“Can you come right away?” Much as I wanted to help, I had to disappoint him, at least temporarily, because I never go off on a case without getting all the facts first, then praying on the matter. I did a quick interview over the phone to get a feel for the problem, if there was one.
Angelo said it had all begun very subtly: “The night I moved in, I was woken up by scratching noises. It sounded like it was coming from the ceiling over my bed. I figured it was mice, maybe even rats. I didn’t think it was a big deal until I saw how my kitten, Snowball, was reacting. All the hair on her back and tail stood straight on end, and she started hissing,” he explained. “Next, she began to move sideways, in an eerie-looking, unnatural dance. It was the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve owned cats all my life, and none of them ever did anything like that before!”
He grabbed his baseball bat and went upstairs to check for rodents, but found nothing out of the ordinary. This went on for several nights, always at the same time: 3:00 A.M. When I heard that, the hairs on the back of my neck also began to prickle, since that’s the “witching hour,” a prime time for demonic activity. Not only do satanic powers often do things in threes, to show contempt for the Holy Trinity, but their terrorist strikes frequently occur at 3:00 A.M. This is another insult to God, whose son Jesus Christ died on the cross at 3:00 P.M. The demonic will do the opposite of anything holy, so they like to attack at exactly the opposite hour—with supernatural phenomena you might call miracles in reverse.
I was also intrigued by the kitten’s behavior, since I’ve found that pets have a sixth sense for demonic activity, just as they do for impending earthquakes and other natural disasters. I’ve seen cases where diabolical phenomena will get all the dogs in the neighborhood howling. Evil spirits can also attack pets—animals are God’s creatures—so I always make sure to put a St. Benedict medal around the neck of each pet in the house before an exorcism begins, to keep them safe from evil forces.
While Angelo’s story sounded suspiciously satanic, I wasn’t ready to call in the troops yet, and urged him to continue. In a gravelly baritone he added, “A few nights later I heard the scratching again. That wasn’t all—this time I also heard footsteps, heavy steps like a man’s. First they were in the driveway, crunching on the ice. Then I heard them coming closer and closer, until it sounded like somebody was right outside. Then they stopped right outside my window,” which was level with the ground, since his apartment was in the basement. Again he grabbed his bat, ready to do battle with whatever was out there, but he found no one. His deep voice broke a little as he added, “There were no tracks in the fresh snow! Absolutely none!”
Perplexed, he went back inside—and heard the noise again. “That’s when I really got nervous. Now the footsteps were inside the house, like somebody was walking upstairs. But those apartments were empty, and I was the only one living here! The ghost—or whatever it was—paced slowly from the rear of the apartment overhead to the front of the house, then it started running back and forth.”
“How many times?” I asked, although I was already pretty sure I knew the answer.
“Three times, faster and faster,” he said. “My heart was really pounding, I’ll tell you.” Double-locking every door and window, the deli owner finally went back to sleep. The eerie events didn’t end there—the next night he heard a loud tapping coming from the hallway in his own apartment. He lay in bed listening to the sound but didn’t bother to get his Louisville Slugger, knowing that even if he did get up, he’d find nothing.
Understandably, he didn’t get much rest that night—or the next, when he was treated to thunderous poundings that practically made him jump out of his skin. This time he had to see what was going on, so he got his bat, turned on all the lights, and searched every inch of his apartment. What did he find? Absolutely nothing, of course.
About a week after Angelo moved into his apartment, other tenants arrived. A single guy took the second-floor apartment, and a few days later a young couple with a four-year-old son and new baby set up house on the first floor. At the risk of being thought crazy, Angelo felt he just had to ask his new neighbors if they’d noticed anything at all odd about the house. Yes, they said, there’s something very wrong here! And when he told them he’d called a spiritual investigator, all agreed they wanted our help—right away, if possible.
The streets were covered with black ice, and a winter storm warning was in effect when Joe and I parked by the graveyard and headed for the house, with a bitterly cold wind at our backs, to wait for the rest of our team. Originally it was just the two of us handling cases, but we now had other investigators working with us. A year or so earlier the Warrens had come to New York to give a seminar. As always when they spoke, there was a big turnout and several people expressed interest in learning more. So with Ed and Lorraine’s blessing, the New York City chapter of the New England Society for Psychic Research was born, with Joe and me as founders.
We held classes once a month in the basement of my home in Glendale, much to the consternation of my wife, Jen. She grew to dread those nights because scary things sometimes happened. Lights in our apartment would go on and off on their own. We were constantly buying new light bulbs because they burned out so fast. One night she had the same eerie experience Angelo did: She’d heard heavy footsteps coming up the creaky basement stairs. Thinking it was me bringing my video equipment upstairs after the class, she opened the door—and found no one there.
Understandably, she was very upset. “I don’t like what these classes are drawing here,” she said after I’d finished teaching—and she didn’t calm down until I’d blessed our entire apartment with prayer and holy water. It troubled me also to have my wife harassed this way, but I felt God had provided this group of people for a reason. Not only could Joe and I teach others about the Work, but we also learned from our students, since they brought faith and fresh ideas to our cases. There are no handbooks on demonology, so we developed our techniques through trial and error. The students came from all walks of life—Millie was a school crossing guard, Dennis had a 7-Up delivery route, David was a bodyguard, and Fred was a doorman. Antonio and Vicki were a married couple who’d met while they were in the Army and now worked for a Manhattan lawyer. They both dressed in military-style camouflage clothing. These people came from all faiths; belief in God was our common bond.
We never forced anyone to get more involved than he or she wanted to. Some members of our group just came to the classes; and others assisted on our cases. Those who preferred to remain students rather than investigators were still an important part of our team because they supported us with their prayers. Some contributed in other ways too: Kathy, who worked for the Catholic Church, was too shy to go out on cases, but turned out to have unexpected psychic talent. Before we left for the graveyard case, she gave me a warning. “Be very careful,” she said. “Somebody’s going to get hit.”
I run my cases like a police operation and enforce strict discipline. First, each investigator is expected to be in a state of grace when he or she accompanies Joe and me on cases. For a Catholic, that means having gone to confession. While our church only suggests monthly confession, I didn’t feel that was enough and made a rule that investigators also go to weekly confession, if possible, before going up against the demonic. People of other faiths were to perform whatever rituals their religion prescribes to be in the best possible relationship with God. I also instructed people to perform a “black fast” before cases, where they spent three days eating very little and praying a lot.
“Basically, your job is to watch each other’s back and do exactly what Joe and I tell you,” I instructed the three student investigators who had volunteered to help with this case. Phil and Chris were father and son—and had joined the group along with Phil’s wife, Rose—but the two men didn’t look at all alike. The dad, the computer professional in our group, was heavyset with dark hair, while his teenaged son was very thin and fair, like his mother. Both had
similar temperaments, however: They were enthusiastic, outgoing guys who made friends very quickly. I was impressed with how close they were: There was none of the tension you’d expect between a father and his adolescent son. Chris was a very good kid any man would be proud of.
Phil and Chris had been on cases before, but it was the first time for Tommy, a cop I worked with in East New York. We shared a passion for the martial arts and became friendly while training together. He was a wiry little guy who could move with astonishing speed. Although I’d never been on patrol with him, since we worked on different shifts, I’d heard he was very quick-witted and knew how to handle himself on the street. Since any cop who works in the ghetto has to be aggressive, I cautioned him that he wasn’t to mix it up with anybody. “We may be met with force on this case,” I told him. “If that happens, take the person down if you have to, but don’t hurt him.”
The final member of our group, who arrived a few minutes later, was Brother Andrew, an extremely gifted psychic who belongs to the St. Paul Society, a religious order in Staten Island. A tall, thin man with flowing dirty blond hair and a scraggly mustache that makes him look like an Old Testament prophet, he sensed as soon as we walked into the house that there was a malevolent presence—and it was scared of us! That told me we were dealing with a low-level demon, since it was frightened before we even began our exorcism of the house.
There is a hierarchy in Hell, just as in Heaven, where there are nine orders of celestial spirits: seraphim are the most exalted, followed by cherubim, thrones, dominations, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, and finally angels. From the Bible, we know that Lucifer was once supreme among the seraphim, but he committed the deadly sin of pride, by imagining himself the equal of the Almighty. In his arrogance and envy, he refused to give glory and thanks to God, and became God’s adversary.
Like humans, the angels were given free will, so they could choose to love God. He created humans with a soul and directed the angels to care for us. Then God allowed His only son to become a man. Although the virtuous angels adored Jesus Christ, Lucifer said he would not worship a mere human. Many angels joined his rebellion, then a challenge rose from one of the lowest orders, as the Archangel Michael called each angel who “was like unto God” to join the metaphysical battle. As punishment, Lucifer and one-third of the angels were cast out of Heaven, forever banished from seeing the beatific face of God.
These fallen angels, now the demons that inhabit Hell, lost their supernatural graces but not their inhuman powers. It’s been said that their leader, Lucifer, is represented by the scorpion and that Satan, the ruler of Hell, is represented by the snake. Father Martin went so far as to say that Lucifer and Satan were two distinct and separate beings. Not much is known about this subject, but since there is the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, why can’t there be an unholy trinity as well? I can see a correlation between God, the Father, and Lucifer, father of lies, who tries to bring us into eternal damnation. The Son, Jesus, gave us salvation, while His antagonist, the Antichrist, will appear on Earth during the last days as a false messiah. And the Holy Ghost, who helps us understand God and become more holy, is opposed by Satan, the destroyer who seeks the ruin of souls by turning us away from God.
Since demons that serve this unholy trinity came from every heavenly order, their powers vary from great to small. The most powerful demons are referred to as “devils.” They can manipulate blessed objects. Low-level demons cannot. But even the lowliest demon is much more powerful than us human beings and is filled with hatred and perversity. The only weapon we have against them is our faith and prayers. Despite knowing what we had in store for it, the evil spirit in this house wouldn’t flee. The demonic are not so quick to give up what they’ve gained—they must be forced to leave—and that’s just what we had in mind!
From what Angelo had described, I was reasonably sure we were dealing with the first stage of demonic activity: infestation, where the serpents of Hell worm their way into people’s lives with small, malicious acts designed to create doubt and fear, an emotion dark forces draw energy from. The demonic will announce themselves in a subtle way. Your phone may ring three times, with unnaturally short or long rings. When you pick it up, you may be greeted by unearthly growling, strange noises, static, or no sound at all. Just then there will be three knocks at the door, but no one is there when you open it. Or you may hear far more disturbing sounds: someone whispering your name when you’re alone in the house, heavy breathing in your ear, or a baby or animal crying in terrible torment, an unnatural crying that tears at your soul. You may feel someone tap you on the shoulder or have your hair pulled, and turn around to find an empty room.
Certain areas of your home may develop cold spots that won’t go away no matter how much you turn up the heat or may have sudden, drastic changes of temperature, as if something has just sucked all the warmth from the room. You may hear footsteps walking around in empty parts of the house or the sound of heavy furniture being dragged across the floor. When you look to see the cause of the sound, nothing is out of place. Or you may be all snug in your bed, drifting off to sleep, when you hear a tapping or scratching noise coming from the walls or under the bed. Try as you might, you can’t find the source of the noise. Suddenly you may get the unmistakable feeling of being watched, a sensation that makes your skin crawl. A certain room may become hostile to all who enter—even pets may refuse to go into the room, no matter how much they are coaxed. Lights may abruptly turn off, leaving you in darkness, only to blaze on in the middle of the night, jolting you from sleep. The TV or radio will turn itself on full blast—even when it’s unplugged. Out of the corner of your eye, you see something move, maybe a black or smoky shape that disappears as soon as you turn your head to get a better look. Perhaps a shadow glides by your bedroom door, a shadow darker than night. Revolting smells that have no earthly origin fill the air.
Objects seem to develop a will of their own, moving around the house no matter how many times you put them back. Perhaps you put your key ring or wallet in the same place every day, but it’s mysteriously disappeared when you want to go out. You look all over the house without finding the object, only to have it turn up days later in a place where you already looked. This can lead to arguments, accusations, and disharmony, which are just what the demonic thrive on. But there’s also a more sinister plot working here. The phenomena are usually centered around one particular person—an individual chosen for possession, whom we call the “focal person.” He or she will experience all or most of the eerie phenomena, but when these people tell the other family members, he or she will be ridiculed and not believed. Or the person may not say anything at all but may begin to question his or her own sanity and withdraw from the rest of the family. Isolation makes it harder for the focal person to fight back, and there follows a systematic breakdown of that person’s will. Once the evil spirit has entrenched itself, it will progress to the next stage, oppression, where the rest of the family is also treated to the horrifying phenomena. These scare tactics have a simple, cruel purpose: to break down the victim’s will, rendering the person less and less able to resist possession, the demonic’s ultimate goal.
Before any of this can happen, however, there must be an invitation that opens the door, allowing a demon to slip into our world. This can happen by accident or by design. Many people make the big mistake of not taking occult practices very seriously. Several current TV shows with supernatural themes—ranging from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Charmed—depict witchcraft as glamorous. What really disturbs me is that these programs are geared toward kids, giving children the dangerous misconception that dabbling in the occult is harmless fun. Never do they warn viewers that casting spells can lead to an attack by the demonic, nor do they show the living hell some people go through because they thought it would be interesting to mess around with a Ouija board, tarot cards, seances, or witchcraft rituals. Sometimes nothing at all happens; other times, somethi
ng you can’t see sneaks through and starts raising unholy hell in your life.
There are also people who know the spirit world exists and try to manipulate it to do their bidding. Maybe they deliberately invite the demonic into their lives, hoping to gain wealth and power. These people are Satanists and worship Satan as a god who will bring them earthly delights. What they don’t grasp—until it’s too late—is that once you cross that line, you put yourself in debt to the Devil. Sooner or later, he is going to collect, possibly in this world, certainly in the next.
Along with dabblers and practitioners of the dark arts, there are also innocent bystanders who somehow get snared by the occult. Like tragic victims of a drive-by shooting, they are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. They might buy their dream house or move into a nice little apartment, not suspecting the horror that awaits them. Although the demonic aren’t necessarily bound to any particular place, they may linger on the scene if something bad happened there in the past: A homicide, domestic violence, child molestation, satanic rituals, and drug abuse are all draws for the forces of darkness, due to the intense negative emotion associated with these events. As my partner Joe puts it, such houses sit like Venus flytraps, waiting for their unwary prey.
* * *
While Angelo didn’t know if any of these things happened at this particular house—or what its history was—he did mention something curious about the landlady. Several times after he’d moved in, she’d stop by to collect mail. Although he politely invited her in, she always insisted on standing out on the street while he went to get the letters. How very odd, I thought. It seems that this woman is afraid to set foot in her own house! I bet she knows exactly what’s waiting inside—and how it got there! One possibility is that the building was once the home of a wicked person, whose human spirit lingers there. Since one of the laws of the spirit world is “like attracts like,” a place haunted by an evil ghost (the spirit of a departed person) can become a magnet for demonic forces as well.
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