There it was, last Friday, in The New York Times—a story about an incredibly demonized house in Gary, Indiana, that’s the subject of a recent (and not recommended) Netflix movie.
“[Father Michael] Maginot ultimately performed three exorcisms [on one of the residents], two in English and one in Latin,” it said. “The family’s problems persisted after the first two exorcisms, but after the third, which Maginot performed in Latin rather than English, the events stopped.”
Had Latin been the key to deliverance, asked the newspaper, normally an unbelieving (but in this case believing) news source?
Make no mistake: this was an entirely vicious haunting, well-documented by social caseworkers, hospital personnel, police, the priest, and a slew of other witnesses. The Indianapolis Star did a tremendous report on the case.
In one case, as reported—and as we related ten years ago, in a “Special Report”—there was a mother (LaToya Ammons) with three children and when taken to the hospital as matters got out of hand (including murder attempts), and one of her two possessed boys “walked backward up a hospital room wall like a demented Spider-Man after being nearly drowned in a bathtub by his older brother, who is also being targeted by a demon.” This was witnessed by a nurse and caseworker.
A Baptist minister bowed out of trying to help the family (intimidated by what occurred: black shadows, unexplained boot prints, a sulfur stench, residents tossed across rooms), as did an evangelical. But Father Magniot (who we had interviewed for the “report” in 2013) took the demon by the horns and apparently cast it out of the family members (but not the house itself, which eventually had to be bulldozed).
So did Latin do the trick?
It is certainly powerful and particularly hated by demons, although we noted, in studying Father Maginot’s reports, that he was considering a fourth exorcism, which he never did do, because the family fled the home.
Had there, then, been phenomena after the Latin prayers as well (and was this why a fourth exorcism was considered)?
Stay tuned…(and see: “Special Report”)
Speaking of the dark side (and how can we not, these days?), the annual “Burning Man” festival, you may have noted, was interrupted again this year by unusually inclement weather.
Last year, it was torrential rain and floods that plagued this modern-day bacchanalia (featuring outright paganism, lewd public acts, and other ungodly fare, and now a chic thing to go to, even for those who arrive in private jets).
This year, it was a dust storm.
“On Monday afternoon, Burning Man’s exodus line snaked for miles through the Black Rock Desert, but a raging dust storm often prevented drivers from seeing more than a few cars in either direction,” reported SF Gate.
The Hollywood Reporter explains, “Burning Man, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, has grown from a tiny summer solstice bonfire gathering on the beach in 1986 near San Francisco to such a powerful cultural phenomenon that no less than President Barack Obama name-checked it at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April.
“His 18-year-old daughter, Malia, he joked, isn’t allowed to go.
“Running this year from Aug. 28 to Sept. 5, Burning Man—where attendees include Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, iHeartMedia chairman Bob Pittman, director Chris Weitz (who met and married his wife, Mercedes Martinez, there) and such celebrities as Anne Hathaway, Jared Leto and Michelle Rodriguez—might scare off some people, but not the 70,000 who now throng the countercultural festival. Celebrating boundary-pushing self-expression (from Socially Appropriate Boner Day to Rosario Dawson’s 2011 vagina-tent installation) and community building (more than 300 individuals worked on one of this year’s art projects: two enormous pyramids), it’s a mix of participatory artworks with crazy costumes, aerialist troupes, shirtcockers (guys who, as it sounds, wear shirts and nothing else), the anonymous-sex-orgy dome (men can’t go alone), fire dancers, yoga and meditation sessions, TEDx talks and, yes, a good many people tripping on a lot of drugs.”
Also dark: all these prosperity preachers. They have been around for decades, of course, but YouTube videos bring home some of their outrageous ways (and money).
Unabashed, they flaunt their wealth (diamonds on their watches, ten-million-dollar homes, more private jets) as a blessing from God (despite what the Bible says about rich men and needles).
One of them, Kenneth Max Copeland of Texas, is worth a reported $600 million.
That’s a far cry from passing around a little basket.
Is there a spirit involved here too?
