Possession, Demoniacal And Other

by T K Oesterreich

  The so-called Mary whilst at the Roffs would sometimes “go back to heaven” and leave the body in a “quiet trance”—i.e., without the original personality of Lurancy returning. After eight or nine weeks, however, the memory and manner of Lurancy would sometimes partially, but not entirely, return for a few minutes. Once Lurancy seems to have taken full possession for a short time. At last, after some fourteen weeks, conformably to the prophecy which “Mary” had made when she first assumed “control,” she departed definitely and the Lurancy-consciousness came back for good. Mr. Roff writes:

  “She wanted me to take her home, which I did. She called me Mr. Roff, and talked with me as a young girl would, not being acquainted. I asked her how things appeared to her—if they seemed natural. She said it seemed like a dream to her. She met her parents and brothers in a very affectionate manner, hugging and kissing each one in tears of gladness. She clasped her arms around her father’s neck a long time, fairly smothering him with kisses. I saw her father just now (eleven o’clock). He says she has been perfectly natural, and seems entirely well.”

  James adds:

  My friend Mr. R. Hodgson informs me that he visited Watseka in April, 1889, and cross-examined the principal witnesses of this case. His confidence in the original narrative was strengthened by what he learned; and various unpublished facts were ascertained, which increased the plausibility of the spiritualistic interpretation of the phenomenon.1

  In the other continents conditions are quite different from those prevailing in the principal countries of Europe and America, and possession is manifestly still an extremely frequent phenomenon, even in the lands of ancient civilization. This naturally results from the fact that such civilization is less highly developed than in the majority of European countries or those formed on the European model (America, and the civilized parts of Australia and Africa). In particular the education of the masses is much more restricted, and the old religious ideas exercise a power which, generally speaking, they have long since lost in Europe.

  But possession is not confined to these lands; it is also encountered in other regions, although information about such cases is scanty. The majority of documents dealing with them come from countries where civilization is sufficiently advanced to permit the existence of an extensive literature, but, on the other hand, has not penetrated the lower strata of society to a degree where rational criticism destroys primitive ideas.

  From the Near East comes an account by Curtiss concerning some cases of possession at Nebk, in Syria:

  Suleiman, a Protestant teacher of Nebk, had from his wife the following account of the expulsion of an evil spirit which inhabited a young girl of her acquaintance. “The holy man commanded the spirit to come out of her. He replied: ‘I will depart by her head.’ ‘If you do so,’ replied the holy man, ‘you will kill her.’ ‘Good, then I will depart by her eye!’ ‘No, you would kill her!’ At length the spirit declared himself willing to depart by her toe, which was accepted.” A child was subject to epileptic fits. He felt the spirit come upon him. The sheik struck the child a blow on the shoulder so violent that it made a wound through which the spirit came forth.

  Curtiss adds the following remark:

  Baldensprenger mentions a similar case in Palestine:1 “On December 31st, 1891, our nearest neighbour was possessed by a shape dressed in white…. Dumb with fright, she ran into the house but could make known only by signs that something extraordinary had occurred. Immediately a sheik (priest) was fetched from the neighbouring sakmet, Abu Derwish, who brought his holy books—magic books—and who, by way of beginning the cure, gave the patient a violent cut with a whip. Having lit a fire which was to burn all the time, he began to question her: Who art thou? The spirit replied by the mouth of the woman: A Jew.—How hast thou come hither?—I was killed on this spot. From whence art thou?—From Nablus.—When wast thou murdered?—Twelve years ago.—Come forth from the body of this woman!—I will not!—Very well. I have fire here and shall burn thee.—How must I come forth, by the eye, the nose, or where? After long preambles the spirit, in a horrible convulsion of the whole body and of the legs came out by the great toe. The woman fainted from exhaustion and subsequently recovered her speech.”1

  Cases of possession seem to have occurred very frequently amongst the primitive lower classes of India. The documents here are far more plentiful than anywhere else, so that I shall only quote a very small number, which can readily be supplemented from literature.

  The missionary R. Fröhlich, whom I had asked for fuller particulars, writes:

  The external character of possession which I have studied amongst Christian women (and which I have heard described in connection with heathen ones) is a circular movement of the whole trunk upon the hips, at first slow, then quicker, and finally so furious that the hair is loosed from its knot and lashes like a whip. The person then sits down on the ground with legs folded under her. In the case of which I was an eye-witness the circular movement lasted for hours. At times she wished to get up and leave the house; it was not without difficulty that three men were able to hold her. This circular movement, called the swami dance, that is the dance of God, was accompanied by an incessant half-singing stream of speech, corresponding to the rhythm of 3/4 time. She spoke of herself in the third person as “my child,” “my pearl,” “my treasure,” “my flower,” and never wearied of reiterating the assurance that “he” would not give up nor let go “his pearl.” She often repeated also: “It burns … it burns … the name of Jesus burns me … but I have permission … for five days more…. Until then I will not leave my pearl.… I will not leave her.… I will not leave her…!”

  After the specified number of days (each day she accurately reduced it by one) the phenomena ceased. Until then they were reproduced every evening at six or nine o’clock and lasted until midnight or three a.m. To the question addressed to her by an onlooker: “Who are you, then, you who are speaking?” The woman replied: “I am Murugen.” Once when she wished to rush out she cried: “Let me go out.… I must go out…. Kali is waiting for me … over there in the corner.” (Kali is a village divinity like Murugen.) In childhood the woman had been vowed by her father to Murugen. Later the father had become a Christian with all his family, and the woman was married to a Christian but had become inwardly estranged from Christianity. After such nocturnal manifestations she declared when questioned that she remembered nothing, and behaved quite normally until towards six o’clock or later the fit came upon her again.

  The case of the other Christian woman which I was able to witness personally was ephemeral. It was on the occasion of a visit to the village parishes. The woman had been baptized long before, but had relapsed into paganism, then had recently to all appearances returned to the Christian congregation. She was before her hut. The native clergyman was speaking to her, but she was distracted, made no reply, and suddenly falling on her knees, squatted with an absent air. “Say the Creed, I will show you how!” cried the black pastor. She recited the first article after him word for word, always in the squatting position. But when he came to the words “and in Jesus Christ” she became completely mute and began slowly to execute a circular movement with the trunk. Then the pastor had a vessel of water brought and vigorously sprinkled her head and face with it; he flung the cold water in her face and over her head by handfuls so that it resounded like slaps. The success of this remedy was to arrest the circular movement. The woman remained sitting and we were obliged to go. The pastor had often seen similar things: “They can no longer pronounce the name of Jesus when the influence is upon them,” said he. He was of opinion that if they could be brought to force themselves to do it the state would cease. When that was not possible he used the successful cold water cure just described….

  These are all the observations which I have had the opportunity of making.

  To this document may be added another taken from the annals of an English mission:

  In … the ceded districts of South In
dia there is an important village, that we shall call Verapalli, attached to which is a large pariah-Christian community. To this place there came, comparatively recently, a severe epidemic of cholera.

  What can the foreigners know of the ways of Maremma, the awful? Cattle innumerable are slaughtered in sacrifice. Some poor ignorant person, usually a woman, becomes, as it is called, a “Shivashakti,” that is, becomes possessed, to the complete alteration of her character, by, as the people believe, some demon-goddess. She rises, rushes suddenly for the nearest mangora-tree, and crams her mouth with its leaves. These she chews and spits out as she runs shrieking frightfully up and down the village street, predicting the death of its inhabitants.

  This extraordinary phenomenon, explain it how you may, is known in every village in the ceded districts, and probably also over all India. It would be impossible to conceive anything better calculated to foster the spirit of hopeless terror that contributes so greatly to the fatality of the disease.

  The epidemic in Verapalli was unusually severe and lasted long. As the days passed a striking circumstance became daily more marked. Though in the caste and chucklers’ (a pariah caste) houses the disease claimed its victims, the Christians—though the buildings all closely adjoined—remained unaffected. This, too, again, explain it as you may, is quite a usual circumstance, so common, indeed, that it is remarked upon by the other castes.

  Now, in the village there lived a person of much wealth and evil influence, called Venkatareddy.… To this man it seemed a matter of grave injustice that the Christians should escape the fate that was afflicting so heavily all the others….

  He called the “Shivashakti” of the place, in this instance a poor shepherd woman, and induced her to exert her supposed malignant powers against the Christians, to pass on to them the dread disease that the other castes might go free.

  On the dreaded evening the Christian community divided into four bands, and under trees in the four corners of their hamlets, all night prayer meetings were held, not prayer meetings for quiet devotion by any means: for hours they made their part of the village resound with loud singing and strong praying.

  All heathen rites, like that about to be performed, are recognized as works of darkness, and it is not till the moon hides its kindly face that they may begin, so it was long after midnight before the procession started.

  The Shivashakti went first, closely followed by Venkatareddy and his friends. Close behind them crowded half the village. Torches were carried, whose flickering, smoky flame made the strange scene yet more fearsome.

  The woman, an awful figure, staggered ahead, as one possessed. Her black hair tumbled loose over her starting eyes, her face horribly contorted, her fingers clutching like claws. Her bloodcurdling yells were clearly heard above the din of the drums.

  Slowly the procession pursued its way towards the boundary. Within, the Christians redoubled the vigour of their hymns and prayers. All at once the wretched woman stops, rigid with sudden terror. “See,” screams the Shivashakti: “There He stands, God Jesus, with hands outstretched, protecting His people, as a shepherd does his lambs. Back, back; He is a great God, I dare go no farther. If I do, I die.”

  But Venkatareddy is in no mood to accept defeat. Far too drunk, probably, to understand, he blocks the way, roughly catching hold of her. Then he pushes her, and eventually, in tipsy desperation, beats her with his fists.

  With the fury of a tiger the woman turns upon him, shrieking madly. “The curse of Mysooramma be upon you. It is not me you struck but her. By to-morrow evening may Maremma grip you.”

  When the words of the curse reached the stupefied brain, the great brutal fellow collapsed. He had to be helped to his home, spent the night in deadly fear, and by sundown of the next day the curse had come true. The cholera goddess had claimed another victim.

  The tale passed over the countryside, and on its way made an impression greater than many sermons.1

  Bastian also gives particulars of exorcism in India and Ceylon which seem to come from a foreign source:

  The temple of Hur-hureshvuru at Conkan, whose healing current of air (waren) is attributed to the Bhuiroba, is particularly visited by pilgrims suffering from the nervous affection called pishachu-copudruvu, or devil’s ill (unfortunately this affection is not further described). After a few days the patients are subjected to a course of ceremonies which begins with all sorts of exercises and salt baths (in the pool at high tide) and ends by the application of the usual stimulants to excite the imagination and overstimulate the nerves: the dazzling glare of camphor flames, the scent of repulsive-smelling flowers, clouds of smoking incense, and a deafening janizary-music of bells, cymbals, gongs, drums, sirens mingling their violent discords, tinkling, rattling, clapping and howling without interruption. The patients, epileptics or hysterics, are subjected to this treatment and an artificial state of epilepsy and hysteria is created in which the presence of the tormenting demon is recognized. This latter is evoked by the power of the priest and is only exorcised by him, by means of the power conferred over them (the patients) at his approach by order of Bhuiroba. The priest questions the evil spirit and demands his expulsion. The latter trembles at the imperious words and angry look. He replies to questions according to impressions received from his tender infancy and perhaps asks as sole favour that he may be allowed to leave his citadel with all the honours of war and may be promised the observance of the usual ritual. (This is so arranged in order to fill the purse or stomach of the priest.) At length the demon announces his retreat, the patient falls senseless, and when he recovers consciousness finds himself in most cases completely cured.1

  Another of Bastian’s narratives—it cannot unfortunately be ascertained with certainty whether it originates from him or from another traveller—makes it perfectly clear that the state of possession is first revealed by the procedure of exorcism or by approach to the temple where it is practised. It is evident that the maladies which the patients bring there are chiefly nervous phenomena of another kind. The reader will remember Kerner’s doctrine of the “hidden demon” who must first be brought to light.

  Pilgrims from all parts of Ceylon visit the temple of the demon Vakula Bandara Devijo at Alutnuvera at all seasons to be cured of demoniacal possession when it resists other means. It is principally women who believe themselves to be under this influence. To dance, sing or cry out without cause, to tremble and jerk the limbs or be subject to frequent and prolonged fainting fits, are considered as the symptoms of a case of possession. From time to time women who think they find themselves under this imaginary influence try to run away from their homes, pouring forth insults and abuse or biting and tearing their flesh and hair. Sometimes the fits last only an hour, sometimes fit after fit occurs in rapid succession, sometimes they only overtake the women on Sunday nights and Wednesdays, or once in three or four months, but always at the time when a demoniacal ceremony takes place. On such occasions the conjurations of the cattadiya bring a passing relief, but it seems that no conjuration is capable of ensuring a permanent cure; no resource therefore remains except the temple, Gala kap-pu dewale. If the woman is two or three miles from the temple it is believed that she is overcome by the demoniacal influence and she approaches the temple in a wild and excited condition; no one can then stop her and she would rather tear anyone opposing her to pieces than stay her progress. She walks faster and faster as she nears the sacred place. Once arrived, she takes refuge in a corner and sits trembling and whimpering, or else entirely speechless and blank, as if overcome with fear, until the capua begins his exorcisms. Sometimes she goes quietly to the temple without showing any demoniac signs and the influence begins with the exorcism. The principal room of the temple is divided into three parts by curtains; in the middle is the sanctuary of the god. The capua stands before the outer curtain with the woman confronting him. After the sacrificial offerings have been brought the priest turns towards the god behind the curtain, enumerates the gifts and tells him that such a
woman of such and such a village has come to seek for aid against a demon. During this time the woman trembles and shudders, with intermittent outcries. The capua then puts questions in the following way: “Wilt thou, O devil, leave this woman instantly or must I punish thee for thine impudence?” Thereupon it may happen that the patient replies, shaking with fear: “Yes, I will go at once!” But generally the request is at first met by a refusal. Then the capua takes a bamboo in his right hand and administers to the woman a smart shower of blows, repeating his questions and threats. When a good number of blows has been meted out she generally replies: “Yes, I will go away at once!” She then ceases to tremble and shake and resumes possession of her reason in cases where she had lost it, while her friends congratulate themselves on the happy issue of the cure. (Cf. Dandris de Silva.)1

  Examples of possession in Siam are also found in Bastian, according to whom purely physical maladies often give rise to this diagnosis and psychic possession of the true kind follows in consequence of the exorcisms performed to expel the demon.