Sorciers et prophètes – La France des mystères – Nostradamus – Documentaire complet – HD – MG

Ce documentaire revient sur les traces en France, de figures de la sorcellerie et de la magie et interroge sur l’héritage qu’ils nous ont laissé.

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La mystérieuse forêt de Brocéliande, en Bretagne, serait le royaume d’un personnage mythique inspiré de la légende du Roi Arthur: Merlin. Le célèbre enchanteur doté de pouvoirs exceptionnels serait le maître de ce lieu où résonnent encore les noms de Lancelot, Morgane et Uther Pendragon. En 1955, en Provence, un certain Nostradamus publie ses Prophéties, ouvrage rempli de versets poétiques prédisant l’avenir jusqu’en 3797! L’homme avait-il une mémoire divine? Des pouvoirs surnaturels? Ses prophéties sont connues de tous, mais avait-il vu juste? D’autres lieux moins connus ont aussi leurs parts de secrets comme au Pays Basque dans le château de Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, près de Bayonne où le juge Pierre de Lancre a mené 400 sorcières à la mort. Dans le Béarn, un peuple maudit, celui des cagots a été accusé de sorcellerie et condamné à vivre dans des conditions impensables. Mais qui étaient-ils ? Des descendants des Wisigoths, des Sarrasins, des Cathares? Leurs origines divisent encore les historiens. Dans le Haut-Rhin, la colline de Bollenberg est au coeur des histoires de sorcellerie. Au 16 ème et 17 ème siècles, les rares personnes qui s’y aventuraient étaient traitées de sorciers.

La vignette de ce documentaire a été générée avec l’intelligence artificielle.

La France des mystères : Sorciers et Prophètes
Réalisation : Jérôme Gluzicki
© Morgane Production – 2019

There is the France that you know, with its essential monuments, its breathtaking landscapes and magnificent villages. But behind these places is sometimes hidden a France that is more secret, more surprising and disturbing. What if we discovered behind the scenes that of a mysterious France, dark and enigmatic, the France of witchcraft and magic.

Who has never heard of magi with extraordinary powers? Witches capable of evil, different creatures, endowed with hidden powers. Do you think witches and magicians have disappeared? That their powers were buried forever? Think again. Their shadows still whimper from Brittany to Provence. Everywhere in France,

Legends and stories are passed down from generation to generation. Who, in Brittany, has never heard of the mysterious Brocéliande Forest and of Merlin, this magician with dark powers, sent to Earth by Satan. In Alsace, we will discover how a Dominican monk set up an infernal judicial machine allowing

Thousands of trials to have taken place, from which no one has been able to survive. Inevitably, the witch was trapped. She was sent to the stake. In Basque Country, we will follow in the footsteps of a Machiavellian judge, Pierre de Lancre, who alone will lead 400 witches to their deaths.

De Lancre is crazy. Unquestionably, he is crazy. His personality could not lead to anything other than these executions which lead to the fact that the Basque Country was in flames for four months in 1609. We will go to Béarn where a cursed people, the Cagots, will be accused of witchcraft

And condemned to live excluded from cities in unthinkable living conditions. One doesn’t look at them. No physical contact. They are scary because they live on the margins of society, They have traits that are more animal than human. In Salon-de-Provence we will follow in the footsteps of Nostradamus,

The most famous magus of all time, author of a book of enigmatic prophecies whose key lies in a mysterious code. He put his life in danger to deliver this message. Friends of his died at the stake. Magicians and witches have left their marks on the history of France

In these magnificent and terrifying places where their magic formulas and their screams still resonate. And you will see that the cruel witch hunts took place a stone’s throw from you. Let’s go to the northwest of France, in a forest known to be the most mysterious of all, the Brocéliande forest.

An extraordinary stretch of nature that has kept the heart of Brittany breathing since the dawn of time. Brocéliande is now seen as the last refuge of enchantment, of poetry. It’s the forest of tales, the forest of Tom Thumb, the forest of the Wolf, and therefore the forest of imagination.

If the imagination reigns supreme in these places since the first men, it’s because here the earth rose up forcefully to shape a legendary valley. From these rocky headlands we can see the Val Sans Retour, a place inhabited by the supernatural. Over there, the trees,

Streams and lakes carry a strange magic, because it’s here in the middle of this wild forest, where the most mysterious beings are hiding. Since the 12th century, it has been described as a forest where extraordinary thing happen. We see the facts there are marvelous fountains, we can experience adventure

In the sense that the adventure is the encounter with the supernatural. If the Brocéliande forest has a dark reputation, it is primarily because it will be the scene of a mysterious story written in the 12th century by Robert de Boron. Through his novel, this clergyman will announce

The arrival of a magus at the service of Satan, an exceptional being that he will call Merlin. Merlin is a kind of antichrist who is sent to Earth according to the devil’s plans. He is the fruit of the union between the devil in person

And a young woman, a young virgin. A very religious young woman, very godly, who won’t even remember what happened. The screams of this demonic child’s mother traveled through the woods, freezing the trees and shedding their blood in all the streams of Brocéliande.

Water as red as the iron that they beat to make these weapons that will be used during the terrible battles to come to the lands of Brittany. The wars that this child is going to fight because if Merlin is the son of the devil, he has all the powers.

From his evil father, he will get the knowledge of the past. And from his mother, who is a godly woman, he will have the knowledge of the future. Which means that for a child who at birth, will start talking and who, very quickly

Will also issue prophecies, we have an atypical character and who is full of powers. He belongs to this big family of fatherless sons, extraordinary children born to a mother, but whose fatherly principle is a supernatural principle. As soon as he was born, Merlin was able to walk and talk.

He sees the future, the past. He knows all the knowledge in the world. And even though he’s only a newborn he walks through the Brocéliande forest under an unexpected guise. Another of Merlin’s traits that appeared immediately at birth is the change in shape and the change in age.

In the same day, he can be of any age. He is a master of time. Sometimes he will be found in the form of a seven-year-old boy. Sometimes he’s going to be an old man. He rotates on himself and when he comes back, he has changed shape.

And it’s all the more worrying because in an instant, you no longer know who you have in front of you. And this Merlin worries people. Merlin is a dark being who has come to earth with the powers of a mage. But unlike Jesus Christ, who came to save men,

Everywhere in the kingdom, it is said of him that he came to announce the return of Satan and open the gates of hell again. This Merlin came to Earth to do as much harm as Christ did good to men, to thus fill hell again,

Which has been emptied because Christ forgives, Christ allows redemption. And this Merlin, until the end, will remain the son of the devil. During a long year of exile, Merlin prepares himself to face the world of men. He crisscrosses the Brocéliande forest in the company of his friend Blaise.

Blaise is also endowed with extraordinary powers. Blaise is what the wolf is called in Brittany. An animal that can speak and write. Merlin is often accompanied by a character called Blaise, a big gray wolf at his side, who will be his friend, his confidant,

A kind of scribe for him who will write what Merlin says. To accomplish the first chapter of its sinister mission Merlin must first bring a king into the world who will be used for his plans. He then goes to the Château de Comper

Whose ruins can still be found in the heart of Brocéliande. It is here that he becomes a counsellor at the court of Uther Pendragon, then king of Brittany. To summarize, you would say the end justifies the means. In other words, Merlin first works for Uther Pendragon.

He will get him the throne, he will help him defeat the Saxons. He will help him, but with weapons. Merlin is not a pacifist at all. Merlin does not kill, but Merlin is willing to let others kill in battle if he leads them.

If Merlin is helping Uther Pendragon so much, it’s because only he can bring King Arthur into the world, to whom Merlin will entrust the ultimate quest. But for this child to come into the world, Uther Pendragon has to conceive him with the Duchess of Cornwall, who unfortunately already has a husband.

Uther is dying of sorrow. He tried everything. He gave gifts to the duchess. She refused. He laid siege to her castle. The castle is impregnable. So he really going to die of pain. Uther asks Merlin for help to simply ask him to find a way to allow him to spend

One night with the Duchess, who is married to the Duke. Merlin said to him, “Love really is something very strange, but I will help you because only you can create the right king.” And he gives him the face of the husband of the Duchess of Cornwall for one night.

And this night is an extremely tragic night because while Uther, looking like the Duke of Cornwall, goes inside the castle, into the room, and conceives King Arthur, that same night, the Duke of Cornwall was killed. And we’ll find out the next day that something completely unexplainable has happened.

We saw the Duke of Cornwall leave very happy with his night at dawn and we learn that he was killed at midnight in battle. Young Arthur comes into the world and goes into exile with Merlin in the Brocéliande forest.

The great magus has decided to make him the king who will save Brittany. Arthur will have to lead terrible battles, cause blood to flow, and thus fill hell again. He disappears for 15 years, and when he returns, he removes the Excalibur, he must be king.

Except that being king cannot be improvised like that. Arthur arrives in Brittany, which is torn apart by conflicts and by war. And it is Merlin who will teach him the qualities of king, courage, justice and generosity. He asks Arthur to create the round table because the knights have a mission,

They must bring order and justice to the world. And the last thing will be to give impetus to the search for the Grail. And once this is done, he will have put in place everything that is destiny, everything that is the role of King Arthur.

And then he will step back. This extraordinary quest that Merlin has entrusted to men is magnificently illustrated in the only chapel in the world dedicated to the Grail. This chapel located on the edge of the Brocéliande forest tells the story of this cup that received the blood of Christ.

By launching this quest, Merlin has challenged the real knights to regain peace and to once again remove Satan from the kingdom of men. But to this day, the whereabouts of the Holy Grail remain a mystery. His mission accomplished, Merlin will be able to join another kingdom, that of the dead.

A parallel world reserved for the greatest people in the world. Because he was created in a particular way he does not have the right to die, that is, to really die, before the last judgement. So you have to take him out of the world without killing him.

And it will be confinement in the forest of Brocéliande by Viviane. To die, Merlin seeks exile in the forest, where the fairy Viviane awaits him. This charming lady of the lake will get her extraordinary powers from him,

Allowing him to be locked up in an air prison until the end of time. A place suspended above the Comper lake, a parallel world in which Merlin will fall asleep. The first recipient of a dormition is the Virgin Mary, since it was considered that she had a human body,

But a human body that carried the Saviour, a glorious body, so we couldn’t let it go back to dust, go through decomposition and everything that happens. So, we attributed this sleep, this suspended time to him. It’s a disappearance, it’s a mourning,

It’s a veil, but on the other side of the veil, he’s there. Here in Brocéliande, we find Merlin’s tomb. A place where, symbolically, one comes to leave letters and offerings in the hope of prayers answered. Time will probably never erase the story of Merlin.

Because more than a story, its legend is like a prophecy announcing 300 years during which Satan’s touch will hit all regions of France. The devil is capable of metamorphosis. He can take possession of anyone. And above all, he will be incarnated in a terrifying book,

A kind of breviary written in Alsace at the end of the 15th century. A book that will be at the origin of a wave of madness and violence that we will call “the witch hunt.” We are in Alsace, in Riquewihr, at the foot of the mountains that form the Vosges mountain range.

This wine-growing village has managed to preserve its former appearance with its narrow streets and houses built of earth and brick and half-timbered wood. In the 15th century, Alsace was then under the rule of the Holy German Empire. Numerous battles have pushed the economy to at an all-time low,

Plunging the country into a dark period. Diseases, wars, famines, inflation, all these phenomena were very favorable to a rise, to a paroxysm of fear. Death is everywhere. It was the era of macabre dances, skeletons represented on houses. We always remember the motto of Württemberg, “die Stunde bringt’s end”,

Which means that every minute brings us closer to the end. In Riquewihr, life expectancy is at the lowest. 40 years on average among the rich. While among the poorest, people die at 25. Everywhere, it is thought that all this is the work of the devil,

Who came to announce the end of the world, and who can incarnate in anyone. The cities of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were closed cities. There is a fortified enclosure, often quite impressive, with towers that dot this enclosure. And that means that people lived in a vacuum

And in an extremely daunting way when it comes to the surveillance of each other. People were afraid of everything. Afraid of their neighbor, afraid of themselves, afraid of God. And the rumor goes very fast and it does absolutely incredible damage. Death is everywhere in cities.

A cold climate has spread in the streets. In Riquewihr, as in all the other villages, the population is severely affected by plague, syphilis and famine. Alsace is on its knees. Everywhere, people pray to repel Satan and all his demons who came to spread evil.

In churches, it is said that the antichrist did not come alone. He has women as accomplices. We are at that time in Europe in a context of generalized misogyny. Women are inferior beings. She is a potentially satanic creature. She is not considered to be a fully-fledged human being.

And when she is in Satan’s hands she is dangerous and must be eliminated. In Riquewihr, witches are suspected of having poisoned the water, for destroying crops and sowing death on behalf of the devil. They were in a situation where they were waiting for the last judgment.

And the fact that there are poisoned oxen, diseases, that “witches” cast curses, it was unbearable for a society who wanted order and who wanted to fight insecurity. The streets of Riquewihr are empty. Women hide and stay at home with their husbands and children. The inquisitive soldiers are watching

And interrogate people everywhere they go. The year is 1480 and the Inquisition had not yet shown its true face. 13th, 14th and even 15th centuries, we can say that the Inquisition is playing a rather educational role in the theological sense of the term. It’s going to turn into horror at the end

Of the 15th century and especially the 16th, 17th century. At that time, the Inquisition was truly a monstrous thing. It was in 1486 that a book was going to push the Inquisition into two centuries of terror. This book, Le Marteau des Sorcières,

Was written by a dangerous Dominican monk known for his misogyny and sadism. A certain Heinrich Kramer who calls himself “Institoris” is the author in 1486 of a book that will be in some way the breviary of the torturers of the Inquisition. Heinrich Kramer has developed a book

On how to use a new justice system that uses torture as its weapon. We are at the dawn of the 16th century and throughout Alsace it is ordered that this new criminal code be followed to the letter by the courts. They’re evil courts, as they’re called.

They are bourgeois, artisans, educated people in the city who will have to rule on the life or death of accused persons. And you only have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to be accused of witchcraft and the hellish machine is set in motion. Throughout Alsace

Women are arrested and locked up in the towers that border the cities. These places that were used until the end of the Middle Ages to imprison thieves are now called the “witches’ towers.” The one in Riquewihr is still there to bear witness to the horrors that took place there.

This is where the witches were locked up, judged, and tortured to answer charges that are based on deliberately arbitrary criteria. These can be physical criteria. A wart, a witch’s nose, a deformity. These evil courts will become the scene of sordid trials. No lawyer to plead the case of a victim,

And this code of procedure was something very closed. And after a year, inevitably, the witch was trapped. There was no escape. The one and only way to escape death is to deny the alleged offences to the end. But to do that, one had to pass through an unbearable ordeal

Called “the questioning.” On the top floor of the witches’ tower in Riquewihr, the Strappado was installed in the middle of the trial room. An instrument of torture whose protocol for use was designated by Heinrich Kramer. During the questioning, women were tortured if they did not give the desired answer.

People were suspended by their arms and stretched. The first question asked was, “Has anyone in your family ever been convicted of witchcraft?” “When did you meet the devil?” “What does the devil look like?” There were rules, how many times one was allowed

To do it in sequence or, for example, at what point one was allowed to add additional stones to the feet to weigh them. Afterwards, the questioning continued. One could suggest the answer or even give the desired answer. All one had to do was say, “Yes, I did that.”

Most of the time, the victim cracked between the second and the third sequence, and ended up admitting the facts. They were accused of something totally imaginary. And since they were immersed in an extremely nauseous and negative imaginary collective, these witches ended up saying what was expected of them.

They admitted to having passed over ramparts, a red sow, cats, a fork. They had to admit it. It was perfectly normal for them to give that answer. And from the moment they had confessed, it was the bonfire. In the book Le Marteau des Sorcières by Henrich Kramer,

It is stated that every confession is definitive and that it is impossible to retract. The witch is therefore doomed to a certain and inevitable death. Because only the sacred fire will be able to purify it. Bonfire day is like a fair day.

In Riquewihr, artisans take advantage of the opportunity to put out their stands because the population comes in large numbers, to watch the show. The witch is placed at the stake. Their paperwork is thrown at their feet. Identity documents will go with them to hell. When witches are burned, almost everyone is happy.

The ruling classes did what was needed to be done. And then there’s a sense of security. Because in the short term, the toxicity brought by the witches disappeared. Once the victim is burned their assets are divided between the church, the judges and the executioner. The house, the vineyard plots,

Personal items, everything is seized and redistributed. As for the rest of the family, in the best case, they are banned from the city. While for others, they too are taken to the bonfire for complicity in witchcraft. This manual, Malleus, “Le Marteau des Sorcières”, did a lot of damage.

An estimated 20,000 women have been burned alive. In Basque Country, a zealous judge sent by the Crown will wreak havoc leading to the burning of 120 victims in the space of four months. In Marseille, a priest will fall into the trap of the Inquisition

Giving rise to the most disturbing trial in the history of France. When in the Pyrenees, the Cagots, an ethnic group whose origins remain unknown will serve as executioners in the service of the Holy Inquisition. A terrifying witch hunt will commence, giving rise to historical events that go beyond imagination.

We are in the Southwest of France, in Basque Country, a few kilometers from the Spanish border. Between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees is located Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle. A small village typical of the region with its red wood houses and its castle, the scene of a terrible massacre in 1609.

Within these walls, dozens of victims will be condemned for witchcraft. It was going very fast. In two days, they were judged, they were tortured, they were burned. At the origin of this massacre, a zealous judge known for his perversity against women, and his murderous madness.

His personality could not lead to anything other than these executions which have engulfed the Basque Country region in flames for four months in 1609. At the beginning of 1609, Basque Country became a point of particularly sensitive passageway between France and Spain. On the orders of the Spanish crown,

The Inquisition is raging all over the country, urging all opponents of the Catholic religion to take refuge in France. The king and queen of Spain protect this Catholic religion and trigger migration flows that make us end up in this country, with very different people, where we are permanently insecure.

Here as elsewhere and especially at the time, we were afraid of the each other. This fear of foreigners ends up creating numerous tensions throughout Basque Country. Some women from Spain are beginning to be suspected of being witches. Some are lynched, while others suspected of slaughtering cattle are found dead, murdered.

In Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, the village’s citizens decide to use great means to pacify the crowds. First, there were two noblemen who were sent to ask Henry IV to intervene because it is said, Basque Country is infested with witches. Henry IV saw this call for help as an opportunity

To reassert his authority over Basque Country. Henry IV asked the Parliament of Bordeaux to intervene. He even provides an itinerant court, and this civil court will have all the powers, with Judge de Lancre at its head. Pierre de Lancre is invested with this extraordinary mission on behalf of the Crown.

This zealous man with a sulphurous reputation is going to have to decontaminate the country of all its witches. De Lancre is crazy. Unquestionably, he is a madman. He is a madman with power, which is the most dangerous. He had read enough treaties on demonology,

In particular the book Le Marteau des Sorcières. He saw the devil everywhere. This obscure judge sent by Henry IV is convinced that Satan is hiding behind every inhabitant of the country. This book, Le Marteau des Sorcières, which inspired him so much, allowed him to deepen his hate

For the Basque, a hate that he built on incredible prejudices. They spoke of the Basque like fickle people, a people that spoke several languages and who often had two nationalities. Speaking three languages is suspicious. Another suspicious thing is the women’s rights. Here, women could inherit. Women had rights.

And in a misogynistic country like France at the time, let’s just say, it was very poorly received. Beyond his misogyny, Pierre de Lancre went so far as to attack the country’s sailors. In the 17th century the whales disappeared from the Bay of Biscay

And the Basque people regularly took to the sea to go fishing all the way to America. A feat that, for the judge, is a new irrefutable proof of witchcraft. It was said at the time that in the sea there lived a marine animal that was the ally of the demon.

It was the leviathan. The Basques who set sail without being afraid of the leviathan, benefit from special protection from the devil. So, watching the Basques live, he’s just going to confirm what his king told him. They’re all sorcerers in Basque Country.

Although he is of Basque origin himself, he made the Basques his pet peeve. Pierre de Lancre is convinced that Basque Country is full of sorcerers and witches who will have to be condemned to the bonfire as soon as possible. To do his job, he will join forces with a strange woman,

A repentant witch named Morgi. Pierre de Lancre, he read a lot but he doesn’t quite know how a witch was made. So Morgi is in charge of that. The young woman is the perfect ally in identifying witches. She says she is able to recognize one simply by looking at them.

Pierre de Lancre and his strange assistant decide then to start decontaminating the country. In Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelles, where he settled in the only hotel in the village. When he arrives at this hotel something extraordinary happens on September 5. De Lancre and Morgi sleep at this hotel.

Pierre de Lancre falls asleep and the night seems to be going normally. The next morning, Morgi rushes to the judge’s room. She seems scared. Because something incredible happened during the night. She comes to tell the next day that during the night, she heard noises coming from Pierre’s room.

She approached, she looked through the key hole, and she saw a black mass while de Lancre slept. She supposedly recognized people. So the next day, she tells all that. De Lancre is the first to be surprised. When he wakes up, he hasn’t heard anything, he hasn’t seen anything.

Presumably Morgi had some kind of hallucinatory dream in which she saw people she knew. As surprising as it may seem, that same morning, the judge ordered that these five women, seen in a dream, be arrested. At the beginning of the afternoon, they are referred to his office

Which has been set up in the basements of the castle. De Lancre was accompanied by a clerk. There was the girl, the young gypsy girl Morgi, who was responsible for discovering the traces of the devil. This procedure, particularly painful for the accused,

Was part of the penal code of the time. It makes it possible to identify with certainty a person who has made a deal with Satan. She had a sharp stylus and she pricked the defendants’ bodies in this castle, until the moment when the accused no longer reacted.

As soon as she pricked and there was no reaction, the devil’s mark was where she pricked. The devil’s mark is found on all five women. An evidence for the judge that they all had a relationship with Satan. Pierre de Lancre then summons witnesses who will confirm the suspicions.

In particular, it is reported that the five women were seen in Zugarramurdi, a cave located five kilometers from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle. This place is known as a hotspot for witchcraft. Judge de Lancre then goes on site and discovers this sordid place in dismay.

Witnesses confirm to him that it is here, in these huge caves, that the accused were seen participating in Sabbath Masses during which they made a pact with the demon. At the end of the afternoon, back in Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, Pierre de Lancre immediately ordered the trial to begin.

The presumed culprit had to enter the court backwards, so that their eyes could not catch the eyes of the judges. And the questioning began. The accused was made to sit on the hot seat, that’s where the expression comes from. It’s a small stool with three legs.

And so they were asked all sorts of questions, obviously without a lawyer. They admitted that they had participated in the Sabbath. They admitted to eating toads, ate the flesh of a hanged man, of dug up dead bodies. As they had admitted, these people, that they had mated with the devil

During the black masses that took place on the Ruin. The next day, they were condemned to be burned at the stake. At the beginning of June, the five witches are burned in Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, in front of a vindictive crowd that finally sees the opportunity to get rid of these foreigners

Who have immigrated to the country. Judge Pierre de Lancre is determined to continue this witch hunt and must think of a way to stop others. He will have to find new evidence. He’s going to find it in the trunks of the churches where residents will start to denounce.

This phenomenon of denunciation, encouraged by Pierre de Lancre, it will be successful because everyone, everywhere, everyone is afraid. Everyone is worried about the future. Life is not safe. Pierre de Lancre installed at the church in Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, a trunk in which villagers can put the names of women suspected of witchcraft.

And so that none of them could get in the church, he gives them grains of salt, a fearsome witch repellent, thrown all over the ground. Between June and July 1609, 43 women’s names are given and all are arrested, condemned and burned. However, Pierre de Lancre is concerned.

Numerous complaints are not enough for him. He then decides to take a close interest in what children have to say. For the judge, these defenseless little basques can be manipulated at will. And as the saying goes, the truth always comes out of children’s mouths.

They tell stories of demons, werewolves, stories of witches. Children are there, they listen from an early age. And when Pierre de Lancre interviews the children, he tells his stories of demons and witches. And as long as they know someone who has upset them or who is suspicious,

Who they find unpleasant, what are they going to do? They’re going to give names. It was also their involuntary contribution to the horror that occurred in Saint-Pée. The diabolical machine set up by Pierre de Lancre could thus have continued for a long time. However, it will stop at the start of November,

Then a child questioned by the judge denounces five priests. The denunciations also concerned the priests who were also accused. During the day, doing ordinary masses and at night, doing satanic masses. Perhaps it was De Lancre’s fatal mistake. From the moment he attacked the priests, Bertrand d’Eschaud, who knew Henry IV well,

Intervened, to stop it. Bertrand d’Eschaud, archbishop of Bayonne, convinced King Henry IV to stop this decontamination in Basque Country. Three priests out of the five arrested will be saved in extremis, while the other two will be burned at the stake. In mid-November, Judge de Lancre is removed from his mission

And asked to return home to Bordeaux. You might think that finally de Lancre left a little bit with his tail between his legs, but that’s not the case. He didn’t leave by himself. He brought with him 200 people who will continue to await their release.

For some, they will never see it, for others, it will be ten years later. But in any case, no one worried him with his departure of 200 potential defendants. Pierre de Lancre will fight against these witches until the end of his life whom he will continue to torture with impunity

At Fort du Hâ in Bordeaux. As for the inhabitants from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, throughout the 17th century, they continued to throw salt in front of houses and at church to keep witches away. Moreover, at the church, in Saint-Pée, the people who clean it still find salt crystals,

Proof that this story has marked this village, where some inhabitants told me that they were still having trouble going past that castle. The ruins of the castle are still there to bear witness to this massacre that plunged the village of Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle in four months of violence in 1609.

Among the victims were 118 women and two priests, all condemned within these walls to the most extreme punishment, to be burned alive. The Inquisition mainly condemned women because they could not defend themselves. They easily admitted their alleged crime in the hope of avoiding torture

And allowed themselves to be led to burn, thinking that they were really guilty of witchcraft. Among the few men who had experienced the Inquisition, there was a magus that marked all of humanity. A soothsayer, sorcerer, brilliant preacher, Nostradamus. His history begins in the south of France,

Between the Alps and the Côte d’Azur, in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. It is here, in this city nicknamed “small capital of the Alpilles”, where this extraordinary magus whose fame has spanned the centuries, was born. A man who became known thanks to strange prophecies

Written in short poems that take us to 3797. Accidents, wars, natural disasters, and maybe even the end of the world. Through these mysterious prophecies Nostradamus seems to have a dark destiny in store for humanity. He claims to hold the keys to the future.

Is he an inspired being or is he an impostor? That makes a character who is in the image of these writings, a labyrinthine character whom we do not always know how to interpret. Behind this prophet who was the subject of all the fantasies,

There is in reality a true Renaissance genius. The Renaissance, it’s an artistic explosion, a scientific, intellectual explosion. And he comes at a time when we would no longer expect someone who could claim the title of prophet. It was the event of the time of Nostradamus.

This man who can’t stop will go to the point of defying the Inquisition to deliver a message to humanity. A mysterious message that no one has yet been able to decipher. He put his life in danger to deliver this message. His friends died at the stake.

He was regularly referred to as Monstradamus. To understand the hidden meaning of these prophecies as fascinating as they are frightening, historians and scientists agree to say that the key to the Nostradamus enigma is at the heart of his life. Understanding his background,

His time, is probably the best way to find the key to this mystery. His life starts here, at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, on December 14, 1503. Nostradamus was then called Michel de Notre Dame. Son of a Jewish family that converted to Catholicism, he was educated by his grandfather,

An eminent doctor who introduced him to science. He was educated by his maternal grandfather, Jean de Saint-Rémy, who will teach him the first notions of mathematics, astronomy and medicine. Michel de Notre Dame is growing up. He is very interested in medicine and initially becomes an apothecary.

His job requires him to look through the country, to collect the plants with which he prepares medicines. Among his favorite places, he particularly likes to go to Glanum, an ancient Roman site located on the heights of Saint-Rémy de Provence. In the midst of these ruins, witness to a lost civilization,

Nostradamus makes an important first discovery. At the time, the city of Glanum was still standing. There were only two things that emerged, that was the Arc de Triomphe, but also what is called the mausoleum. So Glanum was buried but underneath, through the quarries, we had access to long casings

That could suggest the existence of a great civilization there. At the time, archaeology did not yet exist. However, Nostradamus, curious by nature, is going to search the Earth. He will find representations of deities, weapons, bones of soldiers who died in past wars.

These are all signs that civilizations come and go. He has a cyclical vision of time. He knows that diseases are coming back, just like the seasons are coming back. He knows that the battles are coming back, and that man being what he is,

It will come back again and again until the loss of humanity. Looking at these ruins but also the stars, Nostradamus understands that the world seems rotated like a needle that returns perpetually to its starting point. Curious to learn more and more

He decides to join the largest medical school of his time, in Montpellier, to perfect his understanding of the universe that surrounds him. Nostradamus will be led to study astrology at a medical school in Montpellier. At that time, astrology was an integral part of medical studies.

At that time, there was not much to treat. People used grandmother’s remedies, and in any case, people relied on destiny, on the stars. This knowledge of medical astrology will lead Nostradamus to practice judicial astrology, that is to say astrology that allows to calculate the conjunction of the planets,

And to guess, to make prophecies, to talk about horoscopes, to talk about people’s future. When he completed his medical studies Michel de Notre Dame is confronted with a strong plague epidemic. Through reading, experiments and research, he understands that the key to healing all these poor people was probably there,

In front of him, in a parallel universe that the eye cannot see. A discovery that will open the doors to fame for him. He thinks that diseases are caused by invisible beings, maybe through the air you breathe or through the clothes you wear.

And when he approaches these patients to give them his preparation, this is what made him gain so much fame. Thanks to his prowess as a doctor Nostradamus is starting to get people talking about him. He then decides to go beyond his knowledge of medical astrology

By becoming more and more interested in fortune-telling horoscopes, a practice formally prohibited in the 16th century, as using the stars to see omens qualified as a crime of witchcraft. Nostradamus moved to Agen and would get married for the first time. He will have two children.

Unfortunately, this is a slightly dramatic episode in his life. Nostradamus is summoned by the Inquisition court. Nostradamus will not attend this summons from the Inquisitors. He is far too afraid of it. He will go away so that the Inquisitors will forget him. And Nostradamus, after two years, is almost forgotten.

But when he comes back he learns that his wife and two young children have just died of epidemics. There were plague and cholera epidemics, and Nostradamus found himself a widow. This drama will deeply affect him. Overwhelmed with pain, Nostradamus decides to go into exile,

Leaving behind all this life that he had built. A journey across France and Italy, during which something will profoundly change in him. Despite the risks involved with the Inquisition, he will improve his knowledge of the stars more than ever. To the point of surpassing all the astrologers of his time.

At the end of this mysterious journey he moves to Salon-de-Provence in 1545. He remarries and gives his new wife six children. During the day, he resumes his doctor’s consultations and at nightfall, he begins to write prophecies. When he begins his text of the prophecies

The first two quatrains explain the way he works. At night, he needs calm and concentration. When he has this, he says, “Divine splendour, the divine sits nearby.” He is divinely inspired. He explains that he sees things and that he will set dates with his astrological and astronomical knowledge.

In 1555 Nostradamus completes a collection of 100 enigmatic quatrains in the form of short poems. The book is immediately a great success. Everywhere in France, people have fun trying to understand these little poems, seeing them as omens. Among these quatrains, some seem easier to interpret

And in particular one that will attract attention. We start to say at that moment that in one of the famous quatrains by Nostradamus, we would have a quatrain that talks about the death of the king. It is a quatrain that is extremely moving because it tells us, “The young lion

Will overcome the older one, on the battlefield in a single combat he will pierce his eyes through a golden cage; two wounds made one, then he dies a cruel death.” This quatrain that seems to predict death of the king

During a future duel, gains the attention of the king at court. Catherine de Médicis, passionate about the occult, goes to Salon-de-Provence to the Château de L’empéri. It is in this 9th century fortress that she meets Nostradamus to ask him about this mysterious quatrain.

She then understands that if the prediction is true, the king risks dying soon, unless one can talk him out of it. Catherine de Medicis tries to prevent him from participating in this duel, but the king is very proud and events unfold.

So he’s going to cross spears with the young Earl Montgomery. This young earl, unfortunately, will put his spear in the king’s helmet. The king’s eye is ruptured. The king is going to die of severe consequences due to septicemia. Everywhere in the city, all over France, in intellectual circles,

This man is thought to be a genius while others suspect him to be a sorcerer. How could Nostradamus predict the death of the king in this way? Who is really behind this Cartesian man, scientific expert, and eminent physician? He titles the book that made him famous,

The Prophecies of Master Michel Nostradamus. By giving the book this title, he inevitably positions himself as a prophet. Catherine de Médicis, upset by this extraordinary prediction, approaches Nostradamus, who then becomes her personal doctor. But the great prophet, whose secrets everyone would like to know, dies suddenly in 1566.

He leaves behind a mysterious message. Hundreds of lines written in the form of short poems that are difficult to interpret, and seem to refer to periods in the future, during which he describes the destiny of mankind.

An enigma whose key is said to be hidden at the heart of his prophecies. This first edition of Centuries, published in Lyon in 1555, begins, and this is the important thing, with an epistle, with a letter that Nostradamus addresses to his son César, who was the eldest of his boys.

It should not be forgotten that César was one year old when he wrote this text of the prophecies. So, through this preface, it is to us that he gives advice for understanding the text. He said to him, “My son, you are far too young to understand.

I am talking about the past, the present, and the future, and I calculated to 3797.” But above all, he said, “I deliberately mixed up the order of the verses.” Nostradamus mixed up the words, the quatrains. He used several languages. French, Latin, English, and Provençal.

These are all signs that are part of this mysterious enigma. The prophecies of Nostradamus are so complex that they all allow interpretations, including the most fanciful ones. The history of the 20th century is full of tragedies and with a bit of imagination

It is not difficult to apply quatrains to these events. These supporters today tend to take everything as a whole. And in each of these quatrains, these supporters assume that he had a description of future events. I hypothesize that, in fact, he would have used steganography.

It is a principle that consists in hiding essential elements in the middle of a relatively affluent ensemble. He says he mixed everything up because the Inquisition is there, they’re watching him. Second, because it does not have to be delivered as it is. It’s a bit like initiates, the secret societies.

You can’t tell everyone everything. Because unprepared ones flame up very quickly. It’s a serious story anyway, Nostradamus. In developing this code, Nostradamus knew that the secret of his prophecies would be kept secret for a long time. Today, historians working to solve the Nostradamus enigma

Think that this great magus probably hid in a ruin or a tomb, a message that would contain the key to his code. To date, nothing has been discovered. Excavations are still ongoing around Salon and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence so that one day, finally, we can unravel this mystery.

If Nostradamus was able to narrowly escape the fire of the Inquisition, other men were not so lucky and were convicted. And the few times that this has happened, the event has been resounding. This is the case with the lawsuit brought against the priest of Accoules in 1611,

The strangest case that has ever come before a court of law. The Gaufridy case, which marked the France of Louis XIII, and the history of criminal justice for several centuries. We are at the beginning of the 17th century in Marseille. The city then underwent major transformations.

It was built and renovated to give it the appearance we know today. In the heart of the Phocaean city is the most prestigious parish in town, the church of Accoules, where Louis Gaufridy officiates. He is a young priest. He was born around the years 1572-1573.

He has the future ahead of him. He is described as the most handsome priest in Marseille. So he seduces, he charms and not only women. He charms his audience. People come from all neighborhoods of Marseille to attend the services of the young priest. Everywhere in the city,

People talk about his sermons, which were very successful. Wealthy families of Marseille ask him to become their private confessor. This is the case of the Demendolx de la Palud family with whom Louis Gaufridy became friends and offered his services. Madame Demendolx de La Palud will take him as confessor

For herself and for her daughters, to teach them good manners, to teach them Latin, and to teach them the catechism. In order to prepare young girls to return to convents, not to become nuns, but to improve their religious education. Among the three daughters he is charged with,

Louis Gaufridy focuses particularly on Madeleine a 17-year-old teenager whose beauty does not leave him indifferent. Madeleine has a slightly fragile personality. As a result, Louis Gaufridy will be extremely present with her. At least at first, Louis Gaufridy will develop feelings for this young girl.

At the beginning of summer 1609, Louis Gaufridy has Madeleine sent to the Ursulines convent, in Aix-en-Provence. He visits her regularly and becomes more and more attached to her. But after a few weeks Madeleine feels bad, so bad that she has funny turns. He placed her at Ursulines

In Aix, apparently, Madeleine was not having the best time. She was taken from her parents, she is 17 years old, she is very young. She is depressed. But at the time, we didn’t know what depression was. So we interpret that as demonic possession. Especially since it is nevertheless animated

By phenomena that are suspicious. Madeleine shows violent nocturnal terrors. Her screams are heard across the convent in Aix-en-Provence, disturbing her companions. The sisters who took care of her no longer know what to do as these attacks are worrisome and uncontrollable. She will be sent home

Because you can’t leave a hysterical person in a convent. And there, Louis Gaufrydie will be extremely attentive to Madeleine. And you have to admit, things are getting better. So she is sent back to the convent in Aix-en-Provence. And at the convent, once again, a fit of hysteria.

And then, something that didn’t happen the first time, other girls are going to have hysterical attacks. So the confessor of the Ursuline Convent will prescribe, almost like a medical prescription, to Madeleine and other young girls to go around the holy places of Provence. One of the most important holy places

Is the Sainte-Baume cave where Sébastien Michaëlis, an exorcist, lives. In the autumn of 1610, Madeleine, accompanied by two priests goes to Sainte-Baume, where Sébastien Michaelis lives. This experienced Dominican is then the highest exorcist priest in France at the service of the Inquisition.

Sébastien Michaëlis is not exactly a novice in this field. He officiated in Avignon for a few years before and he has sent 18 witches to the stake. So he knows about demonic possession cases. When they arrive at nightfall, Madeleine is in a trance.

She is then locked up in a room where strange convulsions take hold of her. Sébastien Michaëlis is called upon. When he enters the room, she suddenly calms down. And strange sounds can be heard around the safe place. People hear screaming at night in the forest, the devil, evil screams.

And so that contributes to thinking that she is actually possessed and that it’s time to start exorcisms. Madeleine and her sisters are going to be exorcised. So now, they are put on their knees, laid down, held by priests who go

To invoke demons to name them and get them out of Madeleine’s body. To extract a demon from a body, you need to name it. So they have to find out which demon is possessing you. So they will search, they will call the 666 demons.

666 being the devil’s number since the Apocalypse of Saint John. The first exorcisms reveal nothing about Madeleine. But in the fourth month, on January 13, 1610, an exorcism session will give rise to an incredible revelation. So they are going to inventory the number of devils that are in her.

The one who is the most vocal is Vérine and she is the one who speaks through her. Sébastien Michaëlis questions Vérine. Madeleine, having a convulsion, will give them a name, the name of the person who delivered her to the devil, that of Louis Gaufridy. They are going to start talking about Gaufridy.

Because he was the one who brought her to hell. Through fondling and so they will talk about sexual perversion quite quickly. Sébastien Michaëlis is convinced that Gaufridy has something to do with the possession of Madeleine. The same day, he orders that the young priest be brought to Sainte-Baume.

They’re going to summon Gaufridy they will bring him forcibly, and he will be confronted by Madeleine. And Madeleine will say that it was him, and that he possessed her. And through possession, the devil seems to have entered her. He is exorcised. Apparently that doesn’t do much to him. And paradoxically

It will make Sébastien Michaëlis think that Gaufridy is a sorcerer. So, Sébastien Michaëlis will want to hold back, he’ll want to imprison Gaufridy, but he’s not allowed to do that. So he’ll bring the case before the Parliament of Provence, and in front of the president, Guillaume Duver.

The relentless judicial process was about to set in motion. At the time, it was called the Inquisition. It makes you tremble and there are reasons for that, because at the end of the Inquisition, there is the bonfire. Guillaume Duver orders Louis Gaufridy to be arrested

And put in prison at the Comptal Palace in Aix-en-Provence, It is time to begin his investigation. Everywhere in the region people hear that the young priest gave his soul to the devil, that he is a sorcerer, and that at nightfall, from his prison, he is capable of causing terror.

During his stay in the gaols in the Comptal Palace, in the basement, he is really isolated. An evil wind is blowing over Aix, as one can hear dogs howl at night, and moaning cats, and these half owl half cats will unleash furious noises during these nights in Aix,

Where everyone is convinced that Gaufridy has the devil in him. Guillaume Du Vert orders that Madeleine and Louis Gaufridy are seen and evaluated by a college of doctors. It is then noted that Madeleine is no longer a virgin and she has strange marks all over her body.

These devil marks will also be found on Louis Gaufridy. The long needles that are thrust into his body will show his insensitivity to pain, irrefutable proof that Satan is in him. They will find several dozen marks on Gaufridy’s body. The report mentions 40.

And there are three marks on Madeleine’s body. So both of them are actually possessed by the devil. But for Gaufridy, it also means that he sold his soul to the devil. Louis Gaufridy is accused of having succeeded in seducing Madeleine and other women

Using his sorcerer powers that Satan himself gave him. He was referred to the Parliament of Provence in early April 1611. In Marseille, terror reigns. The numerous families who were among his followers are forced to come and testify as soon as his trial begins.

The priests who are around him at the church in Accoules in Marseille will charge him during the trial but also the husbands of those women who revolve around this priest are saying, “Maybe something happened with my wife while she spent a certain number of hours with him.”

So, from that moment on, they have to get his confession. Louis Gaufridy completely denies everything that he is accused of. He is not an evil, perverse, sadistic sorcerer. But the devil marks found on his body don’t lie. He is then taken to the torture room where the torturer awaits him.

Gaufridy will lose his footing at that point. He sees that things are escaping him and he’s afraid of torture, he will not have it. So he’s going to confess. He will admit that he took Madeleine, that he seduced her, that he made a pact with the devil,

That the devil gave him the power to seduce women by blowing on them, and that from that moment they cannot resist his advances. So, he talks about Madeleine, but also about other women without naming them, but saying that he seduced others.

And he will quickly retract, but it is too late. Louis Gaufridy has fallen into the trap. He who thought he was escaping torture and death by confessing, ends up receiving the worst sentence, being condemned to burn alive at the stake.

But before this final torture, another violent one will be inflicted on him. At the time, anyone sentenced to the death penalty was tortured again. Because it was believed that he no longer had anything to hide. And so, they’ll try to get the name of accomplice from him.

He is going to be subjected to the Strappado. Hence, severe pain and muscle tearing. The Strappado will be applied three times on Gaufridy and he won’t give the name of the accomplice. So, at that point, the torture stops. It is estimated that there are no accomplices. On April 29, 1611,

The sentence was pronounced in public by Guillaume De Vert. Louis Gaufridy is sentenced to die for the crime of witchcraft and demonic possession of women. He is condemned to death. He was condemned to be burned alive and his ashes scattered to the four winds.

But before that, he will be degraded from his status as a priest, by the archbishop of Aix-en-Provence, in front of the cathedral door in Aix, the Saint-Sauveur Cathedral. Then he will go around, in penance, all the churches of Aix-en-Provence to ask God, the king, and justice for forgiveness.

He’ll be forced to go around the city, for what is called the “honorable punishment.” It will last four hours. Four hours during which he is dragged through the streets of Aix where people will unleash their hate for him, spit at him, insult him.

Until the moment when they’ll take him to Place des Prêcheurs at the stake, and he will get solace, the last solace before he dies. He obtains the grace of being strangled before burning. On 30 April 1711, Louis Gaufridy is taken to the place of the torturers in Aix-en-Provence

Where he is attached to the bonfire to ease his suffering. The tormentor starts to strangle Louis Gaufridy, but the fire ignites so quickly that the tormentor is forced to leave the fire before finishing his work. A few hours before the execution, Madeleine, accompanied by her mother

Presents herself before Guillaume De Vert, with a letter saying that she had lied, that Louis Gaufridy never did anything diabolical and that they simply loved each other. This letter that has been preserved will be attached to the file, but left unanswered. On 30 April 1611, Louis Gaufridy succumbs to the flames.

And they’ll make a huge mistake of scattering these ashes in the wind. These ashes are scattered throughout Provence and some authors have accused the ashes of Gaufridy of having launched an unprecedented wave of witchcraft in Provence in the 17th century. And people will search everywhere,

The crosses on the doors, the devil’s claws on the well edges, the devil’s marks on people. And they’ll be obsessed with demonic possession throughout much of the 17th century. Satan is everywhere. He can take possession of a child, an old woman, an old man. In most cases weak people, the defenseless,

Who are said to be too fragile in their minds to resist demons. Among the victims who will be the subject of these demonic suspicions is an ethnic group of which very few traces are left in France. People who are said to be different, sorcerers who are also works of the devil

That we are going to go so far as to suspect that we are from another world. This minority, that is still intriguing many historians today, settled in particular in Sauveterre-de-Béarn, a small village located at the foot of the first mountains of the Pyrenees.

Even today, you can find here, on houses and fountains, the traces of this mysterious people who disappeared in 1962. Their origins are unknown. All we know is that very early on, they were likened to lepers. And it is true that there is a real fear of disease transmission, they are somehow like outcasts.

Small beings who suffer from a skin disease that would give them supernatural powers. Throughout Béarn, they are said to be sorcerers, capable of causing death wherever they go. One doesn’t look at them. No physical contact. They are scary because they live on the margins of society.

They have traits that are more animal than human. Who are these strangers with a confusing physical appearance? Where do they come from? And what are these extraordinary powers that they are said to be capable of? This community persecuted for over 1,000 years will subsist under appalling living conditions.

They will never get the right to be recognized and treated as a human being. We are in the middle of the 15th century in the heart of the Pyrenees. It is here that this separate community was founded around the year 1000.

Although four centuries have passed, the “Cagots”, as they are called, have remained foreigners in the eyes of the country’s inhabitants. They are hated, they are not trusted, and above all, they are not approached. They are said to have a pestilential odor, and ailments like goiters.

They suffer from cretinism, that is, degeneration of the thyroid gland which causes them to lag behind in development, and a mental developmental delay. And they are not going to have the same rights or the same accessibility to citizenship. “Cagot” comes from the Latin “cagare” meaning “defecation.”

The reason that they are reduced to less than nothing is primarily because they terrorize the population. They are all said to be infected from birth by a terrible disease, white leprosy, which would be particularly contagious. This disease would give certain Cagots strange powers,

That would make them witches capable of curses that can cause death. As a precaution, these witches are obliged to live in the mountains while other Cagots considered less dangerous live in the slums of cities, where they are subject to numerous restrictions.

A ban on marrying a person who was outside the Cagot community, so they had to marry each other. A ban on walking barefoot. A ban on entering the mills. Also, a ban on working in areas related to agriculture and breeding. They only farmed food, to feed themselves.

But obviously it was forbidden to sell the food they produced. All this because people were very afraid of the transmission of diseases. There were even edicts that planned to put a stop to them if people caught them in the act of walking barefoot. These restrictions are notified

And applied in all villages where a Cagot community settled. It is allowed to beat Cagots to death if they are caught breaking a ban. Here, all the inhabitants are terrified by the idea that one of these genetic diseases, with which they are all infected, contaminate the rest of the population.

They will be banned from certain professions as people are afraid that this disease will be transmitted. And they will be confined them to certain jobs, especially wood trades and carpentry. Because people say that wood does not transmit diseases at the time. Cagots are confined to the construction of houses and churches.

They have a reputation for being excellent carpenters and build architectural structures that can still be admired. Here, in Sauveterre-de-Béarn, the Saint-André church still stands to testify to their inimitable know-how. On the other hand, as a Christian, they were also subject to particularly humiliating restrictions.

The particularity of Cagots is that they have, and still visible today, a door intended for them. So they are not allowed to go through the main door. So they are given a small, very low opening, which forces them to stoop down, therefore to act humbly.

A kind of repentance when they come into the church. They have a separate stoup, since people are afraid of the transmission of the disease through water. Also, they don’t mix in the assembly, they will stay at the back of the church or on a low side.

When they were supposed to receive communion they always passed last after the men and after the women. And communion was given to them at the end of a wooden board. Always out of fear of contamination it is ordered that they bear distinctive signs.

They are forced to carry a small bell to warn of their arrival. And in some villages, they are obliged to wear a huge red goose paw as soon as they leave their neighborhood. Some Cagots are even more feared than others.

They are the ones for whom the most painful profession is preserved, that of being at the end of the justice chain. The Cagot may find himself in the role of the executioner, since he assumes the construction of the instruments of torture or execution, and therefore will be found

In a position of having to execute the condemned, which is appallingly degrading for their image, and will actually reinforce fear, the fear of the Cagot. Throughout Béarn, it is believed that these beings are children of the devil who made them his servants to spread leprosy.

But they are especially suspected of attracting in this disease a supernatural magnetic power. White leprosy would allow them to release burning energy from their epidermis, a power that these sorcerers control to perfection. When you put an apple in the hand of a Cagot, it wilted in a few minutes,

As if he had a supernatural radiant force. This extraordinary force, as fascinating as it is terrifying, perhaps explains the reason why, exceptionally, some Cagot sorcerers or witches are allowed to approach village’s inhabitants especially when one of them is seriously ill.

In particular, we have the case of a Cagot woman, Cataline, who is a female doctor, in a way, a healer, who will treat a child who is affected with a kind of scabies, and who will be paid very well for it. And their expertise is recognized.

Everywhere in Béarn, people talk about miracles. These sorcerers who live in the mountains, by simply laying their hands on the body of a sick person, are capable of medical prowess. Healings that were unthinkable at the time are confirmed

And the news is reported back to the King of France, Henry II. He then orders that an expert opinion be given on these beings described as supernatural, and decides to send Ambroise Paré, his personal physician, to perform an autopsy.

He is not the first surgeon to take an interest in the case of Cagots. Doctors tried already at the beginning of the 16th century, at the end of the 15th century. But Ambroise Paré will establish that Cagots have an abnormally high temperature, and that they dry everything around them.

So, there is always the idea of a mysterious disease, of which the mode of transmission is unknown. So one should not approach them, because they’re also likely to wilt you. Ambroise Paré will state in his autopsy report that he has made a discovery concerning the mysterious origin of Cagots.

Two strange phenomena will be noted at the time of the precise study of the body. The first concerns blood from Cagots, which is described as being blue in color. There is another physical characteristic, according to this man, who is the king’s eminent physician,

That proves that they belong to a non-human species. The earlobe. Or the absence of it. A short ear with the absence of a lobe where the lobeless ear would be directly connected to the jaw, which would make human beings not like the others. So where do they come from?

Researchers have found, by studying ancient texts from the 9th century, a possible answer to this supernatural origin. An engraving will attract their attention. Because it attests that in the year 803, under the empire of Charlemagne, supernatural beings with missing earlobes would have come to invade several regions and in particular Béarn.

During the reign of Charlemagne there is talk of a link between the Cagots and an extraterrestrial presence. These men who, under Charlemagne, would have come from the sky in big ships. Spaceships would have landed in the Pyrenees region and the Cagots would have finally arrived from another planet.

Charlemagne ordered a law stipulating that these beings who came from the sky be eliminated each time they attempt to invade Earth. Be that as it may, the origin of the Cagots remains unknown today. It was only recognized in the 18th century that they did not have leprosy.

And yet, they will never be granted the same rights as human beings. The last Cagots family lived until 1962 in Béarn. Exceptional photographic documents attest to their existence. Until the end, they lived excluded from sight, before disappearing for good. Although photographs of sorcerers and witches are so rare,

There is no doubt that a few people have dared to immortalize them during their lives. The last real witch to have been photographed is Naïa, a witch with devastating powers who is suspected of having caused death in a Breton village.

These events took place a few kilometers off the coast of Brittany, in the north-west of France, in Rochefort-en-Terre. A small town built on a rocky ridge, in the heart of Morbihan. This village, renowned for the beauty of its streets and its castle

Will experience a series of disturbing phenomena at the end of the 19th century orchestrated by this witch capable of evil predictions. She had made a prediction about someone dying at the exit of the church. The man died while mass was ringing. It sends a chill.

For four long years, the villagers will live in fear of this foreigner nicknamed Naïa, a woman whose true identity will never be revealed and who has left her mark on this small Breton village. We are at the beginning of 1898. The village of Rochefort-en-Terre has only 300 inhabitants at the time.

And the arrival of an old, disturbing woman will quickly break the peace of the villagers. She wasn’t from Rochefort. We don’t know where she came from. She was very mysterious. Nobody in Rochefort-en-Terre knows where she came from, and even less why she came to the country.

The villagers are intrigued by her skin as dark as coal. A color too strange to be natural, and that earned her this nickname of Naïa, “black girl” in Breton dialect. They always saw the witch with the same clothes, nothing newer, nothing older, with the same appearance.

She was a bit strange, a bit different. The bravest people who dared to meet her close up can still remember the impression she gives. A blank gaze, a bit mysterious, and yet she sees. She sees all the details of what is happening around her.

That gaze that had a cataract, very very piercing, portends a lot of things. The strange physique of this mysterious woman caused concern, especially as the inhabitants saw her settle on the site of the castle that overlooks Rochefort-en-Terre, and more precisely in the oldest part, abandoned since the Middle Ages.

To the extent that the castle site overlooks Rochefort it is said that maybe she was someone who was watching the community. In 1898, the castle grounds were abandoned and it was easy for anyone to enter without being noticed. Especially since numerous hiding places allow one to live out of sight.

Next to the old chapel, Naïa managed to clear access to a set of underground passages. Galleries that had been buried for more than five centuries. Naïa knew these underground passages, so she used them to appear and disappear in the castle grounds.

And there is one room that dates from the 15th century which was a lower room, a powder room. And this room is a priori the one where Naïa liked to come to light the bonfire, precisely, where she made fire. In Rochefort-en-Terre, people ask who this mysterious woman is,

And why she hides in the basement of the old castle. Residents are not going to wait long for answers. A few weeks after her arrival, for the first time, Naïa decides to go down to the village. To everyone’s surprise, Naïa will then make an appearance

Which will remain forever engraved in the memory of the people of Rochefort. My dad told me a story that took place in a coffee shop. A peasant laughed at her and she said, “You will die while the Great Mass chimes on Easter Day.”

“You will die at the third chime of the bell at mass next Sunday.” And everyone laughed, and then mocked the peasant a bit. And so he was stressed. That same evening, the 31-year-old villager cannot sleep. He is anxious. The big Easter mass will take place this Sunday.

And if that cursed woman said the truth he has only three days left to live. The guy, very afraid of Naïa’s prediction, called in the doctor who examines him and who tells him that everything is fine, that he still has many years to live,

That there is no reason for him to believe in that thing. The fateful day arrives. Everyone goes to church, except the villager who preferred to stay at home in bed. At the first chime of the bell, the guy starts raving. The second chime, he starts not to feel very well.

And at the third chime of the bell, he dies. The peasant died exactly at the time she said. It sends a chill. The death of this man sends a wave of panic in the village of Rochefort-en-Terre. The doctor won’t be able to explain how,

In the prime of his life, his patient was thus able to die. Did the witch predict the death of this man or did she cause him to die? The witch terrorizes all the more that she will predict the death of seven other villagers the following month.

Predictions that will all prove to be accurate. Shortly after these events, the witch suddenly disappears. Ten months has passed and Naïa has not reappeared in the village. It is then that at the end of 1899, a French reporter, Charles Géniaux

Arrives in Rochefort-en-Terre in search of a subject for his newspaper. He works for an English newspaper called the Wild World. At that time, he was looking for stories to tell for this journal. He goes down to the Le Cadre hotel and there he talks to the owner

Who explains to him, in particular, the story of Naïa. Charles Géniaux, who is a bit of a dictative after all, asks questions, is intrigued, and therefore he will want to meet Naïa. The journalist then takes his camera and goes up the path to the castle ruins.

Charles Géniaux is more sceptical than ever about the existence of this witch who would be able to predict the death of anyone. He arrives in the medieval ruins of the castle of Rochefort, where the witch lives. He enters a huge room full of objects and jars.

On a fireplace stand two living owls which remain impassive. The witch’s den is full of stuffed animals, plants, snakes dipped in formalin, many ingredients that seem to be used to make all sorts of potions. The journalist is stunned to discover such a place.

While he grabs a jar to study its contents, he hears a noise coming from underground. Naïa, the witch, is alive and well. And Charles Géniaux will be able to meet her. When he meets Naïa, he will be very impressed by her personality,

Because she is cultured, she can read and write. She says that she is very interested in the fact that he is going to introduce her that he is going to talk about her, that he is going to transmit a little bit

Of what she does or what she knows or the character she represents. Curious to see what the witch is capable of, Charles Géniaux agrees to photograph her and to write a report on her if she shows him what she is capable of.

He then lets himself be guided by Naïa, who suggests, at nightfall a fortune-telling session the likes of which he has never seen. She lights a fire. She throws out herbs that release a big thick smoke. And at that moment, voices come out from who knows where.

Voices that kind of revolve around them. Impossible to define where these voices come from and what they are. Some seem to come from the ground and others from the sky. And even sometimes, the voices are addressed to the witch. Charles Géniaux is overwhelmed by this astonishing fortune-telling session.

Among these strange voices from nowhere he recognizes those of his mother, who died 12 years ago. She tells him of future events about himself, his marriage in Paris, his success as a writer, and the fact that he will be talked about even after his own death.

Predictions that will prove to be accurate. After this disconcerting fortune-telling session, Charles Géniaux decides to take his extraordinary shots of Naïa which will cause a sensation all the way to Paris. Photos that will intrigue many experts, because after the reporter leaves, no one ever hears of the witch again.

She disappears suddenly, leaving behind this visible imprint on the glossy paper of his shots. His traces end at the beginning of 1900, the date of his death is not known. I have never heard of his death nor his funeral. It always suggests mystery. Today, the castle site remains

Particularly imbued with the passage of Naïa, the witch. In the middle of the ruins, in the exact place where she lived, the Naïa Museum was built. This remarkable project dedicated to fantastic works, attracts many tourists today and even regularly, it is the scene of strange phenomena.

Throughout the construction of this project, there was a kind of energy, a stressful energy. I worked for a month in the basement for the development. In the middle of winter, in a dark room where a lot of things must have happened. Naïa lived there.

At times, you turn around a little bit, you say to yourself, “Is there someone?” Each time, you wonder. There is something, definitely. France is full of these evil and magical stories. Thousands of crimes perpetrated in the name of the Holy Inquisition, lasted until 1682,

The year in which a certain Colbert, then Minister of the Crown, will persuade Louis XIV to reconsider the so-called crime of witchcraft. Even today, everywhere in France, the spirit of these sorcerers, witches and mages, continues to live in these beautiful and mysterious places.