| Description Of Item | Clipped article from the Observer in a scrapbook from the collection of John Ritchie relating to Marie Mesmin and the attack on Abbé (abbot) Jean Charles Alfred Desnoyers of Bombon for practicing witchcraft and inflicting misfortunes upon members of Mesmin’s religious association. The article explores Mesmin’s life, and cites a prior attack perpetrated by members of her cult on a Syrian prelate Monsignor Sapounghi. The author draws connections between this instance of belief in the continued practice of witchcraft with a story in Uttenheim where a local police officer shot a boy who was alleged to have been haunted by animals with human faces. Further discussion of this story is found in DEP/RIJ/8/71-74 |