Exorcism is on the rise in America. In 2005, the Catholic Church had only 12 officially appointed exorcists in the United States. Today, that number has grown to 175. One Catholic exorcist, Father Vincent Lampert, reports receiving about 3,500 requests for help annually from people of various faith backgrounds. He estimates that genuine demonic possession is rare – perhaps one in 5,000 cases. This suggests that while spiritual forces may be real, they’re not behind every problem we face.
Father Lampert received his training in Rome, where he observed 40 exorcisms performed by a Franciscan priest over a three-month period. This intensive training prepared him for his role as the designated exorcist for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis. His approach combines traditional Catholic ritual with a surprisingly modern, even skeptical methodology.
Father Lampert distinguishes between four types of extraordinary demonic activity:
1.Infestation – The presence of evil in a location or object. This manifests as unexplained noises, foul odors that come and go, objects moving on their own, or doors opening and closing without human intervention.
2.Vexation – Physical attacks on a person. These can include unexplained scratches, bruises, or bite marks appearing on the body. Victims often report feeling pushed, slapped, or struck by invisible forces.
3.Obsession – Mental attacks that involve intrusive, disturbing thoughts that feel foreign to the person experiencing them. Victims describe these as thoughts that seem to come from outside themselves, often violent or blasphemous in nature.
4.Possession – Full control of the person’s body (extremely rare). In these cases, the person’s consciousness is suppressed while another entity speaks and acts through them. Father Lampert emphasizes that true possession is the rarest form, occurring in perhaps one out of every 5,000 cases he investigates.
This categorization is helpful for understanding different manifestations of what many believe to be spiritual opposition.
MANIFESTATIONS OF DEMONIC ACTIVITY
What’s particularly striking about documented cases is the consistency of manifestations across different cultures and time periods. Father Lampert reports witnessing levitation during exorcisms, where the possessed person’s body floated a foot out of their chair. He describes eyes rolling back in the head, growling and snarling, foaming at the mouth, and voices becoming deeper and more authoritative.
In one account, he states: “I’ve seen when demons manifest, the person’s body will drop to the floor and slither like a snake. I’ve seen when manifestations begin, the face becomes contorted, and even sometimes, the tongue has come out like a snake. During a recent exorcism, when the demon finally manifested, the person’s eyes in front of me turned green, and their pupils became slanted like a serpent.”
Father Lampert isn’t alone in reporting these phenomena. Father Dan Reehil, another exorcist who appeared on the Shawn Ryan Show in October 2024, corroborated many of these accounts. He described similar physical transformations and added that in some cases, the possessed person exhibited supernatural strength, with small-framed individuals requiring multiple strong adults to restrain them.
These manifestations align with ancient accounts. In Mark 9, we read about a boy with symptoms that “convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.” When brought before Jesus, the boy “fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF DISCERNMENT
We must approach claims of demonic activity with discernment. Not every unusual behavior or mental health issue is spiritual in nature. In fact, wisdom calls us to “test everything; hold fast what is good.”
The Catholic Church approaches potential possession cases with skepticism, requiring psychiatric evaluations and medical examinations before proceeding with an exorcism. This cautious approach stems from hard lessons learned.
Father Lampert explains his process: “There’s a very strict protocol that I follow. A person needs to have a psychiatric evaluation and a medical examination by a doctor. I’m basically asking them, is there something about this person’s condition that you cannot explain? I then sit down and do an intake questionnaire trying to determine if this is demonic. The church works with anyone who believes that they’re up against the forces of evil. My main goal is to determine if that is really the case, because I’m trained to be a skeptic.”
In 1974, a case known as the Barnsley Case became a turning point. Michael Taylor, after undergoing a prolonged exorcism late at night by an Anglican priest, returned home and murdered his wife. He was later found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Following this tragedy, the Archbishop of Canterbury established guidelines for exorcism that included a requirement for “collaboration with the resources of medicine.” These guidelines have been revised several times since, but the principle remains: not every claim of possession is genuine, and mental health must be considered.
This tragic case reminds us that mental illness is real, and misdiagnosing it as demonic can have devastating consequences. We should recognize that both spiritual resources (prayer, Scripture, faith) and natural resources (medicine, therapy, science) have their place in addressing human suffering.
FAMOUS DOCUMENTED CASES
The Roland Doe/Robbie Mannheim Case (1949)
Perhaps the most famous case is the one that inspired the movie “The Exorcist” – the exorcism of a 14-year-old boy known by the pseudonyms “Roland Doe” or “Robbie Mannheim.”
In January 1949, in Cottage City, Maryland, this 14-year-old boy began experiencing strange phenomena after playing with a Ouija board following the death of his beloved aunt, who had introduced him to the board. The disturbances began with scratching sounds inside the walls of the boy’s bedroom. Soon after, his bed began to shake violently at night, furniture moved across the room without human contact, and objects reportedly flew or levitated in his presence.
The family first sought help from their Lutheran pastor, who observed some of the phenomena and recommended they consult Catholic priests due to their experience with such matters. After medical doctors could find no explanation for the boy’s condition, his desperate parents turned to the Catholic Church.
What makes this case particularly compelling is the extensive documentation. Multiple Jesuit priests were involved in the exorcism, including Father William Bowdern, who kept detailed records. Father Walter Halloran, who assisted in the exorcism, later gave interviews about his experiences. Witnesses included not only clergy but medical professionals who observed phenomena they couldn’t explain.
From the diary of Father Raymond Bishop, one of the priests involved: “During the first night that the boy spent in the hospital, a heavy bedstead moved away from the wall. Most of the time the movement of the bed was slight, perhaps one or two inches. I was holding the boy’s hand, sitting beside his bed, when the whole bed began to move away from the wall. I had to stand up and walk along with it.”
The boy reportedly spoke in ancient languages he had never studied, including Hebrew and Latin. When the priests sprinkled him with holy water without his knowledge, he would scream in pain. Words allegedly manifested on his body—appearing as raised welts on his skin spelling out words like “hell” and “evil.” During one session, the boy broke free from restraints and broke Father Halloran’s nose with a supernatural strength that seemed impossible for a teenager.
The exorcism required more than 30 sessions over several weeks to complete. The final breakthrough came at Alexian Brothers Hospital in St. Louis, where, according to the priests’ accounts, the boy had a vision of St. Michael the Archangel holding a flaming sword. After this vision, the boy suddenly returned to normal, with no memory of what had happened during his possession.
Remarkably, the boy went on to live a normal life afterward, reportedly with no memory of what had happened. He is believed to have married and led a productive life, never experiencing similar phenomena again.
This case illustrates the potential dangers of occult involvement. Many spiritual traditions, including Christianity, warn against practices like Ouija boards and divination, seeing them as potential doorways to negative spiritual influences.
The Anneliese Michel Case
Another well-documented case is that of Anneliese Michel, a German woman born in 1952. Her case is particularly tragic and raises important questions about the balance between medical and spiritual approaches.
Anneliese was raised in a devout Catholic family in Bavaria, Germany. By all accounts, she was a normal, happy child until 1968, when at age 16, she experienced her first convulsion. Medical professionals diagnosed her with temporal lobe epilepsy, and she was prescribed medication.
Despite the medication, her condition deteriorated. By 1973, Anneliese began experiencing hallucinations while praying. She reported seeing demonic faces and hearing voices telling her she was “damned” and would “rot in hell.” She became intolerant of religious objects, unable to walk past a certain crucifix and refusing to drink holy water.
As her behavior became more extreme, she began displaying truly disturbing behaviors—eating spiders and coal, drinking her own urine, and crawling under a table and barking like a dog for two days. Most disturbingly, she began speaking in deep, gravelly voices that identified themselves as six different demons, including Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Cain, Hitler, and a disgraced priest named Fleischmann.
Her Catholic family, convinced that she was possessed rather than ill, eventually sought help from the Church. After initially refusing, the Church finally granted permission for an exorcism in September 1975. Two priests, Father Arnold Renz and Father Ernst Alt, conducted 67 exorcism sessions over ten months, sometimes lasting up to four hours.
What makes this case particularly compelling is the audio documentation. The priests recorded many of the sessions, capturing the multiple voices and languages coming from Anneliese. In these recordings, which are available online but are deeply disturbing to hear, the voices speak in different tones and languages, including ancient languages that Anneliese had never studied.
During the exorcisms, Anneliese refused to eat, saying the demons wouldn’t allow it. She performed hundreds of genuflections daily until her knees ruptured and she suffered broken knees. Her body was covered in bruises, and her face became gaunt and almost unrecognizable from her earlier photographs.
Tragically, Anneliese died on July 1, 1976, from malnutrition and dehydration. At the time of her death, she weighed only 68 pounds. Her parents and the priests were charged with negligent homicide, as they had stopped her medical treatment in favor of the exorcism. They received suspended sentences.
The medical examiner determined that Anneliese could have been saved even a week before her death if she had been properly hydrated and fed. This raises profound questions about the ethics of spiritual interventions that exclude medical care.
This case highlights a critical principle: spiritual and medical approaches need not be mutually exclusive. There’s wisdom in seeking both prayer and medical treatment, as they can work hand in hand. The book of James speaks of both anointing with oil (a spiritual practice) and the importance of practical care for the sick.
The Enfield Poltergeist
A third case that deserves mention is the Enfield Poltergeist, which occurred in North London between 1977 and 1978. While not a classic possession case, it involved phenomena often associated with demonic activity.
The events centered around the Hodgson family—a single mother, Peggy, and her four children—who lived in a council house in Enfield. The phenomena began in August 1977 when Janet (11) and Margaret (13) Hodgson reported that their beds were shaking. Soon, the disturbances escalated dramatically.
The family home became the site of unexplained knockings that followed a distinct pattern—often responding to questions with a specific number of knocks. Furniture moved across rooms without human contact, sometimes sliding several feet in seconds. Objects flew through the air, including LEGO bricks, marbles, and even a heavy fireplace that was wrenched from the wall. Pools of water appeared inexplicably on the floors, and fires started spontaneously.
What makes this case remarkable is the number and credibility of witnesses—over 30 people, including neighbors, journalists, and researchers. A police officer, WPC Carolyn Heeps, signed an affidavit testifying that she saw a chair move across the room on its own, stating: “It moved across the floor at a speed of about a foot a second. I checked it for hidden wires or any other means by which it could have been moved. I could see no rational explanation for its movement.”
The Society for Psychical Research investigated extensively. Researcher Maurice Grosse and writer Guy Lyon Playfair documented the case over 14 months, capturing audio recordings of a gruff, obscene male voice coming from 11-year-old Janet Hodgson. This voice claimed to be that of Bill Wilkins, a man who had died in the house years earlier. When researchers checked local records, they confirmed that a man of that name had indeed died in the house.
The voice was particularly disturbing because it came from Janet but sounded nothing like her—it was deep, gruff, and used vocabulary and phrases that would be unusual for a child. When speaking in this voice, Janet’s larynx visibly moved in ways that would be nearly impossible to fake.
The Voice That Came Out of Janet
Photographs taken during the investigation appear to show Janet levitating off her bed, suspended in mid-air. In one famous series of photos, she appears to be thrown across the room by an invisible force.
The case was investigated by the Society for Psychical Research. Initially, they suspected the children might be playing pranks. However, the volume and nature of the phenomena eventually convinced many of the investigators. They believed that something genuinely paranormal was occurring. Researcher Maurice Grosse was initially skeptical. He became convinced after witnessing objects move on their own. He also heard the strange voice coming from Janet.
While skeptics have suggested the children were playing pranks, the volume of witness testimony, including from professionals with no stake in the matter, makes this case difficult to dismiss entirely. Janet herself has given conflicting accounts over the years, sometimes admitting to faking some incidents but maintaining that most of the phenomena were genuine.
This case reminds us that there may be more to our world than what we can see and measure with scientific instruments. As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
OBJECTS ASSOCIATED WITH DEMONIC ACTIVITY
Beyond possession of people, there are well-documented cases of objects allegedly imbued with negative spiritual energy. These cases have captured public imagination and become part of our cultural landscape.
The Annabelle Doll
Perhaps the most famous is the Annabelle doll, investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren, whose work inspired “The Conjuring” film series. The real story began in 1970 when a nursing student named Donna received a vintage Raggedy Ann doll as a birthday gift from her mother.
Soon after bringing the doll to the apartment she shared with another nursing student named Angie, strange things began to happen. The women would leave the doll on the couch before going to work, only to find it in one of their bedrooms upon returning. Sometimes the doll would be found with its arms and legs in different positions. Eventually, they began finding the doll with its legs crossed and arms folded, or standing upright, leaning against a chair.
The phenomena escalated when they began finding handwritten notes on parchment paper in the apartment—paper they didn’t own—with messages like “Help me” and “Help Lou” (the name of their friend who frequently visited). The women searched the apartment but couldn’t find any parchment paper that matched the notes.
The situation took a darker turn when Lou, a male friend who had been staying with them, woke one night to find the doll at the foot of his bed. As he watched in horror, he claimed the doll climbed up his leg and onto his chest, where it tried to strangle him. He blacked out and awoke the next morning, convinced it wasn’t a dream.
On another occasion, Lou was alone in the apartment when he heard rustling in Donna’s room. Thinking it was an intruder, he cautiously entered the room and found the Annabelle doll thrown in a corner. As he approached it, he felt someone behind him. When he turned, he saw no one, but then felt a searing pain on his chest. When he removed his shirt, he discovered what looked like seven claw marks on his chest, three vertical and four horizontal, which bled for a short time and then healed unusually quickly, disappearing completely within two days.
After this incident, Donna contacted a medium who conducted a séance. The medium told them that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a seven-year-old girl named Annabelle Higgins, who had died on the property before the apartments were built. The spirit allegedly told the medium she felt comfortable with Donna and Angie and wanted to stay with them and be loved.
Feeling sympathy for the “spirit,” the roommates gave the doll permission to inhabit it and stay with them. But as the strange occurrences continued and became more threatening, they contacted an Episcopal priest, who referred them to the Warrens.
Ed and Lorraine Warren, self-described demonologists, investigated and claimed the doll was not possessed by a child’s spirit at all. According to the Warrens, the doll was being manipulated by an inhuman spirit—a demon—that was seeking to possess a human host. The “child spirit” story was merely a deception to gain the women’s sympathy and permission to remain.
The Warrens took the doll and placed it in their occult museum in Monroe, Connecticut, where it remained behind glass until the museum’s closure following Ed Warren’s death. Lorraine Warren claimed that during the drive home with the doll, their car’s brakes and steering failed, forcing Ed to sprinkle the doll with holy water to stop the apparent attack.
Visitors who have mocked the doll have reportedly experienced car accidents and other misfortunes after leaving the museum. One young man allegedly taunted the doll and challenged it to scratch him like it did Lou, only to die in a motorcycle accident hours later.
Many spiritual traditions acknowledge that objects can carry spiritual significance or influence. In the book of Acts, we read that early believers who had practiced sorcery “brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.” These weren’t just symbolic actions—they recognized that objects used in occult practices could serve as conduits for spiritual influence.
The Dybbuk Box
Another infamous object is the Dybbuk Box, a wine cabinet allegedly containing a dybbuk—a malicious possessing spirit in Jewish folklore. The story began in 2001 when Kevin Mannis, an antique dealer from Portland, Oregon, purchased an old wine cabinet at an estate sale. The seller informed him that the box had belonged to a Holocaust survivor named Havela, who had escaped to Spain and purchased the box there.
According to family lore, Havela had sealed a dybbuk inside the box after capturing the malicious spirit using Kabbalistic knowledge. Her granddaughter, who was selling the box after Havela’s death at age 103, refused to open it, saying it was a “dybbuk box” that contained a spirit that her grandmother had trapped inside.
Mannis opened the shop with the box inside and left to run an errand, leaving his assistant in charge. When he returned, he found his assistant in tears, saying she would never go into the basement again. She had heard someone smashing glass and cursing, but when she went to investigate, the basement was empty except for a strange odor and an overwhelming sense of dread.
That same day, Mannis gave the box to his mother as a birthday present. Within minutes of receiving it, she suffered a stroke and could only repeat one phrase: “Hate gift, hate gift.” After this incident, Mannis took the box back and began experiencing nightmares of a hag-like woman beating him. He also reported light bulbs bursting near the box and strange smells of jasmine flowers and cat urine emanating from it.
Inside the box, Mannis found strange items: two 1920s pennies, a lock of blonde hair bound with a cord, a lock of black hair bound with a cord, a small statue engraved with the Hebrew word “Shalom,” a small golden wine cup, a dried rose bud, and a candle holder with octopus-like legs.
Mannis eventually sold the box on eBay, where it passed through several owners, all of whom reported strange phenomena—from sudden health problems to shadowy figures and inexplicable odors. One owner claimed that all the hair fell out of his head within a week of receiving the box. Another reported that his sister fell into a mysterious coma shortly after he acquired it.
The box eventually came into the possession of Jason Haxton, a medical museum director, who conducted extensive research into its history and the concept of dybbuks in Jewish folklore. Haxton reported health problems after acquiring the box, including developing a strange skin condition, coughing up blood, and experiencing nightmares.
Haxton eventually consulted with Rabbis who helped him reseal the dybbuk in the box using ancient Jewish rituals. He then hid the box in a secret location, claiming that the phenomena ceased after the resealing ritual.
The Dybbuk Box gained widespread attention after being featured on SyFy’s “Paranormal Witness” in 2012 and inspiring the horror film “The Possession.” While skeptics suggest the entire story may be an elaborate hoax, the consistent reports from multiple owners have made this one of the most famous allegedly haunted objects in recent history.
While we should approach such claims with healthy skepticism, many spiritual traditions warn about bringing spiritually compromised objects into our homes. There’s wisdom in being cautious about the spiritual history of items we bring into our personal spaces.
PRINCIPLES FOR SPIRITUAL PROTECTION
What principles might guide our understanding of potential demonic activity and our response to it?
1.Acknowledge the possibility of spiritual warfare. Many spiritual traditions, including Christianity, recognize that there are unseen forces at work in our world. Ephesians 6:12 states, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
2.Recognize divine authority over darkness. For those with faith, there is comfort in knowing that light overcomes darkness, and that divine power is greater than any negative spiritual force. Luke 10:19 records Jesus saying, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”
3.Exercise discernment. Not everything unusual is supernatural, and not everything supernatural is demonic. Wisdom calls us to “test everything; hold fast what is good.” 1 John 4:1 advises, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
4.Avoid occult practices. Many spiritual traditions warn against divination, sorcery, and other occult practices that may open doors to negative spiritual influences. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 explicitly forbids practices such as divination, sorcery, interpreting omens, witchcraft, casting spells, mediumship, spiritism, and necromancy.
5.Seek spiritual protection. Prayer, faith, and spiritual disciplines have long been considered shields against negative spiritual forces. Ephesians 6:13-18 details spiritual armor that includes truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and prayer.
6.Seek both spiritual and medical help when appropriate. There’s wisdom in addressing both the spiritual and physical aspects of our well-being. James 5:14-15 encourages prayer for healing, but this doesn’t exclude medical treatment.
7.Remember Colossians 2:15 declares that Christ “disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
CONCLUSION
As we conclude our exploration of documented demonic experiences, we’re left with the tension between skepticism and faith. The phenomena reported by credible witnesses challenge our understanding of reality. Yet these accounts must be balanced against scientific explanations and the very real dangers of misdiagnosing treatable conditions as spiritual afflictions.
We can navigate this tension with wisdom, acknowledging both spiritual and natural explanations for suffering. We can exercise discernment, neither dismissing all supernatural claims nor seeing demons behind every difficulty.
As the apostle John wrote, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” This reminder that divine power exceeds any darkness offers comfort regardless of what unseen forces may exist.
Whether confronting potential demonic activity or simply navigating our daily spiritual challenges, this truth remains our anchor: light overcomes darkness, and love is stronger than fear.