Fighting Malevolent Spirits: A Demonologist's Darkest Encounters (8 page)

We continued smudging throughout the entire home and were very thorough. When we were out in the garage, Jackie made an interesting request. She wanted us to smudge her Mercedes-Benz—a beautiful sporty coupe. I had silently eyeballed the car earlier during our walk-through. It was gorgeous.

“One day I was out driving last winter,” she said, “and I had just purchased this car about a month or two before, when the brakes went out!” In the back of my mind I thought about the time when I was seventeen years old and dating Jack—his Jeep also started acting up and he lost control of his steering and braking for no reason. It was not uncommon with some demonic cases.

Jackie continued, “I tried slowing down, but the brake was stuck to the floor! The road was clear, no ice or anything, but I couldn’t stop! I ended up sliding into a snowdrift that was melting and it slowed down the car. I immediately called Bob. He raised hell at the dealership and they found nothing wrong with the car.”

I had a hard time envisioning a demon as a grease monkey, tinkering away on the car in one of those jumpsuits with a nametag reading “Earl,” but this was the second time I had heard from a client about an entity taking control of a vehicle. Jackie opened up the doors and insisted that I sit in her car and smudge “the crap out of it.”

It was a gorgeous car and I felt guilty about putting thick smoke into the interior, but Jackie wanted to make sure that she’d never have car troubles again—or at least car troubles caused by an entity. I recommended that she leave the doors open and allow the car to air out so it wouldn’t leave a permanent odor. After we finished with Jackie’s car, we returned inside the home and pressed on with our efforts.

The clicks, bangs, and groans continued throughout the home as we made our way through each room. The house wasn’t old or creaky—I couldn’t find a scientific reason for the sounds.

We entered the master bathroom and I began experiencing the same vertigo I had encountered earlier. It was hard for me to breathe and the dizziness started swirling about my mind. I continued with my prayers, hoping that I would never reach a point in which I could no longer continue a cleansing. To this day, I have not had to stop my efforts during a blessing because of paranormal side effects and I am grateful.

As I prayed harder and commanded the entity to leave the home, the thickness and oppression began to dissipate. Slowly but surely. I thought about all the trouble this entity had caused in both Jackie’s life and my own. It would be wonderful to finally have this demon cast out and to resume our “normal” lives.

I could feel the negative energy finally release its hold on the master suite and worked my way through the office. As I stood by the staircase I called down to Jackie to see if she wanted to “test” the bedroom to feel a difference in the atmosphere. Jackie slowly entered the room, as if she were expecting to be mugged.

Instead, she was delightfully surprised. “It’s like there is actually air in here!” Jackie exclaimed.

I told her we would be done soon. I now felt it was safe to tell her of my experience with the strange siren sound in my house. “A few days after talking with you I heard an odd voice in my house. It sounded like, WooooOOOOOPPPP!”

“Oh my Lord!” Jackie immediately reacted to the sound I mimicked. “That is
exactly
the sound I heard echoing through the heating vents!” She rubbed her arms as goose bumps chilled her body. Her genuine reaction of fear was mixed with disgust. She put her hands out in front of her as if to say “
Ugh! I don’t need to hear anymore!
”; the sound had haunted her for quite some time.

“I just wanted to confirm that it was the identical sound. I figured it was the same entity from your house, but wanted to ask you just to make sure.” In a way, it was relieving to receive validation from clients that I had experienced their entity visiting me. I wasn’t crazy and there was no rational explanation for the event. I wished it was caught on an audio or video recording.

Although I rarely conduct formal investigations for demonic cases, occasionally I will leave a digital voice recorder running to document the client’s interview. Sometimes I’m able to capture electronic voice phenomenon (EVP), but it’s not common. Then again, I couldn’t have predicted that the entity was going to visit my house and make a screeching sound. Like I said earlier, it’s hard to document the demonic!

We finished our last round through the house with the holy water and returned to the kitchen with Jackie and Bob. We sat down and began reading the final warfare prayer together as a group. Bob led the prayer and we repeated after him. “…
I cover myself with the white light and protection of God. I claim the protection of the light for my family, my finances, my home, my spirit, soul, and body.
” I could tell that Bob was excited to be nearing the end of the prayer, as the clubhouse was beckoning for his participation in a card game. I just hoped that he had honest intentions of getting rid of the entity.

I told them that, while it was a long prayer, it was thorough and would help a lot with verbally claiming back their rights and denouncing the entity’s powers. I gave Jackie and Bob copies of the prayer for them to keep if anything should happen again. I also left some salt and white sage for them to use in case they felt that the home’s energy was being compromised in the future.

Bob said his goodbyes and was on his way. Jackie turned to me and smiled, “Thank you again, for everything. I’ll keep in touch and let you know how everything goes. I can feel that it is gone, though!” Jackie escorted us to the door and we said our goodbyes.

In the few short hours it takes to bless a home, I really bond with the families and individuals. I feel their pain, fear, and in the end, their happiness. It is an emotional rollercoaster but is well worth the fight.

I looked forward to finally getting more restful sleep again, as I had felt like a zombie the whole week. I climbed back into the car and the GPS no longer gave us any flack.

A few weeks later I was sad to hear that Sasha, the cat who had fallen ill after the entity arrived, had passed away. Sometimes as a final act, demons will claim the lives of innocent animals before they finally leave. I knew the cat was no longer suffering and was in a much better place. The vet lacked an explanation.

On the bright side, however, I was delighted to read that Jackie was ecstatic about the entity being gone:

“The evil spirit is now definitely no longer here. You got rid of it; I have not sensed it, and have not heard it since the day you and Carl were here. It’s amazing, really; no more witches’ coven siren songs from the vents, no more howls. Wow. Never had anything like that before. Sometimes I have to ask myself if this stuff is all in my imagination because it seems so outrageous. You have given all of the things I have experienced, really all of my life, an explanation. Thank you.”

I only heard from Jackie on a few other occasions. She asked if a light bulb that flickered in the living room and a tapping sound from the new computer was “It” making its return. I reassured her that when a demonic entity returns, they usually come back full force, as if they have had time to store up their energy and are now unleashing it upon the family. Since there were no signature events going on, such as the howling and screaming, I assured her that the light was probably an electrical issue and that computers do make anomalous sounds.

Jackie agreed the following week that it was truly gone and she was just nervous about it trying to return. I reminded her not to dwell on the past, to not think about the entity anymore, and to move on with her life. Since then, she has done just that.

A few years after the case, Jackie found video footage from her cell phone. While attempting to take a picture of her cat in the basement, she accidentally took a video. The short clip includes a mechanical shriek with muttering in the background. Both sounds were not heard at the time of recording but the cat clearly reacts to the disturbance. The cat in the video was Sasha. Jackie sent me the video for viewing and it served as validation for us both. It matched the shrieks we both heard separately in our homes.

Jackie and Bob are living happily in their home and I am happy to have helped them with the unknown.

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CHAPTER 4

FLINT, MICHIGAN CASE

W
hitney and David were a middle-aged couple with a seemingly healthy relationship. That year they had been renovating their 1930s home, trying to refinish the majority of the house themselves with the help of friends and family. Shortly after Whitney and David began their restoration, odd events and experiences began to unfold inside the house. Notably, the activity increased after they started tearing apart the old fireplace, which was located in the center of the home.

David had grown up in the house and both of his parents had passed away in the home many years back. The family had great aspirations for the house and looked forward to finishing the refurbishments once disposable income became more readily available. Until then, the renovations came to a standstill and the house was kept in disarray. Rubble, lumber, and drywall cluttered the kitchen and the disorder of the house was beginning to affect the family greatly.

It was September 3, 2010, and I sat cupping my mug of hot tea, feeling the warmth travel into my hands and arms—it helped counter the chills I got when reading Whitney’s request for assistance.

“I happen to have a demon or something like it in our house. I have put a night-vision camera in the room at night and in the daytime and it messes with the camera a lot … we hear something walking, and at times it is a heavy walk with claws clicking on the floor. It sounds like a Saint Bernard or something bigger … We also have gone in the room at night and sat there and asked it questions and we didn’t hear anything until we listened to the recorder. It answered us alright and not nicely! We also have a short, dark shadow that comes and goes … So now I sleep with the light on! Now, even with the light on … something I can’t see starts growling in the corner! So after a few times of that I sleep on the couch downstairs. I hate not being comfortable in my own home and I don’t know what to do. A few churches said they don’t bless houses and don’t know anyone who does! Do you have any advice for me? Anything would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.”

Carl, Mike Best, and I sat there listening to Whitney and David in their home, trying to pull together a timeline of their experiences. It was our day off from work and school, being an observed holiday, but Whitney felt that a house blessing was desperately needed. We complied and spent our holiday fighting the dark side (not to be confused with the Darth Vader dark side).

It had been a colder-than-usual September morning and fall was slowly making its presence known. I had always admired how the seasons changed in Michigan and each year we were shown a fantastic display of colors in the leaves. I sat on Whitney’s living room couch jotting down notes as the monotonous rhythm of the rain tempted me to sleep. The colder season, for some reason, had always correlated with an increase in paranormal activity, and especially a boom in house-blessing requests. Some believe the “veil” between our worlds is thinnest during the fall.

“It was like, as soon as we tore into the fireplace and began our demolition, our finances went to crap and the mood of the house changed entirely,” David explained during our interview.

Although many would stipulate that the death of David’s parents in the home was the origin of the haunting, I believe that most spirits cross over and do not remain to haunt a location. I explained to David that just because there was a death in a home did not mean there would be a haunting.

I assumed the renovations were the cause of the haunting. Numerous paranormal cases have been mysteriously linked to building renovations, as if the haunting is created once the building’s features are altered. I think renovations may release energy that was imprinted inside the home, which may lead to spirit encounters. Then again, maybe the spirits were previously there and out of contempt for the renovations, they make their presence known. There are plenty of theories, and I have yet to settle upon one line of thought to explain renovation hauntings.

I initially thought that perhaps David and Whitney were experiencing a residual human haunting. But when I listened to their personal experiences, I changed my mind. This sounded like something darker.
Could a demonic haunting really result from a renovation? I thought renovations were only related to human spirit hauntings
… There had to be more to the story that we were missing and I continued asking questions. Whitney and David sat across from us and began sharing their accounts.

One day while Whitney was using the computer, she witnessed a cowboy hat being thrown down the stairs by an unseen force. No one else was home and Whitney felt very uncomfortable. After inspecting the stairs and where the hat had previously been sitting, she concluded that it could not have fallen on its own accord. She later mentioned the event to David, but he was unsure in his mind if it was paranormal or something explainable. After speaking with Whitney, he shared with her that he had also experienced strange things while he was home alone but disregarded them, as many individuals do.

While David was gone at work, Whitney would often hear disembodied voices inside the house and shadows would move about the rooms. Whitney began feeling as if she were captive in her own home, constantly under the surveillance of some invisible presence.

“I remember when the house used to be cozy and friendly, but then I felt uncomfortable and on edge in the house—as if someone had taken over my home and I was just an unwelcomed guest visiting,” Whitney recalled. “After I knew I wasn’t alone, I figured I would try to communicate with the spirit to see what it wanted, and maybe then it would leave. Or so I hoped.”

Whitney was an avid viewer of paranormal shows and, after experiencing a few odd events, Whitney decided that she would try to record EVPs with her analog voice recorder, as she had seen on television. She wanted to speak with the presence in her home and perhaps bring resolution to the situation. During their recording sessions they captured several spirit voices. In one of the audio recordings, Whitney asked the spirit, “Can you tell us who you are?” The entity immediately responded in a harsh, dry voice: “No!”

This particular EVP concerned me because most spirits have no qualms about sharing their personal information. They usually are happy to finally communicate with someone who is willing and able to listen to them. Demons, on the other hand, despise giving their names because it enables a person to gain power or control over the demon. Demons will avoid revealing their name at all costs.

Later, on the same audio recording, Whitney and David comment on a strange thump sound they heard:

David: “Did you hear that?”

Whitney: “No …”

David: “Sounded like somebody knocking at the door!”

*
Five distinct knocks are heard in the background.
*

Demon: “Come in!”

*
The sound of a door opening is heard.
*

At the time of recording, Whitney and David had only heard the first initial thump on the door. They did not hear the second round of knocking or the door opening. What was equally disturbing was that the knocking sound was identical to when someone knocks five times and someone else knocks back twice in response—the “shave and a haircut, two bits” rhythm. It was darkly playful.

The activity became more severe, and progressed into an aggressive nature after they attempted to interact with the entity by conducting EVP sessions. The more attention they gave the entity, the more disruptive it became. It was growing in strength and force.

One morning, Whitney was taking a bath when she saw several dark shadows standing outside of the shower. The shadows moved in front of the shower curtain, blocking out the light from the bathroom vanity. Whitney instinctively knew these figures were not her son or husband. Panic began to settle in. She called out to her husband, unsure of what to do as she was too frightened to leave the shower. David entered the bathroom and reassured Whitney that nothing was out of place and no intruders were in the bathroom. The shadows were gone.

“See? Look. There is no one in here. You’re fine. The heating vents were probably just moving the shower curtain and it looked like someone was in here.” David tried calming Whitney but provided her with no relief. Whitney was positive that she saw figures outside the shower. Whitney returned to her routine of getting ready that day. As time passed that afternoon, she began to doubt her own experience and reasoned that she was severely sleep deprived. Whitney was losing rest lately, waking up in the early hours of the morning without an explanation. She assumed it was related to the stress of trying to finish the house and diminishing finances.
Maybe I am losing my mind. I need to get some sleep,
Whitney thought to herself.

Days passed and Whitney found herself performing her daily ritual of getting ready again while David was at work. She headed into the master bedroom to get dressed after her shower, patting her face dry. As she removed her towel to put her clothes on, she heard a distinct wolf-whistle—as if someone were being sexually suggestive towards her. Whitney got the chills, and the feeling of being violated engulfed her. She was home alone and the whistling came from directly behind her in the bedroom. Afraid of possibly seeing the ethereal intruder, Whitney quickly dressed herself and ran downstairs, pretending not to hear the perverse whistle. The entity was making its presence known more frequently and in more direct ways, which unsettled Whitney.

Soon, Whitney began awakening at exactly 3:00 a.m. every morning. She could feel an evil presence in the bedroom with her. Dark shadows would commonly appear next to the television in the master bedroom. David would always be fast asleep during these encounters. Whitney could not wake him up some nights and I wondered if David was experiencing the same “psychic sleep” that my ex-boyfriend Jack had experienced. Whitney would shake and pinch David, trying to rouse him from his sleep, but he would remain in a deep slumber. Whitney would shut her eyes tightly, hoping that the shadows would disappear once she opened her eyes again. Instead, the shadows would be located in different parts of the bedroom, as if they teleported, further terrifying Whitney. Trying to ignore the spirits she rolled over and tucked her head into David’s shoulder and tried falling back asleep. It was becoming a regular occurrence.

One evening, Whitney had forgotten to turn off the T.V. before drifting off to sleep. When 3:00 a.m. rolled around, Whitney found herself awake again. She rubbed her eyes trying to make out the television and realized there was something dark blocking the screen. As she cleared her eyes and strained to make sense of what she was seeing, she saw a figure directly in front of the television. The black silhouette growled. She stared in horror and watched as the entity took its long, slender hand and dragged its fingers across the screen. Whitney shrieked and ran downstairs, leaving David still sleeping in the bed. David never woke up. She spent the night downstairs on the couch and regretfully told David the story in the morning.

“Its fingers were long and narrow, almost skeletal,” Whitney explained while rubbing her arms from goose bumps. Her abhorrence and fear of the entity was obvious. During our investigative walk-through of the house, we were able to see the finger marks left on the dusty television screen. Granted, anyone could create such a mark on the T.V. with a small object like a pointed ear swab. Whitney assured us she had genuinely experienced the entity’s harassment.

There was no benefit or reward in lying to us about some fabricated haunting—she wasn’t getting paid for her story, it wasn’t going to be publicized, and her only motive was to have us perform a private house blessing. Whitney was terrified in her own home and began altering her routine around the entity. Slowly it was gaining control of her life. It was then that David finally considered Whitney’s suggestion to look for outside help.

At last, Whitney began searching online to find someone who could help with their haunting. She wasn’t sure where to even begin her search. Finally, after spending some time on the internet, she came across the M.P.R.A. site and decided to contact me.

While Whitney was writing her first message to me, she heard growling by the stairs and then her computer started to behave strangely. “It kept shutting itself off, the internet wouldn’t work and finally the keyboard was not typing correctly!” Whitney had to rewrite her e-mail nearly five times until it was successfully sent to me. “I think something was trying to stop me from contacting you guys!” Whitney was adamant and I agreed with her. I had numerous clients mention how electronics and communications failed when they tried to contact me for help with their hauntings.

Hearing Whitney talk, I was unsure if we were dealing with one demonic presence or several. Based on the multiple shadow figures Whitney was seeing, I assumed it was an “infestation”—that several demonic entities were actually present within the home.

Carl and Mike suggested that we listen to the remaining audio recordings to see if we could verify that there were multiple entities. Carl asked Whitney if she could retrieve the additional tapes that she recorded. She soon returned with an audiotape and a video recording.

“We recorded a video in the storage room next to our master bedroom. You can actually see a shadow figure move!” Whitney exclaimed. I had forgotten that she mentioned the videotapes in her original message and this renewed my interest in the footage she captured. We hooked up the camera to the television and began playing back the film.

For nearly half an hour the camera sat still, when suddenly the camera shifted. Whitney and David had positioned the camera to face a mirror in the corner of the room. The room was extremely dark and we strained our eyes to make out the camera’s footage. Eventually, a pitch-black figure moved in front of the camera and then disappeared out of the camera’s frame. Carl, Mike, and I all sat up straight in excitement and awe. Not only had the family captured legitimate EVPs, but they also had credible footage of their haunting.