“ ‘I performed many, many exorcisms in China,’ he said, ‘but I do not tell some of the priests here what I have done. They don’t know. They don’t believe.’ Then he looked up in my eyes and said, ‘I would like you to go and see the Japanese nun in the library upstairs.’
“ ‘Why, Father?’ I asked him.
“ ‘Because she has something to tell you. Something you should know.’
“Lorraine and I went upstairs to the library and came across the nun. She was a very intelligent-looking woman, over fifty, dressed in black robes. We introduced ourselves and I then told her about my conversation with the old priest downstairs. She smiled and nodded in the same way he had.
“ ‘You are very discouraged by things that have been happening to you lately, Mr. Warren,’ she said, just like that. ‘Do not feel discouraged any longer. The work you are doing has a purpose. Things are going to change for you very soon. Sooner than you think!’
“She then went on and told us about her work as a nun, and her experiences with exorcisms all around the world. After she finished speaking, she gave me a very learned book on religious demonology and exorcism. That book became important to me later. But do you know, from that day on, when we went out to lecture and came to tell people about the existence of the demonic, there was no longer any ridicule. It was as though a great weight had been lifted off me. All of a sudden, people became interested in what we were saying and began asking serious questions. It was a major turnaround; and now, today, there is tremendous interest in the subject.”
V
A Conjuring Book for
Christmas
By the middle of May 1978 the daffodils were up, but spring hadn’t yet arrived in Connecticut Lorraine had planned to spend Saturday the thirteenth planting coleus in her backyard garden, but galeforce winds blew across the state, followed by five days of heavy rain. The weather was a fitting end to a week in which nothing had gone right In fact, tensions had been building for Lorraine since the beginning of the month, and she knew something would soon have to give.
With torrential rain beating on the house, the Warrens spent that wet Saturday afternoon planning the itinerary for their upcoming trip to England Because their work often takes them to the United Kingdom, they’ve developed an additional expertise in British haunting sites, and were therefore booked to lecture on board the Queen Elizabeth II in June. Upon arriving in England, they would spend two days in London, honoring interview commitments with the BBC, then travel to Yorkshire, Edinburgh, the Scottish highlands near Loch Ness, and Stonehenge before returning to Southampton in July to lecture on the return passage.
Having made a dent into their U.K. plans that afternoon, the Warrens went out to dinner in the evening. Arriving home just after midnight, Lorraine reviewed the calls left on the answering machine: there was a message from a friend in Los Angeles; then a call from their daughter Judy, on vacation in Virginia; after that a young man’s request for an appointment with Ed; then a bizarre series of clicks and odd whirring sounds, followed by the distraught voice of an unfamiliar woman:
“I hope you can hear me. My name is Foster, Mrs. Sandy Foster I don’t exactly know what has happened here,” she said in a barely controlled voice, “but my children have been hit and … and … and chased by something....” Hesitation, “And there is somebody or something in the house, upstairs, in one of the children’s bedrooms. Please call me back just as soon as you possibly can.”
Both Ed and Lorraine listened silently as the distressed woman gave her address and telephone number. Although it was 12:40 A.M., Lorraine immediately tried to return the woman’s call. “When a case is referred to us,” Ed explains, “we immediately contact the individual or family in trouble. If it seems necessary for us to enter the case, then we’ll offer to help. We tell the family that we don’t charge money for our time, but we must be reimbursed for basic expenses [such as airfare, hotel rooms, and so on]. When that’s understood, we set up an appointment as soon as possible. Usually, we’re on our way within an hour or two.”
Mrs. Foster’s phone rang continuously, then the connection was broken. Lorraine hung up and dialed again. This time it sounded as though someone had picked up the receiver, but the phone still kept ringing. The third time she tried the telephone number, Lorraine got the same frustrating response.
At a loss, Lorraine dialed the operator, who then dialed the number and met with the very same problem. In turn, the operator summoned her supervisor, who listened to Lorraine’s explanation that she was trying to return a distress call. Understanding and helpful, the supervisor ran the call through a number of electronic test procedures, but to no avail. She admitted being puzzled: “There is nothing wrong with the telephone on the receiving end; your call should make a connection.” Nonetheless, the Warrens were unable to get through that night.
As Ed and Lorraine know very well, what happened with the Fosters’ phone was not unusual. In fact, such electronic tricks are commonplace when a malevolent spirit is at work. Interference, obstruction, confusion—tactics which cause delay—are routine for a determined spirit with the ability to manipulate both physical and metaphysical variables.
The next morning, Sunday the fourteenth, the Warrens drove to church. On the way, a powerful, rank smell of excrement filled their car. Then, midway through the church service, the same foul psychically-projected odor assaulted the Warrens’ senses. Once again, as they were returning home in the car, they were nauseated by a disgusting stench. Ed and Lorraine, however, did not associate it with the demonic case they were about to investigate that afternoon.
When the Warrens returned from church, Lorraine immediately telephoned the Foster family. Mrs. Foster answered the phone on the second ring. Lorraine told her the difficulty that she had reaching them the night before. “The phone was in working order,” the woman replied, “but it didn’t ring after midnight. I know, because I was waiting for you to call.” The problem with the telephone upset the woman even further, and so Lorraine made an appointment to visit the family that afternoon.
By two P.M., the Warrens had arrived at the Foster home. The Foster home was a typical Cape Cod house on a wooded plot where, Ed and Lorraine later discovered, the family had lived for the past thirteen years.
All members of the family were present that afternoon. Al Foster, a phone company lineman, was a youthful looking thirty-five. His wife, , with whom Lorraine had spoken on the phone, was her husband’s age, but she looked drawn and upset. They had not witnessed the phenomena, however. It had been experienced by their three children: Abby, fifteen; Joel, fourteen; and Hannah, eleven.
Ed arranged his recording gear on a nearby table while Lorraine asked their permission to walk the house. When the Warrens are working together, Lorraine will usually investigate the premises clairvoyantly, while Ed interviews the family. She’ll begin in the basement and work her way up to the topmost floors, stopping in each room of the house. Because clairvoyance is a sense ability like the other five, it is not possible for her to deny psychic input anymore than she can refuse to see or hear. Therefore, if there is a spirit presence in a home, chances are excellent that Lorraine will become aware of it.
As she left the room, Ed began an extensive interview.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Foster made it clear that they had not experienced any of the phenomena their children talked about. “But I would imagine,” Mrs. Foster said, “that this is probably my fault, at least from what little I know about the subject. Meg has always been interested in the occult—witchcraft, spells, that sort of thing. She has a small library, but none of the books were on conjuring. So last Christmas, I bought her one on conjuring demons as a present. I honestly didn’t think anything like this was going to happen.”
“Okay,” Ed said, turning to Meg. “Where is this book?”
“Upstairs,” the girl answered. “It’s a paperback. It explains how to conjure something like seventy-five different demons. It tells the correct ritual a
nd explains the debt you pay if the ritual works.”
“And did you perform any of the rituals?”
“Yes.”
“What demons did you try to conjure?”
“Which ones?” she repeated. “I don’t know. I only did a few of the easy rituals, the ones I could understand and had the equipment for. When I did them, though, nothing happened. So I didn’t bother anymore.”
“Sometimes the response will come days, weeks, months, even years later,” Ed informed her. “Tell me about what happened to you this week. You had trouble, I believe?”
“Twice,” said Meg.
“Who was here when it happened?”
“Joel, Erin, and me,” she answered, “The first time was this past Thursday. Dad and Mom went out to their friend’s house. We stayed home because we had school the next day. Erin and Joel were already in bed. I’d just taken a shower. I went downstairs to make sure the doors were locked. I also turned off the radio and downstairs lights before I went back upstairs.
“When I got to my bedroom, I heard the water running in the bathroom. I didn’t think about it at first, but a few minutes later, I went down the hall and saw that all the faucets were turned on. I turned them off. Then I heard the radio on again downstairs. The lights were on too! I yelled, ‘Who’s there?’ But nobody answered me. Before I went downstairs again, I looked into Erin’s room. She was asleep in her bed. I looked in Joel’s room too, but he wasn’t asleep yet. I asked if he turned the radio on downstairs. He said he hadn’t. So I then went down and turned off the lights and radio a second time.
“When I came back upstairs, the water in the bathroom was running again! This got me mad because I was sure Joel was doing it. But when I came out of the bathroom, the radio was on real loud and all the lights were on downstairs! I went into Joel’s room and said, ‘There’s someone in the house.’ ”
“Joel, did you hear the radio?” asked Ed.
“Yeah, I heard it, but I didn’t think anything about it,” he answered.
“Did you turn on the water?” Ed asked quickly, hoping to catch him off guard.
“No way!” the boy replied. “I never even got out of bed.”
“Okay, Meg,” Ed said, “please go on.”
“From upstairs I could hear the radio changing stations, so I went right back down again, thinking my parents might be home. When I got down there this time, the radio dial was moving back and forth all by itself, I stood there and watched it, and that’s when I started to get scared. I turned off the radio and the lights again, but when I got halfway up the stairs, I felt an icy-cold hand touch me on the shoulder, just for a second in the dark. I almost screamed, but I didn’t. I just went right to my bedroom, shut the door and turned off the light. Before I got to my bed, though, I heard the sound of footsteps, like someone was walking out of my room into the hall. But the door never opened!”
“Didn’t you think any of this was strange?” Ed wanted to know.
“Sure I did,” said Meg. “I was scared out of my mind!”
“Erin, did you hear the radio?” Ed asked her.
“No, I was asleep,” answered the little girl.
“Now, Meg, did anything else happen after you heard the footsteps leave the room?”
“Yeah, plenty! When I got in bed I lay down and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I heard a door downstairs slam real hard. After that I heard furniture being pushed around and crashing, like it was being thrown by somebody who was very mad. I really thought there was someone in the house, but I was too scared to do anything so I just kept my eyes closed. But even though my eyes were closed, I could see my whole room through my eyelids! I opened my eyes, but nothing was different. So I closed my eyes again. Then—through my eyelids—I saw a silver light come out of the woods and glide into my bedroom. It was there when I opened my eyes too. The next thing I knew, something—some hand—yanked my hair three times. Each time it pulled harder, until the third time it made my eyes water. Then I screamed and ran into Joel’s room.”
“Joel,” asked Ed, “did you hear all the noise downstairs?”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Why didn’t you do anything?”
“I was too scared,” he admitted.
“Good answer,” said Ed. “Erin, did you hear anything?”
“I heard the furniture being thrown around, and when Meg screamed I went into Joel’s room too.”
“About what time did all this happen?” Ed questioned.
“That’s the funny thing,” Meg told him. “It was about ten-thirty when I got out of the shower, but my bedroom clock was three hours ahead. And when I went into Joel’s room, his clock was three hours behind.”
“All right, once you were in Joel’s room, did the noises stop?”
“Everything got even louder,” Meg said.
“Did you hear any other sounds in the house at the time? Poundings on the walls? Voices? Knocking?”
“No, just doors slamming, footsteps, and furniture being thrown around,” Joel said.
“What did you hear, Erin?”
“The same thing Joel heard.”
“I heard what sounded to me like loud whispering, too,” Meg offered.
“Could you make anything out?” Ed asked her.
“No.”
“What about the footsteps?” Ed went on. “Did they lead anywhere?”
“They went around in circles,” said Joel. Meg nodded agreement.
“After you all went into Joel’s bedroom, and you kept on hearing these sounds downstairs,” Ed repeated, “what did you do then?”
“We had an argument,” Joel answered. “Meg wanted to call the police, and I wouldn’t let her because I knew there wasn’t anybody down there! If the police came, I figured they might have thought we were playing a joke on them.”
“Finally we called my parents at their friend’s house,” Meg spoke up. “But by the time they came home, everything had stopped. All they did was tell us we were ‘hearing things’ because we were tired. They didn’t believe us!”
“Mrs. Foster,” Ed questioned, “have you ever seen or heard anything unusual in this house?”
“No, like I said before, I’ve never seen anything. The only thing unusual I’ve heard is the songbird.” She paused “For years we had a large pine tree outside our bedroom window. A few months ago, we cut the tree down. But every night now, for the past three weeks, Al and I hear a songbird singing outside our window where that tree used to be.”
“Al, did you hear the bird too?” asked Ed.
“Yeah, every night,” he replied. “I never gave it any thought, but birds don’t sing at night, do they?”
“No,” said Ed “Not ordinarily.”
“Well, it turns out you've all experienced something here,” Ed summarized, “Do you think this house is haunted?”
“I think so,” said Meg.
“I think so too, ” Joel replied. Erin and her mother also tended to agree.
“Mr. Foster?” Ed asked.
“Well, I don’t know. I’ve never been around when any of this kind of thing has happened.”
Just then Lorraine came back downstairs. She nodded discreetly to Ed, indicating, there was a spirit presence in the home, and then took a seat at the dining room table. Rather than alter the mood of the conversation, Ed held off asking Lorraine for her impressions until he had the family’s statements on tape.
“You said these phenomena happened to you twice,” Ed reminded the children. “What happened the second time?"
“The second time was last night,” Joel replied. “Only Meg and I were here. Almost exactly the same thing happened as on Thursday. This time Meg was in her bedroom, and I’d taken the shower. When I came out of the bathroom, I heard the radio on downstairs. The stations were being changed slowly, and I yelled down, ‘Leave that one on.’ But when I walked down the stairs, no one was there except the dog. He was snarling viciously at something in the room. That was really strange, because h
e couldn’t have heard anything. Our dog’s deaf! Then I remembered the other night and I ran upstairs and went to bed. About five minutes later, the footsteps started downstairs, making the whole house vibrate. And the furniture started being thrown around again. I was scared the first time, but this time I was really scared.”
“Did you hear it too, Meg?” asked Ed.
“Yeah, just like he did. I even yelled out to Joel, ‘Do you hear it?’ But he hollered at me, saying ‘Shut up!’ ”
“I guess I didn’t want to admit it was really happening again,” admitted Joel.
“When you were in your room, did you see or feel anything unusual?” Ed asked him.
“No, nothing.”
“How about you Meg?”
“Well, the more scared I felt, the louder everything became downstairs. The second time, I also saw a dark, purplish cloud in my bedroom. I could never look at it directly—only out of the corner of my eye. When that purple ball was in my room, I kept my eyes closed so I couldn’t see it. As I lay there, my hands were closed up in tight fists. All of a sudden I felt another hand try to force mine open! It was a really strong hand, like a grown man’s. It couldn’t get my fist open, so it yanked at my arm and tried to pull me out of bed. It pulled me almost halfway out of bed before I screamed for help. Then it let go, and I ran into Joel’s room.”
Ed looked to Joel. “What happened next?”
“Meg and I wanted to call the police or my parents or somebody,” the boy replied, “but we didn’t want to go out of the room. Meg told me about the hand, and we both felt something else was going to happen.”
The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren Page 9