"Phantasmagoria" "February 19, 1743" "Extract from letter from police lieutenant Gobert... to officials at police headquarters." "A strange disturbance prevails at Treigny, near Les Balanvilles." "Certain persons are panic-stricken by what they claim to have seen and heard... at nightfall near the cemetary." "February 23" "The panic of the population increases by the day." "People are now attacked at night." "The diabolical behavior of the victims raises the belief... that they're the objects of a hallucination... or other supernatural phenomenon." "March 3" "The victims display seriously disturbed behavior:" "Such as torpor, dementia, and strange somnambulism." "The population is in the grip of a genuine panic:" "they burn witches, sacrifice animals, erect crosses everywhere." "I request relief, as I fear the worst." "Shortly afterward, the region was completely abandoned." "Two centuries went by." "The modern city took over the countryside, architects built houses... the old legends were dead." "And yet, one night last winter... in one of these houses... a strange event once again shocked the town." "The next morning, the young woman didn't know that the strange lassitude... the feeling of emptiness that she tried to shake off... would never leave her." "On the contrary, the state of torpor in which she moved... would never end." "It was a message to come at once to study the plan for a nearby building project." "The meeting was urgently fixed for the next evening." "He had to leave right away." "She wanted to dissuade him." "She was terrified to remain alone." "An anguish, an indefinable uneasiness made her dread her husband's trip." "But he succeeded in convincing her." "At least, he thought so." "Perhaps he shouldn't have gone." "Shouldn't have left her alone." "But the tone of the letter was emphatic;" "he had to be there as soon as possible." "Now he regretted leaving her." "She had seemed so fearful." "Distraught." "It was their first time apart." "But it was the first time he'd been offered such an important job." "He reassured himself that he'd return soon." "As soon as possible." "No one believed in vampires anymore." "Those souls who had cheated death... and who wander aimlessly between earth and heaven." "Vampires only walk at night, feed on the blood of the living... and require fresh earth of the tomb to rest in their coffins... which they enter as the sun rises." "They have a great power over pure beings... who can become their slaves, and help them to fulfill their destiny." "Holy images paralyze them." "The death of children gives them life." "If a strong man can discover their daytime refuge... and drive a stake through the heart... their soul, freed, can abandon the accursed body, which returns to dust." "Thus ends their nightmare, and they'll have the peace of genuine death." "When the vampire succeeds in isolating his chosen target, that person, living under his complete domination... will only exist from then on in a state of torpor." "They will wander through day in search of victims who soon will be sacrificed." "You can't go back now." "You enter a domain no longer human." "If your conscience troubles you... if the things of the outside world are vague... or disappear..." "Beware." "If you can no longer tell the difference... between reality and appearance... the one you're meeting... is a being who has followed the same path as you... before entering the kingdom of shadows." "It's why he seems strange to you... because the language of form differs from that of the mind." "The incoherence of the proposals he puts forth add to your anguish." "But quickly, this will vanish... for you'll become the silent, docile puppet... he'll use to fulfill his destiny." "When he offers to accompany you to your room, you find it a sort of relief." "It seems to you that once alone, your thoughts will clear." "The fatigue of the journey must be the cause of your troubled spirit." "Some rest... sleep..." "Everything will be better in daylight." "However, your disquiet increases... when he tells you that you won't see him tomorrow." "His servant will attend to you." "He has instructions." "The solitude prevents him from living here." "The property is too isolated." "Later, he'll speak to you." "He has new projects for you." "The vampire only lives at night." "And when day comes, in his coffin... borne by the damned soul that serves him... he crosses the water to reach her whom you've left behind." "Isolated from you, she is now completely in thrall to the vampire." "In a state of torpor, she wanders through the day... in search of victims she'll soon sacrifice to him." "She'll carry out acts... of which her clouded mind is unconscious." "Your death is only an appearance." "From now on, your bodies will rise again." "They will be empty in nature." "Isolated, in a grey light of twilight... other beings, lost like you... wander aimlessly in a hostile world." "Unknown, they seek each other out." "They live, according to the legend of the vampire." "According to a legend." "A legend..."