The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren (30 page)

Did the spirit actually return to possess Kendra?

“Oh, my God, yes!” Ed replies immediately. “No more than a week later, her boyfriend called on the phone and told me what had happened. The girl drank the blood offering once again—just like the spirit said would happen—and she came right back under possession by the same entity. I had to go all the way back to the college, confront the entity, and again arrange for Kendra to be freed through exorcism.”

Why didn’t the first exorcism on Kendra work?

“It
did,”
says Ed. “But it takes the person’s cooperation for an exorcism to be totally effective. ‘God helps those who help themselves!’ The exorcist restored the girl’s free will, but the spirit oppressed her will
again.
Rather than fighting the temptation, she went ahead and drank the blood offering a week later. This opened her will back up, and gave the spirit the permission it needed to return and possess her body once more.”

Did the spirit possess Kendra a third time?

“No, she’s free today.”

What about Denise? What became of her? And what
was
her problem, anyway?

“After the incident of possession,” Ed answers, “her features returned to normal, at which point I continued with the interview. The incident you heard on the tape showed me that the girl was an open vessel for possession, which accounted for why she was manifesting different personalities—at least inhuman ones. In fact, it turned out that Denise was a
medium
for communication between the demonic and the human realm. What I tried to find out was
how
she got this ability.

“The holy water that I’d cast on her managed to tone the girl down enough for me to be able to converse on a semirational level. During that time, Denise unraveled a long, complex involvement with sorcery and negative practices that went back beyond the bounds of her present lifetime. She’s what we call a natural sorceress: no one told her what to do, nor did she read about it in a book. She was
born
with negative knowledge and power. Her knowledge came from experience gained in past lifetimes—and one never forgets knowledge, especially negative knowledge, that is gained in past lifetimes. This case, you see, gets into the really hard-core stuff, back into the dimension of true evil that most people know nothing about.

“Denise was an instrument of the demonic, in other words; she existed as a virtual mouthpiece for demonic spirits. She as not a witch, however; the power of witchcraft comes from a vow to serve the devil. Instead, Denise was a sorceress. Similar to witchcraft but not the same, sorcery is the ability to manipulate the physical world through an arrangement with spirit forces. This girl was in league with negative inhuman spirits, an arrangement made in a previous incarnation—about which she spoke knowingly and in great detail.

“However, this girl didn’t totally know
how
to get the demonic to do her bidding for her. Though it used her at will, she couldn’t do the same with it. That’s the reason why she allowed herself to be brought to me. She knew who I was, by the grapevine, and came to my office under the mistaken assumption that she could coerce or intimidate me to reveal certain pivotal secrets of demonology that she hadn’t yet learned on her own. Of course, I wouldn’t tell her anything. Giving this girl mystical knowledge would have been like giving a hand grenade to a small child.

“During the next month, I met with Denise and her father about three times, but there was just nothing I could do to correct the situation. All I could do was give the father a referral letter to present to the clergyman, affirming that Denise required religious counseling: her life, unless she saw fit to change it, was dedicated to the negative. In fact, unless she does see the light, she’ll live and die under its influence.”

Does Ed believe in reincarnation?

“Let me put it this way,” Ed answers. “I cannot straightforwardly tell you that reincarnation is a principle or process that all people naturally undergo. I can tell you I do have cases on file that prove certain individuals have lived more than one life. On the other hand, I do not have information to prove that
all
people experience the phenomenon. Furthermore, when the demonic is involved in any situation, you're dealing with a disruption of the natural order. Consequently, an individual who makes a deal with the demonic and then actually experiences rebirth into another lifetime has done so under questionable circumstances. That additional lifetime would—to some degree—have to be considered a ‘bogus incarnation.’ ”

Had Kendra and Denise known one another before Ed got involved in the case?

“No,” he answers. “They have never met, and they do not know each other now. The only reason Denise came to my office was because the exorcised spirit arranged for it to happen.”

Psychometry
is
to “know by touching.” Isn’t it possible that Denise, when she took hold of the black lace veil, made a link with Kendra and therefore psychometrized the whole event?

“In this case,” Ed replies, “that’s stretching psychometry a bit too far. ESP
could
have occurred, I grant you, but that wasn’t the situation here. An external entity, independent of both of them, was involved. When the spirit wasn’t possessing either of the two girls, it was present in this office. When it did possess Denise, the very first thing it said to me was, ‘I know who
you
are.’ I didn’t know who or what
it
was, of course, but I’ve been told the exact same thing many times before, by other inhuman spirits possessing other people. After that, it began telling me it was ‘suffering.’ This didn’t pertain to either Kendra or Denise, but to the emotional predicament of a spirit that has been exorcised. You’ll also notice it’s an independent entity because it referred to Kendra
by name,
indicating a separation of identity.

“Later on, bypassing all else it said, the entity gave precognitive information about repossessing the college girl, Kendra. This second possession occurred; the second exorcism is on record as having been performed. Finally, add to this the symbolic fact that the entity could distinguish between blessed and unblessed
water:
unblessed water felt ‘wet,’ blessed water felt like ‘fire.’ Have you ever seen a
person
carry on that way when touched with holy water?”

Why did the spirit have such a violent reaction to holy water?

“Water is water, but holy water is charged with the spirit of the positive—with the spirit of what we call God. On people, holy water can have a positive effect, and in some cases, it can even be used for healing. For the demonic, though, holy water has just the opposite effect: if feels like acid or fire to the entity.”

What did it mean about “I like peace and to be quiet”?

“The spirit finds peace only through possession of a human body. Otherwise, it is in a state of suffering.”

Was the spirit really suffering, as it claimed it was? And if so, why?

“Yes, it was suffering, for the reason that it had been exorcised; but the answer is more complicated than that. The demonic spirit is
driven
to possession for two reasons. First, their realm—call it hell, call it whatever you want—is so intolerable that these spirits will do anything to escape it. The place, you see, is unlivable—it’s hell! These spirits not only torment people—they torment one another. Their only way out is to possess a human body. And when a person can be possessed by one entity, he can be possessed by many. In fact, possession by many entities isn’t the exception, it’s the rule. In major cases of possession six or more spirits often inhabit the body of the victim. Through possession, these spirits find ‘peace’ from the ongoing torments they experience. Exorcism, therefore, is the worst thing that could befall them.

“The other, grander motivation for possession is based on the Antichrist concept. The whole effort of the inhuman spirit is dedicated to this end: to seize the earth and destroy mankind
in front of
the eyes of God. So, through possession, the inhuman spirit kills two birds with one stone: it hides out from hell; plus it does its work of ruining man. The inhuman demonic spirit is a true enemy of mankind, I don’t know how else to put it.”

Do you believe in hell as a place of fire and brimstone?

“No,” he answers. “I don’t believe in a fiery hell. Although, through the possessed, I’ve heard the demonic spirit wail about ‘hell-fire,’ I can’t for a moment believe that an all-loving God would create such an incomprehensible horror as hell. However, through their perverse approach to existence, these spirits
may
have created their own fiery hell; insofar as their existence is the antithesis of the positive, such torment would be their own doing.

“Ultimately, though, the demonic spirit has a far more poignant sense of hell than physical punishment. These spirits know they are doomed to eternal punishment, meaning the demonic spirit—the carrier of the plague of evil—will be deducted away from the natural universe. Or, as the Bible puts it: ‘the wicked shall perish.’ Yet rather than change, it elects to be what it is: wicked and pernicious. Consequently, on an intellectual level, hell makes more sense when seen as eternal
separation
from God: that is, separation from the source of being altogether.”

Then what did the spirit mean when it said, “There is no heaven and there is no hell, there’s just a place”?

“I can't say, because I don’t know,” Ed replies. “Don’t forget, the demonic spirit is a master liar. The exorcist, for example, is taught
never
to engage in conversation with the demonic. So, you can’t take everything it says as true. In this case, though, possibly it was referring to the idea of being—and nothingness. That is, in the end, when it’s all totted up, the
only
place where there will be life is where there is being. Beyond that, I really don’t know. I’m a practicing demonologist, not a theologian.”

What about the spirit’s statement about smearing fats on its body?

“This goes way, way back into history. In black witchcraft, the killing of a child was a traditional gift to Lucifer. The body would be boiled down and its fat would be rendered into a grease that could then be mixed with belladonna and other herbs and smeared on the body of the witch. This shows you that this spirit has possessed others in the past, because of its familiarity with the practice.”

What about the emphasis on blood?

“Blood is the other half,” Ed answers. “The entity seeks to desecrate the body
and
the blood. Blood is the gift of life from the Creator. These entities may mock or simulate life by drinking blood or smearing human fats, but they are nevertheless jealous of the incarnate body and its life-giving substance, the blood.”

The possessing entity said it worships Diane, the goddess of witchcraft. Is Diane female?

“No, Diane is a devil. It is people—mythologists—who give these entities a gender. If there are two sexes to the demonic, it would be hate and jealousy. You have to remember the demonic spirit is actually an angel, though an angel of perdition.”

As is evident in this black veil case, possession is not a matter of mistaking a psychological problem for a religious one. Instead, it is the actual seizure of a human body by an entity that forthrightly identifies itself as being a servant of the devil (in this case “Lucifer”), and thereupon backs up its claim with preternatural knowledge and power. Moreover, the spirit is not timid to make its motives known. Probably the possessing entity’s most significant statement in Ed’s office was spoken in reference to Kendra: In absolute vehemence, the spirit declared: “She’s mine. Her
soul
is mine!” This taking of the human soul is the very essence of possession. And the only way to get the soul back is through the process of exorcism.

In this particular case, exorcism was twice performed on Kendra to expel the invading spirit. As the possessing entity itself admitted, it was “weak,” but it also declared “there are others stronger,” referring to the diabolical hierarchy. “Though devils
order
the possession of a particular human being,” Ed says, “a devil will almost never participate in the possession itself. Instead, the demonic spirit possesses people. There are exceptions, of course. We know that Lucifer himself was involved in the possession of a woman in Iowa in 1928 named Anna Ecklund because witnesses at the time reported that he showed himself and remained present during the latter part of the exorcism standing in a circle of fire wearing a crown.”

According to Ed Warren, diabolical possession is
meant
as a challenge to the authority of God, because in such cases, “the devil, in violation of cosmic law, has actually done the forbidden and taken on incarnate form. When this happens, there is no alternative
but
to perform major exorcism.”

And regrettably, there is no proof so clear of the Devil’s existence than that which is gained during a major exorcism of the possessed.

XIII
A Soul in Hostage

On July 1,1976, just six months after the Amityville case occurred in Long Island, a twenty-two-year-old student at the University of Wurzburg, West Germany, died during an exorcism that was recorded on some forty-three hours of tape. Portions of that terrible, grueling exorcism were broadcast on German television. The girl’s death, coupled with the fact that exorcism was still performed in this modern day and age, shocked the West German public. As
Tie New York Times
reported on August 8 of that year:

After an agonizing ritual that might have come from the movie
The Exorcist,
a 22-year-old West German woman—possessed by demons, according to her priests—died of undernourishment on July 1.... That exorcism even existed in West Germany was unknown until the death of Anneliese Michel, a student-teacher. But according to some reports after this case, exorcism may be almost commonplace.

In response to the death of Ms. Michel, the German authorities pressed charges of negligence against the Catholic exorcists. The local district attorney claimed the girl had been denied sustenance, and therefore died as a result of “undernourishment and dehydration.”