Simon Cordier

Biography
Simon Cordier was a French magistrate who lived in France during the latter half of the 19th century. In 1874, Simon's young child passed away from an incurable illness. Shortly thereafter, his wife, unable to cope with the loss of her son, took her own life.

In 1886, Magistrate Cordier sentenced a young man named Louis Girot to death for the murder of four people. He was slated to be executed by way of guillotine in less than three days. Cordier could not make any sense of Girot's crime, and when the latter asked to speak with him, he agreed to hear him, hoping to obtain a confession. Louis Girot maintained his innocence and stated that something took control of him and made him kill those four people. Magistrate Cordier didn't believe Girot's story and all but accused him of lying. As the two conversed within Girot's cell, a strange blue light emanated from Louis' eyes and he flew into a wild rage. Simon was forced to beat him down and he knocked him into the stone wall, accidentally killing him.

When Simon Cordier returned home, he entered his study and found that an old portrait of his wife and son had been placed upon the wall. This rankled Simon because he initially had the portrait removed when his wife and child died more than twelve years ago. He inquired with his butler Pierre about it, but Pierre claimed to know nothing. Disturbed, Simon took the portrait down and returned it to the attic. Simon's attic also doubled as his art studio. He had a clay bust of his dead wife sitting on a pedestal. Simon was startled when he saw the words "Hatred is Evil" drawn in the dust on the pedestal. He tried to show it to Pierre, but Pierre, being of advanced age, couldn't really see anything. Simon looked again, but this time the words had disappeared.

The next day, Simon went to work and was astonished to find the Louis Girot crime file sitting on his desk. Someone didn't file it away like they should have. He asked his court clerk, Martin, about the file, but Martin didn't know anything about it. Returning to his office, he witnessed an unseen hand knocking an ink bottle over, spilling ink all over the Girot file. He then began hearing a haunting, laughing voice in his head taunting him. This was the Horla. A Horla was a disembodied spirit that could maintain a tangible, albeit invisible form. It could likewise possess people causing them to do things that they would not otherwise do. Cordier was sick with exhaustion from the affair and could not even sit in at court that day. He didn't believe that any such creature existed, but he did grow concerned over his own sanity. The Horla however, was determined to convince Simon that he was a force to be reckoned with. He took control of Simon's body and a strange, blue glow filtered across his eyes. Simon then killed his pet parakeet, Kiki. Realizing that killing pets was a bit macabre, Simon decided to go see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist's efforts proved fruitless and Simon was no better off than he was before.

Walking home, he wandered past the D'arville art gallery. Here he met Odette Mallotte. Odette was a model working for Paul DuClasse, whose work was on display at the D'arville gallery (Odette was actually married to Paul, but Simon didn't know this at the time). Simon decided to invite her over to his place for some modeling. As Odette sat for him, Simon recited words from a poem and used the ingellect expected of one of his station to charm her. He then begins to make a sculpture of Odette's face.

After Odette left, the Horla made his presence known in Simon's attic. He transformed the smiling image of the sculpture into one of bitterness, exclaiming that this was the real face of Odette Mallotte. A short time later, Simon was standing in front of a mirror, but could not see his reflection because the Horla was standing before him. The Horla then threw open the lid to a wooden chest and dragged out the picture of Mrs. Cordier and their dead son. The Horla blamed Simon for his wife's death, intimating that he drove her to suicide after their child fell dead from an illness. Simon had an emotional break-down and tried to drive the Horla away. The Horla left, but only because of his own desire to do so. He warned that he could control Simon any time he wants and that he would have him kill for him if he so chose.

A few days later, Simon came up with another plan to seduce Odette. He bought one of Paul DuClasse's paintings that Odette modeled for and hung it in his living room. The house servants, Pierre and his wife Louise, were happy to know their boss was falling in love once again. Odette came over and Simon showed her the painting. He then gave her a necklace that once belonged to his dead wife. The two decided to get married. Odette neglected to mention that she was already married.

Paul on the other hand, had learned that his wife has been spending too much time with the magistrate. He went over to Cordier's place to confront him. They argued about Odette, but Simon told him that Odette was old enough to decide for herself which man she preferred to be with. Paul tried to blackmail Simon by publicly revealing the affair, but Simon was unwavering. As Paul turnd to leave, a heavy vase that had been resting upon a high pedestal fell over and nearly hit him. Paul blamed this on Simon even though it was actually the Horla that caused the vase to fall.

A short time later, the Horla took possession of Simon Cordier once again. He forced him to take up a knife and stalk down the streets until he arrived at Odette's place. Paul had been long gone at this point and the only other person around was a nosy housekeeper. Simon broke into Odette's room and stabbed her repeatedly with the knife. He then cut off her head and took it back to the studio attic of his house. Somehow, he managed to hide the head inside the sculpted bust he had made of Odette a few days ago. When Simon awakened from the Horla's possession, he had no memory of what had occurred. He was devastated to read the news headlines concerning the discovery of Odette's headless body. The Horla informed him that he was the one who had committed the murder and even showed him Odette's head hidden within the bust. The Horla then forced Simon to burn DuClasse's painting of Odette.

Odette's housekeeper meanwhile informed the police of the argument she had heard Paul and Odette having earlier in the evening. Paul was picked up and charged with Odette's murder. Paul was brought in to the magistrate's office and tried to convince Cordier that he did not kill his wife. Simon pretended that he had never even heard of either Paul or Odette. Paul was devastated because he knew that Simon was willing to let him hang for the sake of protecting the affair.

Jeanne D'arville, the daughter of the gallery owner, arrived at Simon's place, demanding to know why he wouldn't try and help Paul. She likewise wanted to speak with the servants as they can certainly could attest to seeing Simon together with Odette. Simon told her that the servants were presently in Switzerland and could not be reached.

As Jeanne stormed off, the Horla spoke in Simon's ear and ordered him to kill her. Simon tried to resist the creature's influence but found that he could not. He began stalking her through the streets until a strange thing happened. He was preparing to kill her, when his eyes caught the image of a cross that had been set inside a storefront window reflecting on the surface of the knife in his hand. The reflection was so bright and stark that it caused the Horla to lose hold on Simon's consciousness.

Simon returned home and attempted to end the monster's rage by shooting himself in the head with a gun, but the Horla caused a storm of activity in Cordier's study and knocked the gun from his hand. Simon ran out and wrote in his journal. He sealed it in a box and gave it to a priest named Father Raymonde. He returned home once again, but now he had a plan of action. He recalled how the Horla agonized so much when he commanded Simon to burn the painting of Odette. He theorized that fire might be the only thing that could actually damage the creature. He doused the room with gas and waited for the Horla to mystically arrive and then locked all the doors and windows. He set the room on fire and the Horla began howling in pain. A slight image of the creature's shape developed into a blue glow just as it died in the flames. Simon tried to get himself out of the room, but he could not because the door key was too hot from the flames. He began falling over from smoke inhalation and the ceiling collapsed, killing him. The entire house went up in flames. Following Cordier's funeral, art magnate Andre D'arville opened a chest containing Simon's journal and read it to those who knew him.