In southern Alsace lay a small town called Ilfit. Some time ago, Napoleon had sent gendarmes there to arrest a band of robbers, and one squad among them had passed through the town.
The robbers enjoyed widespread support among the populace. To avoid alerting them, the gendarmes did not stay in town, instead camping in a forest five miles beyond it.
After arranging the night watch, everyone apart from the sentries went to sleep. It had been an entirely ordinary day, until the squad captain suddenly sensed that something was wrong in the middle of the night. When he got up, he found that the guard on watch had vanished.
He hurriedly woke everyone and extinguished the campfire. Alsace's winters were far colder than Belgium's. After lying prone in the snow for roughly half an hour without seeing any further movement, the captain ordered the others to remain where they were, then went to search for the missing man himself.
He followed the footprints in the snow for about three minutes before finding the soldier. He stood perfectly still in place.
"Joseph," the captain called to him, but Joseph did not react, continuing to stand there like an idiot.
The captain did not dare let down his guard. He lit a torch and threw it toward the patch of darkness Joseph had been staring at. By the firelight, he could clearly see a monument: a thirty-foot stone column, topped with a sculpture of the Holy Spirit conceiving a child, with an inscription carved into its base.
It seemed to have been written in Latin, but the captain did not know Latin. After copying down the words, he tied a rope around Joseph and led him away. Once they returned to camp, Joseph woke up. He had no idea what had