Chapter 16
The next day, on Monday night, 200 priests entered the Stauf house through the stained-glass door. The police and the researchers had found priests from many churches and asked them to sanctify the Stauf house. The priests turned out all the electrical lights and gas lamps, and then, they lit incense all around and went all around the house, blessing every room and every section. They also re-blessed areas that other priests had already blessed. They were doing well, until one moment.
Three priests that blessed the art gallery got an unexpected surprise. Stauf's portrait jumped off the wall and landed on the floor. Stauf's hands came out of the picture and tried to squeeze the priests. They said chants, screamed at the picture, and they did many other things, but nothing seemed to work. Suddenly, all the priests that were blessing the Stauf house were knocked down and trapped in rooms. They did everything they knew to try to save them, but nothing worked. At last, the priests got so fed up that they turned the lights back on, blew the incense out, and left the house in despair.
The rest of the week, the priests did the same thing, but there was no luck. At last, they held a church service in Stauf's chapel the following Sunday. Hopefully, that would help. Unfortunately, there was no success. Stauf appeared in the middle of the service as a sign to show that there was no hope in getting rid of him. The priests still didn't give up. Every Sunday, they held services, but the same thing still kept happening.
The priests decided to always stay in the house to at least keep it under control. On one day of patrol and blessing, Stauf's painting mysteriously appeared in a priest's hands. Its hands came out, and then, the priest dropped the picture and ran.
Finally, the priests decided to give up for a while. They took everything with them, and they left the house through the stained-glass door.