A Vampyre foundling, coming of age. (Caution: Adult Content)
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”
Exodus 22:18 KJV
In the mid 1500’s England had a Witch problem.
The ink on England’s Witchcraft Act of 1542 had barely dried when, in 1567, Parliament and His Majesty, James VI, enacted the The Witchcraft Act of 1567, which more comprehensively addressed the scourge of “Witchcrafte” and established the death penalty for anyone who used “sorcery” to kill someone else. In 1604, the act was amended to make available the death penalty for anyone who “made a pact with Satan” or attended a “Witches’ Sabbath” or “Black Mass”.
In the 1640s England even had a self-proclaimed “Witchfinder General” named Matthew Hopkins who jailed and interrogated men and women who were suspected of being in league with Satan. He conducted his “inquiries” at Colchester Castle in Essex. The son of a Puritan Minister, Matthew Hopkins and his colleague John Steame were responsible for executing more people for “Witchcrafte” than all other English witch investigators combined. All assets of those executed were forfeited to the Crown with healthy payments to the “investigators” to recompense their “costs”.
Mary Lakeland was burned at the stake in Ipswich in 1645 for “Witchcrafte”. Mary Hicks was burned at the stake in Huntingdon in 1716 for “Witchcrafte, most foul”. How had she offended? The Court Record of her Trial said she was found guilty of “taking off her stockings in order to raise a rainstorm”. Jane Wendham was convicted for “Witchcrafte” in 1716, in Walkern, Hertfordshire – but her conviction was later “set aside”. Her offense? She accused a local priest of corruption. An examination of her body revealed “Witche Marks” on her back. At her Trial at the Court of Assizes she was also accused of “Flying”. The whole matter was a tragic pantomime of Justice. Ultimately, saner minds prevailed and the case was quashed. History calls Jane Wendham “The Last Witch”. In England, at least.
In the English Colonies of North America, the infamous witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts – and burnings – took place from 1647 through 1663. The last Massachusetts Colony witch trial was in 1692.
In France, however, Necromancy and Witchcraft lingered on – and men, as well as women, were targets. One particular trial stands out. The “Proces des Sorciers de Lyon” (The Trials of the Wizards of Lyon ) 1742 – 1745. In that case, fourteen men were charged with making a “Pact with Satan” and using witchcraft to find “Hidden Treasures”. Although Dominican Priests were the most zealous prosecutors of witches in France, priests of all stripes got into the act. It was a lucrative free for all. Persons found guilty of “Necromancy” almost always forfeited their assets to the powerful Roman Catholic Church, with a healthy percentage going to the local Archdiocese.
In the infamous Wizards of Lyon case, one Michalet Benoit, a “Traveller” from Marechaussee, was arrested in Lyon, France, for having possession of “Clerical Candles” (with crosses on them) and “Grimoires”. “Grimoires” is a catch-all term that encompassed “clerical” objects used by the Church during Mass: prayer books, Communion Chalices, preistly raiments, hooded frocks, etc. Michalet Benoit was “Interrogated” (translated: tortured) and confessed to being a member of a secret society that worshipped the “Dark One”. He said he’d been recruited by the leader of that group, Claude Francois Charbonnier. Their rituals required the use of “Grimoirs” to summon Solomon and the Dark Angel Uriel to show followers the location of secret caches of gold and precious objects.
Archangel Uriel is a staple of Witchcraft lore and legend. He is known in esoteric tradition as being the Archangel of knowledge and wisdom. Uriel is one of the seven major Archangels of God (actually, only two of these “majors” are mentioned by name in the Christain Bible – Michael and Gabriel) and is called the “Angel of Repentence”. He apparently checked the doors in ancient Egypt for lambs blood during the plague that killed the first born. Uriel also guarded the gates of Eden with a “firey sword” and is a member of God’s “Angelic Council”. His epithets include “Regent of the Sun”, “Angel of the Divine Presence” and “Presider over Tartarus” (Presider over Hell). Uriel is reputed to be as “Pitiless” as any Demon.
After being tortured by authorities, Michalet Benoit identified twenty-nine other individuals who Charbonnier allegedly recruited to be members of “Satan’s Pact”. Fourteen of the twenty-nine (all inexplicably wealthy) were put on trial in 1745 for witchcraft. This Satanic brotherhood apparently had their own Priest – Louis Dabaraz – who conducted the Black Masses that the group regularly attended. Father Dabaraz – after being tortured – implicated another priest, Bertrand Guilladot, and identified him as the “Head Sorcerer”. Guilladot was also tortured and ultimately confessed to presiding over “Sacriligeous” Masses of the “Black” kind. The rank and file of the fourteen brotherhood members were convicted and sentenced to a lifetime as “Galley Slaves”. The Priests, Dabaraz and Guilladot, weren’t that lucky. They were both burned at the stake. As expected, their assets were forfeited to the Church.
Father Dabaraz was rumored in Lyon to have been “in league” with the Jesuits. Father Guilladot was an ordained Jesuit. Both lived lives of ease and comfort at formidable estates in Lyon, complete with servants, cooks and livestock. Both presided over small rural parish churches that could barely maintain their buildings and afford candles. They apparently had access to substantial funds – from sources they never identified.
Jesuit Father Bertrand Guilladot also had a common-law wife, Nadine. In 1740 she gave birth to a baby boy, Jean Francois. In 1742 she gave birth to a baby girl, Jacqueline. Because she “lived in sin” with a Priest, Nadine registered both births with authorities in Lyon as “Jean-Francois Moulin” and “Jacqueline Moulin” – giving both children her maiden name. After Father Guilladot was burned at the stake in 1745, Nadine Moulin and her two children made their way to Auverge, where she had “relatives”. She apparently never wanted for funds. Her son, Jean-Francois, would follow in his father’s footsteps and attend a Jesuit Seminary. Her daughter, Jacqueline, would later marry a German farmer who was intent on moving to America.
Nadine Moulon taught her son and daughter everything she had learned from her childhood guardian, Alchemist Nicolas Flamel. Her healing abilities and knowledge of herbs and tinctures became legendary throughout Auverge – as did her dark reputation for Necromancy. Everyone suspected that Nadine Moulon was a witch. By the time her daughter, Jacqueline, departed for America with her German husband, Matriarch Nadine had died from “consumption” and daughter Jacqueline had already proven herself equally as proficient in practicing the “Dark Arts”. She’d also earned a sordid reputation for licentious behavior and attending orgies. Once it became clear that she could not bear children, Jacqueline embraced a life of sexual abandon and wanton deviance. Her husband, Freidrich, reveled in his role as a cuckold and worshiped Jacqueline’s lustful lifestyle. He even took part in her dalliances with young village males. They founded a “Hell Fire” club wherein married couples swapped partners and partook of pipes smouldering with “Red Dragon” – Chinese Opium.
Then America, the land of opportunity, lured them away from la belle France. They were greeted at the dock in Manhattan by Jacqueline’s brother, Jean-Francois Moulon, now a Jesuit Priest serving at an Elizabethtowne, New Jersey “Mission” house for the poor. The Kneiphausers soon bought a farm in Springfieldtowne, New Jersey – deep in the “Connecticut Farms” subdivisions next to the “Short Hills” of Essex County and tried to scrape out a living as farmers.
Their fortunes changed forever when Jesuit Father Moulin entrusted to them the orphan Vampyre child Alaric.
Freidrich and Nadine Kneiphauser of Springfieldtowne were struggling American colonials in 1775 when they greeted baby Alaric and welcomed him into their family. After that, Jacqueline’s brother, Father Moulin, visited the family regularly and brought with him “gifts”. From the first day little Alaric moved in with the Kneiphausers, the lives of Friedrich and Jacqueline improved like a fairy-tale. Soon Friedrich abandoned dirt farming and set himself up as a “Mortuary Agent”. They purchased a regal white mansion perched on a high bluff off the Morris Turnpike – near the “Short Hills” of Essex – and converted it into a “Home of Repose” for the Dead, becoming the premier purveyor of funerial services and burials in their geographic area.
Jacqueline took to wearing expensive dark dresses with elaborate hats and veils and only was seen in the late afternoon or evenings in the company of Alaric. He grew into was a well-dressed, solitary, pale-faced young man with agile limbs and a ballet dancers’ physique. He wore dark spectacles outside and kept to himself. She taught him French – the language of their home. Even Friedrich rarely spoke English unless he was transacting business. The Kneiphauser home was a subdued and joyless place. Absolutely no religious artifacts or crucifixes were to be seen anywhere and the wait-staff was promptly dismissed at five o’clock PM. They started their duties at eight AM and were paid in coin every week. An “Uncle” named Henri Guilladot was Friedrich’s right-hand man, assisting him in his mortuary duties, obtaining supplies, materials and acting as driver and all-around aide-de-camp. He was also in charge of “security” and was seen regularly with a pistol and large knife in his belt. His physical size alone was intimidating enough; his French nickname – by which everybody knew him – was Bull.
Jacqueline Kneiphauser kept her “Nephew from France” close by at all times. The family never was short of money, and Friedrich bought swathes of land from the Lenape Indians in Northern Jersey, at a place called the “Wanaques”. He also bought sections of the “Morris Plains” and forested acres in the Heights of “Summit”. He became a 33rd degree Mason and a pillar of the Community after swearing he was a devout Lutheran. Jesuit Father Moulin’s “gifts” to them were regular – and bounteous. Freidrich kept a strong box full of Spanish silver and English gold pieces. Bull made sure the Kneiphauser assets and lifestyle was secure. His sharp eyes left no detail to chance.
Of course, having a Mortuary facility allowed Friedrich to drain freshly dead corpses of their still-warm blood and provide Alaric with a consistent supply of nourishment. Alaric had a wirey, sinewy build and was not brutishly robust, so Friedrich and Jacqueline decided that a “traditional” hunter-killer Vampyre life was not for him. His would be a more genteel existance. They could provide everything he needed. With their financing, business, investments and general life assured, the Kneiphausers kept to their own affairs – and associated with others of “like” unorthodox pursuasions.
Jacqueline resumed practicing the “Dark Arts” with her fullest devotion and and soon established a tight circle of men and women who worshiped Satan. Jacqueline identified most male and female supplicants by luring them into her deviant sexual escapades, particularly her new “Hell Fire” club. Wealth isolated the Kneiphausers from prying eyes and uncomfortable questions. Besides, most people were superstitious and rarely wanted to casually socialize or keep company with the local funeral director and his wife.
With the onset of puberty, Alaric seemed to undergo none of the usual passages and awkwardness that human males did. His voice chamged – somewhat – but he didn’t take much notice of the opposite sex. His mother, being quite the afficionato of physical intimacy, could have made certain Alaric was “introduced” to sexuality in a proper manner. But Alaric kept his physical desires in check upon reaching adolescence.
The young man cut quite a figure. He had a fine narrow waist and the beginnings of broad shoulders. He was on the tall side with brooding dark eyes and luxuriant black hair, worn fashionably long – down to his shoulders. His fingers were thin and delicate, like those of a musician. Alaric’s most engaging feature, however, was his face. He had angular features, high cheek bones and a spare, almost cruel mouth enclosing white, perfect teeth. His chin was square and masculine. His eyebrows were full. Alaric was a classical statue of a Greek God come alive. He walked with the deliberate, purposeful stride of a Prince to the Manor Born and spoke in concise, thoughtful sentences. He lacked a sense of humor and appeared unconcerned if others took offense at his comments. Perhaps because he’d had such little interaction with others his own age he failed to develop social skills that most people took for granted. The serving staff at the mansion referred to him as Le Dauphin under their breath. French for “Prince” or heir-apparent.
When Alaric turned sixteen, Friedrich and Jacqueline Kneiphauser finally admitted that their beloved Orphelin needed more life experiences than they could make available to him. His awkward social mannerisms were unacceptable for a gentlemen who was expected to achieve great things in the world. This realization, unfortunately, coincided with a tragedy. Their world was rocked by perhaps the biggest outbreak of syphillis ever recorded in the nascent New Jersey colonial settlements – thirty cases were exposed throughout their relatively insular community in as many days.
Alarmed physicians – there weren’t that many around – voluntarily agreed to “roster” infected patients and investigate their “contacts” to stanch further spread of the disease. Word leaked out – as it always does – and soon community churches and public houses were buzzing with word-of-mouth exaggerations……..ruminations that “legions” of unclean, “Pox-infected” souls were loose on the streets, soiling everyone they came into contact with by merely touching them or breathing on them. Anyone who walked outside with facial birthmarks or birth defects were accused of having “The Pox” and were cruelly shunned and abused.
And here’s where the story takes a macabre turn.
Doctor Jonas Booker of Springfieldtowne was called one day to the home of Clayton Aymesford, a “Cooper” or barrel-maker that regularly provided him and most merchants with their most useful “containers” of the time – barrels. From meat storage to fresh water, grains to spirits – barrels were in demand everywhere. When Dr. Booker saw Mr. Aymesford’s face, he knew something was very wrong. His eyes were dark and sunken, watery and covered with a sickening yellow film. He had blood crusted at the corners of his mouth, obviously from vacant sockets in his gumbs. Most of his teeth were gone. He stunk. Aymesford had rags wrapped around his neck – soaked through in places by what looked to be pus. His hands shook and hair was missing in splotches on his head.
Doctor Booker recognized immediately what he was looking at. Late-stage Syphillis. Aymesford collapsed on a wooden chair and allowed the doctor to examaine him. Large, supporating sores covered his legs, neck and torso. Even the inside of his mouth was a cratered with open and bleeding blisters, some of which erupted open and spewed vile discharge before his very eyes. His breath was unbearable. Pustules enveloped his penis and his urine was a putrid mixture of yellow slime and blood, congealing at the bottom of the buckets he relieved himself in.
Aymesford was dying. Dr. Booker took his “Statement” as part of his investigation of the outbreak. Through fits and coughs, much spitting and expulsions of foul-smelling, greasy and bloody exudate, Booker wrote down the man’s words, creating a document that Aymesford later signed.
“BE IT KNOWN BY THESE PRESENTS:
1. I , Clayton Aymesford.…be a Cooper in Springfieldtowne, New Jersey. I was born in Cambridgeshire, England. I have pledged my troth to the Dark Lord and have signed my Pact with him in blood. I’ve joined the “Circle of Hell Fire” that is presided over by its founder and High Priestess, Jacqueline Kneiphauser. I partake in cursed revelries and Black Masses to worship Satan……..ceremonies that take place deep in the Mortuary basements of Keniphausers’ establishment wherein we congregate. Months ago I attended a High Satanic Rite of Devotion to celebrate the Summer Solstice.
2. Pipes of glowing “Red Dragon” and much alcoholic spirits was consumed by all. We dressed in hooded robes so to hide our nakedness underneath and the men all had carnal knowedge of Mrs. Kneiphauser – some repeatedly – whist she was layed upon the imbalming table of the Morgue……..she called it her “Black Altar” or “Altare Malificarum”. I ejaculated last inside her womb that night. After her joyfully accursed violations, she expelled much semen from her vagina into a silver chalice supposedly stolen from a church in France. To this she added human blood, and – after the rest of us chanted blasphemous prayers to Baphomet – we all of us, men and women, drank of her libation calling it the “Black Communion”. Afterwards, sexual congress was had between all members and their spouses, some sharing their bodies with others or partaking in joined orgiastic satisfaction. All of us had visions of blazing red eyes and heard growls of the unholy beast whilst we howled and cavorted in wild abandon. The Dark Lord was present with us that night! We are his minions forever!
3. My soul is no longer mine own. I praise the Dark One’s name with Hosannas even now and give thanks I will soon repose in his glorious bosom.
I, Clayton Aymesford, have forsaken Jesus and have embraced The Dark Lord. Hail Satan!
SIGNED: /s/ Clayton Aymesford
By the time Doctor Jonas Booker of Springfieldtowne rode in his carriage up the “Morris Turnpike” to Kneiphauser’s Mortuary Establishment in order to confront Jacquleine with the document, she was gone. She had apparently concealed her affliction for quite some time, obscuring her decaying, pustulent body by donning robes and hiding behind flickering candles and opium-fueled frenzies during “Sabbath Mass”. By the time she officiated as High Prietess
over her Satanic “Sommer Solstice” event and was pleasured by Aymesford and countless other men, she was a late-stage, pox-infested, spectacle of ruination. Large oozing sores appeared up and down her legs, covering her “female parts”. Her smell was unbearable and her eyesight was failing. She was weak and feverish, in significant pain – and given to “palsies” and fits of shaking. Friedrich instructed “Bull” to take her and Alaric to her brother, the Jesuit Priest Jean-Francois Moulin in Elizabethtowne. There the Priest would administer to her grains of Mercury and Arsenic – the only treatment for Syphillis known of at the time – and tend to her needs in private until her inevitable demise.
Father Moulin would also immediately book passage for Alaric to set sail for France. The young man was serious and sober for his age – demonstrating a maturity beyond his years. He was more than capable of making the journey. It was high time he commenced his education and social development – and, given Alaric’s origins, only one man could be trusted with those responsibilities: Monsieur Comte de la Mer, Aziel Pindar of Auverge, France.
Within weeks, “Alaric Moulon” was on board the French ship, “Bon Marie Finesse”, bound for Marseille, France. He had in his pocket a forged American Birth Certificate and letters of introduction to the Jesuit Cardinal of Marseille. Sufficient Spanish silver was sewn into his garments to meet any contingency. He also had the company of Henri Duboc, a true “Romani” Gypsy with solid gold front teeth and outlandish costumes whose skill with knives was the stuff of legend in ports the world over. Henri was a professional bodyguard, regularly engaged by the Jesuit Order, who would ensure Alaric was protected and well-fed during his sea voyage and afterwards. Duboc knew most of Europe like the palm of his hand.
For the time being, the “Bon Marie Finesse” carried quite a number of passengers……and people always went missing on trans-Atlantic trips. On this trip, missing souls would leave their blood behind – in jars safely secreted in Alaric’s cabin. Raw meat was available in the galley. Alaric looked upon his trip as an adventure. He felt excited. He was done with Friedrich and Jacqueline’s boring “Provincial” life and would soon spread his wings.
L’Orphelin Alaric didn’t know it, but a rumor was already making the rounds being in certain dark but exclusive circles of European society of a “young Vampyre born of a human womb…..” Soon he would be a celebrity. The world was his oyster…….
Copyright, Jon Croft 2023
Graphic courtesy of Wikipedia.
joncroft52@yahoo.com
