'Devil's letter' written by 17th century possessed nun finally decoded thanks to dark web code 9/9/17, 6:23 PM

World

'Devil's letter' written by 17th century

possessed nun finally decoded thanks to dark
web code
Sister Maria Crocifissa penned the Satanic script in the Palma di Montechiaro

By Josh Robbins
September 7, 2017 18:24 BST

Scientists in Italy have used a piece of code found on the dark web to decipher a 17th
century letter written by a Benedictine nun while she was apparently possessed by Satan.

In 1676 Sister Maria Crocifissa della Concezione woke up to find her face covered in ink
and a letter she had penned in an incomprehensible mix of Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic and Runic
languages.

She and her sisters at the Palma di Montechiaro

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convent in Sicily believed the message had been
delivered by a demon, but they were unable to make any sense of the text.

For centuries, scholars and mystics from across the world would also try in vain to discern
the meaning of the letter.

Now, 361 years later, a team from the Ludum Science Centre in Sicily claim to have
translated 15 lines of the elusive message. What's more, they used a piece of decryption
code found lurking on the dark web.

"Everything's on there: drugs, prostitution, paedophilia, and also programs used by

intelligence services to decipher secret messages, like the one we used," Ludum director
Daniele Abate told Italian radio 105 Network.

The parts of the Devil's letter that Abate and his team have translated discuss the
relationship between God, mankind and Satan. In it, Sister Maria – or whoever had
possessed her – encouraged God to abandon man and leave him in the clutches of the

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'Devil's letter' written by 17th century possessed nun finally decoded thanks to dark web code 9/9/17, 6:23 PM

devil.

"God thinks he can free mortals," it reads, adding: "This system works for no one".

Modern historians take the view that Sister Maria suffered from schizophrenia or bipolar
disorder. She was certainly a talented linguist, demonstrating a mastery of several
languages in different alphabets.

Abate said: "My theory was that this is a precise alphabet, invented by the nun with great
care mixing symbols she knew. Each symbol is well thought out and structured, there are
signs that are repeated, perhaps intentionally or perhaps unconsciously."

Sister Maria is said to have told her fellow nuns that she received two other messages from
the devil. But these were never written down or revealed to another soul.

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Hibernia86 9 hours ago

Don't add "whoever had possessed her" like it is a real possibility. This is just the actions of a
very smart but mentally disturbed woman.

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