Doorway to Demonic Possession

11/29/2024

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
In 1990, there was a Gallup poll that showed the percentage of Americans who believed the devil is real was 55%. In 2007, it had increased to 70%. It's estimated that least 50% believe in demonic possession.

Why has there been a rise in the requests for exorcims?

The belief in demons, as foes of mankind stretches back to ancient times, and across different cultures.

In recent times, a belief in demons and exorcisms are thought to be the province of the Catholic Church. In 2018, Father Vincent Lampert, the official exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis disclosed he received approximately 1,700 phone calls, or email requesting exorcisms. Other priests describe where they get enough inquiries about demonic possessions that without the support of staff, they would be working entirely on exorcisms.

The demand for exorcists has driven up the number of priests that are tapped for this special position. In 2011, the U.S. had fewer than 15, present day it's estimated there are over 100; the number is difficult to verify since the church conceals their identity.

In 2017, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) created the first-ever English translation of the Roman Catholic Church's Latin rituals for exorcism, making it easier for a bishop exorcist to find a priest who could assist him, since even among the clergy there's a lack of facility with Latin.

The question is why now, after the advances of science and technology have deemed these claims of spiritual interference as superstition.

In 1921, a German psychologist named Traugott Oesterreich collected historical eyewitness accounts in his book Possession: Demoniacal and Other. One story is about a peasant girl named Magdalene who lived in Orlach, Germany. In the winter of 1831, she started to see weird things in the barn while she tended the cows. The following years she heard voices and felt she was being physically assaulted. Others around her witnessed moments of spontaneous bursts of flames.

During the summer Magdalene said a spirit had "flown upon her, pressed her down an endeavored to throttle her." Before long she was fully possessed by an entity she called the "Black One" who would take her over completely.

In the midst of her work she sees him in human form (a masculine shape in a frock, as if issuing from a dark cloud; she can never clearly describe his face) coming towards her. Then she sees him approach, always from the left side, feels as it were a cold hand which seizes the back of her neck, and in this way he enters into her.

William Peter Blatty (1928-2017)

A witness described where the transformation of her personality was "absolutely marvelous".

William Peter Blatty used Oesterreich's case studies as one of his inspirations for his 1971 novel The Exorcist.

Blatty was also inspired by an article written by Bill Brinkley for the Washington Post in 1949, regarding the strange case of Ronald Edwin Hunkeler, a 14-year-old given the pseudonym of Roland Doe, who was exorcised by a group of Jesuit priests after his mother came to the Catholic Church, in hopes of curing her son's aberrant behavior. The exorcism took place at the Alexian Brothers Hospital, in St. Louis.

Roland Doe's true identity became known in 2020, when he died at the age of 86. He retired from NASA in 2001, after working 40 years for them. He spent his entire life worrying that he would be identified as the boy who was exorcised from the devil's grip.

Despite the public's, and in some instances religious clergy's belief, that satan and his demons are just metaphors for a host of sins, there are others in the Catholic Church who believe it is a force of Evil, bent on corrupting humans.

In 2018, Pope Francis wrote: "We should not think of the devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech or an idea, but rather as a personal being who assails us."

Protestants and non-denominational churches believe in exorcisms, however the Catholic Church has the longest standing tradition to address claims of demonic attacks.

The Exorcist was based on a real life case of possession that occurred in 1949.

Demonic Oppression refers to spiritual influence by fallen angels over a person's thoughts, emotions, behavior and circumstances. This can be manifested through harassment, torment, control and illness. This condition is not possession, which is when one or more demons has control over a person's body, spirit and mind.

In the Catholic tradition, indicators for genuine demonic possession are: superhuman strength, aversion to holy water, ability to speak in unknown languages and physical strength disproportionate to age or health.

The Church does have an individual undergo a psychiatric examination to rule out organic or mental health problems. Most of the claims of possession do not go beyond this stage, since the source of the problem is identified as a non-spiritual problem. This includes diagnosis of schizophrenia, psychosis or persons who have stopped taking their psychotropic medication.

There are individuals who do not welcome this answer, since they are convinced they are being attacked by demons.

Only a very small number of exorcism requests make it through the discernment process, which has ruled out every other explanation.

During the exorcism a priest is assisted sometimes by another priest and several lay people. Since the exorcist works with the authority of God and Jesus Christ, the demons have no choice but to obey, especially at the climax of ritual when the priest exhorts the demon with the following command: "I cast you out, unclean spirit, along with every satanic power of the enemy, every specter from hell, and all your fell companions."

In some cases, more than one exorcism ritual is performed, until the priest is confident the demons have been completely expelled.

Ronald Edwin Hunkeler who died in 2020 was the boy who was exorcised by Jesuits in 1949, a case which inspired the novel The Exorcist

Demons rely on doorways to invade a human being. This could be a habitual sin or a family curse—in which an act of violence or iniquity committed by one generation manifests itself in subsequent generations. According to Catholic exorcists, 80% of those who come seeking an exorcism are sexual abuse survivors. The trauma creates a "soul wound" which makes a person more vulnerable to demons.

Interest in the occult offers another doorway for demonic possession, as exemplified by the recent resurgence in witchcraft, divination, magick and communicating with the dead via channeling.

Father Gary Thomas who was documented in the book The Rite (2009), which was made into a movie in 2011 said: "The occult is a substitution for God. People want to take shortcuts, and the occult is all about power and knowledge."

Another exorcist said the Harry Potter series "disarmed Americans from thinking that all magic is darkness." At the same time American culture has been inundated with movies, TV shows and online games about demons and demonic possession.

Carlos Eire a professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University, said of the interest in the occult that "as people’s participation in orthodox Christianity declines, there’s always been a surge in interest in the occult and the demonic." It is a "hunger for contact with the supernatural."

In other words the interest into dark, occult material is a response to secularization.

Louisa Maggie Muskovits

LOUISA'S STORY

Louisa Maggie Muskovits suffered from alcohol abuse and PTSD stemming from childhood abuse. In 2016, she lived in Tacoma, Washington and was attending weekly sessions with a counselor. When asked about her recent separation from her husband Steven she underwent an alarming transformation in front of the counselor.

She started to display symptoms of a panic attack, and then with two counselors as witnesses she started to pull her hair our, screaming, growling and glaring. She jutted her neck out at a weird angle and muttered about God and the devil. She also referred to Louisa in the third person, saying she couldn't be saved. Louisa was known as a friendly person and this behavior was totally unlike her.

Previous to this Louisa had told her therapist that there were times she felt as if something dark would overtake her, and the only thing to calm her was to read scripture. The therapist reminded her about this, and Louisa went through her phone until she found passages she could read. Gradually the woman who alternated between snarling and baring her teeth calmed own, but this was after she vomited in a trash bin.

Louisa had experienced episodes of sleep paralysis after the birth of each of her children, once in 2009, and the second time in 2013, however in this instance she had seen a giant spider crawling into the room. Both experiences left her profoundly disturbed.

In 2011, she traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal to work on her undergraduate degree. She was planning to stay 2 months, but after 30 days she contracted E. Coli, and after spending a couple of days at the hospital she was ready to return home, but was undecided since her return flight wasn't scheduled for another month.

The apartment complex where she was staying had emptied out from students, and the streets were desolate due to political protests. That night she secured and bolted the doors and windows, and went to sleep. Hours later, she awoke suddenly to the sound of raspy breathing, so close she could feel the hot exhalation on the back of her right ear and neck. As she debated how someone could have gotten into the room, she felt a hand brush against her collar bone. This propelled her out of the sleeping bag, and she switched on the light to find she was by herself. At that same instant stray dogs in the streets started to yelp loudly. She waited until dawn broke to trek by foot to the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, and she took the next flight to Orlando, Florida where she lived then.

Louisa’s grandmother, was an American Indian and a devout Catholic

After her second bout of sleep paralysis in 2013, she asked a psychiatrist she was seeing about the experience. The answer provided gave her no insight into the question that ran through her mind, which was whether she was going crazy.

Louisa went to the internet and read up on sleep paralysis, which gave a plausible explanation for what had happened to her, however it did not account for the experience in Nepal which occurred when she was awake.

Then she came across testimonials of people who believed they were being haunted by demons. After this she attended mass at Saint James Cathedral, and spoke to a priest, to whom she retold all her experiences. The priest advised her to get rid of any occult material she had including ouija boards, pagan material, tarot cards, amulets, etc.

Louisa followed his advice, and even moved to Washington state to be closer to friends and family.

In 2014, contrary to the nighttime experiences, she transformed into another person during the daytime. Her husband Steven had witnessed these episodes about six times in the past 10 years. This time he started to film her with his tablet as she started to talk in a slow, measured tone while swaying back forth and contorting her neck. She said, "You humans have your own sense of time. I have plenty of time. I have all the time in the world." In a staccato whisper she added, "It's your wife I want, not only her body, but her soul."

Then she leaned towards Steven and whispered, "God can't save her. Do you understand that? She's mine." Then she arched her spine and her face contorted.

Originally Steven believed these episodes were due to psychiatric problem, but then weird things started to happen around their home. Electronics and lights would turn on and off with no one around them.

Louisa also transformed when she was visiting a university friend, and again spoke of wanting to hurt Louisa. This episode profoundly scared her friend.

By 2016, she reached out to Father White, a Catholic exorcist who worked in the Seattle area. During their first session in 2017, he asked her to retell her experiences. When he gave her a sheet with the prayers of renunciation to recite, she was unable to do so. Then she started to dry heave and moan, that devolved into guttural babbling. Once while he was praying she broke out into hysterical laughing.

During a second session she was able to go through the prayers, and as time passed she progressed, leading him to believe she was suffering from demonic oppression and not possession.

Louisa's parents had separated when she was 3 years old. Her mother along with her new husband, Louisa and an older brother moved to Fife, Washington. She suffered sexual molestation and abuse through childhood and adolescence that left her with nightmares and PTSD. She had certain triggers like 60s music or the smell of Hamburger Helper which she believed was tied into her abuser somehow.

Studies have found that children who experience abuse develop dissociative disorders, even though Louisa was never diagnosed with this problem.

Louisa's one-time therapist believed there was something beyond this explanation as to what was wrong with her patient. The transformation she had witnessed in her office in 2016, could not be completely explained by this diagnosis.

She continued to work with Father White, and her husband only witnessed one other incident where an alternate identity took over and referred to her in the third person. This time it was to threaten her life.

Louisa, her husband and three children eventually moved back to Central Florida. She passed away on June 21, 2024 at the age of 41.