Paranormal record / 1878
Verzegnis. A mountain village in Carnia, on a high plateau east of the Tagliamento. Spring 1878. It began with girls in the hamlet of Chiaicis. They fell to the ground, twisting horribly. They howled, the parish priest wrote, as if with the voice of a dog. They spoke in a man's voice. They blasphemed and tore at crucifixes and medals. On 25 November 1878 a 64-year-old woman collapsed at Mass, convulsing and screaming. The village saw the devil at work. The state saw an epidemic. Doctors came, then Carabinieri, then a company of infantry. 13 women were taken to Udine. And the case reached Parliament.
Verzegnis is a mountain comune in Carnia, in the province of Udine. It sits on a high plateau east of the Tagliamento, close to what was then the Austro-Hungarian border. Its hamlets are Chiaicis, Chiaulis, Intissans and Villa. Extreme poverty. Isolation. Many of the men were away as seasonal migrants in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 1877 the Jesuit Michele Tomasetig preached a mission in the village. It would later be blamed for having "excited" the population.