Summoning of the Poor Soul
It was in the late fall of 1847 when eighteen inhabitants of Pflugdorf — mainly from the Grötz family — joined together to summon a poor soul under the guidance of a man from Württenberg, who served with the innkeeper as a cowherd. They wanted to ask this poor soul to provide them with a buried treasure. This treasure was the reason why the soul was unable to find peace, and by handing it over, they would be released.
After the necessary preparations had been done, they gathered at the home of a member of their conspiracy in order to stay there together throughout the night — from the evening prayers to the morning prayers. Fifteen people were up in the attic, and prayed the rosary without pause. But in the chamber below there were the cowherd, the farmer running the estate, as well the child of the latter, who was a pure virgin.
This occurred three nights in a row, and the girl had the most difficult task, for she was not allowed to close her eyes for three days and three nights. If she was close to dozing, she immediately had to get into a barrel full of ice-cold water. Despite these circumstances, she endured everything, but her father did not. For in the third night, when the cowherd had almost retrieved the treasure — it was within a huge chest which was already in front of the door, and the people upstairs had clearly observed it inching closer — the farmer was suddenly overcome with dread. He thought he saw the Devil sitting on the chest, and he dropped as if he was dead. Then all his muscles tightened, and he developed such a strong cramp that he screamed.
The resulting fright which overcame everyone broke their silence, and thus the spell. The cowherd was also interrupted in his readings, which had to be done backwards like with the Jews, and thus the chest suddenly vanished with a jolt. But the house was surrounded by a storm as if the Devil wanted to fetch everyone.
Nevertheless, the people were undeterred and wanted to attempt this feat another time. But this became public, and it was a miracle that this had not happened sooner with eighteen people involved. The entire affair ended up before the courts. Then the cowherd apprehended as the primary suspect. He — like most cowherds and shepherds — was very experienced in the black art. The investigations were far from finished when the year ‘48 arrived. In the first tumults, the country judge himself had to hurriedly leave Landsberg. And thus, the cowherd was able to escape with his skin intact. This incident is very widely known like hardly any other case of this kind.