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Possession is a particularly unsettling phenomenon for certain people. For those who believe that possessions do happen and who investigate them, there is a fine line between insanity and actual demons. To an untrained and fresh eye, this line can be rather hard to see, but there are some cases where there appears to be a line so clear that it becomes almost undeniable. This holds especially true for those stories where credible and official reports corroborate the events. Case in point: The Paterson family.
The events that transpired at the Paterson family home in Toledo, Ohio toed the line between superstition and belief until it crossed into the documented unknown. The trouble began in November of 2011, shortly after Ann Paterson—a single mother of three—moved into a new house with her children and her mother, Janet Green. Unfortunately for the Paterson family, they soon found out that they were not alone.
Despite the cold, November weather, large numbers of flies swarmed towards the house. No matter how many insects the family killed, the flies kept coming. Late at night when the family was tucked away in their beds, footsteps would creak and echo as if someone were pacing up the stairs leading from the dark basement to the kitchen. The strange occurrences didn’t stop there. The hordes of insects and mysterious sounds were only the beginning.
A chilling sight appeared in the home one day. A horrifying apparition of a male figure walked through the family’s living room. Upon seeing the specter, Rosa rushed forward to try and investigate, but when she got closer, no one was there. Believing that the sighting had simply been a trick of the light would have been all too easy, except for one thing: The figure had left behind a trail of wet footprints.
As disturbing as those occurrences were, things soon moved from eerie to potentially dangerous. Four months after the family had moved in, the malicious nature of the haunting began to reveal itself. On the night of March 10th, the family was up late grieving the passing of someone they were close to. Around two in the morning, a cry rang out in the home. Rosa raced to her granddaughter’s room where Ann was screaming in panic.
Upon entering the room, Rosa was shocked to see her twelve-year-old granddaughter levitating above the bed. Terror rooted them in place. Rosa, Ann, and several friends that had been visiting the mourning family broke out in prayer. Under the petrifying circumstances, it was the only thing they could think of to do. Soon after the prayers started, the young girl fell back into her bed. She woke up from a trance-like state, visibly confused and unaware of what had just transpired.
After the levitation, the two women were convinced that an evil presence had taken up residence in their home. Ann and her mother agreed to seek out help. They made contact with one of the churches in the area, whose officials concluded that malicious ghosts were occupying the house. The two women also contacted seers. The mediums confirmed what the women had already suspected: there were actual demons haunting the family. Taking the advice they were given, Ann and Rosa used olive oil to protect the children from further possession. Ann also constructed an altar in the basement of the house. After following prescribed measures in the hopes of cleansing the house of unwanted spirits, the family was blessed with a few days of normalcy. However, the lull in activity was not to last.
Soon, the family’s torment began again—this time with increased intensity. Odd behavior manifested in the children. They began acting up and becoming increasingly malicious. Ann became convinced that demons had possessed her three kids. The possessions seemed to manifest in random outbursts. Unsettling things began to happen to the children. Their eyes would roll back or bulge in their sockets, they would smirk eerily like they were plotting to do harm, and strange pitch changes plagued their voices. At one point, Ann’s youngest son was found hiding in the closet, talking to someone that wasn’t there. At first it was thought that the boy had an imaginary friend, but when he was questioned about it, the boy said that he had been talking to another boy who was describing what death was like to him.
There were times when the haunting became so dangerous that the family was forced to relocate temporarily to hotels. Things had moved past being mentally disturbing and had begun to manifest in physically harmful ways. At one point, the seven-year-old boy was thrown out of the bathroom by a formidable, unseen force. On another occasion, the twelve-year-old girl was injured and required stitches.
Things were quickly becoming too much for the family to bear. They decided to consult their physician, Dr. Stewart, and have the children examined. Ann explained everything that she and her family were going through. He told reporters that he found the story very disturbing. It was a tale unlike any other in his career. In his reports, he later wrote that the family was suffering from hallucinations and delusions of ghosts.
During the visit to the doctor, the possession manifested again. The event was later covered in a Department of Child Services report after the agency became involved. Reportedly, the children lashed out at Stewart. Ann’s sons cursed at the man in inexplicably deranged voices. The doctor’s medical staff reported that the Paterson’ youngest son flew up into the air and smashed into a wall—without any interference from anyone present. At that point, both boys lost consciousness. The doctor’s staff phoned for emergency services out of concern for the children. Police officers and ambulances arrived at the scene shortly.
Both boys were transported to the local hospital in Toledo, Ohio. When they regained consciousness, the seven-year-old flew into a highly disturbed and out of control tantrum. The child exhibited such impossible strength that it took multiple personnel to restrain him. It soon became apparent to the medical staff that there was something wrong with the children, and the Department of Child Services was called. The DCS was brought in to investigate the situation. Suspicions of possible child abuse and concerns that Ann may have been suffering from a mental disorder began to swirl around the family. Even though the concerned caller was not named, the DCS reports do mention that the anonymous source believed that Ann made her children perform the incidents to support her story about possession.
Valerie Washington was assigned to manage the Paterson case and investigate the allegations. As part of this task, she also gave a statement to the police concerning that day. Valerie explained that Ann and the children were examined for injuries and any other ailments. All of them appeared to be healthy at the time. Ann also underwent a psychiatric evaluation and was ruled to be of sound body and mind.
When Valerie spoke to the family while still at the hospital, the younger son continued to act in a bizarre fashion. The boy growled with his teeth bared like an animal while his eyes rolled back. At one point, he even lunged at his older brother and tried to strangle him before being forcibly dragged off of the older boy.
Later on, a hospital nurse accompanied Rosa and Valerie into a special room where they were to conduct further interviews and examinations with the boys. Once again, the younger boy began to growl at his brother, but it didn’t stop there. In a very unsettling voice, the young boy told his brother, “It’s time to die.” Meanwhile, the older boy started bashing his head against his grandmother. As disturbing as the violence was, it was nothing compared to what happened next.
With a terrifying grin plastered on his face, the older boy walked up the wall backwards. His feet stuck to the wall and the ceiling. Still smiling dementedly, he flipped over his grandmother and landed directly on his feet. This incident was documented in Valerie’s official report for the DCS and confirmed by nurse Walker. Police questioned Valerie about the incident, and she said that the boy “glided” his way up the wall to the ceiling. She also said that both she and Walker fled from the room, horrified by what they had witnessed. Her account of the incident was filed in a police report, as well as her own report for the DCS.
Valerie’s personal report further stated that the doctor at the hospital was informed of the incident, but he didn’t believe it. When the doctor asked the boy to repeat his demonic stunt as proof, the child was confused and didn’t remember the act. It was at that point that Valerie indicated that there was indeed the possibility of an “evil influence” at play.
That night, Ann stayed at the hospital with her youngest son while her mother took the rest of the children to a relative’s house in town. The next day, on the youngest son’s eighth birthday, Rosa was called by the DCS to bring her granddaughter and grandson back to the hospital for further investigation. As things turned out, the DCS officials had made the decision to seize custody over the children for the time being. Valerie informed Ann of the emergency decision, but she reassured the single mother that it was most likely only temporary. Valerie also noted in her report that the children were in distress—whether it was from being separated from their mother or part of the possession, their suffering was undeniable.
Not long after the events, the hospital chaplain called a priest named Michael Maginot. The chaplain asked him to try and exorcise a demon out of Ann’s older son. The Catholic Church took the matter of exorcism very seriously. Michael informed the chaplain that he would need his bishop’s permission before agreeing to such an undertaking. However, Michael did agree to conduct an interview with Ann and Rosa at their home.
The interview lasted for a few hours and left Michael with the belief that the family was indeed haunted by demons. According to the priest and the women, there was no shortage of paranormal occurrences in the home during their conversation. Lights would flicker and stop as soon as approached, window blinds moved on their own, and the mysterious wet footprints made another appearance. Michael also witnessed Ann’s convulsive reaction when he exposed her to his crucifix. After a few hours of consulting about the other paranormal events that the family had been plagued with, the priest blessed the home and left. He advised the women to leave as well. Rosa and Ann heeded his advice and relocated to a relative’s house for a while.
A few days later, however, Ann and Rosa were called back to the house for a DCS inspection of the conditions of the home. Valerie Washington—accompanied by a police officer from Lake County—conducted the inspection. They were joined by two more policemen who were curious about the happenings at the Paterson family home—one was from the Gary police department, and the other was from the department in Hammond.
When the group arrived at the house, Ann was hesitant to go inside. Rosa stepped up and took everyone in by herself. One of the officers, Austin, who tagged along from the local police department said that he harbored a certain dose of belief in the supernatural in general. He was however, highly skeptical of the existence of demons specifically. After visiting the family’s house, Austin’s opinion began to change.
According to official police reports from the officers present, a number of peculiar things happened during their stay. Electronics behaved strangely. Fresh batteries drained and suddenly went dead. Audio recorders failed at random intervals. Voice recorders registered strange noises that sometimes took on the form of disembodied voices.
The officer from Lake County took routine photos while on site, only to find that the photos contained some strange phenomena. Spots, smears, and shapes that looked like ghostly figures haunted the images. The images were documented in his official report. Austin, the local cop, took photos with his smartphone. His photos showed similar disturbances. Austin also reported that strange occurrences followed him home. His patrol car’s radio experienced interference, and his home’s garage door refused to open. No malfunction or power outage was discovered.
After the inspection, the Department of Child Services was granted indefinite custody over Ann’s children on various grounds. The kids reportedly skipped out on school frequently, which Ann stated was due to illnesses and exhaustion brought on by the demons. The children were separated while in DCS custody. The youngest boy was sent to Wheatfield for observation and psychiatric examinations. The other two were put in a foster care center in Chicago.
Even though the youngest son was found to be healthy, he was still exhibiting strange behavior akin to possession. However, these instances only seemed to arise when subject of demons was brought up. The psychiatrist who evaluated him concluded that he was not psychotic, but simply taught by his mother and relatives to act that way.
The other two children underwent evaluations as well. During conversations with psychiatrists, Ann’s daughter maintained that she had seen ghostly apparitions in her house and experienced trances. Her brother also spoke of strange phenomena, such as doors slamming and household items moving on their own. Separate evaluations of both children concluded that what was at work was, by all indications, an elaborate delusion. The same conclusion was drawn in most of Ann’s psychiatric evaluations, as well.
Regardless, Ann and the rest of the family stuck to their belief that demons were upon them. The Department of Child Services established a plan for Ann, which consisted of multiple points concerning her relationship with the children. She was to find a job, among other things, in order to work towards getting her children back. The Paterson children were still to remain in DCS custody for the time being.
In the period that followed, officers and DCS caseworkers continued their investigations into the family’s house. The initial group now accompanied by Reverend Michael Maginot and two more Lake County cops. They visited the house again, supported by another DCS case manager named Samantha Ilic. Samantha replaced Valerie because she refused to enter the home again.
While Samantha was unconvinced of the existence of demons, she reported having strange sensations while in the house. At one point, she thought she suffered a panic attack. Difficulty breathing forced her to go outside. Some of the cops also reported something particularly strange that day.
In the bedroom, they witnessed an oily liquid trickling down the blinds on the window. They were unable to determine the source. The officers conducted their own test to determine whether something paranormal was at play with this strange substance. One of them wiped the oil off of the blinds with a paper towel. The officers then left the room, but they stayed outside for around twenty-five minutes and made sure no one else went in. Police records state that surely enough, the liquid appeared once again when they entered the room a second time. The priest was certain that this was a sign of the demons. Convinced of the possession, Michael asked his bishop for permission to conduct an exorcism on Ann.
The bishop was initially reluctant to allow a full exorcism, so the reverend first performed a minor ritual. This rite lasted for around two hours and was witnessed by the caseworker, Ilic, as well as two police officers. Ilic reported that she indeed felt a foreign presence during the ritual, although she still wouldn’t concede to it being of demonic nature.
Eventually, Michael was given permission for a major exorcism. He conducted three exorcisms on Ann by June 2012. All of the rituals except the very last one were witnessed by the police officers, who were there to provide any assistance the priest may have needed. Throughout the rituals, Ann said she experienced immense pain and struggle. She compared the ordeal to giving birth.
After the final and most intense exorcism, which the priest performed in Latin, it appeared as though things were taking a turn for the better. Ann and the reverend parted ways. Sometime after these excruciating trials—around six months after the DCS took custody of Ann’s children—the family was reunited. The children were returned to their mother on the basis that the family was moving past the experience—for the most part. The three children and their mother were all joyous at the reunion and managed to move on with their lives.
As far as Ann Paterson was concerned, it was God, not the psychiatrists, who helped her family move forward. Even though a child walking backwards onto a ceiling sounds like something straight out of “The Exorcist,” the amount of official reports on the incident should also be taken into consideration. One can only wish that Ann had been the only witness so that she could be easily dismissed, but—unpleasantly for us—she was far from alone. Whatever the actual cause for the disturbances, one thing is certain: this was an all but routine case for the Department of Child Services.
