Malevolent Haunts: The Jabuticabal Poltergeist.

When you think of magic what do you think of? Perhaps you think of the outragerous exploits of Harry Houdini, the escape artist who stunned millions in the early part of the twentieth century with the idea that no chain or rope could ever hold him captive. Or perhaps you think of that dude with the reality television show who struts around without a shirt throwing decks of cards at windows and flying through the air with the greatest of ease(Man, put a shirt on a get a real job.) Although these things may be impressive and mind boggling this is nothing more than staged effects and has nothing to do with real magic.

Anthropologists agree that mankind’s fascination with magic began thousands of years ago before the advent of organized religion when man was still young and had a day to struggle with a seemingly unforgiving environment filled with awe, wonder and fear. Researchers believe that magic came about as a means to control their unforgiving environment and as a means to commune with nature. This possibly explains why cavemen painted on the walls of their caves showing hunting and battle scenes, they firmly believed by drawing themselves capturing and killing the animal they could become one with their prey and have an easier time making the kill and feeding their family. However there is a different side to magic a negative side that seeks to call up evil beings in an attempt to control and enslave an enemy. This black magic or the left hand path has been blamed for many tales concerning mankind crossing paths with malevolent spirit entities. This would appear to be the case with our final chapter delving into the frightening world of malevolent haunts.

The events that transpired in the Ferrier household in Jabuticabal, Brazil has gone down on record as being one of the most violent episodes of poltergeist phenomenon and concerns abject fear, revenge from beyond the grave and suicide. In December of 1965, the Ferrier house and all those who resided there came under attack by bricks that flew through the windows and doors of the modest little home breaking valuables and occassionally striking members of the family. After investigating the possibility of some unknown assailant throwing the bricks the family became convinced that they were under attack by some kind of demonic entity that would mean them harm. The Ferriers did what any devout Roman Catholic family would do in their situation they contacted their local priest and begged for an exorcism to be performed. Little did they know things would soon get worse.

When the priest arrived he spoke with the family of the strange activity that held them in iron fisted fear. The priest himself witnessed numerous phenomena that included bricks striking the home, plates moving of their own accord and rappings on the wall. The man of God in his wisdom determined that the family was definately under the attack from some diabolical being and quickly went about the business of cleansing the home of whatever evil being invaded it. It is a common thing for families who have strong religious beliefs and experiencing this kind of activity to contact their local church in the hopes that their priest, pastor or Rabbi can do battle with an unseen entity and come out victorious in God’s name. Unfortunately, as this priest would soon discover, an excorsism can not rid a home of a poltergeist or a human entity. In fact an excorsism time and time again has only proven to make matters worse. After the priest left the activity in the Ferrier house picked up and became five times more violent than it was. The Ferriers were at a loss of what to do.

Catholicism may be the official religion of Brazil and dominates the lives of the faithful, however the belief in Spiritism or the contacting of the dead by means of a medium has a strong foothold in the large South American country and the Ferriers turned to this belief system and their adherents in the hope that they could rid themselves of this phenomena. Joao Volpe, a local dentist and spiritist was contacted by friends of Ferriers and immediately went to the frightened family. Volpe knew what plagued the family and it most certainly was not one of the minions of Satan.

When Volpe arrived he calmed the fears of the family and assured them that what caused the activity in the home was not the work of the wicked one but rather the work of a poltergeist. Volpe, explained that a poltergeist was not a spirit but rather the pent up frustration of a member of the family that was expressed in an unexplained manner. Volpe, was convince that Maria Jose, the Ferrier’s eleven year old daughter was the cause of the phenomena and may be a natural medium who is able to effect the immediate environment and possess the ability to contact spirits. Volpe, became even more convinced by his theory when Maria Jose, stated that she had numerous invisible friends who treated her kindly and could make candy and other treats appear at her feet when she asked. Volpe was astonished by what the young girl told him and Volpe asked her parents if he could take the girl to his home and study her further. The Ferriers allowed Volpe to take her away happy to be rid of such a nuisance.

The first few days that Maria Jose spent in the Volpe house was peaceful and free of the phenomena that plagued her parents home. Volpe began to wonder if perhaps Maria Jose was happy with getting away from her parents which may have been the cause her stress. However, rocks began striking the home and loud bangs that seemed to come from nowhere but from everywhere filled the house. Volpe and numerous associates watched as a large stone flew in through an open window, struck three people on the head and flew out through the window. Volpe became convinced that he had done all that he could do to help the young girl and came to the conclusion that the help she required needed to come from a medium much stronger than he especially after a particularly terrifying experience that almost killed the devout spiritist. One night Maria’s clothes inexplicably caught fire and severly burned Volpe and set his room on fire. Only one man could cure this child of her ills, the great medium Chico Xavier.

Volpe brought Maria Jose to the spiritist center in Uberaba, Brazil and the wise medium, upon hearing of the young girl Xavier gave them swift admittance into his home. Xavier quickly went about the business of contacting the spirits to determine what caused this young girl to experience this violent otherworldly behavior. While in a trance, Xavier made contact with a spirit that claimed that Maria Jose, in a former life was an evil witch that caused the deaths of many people with her black magic. The spirit went on to say that he and his fellow spirits were sent to Maria Jose as a curse to make her suffer for the crimes she had committed in her former life. Chico Xavier was able to persuade the spirits to leave the young girl because it was unfair that she should be held responsible for events beyond her control. After many hours of prayer Xavier declared that the young girl was now free of the spirits that plagued her and she was able to go in peace and live a happy life.

After what seemed like several months of pure hell on earth, Maria Jose Ferrier, was allowed to come home and live with her parents once again and by all appearances was freed from the spirits that would mean her harm. However this tale would have a tragic end, Maria Jose’s mother returned home one afternoon to find her daughter lying dead in her bedroom. Apparently Maria could no longer take the stress of the events that transpired and took her own life by lacing her soda with a mixture of pesticides. A sad end to a promising young life.

It would be nice if all haunting phenomnon was caused by some sweet little old lady ghost who helped out around the house and did not mean the living occupants harm, unfortunately this not the case. Malevolent haunts would appear to be a very real reality in the world of the paranormal. Perhaps the haunting is caused by the spirit of some mean old man who wants to run you off what he thinks is still is property. Or the activity is caused by some teenager going through the turmoil of puberty. Or perhaps the phenomena is caused by one of the soldiers of Satan who is out to possess your soul and drag you kicking and screaming into the fiery pit of hell. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this series and I sincerely hope that it sent shivers down your spine, because when I consider these cases I get goosebumps. Just to let you know my next series will not be dealing with true reports of the paranormal but rather I will testing my ability to write fiction and I will bring you a tale of terror.

Rick E. Hale

t_seeker@hotmail.com