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The Exorcism Thread

First live 'exorcism' to air on TV for Halloween
The ritual will take place in the original 'Exorcist House' in the US

“TV history” will be made this Halloween, apparently, as the first ever live televised 'exorcism' will take place. Destination America, a Discovery owned station, will broadcast the event the night before All Hallows’ Eve, 30 October, as a tribute to the original Exorcist ritual which took place in 1949.

To make the whole affair much spookier, the exorcism will take place in the original ‘Exorcist House’, the same building the infamous ritual was performed which inspired both the novel and film The Exorcist.

In a statement, the network said: "No one has ever attempted to rid the lurking spirits and demons that inhabit this home — until now."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...cism-to-air-on-tv-for-halloween-10429957.html
:eek:
 
For a second I thought they were going to exorcise a person, and was mentally drafting a strongly worded letter to The Times, but this is your basic Most Haunted rubbish, only American, so they'll make up what they want for entertainment purposes.
 
Exorcist weighs in on 'vampire' murder in Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 9, 2016 / 03:08 pm (CNA).- The murder of a 24-year-old man in Chihuahua, Mexico last month is being considered by authorities as a “possible satanic ritual” designed to transform the victim into a vampire.

A report from the Chihuahua State attorney general says that the four people accused of the murder – three men and a woman, ages 18-25 – “profess Satanism” and performed “inside the Ciber Café an initiation rite in which they decided to have as their victim their friend Edwin Miguel Juárez Palma.”

According to the Chihuahua attorney general, the four defendants took the young man “by deception, they bound his hands and lied to him, telling him that he would be initiated into the sect called ‘Sons of Baphomet 1,’ unaware he himself would be the 'sacrifice'… they beat him and wounded him with a glass bottle causing him to die.”

Quoted by local media, the director general of the State Police, Pablo Rocha Acosta, said that the young man asked to participate in the rite so he could “resurrect as a vampire.”

Speaking to CNA, noted exorcist and demonology expert Father José Antonio Fortea warned that “the vampire fad is something that's very close to Satanism.”

This fad, he said, “is not just a taste for darkness, but rather a taste for evil, an aesthetic connected to an entire way of looking at life.”

“Vampire-ism totally amounts to devil worship,” he said. ...

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/exorcist-weighs-in-on-vampire-murder-in-mexico-89631/
 
The Devil came down to Georgia...and traveled the United States this year: Exorcism's reappearance in the Catholic Church


  1. Thousands believe they are victims of demonic possession, but how many instances are real?


LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "It is a big phenomenon," J. Gordon Melton, a Methodist minister said of exorcisms in the United States. "There is a lot of exorcism going on."

Sociologist Michael Cuneo, author of newly published "American Exorcism," believes "Exorcism is more readily available today in the United States than perhaps ever before."

In his book, Cuneo wrote, "By conservative estimates, there are at least five or six hundred evangelical exorcism ministries in operation today, and quite possibly two or three times this many."

The Roman Catholic Church keeps at least 10 official exorcists in the United States, while only ten years ago they retained only one.

Since the release of William Friedkin's "The Exorcist," the world has become more aware of a practice the Roman Catholic Church has practiced for centuries - releasing those inflicted with demonic possession.

Several other films have cropped up from the 1980's original, which has only gained popularity over the decades. ...

http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=67829
 
EXORCISM. It’s back. From the courtrooms of South Africa to the cornfields of heartland America, the battle for your soul has taken a decidedly physical turn.

Possessed presidential candidates. Demon-haunted miscreants. Snake-spirit infested parishioners.

Exorcism just keeps appearing in the headlines.

A so-called ‘wave’ of drug-related satanic killings sweeping Mexico (with the alleged intention of turning the victims into vampires) has resulted in calls for a ‘Magno Exorcisto’.

A confessed killer in Cape Town is appealing for an ‘exorcism’ as part of his sentencing, to expel the ‘demonic forces’ that ‘made him’ behead his 15-year-old victim and sell his body parts to a traditional healer.

And late last year, staff in a German hotel were stunned to find a 41-year-old mother beaten to death by her South Korean family (aged between 44 and 15) in an effort to ‘drive out the devil’.

Have the gates to Hell truly been opened? ...

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...e/news-story/be76749c251a6fbf76a355e4053b6a52
 
Not directly related to exorcism but I couldn't find a dedicated possession thread. The video is from 2015 but a friend just sent it to me today via Facebook. It looks quite genuine somehow, but I'm highly skeptical when it comes to random youtube videos :fckpc:

 
A religious 'cult' which claims that autism can be cured by 'casting out demons' is manifesting roots across Europe, according to reports.

And it even claims to have hundreds of members in the UK as the group continues to spread its worrying message.

The Last Reformation is a Christian movement formed in Denmark in 2011 by leader Torben Søndergaard.

It is a branch of evangelical Christianity and appears to have its base in the Netherlands.

But the leader has made shocking claims that he can cure illnesses, diseases and conditions through prayer - and has even claimed to cure autism.

Søndergaard claims to regularly 'casts out demons' from those suffering from ill health, such as cancer patients.

He posted a video boasting of his success in 'healing' a little girl from autism, a condition that has no cure.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/cult-whose-leader-claims-demons-7916787
 
Screaming teenage girls exorcised for FIVE HOURS after being 'possessed by demons' while summoning evil Mexican ghost

The girls who had taken the Charlie Charlie challenge were filmed screaming and convulsing on the floor of a church while being exorcised

Three teens who tried to summon an evil Mexican ghost had to be exorcised for more than five hours after they were were “possessed by demons”.

The girls were filmed screaming and convulsing on the floor of a church after taking the ouija board-inspired Charlie Charlie challenge .

In a clip of the exorcism one of the teens can be seen lurching forward and trying to grapple another youngster.

She is quickly restrained by police and church workers who are clutching bibles in a desperate bid to revive the girls ...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/screaming-teenage-girls-exorcised-five-8831489
 
Screaming teenage girls exorcised for FIVE HOURS after being 'possessed by demons' while summoning evil Mexican ghost

The girls who had taken the Charlie Charlie challenge were filmed screaming and convulsing on the floor of a church while being exorcised

Three teens who tried to summon an evil Mexican ghost had to be exorcised for more than five hours after they were were “possessed by demons”.

The girls were filmed screaming and convulsing on the floor of a church after taking the ouija board-inspired Charlie Charlie challenge .

In a clip of the exorcism one of the teens can be seen lurching forward and trying to grapple another youngster.

She is quickly restrained by police and church workers who are clutching bibles in a desperate bid to revive the girls ...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/screaming-teenage-girls-exorcised-five-8831489
.. sorry but you lost me at teenage girls ..
 
A religious 'cult' which claims that autism can be cured by 'casting out demons' is manifesting roots across Europe, according to reports.

And it even claims to have hundreds of members in the UK as the group continues to spread its worrying message.

The Last Reformation is a Christian movement formed in Denmark in 2011 by leader Torben Søndergaard.

It is a branch of evangelical Christianity and appears to have its base in the Netherlands.

But the leader has made shocking claims that he can cure illnesses, diseases and conditions through prayer - and has even claimed to cure autism.

Søndergaard claims to regularly 'casts out demons' from those suffering from ill health, such as cancer patients.

He posted a video boasting of his success in 'healing' a little girl from autism, a condition that has no cure.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/cult-whose-leader-claims-demons-7916787
Absolute bullcrap, about autism that is. What next?
 
I think we probably sohuld mention old Gabe, I was reading his obit today and he doesn't sound like the best person to have around an unstable person, especially if he was actively seeking out thousands of them to "exorcise". Talk about seeing what you want to see. I can understand if the victim sought comfort in religion, but it does seem like he was encouraging them to be terrified about their illnesses, if illness it was. And it probably was.
 
Exorcisms are on the increase in Britain and priests say Harry Potter, booze and pornography are to blame
  • Two priests believe the nation's fading Christian beliefs added to the rise
  • Catholic Church experts say people want to believe in something invisible
  • The practicing priests say that exorcisms are 'run-of-the-mill' for them
  • Alcohol and porn lead to people going to church to cleanse their bodies


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ry-Potter-booze-porn-blame.html#ixzz4LIPLoAnN
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
 
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A scientific adviser to the Vatican-backed International Association of Exorcists has said the lack of qualified exorcists is a “serious emergency”.

Valter Cascioli, a qualified psychiatrist, claims there has been an increase in interest in Satanism among young people, leading to a desperate need for more qualified exorcists.

“There is a growing interest in Satanism and young people are more at risk. In the current socio-cultural context, with widespread superstitious practices, there has been an increase in requests for help from people directly or indirectly affected by the action of the evil one,” he told Italian newspaper La Stampa.

Cascioli has called for the establishment of a permanent training facility where priests can learn to perform exorcisms.

“There doesn’t exist a training institution at university level. We need an interdisciplinary approach in which science collaborates with religion, and where psychiatrists work with demonologists and exorcists.” ...

http://www.independent.ie/world-new...ys-vaticanendorsed-psychiatrist-35090285.html
 
Exorcism in Italy a job 'too scary' for young priests

"That is a possessed woman there," says Fr Vincenzo Taraborelli as he points up to an 18th Century fresco in his Roman church. "They're holding her with her mouth open. She has little devils coming out of her body. She's being freed."

It is a scene the 79-year-old priest says he knows well. For the past 27 years, Fr Taraborelli has performed exorcisms - the Catholic rite of expelling evil spirits.

He stumbled into the job when a fellow priest needed help.

"I didn't know what it was, I hadn't studied it," the father says. "He told me what to do. I was totally ignorant."

He has since become one of Rome's busiest exorcists, and the Catholic Church is struggling to find younger successors.

Working three days a week from a windowless room at the back of his church near the Vatican, he often sees up to 30 people every day.

"Before doing exorcisms I urge people to see a psychologist or a psychiatrist, and I ask them to bring me their prognosis. I'm in touch with many psychologists who send their patients here." ...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37676977
 
The Devil and Father Amorth: Witnessing “the Vatican Exorcist” at Work
When he made his 1973 classic, The Exorcist, William Friedkin had never seen an exorcism. For decades he wondered how close he had come to reality. So, last May, he followed “the Dean of Exorcists” as he fought to expel Satan from an Italian woman.
by William Friedkin
October 31, 2016 2:30 pm

After his usual breakfast of caffè latte and biscotti, Father Amorth returned to his room, which had a tall window, a hospital bed, two chairs, and a wooden desk cluttered with pictures of the Virgin Mary and Padre Pio, a priest-mystic who experienced stigmata—bleeding wounds, corresponding to those inflicted on Jesus Christ on the Cross. For the next six hours, Father Amorth reviewed the mail requesting his services from around the world. Each letter contained tragic questions and appeals from people who knew Amorth only by name and reputation. He answered the letters, writing with a fountain pen, licking the envelopes and stamps himself. At two P.M., he knelt again to pray, then arose with difficulty, took up his walking aid, and made his way to an elevator, which took him to the first floor, where the small room dedicated to his work was located. The hallway was empty and dark. Whispering voices and footsteps could be heard, as from a tomb.

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/10/father-amorth-the-vatican-exorcist
 
When Mental Illness Is Mistaken for Demonic Possession
by Emily Korstanje DEC 19 2016 3:28 PM
mental-health-and-possession-1482149406.jpg

ILLUSTRATION BY ELEANOR DOUGHTY


When Nadia was 18, her parents took her to a Muslim faith healer who claimed to be able to exorcize her depression.

Throughout her adolescence in Saudi Arabia, Nadia* struggled to find joy in life.

"As time went on, I felt like I couldn't hold myself together," Nadia said. "It feels like my life is wasted, because society doesn't think that I have value, there is so much pressure to be something you are not here."

Around her 18th birthday, her angst turned into full blown depression. She often felt worthless, suffered from anxiety and at times could barely get out of bed. Nadia knew she needed help and turned to her parents for support. Uneducated about mental illness and extremely superstitious, her parents took her to a religious (also known as faith or traditional) healer to perform an exorcism on her. They believed that she was possessed.

Nadia explained her symptoms to the religious healer who affirmed her parents' fears and claimed that evil spirits entered her because of her lack of faith.

"He made me drink something strange, recited the Quran and then choked me with two of his fingers until I passed out," Nadia said. "When I woke up he convinced my parents that I was definitely possessed, because if I wasn't, I would have never passed out—even though I had marks on my throat." Her parents thought that the healer laying hands on her was part of the ritual.

After the exorcism, the religious healer claimed she needed ten more similar sessions to take the demons out. Nadia refused and told her parents that she would kill herself if they ever tried to brought her back to the healer. She described the session as "hell."

"So, here I am, ten years later and still apparently 'possessed,'" Nadia laughed. "I had to learn to try to get through the days on my own."

Whether it's shamans from Ecuador to Russia or Christian religious leaders from the US, various regions and religions across the globe use faith healers. Religious healers may have little to no psychology or medical related background, and earn their living by performing religious rituals and healing people from supernatural issues such as possession. According to one Stanford University researcher, "The concept and practice of exorcism crosses cultural and historical boundaries." ...

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/when-mental-illness-is-mistaken-for-demonic-possession
 
The Devil and Father Amorth: Witnessing “the Vatican Exorcist” at Work
When he made his 1973 classic, The Exorcist, William Friedkin had never seen an exorcism. For decades he wondered how close he had come to reality. So, last May, he followed “the Dean of Exorcists” as he fought to expel Satan from an Italian woman. by WILLIAM FRIEDKIN

OCTOBER 31, 2016 2:30 PM

Sunday morning, May 1 of this year, was Father Amorth’s 91st birthday, but he had no plans to celebrate. He awoke just after dawn, said his usual morning prayers and one to Joseph of Cupertino, a 17th-century saint, and another to the late Father Candido Amantini, his mentor. Clutching a walking aid, he shuffled from his cell-like room to the dining room on the third floor of the Paulist Fathers residence, south of Rome’s historic center.

After his usual breakfast of caffè latte and biscotti, Father Amorth returned to his room, which had a tall window, a hospital bed, two chairs, and a wooden desk cluttered with pictures of the Virgin Mary and Padre Pio, a priest-mystic who experienced stigmata—bleeding wounds, corresponding to those inflicted on Jesus Christ on the Cross. For the next six hours, Father Amorth reviewed the mail requesting his services from around the world. Each letter contained tragic questions and appeals from people who knew Amorth only by name and reputation. He answered the letters, writing with a fountain pen, licking the envelopes and stamps himself. At two P.M., he knelt again to pray, then arose with difficulty, took up his walking aid, and made his way to an elevator, which took him to the first floor, where the small room dedicated to his work was located. The hallway was empty and dark. Whispering voices and footsteps could be heard, as from a tomb.


At exactly three P.M. he began to conduct the ritual of exorcism. The possessed woman, Rosa, was in her late 30s, tall and slender, with raven-black hair. She was as dark and attractive as an Italian movie star—Sophia Loren or Silvana Mangano, with a quiet demeanor. She had a college degree but couldn’t work because of the fits and behavioral changes that came over her, most severely on the Christian holidays, such as Palm Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Easter, and Pentecost. This was her ninth exorcism with Father Amorth. As with traditional psychiatry, the patient is usually not “cured” after the first session. Father Amorth had been exorcising one man for 16 years.

Continued Here:
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/10/father-amorth-the-vatican-exorcist
 
An 'aunt' of mine became supposedly possessed, she was screaming and raving and rejecting her two year old child. This ofcourse was distressing, but obviously you would merely assume she'd had some kind of mental breakdown.
Her religious family recruited a guy to exorcise her (he happens to be an aquaintence of my mothers, and I spose he does know alot about spirituality and stuff, but he also happens to be incredibly arrogant). What was disturbing was the fact that his family then started having problems; he had become violent and completely out of character.
Some kind of infectious hysteria like that found in a mob?
Or a genuine case of demonic activity?

Ressurecting another ancient posting, I know. But a woman goes a little bit mentally adrift and has a two-year old child. Isn't this still within the parameters for diagnosis of post-natal depression - a realisation that it can take a long time for a woman to recover after childbirth and the abrupt changes in her life, in all applicable physiological, psychological and practical ways, that this entails? Interesting that people around her went staight to "possession", without considering a more mundane and likely cause.

And I know this is probably inevitable with really old threads. But early postings are difficult to follow as they all read like a three-way schizophrenic called "Anonymous" who was having an intense argument with himself, one of whose manifestations of multiple personality disorder appeared to be that of a Catholic priest specialising in exorcism, and another was a sceptic calling him out on it. It took a while to work out that originally, they'd have been three seperate posters who would have had different screen-names, and that their memberships here lapsed so that all their postings went under the same "Anonymous" banner. I don't suppose anything could be done about this so long after the fact, but makes it tricky...
 
‘I have smelt the breath of Satan’: The story of a Co Kerry exorcist
Malachi Martin detailed the four stages of the process of possession

“Exorcism can be extremely violent. I have seen objects hurled around rooms by the powers of evil. I have smelt the breath of Satan and heard the demons’ voices - cold, scratchy, dead voices carrying messages of hatred.”

Those words, quoted from the Scotsman newspaper, appear in the obituary of the Co Kerry priest and author Malachi Martin, published in The Irish Times on Saturday, August 7th, 1999.

Martin’s name has been trickling through newsfeeds in recent days ahead of the release of Hostage to the Devil this weekend. The subject of the dark-looking Netflix documentary is Martin and a spirit he confronted in a career as a “Jesuit priest, an author and an exorcist”.

Malachi was born Co Kerry in 1921 to John and Katherine Martin. One of 10 children, he was educated first at Ballylongford National School, Dublin’s Belvedere College and then University College Dublin. According to his obituary, his foray into Jesuit priesthood would take him to Rome in the 1960s. But, in 1964, he requested a release from his vows.

“The move was prompted by his conclusion that many in the church, and particularly in his own order, the Jesuits, were more interested in power than in saving souls,” reads the piece.

He left Rome and moved to New York, where he took odd jobs, including a stint washing dishes and driving a cab, before eventually finding success as an author. His held fast his conservative views of the church, which clearly shone through in his writing, according to the author of the obituary.

Skip to 1976. The Exorcist film has been out for three years - initially to half-and-half reviews, but already accumulating the building blocks of the cult status it would eventually enjoy. Malachi Martin releases a book account of five, he claims, real-life exorcisms; Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Contemporary Americans. Sharing the title of the upcoming documentary, this is his best-known work. ...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offb...an-the-story-of-a-co-kerry-exorcist-1.2936003
 
‘I have smelt the breath of Satan’

Would be a great name for a black/doom/sludge metal band.
 
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