The Bell Ringer of Death

The Bell Ringer of Death

A village lost in the Michoacan highlands, whose name I was asked not to mention. It was the setting for this strange, creepy real-life story. The locals began to realize that something was not right with Father Juan when one Sunday, in the middle of the twelfth mass, he showed up in an inconvenient state. Drunk as a vat, the priest could barely reach the altar before stumbling and fall shamefully. His acolytes picked him up and took him to the sacristy. The Mass was canceled and, while the people went away murmuring, the blessed who never miss persigned themselves thinking that, to their parish priest, always so kind, the devil had entered. In truth, poor Father Juan had long been immune to this disease called alcoholism, and he had managed to keep the secret until that day. And the people, who are rarely merciful, began to avoid him instead of helping him. Fewer and fewer people attended his Masses, even though he had made promises to train them to regenerate. The notorious absenteeism took its toll on the mood of the religious, who immersed himself more and more deeply in alcohol. One afternoon, on the bus at four o'clock, a letter arrived for him, it was from the diocese of the place. Important people in the village had complained about his conduct. He was strictly ordered to leave the town and report to the head of state to be degraded with ignominy. That is, they would withdraw the habit and he would cease to be a priest. It was more than this sick and tormented soul could endure. That same night, he threw the bells and the people gathered before the church, more out of morbidity than out of true compassion. Great was the surprise and scandal that caused them to see Father John, dressed in his officiant garb, standing at the top of the bell tower and perfectly sober. -- "My God, forgive me!" - shouted the priest before the silent people---. I am a messenger of death! Embrace me even though I am not worthy to approach you.

A unanimous cry erupted from the crowd when the ill-fated Father John jumped from the bell tower and gu to crash to the pavement, twelve meters below. His lifeless body was buried outside the cemetery, because being buried in sacred territory is forbidden to suicides. Soon, another, younger, healthier father was sent to relieve the dead priest. As the memory of the villages is usually short, soon people forgot the former parish priest when the scandal paled by dint of being commented on again and again in the portals and in the houses. It wouldn't be long before they remembered him again. ... Father Azrael was happy with his parish. He deeply regretted the sad end of his predecessor, and prayed every night for the salvation of his soul. As a religious man, he knew that Father John had no forgiveness according to the laws of the church but that God, in infinite mercy, could understand that this wayward soul had only committed the sin of getting sick. Azrael was modern enough to understand that alcoholism is not a vice, but an authentic progressive, incurable and mortal suffering, and that, in that sense, it was not a sin, but an authentic cross. One night, after "saying" his prayers and "praying" the usual Lord's Prayer for Father John's soul, Father Azrael thought he "heard" noises in the sacristy. He looked out with a battery-powered flashlight, it was necessary to "save" the little electricity that arrived, rationed to that town lost in the mountains. In the midst of the shadows, he seemed to "see" the silhouette of a priest hurriedly crossing the door that led to the stairs that led to the bell tower. I was about to follow her when, suddenly, the church bells began to ring. Stunned, Father Azrael could see how the strings went up and down without anyone touching them. Persigning himself, he tasted on his knees and from his soul came a prayer: -- My God! Help!. The next day, there was a death in the village. One of the elderly women who lived with her granddaughter was found dead in her room. The village doctor ruled that it had been a cardiac arrest. Father Azrael administered the last sacraments to the body, which was buried in the cemetery. He had to make an effort of will to "dominate" the violent fear that he continued to feel since he saw the apparition and the bells had been thrown into the flight, a fact that he had not commented on with no one. The affair was repeated a week later. Again, Azrael heard noises in the sacristy and glimpsed the figure of a priest who closely resembled the widespread Father John "climbing" the stairs of the bell tower. The bells rang, and the next morning, two children who had gone out into the camp were found dead. They had drowned in the river.

...