Before the Age of Enlightenment, Europe was a hotbed of bizarre paranormal belief—demons, ghosts, witches, vampires, and more. Even learned judges and priests took these reports seriously, debating and investigating the uncanny “true” stories that have survived to this day.
10 The Haunted Apple Of Annecy
In 1585 a mysterious apple hovered above a bridge in Annecy, southeastern France. For two hours the fruit floated in the air, emitting a deafening clamor that terrified anyone attempting to cross. Finally a braver traveler armed with a stick struck the apple, sending it plunging into the water beneath the bridge. The cacophony ceased, and the bridge returned to normal. Judge Henri Boguet later declared, “It cannot be doubted that this apple was full of devils and that a witch had been foiled in an attempt to give it to someone.”
Bizarre Paranormal Encounters in Old Europe
The stories that follow illustrate how deeply these eerie phenomena were woven into everyday life across the continent.
9 The Shoemaker Of Breslau
In September 1591 a Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) shoemaker slit his throat and died. Weeks after his burial, townspeople reported his phantom appearing in their homes at night, crushing sleepers with his weight and assaulting them. In April 1592 officials exhumed his corpse, only to find it astonishingly unrotted. The body was displayed for six days before being reburied elsewhere. When attacks resumed, the corpse was unearthed a final time on May 7; its head, limbs, and heart were removed, the remains set ablaze, and the ashes scattered into a river. The terror finally ended.
8 The Gandillion Werewolf Family
In 1598 a brother and sister in eastern France were attacked by a wolf bearing a human face. When peasants pursued the beast, they discovered a girl named Perrenette Gandillion, bloodstained, and killed her on the spot. Rumors already linked her family to the Devil. After her death, her brother Pierre, sister Antoinette, and nephew Georges were accused of werewolf shapeshifting. Pierre claimed he turned into a wolf when wearing wolf skin; Georges blamed an ointment. Judge Henri Boguet, who had condemned over 600 alleged witches, presided and, convinced the Gandillons were werewolves, ordered them burned at the stake.
7 Lady Fanshawe’s Banshee Encounter
In 1642 English memoirist Lady Fanshawe and her husband Sir Richard stayed at a friend’s ancestral castle in Ireland. One night Lady Fanshawe awoke to a piercing scream. Turning toward the window she saw a woman staring at her and shrieking repeatedly before vanishing. In the morning the host explained that a family member had died the night before; the banshee appeared whenever someone in the lineage passed away. The specter was said to be the drowned wife of a distant ancestor, who had been killed for her lowly origins.
6 The Resurrected Boy Of Dalheim
Medieval folklore held that demons could reanimate corpses by filling them with air or other substances. In 1581 Dalheim, Luxembourg, a succubus persuaded a man to murder his own son. Grief‑stricken, the man was offered a bargain: the succubus would revive his child if he pledged love to her. Using her magic, the boy returned to life and lived normally for a year. Then he fell ill, collapsed, and became a corpse once more. It turned out the resurrection was an illusion—the boy’s body was an empty automaton kept alive by the succubus’s limited powers.
5 The Airship Visitors Of Lyon
Early in the ninth century, three men and a woman allegedly descended from “aerial ships” onto the streets of Lyon. An angry mob accused the strangers of being malevolent magicians intent on ruining crops. The visitors claimed they were ordinary citizens abducted by sorcerers and taken to a sky realm called Magonia. Bishop Agobard intervened, dismissing their tale as fantasy. His authority quelled the crowd, and the strangers left unharmed. Modern UFO researchers sometimes cite the episode as pre‑modern alien contact.
4 The Toad Of Flanders
Around 1595 a father and his son were drinking at a tavern near Flanders when they quarreled with a waitress over the price of their drinks. As they left, the waitress warned them they would not reach home that day. When they later reached the riverbank, their boat would not move, even with soldiers’ help. A toad inside the boat was spotted; the soldiers hacked at it with swords and threw it into the river. Instantly the boat slipped free. In gratitude, the father took the soldiers to the tavern for a drink, only to learn that the same waitress had suddenly fallen gravely ill. She died that day, her neck and stomach cut open in the exact spots where the toad had been struck.
3 The Chained Ghost Of Bologna
In the mid‑16th century, Spanish law student Vasquez de Ayola and two friends searched for lodging in Bologna, Italy. They settled in a large, abandoned house rumored to be haunted. One night, while his friends slept, Ayola heard chains rattling outside his room. Investigating, he found a skeletal ghost bound in chains standing by a staircase. The apparition led him to a specific spot in the courtyard garden, then vanished. The next day authorities excavated the location and uncovered a skeleton shackled in chains. The remains were never identified, and the chained ghost was never seen again.
2 The Berkeley Witch Abduction
In the early 12th century, monk William of Malmesbury recorded a dying woman in Berkeley, England, who confessed to her children that she had been a slave of the Devil and a witch. She begged to be interred in a stone coffin wrapped in iron chains so demons could not steal her body. The church agreed to guard the coffin for three nights before burial. On the third night a demon ripped open the church’s front door, approached the coffin, tore it open, and dragged the woman’s body onto a black horse fitted with iron barbs. The horse carried her away into the night.
1 The Vrykolakas Of Mykonos
In 1700 French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort visited Mykonos and learned of a dead peasant who repeatedly rose at night. After being murdered while working the fields, the man became a vrykolakas—an undead creature akin to Eastern European vampires. Initially harmless, the vrykolakas would turn furniture upside down and hug people from behind. Annoyed, islanders dug up the corpse and removed its heart, yet the creature persisted, beating locals, smashing roofs, and stealing alcohol. Some fled, while others attacked the grave with swords during daylight. Eventually authorities moved the body to nearby Saint George’s Island, where it was burned and destroyed.
Further Reading
Mysteries and the paranormal have featured frequently over the years. Here are some more of our best articles on the subject:
Top 10 Bizarre Modern Paranormal Phenomena
10 Disturbing Tales Of Doppelgangers
Top 10 Famous Real Ghosts
And sometimes the paranormal turns out to be not quite as preternatural as first thought:
10 Famous Photos Of The Paranormal That Aren’t
10 Scientific Explanations For Ghost Phenomena
Top 10 Prophecies of Nostradamus Debunked
Top 10 Psychic Debunkings
Tristan Shaw runs a blog called Bizarre and Grotesque, where he writes about unsolved crimes, paranormal phenomena, and other weird and creepy things.