So the background
It all started in 1985. It was then that the house of Jack and Janet Smerlov in West Pittston (Pension State) was talked about as a place where ghosts and evil spirits appeared. This case received wide media coverage. Although the ritual of exorcism was performed in the house three times and it was examined by the famous demonologists Edd and Lorraine Warren, they failed to expel the spirits.
The events that took place in the Smerlov house were described in the book and depicted in the film "The Haunted" ("House of Ghosts" in the Russian box office).
The Smerlov family, the main characters in our story, were forced to leave their home in Wilkes Bar after Hurricane Agnes flooded much of northeastern Pennsylvania in 1972. Jack's parents, John and Mary Smerl, bought a house in West Pittston for $ 18,000 in 1973 (those were great times, and the real estate prices were so great!). It was an ordinary semi-detached house built in 1896 on a quiet street.
The parents lived in the right wing of the house, while Jack, Janet and their first two daughters, Down and Heather, lived in the left wing of the house. The young family liked to live with Jack's parents, and they did not perceive living in a semi-detached house as an inconvenience. They spent their first 18 months on Chase Street happily.
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In January 1974, the first bell rang: a strange stain appeared on their new carpet.
Then suddenly Jack's TV burned out.
The water pipes started to leak even after re-welding.
One day, the Deaths discovered that the new sink and bathtub were badly scratched, as if they were being scratched with claws. The newly painted wooden parts of the bathroom were also damaged.
In 1975, their eldest daughter claimed to have seen strangers who allegedly roamed her bedroom.
All this led the Smerlov to the idea that a ghost apparently lives in their house. Perhaps more than one!
Judge for yourself: the toilets were flooded when no one was using them. Footsteps were heard on the stairs; drawers opened and closed in an empty room. The radio spoke even when it was unplugged.
The empty chairs on the balcony shook and creaked. Strange, sour smells filled the house.
Jack once even felt the touch of a ghost.
Of course, the Deaths were worried about how this situation would affect the children (by that time they already had twins Shannon and Karin). However, for almost 11 years (from 1974 to 1985), the ghosts did not cause any particular inconvenience. Well, they slammed doors, well, littered the toilets. In the end, they have to do something, somehow remind them of themselves! But the Smerlov family did not pay special attention to the ghosts, which, apparently, finally upset them.
By 1985, the ghost decided to declare himself in full voice (if, of course, one can say so about an ethereal spirit).
Icy cold often began to reign in the house.
Children heard the voices of their parents even when they were not at home. One day the Deaths noticed a black human figure that appeared from the wall. Since the appearance of the "black man", according to family members, their situation has worsened.
The ceiling slab collapsed by itself, almost killing Shannon. Somehow an unknown force threw Janet out of bed. Loud knocking or scratching sounds were heard in the house, and ghost dogs were seen darting along the stairs. Invisible snakes hissed, bedspreads were torn to shreds, and someone was pacing with heavy steps in the attic.
In January 1986, Janet heard about Edda and Lorraine Warren, paranormal researchers and demonologists from Monroe, Connecticut. The deaths were skeptical, but still called the Warrens.
The Warrens arrived accompanied by Rosemary Frew, a registered nurse and psychic.
Edd and Lorraine Warren
… Now let's make a small lyrical digression and talk about the famous demonologists and ghostbusters Edda and Lorraine Warren.
The Warrens
They offered their services to remove the curse from a painting by William Stoneham. And they also took part in the expulsion of the spirits from the famous house in Amityville. They have been studying otherworldly forces for 50 years and during this time they met with more than four hundred spirits.
Their most notorious cases are, of course, Amityville, then - an attempt to drive out the so-called "killing demon" (a case of demonic possession, which later formed the basis of the book "The Devil in Connecticut"), as well as another exorcism of demons from a werewolf woman (in 1991, Warrens will write a book about this: "Werewolf: The True Story of Demonic Possession"), and of course, the story of the Smerlov family.
Edd Warren himself claimed that he grew up in a house where a ghost lived - it was the ghost of an old lady. The ghost did not cause any particular trouble, so no one bothered to expel him. When Edd was 16 years old, he went to work in the theater, where he met his future wife Lorraine. Of course, they got married, and after getting married, they did not immediately begin to study the occult sciences.
However, back in 1952, Edd Warrens created in New England the Society for the Study of the Paranormal, the purpose of which was to investigate such phenomena, to help people suffering from ghosts, poltergeists and other things. Warren attracted mediums and clairvoyants to the work of the society, visited houses that were rumored to be ghosts, wrote books, appeared on television - in a word, he became a very famous and popular person.
He became especially famous after he won a high-profile court case. This happened in 1989, in Hebron, Connecticut. The woman (she had a small child) bought a house, but could not live there. According to her, ghosts survived from her own home. She called for help from the Warrens, who examined the premises and confirmed her words. The Warrens submitted evidence to the court that the house was indeed inhabited by ghosts - photographs, tapes, credible witness testimony - and won the case, thereby setting a precedent.
Often the Warrens were accused of chasing popularity and inviting the press to every business they did. But famous pre-monologists claimed that they only want people to finally believe that spirits and ghosts exist, so that people know that there are those who are ready to help them, and who can tell about ghostbusters better than journalists?
Edd Warren described himself (he died in 2006) "one of the 7 famous religious demonologists" (the other six are Catholic priests), so it should come as no surprise that upon arriving at the House of the Deaths, Edd and Lorraine Warren began their research by talking in depth about their religious beliefs and family life.
They inquired if the Deaths practiced Satanism, whether they used a tablet for Ouija sessions, and whether supernatural forces were invited into the house in some other way. After the conversation, the Warrens and the medium Frou walked around the house to see where the bedroom closet and the corridor connecting the two parts of the semi-detached house are. The study succeeded brilliantly: the demonologists delighted the owners with the news that four evil spirits live in their house: three of them were ordinary ghosts, but the fourth turned out to be a demon.
The Warrens assumed that the demon had lived here for a long time, but did not manifest itself in any way. The awakening was most likely the fact that the Smerlov daughters became adolescents, and adolescents, as you know, are overwhelmed with emotional energy. Further, the Warrens attempted to force the demon to reveal themselves: they read prayers and played records with religious music. The demon, obviously, was unable to resist the experienced demonologists and he had no choice but to show up.
He shook the mirror, pulled out the drawers of the chest of drawers and, in the end, even said: "Get out of this house."
The portable TV reacted with an eerie silvery-white glow, but prayer and holy water calmed the company of ghosts and the demon a little. True, the calm did not last long.
Since the Warrens regularly visited the house, the completely upset demon went on the offensive. The eerie glow of the TV resumed, loud bangs on the walls were heard, in addition, Jack and Janet were spanked and beaten.
Trying to establish a good relationship, Janet once tried to talk to the demon heart to heart, asking him to knock once if he wants to answer in the affirmative, and twice if he does not. When she asked the demon if he wanted to harm them, he replied with a single knock - apparently, the demon turned out to be vindictive and did not want to forgive the Deathly invitation to the house of demonologists (and who would forgive in his place ?!)
Everything goes too far
Oh, I don't even know how to tell about what happened next.
The head of the family, Jack, told a chilling story about how he was raped by a scaly succubus who appeared in the form of an old woman with a young body. Her eyes were red and her gums were green (the succubus clearly has a taste problem). The demon inflicted a sexual assault on Janet - however, it is not specified which one.
The invited demonologist Edd Warren also did not want to stand aside and stated that all the time he worked in the Smerlov house he suffered from a terrible flu, of course, sent to him by an evil demon.
The deaths said that they tried several times to get support and assistance from the Church. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Scratton announced its intention to consult with experts, but found official intervention impossible.
There was a moment when Janet thought that she was being helped by Father O'Leary (a man who came to her house and offered his help like a priest), but after calling the church, she found that such a person did not exist: probably in the guise of a priest the demon himself appeared before her! (Unfortunately, the idea that a journalist might have gotten into the house in the guise of a priest in pursuit of a sensation did not occur to the woman tortured by the demon).
The Warrens then invited Father (now Bishop) Robert F. McKenna, a traditionalist priest, who disagreed with the Vatican Council II changes to the exorcism ritual. He celebrated Mass in Latin and repeated the rite of exorcism more than 50 times. For some reason, the old ritual infuriated the demon.
The Smerlov's daughter, Karin, became seriously ill, suffering from a terrible fever, and nearly died. Down nearly got raped by a ghost (again!).
Janet and Mary had traces of severe blows and beatings on their arms.
Everyone was in a depressed mood.
Edd Warren explained to them that they were going through the second demonic stage - depression and, in order to support the upset family, he said that usually it all ends with the next stage - "capture of the person by the demon" and death.
McKenna repeated the banishment procedure in late spring, but to no avail.
Now the demon did not let the family go a step: he even accompanied them to a picnic and visited Janet at work.
The family could not move to another house, because they feared that an obsessive demon (and, possibly, three ghosts) would follow them. After the Church's repeated refusal to help exorcise the demon, the Deaths decided to resort to television: as you know, demons fear television much more than the Church. Remaining anonymous off-screen characters, the Smerls responded to Richard Bey's questions at a local Philadelphia show called People Talk. But the Smerly did not know the main thing: the demon who settled in their house also watched this show.
He didn't like it.
Immediately after the transfer, according to Smerla, the demon began to take revenge on them.
He pulled Janet off the floor and then threw her against the wall. He appeared to Jack in the form of a monster, resembling a pig on two legs. In addition, Jack stated that he was raped again.
In August 1986, the Deaths felt an irresistible urge to finally tell the general public about their hard life, a sexually obsessed demon and three ghosts. They were interviewed by the Sunday Independent in Wilkes Bar - and who would have thought ?! Their home immediately became a center of attraction for journalists, curious onlookers and skeptics seeking to understand the situation.
Is this all cheating?
Some of the skeptics, including some of the Smerlov neighbors, said they were confident that the family came up with this story for the income from the book and contracts for filming, but of course, this was not the case. Paul Kurtz, chairman of the Paranormal Research Committee (Buffalo, NY), expressed a desire to take part in the study, but was met with a sharp refusal from the family and the Warrens, who did not want to share the demon and ghosts with anyone.
Kurtz offered to put the Smerlov family in a hotel for a week, putting a private security guard over them - so that during this time the team of researchers would study the house, but that was not the case! The deaths said that the people on the Committee had a pre-existing conviction that they were falsifying what was happening and therefore preferred to work with the Warrens and the Church. Two researchers from the Committee came to the house of the Smerls, but they were not allowed to enter - and not a demon at all, but the Smerls themselves.
Later, in an article written for the journal of the Skeptical Inquirer Committee, Kurtz expressed the opinion that the incident was not paranormal and that the Deaths refused to allow the Committee because they were afraid of what the organization's employees might discover there. He recalled the inconsistencies in Down Smerl's account of his experiences and was critical of the Warrens' involvement.
Kurtz offered scientific explanations for some of the Deaths' situations, including:
• the voids left after coal mining in this area create strange noises;
• Jack Smerl's hallucinations regarding rape;
• collapsed sewer pipes that cause terrible odors;
• pranks of teenagers.
Kurtz also noted that there were no police records of Mrs. Smerle's ghost complaints, although she said she went to the police. Kurtz also asked about the monetary side of the story, as the Smerla began negotiations with Hollywood shortly after the press coverage. The deaths denied any mercantile interest.
Edd Warren exacerbated the doubts of journalists and skeptics during a press conference he gave in August 1986. Warren said they recorded paranormal sounds - heavy sighs and grunts - and videotaped a vague image of a dark mass moving through the house (apparently, the bored demon was looking for the owner of the house).
However, when reporters and the Committee asked him to show the tapes, he refused: he told a journalist that he had given the tapes to some television company whose name he could not recall, and told Kurtz and other reporters that the tapes were the exclusive property of the Church. However, church authorities later reported that no one had given them anything. Edd Warren also denied journalists a request to stay in the house and said that the Smerls would no longer deal with the press and that communication with journalists was exclusively entrusted to him.
The deaths turned to the medium Mary Alice Rinkman, who surveyed the house and, like the Warrens, concluded that there were four spirits in the building. In her opinion, one of them was the spirit of a crazy old woman named Abigail, and the other belonged to a dark-haired, mustachioed man named Patrick, who killed his wife and her lover, and then was hanged by the mob. She did not understand whose third spirit was, the fourth, in her opinion, was a powerful demon. Thus, the presence of a demon in the house could no longer be questioned.
High press coverage finally got the Scranton Diocese into action, and they insidiously offered to take over the leadership of the study. But Warren has already planned a massive exorcism involving several priests. A group of worshipers came to the house to create the appropriate conditions. The Reverend Alphonse Travold of the University of St. Bonaventure, who was asked by the diocese to participate in the study, stated that he is convinced that the Deaths are not deceivers and that there is indeed a disruption to the normal course of things, but that he cannot say if this is real. caused by the presence of a demon.
In September 1986, McKenna undertook the exile ritual for the third time, and the riots ceased for three months.
However, before Christmas 1986, Jack again saw a black figure pulling him into the third stage - the capture stage. He grabbed the rosary and began to pray, hoping that this would be the only case. However, the rumbling noises, terrible smells and violence (!), According to the head of the family, resumed.
But help was already close: a book was published dedicated to the suffering of the Smerlov family and their difficult trials. And - lo and behold! - after the publication of the book, the Deaths calmly moved to another city and the sexual demon (and three ghosts) and did not think to follow them, obviously, carried away by reading.
And in 1991 the film The Haunted was released, telling about these events - and the demon was finally defeated.
Nobody ever heard of him again.
Well, now you can move on to the most famous Warrens investigations, which formed the basis of feature films, and, importantly, which brought even more popularity to the Warrens
The most famous of their investigations, many of which are reflected in film and literature, are:
Amityville Horror
Lorraine Warren often recalls the horrors of Amityville House
He brought the Warrens the greatest fame, tk. they confirmed the words of a married couple, George and Katie Lutz, who bought the house after the murder of six people, about the paranormal events taking place there. Skeptics described the incident as "cheating." Lorraine Warren told the Express Times reporter that the Amityville Horror is not a hoax, but a very real story. These events served as the basis for the book The Amityville Horror, published in 1977, and its subsequent film adaptation in 1979 and 2005.
Demon killer
In 1981, Arne Johnson was charged with the murder of Alan Bono. Ed and Lorraine Warren were called upon to find confirmation of Mr. Johnson's demonic possession. The Warrens subsequently claimed that Johnson was possessed. At the trial, Johnson tried to prove his innocence due to demonic possession, but failed. The case was described in a 1983 book called The Devil in Connecticut.
Werewolf
The Warrens claimed to have banished the "werewolf demon" on June 17, 1983. Bill Ramsey has bitten several people, considering himself a wolf. The events surrounding this case were later described by them in a book published in 1991 entitled "The Werewolf: The True Story of Demonic Possession." Unfortunately, there are no photographs or video evidence available to confirm that Bill Ramsey was indeed possessed by a demon or an evil spirit.
Smurl family
Jack Smurl in his house
Pennsylvania residents Jack and Janet Smurl reported that their home was filled with various supernatural phenomena, including unexplained sounds and odors. The Warrens claimed that there were three restless spirits in the Smurl house and a demon who allegedly raped Jack and Janet Smurl.
Ghosts in Connecticut
House on Meriden Avenue, Connecticut
Ed and Lorraine Warren, after investigating, confirmed that the Snedeker house was filled with demons. A film based on these events, directed by Peter Cornwell, was released in 2009 called The Haunting in Connecticut.
Well, for a snack, some video from the Warrens piggy bank
Warrens communicate with the pounding spirit
