In the region of La Roche, as well as in its surroundings, everyone knows well what sheta is. Sheta is a gathering of dark forces, a devilish procession, in which not only the souls of dead sinners take part, but also living people - sorcerers and witches who find pleasure in hellish amusements. If late at night your ears suddenly reach your ears with some strange screams, howls, the ringing of chains or a special sound similar to the clatter of many feet running along a rocky road, then you know that there is a sheta somewhere nearby, and, for the love of God, do not be curious, because hearing the noise of a terrible gathering is not so bad, but seeing the raging evil spirits with your own eyes is extremely dangerous! This is eloquently evidenced by a story told by Jean Brodard, a resident of the village of La Roche:
“Mother used to say that there was a time when a devilish procession often rushed past our village, and one fine day people decided to put an end to this disgrace...
It all started when a certain girl, hearing howls, screams and moans outside the windows, could not resist the temptation to look at the sheta with at least one eye. Why didn’t she listen to her parents’ advice and go outside! A couple of minutes later she came running back, and what would you think? The poor girl's face and body were covered with pimples and warts, which did not go away for a long time. The girl never really saw anything, because a strange illness came over her as soon as she crossed the threshold of her farm.
Of course, this terrible incident worried all the inhabitants of our village, and they had a desire at all costs to force witches, ghosts and other evil spirits to move their meetings somewhere else, away from Christian homes. It was decided to place an image of the Virgin Mary on the path of the hellish procession. A small figurine of the Virgin Mary was attached to a tall tree, next to which disgusting moans and howls were often heard at night. People really hoped that the holy face would scare away the spirits of darkness and force them to deviate from their intended path.
With great excitement everyone was waiting for the sheta to appear. Fast days have come - a time when good Christians more often remember the souls of the departed and when people from the other world rage with particular fury.
And then, one evening, people heard that the Sheta was approaching. A few minutes later, the devilish procession, with wild laughter and singing, was already marching along the village houses. She headed straight for a tree with a holy image in its branches. Will nothing stop her? Trembling with fear, people listened to the noise, trying to understand what was happening there in the night. Suddenly the hellish song stopped and the laughter died down. A moment later, a monstrous howl and roar was heard. Sheta stopped. The fact is that the leader of the procession was Satan himself, and this gentleman’s beliefs did not allow him to pass next to the Most Pure Face.
People saw from their windows how a thousand small lights, into which the participants of the procession had turned, lined up in a row, rushed away from the tree with incredible speed and soon disappeared out of sight. Perhaps this was the only time when mere mortals had to see the sheta with their own eyes.
Since then, demons and witches have stopped disturbing the good people of our village. All this evil spirits were very frightened by the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary that appeared on her way. The only pity is that the tree to which it was attached was cut down by someone.
Priest Hugo Ole from the village of Matran said that in the Alps travelers often hear strange sounds - quiet singing, whistling, howling, and even a loud roar. Sometimes they resemble the meow of a cat or the cry of an owl, sometimes they resemble the music of an orchestra playing some strange instruments. Father Hugo himself hears them from time to time, when, in the company of village schoolchildren, he goes for a walk in the mountains, wanders among the rocks in search of crystals and rare plants, and spends the night in shepherd’s huts. In his opinion, such acoustic phenomena are caused by air currents that make their way through gorges or slide along potholes in rocks. And another connoisseur of the Swiss Alps, writer S.M. Persky, used to say that mysterious music in the mountains “is played on Aeolian harps of an ancient style, the bow of which is the breeze (local wind), and the strings are thin needles and granite plates.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru