This is an I-Heart podcast.

Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of IHeart Radio.

Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry.

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

And today's show is about a famous case of mass possession.

The story of the Ludin possessions in 17th century France has kept theologians, psychology experts, historians,

and occultists, frankly, fascinated for four centuries. And that's because it involves a group of nuns

who described some very unsettling visitations at their convent,

and that developed into a story of possession,

political intrigue,

and a moment in time that was just rife with social tension.

So on September 22nd, 1632, three nuns at the Ursuline Convent in Léudin, France, were,

according to reports, visited in the night by what appeared to be a spirit asking for help.

The spirit appeared to each of them separately, but in each appearance it was a

member of the clergy. Those three nuns were Jean des Ange, who was the mother superior,

sister de Colombier, her assistant, and a junior member of the order called Sister Marte-San-Monique.

This was the beginning of the most famous possession and witchcraft case

that France and really most of Europe had ever experienced.

According to the nun's accounts,

there were many other unusual happenings at the convent in the nights that followed. First, there were sounds.

They heard voices, but then things escalated. Nuns, these three, and others began to report being

hit by unseen forces. Some of them were stricken with fits of giggling for no reason. It was just this uncontrollable reaction.

...