- 14 - reason. If I was to write down anything at all, I had to write down everything; hence, I related openly and unreservedly how I acted and thought. By so doing, I could await any outcome with perfect confidence, and if I had made a mistake, or misunderstood, or engaged in self-deception, then my authority would know this or be able to judge accordingly. I am not willing to take a dumbly stubborn stand, such as is adopted today by many erroneous schools of thought and demonic clergy, for people who have been misled secretly brood over many things, and allow no one a look into their secrets who is not wholly committed to their side. I wanted my case to be brought out into the open light and judged in the open light, but, mind you, only as something on the order of a secret of the confessional and only towards my superiors. In them I would confide, and, for the present, in nobody else. I have kept my word.” In Blumhardt’s parish there lived a poor family named Dittus, consisting of three sisters and two brothers. One of the sisters was called Gottliebin and was 25 years of age. In the spring of 1840 this family had moved into the ground floor of a sparse house in Möttlingen, Blumhardt’s parish. It was not long before Gottliebin Dittus thought that she was experiencing inexplicable happenings. She had the sensation of hearing and seeing uncanny things about the house. Indeed, on the very first day on which they had moved in, she had, while saying grace at the table, been seized with an attack that caused her to fall to the floor, senseless. Often, also, there were constantly recurring sounds of banging and shuffling in the bedroom, the sitting room and the kitchen. This terrified the Dittus family as well as the people who occupied the upper story, but no one had the courage to speak of the matter. Gottliebin felt that her hands were laid forcibly over one other during the night. She saw figures and lights. Only occasional rumours of these matters reached the clergyman, Blumhardt, who paid no further attention to them. This spookiness had been going on for more than two years, when relatives of the girl called Blumhardt’s attention to her pitiful condition and asked for his help. In the meantime, the din in the house had become so terrible that it could be heard for some distance throughout the neighbourhood, just as if laborers were working on the house. Gottliebin had particularly frequent visions of a Möttlingen woman who had died two years previously and who appeared carrying a dead child in her arms. This woman, whose name Gottliebin at first did not mention, always stood in the same place by her bed, occasionally moved toward her and kept repeating the words: “I want rest.” or: “Give me paper, and I will not come anymore!” Blumhardt made arrangements to have a woman friend sleep with Gottliebin, in order to divert her mind from these matters, but the friend also heard the nightly din. Both of them saw a light flare up; following the direction from which it came, they found, under a board, a sooty sheet of paper with illegible writing on it. Beside it lay three crown talers and several other papers, also covered with soot on the inside. From that time on it was quiet in the house, and Blumhardt had begun to believe that the ghost story was over. However, after two weeks the din began again, and increased from day to day. Dr. Späth, a physician to whom Gottliebin had confided everything, spent two nights in her room in the company of several other persons. What he experienced there exceeded all his expectations. The stir caused by these events spread rapidly, drawing the curious from far and near, as is always the case when people are looking for a sensational experience, especially in matters of this nature. Blumhardt resolved to put an end to the scandal and to take drastic measures. He chose six of the most serious minded and trustworthy men of his parish to assist him in investigating the occurrences.
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