The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren (19 page)

“Sooner or later, though, self doubt arises and in time the person begins to question his own sanity. He cannot find an origin for the car horns blowing in the living room at night. He sees no one behind him after feeling his hair pulled. He can find no dead animal to account for the revolting smell that comes up after sunset.
Am
I really experiencing this, the victim honestly asks himself? Naturally, the oppressing spirit preys on the doubt it has created, then enlarges upon that doubt until the person doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going. This is why the phenomena is considered to be a diversion. It is brought about to destabilize the victim. Therefore, under oppression, the self is purposely attacked by an external force, and should the victim start to lose control, then he’s one step into possession—the goal, of course, of the inhuman possessing entity.

“In the Carlson case,” Ed goes on, “external oppression phenomena went on almost daily, insofar as infestation had occurred
in
the house long ago. Both the kitchen and bathroom water faucets would suddenly turn themselves on, full force, at the same time. Tappings were incessantly heard at the windows, doors creaked open, and always the bootsteps and walking-around upstairs. A
real
haunted house! On occasions, Mrs. Carlson would hear three knocks at the front door—a conventional sign of an inhuman presence. But whenever she’d go to the door, there’d be no one there. On the second floor, a visitor reported seeing a snake on the window ledge after hearing three taps on the window, yet there was no nearby tree the reptile could have climbed.

“One time when Mrs. Carlson heard the sound of three knocks, she also heard the front door open, then slam, followed by the stomping of bootsteps upstairs. ‘Now I got ‘em,’ she thought. With all the courage she had, Mrs. Carlson went upstairs, armed with her husband’s pistol, and systematically checked every room, determined to find the malicious intruder. But, of course, no one
visible
was there. As happens so often when the demonic is involved, she’d been made a fool of.

“Yet,” continues Ed, “these were basically little incidents compared to the tragic, sinister things that followed later. While living in the house, the Carlsons had another child. One night, while she and a farm hand were watching television in the living room, they suddenly heard a tremendous, powerful explosion. When they jumped up to check, thinking the furnace had blown apart, they found the door to the infant’s room violently torn open. Objects were still swinging and vibrating by the time they arrived, and the temperature in the nursery ‘was equal to a meat locker,’ she said. Her baby had been born premature, and until only a few weeks before had lived in a hospital incubator. Though the spirits in the home had evidently tried to kill him, the baby managed to live through the experience. However, when the baby boy was three years old, Mrs. Carlson made another startling discovery. As she walked past the child one day, he suddenly let go with a loud shriek. ‘You stepped on Beatrice!’ he told his mother in no uncertain terms. Being this was a terribly sophisticated name for a three year old to know, let alone pronounce, Mrs. Carlson put down the laundry she’d been carrying and asked the child who was. ‘She’s my friend,’ he answered, ‘she tells me what to do.’ Mrs. Carlson then told her son to ask Beatrice who she was. The little boy did just that, and a few seconds later, after he waited for her reply, said to his mother: ‘Beatrice told me to tell you that she’s a witch!’

“Like most people, the Carlsons had no belief or knowledge of spirit phenomena, so these invisible entities in the home exerted almost free rein over the family. That was the case, until finally one night things came to a head. Mrs. Carlson was in bed by herself when she saw a large black form in the room with her. She described the entity as being ‘blacker than the blackest night’ She said this because the lights in the bedroom were off, and where they lived there were no streetlights to cast weird shadows. The entity moved slowly around the room, transfixing her with fright Technically, Mrs. Carlson was a victim of phantomania. Before the black mass went away, it transmuted into a globe of synthetic light about the size of a basketball, while producing a deafening roar which she compared to a blast furnace. The phenomenon grew in intensity until suddenly it vanished, leaving Mrs. Carlson absolutely fatigued, whereupon she immediately fell into a deep sleep. This happened twice more—three times in all.

“The next two times, Mr. Carlson was home in bed with her, but he didn’t see anything. As Mrs. Carlson told me—and mind you, this was a sensible, aware woman—‘I knew in my heart this terror was meant exclusively for me, not for anyone else.’ When the spirit came the second time, she was suddenly awakened by the presence of the same black entity near her side of the bed. This was followed by the manifestation of the large orb of light, again accompanied by the roar of a blast furnace. The phenomenon peaked, then vanished, leaving her completely drained of energy. The third night the spirit manifested to her in the bedroom, she tried to rouse her husband, but to no avail. She shook him and pounded on his back, but he wouldn’t—or rather
couldn’t—
wake up. In the meantime, the spirit remained menacingly present in the room with her, its very being scaring her senseless. Ultimately, the message the demonic projected to her was ‘Get out!’ And they did. Today, the Carlsons live in the same town, but now they know all too well about the coaching inn, and the deadly, oppressive spirits it contains.”

Does the demonic spirit always manifest as a black, cloudlike mass?

“The ‘black mass’ I speak about,” says Ed, “is the most common way the demonic introduces itself into the physical realm. I don’t know if this represents the mechanics of its manifestation, or if it’s peculiar to certain kinds of demonic entities. But a demonic spirit can ultimately manifest as Jesus Christ himself! It may be seen as a ghost; it may come as a hooded specter; even in the form of an animal. A few years ago, sitting in my office here, I happened to catch something move out of the corner of my eye. When I looked, I saw a black animal I have never seen before about twice the size of a woodchuck, walking across the rug. It was furry and fat and waddled when it walked—as though its body didn’t belong with its legs. I didn’t know what it was and presumed that it had walked in through a door out of the woods. But when I got up, I saw no door was open. By that time, though, the animal was heading for the passageway. It seemed to have a snout for a face—like a skunk. I followed the thing as it waddled down the passageway. Since the door was closed it couldn’t go any further, so as not to corner the thing, I stopped—but it kept going and walked right
through
the closed door. A second later, when I swung the door open, the animal was gone. It was then I realized it was a spirit—or at least the monstrous creation of one. The room it entered—if it did enter the room—was self-contained with no access doors. Whatever the thing was, it vanished. In effect, the inhuman demonic spirit can take on any form it chooses.

If that is so, then why does it come as a black mass?

“Because the watchword of the demonic spirit is
anonymity,”
Ed replies. “The spirit comes across as a large, undifferentiated black mass that is easily visible on the rare occasions when it is seen during the day, though it will more likely be witnessed during the psychic hours of night. Only rarely, though, will it show itself in preternatural form. Why come comprehensibly, it reasons, when the spirit’s best protection—in fact its ultimate protection—is anonymity and disbelief in its existence? As a physical phenomenon, though, the black mass
is
the spirit, and as such it is perfectly dangerous. When it corners a person, as it did, say, with the Foster children, the individual then reports a critical lack of air, incredible coldness on his body, and a pressure like the weight of a boulder bearing down on him, “When the person can’t get away, then that’s it: one of two things will tend to happen. Either spontaneous combustion will occur—the person bursts into flames and is reduced to ash—or he’ll dematerialize completely, sometimes forever. Incidents of human combustion are very rare: there’s only about twenty cases on record. More likely, though, the individual will dematerialize. In the Carlsons’ house, Lorraine was able to discern that the black mass engulfed two people there. The first to be literally spirited-away was a soldier’s lackey who was approached by the black mass in the stable behind the house in the year 1776. He was never seen again. The second to vanish was a little girl about 14 years old, named Laura DuPre, who ran into a closet in the house to escape from the black mass, but it subsequently enveloped her too. This occurred around the turn of the twentieth century, and she is still listed by the state police as a missing person. The third to go might have been Mrs. Carlson, if she hadn’t the foresight to get hold of us before the spirits in the coaching inn did the same thing to her too.”

Ed speaks of the demonic spirit showing itself only rarely in preternatural form. What
does
the demonic spirit look like? The question is an uncomfortable one for him to answer.

“Although the spirit can project itself in any form it chooses,” says Ed, “its appearance is an abomination, a monstrosity. To see what’s really behind the phenomenon is not something to be desired. To actually
see
the demonic is to feel ruin. What shows is something distinctly preternatural in appearance: something real enough as you see it, but yet something not of this world.”

But what does it ultimately look like?

“Ultimately,” Ed answers with great reluctance, “it is not human. It
is
inhuman. It has scales. It looks... like a reptile. That’s it,” he cautions. “I won’t complete the rest of the image.”

Oppression is not always external and observable, however. It is just as often subjective.
Internal oppression
is an emotional and psychological demonic intrusion, dedicated to bringing about an overall change in the person’s way of thinking. Here the oppressing spirit’s strategy is to so manipulate the person’s will that bad habits become worse, and worse habits become impulses toward “sin” or self-destruction. As a creature of sin, the demonic spirit seeks to make the human being culpable, by dragging him down to a level that rejects all life. Writing on this very point in the fifth century A.D., Saint Augustine noted that a habit unchecked becomes a necessity. “This,” says Ed, “is precisely what happens during psychological oppression. The individual stands in jeopardy of becoming a stooge, if not a slave to the spirit oppressing him. In advanced stages of oppression, the spirit may so dominate the will that the person has no autonomy at all. At which point, of course, you’re at the doorstep of possession.”

“The objective of the oppressing spirit,” Lorraine adds, “is to possess the person’s body, or failing that, to drive the individual to commit murder, suicide—or both. Before that point is reached, however, the individual under oppression will already have been the victim of a
very
complex strategy. Let me give you an example of just how comprehensive internal oppression strategy can be.

“In April 1978, we received a call from an articulate, well-educated woman of about thirty-five who was beside herself with fright. This woman, Patricia Reeves, was under oppression, but she didn’t know what was happening to her. She had extreme difficulty getting hold of us, while Ed and I had just as much trouble getting up to see her. Patricia and her friend had bought themselves a bona fide haunted house in New England. Although the events of the case are interesting, what is significant here is how demoniacal strategy figured so prominently in their purchase.

“Patricia was born and raised in Ohio, the daughter of a long line of Baptist ministers. Patricia wasn’t married; instead, she split the rent with another woman named Melinda. Though she was a capable adult in every way, money, happiness, and contentment seemed to be withheld from her, and she got to the point of even planning her own suicide. In utter frustration, she purchased a book on witchcraft. Out of that book, Patricia selected one ritual: for prosperity. A few months after she performed the ritual, she received a well-paying, high-prestige job.

“Interestingly, ever since the age of twelve, Patricia had a vivid recurring dream about living in an old colonial farmhouse. Getting this ‘dream’ house was a lifelong goal. For Patricia, it meant ‘going home.’ The house was in a rural, upper New England setting and
had
to have been built no later than the early 1800s. So every week without fail, she’d go downtown to the city library and scan the Boston paper for its real estate ads. Using her own word, she did this ‘obsessively.’ Insofar as oppression is also called obsession, this whole process was going on right under her nose, though she didn’t know it.

“One day, about two years after taking over her position of employment, Patricia found an old farmhouse listed in the paper that seemed made to order. Desiring to see it, she and her roommate Melinda took a joint vacation and drove East. They first saw the house on January 1, 1977.

“The place was quite lovely, down a long, wooded lane almost a mile back from the main road. Though the place seemed perfect,” Lorraine says emphatically,
“it was a setup”
The previous owner of the house, it turned out later, was a Satanic black witch. Rather odd, don’t you think, that they should be drawn three thousand miles from the sunny Southwest to the middle of the New England woods to inhabit
this
particular house? Well, it might seem odd, but by performing the black witchcraft ritual, Patricia and to a lesser degree Melinda, were in debt to the demonic. And what better way to draw them to their doom than by making a dream come true?

“Over the course of a year, the two women drove East a total of not once or twice, but
three
times before ratifying their desire to own the place. On one occasion, Patricia’s sister Susan also came along for the ride. During that period, none of the women suspected there was anything wrong.