The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

Soissons Possessions 239
their story was a hoax, and they preferred to work with
the Warrens and the church.
Two CSICOP investigators went to the Smurl house
but were denied entrance. Kurtz later opined in an article
he wrote for Skeptical Inquirer, CSICOP’s journal,
that the case was not paranormal, and the Smurls had
denied CSICOP access because they were afraid of what
the organization would discover. He cited discrepancies
in Dawn Smurl’s accounts of her experiences and was
critical of the Warrens. Kurtz suggested natural explanations
for some of the phenomena experienced by the
Smurls:
• abandoned mine voids in the area, settling and creating
strange noises
• delusions by Jack Smurl that he was raped by a
ghost
• a broken sewer pipe causing foul smells
• pranks by teenagers
Kurtz also pointed out that there were no police records
of complaints of the haunting by Mrs. Smurl, though she
said she had contacted police. Kurtz also wondered about
motivation to make money on the case, since the Smurls
began talking with Hollywood film companies shortly after
the story broke in the press. The Smurls denied any
interest in money.
Ed Warren raised more doubts of reporters and skeptics
during a press conference he called in late August 1986.
Warren said they had recorded paranormal sounds—
groanings and gruntings—and had videotaped an unclear
image of a dark mass moving about the house. Asked by
journalists and CSICOP to produce the tapes, he declined.
He told one journalist he had given the tapes to a TV company,
the name of which he could not remember, and told
Kurtz and other reporters they were in the exclusive possession
of the church. However, church authorities later
said nothing had been turned over to them.
Warren also declined reporters’ requests to stay in the
house, saying no one had paid attention when the Smurls
first begged the media to spend a night to witness phenomena,
and such requests were now out of the question.
Warren said the Smurls would no longer deal with the
press, and he was in charge of the case.
The Smurls contacted a medium, Mary Alice Rinkman,
who examined the house and corroborated the
Warrens’ finding of four spirits. She identified one as a
confused old woman named Abigail and another as a dark
mustachioed man named Patrick who had murdered his
wife and her lover and then been hanged by a mob. She
could not identify the third, but the fourth was a powerful
demon, she said.
Press coverage finally pushed the Scranton diocese
into action, and they reluctantly offered to take over the
investigation. The Warrens, meanwhile, planned a mass
exorcism with several priests. Prayer groups went to the
house to give comfort. The Reverend Alphonsus Travold
of the St. Bonaventure University, asked by the diocese
to investigate, said he believed the Smurls were sincere
and disturbed by the events but could not say whether
demonic presence was the true cause.
McKenna arrived a third time to exorcise the house in
September 1986; this time, the ritual seemed to be effective.
There were no disturbances for about three months.
Prior to Christmas 1986, Jack again saw the black
form, beckoning him to the third stage of possession.
He clutched his rosary and prayed, hoping this was an
isolated incident. But the banging noises, terrible smells,
and violence started again.
The Smurls moved to another town immediately 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 film
version of The Haunted was released in 1991.
FURTHER READING:
Curran, Robert. The Haunted: One Family’s Nightmare. New
York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988.
Kurtz, Paul. “A Case Study of the West Pittston ‘Haunted’
House.” The Skeptical Inquirer, Winter 1986–1987, 11, 2:
137–146.
sneezing According to a European folk belief, the soul
flies out of the mouth whenever a person sneezes. A
blessing should be said immediately to prevent the soul
from being captured by a DEMON before it can return to
the body. In Islam, Allah instructs people to wish one
who sneezes well. Folklore also holds that sneezing
expels a demon. Saying “Bless you” prevents the demon
from immediately reentering the person and protects
him or her from evil.
Soissons Possessions (1582) The POSSESSION of four
persons in Soissons, France, used by the Catholic Church
in their campaign against the Protestant Huguenots. The
Soissons Possessions resembled in many respects the
MIRACLE OF LAON case and demonstrated the Real Presence.
The overall mediocrity of the demoniacs and their
EXORCISM, however, diminished the propaganda value.
Nonetheless, audiences of thousands turned out to witness
the exorcisms, and in one case a huge stage was
built for the purpose.
One of the DEMONIACS was a 13-year-old boy, Laurent
Boissonet, possessed by a DEMON named Bonnoir. The demon
praised the Huguenots, damned the priests and friars,
and said the Huguenots would go to a fine paradise
where good beds awaited them. Relics of blessed virgins
placed on the boy’s stomach caused it to swell and the boy
to convulse.
Boissonet was handed over to two Franciscans, one of
whom had been present at the exorcisms of Nicole Obry
in the Miracle of Laon case. The Franciscans tested the
boy for fraud by sprinkling him during fits alternately
with ordinary water and then holy water. The ordinary