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Croiset the Clairvoyant - Jack Harrison Pollack

Probing with a Priest

A Catholic priest once observed first hand, the paranormal powers of the Utrecht paragnost while working on a case with him.

On Tuesday, September 13, 1960, Croiset was telephoned at his home by the Reverend Father Grauw of the Our Lady of Peel Convent from Sevenum about sixty-five miles away, a small agricultural town in the southern province of Limburg, a Dutch fence between Belgium and Germany.

Did the sensitive have any impressions about a boy named Hans Hermans who disappeared several days ago?

"I see a bicycle, Father," instantly replied Croiset. "The boy rode off on it." (Correct. The missing boy was last seen leaving his parents' home on his bike.)

“Did they find this bicycle?" inquired the priest.

"Yes, in the woods. [Correct.]

When I leave the woods, I come to a sand path. After that, I reach a macadam road. [Correct.]

Close to the woods where the bike is, a Volkswagen must have been standing. [Correct.]

The best thing, Father, is for you to come to see me in Utrecht tomorrow morning with a photograph of the boy and a map of the surroundings."

Early the following morning, Croiset was also telephoned by Mr. Carel Enkelaar, then editor of the Netherlands Television News, who likewise asked about the same lost boy.

"I will tell you privately as a friend but not to use on TV," confided the clairvoyant. "I see that the boy was buried in the earth near the surface. I see bushes and small oak, alder, and fir trees. In this immediate area, the boy must now be lying." [Correct. The boy's body was later found in an asparagus field, near a thicket of small trees and bushes, buried close to the surface.]

Shortly afterwards, at about 10:30 A.M., Father Grauw arrived at Croiset's home in Utrecht. While they were exchanging greetings, the telephone rang. The call was for the priest. A brother at his convent reported that Hans's body had just been found in the woods, buried close to the surface.

Though Croiset was not present during this telephone call, when Father Grauw returned to the other room, the paragnost remarked, "The boy's body has just been found."

After the priest confirmed this, Croiset said: "Now, we must find the murderer. I see a man about 1.70 meters tall. He is stout with dark hair. He wears a dark grey suit but his light shirt is most striking. He walks bent down behind the boy." [This description of the murderer proved accurate, including his walking stooped behind his victim. But he was an inch taller than Croiset stated].

Four days later, on Sunday, September 18, while the murderer was still at large, Croiset drove Professor Tenhaeff and the late author Gustav Regler, who was visiting the Parapsychology Institute from Mexico, to the Our Lady of Peel Convent in Sevenum. There, they picked up Father Grauw and then drove on to the spot where Hans Herman’s body had been found. After they saw the woods described by Croiset near the asparagus field, the paragnost had these detailed further impressions :

"Here in this thicket, the boy's body has lain for some time . . . he was murdered near the hedge-berry shrub. The boy rode his bike on the main path. Over there, near those coppices 200 meters from the corner of the woods, the culprit stopped the boy. When the boy got off his bike, the man tried to seize him. The boy ran away. But the man followed him on his own bike.  Again and again, the boy escaped him. The man noticed on his left that people were working. He also saw other people approaching. 

The culprit was now afraid that somebody would recognize him, or describe him to the police. So he decided to murder the boy.  He took a cord from his pocket. He had originally intended just to tie the boy's hands with it. But now, instead, he used it to strangle the boy. He dragged the body further into the woods. When he saw his chance to disappear without being seen, he walked around the asparagus field and hid behind two fir trees with the boy's bike. Then he hid the bike. He bicycled down the path which runs along the asparagus field.

He quickly made a right-hand turn earlier than he wanted to because he saw a blue Volkswagen on his left.” [Later police investigation corroborated the accuracy of Croiset’s images. Hans, indeed, had resisted and tried to escape but was captured by the murderer who strangled him when he grew frightened at the sight of approaching people. The killer also later hid the boy's bicycle.]

After leaving the murder scene, Croiset and the searching party strolled to where the boy's bike had been found. There, the sensitive was drawn to the exact spot, like a piece of steel to a magnet. Father Grauw was 'the only person there who knew the location but, as he walked some distance behind Croiset, he didn't give the paragnost the slightest clue.

The priest was stunned at Croiset’s instant recognition of the precise spot.

When the group drove back to the convent, Croiset pointed out several landmarks, including a harrow, which he linked directly with the murderer. "I see a spade, “ he said. ..It was used by the criminal" in digging a hole to bury the boy. He first tried to dig it with his hands but when he failed, he left to fetch a spade."

Later during his talk with the Adjutant of the state police Mr. Verhagen, at the convent, Croiset again mentioned this spade, saying, "The culprit used a spade covered with a white substance." This remark startled the adjutant because only a few police officers knew about it. Indeed, a spade found at the murder scene showed traces of loam, sand, and cement.

Croiset also told the adjutant that on the drive back to the convent, past the tiny village of Zeilberg, he had become alarmed (a fact confirmed by the other two persons in the car) when he had noticed a fair being held there. "I got a picture of the culprit visiting this fair," the clairvoyant reported. Later, after the murderer's arrest, investigation revealed that he had visited the fair following the crime and had sat in a restaurant there brooding for some time.

Croiset also told the amazed police official that Hans's murderer had committed a public indecency before the crime-which also proved to be correct.

Several days after this trip to Sevenum, Croiset brought to the Parapsychology Institute a photograph of an acquaintance whom he said resembled Hans's murderer. Croiset contacted this man and after the purpose of the experiment was explained to him, this acquaintance agreed to permit his photograph to be taken in a white shirt by Croiset's son, Henri. Why? Because the clairvoyant had "seen" the murderer walking around wearing a white shirt. Parapsychologist Tenhaeff promptly forwarded this photograph to the adjutant.

Several months later, on February 20, 1961, the adjutant replied that he thought it strange that Croiset had his acquaintance photographed in a white shirt because on September 11, 1960, the murderer had, indeed, walked around the Sevenum woods about 12:30 A.M. in such a shirt. Moreover, the police inspector agreed that the photographed man definitely resembled Hans's murderer.

In summarizing his gifted paragnost's help in this case, the Director of the Parapsychology Institute conservatively wrote, Croiset obtained some correct impressions about the culprit and the manner in which he acted. How useful they were to the police in tracing the guilty man, I am not in a position to say. However, after the culprit was arrested and the data furnished by Croiset was re-examined, it must be recognized that the paragnost's information was correct on many points."