True Ghost Stories: Real Demonic Possessions and Exorcisms
True Ghost Stories: Real Demonic Possessions and Exorcisms
By Zachery Knowles
The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely):
As we move forward with our “non-fiction” journey things will continue to be a little different. Knowles delves into the actual stories/experiences of the hero’s that work every day to keep our streets safe. There is less history mentioned and more information about run-ins with the spirits. Do understand that because of this most of the information is second hand and open to interpretation. He explores stories of reported possessions from all over the world. This is not like the specific locations that we have visited thus far. I will continue to talk on the chapters in a similar way to the previous books and will add pictures with links to sites with additional information if available, cross your fingers. I will only be doing brief overviews of what is said, to get the specific story you’ll have to read the book. Hopefully we learn more about the experiences that few of us ever get to experience and have a few good chills along the way. Shall we be on our way to delve into the possession experiences of people from all over the world? I’m feeling a bit peckish.
I enjoy the author’s introduction to the book. I think that it is well written and the style is complementary to subject matter.
Clarita Villanueva: Vampire Girl
This young woman had a rough start to life. He mother died when she was 12 and she resorted to prostitution to as a mean to support herself. No judgement, we do what we have to do. Unfortunately she was also unfortunate enough to have something other than a weirdo John stalker, she managed to get two creatures that were feeding off of her. The story is a tragic one and the details are interesting especially her description of her two shadows. They are very specific. I will say that this story has a happy ending which makes her a lucky young lady. There was a movie made about this story in 2019 called “Clarita” that looks like a decent movie to check out.
Priscilla Johnson: Terror in Colonial America
Sadly I was not able to find much picture wise about this story. What I really mean is painting wise. This said I included a picture of what I believe was a witch trial with a young woman having a seizure on the floor of the court room. I mean it’s the same time period and our young possession victim was having horrible seizures. This was the main part of her possession. The ending is tragic as it seems that she never got to live a normal life. The effects of this possession followed her to her dying day. The details of her possession are within this chapter.
Julia: Satan’s Priestess
Photo: Dr. Richard Gallagher - “Despite having witnessed hundreds of demonic oppressions in his career, Gallagher still insists they are a very uncommon . He has seen 25,000 patients in his private practice over the years and said: 'No ordinary patient has just strolled into my office and then been surprised by a dumbfounding diagnosis of 'possession!''
Photo from: “The exorcist's assistant: Columbia University psychiatrist and avowed 'man-of-science' witnessed hundreds of 'demonic possessions' - including a Satanic high priestess who put a hex on his cats and a 90-pound woman throw a Lutheran priest across the room” by Tate Delloye for The DailyMail.com
There is much information on this in part because of psychiatrist Dr. Richard Gallagher and I’m sure his scholarly article that was published in The Oxford Review was part of our author’s research material. Julia was not the real name for the woman in this chapter but a pseudonym given to her by Dr. Gallagher. Patient confidentiality is key. Julia was a “self-styled” satanic priestess and was active for multiple years with various satanic cults. Interestingly enough she admittedly states that her possession is probably a direct result of her occult activities. It was the Catholic Priest that was assigned to her case that brought in Dr. Gallagher (she was brought up Catholic). Two exorcisms were performed but unfortunately the entities plaguing Julia never completely vacated.
Michael Taylor: From Exorcism to Murder
Michael had the life that many strive for, a lovely caring wife, children that he seemed to adore and a job that he seemed enjoy. All of this was broken apart when he was invited to a meeting for a local religious group (even though he was not religious) called the Christian Fellowship Group and became obsessed with its leader Marie Robinson. Where your mind went mine went too and indeed he betrayed his wife with this woman if not in body than in mind. I mean are we really buying that this guy was bewitched by her (Marie) and that he appeared naked and raring to go in front of her suddenly without memory of stripping down. Then we hear from Marie’s camp and she states that this was not what happened and that she was visiting his home when he tried to kiss her, and that she stopped him and nothing else happened. Two VERY different stories! BUT regardless he states that he felt the evil stirring within him…it’s called penicillin…it might get rid of that feeling…if you’re lucky… or it could be herpes. But according to him he was possessed while trying to seduce another woman….yeah sure you were buddy! It’s called guilt, dick or maybe compulsion (wonder how many missing persons reports he’s responsible for)? After reading this chapter I am not buying that he was possessed…and the fact that the exorcism was a failure and he ended up killing his wife is enough proof for me that it was all bullshit. I mean he killed her within two hours of the failed exorcism. I’m not buying this one. This guy has secrets. Plus his wife humiliates/outs him in front of the community so now his secret is really out there. I’m thinking that Michael was perhaps not the person that everyone thought that he was. This is not the evil of demons, this is the evil that is man. We see these kinds of individuals living double lives and doing so very successfully. Perhaps there are things in Michaels past that the rest of the world is not aware of. Nope not demons…just a bad man who could no longer hide his true nature. This guy just made the mistake of showing his private life to his family/community life…oops his bad. Please see examples of many people like Michael on the show “Evil Lives Here”. None of them hid behind possession.
Mass Possession at the Elsa Peres Flore School
Photo: “Over 80 ‘possessed’ students suffer seizures in school” by the Web Desk for ARY News
The initial reports on this one was that the children afflicted by this were victim of some sort of contagion but apparently no medical explanation was ever actually discovered. Starting slow, affecting 20 students and then ramping up. It was labeled by the attending physicians as mass hysteria as upwards of 80 to 100 kids were affected at one time. There was lots of media coverage (I have a couple of the included here) as this was a pretty unique situation. The affected kids ranged in age and were in multiple different classrooms when things occurred. Apparently they were all having a common vision of a tall, bearded, dark figure. So if the seizures weren’t frightening enough then they had this dude to deal with. This went on for about two months afflicting multiple students and then it fluttered out just as it had fluttered in with those first 20 students. It is still unknown as to what or who was responsible for what occurred (this was only in 2016 so not like 100 years ago) there are some theories discussed in the chapter but it still leaves things open.
Photo: “Eighty schoolkids rushed to hospital for seizures and visions of ‘a man in black’ trying to kill them” by John Hall for The Sun
David: The Beast Man and the Boy
David with Ed and Lorraine Warren.
We all know about this case…at least those of us that are enamored by the
Conjuring Universe or the documentary on Netflix. This is the chapter on David and the one after is about Arne. I will not go into detail regarding these particular chapters, mostly because you probably already know the details. It’s still worth a look but ultimately there is not much difference between this chapter and the account given by David on the Netflix special.
Cheyenne: The Beast Man and the Nice Guy
Arne Cheyenne Johnson – full name. We all know this side of the story as well from both the movie based on the Warren’s case file (which I will also be reading) and the Netflix special where they talk with Arne who seems to be doing well. Arne was and is a good man. Whether or not you believe in possession it is dead obvious to me that Arne is no threat to society and that he has done his time for what happened all those years ago. Arne was convicted of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 10-20 years. Arne served almost five years of that sentence and was released for good behavior in 1986 and paroled until 1991. Shit, if you’re not happy with his sentence watch some of these true crime docs of “The First 48” and see how you feel about some of those sentences. I don’t think its Arne we need to be worried about. Luckily Arne and Debbie (David’s sister) have been happily married for many years and life has gone on as normal, no recidivism for Arne. Of which I am most glad.
Anna: Most Unusual
Father Theophilus Riesinger. Photo: “The Evil and Exorcism of Emma Schmidt” on husheduphistory.com
This is the possession that is believed to be the story that inspired
“The Exorcist”. Anna Ecklund aka Emma Schmidt was a normal 14 year old girl until she wasn’t. It was said that she had exhibited signs of possession such as not being able to pray, take sacrament, attend mass or read the Bible (her aunt and father were the suspected source of her possession and subsequent curse). The first exorcism took place in 1912 by Father Theophilus Riesinger and then a second one was conducted in 1928 with both Father Riesinger and Father Joseph Stieger. The first exorcism is not talked about in the chapter and apparently there is very little information on it out there. Details about the second exorcism are in the chapter for your curiosity.
Reverend Joseph Steiger. Photo: “The Evil and Exorcism of Emma Schmidt” on husheduphistory.com
Bill Ramsey: A Real Werewolf?
Another one of the Warren’s cases, no separate movie for this one but the werewolf does make an appearance during “Annabelle Comes Home” which I believe is a representation of this case. Once again we see a person who went through a horrible experience and came out the other side victorious and was able to live a normal life. I will be reading the book by the Warren’s about this case but it’s interesting to read about it from an author who was not involved and simply approaching it from research.
Clara Germana Cele: Snake Girl
Photo: “The Exorcism of Clara Germana Cele” by Asian Dread on Amino
Clara started out her life as an orphan and grew up at St Michaels Mission in South Africa. She was surrounded by religion during her upbringing. This however did not stop her from making the very real mistake of making a pact with the devil (which she confessed to doing). The details of her possession and her exorcism are within this chapter. Some of the details are pretty disturbing. There is not much detail to be found about the actual exorcism that took place nor about the second exorcism that was performed later in her life (apparently the dumbass made another pact with the devil smh – slow learner). Six years after the second exorcism Clara dies from heart complications but those six years were lived demon free.
Thiebauld & Joseph: The Possessed Brothers
The deliverance of Joseph
First off there seems to be some debate as to how Thiebauld is spelled. I’ve seen it as Theobald and Thiebaut…so who knows. Perhaps it’s actually unknown as this happened in 1864. So these boys were 9 and 7 at the time that this happened to them. The details of their possession were awful and they can be found in this chapter. I will say that the bloating of the body is a common symptom of many of these possessions and it’s disturbing. So apparently it took five years for the church to finally approve the exorcism. They chose Thiebauld first and the exorcism took two days. The exit of his demons was somewhat anticlimactic. There was a crash and then they were gone. Thiebauld woke after an hour with no recollection of what had happened to him. As in he did not remember the last five years of his life. Unfortunately the five year waiting period did a serious number on his body and he died at the age of 18, only four short years after his exorcism. But he was demon free. The exorcism of younger brother Joseph went a bit easier. He did have some memory of the past five years but only small isolated memories and no memory of the exorcism itself. Joseph faired a bit better than his brother and lived another 13 years post exorcism. Seems the sweet ass time the church took to approve the exorcism also had consequences…unfortunately they did not have to pay them.
Father Charles Brey (the village priest) and Mgr Andre Raess, Bishop of Strasbourg
Bewitched Sophia
Photo: “An Exorcist on What Happens During an Exorcism” by Father Gabriele Amorth
All I kept getting were pictures of Sophia Loren who I from my knowledge base was never possessed or exorcised sooooo yeah. An article I did find that is connected to the above picture is rather interesting and worth a look. Has nothing to do with this case specifically BUT still very interesting. This mother of two suffered for seven years before seeking help from the church. She first went to doctors to try and find some relief but they attributed it to female hysteria (this was the 1920’s, surprised she didn’t end up in an asylum) and offered no treatment options. It took 13 sessions to free her of the forces controlling her. It is believed that she was the victim of witchcraft. The source and the reason has never been determined. That leaves me with questions about her husband and if he had another woman on the side. That would make the most sense to me.
Giselle: The Housewife and the Healer
St. Guy Heals a Possessed Man (1474)
Okay I’m just going to say it…you would think that I would be able to find something about this one as it happened in the 1950’s and there was a lawsuit involved but nope. Perhaps our author has changed the ladies name for privacy reasons, which okay but it would have been interesting to at least get an idea of who these people were. Oh well…you get a painting from the 1400s of a man being exorcised….sorry Ghoulies. Giselle was plagued with extreme fatigue that doctors could find no reason for. Out of desperation and at the suggestion of a friend of hers she decided to consult a “healer” named Mr. Smith (not generic at all, seems totally legit). He diagnosed her with nerves (now known as anxiety) and prescribed three sessions with him. After her first “session” is when things got really bad and only worse after that. Eventually the couple tried to sue the “healer” but he threatened them and they backed down. The courts did not and they went after him for practicing medicine without a license. Things got worse for Giselle and eventually they sought out help from the church. It took 15months for them to free her of the entities that plagued her. It was discovered during this 15 months that the “healer” had placed a curse on Giselle in an attempt to make her his mistress. Unfortunately she did not respond how he had wanted so instead he decided that he would drive her to insanity instead. Luckily the dick did not win the day because in the end she lived a normal happy life with her family and he probably went to jail so there’s that.
The details of her behavior, the “healing” treatments and the exorcism are in the chapter.
Closing thoughts:
I myself am not a religious person but I am a spiritual person. I believe that evil, true evil resides in the minds and hearts of man and that sometimes this evil is triggered into release. However it manifests in different ways, some subtle and socially accepted and some in ways that are unfathomable to people looking in from the outside. Killing for money or power are not the evils I am talking about (although still evil, perhaps the worst evil really because it affects so many of us). I am talking about real powerful human emotions and the power of the energy of life that can corrupt our behavior. Belief systems can be very powerful so the process of exorcism and the effect that it has on those that have true belief can be just as powerful as the offending “demon”. These processes help people deal with what is happening to them and that is what matters. Regardless of your beliefs understand that everyone is different and approaching these kinds of things are best approached with an open mind (except in the case of Michael Taylor), a hint of healthy skepticism and ton of questions.
“Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican.”
