Carlos Signei de Souza (photo), a businessman from Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo, became a Spiritist in 1994 and is now in the board of the Spiritist Centre A Caminho da Luz, an enthusiastic volunteer in the Spiritist Movement. But his conversion to Spiritism came at the end of years of attacks by disoriented spirits at his home, as he tells us in this interview:  What mediumship events led you to Spiritism?  I can’t say that in a first instance it was mediumship events that led me to

What phenomena exactly were taking place? 

It was all sorts of things: spirits walking around the house and making noise, stamping the floor; also in my room, I was thrown violently from the bed towards the wall in the middle of the night and often, as I slept, I felt pressure down my throat, something that made me feel like I was being hanged. There were many other phenomena: pans and pots and the crockery banging, my younger daughter, who was still a baby, used to shout, scared by the assault of dark spirits. I could feel their presence through the negative energy they released and by the images of dark shadows. It all lasted nearly 4 years. Eventually I lost practically everything I owned and finally decided to seek help. 

Did other people witness the phenomena? 

Yes. I have three daughters, and it was only the middle one who couldn’t feel, hear or see the phenomena. Once a friend was at home with us and we were drinking wine in the living room when he asked me what was going on upstairs. He could hear the noise of dozens of people walking upstairs. I then told him that there was no one upstairs and added that even if there were people up there, we wouldn’t be able to hear their steps, as the floor was made up of 20cm-thick concrete slabs. To prove my point, I asked my wife to go upstairs and tread on heavily. The noise stopped. I explained to him that the spirits had gone quiet. He left and never came back. 

So what did you do about it, to deal with that situation? 

A neighbour who was a Spiritist and a medium could see spirits massed around a big mango tree in the front garden. I decided to begin attending a Spiritist Centre, but obstacles always came up: I would have a breakdown; there were accidents on the road that delayed me etc. It was only on my fifth attempt that I managed to get there. I was helped, went through the proper treatment, which required dedication and lasted for about 6 years. 

Did you check the possible reason for the events in that home? 

Not officially, but I eventually remembered that when I was 15 I had a friend who lived in that house. We thought she had disappeared but instead she had locked up in her room, which many years later became my room. She had been made a hostage for 30 days, the object of vulgar mediumship experiences aimed at hurting other people. When I bought the house, I had completely forgotten it. It was a good price, but the house was completely destroyed. The people who lived there seemed to be completely deprived of any energy. I had to knock down part of the house, as the previous owners had abandoned the three rooms on the front. In previous years, as the roof tiles were falling or breaking; they did nothing to replace them, they were like paralysed. 

Did it all become clear to you when you finally approached Spiritism?

The Spiritist Doctrine was the light that gave a new insight into the phenomena and into was going on in my life. Spiritism has made me a better person. I was a successful executive and was, in my view, unfairly dismissed. But that was what I needed for later setting up my own company, which provides me the spare time to take part in a weekly programme at the Spiritist radio network, Boa Nova, and to get fully engaged in my activities at the Spiritist Centre A Caminho da Luz. I am now divorced by I enjoy a healthy, good relationship with my ex-wife and children – they all work with me… 

Did the phenomena carried on after you embraced Spiritism? 

As I said before, the attack lasted for 6 years. The phenomena are now over, but the internal fight for self-improvement continues. 

If you go back in time and think about it, what would you say about what happened to you? 

Don’t let it happen to you what happened to me. It was hard work for the Spiritual World to put me on my right track, back on the path I had agreed before this incarnation and that I had conveniently forgotten. How many spirits were involved, how many phenomena had to be produced so that I went back to my original path! 

Would like to add anything else? 

I would like to thank profusely the special friends who helped me, the mediums, everyone at the Spiritist Groups Daniel and A Caminho da Luz and also to my Spiritual Benefactors, who, thanks God, never gave up on me. I am free to think, to live, but mainly to study and living according to the principles of the Spiritist Doctrine. How good it is to be able to opt for Jesus not out of need, but simply out of gratitude…