He rode beside Joan of Arc, a national hero made Marshal of France. But in the shadows of his castle, whispers told of something far darker. In this episode of The Paranormal Collective, we descend into the life and legend of Gilles de Rais — knight, child murderer, and occult conspirator. Did he really summon a demon named Barron? Was there a grimoire written in blood? Or have myth and history become inseparably tangled? Explore one of the darkest true stories of medieval France, where war, witchcraft, and legend collide.

🔹 Historical and Trial Sources

• Gilles de Rais, trial records (translation excerpts in: R. Hyatte, Laughter for the Devil, 1984)

• Bossard, Eugène. Gilles de Rais dit Barbe-Bleue, 1885.

• Trexler, M. “Sympathy for the Devil: Gilles de Rais and His Modern Apologists,” Fifteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 37, 2012.

• Bataille, Georges. Le Procès de Gilles de Rais, 1965.

• Huysmans, Joris-Karl. Là-Bas (Down There), 1891.

• Crowley, Aleister. Lecture: Gilles de Rais – Witchcraft and Politics, 1930 (reprinted archives).

• Murray, Margaret. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, 1921.

• Warner, Marina. From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers, 1994.

• Tatar, Maria. Secrets Beyond the Door: The Story of Bluebeard, 2004.

• Delarue, Paul. The Borzoi Book of French Folk-Tales, 1956.

• Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on Gilles de Rais.

• JSTOR archive entries on the Gilles de Rais trial and Bluebeard mythology.

• Brill & De Gruyter historical demonology texts (accessed via institutional databases).

🔹 Cultural and Occult Analyses🔹 Folklore and Myth Studies🔹 General Biographical and Historical Context