There are stories that can be dismissed—symptoms mistaken, mass hysteria, or religious theatre. Then there are the ones that linger, the ones where priests, doctors, and investigators all leave the room shaking their heads, unable to explain what they just witnessed.
In a world increasingly allergic to the supernatural, possession seems like the last holdout of the old gods—a dusty superstition packed away with ouija boards and horror movies. Most scientists chalk it up to mental illness. Many psychologists categorize it under dissociative identity disorder or psychotic breaks. And often, they’re right.
But not always.
Every so often, a case emerges that refuses tidy classification. Multiple witnesses. Medical scans that show nothing wrong. People speaking ancient languages they never studied. Physical phenomena that break the rules—levitation, inexplicable strength, or reactions to sacred symbols so intense they trigger nosebleeds and bruises.
These are the cases that sit uncomfortably in the gray. Not quite explainable. Not quite ignorable. And once you’ve heard them, you don’t forget.
The Watseka Wonder (1877)
Before there was The Exorcist, there was Lurancy Vennum—a 13-year-old girl in Watseka, Illinois, who claimed she was being taken over by the spirit of Mary Roff, a local girl who had died years earlier in a mental asylum.
Unlike your standard head-spinning, Latin-speaking possession, this one didn’t feature snarls or sulphur. Instead, Lurancy became Mary. She recognized Mary’s family, spoke in her tone, remembered details only Mary would know. Even Mary’s grieving parents accepted her as their daughter—so much so that Lurancy moved into their home for months, fully embodying Mary’s life and mannerisms.
Doctors and spiritualists came to observe her. Skeptics assumed it was fraud—until Lurancy’s possession ended as mysteriously as it began. She returned to her own self, grew up, married, had kids, and never relapsed.
Mental illness? Elaborate hoax? Or something that still haunts the cornfields of Illinois?
The Smurl Haunting (1974–1989)
The Smurl family’s story plays out like a greatest hits album of demonic horror: unexplained smells, claw marks, levitation, disembodied voices, and a shadow figure that stalked the halls of their Pennsylvania duplex.
Over the course of 15 years, the disturbances escalated. The family reached out to Ed and Lorraine Warren (yes, those Warrens), who claimed the Smurls were dealing with a high-level demonic presence. A priest performed multiple exorcisms. Nothing worked—for a long time.
What unsettled skeptics was the sheer consistency of the reports across time and witnesses. Neighbors heard the screams. A local TV reporter spent time in the house and left convinced something dark was there. Even one of the Smurl daughters, decades later, still claims what happened was real.
Critics argue it was sleep paralysis, electrical issues, or the influence of the Warrens stirring panic. But others say there’s something uniquely chilling about the case—that it wasn’t just psychological trauma playing dress-up. It was something else.
The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel (1975–1976)
This is the one that even atheists find hard to read about without a shiver.
Anneliese Michel, a devout German Catholic, began experiencing disturbing symptoms at age 16—seizures, hallucinations, demonic visions. Despite medical treatment, her condition worsened. She began refusing food, speaking in multiple voices, growling, screaming, and showing a violent aversion to religious objects.
Her family turned to the Church. Over ten months, she underwent 67 exorcisms. Recordings captured her voices—growling, distorted, claiming to be Lucifer, Nero, Judas, and Hitler.
She died of starvation in 1976, weighing just 68 pounds. Her death led to a court case against her parents and the priests involved, igniting a global debate about faith, mental illness, and responsibility.
Skeptics say she suffered from epilepsy and schizophrenia. Others believe something more malevolent was present. The audio tapes remain online today—and they are difficult to explain, or forget.
The Ammons Haunting Case (2011)
In a small house in Gary, Indiana, Latoya Ammons and her family claimed that something inhuman had taken residence. The children spoke in strange voices. One levitated during a sleepover. A 9-year-old walked backward up a wall in front of a CPS caseworker and hospital staff. That one incident made it into the state report. You can read it.
Police officers involved reported flickering lights, unexplained footprints, and malfunctioning equipment. A local priest, Father Michael Maginot, performed multiple exorcisms—one of them officially sanctioned by the Diocese.
Skeptics tried to poke holes. Poor housing conditions. Psychological stress. Media frenzy. But many involved—medical professionals, government officials, and law enforcement—walked away changed. A police captain publicly stated: “I’m a believer now.”
Possession or Projection?
The skeptic’s toolbox is full: schizophrenia, Tourette’s, trauma, sleep paralysis, repressed memories, and good old-fashioned attention-seeking. All of these are real. All of these explain some cases.
But not all of them.
Not the girl who speaks fluent Aramaic despite never learning it. Not the boy who bleeds from the palms when a crucifix enters the room. Not the child who knows what’s buried beneath the cellar floor of a house he’s never entered before.
Maybe these are projections of something internal. Maybe our minds are stranger than any demon we’ve dreamed up. Or maybe—just maybe—there are forces that move through our reality like wind through curtains, unseen but deeply felt.
You don’t need to believe in demons to find these cases unsettling. You just need to admit that not everything fits the boxes we’ve built for truth. Some stories aren’t begging to be believed—they just refuse to be dismissed.
So keep the lights low, the questions open, and the salt nearby. You never know what’s watching from the other side of the door.
