by AndyAfro
When Maria was nearly nine, she and her family moved to another house in the same town. She was very cute, a bit chubby, was light-skinned and had auburn hair. Within a short time she began to change drastically. Her eyes, which had been bright and sparkling, became dull and sunken. Her hair turned dark and her skin became sallow. She lost a great deal of weight. Her family became terrified, doctors could not explain it. Her mother bought a skin bleaching cream to try to lighten her skin. It seemed to be a total physical change, almost as if she changed into someone else!
At about the same time Maria's uncle Peter came to the United States from Sicily and moved right in with the family. He became very fond of Maria and insisted on calling her "Rose" because that was his mother's name.
One day, Maria and some of her friends were out playing when it began to rain. Maria was quite wet by the time she got home, so she went directly to her room to change. Just as she had taken her wet clothes off, Peter walked in the room. He. walked over to her, put his arms around her and covered her with kisses. Peter tried, from then on, to get close to her and be alone with her whenever he could. Many times she had to tell him that if he did not leave her alone she would tell her mother.
The older she became, the more tightly controlled her life became. She wasn't even allowed to go out with her girl friends for fear that she would meet another man. Peter was tremendously jealous. Maria was not allowed to go anywhere unless it was with him or her mother. Maria's mother would beat her with a strap if she even said "hello" to another boy.
In order to help support the family, when Maria became eighteen she was allowed to work. She found a job as a sales clerk in a store. One of the other sales clerks that worked with her felt sorry for her and introduced her to a male customer. Maria and her new friend knew that if her mother found out, they would both be in trouble. He seemed so nice and the only times they could see each other was at lunch, so Maria could see no harm in having lunch with him.
A few days later her new friend, whose name was Roy, asked her to go out with him that night. In order to get her mother's permission, the other sales girl told her that she needed Maria's help at her home that night. Reluctantly, Maria was allowed to go.
Maria really enjoyed herself that night. They had all sat around and talked, but she really felt free. When she saw that it was almost ten o'clock, she began to get nervous and asked Roy to take her home. He drove her there but when they got near the house, they saw Peter and her father standing there, under a street light, waiting for her. Roy drove pa si the house, Maria quickly got out, ran up the driveway and climbed the outside stairs to the second floor. There, on the landing, stood Maria's mother with a basket of firewood which she proceeded to throw at Maria, piece by piece.
Maria was too bruised to go to work the next day. When Roy learned this, he went to her brother's house and asked him to arrange a meeting with her family. Reluctantly, they met with Roy and, oddly enough, they liked him. They even encouraged her to go out on dates with him. As a matter of fact, Peter even advised her to marry Roy.
Ed and Lorraine were puzzled by this. Could it be that Peter was clairvoyant and knew that they would never be happy together? Further investigation revealed much information about Peter.
Peter was somewhat well-known as a healer. He would take those who were ill or who had broken bones upstairs to the attic, where he would perform various rituals over them. When they left, their ills would be healed. He spent many nights reading, into the early morning hours, from a book that he would show to no one. On the days after he had performed his rituals, there were always traces of blood to be found on the floor. Those are not the ways of a true healer, they are the ways of a satanist!
Arrangements were made by the family for Maria to marry Roy. She didn't really want to marry him, not now at least. Invitations had already been sent out and her mother said that she would disgrace the family if she didn't marry him. She finally agreed.
Maria and Roy had been married for about three years when Peter decided to return to his wife in Sicily. Not too long after his return, he died. Maria, although not what would be considered happily married, was nonetheless happier than she had been before her marriage. Even that was to change. After Peter's death, Maria's troubles really began!
Roy bought Maria a ouija board. She thought that by using it she could find some of the answers to the family problems that were plaguing her. They played with it together at first, but soon the board demanded to talk with Maria alone. At first she "talked" with the board only in the evening. Soon she spent more and more of her time with the board until it became an obsession with her. Her troubles seemed to multiply with her increased use of the board.
One of the problems which prompted Maria to buy the board was her mother's failing health. She soon discovered that her sister-in-law, who had never liked Maria's mother gave her what she called an amulet' to wear over her heart for good luck. One day when she was very sick, she showed it to Maria and asked her if it could have anything to do with her sickness. Maria took the cloth bag from around her neck and ripped it open. There, inside packed in sawdust were thirteen rusted coffin nails. The damage was done, however. Not long afterwards Maria's mother died of an enlarged heart.
Maria's use of the ouija board became more intense and a somewhat macabre love affair blossomed. The board told her that it loved her! It described itself as a man, forty-five years old with light eyes, skin and hair and had grown up in Rome and had known Maria in a previous life. (How strange, his description so closely resembled Peter.)
Maria asked him if he was a God-loving man. He answered in the affirmative and recited passages from the Bible, as if to prove it to her. He even called her Rose which was Peter's nickname for her.
The more that Maria used the ouija board, the more strange things happened throughout the house. They heard footsteps in empty rooms and on the stairs. Doors and windows opened and closed by themselves. There always seemed to he someone else in the room.
The ouija still insisted that it loved Maria and would ask her to kiss the board each night before she went to bed. When Roy felt in an amorous mood and made husbandly advances toward her, a loud slap would be heard and his head would be jarred to one side. The invisible entity was extremely jealous of Maria. If she let her thoughts wander to other men, she would feel the slap!
Maria soon fell in love with the entity that came through the ouija, she had to "talk" with it as often as possible. Many nights she woHld be awakened to the soft whispering of a voice calling, "Maria, Maria," or sometimes, "Rose, Rose." The board was calling her to talk with it.
As time passed Maria began to worry about her love affair with the board. She even began to doubt the validity of the entity. She turned to the Bibl
e and prayed as often as she could.
One night while reading from the Bible, she felt the familiar urge to make love to the ouija. She tried to force the desire from her mind. She pleaded to be left alone. The board would not listen. Maria finally gave in. The planchette began moving wildly, it told of the entity's previous life. It promised to come back in a new body, meet Maria and marry her. It spoke of Maria's mother being there with her relatives and how happy they are.
Maria was still angry with the board for interrupting her reading of the Bible. She told the entity that she didn't think that he was a "soul of God". He became angry with her. He told her that her mother was angry also. He told her that she had spoiled it for him, the master was angry with him and would not let him return again to talk with her. No sooner had the ouija board "spoken" those words when the room became saturated with the smell of human excrement. Deodorants and cologne had no affect on the odor. Finally it faded away.
For the first time Maria realized the evil that the board had produced. She took it to the backyard and poured gasoline on it in an attempt to bum it, but it would not burn. Maria became hysterical, she smashed the board against the stonewall in her yard. When it was splintered, she poured gasoline on it a^gain, this time it became engulfed in flames. As it burned, Maria felt as if her whole body were on fire. For three days and three nights, she felt as if she were standing in the oven of Hell. Her skin turned brilliant red. She wanted so desperately to pray for help, but everytime she tried to pray, her body would become paralyzed. Her skin began to tighten over her body. The veins in her body became visible, they almost burst through her skin. She was in excruciating pain. She begged for relief, but no mortal could help her.
After those three days and three nights of horror Maria began to be visited by another entity. This time it was a woman who had an incredibly evil chuckle. One night she saw the woman.
Her nephew Brian, was on leave from the Navy and chose to visit Maria. One night both he and Maria's daughter went out on separate dates. Maria always left the hall light on, the last one in would shut it off. This way Maria could tell at a glance if all were safely home. On this particular night, she heard the key in the lock signifying that one of the children was returning. She heard the door open and shut and heard the footsteps on the stairs. There, on the stairs, she saw a girl with short brown curly hair coming toward her. This girl was not her daughter. As Maria watched, the girl just seemed to disappear!
A few minutes later Brian arrived home. Maria decided to check to see if she could have been mistaken. Her daughter was not in her room. She knocked on Brian's door, then entered. Her daughf ter was not in Brian's room either. A few minutes after Maria had returned to bed she heard knocking on the kitchen door. Upon investigation she found that her daughter was just returning from her date and had forgotten her key.
Maria felt that there were now two entities haunting her. She decided to seek help from her church. She explained her problem to her priest and asked him to bless her house. His blessing had no affect on the entities. In fact, each time she sought help, the frequency of the attacks on her seemed to increase.
A friend of Maria's told her of Ed and Lorraine's ability to help and begged her to go and see them. After learning all the facts in the case Ed and Lorraine decided to consult a deep-trance medium in the hopes of learning the secrets of the other world harassing Maria. The medium had never met her.
An informal circle was formed in the living room of Maria's house. The medium asked her for an object that related to the hauntings. By the use of psychometry she could pick up vibrations and make contact. Maria gave her a letter that she had received from Peter through automatic writing. The medium withdrew into her trance, holding the letter in her hands. The entranced medium spoke, this time in a deep masculine voice:
"1 want to cry. Lord, I want to cry like I've never cried in my life before. If I could take this letter I would crush it because it is my whole life. I have poured into these lines not only my words but my whole soul, all that I am. Everything that I could possibly be is in there. I am not evil. Do you understand? I am me!"
Ed Warren interrupted the voice that seemed to be Peter and asked if he practiced witchcraft in life.
"No, that is not the word we use. When I was alive, I became aware of a certain power that I had. I knew that it didn't come from God. Therefore, I attributed it to he who is the brother of darkness. Because 1 wanted to control Maria so much, I begged and entreated and used that power. 1 did not realize that it carries over after death!"
Maria then asked where the blood that was found on the attic floor came from. Before Peter's voice could answer another voice, this one slow and gutteral tried to force its voice through the entranced medium. Then Peter's voice:
"Haven't I betrayed enough mysteries to you? Aren't you repulsed enough? Do you have to know more?"
Maria said that she had to know everything. How and where he died. She said that if he sincerely wanted to help her, he would tell all.
A long period of silence followed. It was evident that there was more than one entity trying to use the medium. She was in deep concentration, her eyes were completely closed, her head was bowed. Then a new voice came:
"I would like to help you, Maria."
Ed Warren picked up the conversation with this new entity. "Who are you?"
"Diablo."
"What are you doing here tonight?"
"You called me!"
"There are many devils, what is your real name?"
"Satan!"
"Are you among those who attack this woman?"
"No."
"Then why are you here tonight?"
"It's an open invitation. Anyone can come."
"What is the real reason? Do you have something to say?"
"I care. I want very much to help. I am so sad. I have been sad for a long time. I don't want to do this any more! I dont want to be here any more! God, I ask you to relieve me… relieve me!"
"Do you believe in God?"
"Yes."
"You cannot call upon him?"
"Is there a way?"
Then the sound of mumbling, as if all was not well on the entities level. Then another voice was heard.
"Get out of here, we don't want you here."
At this point Ed crept up behind the medium and withdrew a cross from his pocket. He held it an inch from her neck. The voice cried out:
"What are you doing? No, don't do that! Get out! No! Get out!" Then the voice pleaded, "Don't do that! Take it away! Please, take it away!"
Peter's voice could be heard once more. Ed asked him:
"Are you there, Peter?"
"Yes, but please help me."
"We are going to help you and Maria. We will find a way."
"Thank you. Hurry, before they come back. I am damned, but I don't want them to hurt anyone else."
"Oh, God help me!"
The entities began attacking Peter again.
"No! Get away! No! I won't do it again."
Ed demanded, "Don't give in to him, Peter."
"I won't give in. They won't get me!"
"I would like Maria to ask you a question. Go ahead, Maria."
"Why did you do this to me when 1 did you no harm?: Why did you make me a prisoner and persecute my family and me? Why did you involve me like this?"
"Because you are an open vessel. You had no protections about you. You have invited hardship and disaster. If not from me, then from any other entity. I can't explain it to you. You have to understand how open and vulnerable you are."