Levitating beds, loss of memory for long periods of time, loss of bladder control, speaking in tongues, these are all symptoms known to be associated with possession. A possession is having control or owning (Farlex). When a person is possessed they have no control over their feelings or actions a majority of the time. The reason it is called a possession is because, when one is possessed, the spirit or demon has control over that person. The possession and exorcism of Roland Doe is one of the most documented possessions in history. Many still believe the case as fictional, but there is significant evidence of Doe’s possession.
The exorcism of Roland Doe was an unusual and frightening experience. The movie, The Exorcism, is a movie about a little girl that became possessed by a demonic spirit and was exorcised by a catholic priest (Leonard). This movie is based on the real life exorcism that took place in 1949, located in Rainer, WA on a boy between the age of 13 and 14 named Roland Doe (Berger). Although, many sources say the name of the boy has varied and no one is sure of the boy’s real name.
Doe was an only child and was very close with his Aunt Tillie (another name that is also varied in different sources). Aunt Tillie was an eccentric woman who was very involved in the "spirit world" (Wildman). She introduced the Ouija board to Doe and they would use it together (Opsasnick) (Wildman). (“The Ouija board is used as a method of alleged communication with the spirit world. Ouija boards have their roots of spiritualism which started in the United States in the late 1840s. Mediums claimed to be intermediaries between the living and dead”) (McCarthy).
Soon after Doe and his Aunt Tillie had begun to participate in the use of...
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Erdmann, Steve. “Exorcism of Roland Doe”. BeforeItsNews. 27 May 2012. Web. 12 January 2014.
Farlex. “definition of possession”. Free Online Dictionary. 2004. Web. 4 December 2013.
Leonard, Tom. "The diabolical truth about the Exorcist; Forty years after its release, Tom Leonard tells the shocking real story that inspired the controversial film”. Daily Mail. London, England. 23 November 2013:14.Web. 29 January 2014.
Manson, Mathew. “Exorcisms and Possessions”. ShopOfHorrors. 11 January 2001. Web. 25 January 2014.
McCarthy, Erin. “A Brief History of the Ouija Board”. 31 October 2012. Web. 3 March 2014.
Opsasnick, Mark / Father Gallagher’s Diary. “The Haunted Boy; Inspiration for The Exorcist”. StrangeMag. 2000. Web. 20 December 2013.
Wildman, Don. The Travel Channel. “Biography of Roland Doe”. “The Exorcist House”. 2005. Film. 12 December 2013.
St. Albans Sanatorium is a destination known by serious paranormal investigators as a place where they can seek answers to the mysteries of what lies beyond death. Some of these investigators were able to find resolutions for themselves to a number of these age old riddles through their experiences at the sanatorium. The frightening and true stories found within the pages of this book are about these inquisitive investigators’ encounters with The Ghosts of St. Albans Sanatorium.
This story, although somewhat unique in its exact plot, contains many elements that make it a typical and traditional ghost story. These elements suggest common fears in today’s society of people in general, and children specifically.
...just another person who wants to be friends and not think the ghost will hurt them or that there is anything scary about it. The tale capitalizes on the fact that an adult would be uneasy thinking that a child can play with a ghost without thinking twice, and even more uneasy that a child can see what they cannot, since adults are supposed to be wiser and more able to explain things. The imagination of a child, which can create some astonishing things, is a scary entity.
Before I start writing my story I should explain the rules of a Ouija board. For those who don’t know what an Ouija board is it is something you can use to contact the dead. I have done lots of research on this topic and by research I mean watching people mess around with one…. Something you should never do. The rules are to 1. NEVER take your hands off of the Ouija Board. 2. NEVER play the Ouija board ALONE. 3. NEVER play in a graveyard or where anyone has been murdered. 4.IF it goes across the numbers and letters back and forth the demon has officially left the board, NEVER let that happen!!! If that happens it will hang around where you and the Ouija board are located..5.ALWAYS SAY GOODBYE!!! The most important rule is number 5. Those are
Trimble, Russell, "Alchemy," in The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal edited by Gordon Stein (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1996), pp. 1-8.
This documentary directed by Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio follows the Staten Island urban legend ‘Cropsey’. Cropsey was originally thought to be nothing more than a boogeyman used by parents to scare children out of trouble. Rumored to be lurking near lakes and woods come nightfall, Cropsey took the form of an axe wielding, escaped mental patient who would prey on young children. According to Staten Island natives, exploring Cropsey’s home, Willowbrook Mental Hospital, was a popular pastime amongst the youth who thought him nothing more than myth. However, in the summer of 1987, when 12 year old Jennifer Schweiger disappeared, the legend of Cropsey resurfaced. This time, he posed a much realer threat to the children of Staten Island. With the community in outrage over the loss of one of their children,
If a film’s success is measured by the cultural hysteria it produces, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s film The Blair Witch Project was the most successful cult film in recent history. At the surface, Blair Witch is about three young college filmmakers who decide to shoot a documentary about the “legendary” Blair Witch, a character said to be responsible for the deaths of many local children over th...
The term possession is widely accepted as being "influenced or controlled by something (as an evil spirit, a passion, or an idea)". (Merriam-Webster) There have been numerous cases of spiritual possessions that causes harm to peoples. According to the Spiritual Research Foundation, to be possessed by spirits means that "the physical, mental, intellectual or spiritual functioning of a person if affected or altered" by such spirits. In both definitions, there is a common ground that spirits take control of whatever they inhabit. Throughout history, there have been occurrences of spiritual possessions of mostly toys or humans. Due to the media's over exaggeration of these "true stories", our minds are warped into believing that we are paranoid over toys, mainly dolls and humans who act abnormally. These spirits still linger in our world because of their refusal to “crossover” to the otherworld. They are an enigma beyond our capability of controlling. We cannot see them, we can only feel their presence. Popular portrayals of spiritual possessions from media and literature are Chucky from Child’s Play, The Exorcist, Dead Silence, The Conjuring, and the Supernatural series. All of these forms of media share a commonality in which the spirits inflict violence towards people surrounding them. Evil spirits are commonly portrayed through the possession of a suitable vessel. These spirits are wicked and angry beings who try to return from the dead, causing chaos and mayhem. Whether it be possessing non-living objects or a body, we are afraid of these things due to our inability to take control over them. Our lack of control causes us to be vulnerable to threats from possessed objects. The more afraid we are, the stronger the spirit...
Wall, Aron, ed. Spirits Who Dwel in Suspense. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. .
Gordon begins her search by outlining the limitations of sociological studies. She questions current methods of examining the relationships between knowledge, experience and power. Another definition of haunting can be used to describe the screaming presence which appears but, really isn’t present at all,
For those of you that do not know what a ouija board is, it is a device
Either Cox lived mostly a happy life. She did get sexually assaulted though that's when the poltergeist came to be. Either first started hearing noises under her bed thinking it was a rat. The next day she heard the same noises. She looked under her bed to check it out and found it was a metal box shaking. Her step brother came in the room hearing what's happening. Once he saw the box shaking Either opened it and the box stopped. Then he said they were about to enter hell.
Karr-Morse, R., & Wiley, M. S. (1997). Ghost from the Nursery. New York : The Atlantic Monthly Press.
Ghosts have been around for many years and the root of the whole idea comes because it is “based on the ancient idea that a person's spirit exists separately from his or her body, and may continue to exist after that person dies” (“History of Ghost Stories”). Ghost stories have been told through centuries and because of this it is not known where the first spirit could have appeared or why, but one of the first actually recorded experience happened within the first century A.D. A man named Pliney recorded that he had seen a man and heard objects moving around and he could not explain what what happening (“History of Ghost Stories”). Even though the first supernatural experiences are not known, they created worldwide talk to present time about spirits and hauntings.
The moorland scenery generated a habitation that seemed away from the society and the rest of the world. This made a perfect staging for the strange, odd, funny, weird and occasionally ghostlike events that were revealed i...