A Cold Mountain
Chapter 10
by Daniel Pears, published on September 15, 2000
September 1st 2000, the afternoon, Cambridge, England
The auditorium was full; almost every seat occupied. His audience had come to hear Professor Aaron Friedman not only because they were familiar with his writings and not only because they had listened carefully to his radio talks on spiritual matters. No, the audience had come because Aaron Friedman was a genuine literary lion, a celebrity. And they would read his books, they vowed to themselves. They would buy them and read them. After all, they were bestsellers. A display table of copies had been set up near the front of the room by the committee of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology. They were for sale, and no doubt Mr. Friedman would be kind enough to autograph them. The titles included: The Ancestry and Life of Godfrey of Bouillon, The Early Church, Jesus and the Zealots, The Mystical Qabalah, The Gnostic Gospels, Quest for the Eternal. All the books sounded intimidatingly intellectual, but the audience vowed to themselves that they would persevere.
Sarah and I entered the auditorium and took a seat. I glanced at the Professor. Aaron Friedman was in his early sixties. He was dressed entirely in black, leaning on a cane. His distinguish silver hair was brushed neatly back, the very picture of a scholarly Cambridge don, his fine hands clasped on the podium, addressing his audience in a deep, dramatic and thrilling voice.
-“We believe lots of things. Different things. Conflicting things. What we believe is a personal choice, a choice we make in the privacy of our thoughts. Yet each of us thinks what we believe is more ‘true’ than any other belief. Our beliefs are in our brains. Our brains create a model of reality in our thoughts. We believe our model of reality is truer than other ideas of reality. If we did not believe it to be the most true, then we would believe that some other idea was closer to an accurate reflection of reality.” He shifted at the podium, transferring his weight onto his cane. “Around the world over the centuries, much has been written about religion, its meaning, its relevance and contribution to humanity. In the West particularly, sizeable tomes have been composed speculating upon the nature and historical background of the main character of Western religions, Jesus of Nazareth. Many have tried to dig into the precious few clues as to Jesus’s identity and come up with a biographical sketch that either bolsters faith or reveals a more human side of this godman to which we can all relate. Obviously, considering the time and energy spent on them, the subjects of Christianity and its legendary founder are very important to the Western mind and culture.”
Aaron Friedman raised his eyes to the ceiling of the lecture hall, obviously passing the buck up to God. “Despite all the literature continuously being cranked out and the significance of the issue, in the public at large is a serious lack of formal and broad education regarding religion and mythology, and most individuals are highly uninformed in this area. Concerning the issue of Christianity, for example, the majority of people are taught in most schools and churches that Jesus was an actual historical figure and that the only controversy regarding him is that some people accept him as the Son of God and the Messiah, while others do not. Shocking as it may seem to the general populace, the most enduring and profound controversy in this subject is whether or not a person named Jesus of Nazareth ever really existed.”
Aaron Friedman paused for effect, turning the blue searchlights of his eyes full on the audience. Then he continued. “The controversy has exited from the very beginning, and the writings of the ‘Church Fathers’ themselves reveal that they were constantly forced by the pagan intelligentsia to defend what the non-Christians saw as a preposterous and fabricated yarn with absolutely no evidence of it ever having taken place in history. Emperor Julian, who, coming after the reign of the fanatical and murderous ‘good Christian’ Constantine, returned rights to pagan worshippers, stated, ‘If anyone should wish to know the truth with respect to you Christians, he will find your impiety to be made up partly by the Jewish audacity, and partly of the indifference and confusion of the Gentiles, and that you have put together not the best, but the worst characteristics of them both.’ The assertion that Jesus is a myth can be proved not only through the works of dissenters and pagans who knew the truth - and who were viciously refuted or murdered for their battle against the Christian priests and ‘Church Fathers’ fooling the masses with their fictions - but also through the very statements of Christians themselves, who continuously disclose that they knew Jesus was a myth founded upon more ancient deities located throughout the known ancient world. For their own admissions, the early Christians were incessantly under criticism by scholars of great repute who were impugned as ‘heathens’ by their Christians adversaries. This group included many Gnostics, who strenuously objected to the canalisation of their deity, as the Christians can be shown to have taken many of the characteristics of their god and godman from the Gnostics, meaning ‘Ones who know’, a loose designation applied to members of a variety of esoteric schools and brotherhoods. The refutations of the Christians against the Gnostics reveal that the Christian godman was an insult to Gnostics, who held that their god could never take human form.”
In the audience, heads were nodding. This was familiar thinking to some of the people present. “The earliest Christian documents, such as the Epistles attributed to ‘Paul’, never discuss a historical background of Jesus but deal exclusively with a spiritual being who was known to all Gnostic sects for hundreds to thousands of years. The few ‘historical’ references to an actual life of Jesus cited in the Epistles are demonstrably interpolations and forgeries, as are, according to Wheless, the Epistles themselves, as they were not written by ‘Paul.’ As Edouard Dujardin ably pointed out, the Pauline literature ‘does not refer to Pilate, or the Romans, or Caiaphas, or the Sanhedrin, or Herod, or Judas, or any other person in the gospel account of the Passion, and that it also never makes any allusion to them; lastly, that it mentions absolutely none of the events the Passion, either directly or by the way of allusion.’ Turning to the gospels themselves, which were composed sometime around the middle of the 2nd century AC, their pretended authors, the apostles, give sparse histories and genealogies of Jesus that contradict each other and themselves in numerous places. The birthdate of Jesus is depicted as having taken place at different times. His birth and childhood are not mentioned in ‘Mark’, and although he is claimed in ‘Matthew’ and ‘Luke’ to have been ‘born of virgin’, his lineage is traced to the House of David through Joseph, such that he may ‘fulfil’ the prophecy. The confusion exists because the Christian plagiarists over the centuries were attempting to amalgamate and fuse practically every myth, fairytale, legend, doctrine or bit of wisdom they could pilfer from the innumerable different mystery religions and philosophies that existed at the time. In doing so, they forged, interpolated, mutilated, changed and rewrote these texts for centuries. Yes? What is it?”
At the back of the room, a hand had gone up, waving impatiently. Aaron Friedman frowned, visibly annoyed. The tradition at the Faculty was that questions were held until the presentation ended, it was poor form to interrupt a speaker. “You had a question?” Friedman asked.
From the back of the room, a young man in his early twenties stood. “Actually,” the man said, “an observation.” The speaker was dark and thin, precise in his movements and manner. “I agree,” the man said, “that Biblical sources contradict each other about Jesus. For example, the accounts of his Passion and Resurrection differ utterly from each other, and no one states how old he was when he died. But I believe that other non-Biblical sources do portray the story of Jesus. If I'm not mistaken, there are several references to a historical Jesus in the works of the Jewish historian, Josephus Flavius. Although perhaps you haven’t yet thought of it.”
The room was silent. At the podium, Aaron Friedman frowned. The eminent Professor was not accustomed to being told he had not thought through his ideas. “Basically,” Friedman said coldly, “there are no non-biblical references to a historical Jesus by any known historian of the time during and after Jesus’s purported advent. Walker says, ‘No literate person of his own time mentioned him in any known writing.’ Eminent Hellenistic Jewish historian and philosopher Philo, alive at the purported time of Jesus, made no mention of him. Nor do any of the some 40 other historians who wrote during the first one to two centuries of the Common Era. You could try to find a conclusive account of a historical Jesus if that amused you. And if you had no more compelling use for your time.”
-“No, no,” the man said earnestly, “I'm quite serious. Surely you cannot deny the historical proof to the existence of Jesus portrayed by Josephus Flavius.”
-“In the entire works of the Jewish historian Josephus, which constitute many volumes, there are only two paragraphs that purport to refer to Jesus. Although much has been made of these ‘references’, they have been dismissed by all scholars and even by Christian apologists as forgeries, as have been those referring to John the Baptist and James ‘brother’ of Jesus.”
At the back of the room, the man stared for a moment. Then reluctantly, he sat down, and began to make notes.
Aaron Friedman waited until the members of the audience turned their worshipful eyes back up the podium. Then, he continued. “It is evident that there was no single historical person upon whom the Christian religion was founded, and that ‘Jesus’ is a compilation of legends, heroes, gods and godmen. There is no adequate room here to go into detail about each god or godman that contributed to the formation of the Jewish Jesus character; suffice it to say that there is plenty of documentation to show that this issue is not a question of ‘faith’ or ‘belief’. The truth is that during the era this character supposedly lived there was an extensive library at Alexandria and an incredible nimble brotherhood network that stretched from Europe to China, and this information network had access to numerous manuscripts that told the same narrative portrayed in the New Testament with different place names and ethnicity for the characters. The legend of Jesus nearly identically parallels the story of Krishna, for example, even in detail, as was presented by noted mythologist and scholar Gerald Massey over 100 years ago, as well as by Rev. Robert Taylor 160 years ago, among others. Krishna was born of the Virgin Devaki. His father was a carpenter. His birth was attended by angels, wise men and shepherds, and he was presented with gold, frankincense and myrrh. He was persecuted by a tyrant who ordered the slaughter of thousands of infants. He was of royal descent. He was baptised in the River Ganges. He worked miracles and wonders. He raised the dead and healed lepers, the deaf and the blind. Krishna used parables to teach the people about charity and love. He lived poor and he loved the poor. He was transfigured in front of his disciples. He died on a tree or was crucified between two thieves. He rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. Krishna is called the ‘Shepherd God’ and ‘Lord of lords’, and was considered ‘the Redeemer, Firstborn, Sin Bearer, Liberator, Universal World.’ In other words, the Jesus story incorporated elements from the tales of other deities recorded in this widespread area, such as many of the following world saviours and ‘sons of God’, most or all of whom predate the Christian myth, and a number of whom were crucified or executed.”
He paused. “The reason why all these narratives are similar, with a godman who is crucified and resurrected, who does miracles and has 12 disciples, is that these stories were based on the movements of the sun through the heaves, an astrotheoloigical development that can be found throughout the planet because the sun and the 12 zodiac signs can be observed around the glob. In other words, Jesus and all the others upon whom this character is predicated are personifications of the sun, and the Gospel fable is merely a rehash of a mythological formula revolving around the movements of the sun through the heavens. For instance, many of the world’s crucified godmen have their traditional birthday on the 25th of December. This is because the ancients recognised that the sun makes an annual descent southward until December 21st and 22nd, the winter solstice, when it stops moving southerly for three days and then starts to move northward again. During this time, the ancients declared that ‘God’s sun’ had ‘died’ for three days and was ‘born again’ on the 25th of December. In some areas, the calendar originally began in the constellation of Virgo, and the sun would therefore be ‘born of a Virgin.’ The ancients realised quite abundantly that they needed the sun to return every day and that they would be in big trouble if the sun continued to move southward and did not stop and reverse its direction. The sun is the ‘Light of the World.’ The sun rising in the morning is the ‘Saviour of mankind.’ The sun wears a corona, ‘crown of thorns’ or halo. The sun ‘walks on water.’ The sun’s ‘followers’, ‘helpers’, or ‘disciples’ are the 12 months and the 12 signs of the zodiac or constellations, through which the sun must pass. The sun is hung on a cross or ‘crucified’, which represents its passing through the equinoxes, the vernal equinox being Easter, at which time it is then resurrected.”
His voice was low, though it filled the room, but as he spoke it grew fuller and fuller, like a brazen bell in one of Cambridge chapel towers. “Ladies and gentlemen, the Christ of the gospels is in no sense an historical personage or a supreme model of humanity, a hero who strove, and suffered, and failed to save the world by his death. It is impossible to establish the existence of an historical character even as an impostor. The Christ is a popular lay-figure that never lived, and a lay-figure of Pagan origin; a lay-figure that was once the Ram and afterwards the Fish; a lay-figure that in one single human form was the portrait and the image of a dozen different gods. Thank you very much.”
There was a long silence as he finished, a silence in which the meaning of his words sank in and created an impression never to be erased. The applause, long, loud and sincere, filled the large auditorium, while Aaron Friedman stood there and smiled his thanks. A knot of people formed around him, to worship and to praise. The chairman tried to hold them back, but they pressed forward, eager for a word, a look, an acknowledge of some kind.
-“Mr. Friedman, what can I say?”
-“Professor, if you have a moment…”
-“Mr. Friedman, I just had to come up and say thank you…”
-“Mr. Friedman, I don’t like to bother you…” said another, fully intent on bothering him.
The chairman interposed his authority between the celebrity and his admirers. ‘I'm sure that what Mr. Friedman would like now is a cup of tea,” he said firmly.
Yes, a cup of tea was precisely what Aaron wanted, what he’d kill for. The chairman bustled off and the large hall began to clear, most people leaving, and a small cluster of diehards waiting to approach the speaker after his tea. Suddenly, Aaron Friedman caught a glimpse of a young woman sitting next to a man. Then in the departing crowd, she was lost to view.
-“Why don’t I go ahead and make sure the tea is ready?” Asked the chairman, pleased with his own efficiency.
-“Do. Yes. Thank you,” Aaron said gratefully. Go to Ceylon and pick the leaves. Go to Jamaica and cut the sugar. Go to Devon and milk the cow. Only – whatever you do – don’t come back in a hurry. In a daze, he pushed his way down the few steps from the stage and through the auditorium, shaking hands and receiving congratulations as he made his way toward the place where the woman had been. Like Moses through the Red Sea, Aaron Friedman crossed dry-shod and stood at last in the front of Sarah Frey. She was even prettier than he remembered, unless it was only in contrast to the drab middle-aged hens who made up part of his audience today. But no, there was a freshness in her cheeks and a sparkle in her fine eyes that lit up her entire being.
-“Hello, Aaron.”
-“What are you doing here?” It was a rude thing to say, not even a ‘hello’ first, but Aaron was unaware of his words.
-“I came to hear you talk,” she said simply.
-“Yes, but…”
-“What am I doing back at work?” Sarah interrupted, and the familiar mischievous gleam flashed in her eyes. “Well, I needed to be alone for a day or two. I didn't want people to be around me, grieving and telling me how wonderful my father had been. Now, I'm ready. The funeral is only next week. Should I ask for your permission?” The corners of Sarah’s lips twitched as she suppressed a smile.
-“No, no…” He took her literally.
-“Do you mind?” Sarah tilted her head to look up at Aaron and her eyes sought his.
-“Me? No. Why should I mind?”
-“That’s all right, then.”
-“I really am very… very surprised to see you, you know.”
-“I wasn't dead. I was only at home.”
-“Yes, of course.” He paused. “Did you like my presentation?”
-“You’re a very good speaker, Aaron. Have always been. However, I don’t fully agree with all what you were saying. It’s quite difficult for a religious person such as I to share the opinions of a convinced atheist.”
-“I'm not atheist, Sarah. I simply believe in facts. Not in magic.”
Sarah motioned to me. “Aaron, let me introduce you to Dr. Gabriel Knight of Yell University. Gabriel, this is Professor Aaron Friedman.” We shook hands.
-“Can I be of any assistance?” The chairman had grown tired of waiting for Friedman in the Committee Room and had come to find him.
-“I'm just talking to some friends of mine,” he said, ignoring him.
-“I'm sorry but the Committee is waiting to entertain, Professor,” insisted the chairman in a proprietorial way. He gave Aaron a grimace with bared teeth, a fixed smile without recognition – just another person annoying their precious guest.
-“we'd like to have a word with you, Aaron,” Sarah said. “Is there some place where we could speak in private?”
-“Why don’t you and your friend come to my house for dinner, this evening? Shall we say eight o’clock?” Aaron suggested.
-“That’s a good idea. Thank you.”
-“See you later, then,” Aaron said as the chairman hauled him off for his tea. He cast one helpless, longing glance back at his two companions.
Sarah and I watched until the Professor, leaning on his cane, had disappeared from the view. Then, Sarah grabbed by arm and pointed to the exit door.
The housekeeper let us through a series of spacious mirrored rooms to a large living-room at the rear of the house where Aaron Friedman was waiting for us, leaning on his cane. Hearing us approach, he turned. His dress was elegant and suited to the season, a white open-necked shirt beneath a linen jacket, casual trousers and canvas shoes. As we stepped forward, Aaron stretched out a hand in greeting.
-“Sarah. Dr Knight. I trust you have had a pleasant drive. I find the weather most beautiful today.”
-“Thank you,” I said. “And it’s very lovely here as well.”
-“Naturally; that is why I live here.” He turned to the housekeeper, who was standing by the French windows. “Mrs Louis, will you bring our guests a glass of something cold? What will you have, my friends?”
-“Apple-juice, please,” Sarah said.
-“What about you, Dr Knight?”
-“I'll have whatever you’re having.”
-“Well, let us have one apple-juice and two glasses of lemonade.”
The housekeeper nodded and slipped away.
-“Please, take a chair.”
When Sarah and I had seated, Aaron looked at Sarah with a frank, penetrating gaze. “You inherited your father’s eyes, I think. I've never noticed that before.”
-“Yes,” Sarah smiled. She turned to me. “Gabriel, Professor Friedman had known my father for many years.”
-“Is that so?”
-“Yes,” Aaron nodded approvingly. “I first met Sarah’s father at Harvard University in 1984. Both of us had worked at the department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies. We had been close friends ever since. I was deeply affected by his sudden death several days ago.” Sarah said nothing in reply. The three of us remained silent for a while. “Well, let us forget about all of this for the moment,” Aaron finally broke the silence, waving a hand impatiently. He turned to Sarah. “You did not like my today’s presentation, then?”
-“I didn't say that, Aaron. You and I simply don’t share the same opinion about the role of religion.”
-“What do you mean?”
-“First of all, before we even start debating it, why Can't you face the fact that you are an atheist? Surely you don’t believe in God…”
-“The narrowest definition of atheism, my dear, is having no belief about gods. Some atheists generalise this to an acceptance of the material universe as a positive expression of rejecting magic as unreal. Atheism arises from a way of thinking about reality. Atheists rely upon external evidence to verify internal perceptions.”
-“Is it not what you did during your presentation?”
-“Not at all,” the Professor leaned a little forward. “I use reason, logic and scientific methodology to observe the universe, collect data, validate data, test ideas and repeat findings. Atheists are pretty much similar to the most convinced religious people: they believe that only their perception of the world counts. They are persuaded that their belief is more ‘true’ than any other belief. I, on the other hand, am well aware of the fact that my knowledge is incomplete and that we must incorporate new information into our model of reality. As for God Himself, you might say that I don’t believe in God. I believe in the necessity of a God and the importance of religions.”
-“As far as I'm concerned,” Sarah said, “Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with the Creator God of the universe. All the religions of the world have one thing in common that is they all say you have to do something or become something to find God. You have to work the way to God. You have to be good enough. Only Jesus offers grace; grace is undeserved favour, a free gift. The Holy Bible says ‘For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is God.’ This is contrary to human nature pride that says ‘I can do it myself.” Our attitude is, ‘my life is my own and I'll do with it as I want.’” She paused. “All you have to do is believe, and accept Jesus into your heart. The deeper I get into knowing and experiencing God one thing becomes more and more obvious: I am, all that I ever have been, and all that I ever will be is totally one hundred percent the result of God’s awesome grace.”
-“As you know, my dear,” the Professor said softly, “I come from a Jewish orthodox family. During my childhood in Poland, I went to the Yeshiva where I studied the Torah. Then came the Nazis. They took all the Jewish people of my village, my family and I included, and sent us to Auschwitz. Fortunately, I was able to escape from the train that was taking us to the concentration camp thanks to a Jewish villager, Abraham Bartov was his name. He was a very practical man. He managed to open the door of our compartment and we both jumped out. My father, and the rest of the Jewish orthodox men and women, refused to jump. God will help us, they said. Do you know what happened to all those believers, Sarah? They were gazed to death at Auschwitz: men, women and children. Where was your merciful God then?” He raised his voice. “Why didn't he stop it? Is God not supposed to be good and loving? Why does God appear indifferent to the suffering of innocents? The three central conclusions that I've reached are these: If God is all-powerful and can prevent evil, but does not prevent it, then God is not all-loving; if God intends to prevent evil but cannot, then God is not all-powerful; if God does intend to prevent evil, and is capable of preventing it, then how can evil exist?”
-“I think that you are omitting a forth conclusion,” Sarah remarked.
-“Which is?”
-“According to C.S. Lewis, it is because God loves us that he makes us the gift of suffering. We’re like block of stone, out of which the sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much, are what make us perfect. I'm not sure that God particularly wants us to be happy. I think He wants us to be able to love, and be loved. He wants us to grow up.”
The housekeeper reappeared with a tray on which were three tall glasses. Friedman thanked her and raised his glass. “To friendship.”
The lemonade, when I tasted it, was delicious, a perfect balance between sweet and tart. “It’s simply delicious, Professor Friedman. I've never tasted such an exquisite lemonade.”
-“Please, call me Aaron,” he smiled. “It is a real lemonade, not that revolting concoction they sell by the name in bottles here.” He sipped his drink. “Tell me, Dr Knight…”
-“Gabriel,” I interrupted him.
-“Of course… Gabriel. What do you think about my presentation. You haven’t spoken much so far.”
-“To be frank with you, I've never been a religious man. Personally I don’t understand the common defence that Christians use: that God does not exercise direct control over us because he loves us. It would seem to me that it would be more characteristics of a loving God if he did exercise control over us so that we do not hurt each other, steal from each other, or kill each other. Would it make sense for me to allow one of my sons to kill one of my other sons, under the guise of loving them, by letting them have freedom? Love, by any definition that I have heard of, does not behave in this manner. If you say that your definition of love is inadequate in defining God’s love, because your love is based on a human standard then one must ask what standard are you using? Clearly you are using your own mind to define love, as a result you are also using a human standard.” I took a deep breath. “Therefore, it is useless for you to say God loves or God is love. It’s quite a curious predicament that Christian apologists put themselves in when they say that human reason cannot define God because God defies all things known to reason, and then in the same breath they define in an extremely specific matter what God’s will is, what God thinks is right and wrong, and what God’s intention is towards humanity.”
-“That’s very interesting, Gabriel,” Aaron smiled. “I tend to you agree with to a certain extent. There is and always has been only one purpose of religion: to rule men. No other reason could possibly be offered for the myriad arbitrary laws of all various religions. The sermons of preachers everywhere are centred around one theme: obedience. Notice that churches, synagogues or Mosques of all sorts are led by some group of elite who claim to know the will of their god and are more willing to make sure that everyone knows just what that will is. What is odd is that the will of this supreme, omnipotent, omniscient being differs so radically depending on whom is attempting to enforce it.”
-“Precisely,” I nodded approvingly, glancing at Sarah. “Furthermore, it is pointless to say that God allows us exercise our will in order that we may learn from our mistakes. One must ask if God is omnipotent why Can't he create us to perfection without going through these struggles. The only reason why your father or my father tells us to go to school and struggle through our mistakes is because they do not have the power to instil within us the capacity to function properly, using their own power. Does your father make you beg for food when he can give it to you? Does he make you go to school so that you can provide for yourself in the future because he knows that he will not always be there for you? Yet, the ‘Holy Father’ is eternal, so such logic would not apply. There is no need for you to struggle to learn anything, unless it is God’s intent for you to exist without him. Of course this is quite contrary to the Judeo-Christian perspective.”
-“Your arguments are highly interesting, Gabriel,” Aaron remarked. “Have you written many books on the subject?”
-“Several ones, yes.” Another lie…
-“You should give me their titles. I am most interested in purchasing them. You’re from Yell University, aren't you?"
-‘That’s right?”
-“Teaching what?”
-“History.”
-“Is that so?” The Professor sipped his lemonade. “Anyway, it’s truly amazing that in this age people still believe in the supernatural. Two thousand years ago, people believed in things like virgin births, burning bushes that talk and the like, but they also believed in ghosts, witches, dryads, elves, dragons and just about anything else they were told. Today we have, through the inventions of antibiotics, conquered most diseases that earlier generations died of, we have put men on the moon, have identified in the subatomic the very stuff of which the universe is made, have invented machines that can process millions of pieces of information per second, and have revealed many secrets of nature. No longer do most people believe in ghosts, wood spirits or lycanthropy. The fact that people still believe in God is quite curious. However,” he glanced at Sarah,” I do believe God is necessary for a sound society because a sound society depends upon morality and morality depends upon God. The fact is that reality is the final arbiter of morality, and God has no part in reality.”
-“You might be surprised, Aaron,” I said, “but I do believe in paranormal activity.”
-“You do?” The Professor sounded amused. “An eminent doctor of Yell University who believes in ghosts and witches… That sounds interesting. Tell us more about it, please.”
-“Yes, Gabriel,” Sarah intervened, challenging me. “Pray go on.”
I was trapped. I couldn't say anything about my Schattenjager’s activities in front of the Professor. Or could I? I had to find a non-risky story. “Well, I grew up in New Orleans. This city is known for many unusual things such as Jazz music, Jazz funerals, the Mardi Gras and its unique cuisine- file gumbo, crawfish étouffée and café au lait. But the Crescent City, so called because of its unusual shape formed between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River, is also known for something else far less jovial: its famous ‘Cities of the Dead,’ elaborate cemeteries with marble or cement tombs which stand well above the ground. Likewise, the city is known for its exotic history rich in the paranormal; a history of spiritualism, of Voodoo and of ghosts. Ghosts can be found almost everywhere in New Orleans, if you believe the legends. There are ghosts resulting from war, natural disasters and from the interpersonal conflicts.” I paused. “And I was personally involved in one of these ghosts stories.”
-“You must be kidding!” The Professor laughed.
-“Come on, Aaron,” Sarah said. “Let him continue.”
-“You've probably heard about General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. He was the most famous Civil War soldier from New Orleans. He had a residence in the city and a plantation outside of town. For a very brief period of time, he had been the commandant of West Point before the war, and during the Civil War served the Confederacy with great distinction.”
-“Yes, I read about him,” Sarah exclaimed. “wasn't he the one who fired the first shots at Fort Sumter? He also helped win the great Southern victory at First Manassas and later in the war conducted a brilliant defence at Petersburg in Virginia, supporting General Robert E. Lee.”
-“That’s him,” I smiled. “But one battle always haunted General Beauregard. This was the terrible tow day battle of Shiloh, the first major engagements in the West. Thousands of men on each side died in that struggle where some of the war’s greatest commanders fought, in addition to Beauregard- Albert Sidney Johnston, Nathan Bedford Forrest, William T. Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant. On the first day the Confederates under Albert Sidney Johnston surprised the Yankees driving them back to Pittsburgh landing on the Tennessee River. General Beauregard acted bravely, helping to bring the Rebels to the gates of victory. The command passed to Beauregard who saw the long first day of battle end and anticipated the coming morn when he hoped to finish the foe. But that was not to be. Another entire Union army appeared under General Buell and came to Grant’s relief. Beauregard was now outnumbered and could only defend and eventually withdraw. The field was covered by thousands of dead soldiers – 23 000 casualties in all. The severe loss of life on the blood-soaked field would, according to legend, make its way back to New Orleans. When I was about 16 years old, my friend and I penetrated to Beauregard house on Chartres Street. It was a moonless night. We walked along the empty corridors of the old manor and suddenly we saw him.”
-“Who?” Sarah asked expectantly.
-“General P.G.T Beauregard himself. He was dressed in Rebel grey, sadly whispering the haunting word: Shiloh.”
Both Sarah and the Professor laughed to tears.
-“You are truly amazing, Gabriel,” Aaron finally said. “General Beauregard…” At that moment, a gong sounded from the hallway. Aaron emptied his glass and put it on the table. “Mt dear friends, I believe dinner is served.”
We stood up. It was only then that I first noticed the balcony outside the window. Stepping on to it, I looked out at the darkening garden. There was a spacious terrace below as well.
-“Are you coming, Gabriel?” Sarah asked.
-“Let him admire the view, my dear,” the Professor said. He turned to me. “It’s quite something, is it not?”
-“The grounds that surround your house are simply marvellous, Aaron.”
-“Take your time, my friend. We’ll be waiting for you at the dinning room.”
When they left the room, I looked down again and suddenly my attention was drawn by a sharp sound below, like a footstep. Part of the terrace was visible from where I stood. I heard a man’s voice, not Aaron’s. A moment later, I caught sight of a blue shirt, flashing into view and out of sight again. I gazed down at the yard again, but the figure had already vanished. Were we being followed again? Was it the mysterious man from the train who had been following me the previous day? At least I was sure of one thing: it couldn't have been the ghost of General Beauregard.
Last update: October 24, 2007
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