I was close to turning twenty-three years old at that time and spent my weekends battling the dark and helping others instead of going out and partying like most people my age were doing. I had outgrown the excessive nightly partying early on, and I was content with my lifestyle, as it filled me with happiness—and a few scares on occasion—but it was never boring. Although it wasn’t a clear and concise “career,” I felt I was fulfilling my life path and mission here on earth, whatever that may be.
I was ready to remove this entity from Jackie’s home; the entire week leading up to the blessing was a hellish one for me (credit: obnoxious demon).
On September 29, 2011, Jackie had contacted me regarding a “poltergeist” she was experiencing. Throughout all my years of research I had genuinely believed in poltergeists. However, I didn’t agree with the common theory behind poltergeists, which is that a person’s subconscious or personal energy manifests the events and causes the haunting, thus it seems that a foreign spirit is active in the home, but essentially one person causes an entire haunting. That being said, I did believe that it was possible for a person’s energy, such as an adolescent’s, to attract an entity, which may lead to a haunting.
Eventually, this case and other case studies I had read about would entirely change my opinion on poltergeists.
“It took my feet out from under me while I was walking down a marble hallway in our house and caused me to fall flat on the marble face-first … fractured teeth, needed stitches, that was last week …” I read over Jackie’s message and instantly felt that she might not be dealing with a poltergeist. Instead, I felt she was dealing with a demon. Jackie declared, “The crosses I put up don’t work.” She had also given the demon a name: IT. In many of the demonic cases I handled, the clients nicknamed the entity “It.” I had met many “Its,” aside from the famous clown one. Maybe in the future …
I had spoken on the phone with Jackie for over an hour, reviewing all her experiences and history. She spoke very quickly and precisely, determined that she was not losing her mind and was, in fact, experiencing something paranormal. Jackie would sometimes go on a tangent about some of her encounters, forgetting that I did truly believe her and didn’t need further convincing. I almost always gave clients the benefit of the doubt, knowing that providing a precautionary house cleansing wouldn’t hurt the situation, even if there weren’t a haunting. “Water materialized out of thin air on our kitchen stool, we found black tarlike goo in our shower, the toilet water would boil, it would howl and sing show tunes in the heating vents, scratch and bang on the walls, and other stuff like that.” Jackie listed off a bizarre inventory of all the goings-on in the house. If our conversation had been overheard, I’m sure we would have both been institutionalized. Thankfully, I was in the privacy of my home and sat at my desk as I jotted down notes, listening to Jackie’s accounts on the other end of the phone.
Several days after talking with Jackie, I was sitting at my desk, again replying to e-mails and inquiries about hauntings. As I was typing and staring at the computer screen, I heard a tornado siren blare. Tornados in October? I sat frozen and realized that this sound wasn’t a siren and instead was originating from inside my house. “WooooOOOOOOPPPP!” The sound started from a lower note and ended at a high pitch; unlike any siren or alarm I had ever heard. The hairs on my neck and arms stood up as the feeling of the house changed. It was not a siren test.
What once was the peaceful, protected haven of my home was now invaded by a presence I had not encountered before. I shot out of my chair and stood in the living room, which opened up between the foyer, kitchen, and office. My heart sped quickly and I stood there for what seemed to be minutes, trying to slow my breathing and pulse. Nothing in my house made that sound and the sensation of it was completely alien. I felt a dark presence in my home. “In the name of God, I command you to leave this house! You are not allowed here! You are not going to stop Jackie and Bob from receiving help! Leave. Now!”
I looked at my snoring English Bulldogs as they sleepily stared at me. “Did you guys not hear that?” I asked them. My adrenaline was still surging and I tried calming myself down. Jack and Annie, despite being luxurious couch potatoes, are some of the most alert and aware guard dogs I have ever owned. Apparently, they had not heard this shrieking that echoed through the entire house. How was that possible? Was I losing my mind? In retrospect, I believe that they have been protected from experiencing anything dark as a result of my promise to Great Spirit, as mentioned in the introduction. I was grateful.
I began connecting the dots and realized the entity that visited my home was the same one that had been bothering Jackie and Bob. Only two days after talking with her, the entity felt threatened enough to make a visit at my house. I knew I was being challenged by the same presence because Jackie had mentioned that she would hear a siren blaring through her house from the heating vents. This was the second time that an entity had visited me prior to a house cleansing in an effort to prevent me from helping the client.
I believe that these entities try intimidating me so that I will fear for my own safety and decline further help to the clients. However, I was determined and would not bow out of helping a person in need. I made the decision to not inform Jackie of the event, trying to keep her nerves calm until after our visit. I didn’t want to fuel any panic in Jackie’s mind until we could calmly talk about all the events together before the blessing.
In my opinion, episodes like this prove that demonic entities can simply teleport or relocate themselves based on whatever their agenda is and that they are not human spirits.
I sat at my desk trying to regain my composure and continued writing my e-mail. I wondered to myself how powerful of a demon we were working against, as there is some unwritten hierarchy of the dark. Some demons are more powerful than others, going out of their way to disturb you, and others will hide and cower. We still had an entire week until we would cleanse Jackie and Bob’s home. I anticipated that it might prove to be a difficult week for Carl and me.
It was.
Each demonic case takes its toll. Many clients don’t realize the effect their cases have on my personal life and that I commonly have to sacrifice my peace and happiness in order to reach enlightenment for the client. Often, Carl and I would become agitated with each other when a severe case was pending, as if the entity was trying to disrupt our lives—hoping we wouldn’t be together by the time the blessing was due. Although our romantic involvement eventually ended, Carl and I were very aware of these entities and their effects on us, so we consciously reminded one another that a cleansing was approaching and we were probably being influenced by an entity. After we acknowledged that possibility and caught ourselves, we became stronger and the demon’s efforts subsided. Prior to Carl’s affair, I remember him telling me about a sexual dream he had involving someone who looked exactly like me. However, this doppelganger quickly turned sinister and proceeded to assault him. After our separation, he reported having paranormal experiences at his rental home and I have always wondered if the entity from chapter six had a role in the outcome. Again, these cases take a toll on anyone involved.
In the case of Jackie’s demon, I was unable to sleep the entire week prior to the cleansing. I would repeatedly wake up at 3:00 a.m., knowing that I was being disturbed during the “unholy hour.” It is thought that 3:00 a.m. is a mockery of the 3:00 p.m. “holy hour,” when Christ was believed to have died upon the cross. Again, demons love to mock the holy trinity or anything sacred.
I lay there awake and alert. My eyes would inform me there were shadows in the corners that were darker than usual and the energy of my bedroom seemed to hold its breath. I would lie there trying to go back to sleep but my senses were wide awake, as if I sensed a predator nearby. The entity had already visited me and shrieked in my home, now it was causing me to lose sleep. Every consecutive hour I would awaken each night, and I was becoming very frustrated. I g
reatly needed some rest in preparation for the blessing.
This wasn’t the demon’s first time in keeping someone awake.
Jackie began noticing a darker presence in their house after she underwent a surgery a year prior at the University of Michigan hospital. Although unusual, this wasn’t the first case in which an entity had followed a client home from a hospital. Being a Michigan State Spartan, I teased with Carl about how the University of Michigan’s hospital was contaminated with demons and thus was at fault for Jackie’s demise. “Wolverine demons … ugh! Is there anything worse? Demons already have large egos to begin with!” However, this was all in good fun and it is plausible that any hospital could harbor darker entities with the amount of death and sadness that surrounds these institutions.
The day of Jackie’s surgery, her husband Bob arrived at the hospital to pick her up after the procedure. “I remember it was a full moon that night,” Jackie recalled. On the way home from the hospital, Bob’s demeanor completely changed and he became very resentful towards Jackie. “He told me to shut up and threatened to drop me off and make me walk my way back home. We were easily over an hour from our house.” Through their thirty-six years of marriage, Bob had never been one to make such comments or be disrespectful towards Jackie. Why was he behaving like this? Jackie silently pondered.
Overwhelmed by the intensive surgery and medication, Jackie lulled off into a heavy sleep until they arrived home. “The next day Bob was back to being Bob. I didn’t mention the argument we had the night before in the car, because I was afraid I’d upset him again. I didn’t ever want to see that side of him again.”
Jackie’s health began to rapidly decline after her surgery. She was bedridden for nearly four weeks, a condition that was unexpected by the doctors. Her hair began falling out and Jackie seemed to age more quickly. Before the procedure, Jackie was a healthy and robust woman. She would go running every day and frequently played tennis with her friends. It seemed as though her energy was being sucked out of her and fed to the entity. Towards the end of her time being bound in the bed, a strange knocking began. “First it started in the office room. I could hear it rapping away in there. I thought it might be the computer, and had someone come examine it but nothing was wrong. Then it began knocking on the windows and soon moved to the headboard. I was losing sleep and was being driven insane!”
Bob had not experienced anything abnormal and was never home during the events, leaving Jackie to feel very alone and questioning her own sanity. “I would mention this to Bob, but he just thought I was letting my imagination get the best of me. He hired so many technicians and fixer-upper guys to come look at our house.”
One day Jackie heard a strange gurgling sound in their master bath. As she approached the bathroom, she was perplexed to find that the toilet water was bubbling and boiling in the toilet bowl. “Bob immediately called a plumber and he arrived a few short hours after our phone call.” Jackie sat there explaining the incident to the plumber as he finished examining the toilet and plumbing lines.
As he placed the cover back on the toilet, he turned to her and calmly asked, “Well, do you think you have a poltergeist?” Jackie was surprised that a man of his profession would openly suggest such an idea. I quickly reminded her that plumbers and the paranormal seem to go hand in hand these days. “You remember the Roto-Rooter guys on T.V., right?” Jackie and I laughed.
She continued with her story, “I recall looking at the plumber and he arched his eyebrows at me as if he knew that I was already aware of the house being haunted.”
“Maybe you should call a priest or bring in one of those ghost-buster groups? Maybe they can explain all of this and help you,” he suggested while packing up his belongings.
Cue the Michigan Paranormal Research Association. And so we rode in on our white horse with shining armor. Instead of having a white horse, I had my white Ford Escape, but it proved to be a sturdy and valiant mobile. “Turn right. Recalculating. Approaching destination. Recalculating.” Before leaving my house, TomTom, my GPS, knew the exact location of Jackie’s home and how to get there, but upon nearing the destination, it no longer recalled its whereabouts—as if the GPS were on trial and now conveniently forgot its previous statements. The GPS seemed as if it were overcome by the demonic entity and was now giving us driving directions.
“Would you make up your mind! Damn it, TomTom!” I was tempted to throttle the GPS until it gave us more truthful directions. I glared at the device and Carl and I both laughed at our situation. It wasn’t uncommon for our devices and communications to malfunction prior to a cleansing, as if the entity was making one final attempt to get rid of us.
After driving in circles, slowly closing in on Jackie’s home, we finally spotted the correct driveway into the subdivision. I pulled into a very lavish labyrinth of beautiful homes, just across from the lakeshore of Lake St. Clair. I remember reading that some hauntings were closely situated next to a body of water or a river, and that the paranormal (or energy) can be conducted by water, thus leading to more intense or frequent hauntings of homes by water.
I parked the car, ready to finally confront this entity once and for all. Carl gathered my belongings and we walked up the front steps. The doorbell made a symphonic performance and I smiled at Carl. We had seen very impoverished families and those that were extremely wealthy, all of which were experiencing a severe haunting. The paranormal connects us all and completely disregards social class. It can happen to anyone.
Jackie seemed relieved by our presence and ushered us into the kitchen. I told her that she had a beautiful home.
“Oh, well, thank you,” she said. “I wish it felt like home.” Jackie seemed more annoyed than fearful of the entity, which I found to be very helpful. I want clients to be in control of their homes, to not fear the entity, and to have the ambition to reclaim their personal space when the time comes.
We asked if Bob was also home and if Jackie could have him join us. Carl explained that we needed everyone to be present during the cleansing and to discuss matters together as a group before we began the process.
Jackie seemed less than formal with Bob, as if she were calling in her obnoxious sibling. After watching Bob and Jackie interact I could tell that their marriage was strained and they seemed to be agitated by each other’s presence. They loved each other but were content with their own separate lives. Jackie would repeatedly cut Bob off from speaking and their communication process was imbalanced. I tried to encourage Bob to continue with his thoughts and reminded them that they would have to take turns sharing their stories. It was important to get Bob’s side of the story and to listen to his perspective as well.
Bob was a man of luxury. He thoroughly enjoyed his cigars and going down to the clubhouse to play cards with other gentlemen his age. After a while of sitting and talking with Jackie and Bob, he became concerned with the timeline of our visit. “How much longer will this take, do you think?” Bob asked as Jackie swatted at him from across the table.
“However long it takes, Bob!” She rebutted.
Bob explained that he was a devout Catholic and greatly believed in God. Jackie wasn’t religious but shared the same faith in our Creator. I only ask that clients believe in a higher being in order for the blessings to be successful. They must ask this divine presence to come into their lives and help them remove any evil in their homes. If they don’t believe in a higher power, I can never guarantee that the cleansing will work.
We continued our conversation and I asked them to share any mutual experiences in the house. The two of them recalled a time in which, finally, they together experienced something paranormal in the house. Bob had been getting dressed one morning when he smelled a terrible sulfuric odor. Sniffing around the room, he was finally led into the master bathroom and began searching for the culprit of the stench. To his surprise, Bob opened the shower door to discover an entire mess of black tarlike substan
ce spread throughout the shower. “Again we called a plumber, but they provided us with no explanation.”
Bob and Jackie had a very difficult time cleaning up the black slop and my dorky scientific Bill Nye side hoped that they had kept a sample of the substance, but to no avail. How did entities manifest such a substance out of thin air? What was it composed of?
Bob began to experience more personal incidents with the entity. In his second-floor bath, he witnessed a small fly turn into a large horsefly; it then harassed him. Bob was a very logical, left-brained, sensible man. Claiming that a small fly morphed into a giant horsefly and then assaulted him was something his conscience had a hard time accepting. Bob would share his strange experiences with Jackie, only to later withdraw the statements as if they had never happened or he had second-guessed himself. Many demonic cases include instances in which clients experience insects appearing out of nowhere in swarms, or clients are attacked, or infestations of various kinds begin (mice, flies, hornets, and so on).
More strange incidents occurred and the animals in the house seemed to become affected as well. Jackie was fond of taking in stray cats from the shelter, letting them seek refuge in their home. The cat food and toys were boundless and all felines were content, except for one. A few months before our appointment, Sasha the cat had suddenly become very ill, hiding under the bed for days, never wanting to leave the room. Soon the other cats became nervous and would often behave as if they were observing some unseen presence floating about the room and on the ceiling. Jackie would watch the cats as their eyes flickered with movement—unsure if she wanted to look and witness whatever they were watching.
I discussed with her the possibility that the entity was using her cat’s energy or feeding off of them. Unfortunately, animal companions are easy prey for the demonic and it’s important to protect them. I had seen cases before in which the family pets slowly began dying off without viable reasons from the veterinarian, or under strange circumstances. I didn’t want the same thing to happen to Jackie’s cats, as she loved them dearly.
Fighting Malevolent Spirits: A Demonologist's Darkest Encounters Page 6