Smurl Haunting

The Briefing...
The home of jack and Janet Smurl in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, was
the scene of an alleged terrible, terrifying haunting from 1985 to
1987. The case received wide attention in the media. Although the
house went through three exorcisms and investigation by demonologists
Ed and Lorraine Warren, the demon apparently refused to leave.
Skeptics, however, considered the case to be a hoax, or at the least
not to be caused by anything paranormal. The alleged hauntings were
chronicled in a book and portrayed in a movie.

The Story...
   The house involved is a duplex, built in 1896 on a quiet street in
a middle-class neighborhood. After Hurricane Agnes flooded much of
northeastern Pennsylvania in 1972, the Smurl family was forced to
leave their home in Wilkes-Barre. Jack's parents, John and Mary Smurl,
bought the house in West Pittston in 1973 for $18,000. They lived in
the right half, and Jack, Janet and their first two daughters, Dawn
and Heather, moved into the left half. The Smurls spent time and money
redecorating and remodeling, doing much of the work themselves.
   The Smurls say they are a close, loving family. Both Jack and jante
grew up inthe area, meeting in 1967 and marrying in 1968. Jack served
in the Navy, becoming a neuropsychiatric technician. Both Smurls were
brought up in practicing Catholic homes and having strong religious
beliefs. They enjoyed living with Jacks' parents and had no trouble
sharing the duplex with them. The first 18 months on Chase Street were
happy ones.
   But strange things began to occur after that, according to the
Smurls. In January 1974, a strange stain appeared on new carpet.
Jack's television set busts into flame. Water pipes leaked even after
repeated soldering. The new sink and bathtub in the remodeled bathroom
were found severely scratched, as if a wild animal had clawed at them.
Freshly painted woodwork in the bathroom showed scratches as well. In
1975, their oldest daughter Dawn repeatedly saw people floating around
in her bedroom. 
   By 1977, the Smurls realized their house was in some way spooked. -
Toilets flushed without anyone using them. Footsteps were heard on the
stairs; drawers opened and closed when no one was in the room. Radios
blared even when unplugged.  Empty porch chairs  rocked  and creaked.
Strange sour smells filled the house. jack felt ghostly caresses.  By
now there were 2 more Smurls  (twins Shannon and Carin were born in -
1977), and the family was tired of the nonsense.
   In 1985,  what had been  annoying disturbances became frightening
experiences. the house was often ice cold. John and mary Smurl heard
loud and abusive, obscene language coming from Jack and Janet's side
when they were not even arguing.  Then in February,  Janet heard her
name called several times when she was alone in the basement.
   Two days later, icy cold announced the arrival of a black human-
-shaped form, about five feet nine inches tall, with no facial fea--
tures. First it appeared to Janet in her kitchen, then it demateria-
lized through the wall and appeared to mary Smurl.
   From that point on, the haunting increased, according to the fami-
ly's reports. A large ceiling light fixture crashed down on Shannon, 
nearly killing her, on the night 13-year-old Heather was to be confir-
med. Jack levitated. In June, Janet was violently pulled off her bed 
after making love to her husband while Jack lay paralyzed, gagging --
from a foul odor. The family's German shepherd, Simon, was repeatedly 
picked up, throuwn around or whipped. Terrible rapping or scratching 
noises were heard in the walls. Phantom dogs ran through the duplex. 
Shannon was tossed out of bed and down the stairs.  Invisible snakes 
hissed, bedspreads were shredded, and heavy footsteps crossed the at-
tic. Even neighbors were not spared; several heard screams and strange
noises coming from the house when the Smurls were not there, and other
detected the presence in their own homes. Most of the neighbors were
sympathetic. The Smurls vowed to fight.
   In January 1986 , Janet heard about Ed and Lorraine Warren,
psychical researchers and demonologists from Monroe, Connecticut.
Although skeptical, the Smurls called the Warrens. When the Warrens
arrived, accompanied by Rosemary Frueh, a registered nurse and
psychic, they began the investigation by quizzing the Smurls carefully
about their religious beliefs, the happiness of their family life and
whether thy had ever practiced Satanism, used a Ouija board or in any
way invited the supernatural into their home. Then the Warrens and
Frueh walked the house, identifying the bedroom closet as the
crossover point between the 2 sides of the duplex. The team said they
detected the presence of 4 evil spirits. 3 were minor, but the fourth
was a demon.
   Without any evidence of family discord, occult invitation or
tragedy, the Warrens could only surmise that the demon must have been
dormant, probably for decades, and had arisen to draw on the emotional
energy generated by the girls' entrance into puberty.
   The Warrens tried twuice to get the demon to expose itself by
plying tapes of religious music and confronting it with prayer. The
demon reacted by shaking the mirror and dresser drawers; another time
by spelling out "You filthy bastard. Get out of this house." The
portable television emitted an eerie silvery white glow. Only prayer
and holy water seemed to stop the manifestations.
   Phenomena continued. The eerie glow returned, the pounding in the
walls worsened, Jack and Janet were slapped, bitten and viciously
tickled. Small items dissapeared. One day, Janet tried to talk to the
demon, asking it to rap once for yes and twice for no. When she asked
the demon if it were there to harm them, it rapped once. 2 women
dressed in Colonial clothing appeared to Jack.
   Even more horryfying, Jack was raped by a scaly succubus posing as
an old woman with a young body. Her eyes were red and her gums green.
Ed Warren was choked and also suffered terrible flu symptoms. An
incubus sexually assaulted Janet, and pig noises (supposedly signs of
a serious demonic infestation) could be heard in the walls.
   The Smurls said they tried several times to obtain support and
action from the Church. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton said it
would consult with experts, but official involvement seemed unlikely.
At one point, Janet thought she was getting help from a Father
O'Leary, but discovered he didn't exist: it was the demon allegedly
impersonating a priest.
   The Warrens brought in Father (now Bishop) Robert F. McKenna, a
traditionalist priest who refused to abide by the changes in ritual
mandated by the Second Vatican Council. He said mass in Latin and had
performed more than 50 exorcisms for the Warrens. He conducted the
ancient rite, infuriating the demon.
   The haunting continued. Daughter Carin fell seriously ill from a
strange fever and nearly died. Dawn was nearly raped by the presence.
Janet and Mary had slash marks and bites on their arms. Everyone was
depressed. Ed Warren explained they were in the 2nd demonic stage,
oppression, which follows infestation and is followed by possession
and death.
   McKenna performed a second exorcism in late spring, but to no
avail. The demon even accompanied the family on camping trips in the
Poconos and harrassed Jac at work. The family could not move to
another house since the demon would just follow. After repeated
refusals by the Church to help, the Smurls decided to appear on
television. 
   Remaining anonuymous behind a screen, the Smurls were interviewed by
Richard Bey on a local Philadelphia show called "People Are Talking."
The demon retaliated. it levitated janet and then hurled her against
the wall. It appeared to Jack as a monstrous creature resembling a pig
on 2 legs. A human hand came up through the mattress and grabbed Janet
by the back of the neck. Jack was raped again.
   In august 1986, the Smurls felt that the risk of ridicule did not
outweigh the need to tell their story to a wider audience and granted
an interview to the Wilkes-Barre Sunday Independent newspaper. Almost
immediately their home became a tourist attraction for the press,
curious onlookers and skeptics who whished to investigate. Some
skeptics, who included some of the Smurls's neighbors, said they
believed the family was concocting the story in order to profit from
book and movie contracts.
   Paul Kurtz, chairman of the Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) in Buffalo, NY,
sought to investigate but was rebuffed by the family and the Warrens.
   The Smurls contacted a medium, Mary Alice Rinkman, who examined the
house and corroborated the Warrens' finding of 4 spirits. She
identified on as a confused old woman named Abigail and another as
adark mustachioed man named Patrick who had murdered his wife and her
lover and had then been hung by a mob. She could not identify the 3rd,
but the 4th was a powerful demon.
   Press coverage finally pushed the Scranton diocese into action, and
they archly offered to take over the investigation. The Warrens,
meanwhile, planned a mass exorcism with several priests. Prayer groups
came to the house to give comfort. Rev.Alphonsus TRavold of
St.Bonaventure University, asked by the diocese to investigate, said
he believed the Smurls were sincere and disturbed by the events, but
he could not say whether demonic presence was the true cause.
   McKenna came a 3rd time to exorcise the house in September 1986;
this time the ritual seemed to work. There were no disturbances for
about 3 months. 
   Right before Christmas 1986, Jack again saw the black form,
beckoning him to the 3rd stage of posession. He clutched his rosary
and prayed, hoping this was an isolated incident. But the bangin
noises, terrible smells and violence started again. 
   The Smurls moved to another town shortly before the book about
their ordeal, The Haunted, went to press in 1988. The Church performed
a fourth exorcism in 1989, which finally seemed to give them peace. A
movie version of The Haunted was released in 1991.

Pheeew! This was a long one, wasn't it? 
//Arturo

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