Possession, Demoniacal And Other

by T K Oesterreich

  Bastian raises the question of whether the Siamese doctors are capable of driving out the demons which have entered into a possessed person and how they set about it. He writes:

  To this question we must reply that the doctors (Mo) believe themselves perfectly capable of driving out demons. So far as exorcisms are concerned, I have seen possessed persons behave in a very singular manner. Some laugh, others weep, some become mute, others act like madmen. All this is unconscious, for the possessed know nothing of themselves. When a doctor is called in to treat them he begins by blessing a piece of areca nut and giving it to them to eat. This should serve as a preliminary test to see whether there is really demoniacal possession or some other malady. In cases of possession the patients experience giddiness or begin to vomit, cry out loudly, groan, or close their eyes and remain mute. By these signs it is easily and surely recognized that a demon has entered. Then the doctor takes a thread of cotton which he has blessed and ties it round the neck of the possessed. This is designed to make sure of the demon and bind him. Then potent charms are pronounced to menace the demon which has taken possession of the person. Sometimes the demon grows uneasy. He laments, cries out and asks pardon, saying: “I will come out without doing her any harm.” The doctor then subjects him to an examination in order that he may make himself known: “Whence comest thou, companion (mung)? What wouldst thou here? Dost thou need anything?” As a rule the demon who has taken possession of the patient’s body now gives his name and replies that he desires this or that. But the doctor then generally takes rods and deals him a rain of blows, after having bound him by charms so that he cannot escape. This puts the demon in a fright and he cries out: “I am going! I am going!” The doctor then bids him farewell and at the instant when the demon comes forth the possessed falls to the earth and remains there about three hours without saying a word. When she begins to come to her senses the bystanders ask her: “Did you know anything when just now you were in a state of possession?” She replies that she was not possessed, but only felt slightly indisposed and disturbed in mind. For that reason the Siamese firmly believe that the doctors are capable of driving out the phi pisat from the human body. Whether this exorcism of the phi pisat is founded to any extent on fact I cannot state with certainty; I can only speak from hearsay.1

  Finally a case from Burmah.

  Dr. Mason mentions a prophet who was converted to Christianity.

  He could say nothing of his first impressions, but said that it had seemed to him as if a spirit spoke and he had to give an account of what it had said.

  Dr. Mason then relates the following anecdote:

  Another individual had a familiar spirit that he consulted and with which he conversed; but, on hearing the Gospel, he professed to become converted, and had no more communication with his spirit. It had left him, he said; it spoke to him no more. After a protracted trial I baptized him. I watched his case with interest, and for several years he led an unimpeachable Christian life; but, on losing his religious zeal, and disagreeing with some of the Church members, he removed to a distant village, where he could not attend the services of the Sabbath, and it was soon after reported that he had communications with his familiar spirit again. I sent a native preacher to visit him. The man said he heard the voice which had conversed with him formerly, but it spoke very differently. Its language was exceedingly pleasant to hear, and produced great brokenness of heart. It said, “Love each other; act righteously—act uprightly.” with other exhortations such as he had heard from the teachers. An assistant was placed in the village near him, when the spirit left him again; and ever since he has maintained the character of a consistent Christian.2

  Whereas there is generally a lack of detailed accounts of possession from foreign countries those coming from Mongol civilization are very abundant and in some cases especially circumstantial. Here also it is particularly the lower and uneducated classes which are attacked by possession.

  In China possession finds a quite peculiar support in the general belief, strongly impressed on the consciousness of the Chinese people, in the survival of man after death. This forms the basis both of ancestor-worship and of the conviction that it is possible, thanks to specially gifted persons called mediums, to enter into immediate communication with the souls of the dead and also with the gods. The Chinese people in general profess spiritualistic belief, as we shall see still more clearly below. A missionary writes:

  Possession is here in the country a daily occurrence which attracts no attention…. Ordinary neo-Christians often demonstrate with complete success the power of belief and the efficacy of holy water, with which they drive out the wicked enemy.1

  A number of accounts of possession in China are to be found, particularly in the writings of the Christian missionaries. There is, moreover, a special book on the subject apparently not without interest and often quoted in English and American literature. This too is the work of a missionary named John L. Nevius.2 Unfortunately I have not, owing to the war, been able to obtain a copy of this book, but have had to content myself with the information contained in a review in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research3 and in Andrew Lang.4 It appears from Nevius’ observations that Chinese possession to some extent resembles the European variety more closely than does that of Japan, for it is not, like the latter, often attributable to the spirits of animals. Nevius, who counted forty years of active missionary work in China, found diabolic possession an everyday phenomenon amongst the Chinese, and although he did not himself observe a single case, succeeded in collecting vast stores of information concerning these states and their interpretation by the natives. Those attacked by possession showed themselves as a rule extremely reserved towards him, as a stranger.

  A Chinese mountaineer of the name of Know related to Nevius that he had himself experienced a state of possession. He was actually busied in preparing for a service to the domestic god Wang Muniang when one night the divinity appeared to him in a dream and announced that she had taken up her abode in his house. After a few days he was seized with inner disquiet to which was added a crazy impulse to play. He then had a sort of epileptic attack followed by state of mania with homicidal impulses. The “demon” announced his presence and demanded to be adored like a god. As soon as his wishes had been deferred to, he once more disappeared. During several months the demon reappeared from time to time and promised to cure the mental affections. Know remarks that “over many maladies he was not master and only appeared able to cure those which were caused by spirits.” When the sick man was converted to Christianity the demon vanished, saying, “That is no place for me.”

  In several of the cases of possession described the spirit claims to be identical with that of a dead man. In other cases, however, as in Japan, he gives himself out as one of the lower animals, such as a fox.

  According to Nevius, Chinese states of possession fall into three groups according to symptoms: (1) The automatic, continuous and consistent action of a new personality which calls itself shieng (spirit) and designates the sick man as hiang to (incense-burner, medium); (2) the possession of knowledge and intellectual capacities which the sick man does not command in his normal state and which cannot be explained by pathological hypotheses; (3) a complete change in the moral character of the sick man.

  As with one single exception Nevius is obliged to rely on outside evidence, his statements taken singly are naturally not of great weight, but in any case he makes it quite plain that the states known as trance are very frequent in the part of China where he worked, far more so than in present-day European civilization.

  Nevius’ work is supplemented in a remarkable manner by an older narrative. In 1862 a French missionary, Monseigneur Anouilh, wrote in a letter:

  Would you believe it? The villages have been converted! The devil is furious and is playing all sorts of tricks. During the fortnight’s preaching which I have just completed there have been five or six cases of possession. Our catechumens with holy wa
ter drive out the devils and cure the sick. I have seen some marvellous things. The devil is a great help to me in converting the heathen; as in the time of Our Lord, although the Father of Lies he cannot help speaking the truth. For instance, one poor possessed man executed innumerable contortions and shrieked aloud: “Why dost thou preach the true religion? I cannot bear to have my disciples taken away by thee.” “What is thy name?” asked the catechist. After some refusals, “I am the envoy of Lucifer.” “How many are you?” “We are twenty-two.” Holy water and the sign of the cross delivered this demoniac.1

  This passage reflects a feeling of triumph such as is only paralleled by the early Christian exorcists still struggling with pagan antiquity.

  The same may be said of an eminent English woman missionary in China, Mrs. Howard Taylor, née Geraldine Guiness, whose book In the Far East had already enthralled me when I was at school and which I unexpectedly found many years afterwards in the literature of this subject. In the biography of a follower of Confucius converted to Christianity, Pastor Hsi, she gives an account of several cases of possession. It is evident from her statements that, at least in the parts of China known to her, it must be very frequent.

  The most important of her accounts are the following:

  Always receptive and intelligent, she (Pastor Hsi’s wife) had grasped the truth with clearness. Her life had brightened and her heart enlarged, until it seemed as though she would become her husband’s real fellow-worker and friend.

  Then suddenly all was changed; and her very nature seemed changed too. At first only moody and restless, she rapidly fell a prey to deep depression, alternating with painful excitement. Soon she could scarcely eat or sleep, and household duties were neglected. In spite of herself, and against her own will, she was tormented by constant suggestions of evil, while a horror as of some dread nightmare seemed to possess her. She was not ill in body, and certainly not deranged in mind. But try as she might to control her thoughts and actions, she seemed under the sway of some evil power against which resistance was of no avail.

  Especially when the time came for daily worship, she was thrown into paroxysms of ungovernable rage. This distressed and amazed her as much as her husband, and at first she sought to restrain the violent antipathy she did not wish to feel. But little by little her will ceased to exert any power. She seemed carried quite out of herself, and in the seizures, which became frequent, would use language more terrible than anything she could ever have heard in her life. Sometimes she would rush into the room, like one insane, and violently break up the proceedings, or would fall insensible on the floor, writhing in convulsions that resembled epilepsy.

  Recognizing these and other symptoms only too well, the excited neighbours gathered round, crying:

  “Did not we say so from the beginning! It is a doctrine of devils, and now the evil spirits have come upon her. Certainly he is reaping his reward.”

  The swing of the pendulum was complete, and in his trouble Hsi found no sympathy. There was not a man or woman in the village but believed that his wife was possessed by evil spirits, as a judgement upon his sin against the gods.

  “A famous ‘Conqueror of Demons,’” they cried. “Let us see what his faith can do now.”

  And for a time it seemed as though that faith could do nothing. This was the bitterest surprise of all. Local doctors were powerless, and all the treatment he could think of unavailing. But prayer; surely prayer would bring relief? Yet pray as he might the poor sufferer only grew worse. Exhausted by the violence of more frequent paroxysms, the strain began to tell seriously, and all her strength seemed ebbing away.

  Then Hsi cast himself afresh on God. This trouble, whatever it was, came from the great enemy of souls, and must yield to the power of Jesus. He called for a fast of three days and nights in his household, and gave himself to prayer. Weak in body, but strong in faith, he laid hold on the promises of God, and claimed complete deliverance. Then without hesitation he went to his distressed wife, and laying his hands upon her, in the name of Jesus, commanded the evil spirits to depart and torment her no more.

  Then and there the change was wrought. To the astonishment of all except her husband, Mrs. Hsi was immediately delivered. Weak as she was, she realized that the trouble was conquered. And very soon the neighbourhood realized it too.

  For the completeness of the cure was proved by after events. Mrs. Hsi never again suffered in this way. And so profoundly was she impressed, that she forthwith declared herself a Christian and one with her husband in his life-work.

  The effect upon the villagers was startling. Familiar as they were with cases of alleged demon-possession more or less terrible in character, the people had never seen or heard of a cure, and never expected to. What could one do against malicious spirits? Yet here, before their eyes, was proof of a power mightier than the strong man armed. It seemed little less than a miracle.1

  Another case reported by Mrs. Taylor is one of the rare ones which ended in death:

  To the head doctor (in the hospital of the provincial capital T’ai-yüan where Hsi sometimes found himself) was brought one day a young woman … suffering from what her husband described as “an evil spirit.” The doctor went into the matter carefully, but could find no physical explanation of the distressing symptoms. She seemed wholly given up to evil; and the violence of the paroxysms into which she was thrown was so great that life itself was imperilled.

  After prescribing what he hoped might help her, the doctor … suggested that Hsi … should be invited to visit their home.

  There was no mistaking the excitement and confusion that prevailed on their arrival. The girl was in one of her terrible seizures, and had to be held down by half a dozen neighbours to prevent injury to herself and those around her. Calling the family together, Hsi briefly explained that he, like themselves, could do nothing, but that the God he worshipped was the living God, who could perfectly heal and deliver.

  After public prayer for God’s blessing, Hsi was taken to the room from which the cries and confusion proceeded. Immediately he entered, there was a lull. The girl saw him, ceased struggling, and in a quiet, respectful way asked him to take a seat.

  Astonished, the onlookers cried at once that the spirits had left her.

  “No,” answered Hsi, who could tell from her eyes that something was wrong, “she is as yet no better. The devil is merely trying to deceive us.”

  The girl was still friendly, and tried to make the polite remarks usually addressed to strangers; but Hsi went over, and laying his hands on her head, simply and earnestly prayed in the name of Jesus, and commanded the evil spirits at once to come out of her.

  Suddenly, while he was still praying, she sprang to her feet with a terrible cry, rushed out into the courtyard, and fell to the ground unconscious and to all appearances dying.

  “Alas! she is dead. You have killed her now!” cried the startled friends.

  But Hsi quietly raised her. “Do not be alarmed,” he said. “The spirits are gone. She will soon be all right.”

  Recovering in a little while from what seemed a heavy swoon, the young woman came to herself, and was soon restored to a perfectly normal condition.

  For some time the husband, full of gratitude, attended the services at the mission chapel and made a half-hearted profession of Christianity; but sad to say it was not the real thing with him or any of the family. As long as Hsi remained he went now and again to see him, carrying some little present to express indebtedness and thanks.

  At last one morning he returned from such a visit bringing with him a packet of confectionery that was meant for Hsi.

  “Why have you brought back the present?” cried his wife as he entered the courtyard.

  “The scholar has left the city,” he replied, “and is on his way home to the south of the province.”

  Scarcely were the words spoken when the poor girl relapsed into the old condition. In the midst of most terrible convulsions, foul language and blasphemies streamed
from her lips. She seemed possessed by a more fearful power of evil than before.

  “He is gone; he is gone!” she cried. “Now I fear no one. Let them bring their Jesus. I defy them all. They will never drive us out again, never.”

  This continued for a few terrible days, until exhausted by the strain, she died.1

  Animal possession occurs quite frequently in China. Von der Goltz relates:

  In the organ of the Protestant missionaries in China, the Chinese Recorder, the Rev. G. Owen published in 1887 several interesting articles on the “five great families” from which the following summary is taken. In the North of China it is generally believed that many animals possess the secret of immortality. In order to attain immortality they must acquire experience for eighty years, and if they continue still further they may enter into men and render them possessed. The persons in question, mostly women, completely lose their individuality and become the mere tools of the possessing animals. If, for example, it is a fox, the possessed woman gives up her own name to take that of the fox-spirits,2 and also adopts the habits of foxes. Possession by monkeys is also known; the persons so bewitched have a predilection for liquor. Mr. Owen knew a young person of good family who was possessed by a monkey. She called herself Housan, Monkey III, and was able during her possession to drink endless quantities of liquor without showing the least sign of drunkenness. The possessed remain either for a short time, one or two years, or else their whole lifetime in that state. For the most part they have no bodily derangements, but if the possession is an act of vengeance on the part of the animal the victim feels terrible pains against which all remedies are powerless. They have acquired the gift of second sight and often do a good business with soothsaying. Others have power to cure the sick and in many cases carry on a lucrative medical practice. It is not generally necessary for them to see their patients or to be told their sickness; they fall into a half-sleep or are seized by an ecstasy in which they see everything and prescribe the necessary remedies. There are also a number of professional mediums who can be possessed at will.3