Sunday, July 24, 2016

The Demon that Followed me Home

A lot of people scoff at the idea that there are demons or evil spirits in this world, but I know otherwise. One followed me home once from a Paranormal lecture at a time when I was emotionally and psychologically vulnerable- and it was the most terrifying 48 hours of my life.

It occurred before 1995 when Kelly was between 3-4 years old. My sister and brother-in-law wanted to go see paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren speak at what was still Westfield State College at that time. I agreed to drive them to the lecture because my family had always been sensitive to ghosts and had some psychic ability from the French Canadian side of the family. We'd had some ghostly experiences. Between 1973 and 1983 I was plagued by a poltergeist. The events occurred starting when I was fifteen years old and ending when I was in my early-to-mid 20's. I think it was because I was really not a happy girl when my family moved us from Easthampton to Westfield. I had only recently begun making friends after years of hit & miss schooling with my peers due to a lot of health issues with my mother and sister that sent my brother and I to my grandparent's home during the school year. But the poltergeist is a different story I may write about at another time. This is about the damn demon.

The lecture took place in Scanlon Hall Auditorium. We sat about mid-way down the center aisle. The lecture was very interesting. It included a slide show and some audio captures of truly chilling deep, growly voices.

I dropped my sister and brother-in-law off at their home downtown then headed home. It was during that drive across town that I began to sense a dark presence in the truck with me that made me uneasy and anxious to be home. I thought it was just because we'd heard a lot of terrifying things and I was just over reacting to having to drive home alone in the dark after a program like that.

However, that night I woke up from a dead sleep hearing growls or snarls from up the hall, and smelling a horrendous odor like something rotten was in the house. I was nervous and got up to check Kelly who was asleep in her room. The odor was particularly strong outside her closed door and that unnerved me quite a lot. I said, "No, you leave my little girl alone! I don't want you here. You don't belong here. You need to go." I could not go back to sleep so I more or less spent the rest of the night pacing the hallway outside Kelly's door feeling more and more anxious and uneasy.

The next day was Thursday. I had recently begun attending my neighbor's Born Again Christian church in Belchertown. Church was at 7:00PM. It was a very long, troubling day because I could not shake that sense that something dark had followed me home, had attached itself to me. I was going through a difficult time emotionally and was once more vulnerable to these spirits who evidently thrive on tormenting people struggling with issues.

During the lecture the Warrens had talked about Ouija boards and how they could be dangerous because they appear to open a portal between the worlds allowing spirits entry. I had rescued a Ouija board my Mom had bought us to play with when we teens in the early 70's. It had been in the basement of my parent's house when they'd moved downtown in 1993 or 94. I'd brought it home thinking that I could use it to help teach Kelly the alphabet.

That Thursday afternoon I went downstairs to my familiar basement. The air felt heavy and oppressive. I was jittery with anxiety in a place I had not been afraid of before. I took the board into the garage and smashed it to pieces against a cinderblock. It was not an easy task to accomplish but I finally had it shattered into six pieces that I threw into the trash can. Trash collection was on Friday. The trash can would be at the end of the driveway all Thursday night, not in the house.

The rest of that day I couldn't concentrate, couldn't sit still. John and Kelly must have thought I was losing my mind, but I was just very anxious to go to church that evening.

Finally, the time came to leave for church. My neighbor noticed I seemed tense and quiet and asked me what was wrong. I confessed to her that I had taken my sister and brother-in-law to that lecture and she gave me a look, then said we'd talk to Pastor Dale when we got to church and he'd help me.

Well, I talked to Pastor Dale and he listened, nodding his head. He then had me sit in my regular seat beside my neighbor and he began the normal service. When the beginning part was over he paused and then said there was a member there that night who needed prayer to banish a dark spirit that had  attached itself to her. He didn't name me, just asked the entire congregation to hold hands and just pray that demon out of the building and back to where it had come from. He had us close our eyes and just pray silently. He said some prayers at the front of the church. I was about five or six rows back with no one to my left, my neighbor to my right, no one directly in front of me for two rows, and two people behind my neighbor, but not me.

As we prayed I saw through my closed eyelids a dark shadow pass before me from left to right as if floating. I sensed it moving past my neighbor into the aisle, and then moving toward the back of the church to the open doors. And then a moment later this beautiful white light seemed to shine against my eyes and I felt what could only be described as pure love and peace. I knew in a heartbeat that the dark spirit had been banished and I had been forgiven for being so stupid for exposing myself to such a thing.

I shook my hand free from my neighbor's, stepped out into the aisle and went to where the pastor was standing and told him quietly what had happened. He hugged me, blessed me and sent me back to my seat without rebuke or remonstration- just love.

Then he concluded the prayers and said the demon had been banished. We sang hymns and the service went on as usual.

I went home feeling lighthearted and relieved. That night my house felt different- the oppressive atmosphere was gone, the horrible stench was gone. I felt no anxiety, no fear. I slept like a baby.

I have been cautious ever since about protecting myself with prayer whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed, sad, troubled, angry, or have any other strong emotion. I NEVER want something like that attaching itself to me again (or threatening my family)!

My home is my sanctuary. I no longer attend that church but I have been baptized in the Catholic church as an infant, and in that church also as an adult (a full immersion baptism). I'm not particularly religious but I have faith and understanding that there is a higher authority, a higher being. I don't fool around with spirits and they leave me alone these days.

Status quo.




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