The Horla, or Modern Ghosts say that the air, the invisible air is full of unknowable

Forces, whose mysterious presence we have to

By Guy De Maupassant endure. I wake up in the best spirits, with an
inclination to sing in my throat. Why? I go down by
May 8th. What a lovely day! I have spent all the the side of the water, and suddenly, after walking a
morning lying in the grass in front of my house, short distance, I return home wretched, as if some
under the enormous plantain tree which covers it, and misfortune were awaiting me there. Why? Is it a cold
shades and shelters the whole of it. I like this part of shiver which, passing over my skin, has upset my
the country and I am fond of living here because I am nerves and given me low spirits? Is it the form of the
attached to it by deep roots, profound and delicate clouds, or the color of the sky, or the color of the
roots which attach a man to the soil on which his surrounding objects which is so changeable, which
ancestors were born and died, which attach him to have troubled my thoughts as they passed before my
what people think and what they eat, to the usages as eyes? Who can tell? Everything that surrounds us,
well as to the food, local expressions, the peculiar everything that we see without looking at it,
language of the peasants, to the smell of the soil, of everything that we touch without knowing it,
the villages and of the atmosphere itself. everything that we handle without feeling it, all that
we meet without clearly distinguishing it, has a rapid,
I love my house in which I grew up. From my surprising and inexplicable effect upon us and upon
windows I can see the Seine which flows by the side our organs, and through them on our ideas and on our
of my garden, on the other side of the road, almost heart itself.
through my grounds, the great and wide Seine, which
goes to Rouen and Havre, and which is covered with How profound that mystery of the Invisible is! We
boats passing to and fro. cannot fathom it with our miserable senses, with our
eyes which are unable to perceive what is either too
On the left, down yonder, lies Rouen, that large town small or too great, too near to, or too far from us;
with its blue roofs, under its pointed Gothic towers. neither the inhabitants of a star nor of a drop of water
They are innumerable, delicate or broad, dominated ... with our ears that deceive us, for they transmit to
by the spire of the cathedral, and full of bells which us the vibrations of the air in sonorous notes. They
sound through the blue air on fine mornings, sending are fairies who work the miracle of changing that
their sweet and distant iron clang to me; their metallic movement into noise, and by that metamorphosis
sound which the breeze wafts in my direction, now give birth to music, which makes the mute agitation
stronger and now weaker, according as the wind is of nature musical ... with our sense of smell which is
stronger or lighter. smaller than that of a dog ... with our sense of taste
which can scarcely distinguish the age of a wine!
What a delicious morning it was!
Oh! If we only had other organs which would work
About eleven o'clock, a long line of boats drawn by a other miracles in our favor, what a number of fresh
steam tug, as big as a fly, and which scarcely puffed things we might discover around us!
while emitting its thick smoke, passed my gate.
May 16th. I am ill, decidedly! I was so well last
After two English schooners, whose red flag fluttered month! I am feverish, horribly feverish, or rather I am
toward the sky, there came a magnificent Brazilian in a state of feverish enervation, which makes my
three-master; it was perfectly white and wonderfully mind suffer as much as my body. I have without
clean and shining. I saluted it, I hardly know why, ceasing that horrible sensation of some danger
except that the sight of the vessel gave me great threatening me, that apprehension of some coming
pleasure. misfortune or of approaching death, that presentiment
which is, no doubt, an attack of some illness which is
May 12th. I have had a slight feverish attack for the still unknown, which germinates in the flesh and in
last few days, and I feel ill, or rather I feel low- the blood.
spirited.
May 18th. I have just come from consulting my
Whence do these mysterious influences come, which medical man, for I could no longer get any sleep. He
change our happiness into discouragement, and our found that my pulse was high, my eyes dilated, my
self-confidence into diffidence? One might almost nerves highly strung, but no alarming symptoms. I

1
must have a course of shower-baths and of bromide And then, suddenly, I wake up, shaken and bathed in
of potassium. perspiration; I light a candle and find that I am alone,
and after that crisis, which occurs every night, I at
May 25th. No change! My state is really very length fall asleep and slumber tranquilly till morning.
peculiar. As the evening comes on, an
incomprehensible feeling of disquietude seizes me, June 2d. My state has grown worse. What is the
just as if night concealed some terrible menace matter with me? The bromide does me no good, and
toward me. I dine quickly, and then try to read, but I the shower-baths have no effect whatever.
do not understand the words, and can scarcely Sometimes, in order to tire myself out, though I am
distinguish the letters. Then I walk up and down my fatigued enough already, I go for a walk in the forest
drawing-room, oppressed by a feeling of confused of Roumare. I used to think at first that the fresh light
and irresistible fear, the fear of sleep and fear of my and soft air, impregnated with the odor of herbs and
bed. leaves, would instill new blood into my veins and
impart fresh energy to my heart. I turned into a broad
About ten o'clock I go up to my room. As soon as I ride in the wood, and then I turned toward La
have got in I double lock, and bolt it: I am frightened- Bouille, through a narrow path, between two rows of
-of what? Up till the present time I have been exceedingly tall trees, which placed a thick, green,
frightened of nothing--I open my cupboards, and look almost black roof between the sky and me.
under my bed; I listen--I listen--to what? How
strange it is that a simple feeling of discomfort, A sudden shiver ran through me, not a cold shiver,
impeded or heightened circulation, perhaps the but a shiver of agony, and so I hastened my steps,
irritation of a nervous thread, a slight congestion, a uneasy at being alone in the wood, frightened
small disturbance in the imperfect and delicate stupidly and without reason, at the profound solitude.
functions of our living machinery, can turn the most Suddenly it seemed to me as if I were being followed,
lighthearted of men into a melancholy one, and make that somebody was walking at my heels, close, quite
a coward of the bravest! Then, I go to bed, and I wait close to me, near enough to touch me.
for sleep as a man might wait for the executioner. I
wait for its coming with dread, and my heart beats I turned round suddenly, but I was alone. I saw
and my legs tremble, while my whole body shivers nothing behind me except the straight, broad ride,
beneath the warmth of the bedclothes, until the empty and bordered by high trees, horribly empty; on
moment when I suddenly fall asleep, as one would the other side it also extended until it was lost in the
throw oneself into a pool of stagnant water in order to distance, and looked just the same, terrible.
drown oneself. I do not feel coming over me, as I
used to do formerly, this perfidious sleep which is I closed my eyes. Why? And then I began to turn
close to me and watching me, which is going to seize round on one heel very quickly, just like a top. I
me by the head, to close my eyes and annihilate me. nearly fell down, and opened my eyes; the trees were
dancing round me and the earth heaved; I was
I sleep--a long time--two or three hours perhaps--then obliged to sit down. Then, ah! I no longer
a dream--no--a nightmare lays hold on me. I feel that remembered how I had come! What a strange idea!
I am in bed and asleep--I feel it and I know it--and I What a strange, strange idea! I did not the least know.
feel also that somebody is coming close to me, is I started off to the right, and got back into the avenue
looking at me, touching me, is getting on to my bed, which had led me into the middle of the forest.
is kneeling on my chest, is taking my neck between
his hands and squeezing it--squeezing it with all his June 3d. I have had a terrible night. I shall go away
might in order to strangle me. for a few weeks, for no doubt a journey will set me
up again.
I struggle, bound by that terrible powerlessness
which paralyzes us in our dreams; I try to cry out-- July 2d. I have come back, quite cured, and have had
but I cannot; I want to move--I cannot; I try, with the a most delightful trip into the bargain. I have been to
most violent efforts and out of breath, to turn over Mont Saint-Michel, which I had not seen before.
and throw off this being which is crushing and
suffocating me--I cannot! What a sight, when one arrives as I did, at Avranches
toward the end of the day! The town stands on a hill,
and I was taken into the public garden at the

2
extremity of the town. I uttered a cry of astonishment. is guiding and walking before them, a he-goat with a
An extraordinarily large bay lay extended before me, man's face, and a she-goat with a woman's face, and
as far as my eyes could reach, between two hills both of them with white hair; and talking incessantly,
which were lost to sight in the mist; and in the middle quarreling in a strange language, and then suddenly
of this immense yellow bay, under a clear, golden ceasing to talk in order to bleat with all their might.
sky, a peculiar hill rose up, somber and pointed in the
midst of the sand. The sun had just disappeared, and "Do you believe it?" I asked the monk. "I scarcely
under the still flaming sky the outline of that fantastic know," he replied, and I continued: "If there are other
rock stood out, which bears on its summit a fantastic beings besides ourselves on this earth, how comes it
monument. that we have not known it for so long a time, or why
have you not seen them? How is it that I have not
At daybreak I went to it. The tide was low as it had seen them?" He replied: "Do we see the hundred
been the night before, and I saw that wonderful abbey thousandth part of what exists? Look here; there is
rise up before me as I approached it. After several the wind, which is the strongest force in nature,
hours' walking, I reached the enormous mass of rocks which knocks down men, and blows down buildings,
which supports the little town, dominated by the great uproots trees, raises the sea into mountains of water,
church. Having climbed the steep and narrow street, I destroys cliffs and casts great ships onto the breakers;
entered the most wonderful Gothic building that has the wind which kills, which whistles, which sighs,
ever been built to God on earth, as large as a town, which roars--have you ever seen it, and can you see
full of low rooms which seem buried beneath vaulted it? It exists for all that, however."
roofs, and lofty galleries supported by delicate
columns. I was silent before this simple reasoning. That man
was a philosopher, or perhaps a fool; I could not say
I entered this gigantic granite jewel which is as light which exactly, so I held my tongue. What he had
as a bit of lace, covered with towers, with slender said, had often been in my own thoughts.
belfries to which spiral staircases ascend, and which
raise their strange heads that bristle with chimeras, July 3d. I have slept badly; certainly there is some
with devils, with fantastic animals, with monstrous feverish influence here, for my coachman is suffering
flowers, and which are joined together by finely in the same way as I am. When I went back home
carved arches, to the blue sky by day, and to the yesterday, I noticed his singular paleness, and I asked
black sky by night. him: "What is the matter with you, Jean?" "The
matter is that I never get any rest, and my nights
When I had reached the summit, I said to the monk devour my days. Since your departure, monsieur,
who accompanied me: "Father, how happy you must there has been a spell over me."
be here!" And he replied: "It is very windy,
Monsieur;" and so we began to talk while watching However, the other servants are all well, but I am
the rising tide, which ran over the sand and covered it very frightened of having another attack, myself.
with a steel cuirass.
July 4th. I am decidedly taken again; for my old
And then the monk told me stories, all the old stories nightmares have returned. Last night I felt somebody
belonging to the place, legends, nothing but legends. leaning on me who was sucking my life from
between my lips with his mouth. Yes, he was sucking
One of them struck me forcibly. The country people, it out of my neck, like a leech would have done. Then
those belonging to the Mornet, declare that at night he got up, satiated, and I woke up, so beaten, crushed
one can hear talking going on in the sand, and then and annihilated that I could not move. If this
that one hears two goats bleat, one with a strong, the continues for a few days, I shall certainly go away
other with a weak voice. Incredulous people declare again.
that it is nothing but the cry of the sea birds, which
occasionally resembles bleatings, and occasionally July 5th. Have I lost my reason? What has happened,
human lamentations; but belated fishermen swear what I saw last night, is so strange, that my head
that they have met an old shepherd, whose head, wanders when I think of it!
which is covered by his cloak, they can never see,
wandering on the downs, between two tides, round As I do now every evening, I had locked my door,
the little town placed so far out of the world, and who and then, being thirsty, I drank half a glass of water,

3
and I accidentally noticed that the water bottle was
full up to the cut-glass stopper. On July 6th, before going to bed, I put some wine,
milk, water, bread and strawberries on my table.
Then I went to bed and fell into one of my terrible Somebody drank--I drank--all the water and a little of
sleeps, from which I was aroused in about two hours the milk, but neither the wine, bread nor the
by a still more terrible shock. strawberries were touched.

Picture to yourself a sleeping man who is being On the seventh of July I renewed the same
murdered and who wakes up with a knife in his chest, experiment, with the same results, and on July 8th, I
and who is rattling in his throat, covered with blood, left out the water and the milk and nothing was
and who can no longer breathe, and is going to die, touched.
and does not understand anything at all about it--
there it is. Lastly, on July 9th I put only water and milk on my
table, taking care to wrap up the bottles in white
Having recovered my senses, I was thirsty again, so I muslin and to tie down the stoppers. Then I rubbed
lit a candle and went to the table on which my water my lips, my beard and my hands with pencil lead,
bottle was. I lifted it up and tilted it over my glass, and went to bed.
but nothing came out. It was empty! It was
completely empty! At first I could not understand it Irresistible sleep seized me, which was soon followed
at all, and then suddenly I was seized by such a by a terrible awakening. I had not moved, and my
terrible feeling that I had to sit down, or rather I fell sheets were not marked. I rushed to the table. The
into a chair! Then I sprang up with a bound to look muslin round the bottles remained intact; I undid the
about me, and then I sat down again, overcome by string, trembling with fear. All the water had been
astonishment and fear, in front of the transparent drunk, and so had the milk! Ah! Great God!--
crystal bottle! I looked at it with fixed eyes, trying to
conjecture, and my hands trembled! Somebody had I must start for Paris immediately.
drunk the water, but who? I? I without any doubt. It
could surely only be I? In that case I was a July 12th. Paris. I must have lost my head during the
somnambulist. I lived, without knowing it, that last few days! I must be the plaything of my
double mysterious life which makes us doubt whether enervated imagination, unless I am really a
there are not two beings in us, or whether a strange, somnambulist, or that I have been brought under the
unknowable and invisible being does not at such power of one of those influences which have been
moments, when our soul is in a state of torpor, proved to exist, but which have hitherto been
animate our captive body which obeys this other inexplicable, which are called suggestions. In any
being, as it does us ourselves, and more than it does case, my mental state bordered on madness, and
ourselves. twenty-four hours of Paris sufficed to restore me to
my equilibrium.
Oh! Who will understand my horrible agony? Who
will understand the emotion of a man who is sound in Yesterday after doing some business and paying
mind, wide awake, full of sound sense, and who some visits which instilled fresh and invigorating
looks in horror at the remains of a little water that has mental air into me, I wound up my evening at the
disappeared while he was asleep, through the glass of Theatre Francais . A play by Alexandre Dumas the
a water bottle? And I remained there until it was Younger was being acted, and his active and
daylight, without venturing to go to bed again. powerful mind completed my cure. Certainly solitude
is dangerous for active minds. We require men who
July 6th. I am going mad. Again all the contents of can think and can talk, around us. When we are alone
my water bottle have been drunk during the night--or for a long time we people space with phantoms.
rather, I have drunk it!
I returned along the boulevards to my hotel in
But is it I? Is it I? Who could it be? Who? Oh! God! excellent spirits. Amid the jostling of the crowd I
Am I going mad? Who will save me? thought, not without irony, of my terrors and
surmises of the previous week, because I believed,
July 10th. I have just been through some surprising yes, I believed, that an invisible being lived beneath
ordeals. Decidedly I am mad! And yet!-- my roof. How weak our head is, and how quickly it is

4
terrified and goes astray, as soon, as we are struck by want of power of his organs by the efforts of his
a small, incomprehensible fact. intellect. As long as that intellect still remained in its
elementary stage, this intercourse with invisible
Instead of concluding with these simple words: "I do spirits assumed forms which were commonplace
not understand because the cause escapes me," we though terrifying. Thence sprang the popular belief in
immediately imagine terrible mysteries and the supernatural, the legends of wandering spirits, of
supernatural powers. fairies, of gnomes, ghosts, I might even say the
legend of God, for our conceptions of the workman-
July 14th. Fete of the Republic. I walked through the creator, from whatever religion they may have come
streets, and the crackers and flags amused me like a down to us, are certainly the most mediocre, the
child. Still it is very foolish to be merry on a fixed stupidest and the most unacceptable inventions that
date, by a Government decree. The populace is an ever sprang from the frightened brain of any human
imbecile flock of sheep, now steadily patient, and creatures. Nothing is truer than what Voltaire says:
now in ferocious revolt. Say to it: "Amuse yourself," 'God made man in His own image, but man has
and it amuses itself. Say to it: "Go and fight with certainly paid Him back again.'
your neighbor," and it goes and fights. Say to it:
"Vote for the Emperor," and it votes for the Emperor, "But for rather more than a century, men seem to
and then say to it: "Vote for the Republic," and it have had a presentiment of something new. Mesmer
votes for the Republic. and some others have put us on an unexpected track,
and especially within the last two or three years, we
Those who direct it are also stupid; but instead of have arrived at really surprising results."
obeying men they obey principles, which can only be
stupid, sterile, and false, for the very reason that they My cousin, who is also very incredulous, smiled, and
are principles, that is to say, ideas which are Dr. Parent said to her: "Would you like me to try and
considered as certain and unchangeable, in this world send you to sleep, Madame?" "Yes, certainly."
where one is certain of nothing, since light is an
illusion and noise is an illusion. She sat down in an easy-chair, and he began to look
at her fixedly, so as to fascinate her. I suddenly felt
July 16th. I saw some things yesterday that troubled myself somewhat uncomfortable, with a beating heart
me very much. and a choking feeling in my throat. I saw that
Madame Sable's eyes were growing heavy, her mouth
I was dining at my cousin's Madame Sable, whose twitched and her bosom heaved, and at the end of ten
husband is colonel of the 76th Chasseurs at Limoges. minutes she was asleep.
There were two young women there, one of whom
had married a medical man, Dr. Parent, who devotes "Stand behind her," the doctor said to me, and so I
himself a great deal to nervous diseases and the took a seat behind her. He put a visiting card into her
extraordinary manifestations to which at this moment hands, and said to her: "This is a looking-glass; what
experiments in hypnotism and suggestion give rise. do you see in it?" And she replied: "I see my cousin."
"What is he doing?" "He is twisting his mustache."
He related to us at some length, the enormous results "And now?" "He is taking a photograph out of his
obtained by English scientists and the doctors of the pocket." "Whose photograph is it?" "His own."
medical school at Nancy, and the facts which he
adduced appeared to me so strange, that I declared That was true, and that photograph had been given
that I was altogether incredulous. me that same evening at the hotel.

"We are," he declared, "on the point of discovering "What is his attitude in this portrait?" "He is standing
one of the most important secrets of nature, I mean to up with his hat in his hand."
say, one of its most important secrets on this earth,
for there are certainly some which are of a different So she saw on that card, on that piece of white
kind of importance up in the stars, yonder. Ever since pasteboard, as if she had seen it in a looking glass.
man has thought, since he has been able to express
and write down his thoughts, he has felt himself close The young women were frightened, and exclaimed:
to a mystery which is impenetrable to his coarse and "That is quite enough! Quite, quite enough!"
imperfect senses, and he endeavors to supplement the

5
But the doctor said to her authoritatively: "You will She hesitated again and reflected, and I guessed the
get up at eight o'clock to-morrow morning; then you torture of her thoughts. She did not know. She only
will go and call on your cousin at his hotel and ask knew that she was to borrow five thousand francs of
him to lend you five thousand francs which your me for her husband. So she told a lie. "Yes, he has
husband demands of you, and which he will ask for written to me." "When, pray? You did not mention it
when he sets out on his coming journey." to me yesterday." "I received his letter this morning."
"Can you show it me?" "No; no ... no ... it contained
Then he woke her up. private matters ... things too personal to ourselves.... I
burnt it." "So your husband runs into debt?"
On returning to my hotel, I thought over this curious
seance and I was assailed by doubts, not as to my She hesitated again, and then murmured: "I do not
cousin's absolute and undoubted good faith, for I had know." Thereupon I said bluntly: "I have not five
known her as well as if she had been my own sister thousand francs at my disposal at this moment, my
ever since she was a child, but as to a possible trick dear cousin."
on the doctor's part. Had not he, perhaps, kept a glass
hidden in his hand, which he showed to the young She uttered a kind of cry as if she were in pain and
woman in her sleep, at the same time as he did the said: "Oh! oh! I beseech you, I beseech you to get
card? Professional conjurers do things which are just them for me...."
as singular.
She got excited and clasped her hands as if she were
So I went home and to bed, and this morning, at praying to me! I heard her voice change its tone; she
about half-past eight, I was awakened by my wept and stammered, harassed and dominated by the
footman, who said to me: "Madame Sable has asked irresistible order that she had received.
to see you immediately, Monsieur," so I dressed
hastily and went to her. "Oh! oh! I beg you to ... if you knew what I am
suffering.... I want them to-day."
She sat down in some agitation, with her eyes on the
floor, and without raising her veil she said to me: I had pity on her: "You shall have them by and by, I
"My dear cousin, I am going to ask a great favor of swear to you." "Oh! thank you! thank you! How kind
you." "What is it, cousin?" "I do not like to tell you, you are!"
and yet I must. I am in absolute want of five thousand
francs." "What, you?" "Yes, I, or rather my husband, I continued: "Do you remember what took place at
who has asked me to procure them for him." your house last night?" "Yes." "Do you remember
that Doctor Parent sent you to sleep?" "Yes." "Oh!
I was so stupefied that I stammered out my answers. I Very well then; he ordered you to come to me this
asked myself whether she had not really been making morning to borrow five thousand francs, and at this
fun of me with Doctor Parent, if it were not merely a moment you are obeying that suggestion."
very well-acted farce which had been got up
beforehand. On looking at her attentively, however, She considered for a few moments, and then replied:
my doubts disappeared. She was trembling with grief,
so painful was this step to her, and I was sure that her "But as it is my husband who wants them...."
throat was full of sobs.
For a whole hour I tried to convince her, but could
I knew that she was very rich and so I continued: not succeed, and when she had gone I went to the
"What! Has not your husband five thousand francs at doctor. He was just going out, and he listened to me
his disposal! Come, think. Are you sure that he with a smile, and said: "Do you believe now?" "Yes,
commissioned you to ask me for them?" I cannot help it." "Let us go to your cousin's."

She hesitated for a few seconds, as if she were She was already dozing on a couch, overcome with
making a great effort to search her memory, and then fatigue. The doctor felt her pulse, looked at her for
she replied: "Yes ... yes, I am quite sure of it." "He some time with one hand raised toward her eyes
has written to you?" which she closed by degrees under the irresistible
power of this magnetic influence, and when she was
asleep, he said:

6
 look at a Geant de Bataille , which had three splendid
"Your husband does not require the five thousand blooms, I distinctly saw the stalk of one of the roses
francs any longer! You must, therefore, forget that bend, close to me, as if an invisible hand had bent it,
you asked your cousin to lend them to you, and, if he and then break, as if that hand had picked it! Then the
speaks to you about it, you will not understand him." flower raised itself, following the curve which a hand
would have described in carrying it toward a mouth,
Then he woke her up, and I took out a pocketbook and it remained suspended in the transparent air, all
and said: "Here is what you asked me for this alone and motionless, a terrible red spot, three yards
morning, my dear cousin." But she was so surprised from my eyes. In desperation I rushed at it to take it!
that I did not venture to persist; nevertheless, I tried I found nothing; it had disappeared. Then I was
to recall the circumstance to her, but she denied it seized with furious rage against myself, for it is not
vigorously, thought that I was making fun of her, and allowable for a reasonable and serious man to have
in the end very nearly lost her temper. such hallucinations.

***** But was it a hallucination? I turned round to look for

the stalk, and I found it immediately under the bush,
There! I have just come back, and I have not been freshly broken, between two other roses which
able to eat any lunch, for this experiment has remained on the branch, and I returned home then,
altogether upset me. with a much disturbed mind; for I am certain now, as
certain as I am of the alternation of day and night,
July 19th. Many people to whom I have told the that there exists close to me an invisible being that
adventure have laughed at me. I no longer know what lives on milk and on water, which can touch objects,
to think. The wise man says: Perhaps? take them and change their places; which is,
consequently, endowed with a material nature,
July 21st. I dined at Bougival, and then I spent the although it is imperceptible to our senses, and which
evening at a boatmen's ball. Decidedly everything lives as I do, under my roof....
depends on place and surroundings. It would be the
height of folly to believe in the supernatural on the ile August 7th . I slept tranquilly. He drank the water
de la Grenouilliere [1] ... but on the top of Mont out of my decanter, but did not disturb my sleep.
Saint-Michel? ... and in India? We are terribly under
the influence of our surroundings. I shall return home I ask myself whether I am mad. As I was walking just
next week. now in the sun by the riverside, doubts as to my own
sanity arose in me; not vague doubts such as I have
[1] Frog-island. had hitherto, but precise and absolute doubts. I have
seen mad people, and I have known some who have
July 30th. I came back to my own house yesterday. been quite intelligent, lucid, even clear-sighted in
Everything is going on well. every concern of life, except on one point. They
spoke clearly, readily, profoundly on everything,
August 2d. Nothing fresh; it is splendid weather, and when suddenly their thoughts struck upon the
I spend my days in watching the Seine flow past. breakers of their madness and broke to pieces there,
and were dispersed and foundered in that furious and
August 4th. Quarrels among my servants. They terrible sea, full of bounding waves, fogs and squalls,
declare that the glasses are broken in the cupboards at which is called madness .
night. The footman accuses the cook, who accuses
the needlewoman, who accuses the other two. Who is I certainly should think that I was mad, absolutely
the culprit? A clever person, to be able to tell. mad, if I were not conscious, did not perfectly know
my state, if I did fathom it by analyzing it with the
August 6th. This time I am not mad. I have seen ... I most complete lucidity. I should, in fact, be a
have seen ... I have seen!... I can doubt no longer ... I reasonable man who was laboring under a
have seen it!... hallucination. Some unknown disturbance must have
been excited in my brain, one of those disturbances
I was walking at two o'clock among my rose trees, in which physiologists of the present day try to note and
the full sunlight ... in the walk bordered by autumn to fix precisely, and that disturbance must have
roses which are beginning to fall. As I stopped to caused a profound gulf in my mind and in the order

7
and logic of my ideas. Similar phenomena occur in August 12th. Ten o'clock at night. All day long I
the dreams which lead us through the most unlikely have been trying to get away, and have not been able.
phantasmagoria, without causing us any surprise, I wished to accomplish this simple and easy act of
because our verifying apparatus and our sense of liberty--go out--get into my carriage in order to go to
control has gone to sleep, while our imaginative Rouen--and I have not been able to do it. What is the
faculty wakes and works. Is it not possible that one of reason?
the imperceptible keys of the cerebral finger-board
has been paralyzed in me? Some men lose the August 13th. When one is attacked by certain
recollection of proper names, or of verbs or of maladies, all the springs of our physical being appear
numbers or merely of dates, in consequence of an to be broken, all our energies destroyed, all our
accident. The localization of all the particles of muscles relaxed, our bones to have become as soft as
thought has been proved nowadays; what then would our flesh, and our blood as liquid as water. I am
there be surprising in the fact that my faculty of experiencing that in my moral being in a strange and
controlling the unreality of certain hallucinations distressing manner. I have no longer any strength,
should be destroyed for the time being! any courage, any self-control, nor even any power to
set my own will in motion. I have no power left to
I thought of all this as I walked by the side of the will anything, but some one does it for me and I
water. The sun was shining brightly on the river and obey.
made earth delightful, while it filled my looks with
love for life, for the swallows, whose agility is August 14th. I am lost! Somebody possesses my soul
always delightful in my eyes, for the plants by the and governs it! Somebody orders all my acts, all my
riverside, whose rustling is a pleasure to my ears. movements, all my thoughts. I am no longer anything
in myself, nothing except an enslaved and terrified
By degrees, however, an inexplicable feeling of spectator of all the things which I do. I wish to go
discomfort seized me. It seemed to me as if some out; I cannot. He does not wish to, and so I remain,
unknown force were numbing and stopping me, were trembling and distracted in the armchair in which he
preventing me from going farther and were calling keeps me sitting. I merely wish to get up and to rouse
me back. I felt that painful wish to return which myself, so as to think that I am still master of myself:
oppresses you when you have left a beloved invalid I cannot! I am riveted to my chair, and my chair
at home, and when you are seized by a presentiment adheres to the ground in such a manner that no force
that he is worse. could move us.

I, therefore, returned in spite of myself, feeling Then suddenly, I must, I must go to the bottom of my
certain that I should find some bad news awaiting garden to pick some strawberries and eat them, and I
me, a letter or a telegram. There was nothing, go there. I pick the strawberries and I eat them! Oh!
however, and I was more surprised and uneasy than if my God! my God! Is there a God? If there be one,
I had had another fantastic vision. deliver me! save me! succor me! Pardon! Pity!
Mercy! Save me! Oh! what sufferings! what torture!
August 8th. I spent a terrible evening yesterday. He what horror!
does not show himself any more, but I feel that he is
near me, watching me, looking at me, penetrating me, August 15th. Certainly this is the way in which my
dominating me and more redoubtable when he hides poor cousin was possessed and swayed, when she
himself thus, than if he were to manifest his constant came to borrow five thousand francs of me. She was
and invisible presence by supernatural phenomena. under the power of a strange will which had entered
However, I slept. into her, like another soul, like another parasitic and
ruling soul. Is the world coming to an end?
August 9th. Nothing, but I am afraid.
But who is he, this invisible being that rules me? This
August 10th. Nothing; what will happen to-morrow? unknowable being, this rover of a supernatural race?

August 11th. Still nothing; I cannot stop at home Invisible beings exist, then! How is it then that since
with this fear hanging over me and these thoughts in the beginning of the world they have never
my mind; I shall go away. manifested themselves in such a manner precisely as
they do to me? I have never read anything which

8
resembles what goes on in my house. Oh! If I could day or other, traversing space, appear on our earth to
only leave it, if I could only go away and flee, so as conquer it, just as the Norsemen formerly crossed the
never to return, I should be saved; but I cannot. sea in order to subjugate nations more feeble than
themselves?
August 16th . I managed to escape to-day for two
hours, like a prisoner who finds the door of his We are so weak, so unarmed, so ignorant, so small,
dungeon accidentally open. I suddenly felt that I was we who live on this particle of mud which turns
free and that he was far away, and so I gave orders to round in a drop of water.
put the horses in as quickly as possible, and I drove
to Rouen. Oh! How delightful to be able to say to a I fell asleep, dreaming thus in the cool night air, and
man who obeyed you: "Go to Rouen!" then, having slept for about three quarters of an hour,
I opened my eyes without moving, awakened by I
I made him pull up before the library, and I begged know not what confused and strange sensation. At
them to lend me Dr. Herrmann Herestauss's treatise first I saw nothing, and then suddenly it appeared to
on the unknown inhabitants of the ancient and me as if a page of a book which had remained open
modern world. on my table, turned over of its own accord. Not a
breath of air had come in at my window, and I was
Then, as I was getting into my carriage, I intended to surprised and waited. In about four minutes, I saw, I
say: "To the railway station!" but instead of this I saw, yes I saw with my own eyes another page lift
shouted--I did not say, but I shouted--in such a loud itself up and fall down on the others, as if a finger
voice that all the passers-by turned round: "Home!" had turned it over. My armchair was empty, appeared
and I fell back onto the cushion of my carriage, empty, but I knew that he was there, he, and sitting in
overcome by mental agony. He had found me out and my place, and that he was reading. With a furious
regained possession of me. bound, the bound of an enraged wild beast that
wishes to disembowel its tamer, I crossed my room to
August 17th . Oh! What a night! what a night! And seize him, to strangle him, to kill him!... But before I
yet it seems to me that I ought to rejoice. I read until could reach it, my chair fell over as if somebody had
one o'clock in the morning! Herestauss, Doctor of run away from me ... my table rocked, my lamp fell
Philosophy and Theogony, wrote the history and the and went out, and my window closed as if some thief
manifestation of all those invisible beings which had been surprised and had fled out into the night,
hover around man, or of whom he dreams. He shutting it behind him.
describes their origin, their domains, their power; but
none of them resembles the one which haunts me. So he had run away: he had been afraid; he, afraid of
One might say that man, ever since he has thought, me!
has had a foreboding of, and feared a new being,
stronger than himself, his successor in this world, and So ... so ... to-morrow ... or later ... some day or other
that, feeling him near, and not being able to foretell ... I should be able to hold him in my clutches and
the nature of that master, he has, in his terror, created crush him against the ground! Do not dogs
the whole race of hidden beings, of vague phantoms occasionally bite and strangle their masters?
born of fear.
August 18th. I have been thinking the whole day
Having, therefore, read until one o'clock in the long. Oh! yes, I will obey him, follow his impulses,
morning, I went and sat down at the open window, in fulfill all his wishes, show myself humble,
order to cool my forehead and my thoughts, in the submissive, a coward. He is the stronger; but an hour
calm night air. It was very pleasant and warm! How I will come....
should have enjoyed such a night formerly!
August 19th . I know, ... I know ... I know all! I have
There was no moon, but the stars darted out their rays just read the following in the Revue du Monde
in the dark heavens. Who inhabits those worlds? Scientifique : "A curious piece of news comes to us
What forms, what living beings, what animals are from Rio de Janeiro. Madness, an epidemic of
there yonder? What do those who are thinkers in madness, which may be compared to that contagious
those distant worlds know more than we do? What madness which attacked the people of Europe in the
can they do more than we can? What do they see Middle Ages, is at this moment raging in the
which we do not know? Will not one of them, some Province of San-Paulo. The frightened inhabitants are

9
leaving their houses, deserting their villages, the ox: his chattel, his slave and his food, by the mere
abandoning their land, saying that they are pursued, power of his will. Woe to us!
possessed, governed like human cattle by invisible,
though tangible beings, a species of vampire, which But, nevertheless, the animal sometimes revolts and
feed on their life while they are asleep, and who, kills the man who has subjugated it.... I should also
besides, drink water and milk without appearing to like ... I shall be able to ... but I must know him,
touch any other nourishment. touch him, see him! Learned men say that beasts'
eyes, as they differ from ours, do not distinguish like
"Professor Dom Pedro Henriques, accompanied by ours do ... And my eye cannot distinguish this
several medical savants, has gone to the Province of newcomer who is oppressing me.
San-Paulo, in order to study the origin and the
manifestations of this surprising madness on the spot, Why? Oh! Now I remember the words of the monk at
and to propose such measures to the Emperor as may Mont Saint-Michel: "Can we see the hundred-
appear to him to be most fitted to restore the mad thousandth part of what exists? Look here; there is
population to reason." the wind which is the strongest force in nature, which
knocks men, and blows down buildings, uproots
Ah! Ah! I remember now that fine Brazilian three- trees, raises the sea into mountains of water, destroys
master which passed in front of my windows as it cliffs and casts great ships onto the breakers; the
was going up the Seine, on the 8th of last May! I wind which kills, which whistles, which sighs, which
thought it looked so pretty, so white and bright! That roars--have you ever seen it, and can you see it? It
Being was on board of her, coming from there, where exists for all that, however!"
its race sprang from. And it saw me! It saw my house
which was also white, and it sprang from the ship And I went on thinking: my eyes are so weak, so
onto the land. Oh! Good heavens! imperfect, that they do not even distinguish hard
bodies, if they are as transparent as glass!... If a glass
Now I know, I can divine. The reign of man is over, without tinfoil behind it were to bar my way, I should
and he has come. He whom disquieted priests run into it, just as a bird which has flown into a room
exorcised, whom sorcerers evoked on dark nights, breaks its head against the window panes. A thousand
without yet seeing him appear, to whom the things, moreover, deceive him and lead him astray.
presentiments of the transient masters of the world How should it then be surprising that he cannot
lent all the monstrous or graceful forms of gnomes, perceive a fresh body which is traversed by the light?
spirits, genii, fairies, and familiar spirits. After the
coarse conceptions of primitive fear, more clear- A new being! Why not? It was assuredly bound to
sighted men foresaw it more clearly. Mesmer divined come! Why should we be the last? We do not
him, and ten years ago physicians accurately distinguish it, like all the others created before us.
discovered the nature of his power, even before he The reason is, that its nature is more perfect, its body
exercised it himself. They played with that weapon of finer and more finished than ours, that ours is so
their new Lord, the sway of a mysterious will over weak, so awkwardly conceived, encumbered with
the human soul, which had become enslaved. They organs that are always tired, always on the strain like
called it magnetism, hypnotism, suggestion ... what locks that are too complicated, which lives like a
do I know? I have seen them amusing themselves like plant and like a beast, nourishing itself with difficulty
impudent children with this horrible power! Woe to on air, herbs and flesh, an animal machine which is a
us! Woe to man! He has come, the ... the ... what does prey to maladies, to malformations, to decay; broken-
he call himself ... the ... I fancy that he is shouting out winded, badly regulated, simple and eccentric,
his name to me and I do not hear him ... the ... yes ... ingeniously badly made, a coarse and a delicate
he is shouting it out ... I am listening ... I cannot ... work, the outline of a being which might become
repeat ... it ... Horla ... I have heard ... the Horla ... it intelligent and grand.
is he ... the Horla ... he has come!...
We are only a few, so few in this world, from the
Ah! the vulture has eaten the pigeon, the wolf has oyster up to man. Why should there not be one more,
eaten the lamb; the lion has devoured the buffalo with when once that period is accomplished which
sharp horns; man has killed the lion with an arrow, separates the successive apparitions from all the
with a sword, with gunpowder; but the Horla will different species?
make of man what we have made of the horse and of

10
Why not one more? Why not, also, other trees with was certain that he was reading over my shoulder,
immense, splendid flowers, perfuming whole that he was there, almost touching my ear.
regions? Why not other elements besides fire, air,
earth and water? There are four, only four, those I got up so quickly, with my hands extended, that I
nursing fathers of various beings! What a pity! Why almost fell. Eh! well?... It was as bright as at midday,
are they not forty, four hundred, four thousand! How but I did not see myself in the glass!... It was empty,
poor everything is, how mean and wretched! clear, profound, full of light! But my figure was not
grudgingly given, dryly invented, clumsily made! reflected in it ... and I, I was opposite to it! I saw the
Ah! the elephant and the hippopotamus, what grace! large, clear glass from top to bottom, and I looked at
And the camel, what elegance! it with unsteady eyes; and I did not dare to advance; I
did not venture to make a movement, nevertheless,
But, the butterfly you will say, a flying flower! I feeling perfectly that he was there, but that he would
dream of one that should be as large as a hundred escape me again, he whose imperceptible body had
worlds, with wings whose shape, beauty, colors, and absorbed my reflection.
motion I cannot even express. But I see it ... it flutters
from star to star, refreshing them and perfuming them How frightened I was! And then suddenly I began to
with the light and harmonious breath of its flight!... see myself through a mist in the depths of the
And the people up there look at it as it passes in an looking-glass, in a mist as it were through a sheet of
ecstasy of delight!... water; and it seemed to me as if this water were
flowing slowly from left to right, and making my
***** figure clearer every moment. It was like the end of an
eclipse. Whatever it was that hid me, did not appear
What is the matter with me? It is he, the Horla who to possess any clearly defined outlines, but a sort of
haunts me, and who makes me think of these foolish opaque transparency, which gradually grew clearer.
things! He is within me, he is becoming my soul; I
shall kill him! At last I was able to distinguish myself completely,
as I do every day when I look at myself.
August 19th. I shall kill him. I have seen him!
Yesterday I sat down at my table and pretended to I had seen it! And the horror of it remained with me
write very assiduously. I knew quite well that he and makes me shudder even now.
would come prowling round me, quite close to me, so
close that I might perhaps be able to touch him, to August 20th . How could I kill it, as I could not get
seize him. And then!... then I should have the hold of it? Poison? But it would see me mix it with
strength of desperation; I should have my hands, my the water; and then, would our poisons have any
knees, my chest, my forehead, my teeth to strangle effect on its impalpable body? No ... no ... no doubt
him, to crush him, to bite him, to tear him to pieces. about the matter.... Then?... then?...
And I watched for him with all my overexcited
organs. August 21st . I sent for a blacksmith from Rouen,
and ordered iron shutters of him for my room, such as
I had lighted my two lamps and the eight wax candles some private hotels in Paris have on the ground floor,
on my mantelpiece, as if by this light I could have for fear of thieves, and he is going to make me a
discovered him. similar door as well. I have made myself out as a
coward, but I do not care about that!...
My bed, my old oak bed with its columns, was
opposite to me; on my right was the fireplace; on my September 10th . Rouen, Hotel Continental. It is
left the door which was carefully closed, after I had done; ... it is done ... but is he dead? My mind is
left it open for some time, in order to attract him; thoroughly upset by what I have seen.
behind me was a very high wardrobe with a looking-
glass in it, which served me to make my toilet every Well, then, yesterday the locksmith having put on the
day, and in which I was in the habit of looking at iron shutters and door, I left everything open until
myself from head to foot every time I passed it. midnight, although it was getting cold.

So I pretended to be writing in order to deceive him, Suddenly I felt that he was there, and joy, mad joy,
for he also was watching me, and suddenly I felt, I took possession of me. I got up softly, and I walked

11
to the right and left for some time, so that he might By this time the house was nothing but a horrible and
not guess anything; then I took off my boots and put magnificent funeral pile, a monstrous funeral pile
on my slippers carelessly; then I fastened the iron which lit up the whole country, a funeral pile where
shutters and going back to the door quickly I double- men were burning, and where he was burning also,
locked it with a padlock, putting the key into my He, He, my prisoner, that new Being, the new master,
pocket. the Horla!

Suddenly I noticed that he was moving restlessly Suddenly the whole roof fell in between the walls,
round me, that in his turn he was frightened and was and a volcano of flames darted up to the sky.
ordering me to let him out. I nearly yielded, though I Through all the windows which opened onto that
did not yet, but putting my back to the door I half furnace I saw the flames darting, and I thought that
opened it, just enough to allow me to go out he was there, in that kiln, dead.
backward, and as I am very tall, my head touched the
lintel. I was sure that he had not been able to escape, Dead? perhaps?... His body? Was not his body,
and I shut him up quite alone, quite alone. What which was transparent, indestructible by such means
happiness! I had him fast. Then I ran downstairs; in as would kill ours?
the drawing-room, which was under my bedroom, I
took the two lamps and I poured all the oil onto the If he was not dead?... Perhaps time alone has power
carpet, the furniture, everywhere; then I set fire to it over that Invisible and Redoubtable Being. Why this
and made my escape, after having carefully double- transparent, unrecognizable body, this body
locked the door. belonging to a spirit, if it also had to fear ills,
infirmities and premature destruction?
I went and hid myself at the bottom of the garden in a
clump of laurel bushes. How long it was! how long it Premature destruction? All human terror springs from
was! Everything was dark, silent, motionless, not a that! After man the Horla. After him who can die
breath of air and not a star, but heavy banks of clouds every day, at any hour, at any moment, by any
which one could not see, but which weighed, oh! so accident, he came who was only to die at his own
heavily on my soul. proper hour and minute, because he had touched the
limits of his existence!
I looked at my house and waited. How long it was! I
already began to think that the fire had gone out of its No ... no ... without any doubt ... he is not dead. Then
own accord, or that he had extinguished it, when one ... then ... I suppose I must kill myself!
of the lower windows gave way under the violence of
the flames, and a long, soft, caressing sheet of red FOOTNOTE.--This story is a tragic experience and
flame mounted up the white wall and kissed it as high prophecy. It was insanity that robbed the world of its
as the roof. The light fell onto the trees, the branches, most finished short story writer, the author of this
and the leaves, and a shiver of fear pervaded them tale; and even before his madness became
also! The birds awoke; a dog began to howl, and it overpowering, de Maupassant complained that he
seemed to me as if the day were breaking! Almost was haunted by his double--by a vision of another
immediately two other windows flew into fragments, Self confronting and threatening him. He had run life
and I saw that the whole of the lower part of my at its top speed; this hallucination was the result.
house was nothing but a terrible furnace. But a cry, a
horrible, shrill, heartrending cry, a woman's cry, Medical science defines in such cases "an image of
sounded through the night, and two garret windows memory which differs in intensity from the normal"--
were opened! I had forgotten the servants! I saw the that is to say, a fixed idea so persistent and growing
terrorstruck faces, and their frantically waving that to the thinker it seems utterly real.
arms!...
--EDITOR.
Then, overwhelmed with horror, I set off to run to the
village, shouting: "Help! help! fire! fire!" I met some
people who were already coming onto the scene, and
I went back with them to see!

12
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