A Story of Exorcism

Father Gabriele Amorth is the chief exorcist of Rome.  He has a very uncommon job in the church and a very uncommon gift.  He is a real person.  His stories are not fictional nor are they derived from the imagination of Holywood or a writer.  He has performed hundreds of exorcisms and he has also written a book called An Exorcist Tells His Tale.  Unless you have been raised Catholic, which I have been, this is a difficult book to read, because Father Gabriel is a Catholic Priest above all else and his writing is deeply religious.    However, if you want to learn about real cases of demon possession, he is one of the few experts in the world.

I have read several bloggers lately comment that possession is often confused with mental illness and that people of science would never accept possession as real.  One of the most interesting things reading about Father Gabriel does is negate this belief.  He describes many of the cases  he has worked with in his book and in almost all of them the people he exorcises go the doctors and psychologists and psychiatrists first.  They go through years of medication and electroshock therapy and none of it helps, but after the exorcism their torment ends.   The psychiatrists and psychologists in many cases have given up. 

One of the Father Gabriel's most interesting cases is the case of a man called G.M.  G.M describes being heavily involved with two women who practiced the dark arts.   Following these relationships,  he began to have symptoms which were physical at first.  He was tired and weak and sick all of the time.  He had chronic headaches.  He also suffered from severe depression and thought of suicide. He was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Rome and he found no help there.  He sought help at medical hospitals as he was also running a constant fever and for a while none would even admit or treat him as they could find nothing wrong with him.  Finally,  he was admitted and discharged and again no on could find anything wrong with him.  He was overtaken by vomiting fits and shortly after this the demon was able to take his body. During these periods, G.M. describes himself as being in hell.   During one of his rare lucid moments,  he finally sought the help of his parents.  G.M. still believed he was probably suffering from a fugue state or other psychiatric condition.  He thought that he probably had schizophrenia and epilepsy as he had also started having seizures.   He had studied psychology in college and he was not a man to believe in demons first.  

Finally, G.M. talked to a Friar about his problems.  The Friar told him that someone had cast a spell on him and that had caused his symptoms.  G.M. was astounded.  One of his witchy ex's had cursed him when he dumped her.  Of course,  he hadn't thought anything of it, what rational person would?  But the Friar knew this without him even really knowing it himself and the Friar sent him to Father Gabriele. After a simple exorcism,  Father Gabriele was quickly able to drive the demon out and G.M. has never had any of the many symptoms that tormented hims since that day.

There are many stories like this in the good Father's book, but this is the only story written by the possessed.  It is difficult to read at times, because it is so terrifying, but in the end finding the Father set him free.

Drag me to Hell and The Demon Dybbuk

Dybukk by Elly Simmons

Drag me to Hell is one of my favorite horror movies.  It hearkens back to the good old days when Sam Raimi made films that masterfully blended horror with subtle humor to make camp classics that are so good I watch them annually.  Evil Dead and Army of Darkness will always be two of my favorite films.  Like these to films,  Drag me to Hell is a movie I can watch again and again. In this movie,  an angry old gypsy lady curses the lovely blond heroin by calling a dybbuk to drag her to hell.   However, the dybbuk the evil gypsy lady sets onto the lovely blond heroin is not really a dybbuk.  She calls the demom a dybbuk, but  a dybbuk is nothing like the demon of death and destruction seen in this film, but in many ways, it is just as terrifying.

In truth a dybbuk more closely resembles the demon from The Exorcist.  Dybbuk comes from the Hebrew word meaning "cleaving" or "clinging".  It is a creature from Jewish folklore that is a wandering, evil spirit that enters into a person's body and clings to it.  It possesses its victim and torments them from the inside.   It was believed that the Dybbuk could not enter the body of a good person and could only possess a sinner.  Some believed that a dybbuk was the soul of a person who had not been buried properly and became a demon.   The Kabbalah contains instructions fro exorcising a dybbuk and these types of exorcisms are still performed today.  When the dybbuk has been driven from the body of the possessed, it leaves the body via the pinkie toe and leaves a small mark as evidence of its visit.
 

The Real Story of The Exorcist

As a young girl,  I found a copy of William Blatty's The Exorcist and read it in less than two days.  It was the most engrossing and horrific book I had ever read.  I still have never found its equal.   The book itself was beautifuly written and terrifying, but what made it even more scary was what was written on the inside flap of the book.   There it said that the book was based on a true story.  

The Exorcist was based on the story of a 13 year-old boy named Robbie.   In January of 1949, Robbie lived in Maryland with his family and was very fond of his aunt.  His aunt and he began to play the ouija board together.   They enjoyed the game and were able to contact a friendly spirit.   Robbie's aunt wasn't always available to play with him,  so he began playing by himself when she wasn't available.  Suddenly, the family began to notice various odd noises around the house.  They heard dripping and scratching and things that sounded like mice in the attic.  These noises began to escalate with time and ended when Robbie's aunt died.

After Robbie's aunt died,  things got worse.  Robbie's bed began to shake violently at night while he was on it.   Objects flew around his room for no reason.  Things broke.   A vase was hurled at Robbie's mother.   Robbie began ot use the ouija board more regularly in a desperated attempt to contact his aunt for help.

Robbie's parents took him to see doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, psychics, and ministers.   The first three were unable to help.  The  minister and the psychic both recommended an exorcism by a catholic priest.   Robbie got worse and entered a trance state.  Scratches appeared all over his body.    Finally, after months of coping with the ordeal,  Father Hugh's was contacted and the exorcism began.   Of course,  it wasn't as easy as it was in the movies.   The boy was at a hospital, tied to the bed.   The process took weeks.   At some point, Robbie got a spring loose from the bed and cut the priest.  The process was a nightmare that offered no help to young Robbie.     The boy spoke latin and told the priest he was the devil, but for some reason the mother thought that he was possessed by his aunt.

Robbie was released from the hospital and the entire incident was covered up, but Robbie was no better.  The scratches appearing on Robbie's chest said Louis and Robbie's mother thought they were a message from her sister.  The family moved to St. Louis.    The family began experimenting with the Ouija board again to contact the aunt and get spiritual advice from beyond.  Robbie deteriorated.  Finally, Father Bowdern was called and after another ordeal, the boy was healed on Easter Day by taking communion.

You can learn more about Robbie's long and horrible ordeal in the book "Possessed, The True Story Of An Exorcism." It was written by Thomas B. Allen.   The story is obviously more complex than this little synopsis and the book is worth reading to get the entire story.