Benjamin Radford

LEGION’S LEGACY

POSSESSION AND EXORCISM

And Jesus asked him, What is thy name?
And [the demon] answered, saying,
My name is Legion; for we are many.

—Mark 5:9 (KJV)

 

MOST RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES hold that evil lurks in the world, in the form of demons or devils who attempt to lure, tempt, and trick humans in their unholy mission. You'd think that supernatural entities would find countless opportunities for executing mayhem and evil on their own, but apparently that is not the case. For instance, if demons were really interested in causing death and destruction, all they'd have to do is appear in a busy airport's air traffic control tower. Or bring back the black plague. Or simply launch one of the many nuclear missiles that countries around the world have aimed at each other.

Nasties such as demons and devils are assumed to need (or benefit from) a human agent in this quest. For some reason, these agents of evil are too lazy to do their jobs and instead have to rely on us temptable, fallible humans. They apparently can't just ask us nicely—they have to actually take over (possess) our minds and bodies to affect the earthly realm. That's where possessions and exorcisms come into the picture, where the mythological meets the material. But of course we live in the real world, seemingly devoid of demons and devils except in our imaginations, religious texts, and fictions. Demons and devils are ambiguous, metaphorical entities. According to scriptures, we can't identify them directly (the horns, tails, and pitchforks are passé). But, like false prophets, we can know them by their fruits. And there are lots of fruits out there.

You'd think that supernatural entities would find countless opportunities for executing mayhem and evil on their own, but apparently that is not the case.

Most religions claim that humans can be possessed by demonic spirits and offer remedies to address this inconvenience. The Bible recounts at least six instances of Jesus casting out demons, while Voodoo/Vodou and Catholicism prescribe elaborate rituals and cleansings to remove even stubborn spiritual stains. Christianity in particular has an odd and longstanding obsession with bodily harm and abuse. Its symbol is a medieval torture device; as the film The Passion of the Christ shows, a high point of Christian theology is the Savior's bloody abuse and torture. There are even suggestions of cannibalism in the rites of eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood. It is little wonder, then, that Catholicism is one of the richest sources of ideas about guilt, redemption, and possession.

There are hundreds of Vatican-sanctioned exorcists (three to four hundred in Italy, fifteen in the United States, and a few-dozen more around the world), with more being trained every day.

EXPLAINING EXORCISM AND POSSESSION

While many Americans likely think of exorcisms as relics of the Dark Ages, exorcisms continue to be performed, often on people who are emotionally and mentally disturbed. Whether those undergoing the exorcism are truly possessed by spirits or demons is another matter entirely. Exorcisms are done on people of strong religious faith. To the extent that exorcisms “work,” it is primarily due to the power of suggestion and the placebo effect. If you believe you are possessed, and that a given ritual will cleanse you, then it just might.

There are hundreds of Vatican-sanctioned exorcists (three to four hundred in Italy, fifteen in the United States, and a few-dozen more around the world), with more being trained every day. And one does not need Rome’s imprimatur to cast out evil spirits; hundreds more self-styled exorcists roam America and the world supposedly helping people cleanse themselves. In researching his book American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty, Michael Cuneo (a sociology professor at Fordham, a Catholic university) found no reason to think that anything supernatural occurs during exorcisms. After attending fifty exorcisms, Cuneo is unequivocal about the fact that he saw nothing supernatural—and certainly nothing remotely resembling the remarkable events depicted in The Exorcist. No spinning heads, levitation, or poltergeists were on display, though many involved some cursing, spitting, and vomiting for good measure. While some people claim that they have seen seemingly supernatural phenomena afoot (such as levitation, speaking in unknown languages, or climbing walls), not a single one of these instances has been documented or proven.

Some researchers, such as Canadian psychologist Barry Beyerstein, have concluded that three brain syndromes probably helped create ancient ideas about possession: epilepsy, Tourette’s Syndrome, and migraine. All three can trigger mystical visions and feelings of transcendence (leaving the body) and being possessed by otherworldly forces. Epileptic seizures and Tourette’s in particular can make the sufferer appear possessed (with uncontrollable seizures and unintelligible shouts), and in fact many symptoms closely match depictions in the infamous fifteenth-century witch-finding manual Malleus Maleficarum.

Epileptic seizures and Tourette’s in particular can make the sufferer appear possessed (with uncontrollable seizures and unintelligible shouts), and in fact many symptoms closely match depictions in the infamous fifteenth-century witch-finding manual Malleus Maleficarum.

The Vatican accepts only a small percentage of demonic possessions as “authentic,” which of course suggests that there are a lot of unauthentic cases of possession out there. The Vatican issued official guidelines on exorcism in 1614, revising them in 1999. According to the Vatican, Pope John Paul II himself performed at least three exorcisms, in 1978, 1982, and 2000. And how do you know if you or a loved one is possessed? Well, according to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, if you have an aversion to holy water or crosses, you might be possessed. If you get a rash when you enter a church, you just might need an exorcist (if you just get bored in church, you’re normal). If you exhibit superhuman strength (except when lifting a small car off a trapped child), you may be drawing your powers from the demonic dark realms. And if you suddenly are able to speak in strange languages (such as Aramaic or Esperanto), that too could be a sign that a demonic polyglot has got ahold of you. This is only a partial list, and of course might include anything from spitting to depression to excessive masturbation (whatever “excessive” is for you).

According to the Vatican, Pope John Paul II himself performed at least three exorcisms, in 1978, 1982, and 2000.

If your possession is authenticated by someone claiming to be a priest or an exorcist, things might get interesting. Exorcisms take a wide variety of forms, including whipping and torture. During the Catholic exorcism ritual, you’ll be sprinkled with holy water while the exorcist reads a few passages from the Bible. The priest may show you his “cross,” which you may be asked to inspect or even kiss. He will say, “God please take care of this person and dismiss the demon,” though that doesn’t always work and more extreme measures may be called for. If you’re smart (or have any doubt at all that you were in fact possessed), this is a good time to assure the exorcist that the demon is gone, everything will be fine, and he doesn’t really need to go any further. If the exorcist believes you, he will stop and everyone can calm down and go home; if instead he believes that the demon inside you is trying to trick him, you may be in for a very long night.

While cases of possession were quite rare up until the 1970s, exorcisms became more common in the last three decades of the last millennium. In a 2005 interview with People magazine, evangelical minister Rev. Bob Larson (who claims to perform an average of one exorcism each day) rather predictably attributed the increase in exorcisms to moral decay in society. There is, however, a much more likely (and quantifiable) explanation: Exorcisms arose in the popular culture.

POSSESSION IN POP CULTURE

The public is most familiar with possession and exorcism not through personal experience, but instead through commercial entertainment. Hundreds of truly horrific films explore the battle between good and evil, usually with plenty of gore and half-baked theological twaddle.

That was how the Amityville Horror story came about, in fact. The story behind the film began on November 13, 1974, when six members of an Amityville, New York, family were killed. The parents, Ronald and Louise DeFeo, were shot, along with two sons and two daughters, in bed while they slept. The sole remaining family member, Ronald Jr. (“Butch”), was arrested for the crime. With the family dead (and Butch unlikely to inherit the place), the house went up for sale. The horrific nature of the massacre unnerved the otherwise quiet Long Island neighborhood, though no supernatural activity was associated with the house at 112 Ocean Avenue.

The following year, a new family, the Lutzes, moved into the house. George and Kathy Lutz, along with their three children, said that shortly after moving in, the six-bedroom abode became a hell-house. It seemed that perhaps the demons that drove Butch to slaughter his family were not in his head but in the house. The Lutzes told of many scary things happening in the house which—if true—would prompt most intelligent people to vacate, leave a nasty message with the real-estate agent, and put the place back on the market. An unseen force ripped doors from hinges and slammed cabinets closed. Noxious green slime oozed from the ceilings. A biblical-scale swarm of insects attacked the family. A demonic face with glowing red eyes peered into their house at night, leaving cloven-hoofed footprints in the morning snow. A priest called upon to bless the house was driven back with painful blisters on his hands. And so on. Still, the Lutzes stayed, long enough to collaborate with a novelist about their experiences. Several self-styled ghost-hunters, psychics, and demon experts arrived and verified the existence of the demons.

The truth behind The Amityville Horror was finally revealed when Butch DeFeo’s lawyer, William Weber, admitted that he, along with the Lutzes, “created this horror story over many bottles of wine.” The house was never really haunted; the horrific experiences were simply made up. While the Lutzes profited handsomely from the book and film rights to their story, Weber had planned to use the haunting to gain a new trial for his client, creatively suggesting that perhaps the demons and devils the Lutzes experiences had possessed Butch DeFeo and forced him to kill his family. The Lutzes also later admitted that virtually everything they had said about the haunting—and everything in The Amityville Horror—was pure fiction. Not only were the demons not in the house, they weren’t in DeFeo’s mind either.

The “demon defense” is rarely successful; indeed, the jury saw right through Weber’s story, and Butch DeFeo was convicted. But it does come up occasionally, especially in cases where there is overwhelming evidence of guilt and a pouty “I didn’t do it” just won’t fly.

The Lutzes also later admitted that virtually everything they had said about the haunting—and everything in The Amityville Horror—was pure fiction.

THE EXORCIST STORY

The greatest pop-culture contribution to the public’s perception of exorcism is of course The Exorcist. In the weeks after the film came out in 1974, a Boston Catholic center began receiving daily requests for exorcisms. The script was written by William Peter Blatty, adapted from his bestselling 1971 novel of the same name. Blatty described the inspiration for the film as an August 20, 1949, Washington Post article he’d read when he was at Georgetown University. The piece told of a fourteen-year-old boy from nearby Mount Rainier, Maryland, who had undergone an exorcism. Because this was before Fox News and Inside Edition, Blatty assumed it was an accurate account.

Many of the myths surrounding The Exorcist film and “real story” came about because of Blatty’s breathless press releases. Blatty had a career and book to promote and was not above embellishing the story with partly (and wholly) fictional elements. Investigative journalist Mark Opsasnick investigated the case and concluded that the Mount Rainier story, as popularly held (and which Blatty used as a basis for the novel), couldn’t be true. For one thing, the family that occupied the home at the time the alleged possession took place didn’t have a boy there, demon-possessed or otherwise: The occupants were childless. Neighbors denied that anything horrific or supernatural had ever occurred there. There was, however, an actual exorcism done (not in Mount Rainier but in Garden City, Maryland), though virtually all of the gory and sensational details were embellished or made up. Simple spitting became Technicolor, projectile vomiting; (normal) shaking of a bed became thunderous quaking and levitation; the boy’s low growl became a gravelly, Satanic voice. And so on.

Michael Cuneo credits Blatty and The Exorcist with much of the modern-day interest in exorcism:

Over the course of the twentieth century the popular cultural industry, with its endless run of movies, books, and digital delights, has gained a pervasive influence over the national consciousness. It has...attained an enormous capacity for shaping everyday beliefs and behaviors.... When Hollywood and its allies put out the Word, somebody’s guaranteed to be listening.

As for historical accuracy, Cuneo characterizes Blatty’s work as a massive structure of fantasy resting on a flimsy foundation of a priest’s diary. The Exorcist story gets less and less impressive the farther away it gets from the film that made it famous.

Simple spitting became Technicolor, projectile vomiting; (normal) shaking of a bed became thunderous quaking and levitation; the boy’s low growl became a gravelly, Satanic voice.

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT

If the best-known cases of possession and exorcism were mostly or entirely fictional, what about the real evil that is known to be done in this world? Why do some people claim to be possessed?

One answer is that most people want to be thought kindly of. We don’t like to be caught doing bad things, whether it’s embezzling the orphan fund, stealing a pack of gum, or banging the babysitter. We like to think of ourselves as good people who did bad, either because of a lapse of judgment (“youthful indiscretions,” a favorite political excuse, is often used by presidents and other politicians to dodge questions about drug use and philandering) or, better yet, some overpowering outside influence. Like, you know—Satan and his demonic minions.

With assistance from four nuns, priest Daniel Corogeanu bound Cornici to a cross, gagged her mouth with a towel, and left her for three days without food or water.

Demonic possession is a ready-made excuse paved by millennia of religious doctrine. Millions of fundamentalist Christians (and others) believe that Satan is not just some abstract symbol of evil, some storybook boogeyman, but instead a real entity actively creating evil in the world and tempting lost souls. Some even believe that all humans are basically good, and that any act of evil is therefore evidence of the influence of dark forces.

Yet even the craziest criminal has a sense of proportion; there’s no use in invoking the “devil made me do it” defense unless you’re dimple-deep in dookie. Speeding tickets, for example, are unlikely to be forgiven unless you can really convince the cop that your right foot had a mind of its own. No, etiquette dictates that you save the Ultimate Excuse for the big lapses in judgment—like killing a bunch of people or dismembering your child. Otherwise it just looks like you’re grasping at straws and making shit up.

BELIEF AND POSSESSION

The tragic irony of possession is that in many cases evil is committed not by demons or devils but by those who believe in their reality. The only people who become “possessed” by demons or devils are those with a pre-existing belief in the reality of demons and devils. Voodoo curses hold no power over Mormons, and UFO skeptics have never been abducted or anally probed by inquisitive extraterrestrials. Tragically, there are many real-life examples of what happens when people believe in demons and devils.

• In September 2005, a man driving along the Las Vegas strip suddenly (and intentionally) steered his car onto a crowded sidewalk, killing two people and injuring twelve others. Stephen Ressa, the driver, was arrested and explained that he wanted to kill the people because they were staring at him “like they were demons.”

• On January 19, 2004, Valerie Carey and her husband Christopher were found walking down an Atlanta highway in freezing temperatures. Police found their daughter Quimani at a ghastly scene in a nearby motel. Christopher Carey had stabbed his daughter with a knife until it broke as she tried to fight him off. The girl’s mother then held Quimani down while her father broke both of her arms. Once the girl’s limbs were limp, broken, and unable to fend off her parents’ attacks, Valerie strangled Quimani to death. Blood-soaked Bible pages were torn out and tossed onto and around the eight-year-old’s bleeding body.

• In 2000, when police officers in Delhi, California, found missing fifty-year-old Aurelia Lange, her teenage son David was next to her. David was naked, covered in blood, and reading a Bible; he had hacked off his mother’s head with a kitchen knife and placed it next to her.

• Texas mother Andrea Yates drowned three of her children in an effort to exorcise the devil from herself in 2001, and in 2004 Dena Schlosser cut the arms off of her eleven-month-old daughter while listening to religious hymns.

• Christopher Jones, 47, a Kansas man who served for years as director of a forensics laboratory, was sentenced to life in prison in 2000 for murdering his three children, Christopher, 7; Joshua, 5; and Sarah, 2. He explained that while in a religious mystical state, he encountered a demonic spirit of overwhelming evil that possessed him and caused him to slit his children’s throats with a knife.

• John Lee Malvo and John Allan Mohammed, the so-called “DC Snipers,” believed that they were possessed by God when they shot over a dozen people in 2002.

Allegedly possessed people have also died at the hands of exorcists. An exorcism in 2006 at a convent in the small Romanian town of Tanacu resulted in the death of Maricica Irina Cornici, a twenty-three-year-old nun who said she heard the devil telling her she was sinful. With assistance from four nuns, priest Daniel Corogeanu bound Cornici to a cross, gagged her mouth with a towel, and left her for three days without food or water. The ritual, the priest explained, was an effort to drive devils out of the woman. Sadly, they also drove the life from her. Cornici was found dead on June 15 of that year; an autopsy found she had died of suffocation and dehydration.

In an even more tragic case closer to home, in 2003 an autistic eight-year-old boy in Milwaukee was bound in sheets and held down by church members during a prayer service held to exorcise the evil spirits they blamed for his condition. An autopsy found extensive bruising on the back of the child’s neck and concluded that he died of asphyxiation. In the past ten years, there have been at least four other exorcism-related deaths in the United States, two of them children. There truly is a dark side to the belief in exorcisms, and it has nothing to do with demons or devils.

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

With all this death and evil going on, it’s a fair question to ask just how far out in left field you have to be to believe that supernatural entities are asking you to harm others. How hard do you have to squint at the tiny type in Leviticus to make the words say that God is fine with the whole killing thing? Actually, one doesn’t have to look too far to find examples. Take, for example, smashing innocent babies’ heads against rocks. That certainly seems like a pretty demonic and barbaric act that would be discouraged by Dr. Phil and most parenting magazines. Yet that’s exactly what God commanded villagers to do (Psalms 137:9). If the Big Guy is cool with that, asking Abraham to slaughter his innocent son Isaac (Genesis 22:2), and pious Lot offering his virgin daughters to be gang-raped (Genesis 19:8), and so on, surely a little thing like mass murder or child dismemberment can’t be too far beyond the pale of what a deity might expect. And that’s the good guy, the hero of the story! A person who believes he or she is possessed may be forgiven for assuming that the list of no-nos has to be even shorter when it’s Satan talking.

As far as science is concerned, demons are hanging out with unicorns and Bigfoot, while possession is a mental-health issue. As long as the public remains fascinated with demons, devils, and spirits, exorcisms will appear in entertainment and demons will appear in people’s minds. When the fervor of the exorcisms are over, it is not demonic bodies but instead vulnerable human ones that bear the fatal consequences of belief.

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