Ektoplazzem

Dear Laws of Silence:

First a bit of background on ectoplasm:

Definition	A substance said to be excreted by mediums during trances; a slime-like substance said to be associated with hauntings.
Signature	Said to be white/gray/transparent or any other colour, viscous; resembling mucus. Said to ooze from solid objects or from mediums' bodies involving mucous membranes (nose, eyes, mouth), and to take form as a misty substance.

Source:  Wikipedia

The text above (minus "Source:  Wikipedia") was electronically cut-up four times, re-formatted, the punctuation eliminated, and given an aleatory title (on the ectoplasm page, the words "with the" were typed into "find" and, when found, the next two words were selected).  I wish I could say that this geste had no particular purpose and wish even more I didn't have to say that the result has no particular value.  The cut-up tool has merely repeated only a few of the words several times and eliminated several others.  The secrets liberated from inside this prison of words thus do not shed any light on my question (forthcoming).  Cybernetic bibliomancy has led nowhere, so fate has forced you upon me.

"Le Miro"

with be
nose, from said
any said be
take said viscous
nose, said to nose
trances, be to trances
by said said
other said take to said
take any be said associated
nose, other said take
to nose
to said trances
viscous
said to to be white/gray/transparent
by trances
take nose, associated to be
colour,
        colour,
                bodies

So the point, the question, is this.  You fellows obviously think of yourselves as what Tzara's vulgar herd would consider clever men; whereas this opinion is debatable, it is undeniable fact that you both have noses.  Tell us, then, pray:  Is Caspar indeed the ghost of Richie Rich?

Kind regards,

Théophile Prades
Beaupuy, France

Aucamville Project 13: Accursed Houses

Aucamville has been around a long time.  Bronze coins found here attest to a Gallo-Roman presence.  I'm not sure exactly if this is early or late Gallo-Roman, but if we just leave it in the air we can still safely say the village is between 1500 and 2000 years old!

Who know what weird things have gone down in these past two millennia?  Is it at all surprising that the village features at least one haunted house?  What surprises me is that there aren't more legends of hauntings and weird happenings.

The house isn't actually tilted, the spirits have fuggered the image!

This house was apparently used as a barracks by the German Army during the occupation.  It's a grand house and now in a total state of decay.  It's quite dangerous and threatens to collapse into its large basement any time now.  I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this until just the other day, but apparently villagers swear it's haunted.  No apparitions or cold gusts of wind, though.  Just the sound of boots, dead German soldiers, tramping through the ruins.  I've cruised by this place in the dead of night, three sheets to the wind and haven't heard any tramping boots.  Just one latched shutter somehow got open and hasn't budged since.  But rest assured!  I'm on the case, Egon.

And there is another house, which isn't said to be haunted....but to my mind it is.  Just across the road from where I live there is a handsome house which has been empty since I moved here in 2007.  It's progressively fallen into greater disrepair; in 2005 there was a fire and for a short while some people seemed to be actively dismantling it, although that seems to have ceased.  It used to be a rather elegant tavern named the "auberge de Tail"  but people now call it the "Auberge Rouge" or "Red Tavern."  "Red" as in "Blood"....

L'Auberge Rouge

The full story is a bit hazy, but for an unknown period of time a homeless guy by the name of Georges Haurdine lived and worked at the auberge.  Proprietor Altobella Capelleri had lured him to the auberge with promises of work, room, and board, but neglected to mention the regular beatings.  Described as "slow", Haurdine was exploited by Capelleri, and through a combination of intimidation and violence she was able to keep him like a slave.  Apparently a "family friend" was filmed raping him on several occasions and there were even rumors of sadistic parties involving public officials, but that seems par for the course in France.  Not the parties, but the rumors.  Not so surprising when you consider that this is the country which gave us Gilles de Rais and the Marquis de Sade.  Unlike Gilles de Rais, however, these tales were (probably) either deliberately fabricated to smear the political class or got mixed up in the popular imagination with the "Affaire Alègre" in which Toulousain serial killer Patrice Alègre claimed he organised S+M orgies for public officials and killed on their instructions to cover things up.  Eyes Wide Shut, wot?

Mr Haurdin's body was never found.  As the story goes he was beaten and left for dead by Capelleri herself.  She then had her husband and son bring the body to the pigs, then afterward to a well, where it lay rotting for 6 months.  Unhappy with the progress of decomposition, they retrieved the body, burnt it in the tavern's kitchen chimney and then disposed of the ashes in various trashcans throughout Toulouse.

Maybe the house isn't haunted....but I certainly am....

An earlier article with a few remarks on the Capelleri story.

To die, or in the case of inanimate objects, to cease working

Dear Gid:

You show us the Feral House, but let me please present you with the Feral Bike:


It makes a lovely corpse, but I'm not sure which kind of careless abandon is the greater crime; if it be a crime at all.

You Americans say that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Oh how we proud Gauls know this! But you might also add a third truth: that sooner or later each one of us will have to decide whether or not to acknowledge the ghost in the wheatfield.


As you can see, even ghosts cast shadows.

Kind regards,

Théophile Prades
Beaupuy, France.