The Possessed Nuns of Loudun

Beginning in 1632, a convent of young Ursuline nuns made startling claims – from seeing dead priests, to being possessed by a horde of Satan’s demons. A team of priests presided over daily exorcisms – some of them public – for months…until the blame was directed toward one man: Father Urbain Grandier, a controversial figure who’d made a number of foes. Despite his claims of innocence, Grandier was executed. Was he in league with the devil? Were the young women hallucinating? Or…were the nuns coerced into pulling off a bizarre case of sabotage? Help us reach 10k followers on Instagram! @⁠theconspiracypod⁠ Try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE at https://ziprecruiter.com/THEORY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• 0:08Speaker 00

  It’s the 1630s in the French commune of Loudun. A torrential rain falls outside a convent for Ursuline nuns. Through the darkness of night, a woman in a dressing gown moves across the yard like a specter, slowly with a steady determination. In one hand, she carries a candle, around her neck, a thick rope fashioned into a noose. She comes to a stop and just stands there for two hours, staring out at nothing, completely undeterred by the raindrops pelting her face. This is Jeanne Desange, the Mother Superior of the Ursuline convent.

• 0:53Speaker 00

  And this isn’t the first strange thing Jeanne has done lately. She’s been acting unlike herself for the past few months, saying horrible blasphemous things, harming herself. Why? Because she’s allegedly possessed by demons. Jeanne’s claims of possession are taken seriously. She’s already been through round after round of exorcisms. Priests come from all over France to see her and the other nuns at her convent, many of whom are quite literally dealing with their own demons. And yet, their affliction still has not lifted. The devil remains in Loudun, and nobody can seem to banish him.

• 1:37Speaker 00

  According to Jeanne, the blame lies with one mortal man, Father Urbain Grandier. If Jeanne is to be believed, Urbain isn’t a simple parish priest. He’s the sorcerer who invited the demons into a house of God. While Jeanne stands there outside in the rain, water cascading down her face, she suddenly snaps out of it. She looks back toward the convent, hoists up her gown around her, and races back inside. She doesn’t stop until she bangs down the door of the king’s counselor, a man sent there by Louis XIII himself to investigate Father Urbain.

• 2:22Speaker 00

  Jeanne throws herself at the counselor’s feet, begging him to listen to her. She wants to confess something to him. Even though he’s not an ordained priest, the counselor agrees to hear her out. She tells him, “Father Urbain is innocent. He’s no sorcerer. It was all a lie.” She then runs back out to the courtyard, she takes the loose end of the rope, still hanging around her neck, and throws it over the branch of a tree. She’s trying to hang herself. Before she can, others grab her and pull her away. In the light of day, Jeanne will go back to her old story, because the clergy surrounding

• 3:04Speaker 00

  her tells her it was the demons talking. It was the demons making her act that way. For the rest of her life, Jeanne will maintain the possessions are real and that Urbain Grandier is responsible for inviting evil into Loudun. In 1634, Urbain is burned at the stake. However, there are those who are convinced of Urbain’s innocence even at that time. They don’t believe Jeanne’s claims. They suspect she’s actually obsessed with Father Urbain, and that she is being used

• 3:44Speaker 00

  by some of his most powerful enemies, men in high places, who have good reason to invent a fantastical tale of demons invading a small convent in the French countryside. Because they want Urbain Grandier gone, for good. Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify podcast. I’m Carter Roy. New episodes come out every Wednesday. It’s October, and that means for the next month, we’ll be investigating the truth behind four of the eeriest conspiracies out there. We would love to hear from you, so if you’re listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and

• 4:27Speaker 00

  give us your thoughts, or check us out on Instagram at the conspiracy pod. This episode includes discussions of torture and death. Consider this when deciding how and when you’ll listen. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by 7up. Ever notice lemon is everywhere? Lemon recipes, lemon album names, lemon yellow fashion, and when it comes to lemon lime sodas, why is lemon always first? There’s a reason. A shadowy organization called The Lemonati has been keeping big lemon on top of the soda world for decades. But the sip is about to be flipped.

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• 6:39Speaker 00

  In the town of L’Udon in western France, the year 1632 begins with a plague and ends with an alleged case of mass demonic possession, one that becomes perhaps the most infamous in the country. First, the mysterious illness. Over the course of five months, the plague claims the lives of roughly 3,700 of the town’s 14,000 residents. That’s more than one quarter of Loudun's population. There is no treatment, doctors are useless, in fact, many of them actually move away, seeking refuge in their country homes far from the sweeping contagion.

• 7:21Speaker 00

  By the end of the summer, the plague is winding down, and another affliction supposedly takes over Loudun. This one begins in a convent full of 17 young Ursuline nuns, and the startling claims made by their Mother Superior, 30-year-old Jeanne Desange, the trusted and respected leader. On the morning of September 22nd, 1632, Jeanne tells her sisters about a disturbing visit the previous night. She claims that a man appeared to her. He was a priest. She recognized him as prior Moussa, who used to be their old chaplain at the convent.

• 8:04Speaker 00

  The problem with that is Moussa died not long ago. Jeanne says Moussa’s spirit asked her to pray for him. When Jeanne finishes her story, two of the other nuns say, “Well, they too saw their dead chaplain the previous night.” One says Moussa spent three hours in her room. He told her he was in great pain. He offered her a book and begged her to take it, and when she refused, he wept on her bed until he suddenly vanished into thin air. A couple of nights later, according to the nuns, a mysterious black ball appears in the convent, rolling around as if pushed by unseen hands.

• 8:46Speaker 00

  It physically attacks some of the sisters, leaving them bruised.

• 8:52Speaker 00

  More and more of the Ursulins begin to hear voices or disembodied laughter. Sometimes they discover visible injuries on their bodies. “Proof,” they say, “of some violent, invisible assailant who won’t leave them alone.” On October 1st, while sitting and talking with the others, Jean suddenly feels something in her hand. She opens it to find three small thorns from a hawthorn bush. “She has no idea how they got there,” she says. With so many unexplained events in the past week, she decides to bring the hawthorns to the attention of the priests.

• 9:32Speaker 00

  Reportedly, they suggest that Jean burned the thorns, but once she does, Jean is no longer a bystander to visions and external forces. Now, the evil seems to find its way in. From that point on, Jean is often racked by violent convulsions. She appears to lose control of her own body. At night, she continues to have vivid dreams and visions. In some of them, Father Musso continues to visit her, but now he’s begun morphing into somebody else. When she conveys these visions to her new chaplain, Father Mignot, he declares right away that he knows what is happening.

• 10:17Speaker 00

  He says this is clearly the work of the devil. Jean can’t control herself because a demon has invaded her soul, and it’s high time they call for an exorcism. Mignot gathers a small team. On October 5th, they put Jean through the first of what will be many exorcisms across multiple years. Priests shout at her in Latin, commanding the demon inside her to speak, to give its name, to get out of Jean’s body. Throughout the proceedings, Jean writhes around as if in pain, shouting, “I burn! I burn!”

• 11:00Speaker 00

  Her face contorts, she gnashes her teeth, shattering two of them in the process. She shouts obscenities and bears her legs. A massive taboo at this time, especially for a nun. After days of coaxing, Jean’s demon does speak through her. His name is Asmodeus, and he’s not alone. Apparently, seven demons in total have taken up residence inside the Mother Superior. When some of the other nuns are treated to exorcisms, they too reveal multiple demons, although of course, nobody has as many as Jean.

• 11:40Speaker 00

  The exorcisms are quite the spectacle, unlike anything the small town has ever seen. They begin to draw the attention of the local clergymen, many of whom watch Jean acting in this way, and weep for her. They think, “Only a demon could do that, but they cannot fathom how a woman of God could be doing this of her own volition.” Day after day, Jean’s exorcists interrogate her demons. “Who did this to Jean? Who invited the demons in? Who summoned them? Who made this pact? Surely, it wasn’t our Mother Superior.”

• 12:20Speaker 00

  On October 11th, the demons, speaking through Jean, finally give their answer. They admit, “There’s a sorcerer in Loudun. He’s to blame for the wave of possessions spreading through the convent, and his name is Father Urbain Grandier.” Now, let’s take a moment here. Jean has never met Urbain Grandier in her life. He does live in Loudun. He’s a parish priest at the nearby Saint Pierre de Marchais or Saint Peter’s Church. So, you’d think they probably run in the same circle, but according to records, he’s never visited the Ursulin convent or spoken to Jean face to face.

• 13:05Speaker 00

  And yet, when Jean accuses him, the general reaction among the priests is probably, “Yeah, I bet it is that guy,” because it’s not much of a stretch to say that Urbain is the most controversial figure in town. Not everybody dislikes him, but the enemies he has made are powerful and well-connected, and we’ll dig into that later, but in a nutshell, he has a reputation as the Lothario of Loudun. Far from living a celibate life, Urbain is known as a ladies’ man, a womanizer, a seducer, and while some of that reputation is based on idle gossip, it’s also not

• 13:49Speaker 00

  untrue. At any rate, the same day that Jean accuses Urbain of sorcery, a strange event occurs at the convent. The nuns find a bouquet of roses left anonymously on their front stoop. And what do you do when you pick up a bouquet of roses? You smell them, which is exactly what the sisters do. When Jean takes a whiff of the flowers, she immediately falls into convulsions. She twists, she contorts, she cries out for Father Urbain. The rest of the nuns follow suit. They fall like dominoes, writhing and screaming his name. And the madness only escalates from there.

• 14:31Speaker 00

  According to contemporary reports, some of the nuns climb trees. A few even make it up onto the roof. They’re trying to claw their way out onto the streets. They’re trying to get to Urbain. It’s like the roses have poisoned them, and they’re on some deranged kind of love potion. Some of the women stay up on the roof for days without food. They’re too lovesick to eat. It honestly sounds like an unbelievable sight to behold, one that would maybe invite some doubt as to what’s really going on within the walls of Jean’s convent.

• 15:10Speaker 00

  I mean, nuns climbing trees and calling out for a priest, who, by the way, is said to be a mustachioed hunk. But apparently, the priests, especially those who are acting as the nuns’ exorcists, see this incident as proof. Clearly, Urbain Grandier must be in league with the devil. Well, they say it’s the only explanation for his otherworldly power over these women of God. He’s a seducer, an incubus. He’s the one who’s really been appearing to them at night.

• 15:49Speaker 00

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• 17:59Speaker 00

  En la fiesta de 1632, un grupo de madres francesas afirmó que eran poseídas de demonios. Durante semanas, dicen que han sido asesinadas por sueños y visiones desagradables de un sacerdote muerto. Han oído voces desembodiedas y risas ecoando a través de las estrechas salas de la conventa. Han sido atacados físicamente y tienen estas heridas para probarlo. En el centro de todo esto está Jean de Zange, la Madre Superior. Su estatus da mucha credibilidad a todo el asunto, y cuando acusa a Urbain Grandier, un sacerdote local de la parada, de desvelarlos... Bueno, los sacerdotes apoyan la historia de Jean.

• 18:40Speaker 00

  El padre Mignon, el capellano de la conventa ursulina, va directo a los magistrados de la ciudad. Es un aviso profesional, como, no sé si ustedes han oído, pero hay un mal sorcerero en la ciudad, así que hazte tus gafas de procesamiento. Ahora, afortunadamente para Urbain, es amigable con los mismos magistrados. La mayoría de ellos son huguenautas o protestantes franceses. forman la mayoría de la población de la ciudad. Pero eso no significa que la clergía se avecina con ellos. Han sido solo unos años desde que los huguenautas y los católicos estaban esparciendo el sangre de los demás en las calles. Las cosas pueden haberse vuelto menos violentas, pero eso no significa que todos se gusten unos a otros.

• 19:24Speaker 00

  Urbain siempre ha tenido una buena relación con los huguenautas en la ciudad. En este momento, eso funciona a su favor. Eleja peticiones contra los exorcismos. Afirma que sus enemigos están tratando de tarnar su reputación no tan estelar. Urbain probablemente entiende que los tribunales no pueden interferir con lo que la iglesia está haciendo, pero tal vez pueda tratar de detener una investigación oficial y ahorrarle algo de tiempo. O sus amigos en altos lugares lo ayudarán, o hey, tal vez el interés en los exorcismos se desvanezca. Excepto que lo opuesto se vuelve verdadero. Cuando se acerca el final de 1632, se publica la noticia sobre las madres asesinadas de Lourdes.

• 20:09Speaker 00

  En algún punto, el público se invita en realidad a empezar a ver exorcismos en vivo. La multitud morbidamente curiosa hacia las calles o dentro de las iglesias. Se construyen estaciones de forma rápida para que las audiencias crecientes puedan ver las madres encargadas de cunas de horario. La gente viaja de toda Europa para ver a Jean y los demás hablar en voces demoníacas. Y eso parece ser el estado de las cosas durante mucho de 1633. Los exorcismos continúan con el horror y el placer de los turistas. Jean es una estrella subiendo, y Urbain lucha para que su nombre se deshaga.

• 20:50Speaker 00

  Si las cosas hubieran continuado así, bueno, quién sabe qué habría pasado, pero en noviembre de 1633, un poco más de un año después de que todo este debacle comenzó, el rey interviene. El barón Le Bardemont es uno de los consejeros del rey Louis XIII. Originalmente fue enviado a Lourdes por una razón completamente inmensa. El rey quiere destruir la vieja castela. Mientras Le Bardemont está en la ciudad, todo lo que escucha es sobre las posesiones demoníacas. Es en la mente de todos, y lo entiendo. Es difícil hacer una pequeña charla sobre el clima cuando hay exorcismos pasando por las calles. Oh, sí, escucho que van a nombrar un nuevo demonio hoy. Creo que podría ir a ver eso. Ahora, Le Bardemont es un tipo extremadamente digno.

• 21:35Speaker 00

  Lleva su trabajo muy seriosamente. Está allí para destruir una castela, y esa castela está siendo destruida. Pero también tiene experiencia previa en los juicios de la sorcería. Y hey, quiero decir, ¿cómo puede ser diferente realmente las posesiones? Así que cuando escucha sobre los exorcismos en vivo, tiene que ver uno por sí mismo. Después de ver uno, se deshace de un creyente. Se siente mal por las madres, y tiene la habilidad, no, el deber, de ayudarles. Cuando Le Bardemont regresa a París, trae toda esta información al rey Louis XIII. De hecho, el rey da su consejero fiel con el poder absoluto de investigar a Urbain Grandier

• 22:21Speaker 00

  por sorcería y para llevar a cabo su juicio. Puede asistir a los exorcismos, puede negar los apelos, puede procesar a los enemigos si se le antoja. Básicamente, Le Bardemont ahora está administrando el show, y trata esta tarea como su propia cruzada personal. Uno de sus primeros órdenes de negocios es arrestar a Urbain. Luego de poco, el hogar del sacerdote es buscado y se llevan la evidencia a la custodia, incluyendo un tratado escrito por Urbain. Es un discurso largo sobre su filosofía personal que los sacerdotes no deberían ser celibatos.

• 23:05Speaker 00

  En realidad tiene mucho que decir sobre el tema, pero su argumento se reduce a esto. Dice que el sexo es el orden natural de las cosas. ¿Por qué los sacerdotes tendrían la misma pasión y deseo que todos los demás si no se planea actuar contra ellos? Además del tratado, las autoridades confiscan dos poemas sucias. Oh, sí, vamos a necesitar tomar estas en evidencia. Solo vaya y ponga eso en mi satchel. Lo veré más tarde. No es exactamente prueba de un pacto con Satanás, pero parece respaldar años de la gana de que Urbain es un seductor de deseos.

• 23:45Speaker 00

  En febrero de 1634, el padre Urbain es interrogado sobre su supuesto rol en las posesiones. Durante ocho días, endurece intensas preguntas, y por la mayor parte, no dice una palabra. Ese abril, se mudó a una habitación cerrada y abierta en una residencia privada. Su nueva cárcel de prisión es guardada por un hombre llamado, y esto es cierto, Sargento Bottom, que ironicamente se traduce a Sargento Buenos Tiempos. Mientras tanto, los exorcismos del público continúan. Sí, eso es correcto. Las madres todavía no se curaron, aunque Urbain, el supuesto sorcerero, está ahora en la prisión,

• 24:28Speaker 00

  y aunque han endurecido innumerables exorcismos en este momento, los demonios todavía están en cargo. Estos días, las madres a menudo son sujetas a dos exorcismos por día. Honestamente, parece torturador para las mujeres, pero el horario riguroso también es conveniente para aquellos audios en vivo que buscan un espectáculo emocionante. Aquí es como algunos cuentos de testimonio describen la escena. Al principio de un exorcismo, una o más de las hermanas están atascadas en sillas o almohadas. En voces llorosas, los sacerdotes ordenan a los demonios en latín hasta que las caras de las madres se contornan

• 25:11Speaker 00

  y empiezan a hablar como los demonios, con nombres como Zabulón y Leviathan y Polución. La multitud observa, mesmerizada. Los testigos afirman que las madres se convierten en irreconocibles. Algunos insisten que han visto los ojos de una hermana cambiar de color mientras un demonio va y va. Las madres miran hacia la audiencia sin brillar. Tongas arruinadas, garras saliendo de sus labios. Empiezan a volar con violencia hasta que sus cabezas parecen tocar sus cintas y espinas mientras se deslizan hacia atrás y hacia adelante.

• 25:50Speaker 00

  Arcanan y giran en posiciones innaturales hasta que las almas de sus pies llegan hacia sus cabezas. Y las cosas que salen de esos labios de las madres, dicen, "utilizaron expresiones tan indecentes como para averiguar a los más desagradables de los hombres". Exponen sus cuerpos de maneras que habrían sorprendido a los miembros de la cama más baja del país. Y luego, los demonios se retiran. No se van para siempre, solo temporalmente hasta el próximo espectáculo, y las madres parecen despertarse como si fuera un sueño,

• 26:32Speaker 00

  afirmando que no tienen memoria de nada que ocurrió mientras el demonio estaba en cargo.

• 26:40Speaker 00

  Sounds like quite the show. But modern accounts have a few caveats to add to those reports. For example, the exorcists seem blown away when Jean, the mother superior, can converse in Latin, where they don't believe she would be fluent in the language like they are. Except, she comes from a well-educated family. She's been a Catholic nun for most of her adulthood. And when speaking as one of her seven demons, it doesn't sound like she is fluent. She barks out short phrases, often on repeat. Once a priest attempts to converse with a possessed Jean in Hebrew,

• 27:22Speaker 00

  he commands her demon to answer him in the same language. Why? Because the church believes that the ability to speak a language that she wouldn't normally know is hard proof of a demonic presence. Except Jean refuses the order, likely because she can't do it. Instead, she lashes out at the priest and makes indecent gestures. As for the pained looks and contortions, well, the young women could be caught up in a fervor of their own making. And the crowds are understandably shocked by what they're seeing. I mean, honestly, even now, a lot of us might be shocked to see a Catholic nun acting and talking this way, right?

• 28:07Speaker 00

  And this is 1633. William Friedkin's The Exorcist, depicting a similar case of possession, won't be out for another 340 years. The public has never seen anything like this in their lives. So the story everyone is being fed seems plausible to them. I do want to point out, though, not everybody buys the possession story, even at the time. A year earlier, one of the main exorcists addressed a crowd, saying he had heard a nasty rumor going around. Apparently, there was gossip that Father Urbain was innocent.

• 28:50Speaker 00

  He wasn't the one in league with the devil. It was all the exorcists and the nuns. They were the real witches, tricking everyone into persecuting an innocent man. Well, says the exorcist, if that's true, he prays to God in front of everyone to open up a big hole in the ground and swallow them all to hell. Which, obviously, didn't happen. But whether or not the town believes Urbain is guilty, his case still has to be brought to trial. And his trial is a doozy.

• 29:31Speaker 00

  Just before it all begins, Urbain finally meets his accusers face to face. In June of 1634, Le Barameau summons the priest from his prison. He wants Urbain to witness as nine of the nuns undergo the torment of an exorcism. Then, suddenly, one of the other priests makes a wild suggestion. They should force Urbain to carry out the exorcism. It's unclear what benefit this could possibly have, other than pure entertainment, but Urbain has no choice. When he steps up onto the stage, he asks the nuns and their so-called demons who really sent them. They all give his name.

• 30:14Speaker 00

  But it seems like Urbain is prepared to defend himself. He tries to break down their claims with logic. He says he doesn't believe any man has that kind of power, to which they respond, well, he's been a sorcerer for nine years. He's more powerful than any ordinary man. Next, he asks if he can conduct the rest of the exorcism in Greek, to see if the nuns can understand him. They should only be able to if they're truly possessed. Reportedly, a few of the nuns agree to his terms, but it's not unanimous, so his request is denied. Finally, Urbain challenges them.

• 30:57Speaker 00

  If you truly have the strength of multiple demons within you, I command you to rise up against me right now and strangle my neck. And the nuns reply that they can't. Well, they're inside a church, surrounded by exorcists. Essentially, they would love to strangle him, but their hands are tied. Actually, literally. The rest of the exorcism is cut short as the nuns fall into what's described as the most violent outburst they've ever had. All nine of them convulse, scream, they yell obscenities. They won't stop until Urbain is ushered away

• 31:39Speaker 00

  and sent back to his boarded-up room. The following month, his trial commences without him. For about six weeks, judges huddle together for hours a day, deciding on the fate of Urbain Grandier. And they have a lot to talk about. He's hit with the following charges: the crime of magic, enchantments, irreligion, impiety, sacrilege, and other offenses, and abominable crimes. Any supporters he had, no matter how powerful, can't help him anymore. The judges pass an edict, making it illegal

• 32:21Speaker 00

  to oppose all claims made by the nuns or the exorcists. Imagine you're on trial for a crime you didn't commit, and the jury is ordered to accept whatever the prosecution says. And that's the situation Urbain finds himself in. Judges hear from witnesses who testify to feeling seduced by Urbain. A woman in the street shook his hand and suddenly felt an unrelenting desire for the priest. Another made eye contact with him during communion and felt a jolt of lightning pass through her body. In none of these examples do they say that Urbain acted inappropriately.

• 33:02Speaker 00

  The point is clearly, this man is a seducer. Or maybe their town is short on attractive men with mustaches. If there is any evidence against Urbain, it's a piece of paper called a pact. This handwritten letter, addressed to a demon, appears to profess the author's loyalty to Satan. The judges say they have four of these pacts in Urbain's hand, signed by him. Now, of course, there is no real forensic analysis to back that up, like we might rely on today. And notably, the judges got these pacts from the nuns.

• 33:46Speaker 00

  They would produce these letters smeared with blood during their exorcisms. That blood is said to belong to Urbain. According to Jean, he'd cut himself on the thumb to seal his pact with Asmodeus. Doctors are sent straight away to examine Urbain's thumb. And lo and behold, they do find a scar, which Urbain insists was an accident. He was cutting a loaf of bread with a knife when it slipped. But the judges aren't so sure. They decide to search him for a devil's mark. And it's a lot like in a witchcraft trial,

• 34:26Speaker 00

  when a strange birthmark or wart was pointed to as proof of evil doing. Only in this case, Urbain is stuck with needles all over his body. According to the physicians present, they locate two areas that don't bleed when pricked, which, again, they take as proof that he's a sorcerer. Throughout most of the trial, Urbain is kept in his cell, with only the occasional report about how things are progressing. When he is questioned, all he can do is insist he's innocent. He sticks to his story, never confessing. But on August 18, 1634, they condemn him anyway.

• 35:09Speaker 00

  Urbain Grandier is found guilty of magic, evil spells, and possession. His execution is to be carried out immediately. Anyone who truly believes he's behind the possessions must be relieved, or justice is served. And perhaps the nuns' lives and the entire town of Luton can return to normal. But according to some theories, some people have known all along that Urbain is innocent. And they may have even orchestrated Luton's long descent into madness, all to settle personal grudges against a priest who refused to conform.

• 35:50Speaker 00

  And now, they're about to burn him at the stake.

• 35:55Speaker 06

  Kayak searches and compares hundreds of travel sites. But unless I repeat the word kayak, Kayak thinks you won't remember that. So Kayak asked me to say kayak as many times as possible. Kayak! Kayak. Kayak. Kayak. Kayak, kayak, kayak. Kayak! Search and compare travel deals with Kayak. Got that right.

• 36:16Speaker 02

  Stonefire Knon is made with real buttermilk and ghee. It's the perfect flatbread for any occasion.

• 36:21Speaker 03

  I put out Stonefire Knon with dips at every dinner party.

• 36:24Speaker 02

  I make Knon grilled cheese when my daughter has friends over.

• 36:27Speaker 04

  I use Stonefire Knon to reward the humans who do my bidding.

• 36:31Speaker 03

  Right, it's perfect for camping trips.

• 36:34Speaker 04

  Dance for it, feeble mortal.

• 36:36Speaker 03

  Sorry, is he talking to me, or?

• 36:38Speaker 04

  Dance, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

• 36:41Speaker 02

  From our tradition to yours, Stonefire.

• 36:44Speaker 04

  Together we Knon.

• 36:47Speaker 00

  It’s the morning of August 18th, 1634, and Father Urbain Grandier has just been sentenced to death. He’s to be burned at the stake. Before that happens, Urbain is asked to name his accomplices. And that line of questioning is common practice at this time, once a crime has been established. It’s also common practice to inflict torture when Urbain refuses to name anyone. Both of his legs are placed into a device known as a boot, and, long story short, his bones are crushed. He’s then taken to the public square, where thousands watch as he’s tied up and burned alive.

• 37:30Speaker 00

  Urbain never does confess to sorcery. Before his execution, he was told that confessing would earn him a swifter and less painful death, but still, he refused. Though he did say he was guilty of other things, things he said were worse than evil magic or bewitching nuns. Those past deeds he alluded to may be at the crux of the main conspiracy theory surrounding the possessions of Loudun. Let’s rewind a bit, back to the early days when the nuns first claimed to be possessed, when Jean begins exhibiting all of that very un-nun-like behavior.

• 38:14Speaker 00

  And reportedly, not everybody is quick to buy the story Jean and the Exorcists are selling. When church officials first decide to bring the matter to someone outside the church, they pay a visit to the chief magistrate of Loudun. He hears these claims of demons and nightly apparitions, and agrees to go see an exorcism for himself. At the Ursuline convent, he’s brought into a room with seven beds lined up in a row. Jean is bound to one of them. As the magistrate watches the exorcism unfold, he concludes:

• 38:54Speaker 00

  “This is all fake. There is no demonic possession. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but whatever it is, needs to end. Except, when he voices his concerns, nobody will listen. The clergy don’t really have to. At the end of the day, the exorcisms are a church matter. They have an order to carry them out, signed by the bishop.” The magistrate is far from the only one who thinks people, not demons, are the true driving force behind the possessions. Especially now, nearly 400 years later. Clearly, there was human error involved, but the question is, at what point did that

• 39:38Speaker 00

  error occur? Maybe it was a case of mass hysteria? Or maybe certain key players knew the possessions weren’t real? One person who subscribes to that theory is Aldous Huxley. You may know him as the author of Brave New World. Well, in 1952, he publishes his book on this case titled “The Devils of Loudun.” While the book is classified as non-fiction, the details of Huxley’s book appear to be creatively assembled, so much so that the work goes on to inspire Ken Russell’s

• 40:17Speaker 00

  1971 film, The Devils, which earns an NC-17 rating and is either heavily edited or banned in several countries. At any rate, Huxley’s version is based on solid research. He uses firsthand accounts and official documents, and he draws these conclusions: One, Jean, the Mother Superior, has it out for Urbain Grandier from the start? And two, separately, Urbain’s enemies use Jean and the other nuns as a tool to ruin a man who they view as a blight on their community.

• 40:58Speaker 00

  Here’s the case Huxley builds to explain why they all want revenge on Urbain. Father Grandier moved to Loudun at the age of 27. This is about 15 years before the possessions began. At first, he seems like a good fit as the new parish priest in town. He’s witty, well-read. In the morning, he can deliver a rousing sermon, and at night, he’s a beguiling conversationalist. Right away, he befriends the governor. According to Huxley, that’s when some of the more well-established families begin to see him as a threat. Urbain is an outsider, and he thinks like an outsider too. There’s the fact that he’s chummy with the Protestants, and some of the clergy

• 41:41Speaker 00

  aren’t too impressed by Urbain’s progressive politics. Especially when it comes to sex. Long before his treatise against celibacy is discovered in his home, he’s already gaining a reputation. People say he frequents the homes of widows around town too often, or that he seduces young women. Townsfolk spread gossip that he sleeps with his congregants inside the church, and they hate him for this. To Huxley’s point, when Urbain is burned at the stake, his treatise is thrown on the pyre with him, right next to the pacts he supposedly signed with the demons.

• 42:26Speaker 00

  Over the years, Urbain’s reputation gets worse. Turns out, not all the stories about him are hearsay. As a matter of record, one of his known relationships is with a young woman named Philippe Trincan. Huxley asserts that Urbain gets her pregnant, at which point he wants nothing more to do with her. To avoid bringing shame to herself and her family, Philippe has no choice but to hide the pregnancy and give her child up for adoption. But a select few know exactly who’s to blame. A more public scandal follows when he pursues another young woman, Madeleine. After losing both of her parents, she’s been considering taking her vows and becoming a nun.

• 43:09Speaker 00

  Huxley says that Madeleine is entrusted to the care of Father Urbain, but instead of becoming her spiritual guide, he becomes her lover. Needless to say, Urbain has earned himself a few enemies. Powerful enemies. I mean, no matter what version of the story you believe, there are plenty of people who don’t like his style, who take offense to his philosophy, or who are just plain jealous. On top of that, it seems like he’s been careless about breaking hearts across town. For example, Philippe, the woman who got pregnant, Huxley states that her father is

• 43:50Speaker 00

  the king’s prosecutor in Loudun, and Madeleine’s dad was a counselor to the king. Now both of their families loathe him, as do all of their powerful allies. Huxley also points out that the Ursuline convent is filled with the unwed daughters of the town’s nobleman, who certainly would have heard all of these stories about the controversial priest. In December of 1629, about three years before the possessions, Urbain is imprisoned on charges of incontinency, which doesn’t mean what you think it means.

• 44:29Speaker 00

  In Urbain’s time, the word refers to his inability to control his sexual appetite. From prison, he calls in favors from any friend willing to help. He also writes to the bishop, begging for clemency. He says in effect, “All of my enemies want me dead, but that only makes him want to serve them more. P.S. Please let me out of prison.” After several appeals, he’s set free, which only angers his enemies more. They wonder if he somehow persuaded or even paid off witnesses to change their testimony. What’s more, he doesn’t have to pay for his crimes of morality.

• 45:10Speaker 00

  But there is one other small moment, one that probably seemed insignificant to Urbain at the time, that places a target squarely on his back. Sometime before the possessions take hold, the Ursuline convent is on the lookout for a new chaplain. Remember, their old one has just died. And one of the names put forth to replace him is Urbain Grandier. Different sources offer different versions of the story, but Aldous Huxley has Jean de Zange herself writing to offer him the job. Whoever makes the offer, Urbain turns it down politely, of course. And this is the closest he ever gets to interacting with Jean before she accuses him of sorcery.

• 45:55Speaker 00

  Now, Huxley suggests this ignites Jean’s fury. She’s angry at being rejected, because, according to the author, she’s obsessed with Father Urbain. Jean lives an incredibly sheltered and routine life. She’s a nun. Every day, it’s the same tasks at the same times, over and over. And the hardest part of the day, according to her, is getting through those long stretches of prayer time. There’s a part of her that knows, someday, she will leave the convent life.

• 46:38Speaker 00

  She doesn’t want to live like this forever. For now, she tries to take on every odd job she can, anything to keep her mind occupied. If Huxley’s account is right, when Jean’s mind is idle, her thoughts always turn to Urbain. The timing of the plague of 1632 makes matters worse. Jean spends months even more sequestered than she would normally be, so the fact that her visions and claims of possession happen at the tail end of the plague does seem a little suspicious. She’s been on lockdown.

• 47:18Speaker 00

  I think we all remember how 2020 went. It would be no surprise if Jeanne's mental health suffered a bit if her obsession with Urbain deepened. So, one theory is that Jeanne has personal reasons for targeting Urbain. She was in love with the idea of him, and he turned down her invitation. But what about all the priests, the exorcists who took her at her word? Well, they may have had their own reasons, totally separate from Jeanne's, to want revenge on Urbain. Take Father Mignot, for example. After Urbain turns down the job as the nun's chaplain, Mignot steps in.

• 47:58Speaker 00

  According to Huxley, Mignot happens to be the cousin of Felipe, the woman Urbain impregnated and then left high and dry. So, the author suggests, perhaps Mignot hears the accusations against Urbain and seizes the opportunity. Or maybe, just maybe, his subterfuge began before that. It's Mignot's job to take the nun's confessions. Inside the walls of this convent, he knows everything. So, he could have even been the one to suggest that those dreams, those temptations, weren't dreams at all. They were the work of the devil. He could have implanted the idea in Jeanne's mind.

• 48:43Speaker 00

  In Huxley's version of events, Mignot actually gathers Urbain's detractors together in a room, and they conspire then and there to use this bizarre situation to their advantage. They can pin it all on Urbain. If he's ultimately acquitted, his reputation will be beyond repair, he'll be excommunicated, and if he's found guilty and burned at the stake, hey, well, so be it. If this theory is true, Mignot starts by carefully building the first team of exorcists. He chooses a well-respected priest to add credibility. He picks another who sees the devil everywhere, in everything.

• 49:27Speaker 00

  He'll believe Jeanne's story for sure. Even when Mignot eventually drops out of the exorcisms, the ball is already rolling. Now, Huxley's allegations are not really a matter of record, but there is documentation suggesting this whole story wasn't so cut and dry. And that involves the autobiographical writings of Jeanne de Jeange, the Mother Superior herself. Okay, so, after Urbain is executed, the nuns are still not cured of their possessions, which is kind of surprising, right? Jeanne's exorcisms will go on until 1636, but, well, she at least gets to stop performing publicly.

• 50:10Speaker 00

  A new exorcist enters the ring after Urbain is out of the picture. He's a monk and a mystic named Jean Joseph Serran. He believes in a more calming approach, which apparently works. According to Jeanne, Serran succeeds in banishing the last of her demons. As it leaves her body, Jeanne's hand is reportedly marked by four names: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and a saint called Father Sales. These appear in red script, and they never go away. Well, it's believed to be a divine mark. Jeanne's celebrity grows even more.

• 50:53Speaker 00

  She goes on a tour around the country, showing off her hand, and then she writes a memoir. Jeanne claims she always believed the possessions were real, but the way she talks about them is interesting. It's almost as if she views the possessions as teamwork, a dual effort between her and her demons. She puts it like this, quote, "In most cases, I saw quite clearly that I was the prime cause of my turmoil, and that the demon only acted according to the openings I gave him."

• 51:35Speaker 00

  Jeanne describes how she relished being the sister with the most demons. She got a kick out of having the biggest outbursts, almost like it was a competition. Furthermore, Jeanne always seemed to understand what the exorcists and her live audience expected from her. She knew that they longed to see her manifest the very evil they claimed to condemn. Last, but not least, she also mentions "an enjoyable little feeling she experienced when she was agitated," which seems to bolster the theory that Jeanne's sexual repression

• 52:19Speaker 00

  was a main cause of what happened in Luton. But to her, at the end of the day, all of these thoughts were the work of the devil. Well, that is, after all, what her exorcists told her. When Jeanne went to them and confessed her doubts, they insisted the demons were making her think that way. Urbain was making her think that way. As her job demanded, she took them at their word. Because every era needs a boogeyman to blame.

• 52:57Speaker 00

  Thank you for listening to Conspiracy Theories. We're here with a new episode every Wednesday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram, at The Conspiracy Pod. If you're watching on Spotify, swipe up and give us your thoughts. Our sources for today's episode include Michel de Surtos' The Possession at Luton, translated by Michael B. Smith, The History of the Devils of Luton, translated by Edmund Goldsmith, and Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Luton. Until next time, remember, the truth isn't always the best story. And the official story isn't always the truth.

• 53:39Speaker 00

  This episode was written and researched by Mickey Taylor, edited by Justin Sales, fact-checked by Sophie Kemp, and engineered, video-edited, and sound-designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Carter Roy.

• 54:07Speaker 02

  Stonefire Naan is made with real buttermilk and ghee. It's the perfect flatbread for any occasion.

• 54:13Speaker 03

  I put out Stonefire Naan with dips at every dinner party.

• 54:16Speaker 02

  I make Naan grilled cheese when my daughter has friends over.

• 54:19Speaker 04

  I use Stonefire Naan to reward the humans who do my bidding.

• 54:23Speaker 03

  Right. It's perfect for camping trips.

• 54:26Speaker 04

  Dance for it, feeble mortal.

• 54:28Speaker 03

  Sorry, is he talking to me or?

• 54:30Speaker 04

  Dance. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. From our tradition to yours, Stonefire. Together we Naan.

• 54:39Speaker 05

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