At one time, this case became a sensation, stories about the events were published by newspapers around the world, even in the USSR. In a Spanish city, a mysterious voice sounded in the kitchen, sparking street riots and a police investigation.
On the morning of September 27, 1934, the residents of a house on rue Gascon de Gotor in Zaragoza (Spain) were awakened by loud laughter. The astonished people began to look out of the windows, and then went out onto the stairs, but there was no one there. Soon, the laughter that came from nowhere died down. Since then, residents have heard strange sounds in the morning more than once, but have ceased to pay attention to them.
One of the apartments on the second floor was occupied by Antonio Palazon with his wife and daughter. They had a maid, 16-year-old Maria Pascuela. On the morning of November 14, she complained to the hostess that a man's voice was heard in the kitchen. Isabelle Palazon did not believe her at first, but the next day she heard him. When the servant slammed the door of the wood-burning stove, from there came: "Ay, it hurts, it hurts!"
Isabelle and Maria invited neighbors into the kitchen to see if they were imagining all this. The neighbors heard an angry male voice coming from the chimney. He was especially interested in the servant, called her by name and laughed loudly.
Troubled kitchen
The chimney passed through eight apartments and went to the sloping roof, where it was difficult to hide, and the exit to it from the attic was securely locked. Antonio went to the police. When the police arrived, the voice was still clear. The officer reached into the stove with a poker, trying to find the source of the sound. Suddenly a cry came from there: “Well, you and a goat! It hurts!"
The police searched the house from top to bottom, and then cut it off from the electricity, suspecting that a radio transmitter was hidden somewhere. But the voice remained.
One of the police officers asked:
Promotional video:
- Do you want money? Maybe you need a job?
- Not!
- What do you want, senor?
- I do not want anything. I'm not a senior. I'm not human at all!
After this short dialogue, the invisible man fell silent. The next day, the police brought the architect and several workers with tools to the house. The house was thoroughly checked, but no secret rooms were found. Workers cut off all the antennas on the roof and dug a ditch around the perimeter of the house, trying to find wires that were not included in the drawings.
Then they opened the kitchen floor at Palazon. The voice politely and ironically released comments. When the architect ordered to punch a hole in the chimney and measure its width, the voice said: “Don't bother, the chimney is exactly 20 centimeters in size,” and he was right.
While the inquiry was going on, onlookers began to gather near the house. The crowd blocked the street. The voice continued to broadcast. When someone turned off the light in the kitchen, he shouted: “Turn on the light for me! I can not see anything!.
Taking advantage of the excitement, several students decided to make fun of onlookers and the police. They bribed the owner of the bar on the ground floor of the house and went up the back stairs to the attic. There they put on sheets, took lanterns in their hands and went out onto the roof, pretending to be ghosts.
The crowd rushed to the house, a crush began. The police set up posts at both stairs to the attic, and the pranksters were trapped. The drawing cost the participants a fine of 50 pesetas.
On November 24, the authorities took unprecedented measures. All tenants were evicted, and the crowd on the street was dispersed with truncheons. Dozens of policemen and volunteers cordoned off the house from all sides, not allowing anyone closer than 30 meters.
Doctors, psychologists, and a priest walked in, sprinkling holy water on the kitchen. As if in revenge, the voice spoke even more. Having made fun of the scientists, the invisible man declared that those present were not worth his attention. There was silence.
Two days later, Police Commissioner Perez de Soto announced at a press conference that the voice was no longer being heard. Residents were allowed to return to their apartments. The respite was temporary. On the evening of November 28, the voice rang out again. This time the “brownie” was clearly out of sorts: “Here I am. Underpants. You are cowards. I will kill all the inhabitants of this accursed house."
The threat was taken seriously. Two days before the commissioner told reporters that the voice had stopped, the Spiritualists organized a seance. They were not allowed into the house, and they settled in the neighborhood, trying to summon the "spirit from the rue Gascon de Gotor."
Medium Asuncion Alvarez went into a trance, but did not have time to utter a single word and collapsed on her face. The doctors, hastily summoned to help, could only ascertain the death of Senora Alvarez. Another reason for fear was a creepy photo taken in the basement of the house.
In the right corner of the aisle, something like a very ugly face was captured, looking straight out of the wall. Skeptics declared it a play of light and shadow. Spiritualists argued that similar faces can be created from ectoplasm (a viscous substance flowing from the body of a medium) during contact with the other world.
Antonio Palazon decided that he had had enough and left the city with his family. Scared Maria remained in the apartment. The police concluded that she had nothing to do with the incident - when she was taken out of the kitchen, the voice continued to speak from the oven.
The Soviet press also took part in the discussion of the mysterious events on Gascon Gotor Street. “Three detectives from Scotland Yard have been invited,” wrote the newspaper Sovetskaya Sibir. - Correspondents, cameramen and pilgrims from all countries came to the city. The Barcelona radio station asked the owners for permission to put a microphone in the kitchen.
The crowd at the house grew even denser. On November 30, the governor of the province of Zaragoza, Otero Mirelis, on the radio urged people to disperse, but his appeal backfired. Journalists reacted in approximately the same way to the request not to write anything more about the "brownie" in order to bring down the heat of passions. The Bishop of Barcelona addressed the flock with a sermon in which he spoke about the “end times” and miracles before the end of the world.
Luis Fernando, the new prosecutor (the old one was fired for causing disorder), took matters into his own hands. On December 3, he issued a press statement. It said that the source of the voice was a servant who portrayed him with the help of "unconscious ventriloquism." Mary herself allegedly does not realize that she is ventriloquist, since she falls into a state of trance. The prosecutor said:
I personally saw what was the matter. Our experiments have clearly shown that "voice" is a mental phenomenon that only occurs under certain conditions. From a scientific point of view, this phenomenon is not of interest, since such cases are known in the history of medicine. Since the girl cannot control him, she will not be held accountable.
Doctors tried to object, but they were told that the main task of medicine is to help restore order. Psychiatrist Joaquin Jimeno Riera wrote in his diary: "Given the way events are developing, the best I could do is to consider the case completed and remain silent."
Everyone understood that the servant was simply framed: the voice sounded both in her presence and in her absence. When the house was temporarily resettled, the absence of the girl did not prevent the “housekeeper” from driving the researchers to white heat with their comments.
Unhappy Maria was not arrested, but threats and condemning views of the people forced her to leave the city. Since the Palazons refused to return, the landlord terminated the lease with her.
A certain Grihalva Torre entered the empty apartment with his wife and children. Of course, he knew about what had happened, but he believed that the secret of the "brownie" had been revealed. However, not even a few days had passed before the voice sounded again. He did not threaten anyone and entertained the many Torre children. Four-year-old Arturo made friends with the invisible man and talked to him for hours on end.
Grihalva Torre family
Arturo Grihalva, already as an adult, recalled:
The brownie loved to guess and guess riddles. One day my father asked how many people lived in the apartment, and the brownie answered: "Thirteen." “You were wrong, there are twelve of us,” the father rejoiced. The brownie shouted at this: "But no, you are thirteen!" When my father counted everyone again, it turned out that the voice was right. The first time he forgot to count the newborn.
The police continued to secretly monitor the apartment. The officers soon learned of the unusual friendship between the boy and the otherworldly being. When they brought another appliance into the kitchen and wanted to hear the "brownie", Arturo's presence invariably loosened his tongue. In January 1935, the voice fell silent forever.
Modern "Brownie Building" in Zaragoza
The inhabitants of Zaragoza still remember the events that shook the city. In 1977, a modern building was built on the site of the demolished house, where the mysterious voice sounded. It received the official name "Building of the Brownie".