Spiritist Review, February 1858
The famous actress Clairon was haunted by mysterious sounds for two and a half years after refusing the last request of a passionate admirer who died of grief.
“Ah, all of Paris knew La Clairon, the greatest actress in France during my golden days, and the story of the ghost that haunted me for two and a half years… Apparently, the younger generations don’t! So, allow me to introduce myself: this is my story.”
Miss Clairon was well known for her beauty.
A young man named Mr. S… fell madly in love with her. But she only wanted his friendship.
As he insisted too much and it began to bother her, she decided to distance herself from him for good.
The young man became very sad and fell ill. When he felt that his life was coming to an end, he asked to see me one last time before he passed away.
I couldn’t go see him because I was having some family and friends over for dinner.
So he died alone, with only his servants and an elderly lady by his side.
On the night of his death, Clairon was at home with his mother and some friends, singing happy songs.
Suddenly, at 11 o’clock at night, everyone heard a very loud and frightening scream, which seemed to come out of nowhere. It was so loud that Clairon fainted and remained unconscious for almost 15 minutes.
That scream became part of the routine. Every night, promptly at eleven o’clock, the inexplicable sound echoed through the house, disturbing everyone: family, friends, neighbors, and even the police. No one knew where it came from, but for me, there was something.
Everyone in town was talking about him, about my “ghost,” and some other people were with me when the scream appeared. For example, when I went shopping with my friend Rosely, who challenged me to summon the spirit so I could prove its existence, and when I called out to my pursuer, he not only answered me, but screamed three times, in such a frightening way that my friend and I fainted until someone pulled us out of the carriage.
I was staying at a house in the city of Versailles, where I was going to perform, accompanied by a roommate, Mrs. Grandval. We were talking in the middle of the night, and I said to her, “It’s impossible for my ghost to find me here, I’m so far from home!” … Suddenly, the room was filled with screaming.
That was the last time we heard the scream, but still, no one could sleep that night.
Esa fue la última vez que oímos el grito, pero aun así, nadie consiguió dormir aquella noche.
Gunshots began hitting my window every night, always at eleven o’clock. The strange thing is that the window never broke, despite the visible noise and impact. The police found no one. I suspect it’s my ghost, but now he’s using guns. Does he want to kill me?
One day, as I leaned against the window with a friend, the shot rang out, throwing us into the middle of the room. We got up with our faces marked, as if we had been slapped. The strangeness of the situation made us laugh hysterically.
Then, the gunshots were replaced by daily applause, and this by a beautiful singing voice, always at eleven o’clock at night. These sounds lasted two and a half years, and made me curious about the change in the “ghost,” from violence to music.
The woman who accompanied Mr. Sebastian in his final moments revealed his last words: he promised to pursue “her” after death, because she had been “cruel.”
Allan Kardec, in the Spiritist Review (1858), explains that Mr. Sebastian was the ghost of Mademoiselle Clairon, fulfilling his promise to haunt her after death. Initially driven by revenge and hatred, he clung to her, but, upon overcoming these feelings, he bid her farewell with applause.
