays over a nun, and she starts losing it. She convulses uncontrollably, making terrifying faces and swinging her head rapidly back and forth. It's terrifying, but less bizarre than how some of the exorcisms go.

Apparently, a few of the nuns can get a little frisky. Now, this was 1632, so I don't have a lot of details, but one account says the ladies exposed themselves and, quote, invited lewd behavior, end quote. This is definitely strange. And to the exorcist, it's further proof that these women literally can't control their actions, or the fact that now anytime any time they so much as encounter Holy Communion, they freak out. And there are other signs typical of demonic possession. Like, the nuns seem to be able to read the priest's thoughts. And during the exorcisms, they speak almost entirely in Latin, which might seem normal for a nun, except these ladies don't know Latin. They've

memorized some prayers, but aside from that, they never learned the language. Jeanne and another woman, Sister Claire, are seen floating in midair for almost 15 minutes. They can even rise straight to their feet from a lying position without ever bending their body, almost like vampires standing up from their coffins. And as soon as a ritual is over, most of them can't remember a thing. They can't recall what they did or what the demon made them say. It's just completely gone. Church officials even invite a bunch of doctors, surgeons, and apothecaries to examine these women, and they write that the patient's symptoms, quote, surpassed nature, end quote. In the case of Mother Superior Jeanne

and Sister Claire, their pulses never rise above a resting level. And one doctor who examines the women claims they can answer almost any question put to them, including ones having to do with incredibly complex theology. If this isn't evidence enough, there's the demons themselves. As the days go by, they start giving their names, which are all super satanic sounding, like Zabulon, Astaroth, and Behemoth. And there's a ton of them.

The Mother Superior, Jeanne, has seven living inside her, each in its own separate body part. And when the priests compile a list of names, they realize they're dealing with a total of at least 46 distinct demons, which is just unheard of even for the Catholic Church. At this point, the priests performing the exorcisms are starting to think this is some end of day stuff, like the town has just been through a plague and now this. It feels like a battle for the very soul of Ludun, possibly even France. But what really terrifies everyone is how the demons got there in the first place. During one session, a demon named Zabulon reveals that a priest has invited him, and he goes on to say that no priest will be able to get rid of him. The exorcists are stunned, and after this testimony, they double

down on their rituals, commanding the demons to give them a name. And finally, on October 11th, one spills the beans. An unnamed nun is having an exorcism when suddenly the demon inside her speaks up. He says his name is Astaroth, and he claims a priest has brought him there. The exorcist asks who this priest is, and finally the demon hisses a name. Urban Grandier. Coming up, we'll find out who Urbun Grandier really is. Now back to the story.

When the demon names Urbun Grandier, most of the foreign priests are like, Urbun who? But to the Ludonites, everything starts to make sense. Urbun Grandier is a parish priest of Ludun. He's sort of this divisive figure in town. People either love him or can't stand him. And you can see why. He's handsome, smart, and good at public speaking, but also arrogant. And he's been sued multiple times over petty fights, like refusing to install a pulpit at his church because he didn't like the way it looked. But most of all, he's a player. Urbun's constantly entertaining the rich widows and bachelorettes of Ludun. Rumor has it he visits them in their homes and, as one source puts it, enjoys their favors.

One of these is the daughter of an aristocrat, a young woman named Madeleine de Brue. Supposedly, Urbun became her spiritual advisor. Translation, he makes her his mistress. Urbain is so pro-sex that he authors a pamphlet arguing against church celibacy. He draws examples from history and the Bible to show that priests can and should be able to marry. He even addresses the treatise to Madeline, who he refers to as his dearest concubine. So when the demon accuses him, the other Ludun priests feel vindicated. If anyone's going to cause trouble in a convent full of isolated young women, it would be Urbun. As far as they're concerned, this accusation tracks with the evidence they've already gathered. Like the mother superior Jeanne claiming that a ghost is trying to seduce her and all the nuns who flashed their exorcists. Some even report a debilitating desire for Urbun.

A nun named Sister Agnes recalls a day when she and a few other sisters discovered a bouquet of musk roses on the convent steps. Urbun was nowhere to be seen, but when they smelled the flowers, they were struck by a great passion for him. Supposedly, they wandered around the convent grounds calling out his name. And they perched on top of the roofs and climbed up the trees where they stayed for four or five days without eating or drinking, just waiting for him to show up. And okay, sitting in a tree for days with no water sounds a little hard to believe, but the Catholic Church hears these tales and for them it's settled. Urbain obviously opened the Hellmouth in Loudun, getting 46 demons through. So the church officials move to the next step,

finding proof that Urbain is a sorcerer capable of summoning demons into a holy convent. Meanwhile, the Loudun possessions are causing a stir across France. Tourists travel to the city hoping to see the famous nuns, and in Paris, this news from Loudun pricks the ears of a very influential figure. His name is Cardinal Richelieu, better known as the bad guy from the Three Musketeers. In reality, he's the head of the Catholic Church in France and chief minister to King Louis XIII. Richelieu's not only familiar with Urbain, he actively hates him. Years before, a pamphlet surfaced claiming that King Louis was being fooled by his evil counselors. And while it didn't name any names, it pretty clearly meant Richelieu. Now, no one ever proves

that Urbun wrote the pamphlet, but everyone assumes it was him, and they're probably right. So when Richelieu hears the rumor that Urbain is a rotten priest, he is thrilled. He sends a lieutenant named Baron de Lobardement to Loudun to investigate. On December 7th, 1633, over a year since the demons first accuse Urbain, the Baron bursts into the priest's home in Ludun. He raids the rooms looking for evidence of sorcery, and as far as he's concerned, he finds it. There's a copy of Urbun's treatise against celibacy, along with a collection of dirty poems written by the priest. The Baron even finds a pamphlet in his desk laying out all the reasons why Urbun

couldn't have summoned the demons. To the baron, this all looks super suspicious, so he has Urbun arrested. Then, Urbun just languishes in jail for months while the possessions escalate. The number of women grows to a final total of 17 nuns and 10 laywomen. The community becomes so enthralled they even start doing public exorcisms. They build a stage in front of the town cathedral where thousands of people gather day after day to watch. Eventually, the most damning piece of evidence comes from one of these exorcisms. At this point, it's spring of 1634, about a year and a half since the possession started. A crowd watches as the Mother Superior, Jeanne, is led on stage in chains. The exorcism begins. A demon named Asmodeus speaks through Jeanne.

He claims there's a pact between Urbun and a head demon named Leviathan. Asmodeus says the agreement is marked on a piece of paper that's spotted with blood, and it's hidden somewhere nearby. The exorcists and the onlookers frantically search the stage for this document, and there's nothing to be found. But later, during another exorcism, Leviathan himself speaks through Jean. He tells them to look under a bishop who is nearby observing the ceremony. The bishop discovers a piece of paper by his foot, and sure enough, it's the smoking gun they've been looking for. Blood soaks the top of the page and the words are written in backwards Latin. Translated, it says, quote, We, the influential Lucifer, the young Satan, Beelzebub, Leviathan, Elime and Astaroth, together with others, have today accepted the covenant pact

of Urbun Grandier, who is ours. End quote. It's even signed by Urbain Grandier, the demons, and Satan himself. Through Jeanne, Leviathan claims that the blood on the pact comes from Urbain's right thumb. When they check Urbain's hand back at the jail, there's a scar in the exact same spot. Obviously, anyone could have done this to Urbun, but it's exactly what the Baron is looking for. Indelible proof that Urbun is in league with the devil. And in another one of Jeanne's exorcisms, the demon Asmodeus commands the exorcist to search Urbun for so-called indolent marks or places on his body that don't bleed or feel pain. Asmodeus says it will be proof that the priest has dealt with demons, like how witches supposedly have marks of the devil. So doctors are brought into Urbun's prison to test him. They stick him with long pins, in some places even down to the bone.

Now, this is both horribly cruel and painful. And according to Urbun, he felt every pinprick and bled in every spot. But according to the doctors, there were a few places on his body where he didn't cry out, or at least he didn't cry out enough. And that's proof enough for the Baron and the other church officials. By summer, they're ready to move forward with a trial. The Baron gathers a tribunal of judges from the surrounding towns and presents them with an enormous 5,000-page file describing everything that's transpired so far. And for a 17th century court, the proof is pretty compelling. There's the pact with the devil, the scar on Urbun's hand, and the so-called indolent marks.

Of course, none of this is actual evidence. It could have all been planted. And Urbun himself is adamant he is not a sorcerer. He admits to a weakness of nature as far as his desire for women, but he denies having anything to do with the possessions. Still, it's not enough. At dawn on August 18th, the tribunal announces their judgment. Urbun Grandier is guilty of performing magic, casting evil spells, and encouraging demons to possess the nuns and laywomen of Ludun. His sentence? Death. Coming up, we'll hear about Urbun's unusual punishment. Now let's get back to the story.

It's not enough for the tribunal to simply execute Urbun. First, he must ask for forgiveness. Of course, that would be admitting guilt, so Urbun refuses. Allegedly, he writes a response to the judges saying he's innocent and that he hopes he dies worthy of God's love. So the tribunal moves on to the next point. They have a hard time believing one man could orchestrate such a mass possession. In order to die with a pure heart, they tell Urbun he must name his accomplices. Of course, he says he doesn't have any. And this is medieval times, so the tribunal basically says,

okay, well then we'll have to torture you. And they whisk Urbun off to something called the boot. It's basically these fitted wooden cuffs that squeeze Urbun's legs until his bones are about to break. Still, he maintains his innocence and swears he has no accomplices. So they completely shatter his legs. The next step is to burn Urbun alive. But here's where he really protests. Torture means nothing, he says. But he's afraid of the fire. He's worried this fear would make him fall into despair,

a mortal sin he believes could prevent him from entering heaven. Surprisingly, the tribunal agrees. They'll hang him first. They put Urbun in a cart with a rope around his neck and parade him around Ludun. Then they bring him to the town square where an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 people are waiting to watch. Some of the clergy have set up a gallows above a burning funeral pyre. And since Urbun can't walk, the executioner literally carries him up to the gallows. They place the noose around his neck, and Urbun speaks his final words. Quote, I hope that my God, my creator, savior, and redeemer will pardon me. He alone knows that I am innocent. End quote. One of the exorcists lights the fire

underneath the scaffold and the executioner pulls the trap door. But then the very thing Urbun fears happens. The rope snaps, he falls into the bonfire and burns alive. It is a horrible way to die, but in Ludun, they believe they've done it. The sorcerer is dead, evil has been defeated, and they can finally go back to their normal demon-free lives, right? Well, not exactly. Because even with Urbun dead, the possessions continue for two and a half more years. For the 27 nuns and laywomen, it's business as usual, two exorcisms a day, every day.

Then, in early 1637, the unexpected happens. On February 7th, the Mother Superior Jeanne has a dream. She claims she's visited by a beautiful angel with the face of Saint Joseph. He applies a salve to her side, and when she wakes up, poof, everything's back to normal. After nearly five years of convulsions, speaking in tongues, and daily exorcisms, the demons are gone. Just like that, back to hell. The priests pack their bags, and the crowds trickle out of Lu Dan. It's over. And that's just really suspicious, right? Jun's story seems like a super anticlimactic ending for something that's taken Lu Dan over five years to get rid of. But if you believe in spiritual entities, it might make sense. Remember, the demon Zabulon claimed that no priest would ever be able

to get rid of him. Maybe this was some sort of prophecy, and Jeanne was the answer all along. Still, even people at the time are suspicious. In 1634, when the possessions are still going on, a Scottish doctor named Mark Duncan writes a treatise claiming the entire thing is a product of the nun's imaginations. After constant sermons on the devil's ability to tempt the righteous, the ladies may have convinced themselves that they were possessed. Perhaps Jeanne is even the ringleader. As mother superior, she could have persuaded the women underneath her to play along. In fact, a nun named Sister Agnes did admit to some sort of coercion going on. According to the exorcismutes, Agnes said she was, quote,

not possessed, but that they wanted to make her think she was, and that they forced her to let herself be exorcised, end quote. And peer pressure or not, the idea of fake possessions start to make a lot more sense when you think about the context. When this whole thing started in September of 1632, Jeanne and the other women at the convent had been quarantining because of the plague. The months of isolation may have caused them to become unmoored from reality. And this tracks with what some people thought when the possessions first started. They basically blamed it on mental illness brought on by isolation. Now, that's neither here nor there for the Catholic Church. As far as they're concerned, the Ludun possessions are a huge victory.

At the end of the day, it proves that they have the power to cast literal demons back to hell. But an eyewitness at the time has his own theory. This is Nicholas Obun, a Protestant minister who observed the public exorcisms at close range. In 1693, Obun publishes his own account of the possessions. He claims the entire thing was an inside job, meant to take down Protestantism and Urbain at the same time. According to Urbain, the Catholic establishment feared Loudun was slipping into the hands of the Protestants. In 1632, the city sits near the edge of a Protestant-controlled region in France,

and Loudun is a melting pot for people of both faiths. So the Catholic hierarchy makes a plan. They'll stage a series of exorcisms, proving that Catholicism is the mightiest religion. Meanwhile, Cardinal Richelieu sees another opportunity to get rid of the man he thinks is his vocal critic, Urbun. Urbun claims the reason why it went on for years is that no one, not the physicians, clergymen, or the nuns, dared to speak up. Apparently, the tribunal for Urbun had handed down a court order forbidding anyone from so much as disparaging the case. Anyone found guilty would be put to death. So it creates this impossible situation for anyone close to the case,

which brings us to the crux of this whole conspiracy, the nuns themselves. Now, there are two ways this could have gone down. Either the nuns at Lodun really were suffering from a real possession, and Cardinal Richelieu and the Catholic Church used it as an opportunity to clean house, or they were in on it from the beginning. As it turns out, this particular Ursuline monastery was home to many daughters of French aristocrats and government officials. In fact, two of Urbain's accusers were sisters-in-law to his chief prosecutor, the Baron de Laubardumont. One was related to Cardinal Richelieu himself. So for all we know, the ladies were coerced or forced to pretend they were possessed.

The ghostly visions and the levitations never happened, and the demonic voices were all some sort of ventriloquist trick. But that's a lot of effort to go to, especially for a powerful establishment like the Catholic Church. You would think that as the king's advisor, Richelieu could have cooked up some other trumped-up charge, one that wouldn't involve dozens of nuns and priests as actors. Unfortunately, we don't know for sure. And even Jeanne, the steadfast mother superior herself, admitted at one point that the possessions were fake. Supposedly, the day after she submitted her deposition for the pending trial, Jeanne appeared in the baron's courtyard.

For two hours, she stood outside his house, a rope around her neck, and a candle in her hand. And when he finally opened the door, she ran inside, fell to her knees, and confessed that Urbun is innocent. Then she ran back out to the courtyard, threw the rope over a tree branch, and tried to strangle herself. The only reason she failed is because the other nuns intervene. At the time, exorcists considered this as proof of Urbun's influence, but it looks a whole lot like someone trying to come clean from a horrible lie. So what really happened in Ludun? Maybe Cardinal Richelieu saw an opportunity in a convent of young, politically connected nuns. Or maybe the devil really was active in Ludun. Most of the time, it comes down to whether or

not you believe demons are real to begin with. But whatever the case, it's important to examine it closely. Because as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. Thanks for listening. I'll be back next week with another episode. To hear more stories hosted by me, check out Crime Junkie and all Audiochuck originals.