Angelique Cottin, 'The Poltergeist Girl,' Could Allegedly Manipulate Electricity
In 1846, a 14-year-old peasant girl from rural France caught the attention of the country and eventually the world because of a strange current of electricity running through her. Angelique Cottin, a girl of small stature, was suddenly and uncontrollably moving furniture weighing hundreds of pounds across the room. In the end, over 2,000 witnesses saw the unexplainable phenomenon.
Of the few recorded cases of psychokinesis throughout history, even fewer are as bizarre as the story of Angelique Cottin, AKA the Poltergeist Girl.
In Early 1846, 14-Year-Old Angelique Cottin Had Her First Strange Experience While Weaving Gloves
Angelique Cottin was born in 1832 in the rural village of Bouvigny, near La Perrière, France. At the age of 14, she was already working for the family business: weaving silk into gloves. She was hard at work on an oak weaving frame at her aunt's cottage the evening of January 14, 1846, when she had her first experience. For over a week prior to the incident, Bouvigny had been experiencing bad weather, with recurring thunderstorms striking the village.
As she worked with three other girls, the oak frame began to tremble, knocking over the candlestick and cloaking them in darkness. The girls blamed each other for not keeping steady as they worked, lit the candle again, and got back to work.
After The Table Was Overturned, The Girls Feared Witchcraft Was Involved
When Angelique touched the frame again, it was knocked completely to the ground. The girls ran from the cottage, believing it to be the work of the devil. In rural parts of Europe, the fear of witchcraft was still alive, and they wanted nothing to do with it.
Their neighbors responded to their cries, examined the situation, and wrote it off as the vivid imagination of young girls. With some persuading, they once again got back to work. But it wasn't long until the bizarre incident happened a third time.
The Girls Noticed The Shaking Started Again Only When Cottin Touched Her Yarn
The four girls returned to work, although they were shaken by the unexplainable experience. But as soon as Angelique touched the yarn attached to the frame, the entire oak structure moved away from Angelique's hand as if it was recoiling from her. She seemed to be attached to the frame through some kind of magnetic field or current.
A report of the incident in The Two Worlds: A Journal Devoted to Spiritualism, Occult Science, Ethics, Religion, and Reform read:
As soon as the girl Cottin, imitating her companions, had touched her warp, the frame was agitated again, moved about, upset, and thrown violently back. The girl was drawn irresistibly after it; but as soon as she touched it, it moved still farther away.
In The Days Following The First Incident, Angelique Made Tables Levitate, Chairs Move, And Papers Fly About
After that first fateful evening, things only progressed into stranger, more shocking events. Chairs would slide away from Angelique as she approached. Desks covered in papers and pens would be cleared in her presence, the papers flapping about as if struck by a sudden wind. At one point, the Cottin family reported seeing a table levitate when she was next to it.
Not only was Angelique's family witnessing the unexplainable phenomenon surrounding their daughter, but neighbors watched, as well. In a small village like Bouvigny, news traveled fast, and soon enough, rumors that Angelique was possessed by the devil or was practicing witchcraft spread like wildfire. Before long, priests got involved.
Angelique’s Aunt Brought Her To A Minister And Demanded An Exorcism, But They Sent Her To A Doctor Instead
Angelique's aunt was not immune to the fear of witchcraft herself. She immediately traveled to the parsonage of La Perrière to demand the best priest to perform an exorcism on her niece. The priests initially laughed at her account of what was happening, but Angelique had come prepared. She put on the glove she had been making when the first incident occurred, and immediately, the chairs in the room responded like the oak frame did that first night.
One priest was brave enough to sit down on a chair, and both he and the chair were immediately thrown on the ground. After that, the priests all agreed that what was happening to Angelique was out of their spiritual wheelhouse, and they referred her and her aunt to physicians for medical attention.
Monsieur de Faremont Came To Angelique’s Home To Witness The Strange Phenomenon
After Angelique's visit to the priests in La Perrière, the phenomenon seemed to stop for three days. The Cottin family was put in touch with Monsieur de Faremont, a local medical professional. Once the activity started again, Faremont was called to the home to witness the phenomenon. He immediately saw the oak frame Angelique had been using get thrown across the room and witnessed the strange magnetic connection she had to the object. He noted that her feet were not touching the frame - that the object seemed to be pushed by an unseen force.
He could see that the "powers" were draining young Angelique, and he got to work immediately to help the girl find answers. From that moment on, the phenomenon only increased in intensity and duration.
Angelique’s Apparent Powers Became A Danger To Herself And Her Family
After Monsieur de Faremont's visit, the phenomenon got increasingly worse for Angelique and her family. She couldn't sit in a chair or lay in a bed without it vibrating, levitating, or crashing to the ground. At one point, three strong men attempted to hold on to a chair she was in, but still, the chair flew from their grip, and Angelique was once again thrown to the ground.
Wood and earth materials seemed to be the most reactive to Angelique, which made her case even more unusual since electric currents are conducted by metal. Books, heavy furniture, and even flaming logs from the furnace would fly uncontrollably in her presence, making her a danger to herself and her family. Angelique began to convulse when the phenomenon was happening.
Often, the girl would run screaming, the electricity and power coursing through her and scaring her. It also drained her of energy, but she couldn't get any rest. When the electricity was working through her, her heart would race to alarming degrees. Her family and neighbors feared her death, and eventually, Monsieur de Faremont couldn't see her suffer anymore and fashioned a special chair for Angelique where the wood was covered with glass so she could rest and eat without being thrown from her seat.
Faremont Brought Angelique To Two Other Doctors In A Nearby Town For A Second Opinion, And The Electric Girl Gained More Attention
The day after he visited her in her home, Monsieur de Faremont took Angelique to a neighboring town to be observed by more doctors. There, the doctors set a 150-pound wooden block in the room, where it was levitated 4 inches off the ground repeatedly.
One of the witnesses was Monsieur Cohu, a member of the medical community in Mamers. He wrote in a letter to his colleague in Paris, Dr. Tanchou:
It matters not what name we may give to this... the important point is to verify the reality of a repulsive agency and of one that is distinctly marked; the effects of it impossible to deny. The fact is material, visible, incontestable. Here in the Province, sir, we are not very learned but we are often very mistrustful. In the present case we have examined, re-examined, taken every possible precaution against deception; and the more we have seen, the deeper has been our conviction of the reality of the phenomenon. Let the Academy decide as it will. We have seen it; it has not seen. We are, therefore, in a condition to decide better than it can. I do not say what cause was operating, but what effects presented themselves, under circumstances that remove even the shadow of a doubt.
The day after Angelique was observed in Mamers, one of the doctors who witnessed her abilities brought her into his home. Over the next two days, over 1,000 people came to see the strange phenomenon for themselves. It became clear that the repetition of her powers exhausted the girl, who was unable to control the electric energy. One of the witnesses, Dr. Beaumont-Chardon, wrote about the experience in a letter:
In a general way, I think the effects were more marked with me than with others, because I never evinced suspicion, and spared her all suffering; and I thought I could observe that, although her powers were not under the control of her will, yet they were greatest when her mind was at ease, and she was in good spirits.
The Cottin Family Headed To Paris To Visit Dr. Tanchou, Who Set Up A Committee To Test Angelique's ‘Powers’
After the news spread from the many observations of Angelique, the family went to Paris to visit a doctor who had been put in touch through a witness from Mamers. Dr. Tanchou was amazed by some simple tests where the girl caused a cold wind to blow through the room and a heavy wooden table to move. When Angelique attempted to sit next to the doctor on a couch, it flew across the room and struck the wall with shocking force.
Dr. Tanchou immediately called upon his colleague, astronomer and physicist Francois Arago, to observe Angelique. The two were both so impressed by the phenomenon that they requested a formal committee of scientists and doctors to testify on proof of extraordinary powers from Angelique. It didn't take long for the committee to testify that the psychic phenomena were real, and the report of their findings was published in the Journal des débats in February 1846.
Angelique's Family Sought Financial Gain From Her Demonstrations, Forcing Her To Perform To A Crowd
The constant tests and demonstrations Angelique endured exhausted her and constantly put her in danger. Doctors encouraged the Cottin family to do their best to quell the electric currents that seemed to be flowing out of their daughter so she could heal and rest, but despite the doctor's insistence, the Cottin family used Angelique's malady to make money.
She stayed in Paris, where her family opened an exhibition where people could watch Angelique perform her powers live. People traveled from all over to see her perform. The constant use of the electrical force was exhausting Angelique, but she had no respite. The people demanded to get what they paid for. By the end of the exhibition, Angelique was exhausted and her powers started to fade.
A Committee Of Doctors And Scientists Tested Her Abilities At The Museum Of Natural History In Paris
A committee was formed to test Angelique's abilities. It included Arago and Dr. Tanchou, along with a number of prominent scientists and doctors, including Henri Becquerel, who studied radioactivity and went on to become a Nobel laureate; Isidore Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, a zoologist and published author; physicist Jacques Babinet; physician Pierre Francois Olive Rayer; and a psychiatrist named Etienne Pariset. Their examination took place just a few days after the initial examination by Dr. Tanchou and Francois Arago at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.
The committee was not impressed by the powers displayed by Angelique. Her family and friends, as well as the previous doctors who witnessed shocking displays of her electrical force, noted that the girl might be exhausted from the constant demonstrations. Angelique's abilities were likely drained by the hundreds of demonstrations she was forced to perform in front of an audience over the past few days at the urging of her family, who were hoping for financial gain. The committee wrote in their final report:
Upon serious suspicions arising as to the manner in which these movements occurred, the committee has decided that they shall be submitted to an attentive examination. It frankly announces that the investigations tended to discover the fact that certain habitual manuevers hidden in the feet and hands could have produced the observed fact.
Scientists From The Academy Of Science Agreed To Study Angelique, But Her Powers Had Begun To Fade
After the failed test in Paris, the Cottin family promised to be in touch with the committee in Paris to revisit Angelique. By April 10, 1846, her powers had ceased as quickly as they had appeared.
The committee noted the lack of response in their report:
Many days have passed since, yet the committee has received no intelligence. We have learned, however, that Mademoiselle Cottin is daily received in drawing-rooms where she repeats her experiments.
There are no official records of these drawing-room viewings after leaving Paris, but many have hypothesized that Angelique's parents attempted to persuade her into faking her former abilities so they could continue to make money. Whatever was going on, those viewing didn't last long.
Her parents eventually announced that her abilities had left the girl, and Angelique Cottin fell back into the obscurity of being a peasant girl from a farm. Throughout history, people have attempted to explain what happened to Angelique or debate whether or not it was trickery. However, people who witnessed the phenomenon in the first few days when her powers were strongest insisted that what they saw was real.
Some say that one of the scientists heavily involved in the case, Francois Arago, spoke about the Poltergeist Girl for the rest of his life.
