A Loud Ghost is Kicked Out

“The whole reason my family and I moved here beside the cemetery was because it was quiet and peaceful. But it got so we couldn’t get a decent night’s sleep.”

In 2013, the Weekly World News published an article written by Margie Floori, which didn’t get the notice it deserved.

She wrote about a small town, Fuers, France where the citizens had demanded that a female corpse be removed from their local cemetery. The reason for this request was this corpse manifested as a ghost and its screams were disturbing the neighbors.

A few days after Yvonne DeLyon, 61 was buried residents who live near the town’s cemetery stated her ghost screamed and wailed all night. One family found this not only disturbing but also scary. “We moved here thinking it would be quiet.”

Many stated the noise the ghost made was incoherent ranting but others stated they heard the woman distinctly nagging her husband who had died 3 years earlier.

One male witness stated he heard her yelling, “Charles, don’t you dare leave that wet towel on the bed,” or “Why don’t we ever go out to dinner?”

This surprised people who knew Mrs. DeLyon while she was alive. She was characterized as being “quiet and retiring.”

A French parapsychologist, Dr. Yvette Colvert responded, “This happens occasionally with people who were timid and shy in life. After death, they finally get the courage to stand up for their rights. Then there’s no stopping them.”

The manager of the cemetery, Jean Vecque professed he did not believe in ghosts until this incident. When the complaints started to roll in, he investigated and was surprised when what he discovered confirmed the reports.

At first, he felt it must be someone playing a practical joke but after standing near the grave for an entire night he changed his mind. He admitted what he heard scared him.

“I heard such an eerie screeching. It was definitely coming from the DeLyon grave.”

It took 6 months of complaints before the authorities responded. The town council made the decision to exhume and relocate the body. 

Jacques DeLyon, Mrs. DeLyon’s son fought this decision stating, “I paid good money for the plot and she has the right to rest there.” But DeLyon’s bid was denied.

Yvonne DeLyon now lies in a rural graveyard, miles from the town. She no longer disturbs people’s rest or scares them.

The Haunted Village of Oradour-sur-Glane

Today in the Limousin region in west-central France, there sits what remains of the Oradour-sur-Glane village. 

This small communities destruction has been preserved, so the atrocities that happened here will never be forgotten.

It was during World War ll on the morning of June 10, 1944, that the Germans made a mistake.

Their goal was to hit the center of the now-famous French Resistance located in Oradour-Sur-Vayres. They wanted revenge. But they mistakenly mistook the nearby village of Oradour-sur-Glane as being their target.

The citizens of Oradour-sur-Glane had managed to keep their lives distant from the war that raged around them. They had no idea that the nearby Oradour-sur-Vayres village was the hub for France’s militia and resistance troops who had managed to regularly disrupt the Nazi occupation of France.

Commander Adolf Diekmann

The commander of the Waffen-SS, Adolf Diekmann, was in a hurry to taste revenge. This was probably why the Germans confused the villages. 

On the morning of the 10^th, he and his regiment entered Oradour-sur-Glane.

They ordered all the residents gather at Camp de Foire--the village fairgrounds-- stating they needed to examine their identity papers. They then separated the men into one group and the women and children into another.

The Nazis encouraged the children to sing as they escorted them and the woman into the village church. They then separated the men into smaller groups and escorted them into three barns, two garages, a warehouse, and a hanger.

The village women and children heard the distant fire of machine guns. 

The Nazis shot most of the men in the legs at the various locations simultaneously. They waited until these men could no longer move, then they piled straw and boards on their bodies, lighting them on fire. So most of the men were alive as they burned to death. 

One soldier stated they wanted to prolong the villager's suffering.

Five men managed to escape. They pretended to be dead as they lay under other men’s corpses. When it got too hot, they fled into some nearby bushes where they hid until the next day.

Village Girl's School Picture
A year before the massacre.

At the same time, around 4:00 p.m., the Nazi’s then placed a gas bomb in the church to asphyxiate the woman and children. 

This bomb malfunctioned, and many women and children tried to escape, but the soldiers used their machine guns to shoot them. They also threw grenades into the church.

The Nazi's also piled straw and boards on the women and children that fell wounded and set them on fire.

A woman, Marguerite Rouffanche, fled with another woman and child. Her two companions were shot and killed. 

The 47-year-old Marguerite managed to climb a ladder to a window where she dropped to the ground ten feet below. She was shot five times but was able to make her way to the back of the church, where she hid in a vegetable plot until the next day.

What remained...
Warning: images are graphic

Within hours the Germans had killed 642 villagers-- 247 women and 205 children perished. 109 men died. 

The Nazis then looted and burned most of the homes in the village. They left Oradour-sur-Glane the next morning.

Around twenty members of the village managed to escape as the German’s first entered the town. A couple of days after this slaughter, they were given permission to bury the dead.

After the war in 1953, the French court at Bordeaux tried 21 men for this massacre. Fourteen of them were Alsatians, *who were born in the French province of Alsace. 

When the Nazis invaded France in 1940, the men of this province were conscripted into the German army, so these fourteen men claimed they were forced, but many still considered them traitors.

Madame Rouffanche
at the trial.

Only two men were sentenced to death. The others were sentenced to between eight to twelve years in prison, but there were bitter protests and demonstrations. The Alsatians felt the sentences were too harsh, the people of Oradour thought they were too lenient as a result, all twenty-one men were just released.

General Charles de Gaulle stated Oradour-sur-Glane should not be rebuilt. He felt it should be preserved as a memorial to the cruelty of the Nazi occupation.

In 1958, a new village named Ordour-sur-Glane was built near the original town. These residents call the first town, Village of the Martyred.

Many say they will not enter the old village at night. It is a ghost town, but ghosts also haunt it.

Witnesses state as they stand at their windows at night, they see the dark spirits of the slaughtered walking through the ruined village’s deserted streets.

Others state they often smell the aroma of burning wood and flesh as it floats over this old village. Until recently, the new residents would leave gifts along the border of the Village of the Martyred as a peace offering for the spirits that still linger.

Today, the old village is open to the public as a heritage and war memorial. Notices are posted reminding visitors to show respect for the dead.

Here is an excellent site for more information.

Update: A German court on Dec. 9, 2014, dismissed a case against a former SS man accused of involvement in this massacre. There was not enough evidence to prove this 89-year old from Cologne was involved. He admits he was at the village but did not fire his weapon.

*  Alsatians are French nationals of German ethnicity.

Bicycle among the ruins.

Paris’ Père Lachaise Cemetery

Chopin's grave

The Cimetière du Père Lachaise located on a hill overlooking Paris is visited more than any other cemetery in the world. 

The reason for this is twofold. This cemetery is the final resting place for a large number of famous creative, talented people plus the cemetery has some of the most spectacular, beautiful, macabre and sad gravestones, tombs, sculptures and mausoleums of any found in the world.

Burials in this Paris suburb began in 1804 and today 200 years later the Père Lachaise has over 1 million graves. The cemetery still accepts new burials but it has a long waiting list. The reason for this is limited space so graves are “leased” for 10, 20, 30 years, etc. When the family stops paying the remains are removed to a different cemetery so space can be reused.

Here are just a few of the famous permanent residents buried at Père Lachaise:

Harriet Toby an American
a ballerina who was killed at
age  23 in a plane crash
in 1952.

Balzac--writer, Karel Appel--painter, Isadora Duncan--dancer, Rosalie Duthè--courtesan, Sarah Bernhardt--actress, Frederic Chopin--composer, Molière--playwright, Jean de la Fontaine--poet/fable writer.

Marcel Marceau--mime, Jim Morrison--singer, Marcel Proust--writer, Gioachino Rossini--composer, Oscar Wilde--writer, Georges Bizet--composer/conductor, Georges Rodenbach--poet, Edith Piaf--singer, Gertrude Stein--writer, Eugene Delacroix--painter.

Oscar Wilde's tomb is normally
covered in bright red lipstick
kisses left by admiring women.

People who have visited Père Lachaise often mention the ghosts they have encountered along its shaded cobblestone paths.

One story mentions Marcel Proust and Maurice Ravel. They were a loving couple in life -- it is said they rise at night from their graves and go in search of each other.

Adolphe Thiers who was the prime minister under King Louis-Phillippe in the 19^th century is said to “tug” on visitors clothes if they venture too close to his resting place.

His grave is the most
visited.

The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison is often seen roaming near his grave. 

His grave was almost the victim of the cemeteries “lease” policy when families that have deceased loved ones near his resting place gathered together when the Morrison 10 year lease was up and tried to have him moved--they did not succeed. 

The bust which was placed on the 10th anniversary by a fan was later stolen. The family pays to have the graffiti cleaned off. 

Recent photo of his grave.

There are also many other stories of visitors seeing spectral lights, translucent figures, and other disembodied spirits roaming throughout the cemetery.

The following is a 5-minute montage of pictures of the various incredible grave markers at Père Lachaise.

Chateau de Brissac: The Lady in Green

When people first see the Chateau de Brissac located in the province of Anjou in the Loire Valley in France they often state it looks like a fairy-tale castle. 

In fact, it was a castle until the 15^th century when King Rene of Anjou altered over sixty castles and great homes in Anjou into chateaus. Among these structures Brissac is one of the most beautiful. 

The castle is the tallest in France and exudes old world charm but one of its earliest residents has shocked more than one visitor.

In its history this stately structure was destroyed rebuilt and even abandoned for a while in the late 1790s. It survived Nordic attacks, the Huguenots, English occupation and the Jacobins. 

Generations of the same family who gained their title from its name have been haunted by one specific entity. A double murder that occurred in the 15^th century within its walls resulted in the Chateau de Brissac being renowed for a ghost called la Dame Verte, the “Green Lady”.

The castle was first built in the 11^th century under the reign of King Philip II of France. When France defeated the English the king gave the property to Guillaume des Roches. 

In the 15^th century Pierre de Breze who was the chief minister of King Charles VII rebuilt the castle. His son Jacques de Breze the grand seneschal of Normandy inherited the chateau and married Charlotte of France.

Charlotte was the illegitimate daughter of Charles VII and Agnes Sorel, who was a former employee of King Rene. Despite the circumstances of her birth Charlotte was the beloved half sister of King Louis XI, Charles’ son. 

The marriage between Jacques and Charlotte was not a happy one. It is said that she was not faithful to her husband. One day Jacques discovered Charlotte in the arms of one of her huntsmen.

At this point accounts differ as to what happened next. One version states that Jacques enraged dealt over one hundred blows of his sword to the cheating couple. 

Another version states that he strangled Charlotte in the Chapel Tower at Brissac later the same day. We will never know what exactly happened but Charlotte and her lover were never seen again.

Louis XI, Charlotte’s half brother, was outraged when he heard the news. He immediately vowed revenge. He had Jacques arrested and thrown in prison for several years. 

He convinced the court to sentence de Breze to death and confiscate all of his property. But in the end Jacques prevailed, he gave all of his property to the king who spared his life. 

Louis XI then gave Jacques' property to Louis de Breze, his nephew who also was Jacques son. But just three years later Charles VIII, Louis XI successor over ruled the judgment and restored Jacques’ titles and lands.

After this the Cosse family took ownership of the chateau in the 15th century. This family acquired the title dukes of de Brissac at this time—today the current Duke of Brissac and his family still live at the chateau. 

For generations this family has encountered the apparition of The Green Lady. This ghost is often seen walking in the tower room of the chateaus’ chapel. The family is used to this sight but the ghost has startled many guests over the years. 

She is named for the green dress that she wears. Her face is most disturbing for it is described as the face of a corpse with gaping holes where eyes and a nose should be. 

Witnesses over the years have heard her moans in the early morning hours. It seems she stays in the place where her life was taken so violently.

Today Chateau de Brissac hosts many special events. Tours are provided and two suites are open to the public to stay overnight.