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Facts About Exorcism & Demonic Possession
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Hollywood
has made much use of exorcism as a premise, and while some film plots are pure
fiction with the goal of providing audiences with a thrilling experience, other
films are said to be based on true events. The film The Exorcist has become a
popular franchise grossing nearly $500 million worldwide with its two sequels
and two prequels. It is also based on the true events surrounding Rev. Gary
Thomas, one of the leading exorcists in America. Exorcism is the religious or
spiritual act of expelling demons or other spiritual entities from a person who
is believed to be possessed. A person can succumb to a demon that will take
over his or her body, and the only cure is an exorcism to drive the demon out.
By James
Bishop
Exorcism, and the supernatural in general, has
always fascinated me.
This brief paper breaks down the topic of
exorcism into nine digestible points, and hopefully proves a springboard for
readers to engage in their own extra research.
1. What is Demonic Exorcism?
Exorcism is the religious or spiritual act of
expelling demons or other spiritual entities from a person who is believed to
be possessed.
According to Christian beliefs, a person can
succumb to a demon that will take over his or her body, and the only cure is an
exorcism to drive the demon out.
2. The Historical
Jesus Performed What Were Believed to be Exorcisms (& Miracles)
It is a widely held among professional
historians that Jesus did many wonders. These included both miracles and
exorcisms.
Though many historians don’t actually comment on
the supernaturalism behind these miracles, they are aware that Jesus was widely
associated as being a wonder worker by his close followers and crowds that
followed him.
In fact, this was one of the major reasons why
Jesus attracted such a following.
Professor and historian Craig
Keener writes “that Jesus was a miracle worker stands as the most
convincing thing I know about him… that Jesus was a miracle healer who did
extraordinary feats in front of massive crowds of people is historical bedrock
tradition”.
The late Distinguished
Professor of Religion Marcus Borg also penned that historically “Jesus
was a healer and an exorcist… In all likelihood, he was the most remarkable
healer in human history”.
Similarly, Jesus’ reputation as an exorcist is
bedrock (near indisputable) tradition.
Historical Jesus scholars Gerd
Theissen and Annette Merz write that “Just as the kingdom of God stands
at the centre of Jesus’s preaching, so healings and exorcisms form the centre
of his activity”.
3. Exorcism & the
Hollywood Entertainment Industry
Throw in a bit of drama, horror, and creativity
and we end up with a script for an often-thrilling blockbuster movie.
Hollywood has made much use of exorcism as a
premise, and while some film plots are pure fiction with the goal of providing
audiences with a thrilling experience, other films are said to be based on true
events.
The genre has proven to be hugely popular too.
The film The Exorcist has become a popular
franchise grossing nearly $500 million worldwide with its two sequels and two
prequels.
It is also based on the true events surrounding
Rev. Gary Thomas, one of the leading exorcists in America.
Other popular films include, though certainly
not limited to, The Right (2011), Deliver Us From Evil (2014), The Possession
(2012), The Last Exorcism (2010), The Conjuring (2013), and The Exorcism of
Emily Rose (2005) There is also a series on the Discovery Channel called The
Exorcist Files.
Diane Winston, an expert on religion and the
media at the University of Southern California, explains the reason behind
Hollywood’s fascination with the genre, “Exorcism,” she explains, “is
Hollywood’s wet dream.
It’s taking on the most fundamental questions of
good versus evil and doing it in a way that’s titillating and vaguely
scandalous. How could that go wrong at the box office?”
4. Real Life Exorcisms Can Be Fatal
While the process of exorcism varies across many
cultures, the act of restraining the patient is common.
Both in history and our contemporary world many
exorcisms have sadly been performed on individuals who are emotionally and
mentally disturbed.
In some cultures, the act of restraining a
person believed to be possessed is common, and has led to some fatal
consequences.
In fact, there are 370 000 reported cases of
people killed during exorcism, and another 310 000 reported injuries.
In 2003, an autistic boy of the age of eight was
bound in sheets and held down by church members during a prayer service held to
exorcise the evil spirits believed to be behind his condition.
The child died and extensive bruising on his
back and neck suggested he died of asphyxiation.
In the past 10 years, there have been a few
deaths related to exorcism in America.
Texas mother Andrea Yates drowned three of her
children in an effort to exorcise the devil from herself in 2001.
More recently, a South African couple were
arrested for keeping their baby daughter caged, unfed, and tied up because they
believed the child was possessed.
However, this fact isn’t ignored by religious
figures.
For example, Cardinal Jorge
Arturo Medina Estevez urges practicing exorcists to put in safeguards, “exorcism
is one thing, and psychoanalysis is another. If the exorcist has any doubt
about the mental health of the possessed, he should consult an expert … It
often happens that simple people confuse somatic problems with diabolical
influence, but not everything can be attributed to the devil”.
5. Exorcism’s Scope
Though westerners usually associate exorcism
with Christianity and Jesus, it can be found in other religions too.
In Christianity exorcism usually involves an
exorcist who is believed to be blessed/gifted with special, supernatural
powers.
The exorcist often invokes God, Jesus and/or
angels to intervene with the exorcism.
In Catholicism it is usually an ordained priest
who is the exorcist and exorcises demons in the name of Jesus Christ.
Beyond Christianity exorcism can be found in the
religions of Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, and Judaism.
In Judaism the ritual is performed by a rabbi
who has mastered practical Kabbalah.
In the ceremony 10 people gather in a circle
around the possessed person, recite Psalm 91 three times, after which the rabbi
blows the shofar (a ram’s horn).
In Buddhism, exorcism involves prayer and
meditation to persuade the spirit to leave the body whereas Taoists mainly use
chanting, praying, and physical movements to drive away the evil spirits.
6. Millions of
Americans Claim to Have Witnessed Exorcism
A study conducted by the Pew Research Center
found that more than one-in-ten Americans say they have experienced or
witnessed an exorcism, when the devil or evil spirits are driven out of a
person.
That equates to roughly 35 500 000 Americans.
In Christianity the highest denomination to
witness exorcisms are Pentecostal Christians with some 34% claiming to be
eyewitnesses (above 7% of the general Christian population).
7. Are The Demons Real?
For many readers this is the real question being
asked.
The truth is that there are scholars and
investigators who fall on both sides of the fence in regards to the ominous
supernaturalism behind exorcism.
One of the discussions is the “Psychology vs.
Religion” debate.
As one writer captures, “Where
one person sees possession and pulls out his rite of exorcism, another sees
mental illness and pulls out the DSM IV”.
This is particularly pertinent given that
certain mental illnesses possess (is that a pun?) similar traits to what has
been believed to be demonic possession.
Things like, for example, Tourette syndrome and
schizophrenia.
Those with epilepsy can suddenly go into
convulsions when having a seizure; Tourette syndrome causes involuntary
movements and vocal outbursts; schizophrenia involves auditory and visual hallucinations,
paranoia, delusions and sometimes violent behaviour.
Some results of investigations into demonic
possession have been argued to favour skepticism.
Michael Cuneo, for example, doubted the
supernatural links with exorcisms after he attended 50 of them in order to do
research for his book.
Cuneo says that he never saw anything
supernatural or unexplainable: No levitation or spinning heads or demonic
scratch marks suddenly appearing on anyone’s faces, but many emotionally
troubled people on both sides of the ritual.
However, to the contrary, there are the
disagreeing voices of other researchers and eyewitnesses, two of which, as we
will see below, have been quite prominent.
In fact, one psychiatrist claims he has
witnessed victims of possession suddenly speaking perfect Latin, sacred objects
flying off shelves, and people displaying “hidden knowledge” or secrets about
people that they could not have possibly have known.
Thus, to answer the question more directly, it
is perhaps premature to conclude against the supernaturalism behind exorcism.
One reason is because much more research needs
to be done before we can be confident in our conclusions.
As one investigator puts
it, “In conclusion, it is difficult to come by documentation of any
outcomes of official exorcisms… Exorcisms are supposed to be low-key. Although
they are not necessarily a secret, exorcisms are not performed in public or in
front of press representatives”.
Another reason is because we find the numerous
conflicting views of those for and against the supernatural link behind
exorcism.
Where one researcher says he hasn’t seen
anything supernatural (i.e. levitation, objects flying around) another says
that he has.
8. Psychiatrist Richard Gallagher
& Scott-Peck
There are a few prominent and vocal academic
voices in favour of genuine supernatural exorcism.
These individuals are undoubtedly brave given
the criticism they’ve copped by their skeptical peers in the field.
One of these is psychiatrist Richard Gallagher.
Gallagher is a board-certified psychiatrist and
a professor of clinical psychiatry at New York Medical College.
Over the last two-and-a-half decades Gallagher
has helped clergy from multiple denominations and faiths.
He says that he has encountered what he behooves
to be the demonic, and even though he was initially “inclined to skepticism,”
several convincing phenomena has convinced him.
For instance, in one striking
case, explains Gallagher, a “subject’s behavior exceeded what I could
explain with my training.”
This woman in question “knew
how individuals she’d never known had died, including my mother and her fatal
case of ovarian cancer. Six people later vouched to me that, during her
exorcisms, they heard her speaking multiple languages, including Latin,
completely unfamiliar to her outside of her trances. This was not psychosis; it
was what I can only describe as paranormal ability.”
Gallagher talks of another
case in which a woman believed to be possessed “threw a Lutheran deacon
who was about 200 pounds across the room”.
Individuals “may
suddenly, in a type of trance, voice statements of astonishing venom and
contempt for religion, while understanding and speaking various foreign
languages previously unknown to them.
The subject might also exhibit
enormous strength or even the extraordinarily rare phenomenon of levitation… He
or she might demonstrate ‘hidden knowledge’ of all sorts of things – like how a
stranger’s loved ones died, what secret sins she has committed, even where
people are at a given moment. These are skills that cannot be explained except
by special psychic or preternatural ability.”
Gallagher is quite confident
that he has “seen the real thing… I have personally encountered these
rationally inexplicable features, along with other paranormal phenomena. My
vantage is unusual: As a consulting doctor, I think I have seen more cases of
possession than any other physician in the world.”
But Gallagher is quite aware of falsity and,
what is known as, “pseudo-possession.”
This is because it may well be
the case that “individuals who think they are being attacked by malign
spirits are generally experiencing nothing of the sort. Practitioners see
psychotic patients all the time who claim to see or hear demons; histrionic or
highly suggestible individuals, such as those suffering from dissociative
identity syndromes; and patients with personality disorders who are prone to
misinterpret destructive feelings.”
For more on Gallagher please consult my other
article entry.
Further, the late Scott-Peck was American
psychiatrist who penned the thought-provoking book Glimpses of the Devil: A
Psychiatrist’s Personal Accounts of Possession.
Initially, like Gallagher, Peck did not believe
in demons.
Rather, it was until he examined the cases of
two female clients that he concluded their conditions did not fit any
“psychiatric picture,” and he then became convinced of the demonic.
Peck spoke about an encounter he had with a
client, Jersey, who was believed to be possessed by demons.
He also remembered his
encounter with Beccah. During an exorcism her head “started to move
back and forth in a strange weaving pattern that looked remarkably like that of
a cobra… [her] body sprang toward me, its mouth flared open,” and
she “had close to superhuman strength and fought against us with
amazing violence”.
Peck also mentioned that one of his team members
was an atheist.
9. Demand For Exorcism &
Exorcists is Growing
Contrary to the beliefs of many exorcism has
neither died out nor been limited to solely an ancient practice.
In fact, there is data to suggest that the
demand for exorcism is actually growing.
For example, it was shown that there was a 50%
increase in the number of exorcisms performed between the early 1960s and the
mid-1970s, and today there is an increase in demand in Mexico, England, and
America.
One American priest, Vincent Lampert, receives
over 1000 annual requests (+-19 per week).
The Catholic Church in America has at least 10
official exorcists which is nine more than a decade ago, and the Vatican Church
is struggling to recruit and train enough exorcists to meet demands.
The total number of practicing exorcists in
America is believed to number over 50.
According to J. Gordon Melton, a Methodist
minister who directs the Institute for the Study of American Religion, exorcism
“is a big phenomenon,” in America, “There is a lot of exorcism going on”.
One prominent investigator reveals that there “are
at least five or six hundred evangelical exorcism ministries in operation
today, and quite possibly two or three times this many”.
James is a graduate from Vega School of Brand Leadership specialising in Multimedia Design and Brand Communications. He is currently enrolled at Cornerstone Institute studying Theology and majoring in Psychology. His theological interests encompass comparative religion and the links between science and religion.
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