The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

Murmur 181
Instead, Blumhardt relied solely on prayer, even when
he was not present with G. D. It always afforded her relief,
but when he stopped, the attacks started again.
Once, the demons said there were 1,067 of them, the
largest of the attacks. They spoke in French, Italian, and
“unknown” tongues as well as G. D.’s native German.
Whenever Blumhardt cast them out, they stayed in the
room for a long time, visible to G. D. but no one else. One
of the demons, she said, dressed in rich, ancient clothing
and always carried a book. This demon seemed to be the
leader.
Eventually, Blumhardt succeeded in casting them out
and keeping them out of G. D. Some of them said they
were delivered from servitude to the Devil by his prayer
and were being sent to a place of rest until Judgment Day.
Others were in despair, presumably because they had to
go back to HELL. Among the first to leave G. D. was the
spirit of the dead woman, who asked to haunt the village
church. She was later seen there by G. D.
The last demon was expelled on February 8, 1843. G.
D. lay unconscious for hours. When she awakened, she
said she had been to a foreign country, the description
of which seemed to be the West Indies. A terrible earthquake
had happened there, she said, and many of her tormenting
demons were cast into the crater of a volcano,
including the leader with the book. A few days later, a real
earthquake struck the West Indies.
Despite the expulsion of the demons, G. D.’s troubles
were not over. She repeatedly vomited sand, pieces of
glass, nails, shoe buckles, live grasshoppers, a frog, and a
snake. Pins, needles, and knitting needles were drawn out
of her body. The worst were two large nails, one of them
bent, that were removed from her head and caused copious
bleeding from her ears, nose, and eyes. Blumhardt
removed many of these pins, nails, and needles himself.
First, he would feel them under the skin, working their
way out; then, they would pierce the skin. He opined that
the Devil had the ability to dematerialize real objects and
reassemble their atoms inside the body.
G. D. was still visited at night by spirits, who touched
her and forced something like bread into her mouth.
However, they did not possess her. She attempted suicide.
Her final struggle against the demons took place just before
Christmas 1843, and her brother and one sister were
affected as well. All three recovered. G. D. moved into
Blumhardt’s house.
Blumhardt believed that G. D. underwent these afflictions
because as a child, she had a relative who was
a witch, who promised to teach her the arts when she
turned 10. The woman died when G. D. was eight, but
Blumhardt said the Devil evidently considered her his
property because of the witch’s intentions.
FURTHER READING:
Stead, W. T. Borderland: A Casebook of True Supernatural Stories.
Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1970.
Murder Headless DEMON who sees through his breasts
and speaks with the voice taken over from his victims.
In the Testament of Solomon, Murder is summoned
to appear before King SOLOMON. He says that he has no
head and he tries to get one by devouring the heads of
his victims. Murder grabs hold of heads, cuts them off,
and attaches them to himself. A fire (heat) that continually
burns within him consumes the heads through
his neck. He longs for a head to do what the king does.
He takes the voices of the dumb by “closing up” their
heads.
Murder is like one of the hordes of LILITH, in that he
attacks infants at night. He harms premature infants, and
if one 10 days old cries at night, he rushes in and attacks
it through its voice. Murder causes quartan fever and inflames
limbs, inflicts feet, and creates festering sores. He
is thwarted by fiery flashes of lightning.
See SCEPTER.
FURTHER READING:
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vols. 1 & 2. Edited by
James H. Charlesworth. 1983. Reprint, New York: Doubleday,
1985.
Murmur FALLEN ANGEL and 54th of the 72 SPIRITS OF
SOLOMON. Murmur is a duke and earl with 30 LEGIONs of
DEMONs under his command. He appears as a soldier
wearing a duke’s crown and riding on a griffin, preceded
by two ministers sounding trumpets. He teaches philosophy
and makes souls of the dead appear and answer
questions. Murmur once was partly a member of the
angelic orders of thrones and ANGELs.