Flynn’s Weekly Detective Fiction. Vol. 25, No. 2, August 13, 1927

“From afar the servants, having heard the firing, howled like dogs at the moon. I know of nothing more demoralizing than the cries of women in the night.

When Day Broke

“But the soft wailing of a baby which seemed to come from under the floor awoke me from my moral feebleness. It had to be found, the little mite, for I knew from my wife’s fainting fit that it was not she who put it away.

“So I had the courage — it required some courage to go up and downstairs in that house — to search the whole ground floor, holding the lamp on high.

“I found the infant quite naked, all its swaddling clothes taken off, placed on its back in the middle of a marble tablelike object of no value abandoned by a redoubtable robber in his haste to escape in the night.

“All night long I had to soothe the hysterics of my wife and the terror of my infant child. It was only at sunrise that everything returned to its natural order, and the mother went to sleep with the baby’s lips on her breast.

“I must say that this horrible adventure put me into such a state of breakdown that I could no longer face my invisible enemy or enemies. This last conjuring trick, this baby being taken away without our being able to guess how it passed the staircase — or the walls — it could not be explained, could not be tolerated.

“My heart sank with a new fear, that of having to give way before having understood the phenomena. When day broke I decided not to yield without at least informing the Portuguese police of what had happened.”

“Who Knocked Here?”

Christo’s personal opinion was that the whole affair was the work of burglars who were trying to get him to leave the house so they could loot it. This was one of the reasons that decided him to call on the police for aid.

“These were very incredulous at first, but the notice given by both our servants the day after the events created a very favorable and convincing situation. They went away like two hens frightened by a motor car, bawling and cackling in every key, and adding details which were the more circumstantial for their having seen nothing.”

Convinced that something had really taken place at Christo’s home, the authorities placed a policeman and two constables at his disposal. Paredes and another friend, Henrique Sotto Armas, joined the party which was to watch the next night.

The house was searched and inspected by the group from top to bottom. Satisfied that there was no one hiding inside, they laid their trap. It was decided that the policeman should be outside the house, while the two constables and the other members of the party locked themselves inside and waited behind the outside doors and the window whose shutters had so mysteriously opened themselves.

The next is quoted from a letter written by Christo to Mme. Rachilde.

...You have always claimed that these mysterious events only happen to one or two persons, more or less trustworthy, and that as soon as the police began to investigate they reduce themselves to nothing, as these haunted houses are not in the habit of yielding their secrets to the representatives of law and order.

Here I must claim your attention, my dear Rachilde, for with the orderlies behind and in front of the doors all the phenomena happened in exactly the same way as soon as the lights were put out.

When the lights went up the traces of the criminal or criminals were found, but never the shadow of their arms.

When every one was at his station the lights were put out. Knocks were immediately heard on the front door.

“Do you hear that?” Christo asked the constables.

“Perfectly,” they replied.

The knocking began again. Christo suddenly jerked open the door. There was nobody to be seen except the policeman who was calmly walking back and forth a short distance away.

“Who knocked here?” Christo demanded.

“Nobody,” the policeman replied.

“Didn’t you hear the knocking just now?”

“I have heard nothing at all,” the policeman insisted.

Sounds of a Struggle

Christo sputtered angrily. “This is too much,” he declared. “Go on inside, and you two constables come outside here to watch.”

The same thing happened again. The policeman and the people inside heard the knocking, but the constables heard and saw nothing.