The Chateau De Saumur and the Ghost of the Marquis de Sade

The Chateau De Saumur is a hauntingly beautiful and very haunted castled nestled in the historic Loire Valley of France.  The Chateau De Saumur  was built in the 10th century by Thibault le Tricheur the Comte de Blois.  The castle was completely destroyed in battle in 1076.  Henry II  Of England rebuilt the castle in 12th century.  Phillip II of France retook the castle as part of France in the 13th century.  The castle seems to be tightly tied to France's turbulent history.  It witnessed the wars between England in France and changed hands many times. In 1589 the castle fell into the hands of King Henry de Navarre, a critical figure in the French wars of religion and the first Protestant king of France. 

In 1621 the castle was turned into an army barracks and  later  into a prison.   It would house many notourious figures.   The most notorious figure to live in The Chateau De Saumur was the Marquis de Sade.   The Marquis de Sade is most known for his writings in which he wrote about the link between sexual gratification, torture, and pain.  His name is the origin of the word sadism.  The Marquis spent most of his life in prison.  He was inprisoned for his disturbing writings, but continued to write in prison.  He was inprisoned in many asylums and prisons throughout France during the 32 yrs he was incarcerated but his ghost is thought to linger at Chateau De Saumur.    I have been unable to find any real information on the nature of the haunting at the Chateau, but I was intrigued by any haunting that involves De Sade, a man whose cruelty is legendary.

The Chateau itself is quite lovely.  It is one of many beautiful castles in the Loire Valley and has been turned into a museum dedicated to horses.  I missed this lovely castle in my tour of the Loire Valley, but I will look for it next time.  De Sade's ghost isn't something I would want to miss.

The Poltergeist of Calvados Castle

Calvados Castle is located in Normandy in the north of France.  The castle is relatively new as far as castles go.  Especially as far as French castles go.  In France, if a castle is less than three hundred years old it seems new compared to the medieval ruins that pepper the landscape.   Calvados Castle was build in 1835.  It was built on top of some ruins that have never been described.  Perhaps this was the source of the problem because between 1875- 1876 the castle endured one of the longest sustained poltergeist occurrences ever recorded.

The family involved in this poltergeist activity requested to be left out of the stories and so I have been able to find their names and they are often referred to X.  They inherited the castle in 1865.  The haunting started without subtlety.  On the first night, objects flew around the rooms,  there were bangings on the doors and a monstrous boom filled the quite halls of the castle.  The banging on the walls continued nightly for three months.   One of the worst events occurred during a terrible rainstorm.   The entire family was awoken by a screaming woman.  The servants helped Monsieur X find the woman who seemed to be in peril, but no one was found.  The screams seemed to be coming from a room that is known as the green room and is said to be the most haunted room in the castle.  Every night the screams became worse and worse.  In fact, the poltergeist activity in general seemed to get worse as time progressed.  It heaped books in the study.  Madam X reported hearing noises like a bull bellowing while her husband was away.   It was particularly active in the children's room where beds were turned over  and toys were thrown across the room. At the peak of the haunting, as it was recorded, the ghost played the locked organ, knocked over furniture and sent water down the chimney, scattering the lit coals in the face of the children's tutor.

Finally,  in January the family couldn't take it any longer.   They called upon the parish priest to perform an exorcism.  It was a long night and those that witnessed the exorcism described a male voice taunting the castle's occupants during the exorcism.  The exorcism peaked around 11:45 pm.  Those who were there  describe screaming and banging and when the last rites of the ritual were performed they say that a demon cried out in what sounded like agony.   The haunting was over and there have been no reports of incidents since that time.