Friar Burnoud, a former superior of the Missionaries of La Salette, wrote a letter to the then-Bishop of Grenoble in which he wrote that "We have examined Master Gay of Lyons three times, each session lasting from one to two hours. We consider it very probable that this man is possessed by a devil", citing various pieces of evidence including Gay disclosing "several secret things about which he had no means of knowing" and his apparent ability to understand Latin despite never having learned the language. A physician, one Dr. Pictet, expressed the view that Gay enjoyed "perfect health of body and mind" but was also "under the influence of some occult power, which we are naturally unable to detect by medical means" and that "we remain convinced that his extraordinary state can only be attributed to possession", citing as evidence "the fact that during our first interview with M. Gay, that extraordinary thing which speaks through his mouth revealed the inmost secrets of our heart, told us the story of our life from the age of twelve onwards, giving details that are known only to God, our confessor, and ourselves."[2]
Following Pictet's observations, Gay's friends tried to have him readmitted to the Abbey of La Trappe, asking the abbot to perform an exorcism. The abbot refused because he was in the diocese of Valence, while Gay was from the diocese of Lyons. Antoine Gay lived in Lyons for the next few years, at one point being arrested as a lunatic and jailed for three months before being released.
