1. Standard memberVillager
    Peasant
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    30 Apr '06 23:44
    Few of you, if any, will believe what you are about to read. I don't blame you; I probably wouldn't believe me either. I am conscious that what I've written doesn't really do justice to what happened, but that's my limit as a writer. I did my best. This is what happened, a few days gone...

    My landlord is a nice chap. We'll call him Li. A builder by trade, he lets me do casual labour for him whenever I need some extra money. On one such occasion, after a day spent reconstructing a garden wall, he gets a call as we're driving back. He says that there is an emergency at his sister's, and asks if I mind coming with him (as it was much closer than my home). I assent. He doesn't explain the nature of the emergency beyond saying that his sister (who we'll call Sonia) has been having some health problems.

    We arrive, and an elderly woman, who I presume to be his mother, tells Li that Sonia is in her bedroom. He walks towards the door, and beckons me to follow. I suggest that it might be better for me to wait outside. 'Don't be silly. She knows you.' This wasn't really true as I had only met her briefly, but reluctantly I agree, assuming the emergency to be mild. Sonia is lying in her bed, and doesn't acknowledge our presence. Their mother gives me a chair, which I sit on just away from the end of the bed; the mother sits at the edge of the room, her face gaunt. I anticipate some sort of conventional medical problem, and sit awkwardly in silence as Li leaves and re-enters, bringing a handful of items with him, water and a book among them. This strikes me as a little odd, but nothing further. He approaches the bed.

    'Sonia?' he demands sternly. I begin to wonder what could be the cause of such a greeting, when I am startled by her sudden movement. She flips her body to face him, staring intently, her body tense and contorted.

    'What are you doing here? I thought I told you never to come back?'

    At this she smiles, a sickly smile, and her eyes gleam. I wonder what on earth I'm doing there, and glance over at her mother, face in her hands, tears in her eyes.

    'Hold her legs'
    'What?'
    'Just do it. I don’t have time to explain'

    I wanted to say no, but against my better judgement I agree, taking a limp hold of her ankles. Her skin is hot.

    'What are you doing here? What do you want? I told you never to come back!'

    He continues with similar demands for some minutes, the cumulative effect of which is to make her growl and stare ever more intently at him. Images from a dozen movies pass through my mind. I find the situation scary, yet am not really fearful; I never realised I was so desensitised.

    I notice that her irises are become green, where I remembered them brown. They remind my of snakes' eyes – cold, intent, and filled with purpose. Her stare switches to me. An icy cold sensation passes through my body, and I suddenly feel very vulnerable, there at the end of the bed holding her legs. Li sees my discomfort, and begins to chant in a language I don't understand. This pacifies her somewhat, and she becomes still, her still green eyes falling blank, almost sad. Tortured. This continues for what seems like about half an hour, with little effect. As I come to terms with the reality of the situation, I feel angry at Li for bringing me into it. I suppose I did agree, though.

    For the first time her eyes close. Li tries to wake her, and she opens her eyes. They're brown. She looks scared, like a child who's just seen something terrifying, and thinks it's coming back. Her eyes beg for help. Her lips move, but no sound comes out. Her expression rapidly becomes more pained, and in a few seconds her eyes shift to green once more. I begin to do another reality check, but am interrupted by a piercing scream unlike anything I've ever heard, so loud that my ears hurt. More like the scream of a wild creature than a human, but not quite animal either. I feel my muscles fall limp, and react by taking a firmer grip of her ankles for the first time. Her skin is so hot.

    I become conscious that Li has resumed chanting, and it occurs to me that it doesn't seem like he knows what he’s doing, which was the most worrying realisation up to that point. She resumes growling, as though speaking but unable to use words. I am reminded of the way cats behave when cornered.

    'You don’t like that, do you? You'd better worry, because that's nothing compared to what's waiting for you. Do you not fear God?'

    The growling subsides, she is silent for a while and then begins to emit a deep groan, which turns into a weird, siren-like scream. Fucking hell. When is this going to end? She begins to thrash around, and I struggle to keep her legs pinned. Li resumes chanting, louder than before, and her movement becomes increasingly violent and wild. Distracted by the force of her movements, I hear a shriek from her mother who I had forgotten about. I don’t really begin to process this when I return my sight to the bed to witness the most terrifying thing I've ever seen.

    Up until that point I had been disturbed and not a little worried, but I hadn't reached a point of uncontrollable fear. There was an unnerving sense of not really being there. Everything was real enough, but I think I had suspended belief of my senses, pending further inquiry. But at that instant reality came rushing back, a sudden and violent realisation charging through every part of my body and mind, such that I felt I might lose my grip on existence.

    What I saw was her body rise unaided from the bed, anchored only by my grip on her ankles. Terrified, I tightened my grip far beyond what I could have done in any other situation. Yet it was as nothing. As her body thrashed around, her flailing legs broke all my resistance to her movement, and I realised I was having no effect. I let go, the realisation of futility overriding conscious will. I dropped to the floor, sweaty and limp. Li has been chanting all the while, and I become aware of it once more. His pace and volume increase, and so do the speed and violence of her contortions. Her movements look uncontrollable, spasmodic, yet her torso hardly seems to move from its axis, like a bird in flight.

    She drops to the bed, lifeless. Immediately I think her dead, and Li seems to also, as he rushes to revive her. After some minutes where I believe it all to be over, the growling resumes, her eyes open, still green yet fiery and violent. Li says a few words and presses the book he has been holding onto her face with some violence. She screams again, louder and more desperately, so angry and so unearthly that it feels like it might tear the fabric of reality. It doesn’t. It stops. He removes the book and opens her closed eyes, her body still. They are blank, but brown. She comes around, and, as though realising what has just happened, bursts into tears. After what has happened, her wailing is blissfully soothing, reassuringly human.

    'It hasn’t been that bad before. I’m glad you were here'. I wasn’t.

    He dropped me off, and didn't mention the event again. I didn't ask. For all that I 'know' that it happened, I'm still not sure if I believe that it did. I didn't ask Li about it because I know what his answer would be. Believing experiences should be a simple matter, with sensory perception leading to belief. But when empirical evidence contradicts your prior beliefs about the world, what do you do? You cannot dismiss one without undermining the other, and trying to reconcile them means accepting that not a single thing that you have ever believed is beyond doubt. This may be an obvious and sensible attitude from a scientific point of view, but would science admit my experience? I do believe it happened, because I witnessed it and have no substantive reason to believe that it was an illusion. Even so, it necessarily constitutes an act of 'faith'. Do we really ever have the choice of believing or disbelieving?

    In cold retrospect, it doesn't seem so strange anymore. After all, if I'm sure, what does it matter if nobody believes me?
  2. Standard memberHalitose
    I stink, ergo I am
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    30 Apr '06 23:54
    Originally posted by Villager
    Few of you, if any, will believe what you are about to read. I don't blame you; I probably wouldn't believe me either. I am conscious that what I've written doesn't really do justice to what happened, but that's my limit as a writer. I did my best. This is what happened, a few days gone...

    My landlord is a nice chap. We'll call him Li. A builder by trade ...[text shortened]... what does it matter if nobody believes me?
    Seen "Constantine" once too many times? Bizarre story -- I'm not sure I can believe you.
  3. Standard memberVillager
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    30 Apr '06 23:571 edit
    I have seen Constantine, unfortunately.


    I don't expect anyone to believe me, and I'm hardly going to try to convince you, but I hoped it might be an interesting discussion point despite that.
  4. Standard memberHalitose
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    01 May '06 00:001 edit
    Originally posted by Villager
    I have seen Constantine, unfortunately.


    I don't expect anyone to believe me, and I'm hardly going to try to convince you, but I hoped it might be an interesting discussion point despite that.
    Stories such as the one you have told (similar in substance, different in detail) are quite common in most of the parts of Africa I've been in. Maybe it's not a coincidence that occult practices are still widely practiced there to this day.

    Edit: I'm not saying you are purporting an urban legend, but rather that claims of supernatural experiences aren't as rare as it may seem. Then again, "supernatural" implies that these occurrences would be the exception rather than the norm.
  5. Joined
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    01 May '06 01:101 edit
    Originally posted by Villager
    I have seen Constantine, unfortunately.


    I don't expect anyone to believe me, and I'm hardly going to try to convince you, but I hoped it might be an interesting discussion point despite that.
    So what do you think happened? What are your spiritual beliefs?
  6. Standard memberXanthosNZ
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    01 May '06 01:26
    Originally posted by whodey
    So what do you think happened? What are your spiritual belief's?
    I believe that you don't know how to use an apostrophe.
  7. Cosmos
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    01 May '06 01:53
    Perhaps it was all a wind up; a set up from a family with a bizarre sense of humour.

    My advice is to go out with 'Sonia' - those fluctuating green and brown eyes - she sounds hot!

    (PS - you might like to try a career writing horror books)
  8. Standard memberscottishinnz
    Kichigai!
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    01 May '06 02:09
    Originally posted by Villager
    Few of you, if any, will believe what you are about to read. I don't blame you; I probably wouldn't believe me either. I am conscious that what I've written doesn't really do justice to what happened, but that's my limit as a writer. I did my best. This is what happened, a few days gone...

    My landlord is a nice chap. We'll call him Li. A builder by trade ...[text shortened]... what does it matter if nobody believes me?
    Are you sure you weren't watching "the exorcist"?
  9. Unknown Territories
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    01 May '06 02:14
    Originally posted by Villager
    Few of you, if any, will believe what you are about to read. I don't blame you; I probably wouldn't believe me either. I am conscious that what I've written doesn't really do justice to what happened, but that's my limit as a writer. I did my best. This is what happened, a few days gone...

    My landlord is a nice chap. We'll call him Li. A builder by trade ...[text shortened]... what does it matter if nobody believes me?
    I believe that Reader's Digest would reject this as an amusing antecdote. Try "Life in these United States," instead.
  10. Joined
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    01 May '06 17:312 edits
    So does any one here including the poster of this thread believe in demonic possession? I have never personally witnessed something like what the poster experienced but if I did I would have to conclude it exists. If any of you experienced a similair thing, what would you conclude? Perhaps one could explain away the expereince minus the levitating off the bed part.
  11. Standard memberknightmeister
    knightmeister
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    01 May '06 18:59
    Originally posted by Villager
    Few of you, if any, will believe what you are about to read. I don't blame you; I probably wouldn't believe me either. I am conscious that what I've written doesn't really do justice to what happened, but that's my limit as a writer. I did my best. This is what happened, a few days gone...

    My landlord is a nice chap. We'll call him Li. A builder by trade ...[text shortened]... what does it matter if nobody believes me?
    What you have described sounds like accounts I have heard of exorcisms but you don't say an awful lot about the context of this experience. Were there Christians involved? What was the book? What do you know about the people involved? What was the woman chanting? did she pray? (It sounded like it might have been what's known as 'speaking in tongues'??). People will need more 'bare facts' and context and less descriptive language to make any sense of it.
  12. Standard memberroyalchicken
    CHAOS GHOST!!!
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    01 May '06 19:39
    I act demonically possessed sometimes, but only since I've been in the PFC.
  13. Standard memberVillager
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    01 May '06 20:09
    I was hoping that we could discuss this without endless assertions that I must be a lying scumbag. I can't prove that I'm telling the truth, you can't prove that I'm not: let's move on.

    _ _ _

    The Book involved was indeed a 'holy book'. Does it matter which one? It wasn't the Bible. There were no Christians involved. The family are religious, but not in a committed fashion. Sonia is a single mother, Li a single man of 30.

    Sonia did not chant, only Li.

    What do I think happened? I have made no conclusions further than what I've described: some force allowed this woman to defy gravity, and I'm fairly sure it wasn't a 'normal' one. The other 'symptoms' are of less significance, but some sort of possession seems to be a reasonable conclusion.
  14. Joined
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    01 May '06 20:16
    As a traditional Roman Catholic, your story is not really surprising to me, although it is disturbing and frightening nonetheless.

    Here is a brief intro to Catholic teaching on evil spirits:

    God created rational beings purely spiritual, i.e. not having physical bodies. We call these creatures angels. They have a knowledge different from men's because it is not dependent upon sense knowledge. Basically, they know more than we do and they come by their knowledge with greater ease. So God didn't give them multiple chances to choose heaven through obedience to him. They all the pros and cons of the choice at once and they made their choice once and for all. Those who did not want to be subject to God were cast into hell and we call them demons. These bad angels hate God (and misery loves company) so they tempt men into sin to spite God, who desires that all men earn the eternal reward of heaven.

    What you described sounds like demonic possession. This is when a demon, or demons, take control of a human body. From my understanding, this can only happen when a person opens themselves to spirits through satanism, wigi boards, pagan rituals or mysticism, etc. Once it has happened, the person inhabiting the body is rather powerless to expel the demon. If they are inhabited by only one bad angel, or lower level bad angels, the demon may be expelled by the prayers and commands of someone in authority over the victim. However, this is unlikely and a dangerous undertaking for those with weak faith or little courage (the demon can leave the person and enter another person present). The Catholic church has priests and rituals specifically for this task. The process involves intense prayer and fasting and the use of sacramentals like holy water and blessed salt. It's effectiveness depends somewhat upon the faith of the individual priest. Since the age of psychology, many Catholics have effectively ceased to believe in demons. However, it is impossible to be a good Catholic and not believe in demons. Unfortunately, this widespread skepticism has led Church officials to appoint less and less exorcists and they often send victims of demonic possession to a therapist instead of a priest. I think this dilemma was the inspiration for the Exorcism of Emily Rose (which was a rather fantastical and improbable dramatization...in her case, I think the Church accurately attributed her sufferings to disturbing experiences she underwent as a child).

    If you are interested in learning more, the most famous Catholic exorcist has written a book on his experiences entitled "An Exorcist Tells His Story." Thank God that you escaped a great danger relatively unscathed! May God bless you.
  15. Standard memberknightmeister
    knightmeister
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    02 May '06 10:54
    Originally posted by Villager
    I was hoping that we could discuss this without endless assertions that I must be a lying scumbag. I can't prove that I'm telling the truth, you can't prove that I'm not: let's move on.

    _ _ _

    The Book involved was indeed a 'holy book'. Does it matter which one? It wasn't the Bible. There were no Christians involved. The family are religious, but not ...[text shortened]... ss significance, but some sort of possession seems to be a reasonable conclusion.
    I wasn't seeking to doubt your experience , infact , I believe you. I was trying to find out more.I found myself frustrated by your description (which I accept is subjective) because of some of the things you didn't say. The context is all important here. Any accusations of you being are 'lying scumbag' are in your own mind. I'm wondering what the other people thought about it? Had it happened before? Did they act surprised? What else do you know?
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