Château des Noyers du Tourneur

Coffee Break Story

In October 1867, the de Manville family inherited Château des Noyers du Tourneur, which had been built in 1835 from the stones of an earlier medieval castle. The family moved into their beautiful new home with their son Maurice and four employees: their son’s tutor, Emile, their coachman, a gardener named Auguste, and Celina and Amélina, a cook and maid, respectively.

For the first three years, the occupants experienced strange noises, doors slamming without cause, and inexplicably moved objects that disconcerted them. In 1870, these strange occurrences just stopped, and the family lived in peace, settling into their home and feeling comfortable. Then, in October 1875, it all started again. Added to the sounds from before was a shouting voice. Words could not be made out, but it was clearly the voice of a person. Mr. de Manville was a no-nonsense sort of man, and he had at first chalked up the noises when they’d first moved in as pranks by his son. But now he was taking them seriously and began a daily journal to record all of the strange happenings.

In the middle of October of that year, the tutor came to his employees shaking and visibly scared; he claimed a chair in his room had moved on its own accord. De Manville was unimpressed; so far, all the family had heard were noises. He went to the tutor’s room, stuck the chair in place with gum paper, and told the educator to record any strange incidents. Later the same night, the family was awoken by terrified screams and the sound of a bell the tutor kept by his bed. De Manville found the teacher cowering in bed, the covers pulled up to his chin. His room was in disarray, with the chair toppled over, candle sticks, and other objects strewn across the chamber. The tutor said he had been awoken by a loud rapping sound in the walls. Perplexed, de Manville was contemplating his next move when loud thumps echoed around the château from every corner. He armed his employees, and together they carried out a search of every corner of every room until suddenly the noises, which had grown deafeningly louder, ceased.

From then on, the disturbances got worse; the family could barely sleep from the loud banging on the walls and rapping on the windows all night long. The sound of a heavy object rolling down the stairs could be heard but not seen.

De Manville brought in the parish priest to stay the night and give his views on what he thought could be going on. The priest was kept up all night by what he described as a ‘giant of heavy footsteps’ stamping up and down the stairs. Before leaving hastily in the morning, the priest declared the disturbances to be supernatural.

By November, the distressed voice of a woman could be heard screaming outside the château, all around on the four sides. The screams got louder and louder until an unmistakable female voice could be heard screaming for help. Soon, the screaming started coming from inside the château. The screams would eventually turn into heartbreaking sobs and finally whimpers until the sounds died away and then started all over again.

By January, entire rooms were being torn apart, books flung everywhere, chairs stacked on top of tables, candlesticks knocked over, and more.

At night, the terrified occupants would hear a knocking on their locked doors and footsteps in the corridors, but no one was brave enough to get up and look. Madam de Manville was the only one to be physically hurt. While unlocking a room, the key was torn out of her hand by a strong force, leaving her bruised.

The parish priest reported to the bishop, who sent a Canon, whose enhanced spiritual presence seemed to calm the poltergeist activity for a while. Then, after a few days of peace, it all started up again, worse than before.

An unseen force made its way into the rooms of Auguste and Emile, threw around their belongings, and overturned their beds. All the books and papers in Mr. de Manville’s study were thrown in a heap on the floor. The sinister nighttime screams were joined by the growl of animals and the bellow of a bull. The banging on the doors increased in volume and intensity until the windows of the château rattled.

On January 26, 1876, the parish priest arrived at Château des Noyers du Tourneur to perform the rites of exorcism. His arrival was heralded by a terrible, unearthly scream, and the sound of stampeding animals and heavy furniture being roughly moved was followed by the door to Maurice’s room shaking violently.
As the exorcism reached its peak at 11.15 p.m., they heard the agonised roar of an animal, furious thumps and knocking sounds, and a man’s voice shouting, and then nothing.

The priest slumped over exhausted, and those present explored the house cautiously. It seemed as if whatever malevolent presence had gripped the chateau was gone.

A few days later, as Madame de Manville sat writing at her desk, from nowhere, handfuls of holy medals and crosses fell onto her papers. This incident was followed by a few months of peace and quiet, and then in August, tapping sounds could be heard in the corners of rooms. And by September, the furniture in the drawing room would randomly be moved around every day into a horseshoe shape. And the bolt on Madame Manville’s chamber would slide back on its own. The furniture in the new tutor’s room would be moved, and the sound of an organ could be heard playing throughout the house. And then there was silence again, but by then, the de Manville family had had enough and had moved out of the chateau.

A devastating, unexplained fire destroyed what was left of the château in 1984. To this day, it is still privately owned and receives a lot of visitors, but it is recommended never to visit alone.

Sources:
Annales des Sciences Psychiques, M.J. Morice
Normandy Now and Then.