Another haunting that has
caused considerable controversy in America that also
has the possibilities of being a new Amityville. The
Smurl family had lived in a duplex here since 1973,
with John and Mary Smurl living in the right half,
and their son Jack, his wife Janet and their two
daughters, Dawn and Heather, in the other half. They
all stress that they were a happy, contented group,
being devout Catholics, and Jack and Janet were quite
happy to live with Jack's parents. But they had been
plagued by strange events in the duplex ever since
they moved in. TV sets had burst into flames, pipes
leaked and paintwork was scratched, toilets were
flushed, footsteps were heard on the stairs and the
radio blared out even when it was unplugged. Strange
smells were also detected.
Twin daughters, Shannon and
Carin, were born in 1977 and the Smurls were by now
getting a bit tired of the inexplainable
disturbances. Things were to get far worse though. In
1985 all the rooms mysteriously became icy cold.
Obscene voices were heard when no one was talking,
and Janet heard her name being called in the
basement. Then in February, Janet saw a huge black
apparition with no face in the kitchen! It walked
through the wall and Mary saw it on the other side.
From then on the family knew little peace. On the
night Heather was to be confirmed, Jack was levitated
into the air and on another occasion, Janet was
pulled out of bed whilst making love to her husband,
and Jack nearly gagged when he smelled foul odors.
The family dog was lifted
into the air and physically attacked by an unseen
force. Little Shannon was tossed out of bed, and the
sound of hissing snakes was heard. Neighbours
reported hearing screaming from the house when the
entire family was out. Relunctantly, in January 1986,
the Smurls called in psychic researchers, Ed and
Lorraine Warran. The Warrans questioned the Smurls
exhaustively about their religious beliefs and
announced that the duplex was haunted by no less than
four "demons". There was no bad feeling
amongst the family, so the Warrens concluded that the
"creatures" were being activated by the
daughters' approaching puberty. The Warrens arranged
a prayer session to try and coax at least one of the
demons into the open. They were interrupted by a
voice growling "You filthy bastard. Get out of
this house".
The TV set emitted an eerie
glow, and a mirror shook. After that Janet was
punched and slapped. Jack then saw the ghosts of two
woman dressed in Colonial clothing and things began
to get dramatic indeed. Jack claimed to be sexually
assaulted by a hidious succubus posing as a grotesque
old woman. Grunting noises like pigs were heard
throughout the house, and although the family tried
to get help from the Catholic Church, they proved to
be very non-committal. However Father Robert F
McKenna performed an exorcism, which only made things
worse. The demons followed Jack to work, and
accompanied the family when they went camping. The
Smirls knew that moving wasn't the answer, for the
ghost would probably just follow.
After the family had
appeared anonymously on local television, the
"demon" went mad with rage. It levitated
Janet into the air and hurled her against the wall,
and Jack saw a monstrous creature resembling a pig on
two legs. In August 1986 the family's story was
reported in the press. Immediately their house became
a tourist attraction, which confirmed many sceptical
neighbours beliefs that the family was hoping to
benefit from a book contract. The Amytiville spectre
still loomed large it would seem. The Smurlss didn't
help their cause by rebuffing the advances of a
scientific and psychic investigators, claiming that
they preferred to work with the Church and the very
dubious Warren couple.
CSICOP, the organization
which sets out to denounce paranormal phenomena,
concluded that the haunting was due to an abandoned
mine shaft nearby which could cause strange noises, a
broken sewer pipe which could generate the foul
smells, and pranks by teenagers. They also concluded
that Jack had fantasised that he was raped by a
ghost. It was also pointed out, damningly, that
although Janet said she had reported their troubles
to the police, the police had no record of her
getting in touch with them. Ede Warren claimed to
have video-tapes of the noises heard in the house and
a dark shape moving about. When asked by CSICOP to
produce them, he said they were in the possession of
the Church. The Church promptly denied having them.
He also refused the request
of some journalists who wanted to spend a night in
the house. It seemed very much as though Ed Warren
had taken over the entire case. Press coverage
finally forced the Church to take action, and they
graciously offered to look into the haunting and
perform a genuine exorcism. The Smurls moved away in
1988, and after a final exorcism they seem to have
been left alone by their "demons". A book
and a film, both called The Haunted, have sinced
followed.
