Many are familiar with the famous horror movies, The Exorcist, The Rite and The Exorcism of Emily Rose and believe them to be Hollywood fiction, but demonic possession and exorcisms exist in the real world. While these movies are exciting, the reality of an exorcism is much less dramatic. By these films’ definition an exorcism should be a life or death situation with the priest fighting the devil himself, but in reality an exorcism is simple the removal or attempted removal of an evil spirit from a person or place. Some critics may believe that demonic possession and exorcisms are created in the minds of Catholic individuals as another way to make sense of mental illness. However, the documentation and validation of exorcism in multiple diverse …show more content…
There would be no reason to believe in exorcisms if there weren’t real life success stories. Success in an exorcism is pulling the demon out of the person or place and allowing them to go back to their lives. One example is based on the famous movie “The Exorcist”. The movie is based on a true story. As with most movies there are some deviations from the real story. This famous case was based on the possession and exorcism of Roland Doe, a thirteen year old boy from Mount Rainier, Maryland. Accounts of his exorcism were recorded by multiple people including one Lutheran minister and two Catholic priests. These terrifying accounts talk of Roland thrashing and contorting, different voices, knowledge of new language (Latin), throwing up, excessive peeing, body receiving multiple scratches that spelled out words such as HELL and HELLO. According to the article, “Is The Exorcist Based on a True Story?” the success of Roland’s exorcism was very tiring. On the fourth day, “Roland's body apparently went into a violent spasm. Suddenly he was still, a smile on his face he simply said: ‘He's gone!’... Roland was released, the strange goings on stopped and he went on to live a normal life. He claims to remember nothing of what went on”(Rowney). Basically, this quote shows how with the help of exorcism Roland Doe was freed from the evil spirit and went on to live a normal life. Another example of a success story is told by the famous Gary Thomas, the Catholic exorcist that the movie “The Rite” is based on. In the article, “Demons I’ve faced as an exorcist” Thomas tells the story of a young, married women, stating, “ Her face started to distort, she started speaking in a language not known to me that she hadn’t been competent in before. She was hissing and spitting and exhibiting a serpentine look both in her body language and her face. She kept rolling her eyes.” The young woman's name was Lisa, and she is one
Accusations of witchcraft ran rampant in the 17th century colonial settlements in the United States. The individuals accused, mostly women, were put on trial and punished, if found guilty. The most well-known of such cases on public record are the Salem Witch Trials. Between February, 1692 and May, 1693, hearings and prosecutions were set up to deal with those accused of dabbling in the dark arts in the cities of Andover, Salem, and Ipswich, all in Massachusetts Bay. These trials came to commonly be referred to as the Salem Witch Trials because some of the most notorious cases were heard in the Oyer and Terminer courts in Salem. At the time, practicing witchcraft was considered a serious crime, and was often punished with serious consequences.
Mental health, what was once considered being possessed was considered the explanation of mental health problems and the solution was to put you in a prison for the rest of your life or to have an exorcism done on you.
What do you consider to be cruel and unusual punishment? Most people when asked this question think of medieval torture devices, burning people alive, and hard slave labor. However, cruel and unusual punishment, which is a protected against right by the eighth amendment, stretches far beyond these cliches and is still occurring in modern society. The case Miller v. Alabama and a parallel case, Jackson v. Hobbs deals with such punishments and brings up the questions of what, in current times, is to be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Miller v. Alabama addresses with the debate that arose surrounding the mandatory sentence of life without parole for a juvenile when two boys, fourteen-year-old Evan Miller and sixteen-year-old Colby Smith,
Voodoo, sinister cult or respected religion? You be the judge after reading my brief report on this exotic religion. To create this report I have reviewed three current articles on voodoo and one encyclopedia entry. In its entirety the report will consist of some history of voodoo, misconceptions, purpose of rituals and my personal reflection. Using these current articles I am going to take a in depth look at one of the most misunderstood religions ever.
Every cultural tradition and major religion has formed the idea of possession and has had the need for some form of exorcism. Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Islam’s, Buddhists and scientists all have different views on exorcism. Although these religions believe in the idea of exorcism, science proves to have different explanations to this phenomenon.
Apparitions, eternally bloody hands, and ghosts all sound like key elements to a nightmarish dream. Imagine not being able to tell if these things were real or just a figment of
The Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum, a sanatorium in which a melting pot of the state’s criminally insane, daft and demented were housed, was later effectively named the Dayton State Hospital, ultimately named 10 Wilmington Place, which completely “derails” past notions of the previous named building, and has now become a retirement home for the elderly. “It must be remembered that popular thinking at this time had by no means entirely removed from “insanity” its ancient association with demons, spirits sin and similar mythical phenomena. Neither was it generally considered in the category of illness and hence the afflicted were viewed with an admixture of curiosity, shame and guilt” (INSIDE D.S.H 2). The author is conveying that there was a misconception toward the afflicted that they were not only insane but also demonically possessed, hence the obscurity of the patients due to curiosity and shame by the community. In such films as House on Haunted Hill in which certain archaic medical experiments were performed on patients that once were housed there; as a challenge a group of people were offered money to spend the night in a house thought to be haunted by former patients years ago. This movie concept is in accordance with the author’s statement about popular thinking and public views.
For many centuries to the present day, Christians have lived in fear of witches. They were known as to be the devils child who only practiced black magic and thought of as the Christians “persecution”. Witches have been known to mankind since the 1200’s. Throughout the 1400’s, the examination of witches was more focus and moved from the Jews. In the church’s law, it was stated that the belief of existence and practices of witchcraft was “heresy”. Because of what the Christians believed, churches would then torture and hunt down anyone who they thought were witches and killed the many women and only a few of the men. They even made them make the confession of flying through the midnight sky, being in love with the devil himself, practicing black magic and even turning into animals.
A History of Dissociative Identity Disorder. (n.d.). Specialized catholic web about possession and exorcism. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from http://www.fortea.us/english/psiquiatria/history.htm
As long as one can remember, paranormal beliefs have always existed in human society. They are living in every man’s childhood and in every corner of human’s life. From the burning belief about Santa Claus’s gifts under a Christmas’s tree in the morning to a scary game about Bloody Mary and her coming back from the dead, it seems that people cannot help but draw themselves to these stories. Even when these beliefs fade, there would be a new one that eventually shows up. No matter how much science has progressed, the belief in paranormal phenomena still remains in society. Eventually, the question about paranormal phenomena seems pale in comparison to the human’s undying belief about such things. It is really hard to pinpoint an exact cause for human’s belief in the paranormal for only one cause is not enough; however, it is sure that psychological, sociological, and biological factors play an enormous role that contributes to this belief.
A person’s demon could be their fear of the dark, or their constant dislike of even the idea of a tall place. For others, it could be their inability to function in large crowds or the chest tightening anxiety they get when meeting new people, or having to go to an important event. It could be the depression they were told they had after an unexpected death in the family which happened when they were only four years old.
Harry Houdini once said, “What the eyes see and what the ears hear… the mind believes.” This quote was stated by one of the greatest escape artist and illusionist of all time, and it reveals his secret. The human mind is structured to believe what it sees and fear what it does not see. An example of this is contacting the dead. Contacting the dead has been around for many centuries. Throughout the ages people have made several “devices” to contact the dead, but only spiritualists were able to. This changed in 1890 when the Ouija board was invented. An Ouija board is a board filled with letters, numbers, and a planchette. This invention changed everything by letting families contact the dead. Now, normal people could communicate with the
Lehmann A. C. & Myers J. E. Magic, Witchcraft and Religion – An anthropological Study of the Supernatural (Fourth Edition) (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997)
As an avid fan of Criminal Minds, I had heard of Morgellons disease before in a rather horrific episode where a delusional (and thankfully fake) serial killer trapped his victims in large containers full of cockaroaches so that they could understand how he felt suffering with this disease. If there is anything that has helped increase the spread of mass hysteria, it is the wonderful tool of the Internet. If only one person felt this weird pain and itchiness, no one would care. But if you can gather thousands of people together and get the media involved, you’ll star on Oprah, CNN, and have elected officials listen. The unfortunate irony between the Morgellons disease story and the Satanic rituals case was that by creating such a frenzy, they
Possession is defined by many religions as the act by an outside force, either demonic or spiritual in nature, which takes physical control of an individual's body or an object. According to many religions and beliefs, humans, animals, places and objects alike are all susceptible to these supernatural forces. Possession can be ended in two different ways: through an exorcism as seen by the Catholic Church, or using an anti-possession symbol seen in voodoo, witchcraft, hoodoo, and shamanism. Possession is also seen, mainly in Christian beliefs as being unwanted, however there are other religions that allow and attract spirits for possession to take place such as spiritual healing mediums in Brazil (Greenfield). Anthropologists have discussed and theorized possession using a range of religious beliefs, and have decided that possession itself is either positive or negative. Along with this, they raised questions about how possession affects the culture in a society and the person who was possessed. By doing this, anthropologists try to go outside the concept of spirit possession as being solely negative, but rather an everyday phenomenon that is accepted in a society.