Carl, Mike, and I asked if we could speak with Bryan separately outside as it seemed that Bryan was being targeted the most. We went around the corner of the house and began talking. I told Brian that I wanted to get his perspective on things and ask a few more personal questions in private so he didn’t feel embarrassed or pressured. “Do you ever black out after you get really angry or do you forget about things you’ve said and done during these outbursts?”
Bryan looked concerned, “Yeah, sometimes I don’t remember any of it or I get really angry for no reason at all. What does that mean?” Bryan asked. I feared that perhaps Bryan was experiencing demonic oppression to the point that it might lead to actual possession. Possession is extremely rare but Bryan was beginning to show some signs of being heavily influenced—losing control of his body and emotions.
I questioned if Bryan was having any recurring nightmares or hearing any voices telling him to do harmful things.
“Actually, sometimes I hear some spirit talking to me. They’ll say stuff like, ‘Just kill yourself. You’re worthless.’ Things like that.” Bryan was becoming anxious.
I then asked Bryan if the voice was male or female and if he heard it with his ears or inside his mind.
Bryan thought for a moment, “It was just a voice inside my head. I think it was male but almost unisex. I don’t know. It’s hard to tell.” Bryan stood in front of us trying to recall the incidents. I suspected that the telepathic and extremely negative narration inside Bryan’s mind were the actions of a demon.
In severe cases, a demon will sometimes begin a dialogue with the victim and start instructing them to do harmful things to hurt others or themselves. Usually the client won’t realize or comprehend that this is a foreign voice, and not their own conscience—they begin to believe that these comments are their own thoughts or don’t question their source, and sometimes they follow through with the instructions. Many serial killers and murderers have mentioned that the “voices” told them to do it, in detail and with specific requests, and they are found to not have schizophrenia or split personality disorder.
When I studied abnormal psychology, I wrote several long syntheses about the possible connection between assumed schizophrenia and demonic possession. I found some very interesting case studies that sometimes reminded me of clients I worked with, Bryan in particular.
“Bryan, since the demon might be focusing more on you, I want to make sure that we have you participate in the cleansing to help remove the entity. Is that okay with you?” I asked. Bryan agreed and we headed back to the house.
Bryan interrupted our return, “Hey, real quick before you go back inside. I didn’t want to say this in front of everyone because Sarah would kill me.” Sarah was Bryan’s girlfriend that now lived with the family. “But Sarah was sexually assaulted, too, when she was little … I get so mad when I talk about this … When she was six years old one of her relatives used to cut her genitals with knifes and then would play with the wounds.”
My stomach turned and I felt the pooling of saliva in my mouth from nausea. Visions of the assault flashed through my mind and I was sickened by the evil in some people. I still cry when I read this story to myself. I wasn’t sure if I was having a psychic vision or if my imagination was generating the images. They were so disturbing: flashes of knives, blood, a scared little girl, and the close-up perverse evil smile of a man flickered in my mind. His stained teeth and facial overgrowth wrinkled in the form of a grin. He clearly enjoyed it. I was brought back to the present moment by the sound of Bryan’s voice.
“She never will tell me which relative it was because she knows I would try to kill him. I would. I would fucking kill that bastard. I think I know who it is but I’m not sure.” I immediately hugged Bryan and my eyes started to well up again, my face hot with so many emotions. I didn’t know how this family made it through life with such terrible experiences, but they were still loving, good people. It was a miracle.
I apologized to Bryan—I was woefully sorry for what had happened to him, his family, and Sarah. There is no excuse for some people’s behavior, and I think sometimes it’s pure evil. Bryan was such a great person and I didn’t want him to let those memories ever ruin him. He was so strong and brave and I knew he could make it through anything. He already made it through the worst and it was going to get better. I promised him.
Bryan pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to conceal his tears by wiping them away. We made our way back inside and joined the rest of the family in the living room again.
Shortly after getting settled back in the chair, we heard a knock on the door. Betsy reminded us that it was prom night and the girls were coming by to meet up with Jeff before heading out to dinner. Blue and green fabric began squeezing through the front door and the two girls soon appeared in their prom dresses.
They greeted us cheerfully. “Are you guys the ghost hunters? Anything cool happen yet? I love watching those shows!” They seemed ecstatic to talk about the paranormal but were soon close to running late for their dinner and headed back out the door with Jeff, who had briefly introduced himself as well. I giggled to myself because sometimes the paranormal enables you to have a twisted sense of humor. Demons and prom night … sounds like the next bestseller or blockbuster movie, I thought to myself. Why hadn’t anyone thought of this plot already? I pursed my lips trying to hold back my smile and began “reviewing” the notes to get back in focus.
Betsy shut the door and returned to her seat. “While you guys were outside we remembered some other things that happened that you should know about.”
She explained that one morning Bryan’s girlfriend Sarah was taking a shower when she saw narrow fingers glide across the thin, white shower curtain, thinking Bryan was there. Sarah asked out loud if Bryan needed his razor. She unknowingly was alone in the bathroom while Bryan sat out in the living room. Hearing her talking, he made his way into the bathroom and asked her what she had said.
“I thought you were looking for your razor,” Sarah reasoned.
Bryan was confused, “Why would I need my razor, I was just sitting watching TV. What do you mean you thought …” Before finishing his sentence Bryan had glanced over at the bathroom mirror and stood in horror. Condensation from the hot shower had collected on the mirror. The word “DIE” was smudged on the glass in capital letters.
Sarah became angry and questioned why Bryan would write such a thing on the mirror. It was the third time she had seen threatening words written there and the joke was no longer funny to her. The energy of the bathroom changed.
“Sarah, get out now!” Bryan fumbled to grab a towel for Sarah as more lettering began to appear on the mirror. “N.” Sarah nearly fell out of the shower with soap still in her hair. “O.” The invisible hand seemed to move extremely slow but with perseverance. “W.” Bryan yelled for John to come to the bathroom as he helped Sarah leave the room. Most of the family gathered and quietly read the message out loud, “DIE NOW.” Even more strange, the letters were written backwards.
Betsy immediately became very frustrated with Collin and Bryan. She demanded that they stop with their supposed antics as it had truly gotten out of control. This time Sarah confirmed that the message was not written by anyone in the family, as previously thought, but by something they couldn’t see. Sarah finished washing her hair out in the kitchen sink and raced past the bathroom to get dressed in Bryan’s room.
After the shower incident, everyone began sleeping together in the living room, giving up and surrendering their bedrooms and personal space to their invisible intruder. “It” was winning. Showers were only taken while another family member would supervise the bathroom, keeping the other person company in the now very-uncomfortable bathroom.
Things continued to get weirder and more terrifying. At night, dishes would fly out of the closed cupboards and smash all over the floor. This created a ritual of cleaning in the morning fo
r Betsy, which proved to be difficult with her recent surgery and back injury. She was becoming more and more exhausted. The entity pressed on, determined to break down the family’s will and happiness. It was persistent.
During these strange events, Bryan began finding mysterious scratch marks and burns across his body and on his limbs. For no apparent reason, Bryan would experience a hot burning sensation, only to find a new scratch mark or welt.
During our visit I asked Bryan’s permission to document the scratches and I took several photographs. I tried to raise his spirits by joking around as if I were doing a professional photoshoot and he were a professional model. It was important to keep up good spirits even when the family was surrounded by darkness.
One night, Bryan sat up watching the Lion’s football game. Bryan went into the kitchen and gathered some snacks. Upon returning to the room he noticed that his dad had stolen his seat in the recliner and was now watching the game. Bryan and his father sat for a while and Bryan made several comments to his dad about certain “crappy calls” that were made. John would quietly reply with “Yes.”
Then John’s loud truck pulled into the driveway. Bryan assumed his mother had run to the store, using John’s truck. Bryan took his dishes to the sink and returned to the living room after cleaning his dishes. That’s when he saw John walk in the front door with a few groceries in a plastic bag.
“Wait. What? You … were just … I mean, what are you doing? I was just talking to you.” John asked Bryan what he was talking about and why he looked so startled. Bryan explained that he had just experienced an entire conversation with “John” while they watched the football game together. John hates sports and made a point of interrupting Bryan’s story to make the fact known. John said, “I would never watch football or any sport on TV for that matter. Whatever he saw was not me!” The figure previously sitting in the chair was not Bryan’s father, although it physically looked and sounded like John.
In demonic cases it’s not uncommon for the family members’ voices to be mimicked; however, this was the first case I had in which a physical manifestation interacted for a prolonged period of time.
After Bryan finished sharing this story with us, he went into his room and grabbed a drawing pad that he frequently used. He showed me the “weird triangle-shaped men” he used to draw when they lived in the farmhouse. They didn’t mean anything to him until they moved into the trailer. One day, when Bryan and Collin were in the kitchen, they saw a shadow in the corner. It was shaped exactly like the figures Bryan had drawn.
Sarah had also witnessed this oddly shaped triangle figure a different time. She also saw a disfigured creature crawl into the corner of the living room. It sounded like a horror movie. Collin got excited while Sarah recalled the story and grabbed a video game from their television stand and pointed out a picture, “It looked something like this!” On the back of the case was a Gollum-like character with lanky limbs and a sinister face. He was excited to have a visual aid that looked similar.
How was this even possible? The paranormal world never fails to surprise me, but I listened with a skeptic’s ear to see if I could rationalize any of the incidents. Then, right at that moment, one of the kitchen cabinets flew open on its own accord. It was as if the entity acknowledged our discussions about it, confirming that it was present.
My heart sped up and I looked around the room, scanning to see if one of their pets had opened the cupboard, but I found no logical answer. Carl, Mike, and I decided that we should begin the cleansing soon before any further events happened. It was time.
As we pulled out our blessing and smudging supplies, I could sense the entity in the house, anticipating our moves. The charcoal disk began sparking and popping on the stove and soon the earthy aroma of the white sage filled the air. We walked through each area of the house opening doors and closets. In each area, we recited a prayer:
“In the name of God, I command any unclean spirits and evil entities to leave this house immediately! Great Spirit, please bring this family happiness, good health, prosperity, and peace. Remove any negative influences and deliver them from any evils that are here. In your name I pray, Lord. Amen!”
We repeated our prayers during the entire ceremony while we blessed the house with olive oil and salt. I began sprinkling the holy water throughout the home with Bryan. As we moved from room to room I could feel the entity cowering and moving away from us as if it despised our efforts. Even though I had feared that Carl, Mike, or myself might be attacked, we pushed forward and commanded that the entity leave. “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave this family and this home!”
As we finished the house blessing, the air suddenly lightened and the house became brighter. The dogs stopped barking and the atmosphere grew peaceful. We gathered with the family to recite together a spiritual warfare prayer [included at the back of this book] as a final act of closing.
During the prayer, which takes several minutes to complete, Bryan began to get antsy. I soon realized the battle was not over.
I asked Betsy to lead the prayer, and we all repeated each segment after her. I saw Bryan hunch over and begin to sweat as he repeatedly aired out his shirt. Betsy rubbed Bryan’s back to comfort him and I could see Bryan closing his eyes in order to further concentrate. He appeared to be extremely uncomfortable and was having difficulty in reciting the prayer with the rest of the family. He looked at me and I nodded at him as if to gesture that he should keep pressing forward with the prayer—something might have still been attached to him. Bryan regained his composure and continued with the prayer, despite his apparent discomfort. He writhed in pain.
In several case studies it was common for a client to become sick to their stomach during an exorcism, and I wondered if Bryan was experiencing a similar situation. I considered grabbing Bryan a wastebasket as insurance in case he felt the need to vomit.
We were on the final sentence of the prayer and Bryan had finally endured through it all. We all finished reciting the prayer and looked around the room. Silence pervaded as we all absorbed the happiness and positivity that filled the house. But best of all, love was present in the home and it felt so warm and beautiful. I felt like a small child wrapped in a mother’s blanket of security. Absolute peace.
“I thought I was going to throw up!” Bryan exclaimed.
I asked how everyone felt and if anyone could feel the difference in the home. It was a drastically different house than when we first arrived. I felt that great things were now on the horizon for the family and they could return to a normal life.
“It feels lighter …” Betsy stated in an almost skeptical tone. But after a few minutes she said, “That is amazing! Thank you so much for coming and helping us.”
She asked how much she owed us. After performing numerous house cleansings across the state I began to lose money and only asked that our clients donate an amount they were comfortable with to cover the travel costs and supplies. But Betsy’s family was clearly in a financial bind. I told Betsy that they owed us nothing—I wanted to do this one “pro bono” for the family and prayed they would be on the road to recovery. Betsy and John were touched by my offer and Betsy began to tear up.
Betsy gave me a big hug. I could feel Betsy’s tension and sorrows leave her and tears formed in my eyes. She was a beautiful soul despite all of the struggles and pain her family had experienced. Betsy gave me a very sincere and grateful look and nodded her head.
We all exchanged hugs and our goodbyes as Carl, Mike, and I packed up our belongings. We came in to their home as strangers but quickly bonded with the family through such a spiritual experience. I gave the family instructions to start organizing their rooms so they could begin sleeping there again. “No more sleeping in the living room and no more supervised showers. This is your home now and you must act like it. Think of it as being part of the Witness Protection Program—your old life is no longer a pa
rt of you, and you have moved on,” I explained. Betsy’s family understood that they would have to conquer their fears of showering and sleeping alone, but realized it was much easier now that the entity had left. I asked for Betsy to call me if anything came up, if the activity returned, or if they needed something. Carl, Mike, and I made our way back to my car and finished with a closing prayer for the three of us in private.
I asked how Carl and Mike felt now that the blessing was finished.
“I feel awesome! I am ready to go to work now!” Mike exclaimed. We laughed because Mike wouldn’t be returning to his job for several days, but we were happy he felt that great. Another successful cleansing, I thought to myself as we made the long drive back home.
I was delighted to receive an e-mail from Betsy the next day:
“Hi, Samantha! Everything was okay. Our son slept in his room and he said he slept like a baby. He was even alone in there for a while after dark and he said that he wasn’t creeped out or anything. Thank you so much, all of you, for helping us. I’ll keep in touch and let you know how it’s going.”
The last I heard from Betsy, they were doing wonderful and their lives turned for the better. Their story has been featured on television and is quite remarkable. My heart still goes out to that family and I pray they continue to live a blessed life.
[contents]
CHAPTER 3
GROSSE POINTE, MICHIGAN CASE
—POLTERGEIST
Jackie and Bob were in their mid-sixties and lived comfortably in a luxurious home off the shores of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. It was a beautiful sunny day as Carl and I took the hour and a half drive down there, trying to enjoy the road trip before partaking in spiritual warfare yet again. The lake sparkled and glistened, and I felt the presence of Great Spirit with us, reassuring that our endeavors would be successful that day. Spiritual warfare, while gratifying, is draining because it changes your entire life.
Fighting Malevolent Spirits: A Demonologist's Darkest Encounters Page 5