Camp Gagnon - The Terrifying Poltergeist Case of the Smurl Family

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Who were the Smurl family, and was their story true? Today, we take a closer look at the haunting accounts surrounding one of America’s most haunted families. We’ll explore the Smurls’ first demonic encounters, Ed and Lorraine Warren’s investigation, the exorcism performed on their house, the Catholic Church’s stance on the haunting, where the Smurls are today, and other fascinating topics... Welcome to CAMP! 🏕️Shoutout to our sponsor: BlueChew👕🧢 GET YOUR CAMP DRIP HERE: http://camp-rd.com🎟️ 🎫 Comedy Tour Tickets Here: https://markgagnonlive.com🎩👽 Daily Dose Of History Here: https://www.dailytodayinhistory.comTimestamps:0:00 DISCLAIMER: DEMONS MAY BE REAL.1:25 The Smurls First Demonic Encounters4:12 The Haunting Gets Physical6:17 Ed and Lorraine Warren Investigate + The Church Blesses The Home9:27 Exorcism Performed on The House + Succubus Attack’s Jack Smurl11:55 The Smurl Family Leaves The Home14:03 Catholic Church’s Stance on The Haunting14:54 The House’s New Owner16:02 The Smurls Today18:12 Journalists Who Researched The Case21:10 Marks Fear of Ghosts#podcast #scary #demon #halloween #horror

Most paranormal cases end in one of two ways. Most of them are debunked, and some of them are solved, but the Smurl haunting did neither. For 14 years, the Smurl family lived in fear inside the household of what they claimed to be a demonic entity. They were thrown across rooms, assaulted during the night, and tormented by a demon that no priest, no prayer, and no exorcism could drive away. Ed and Lorraine Warren called this one of the most terrifying cases of demonic activity. they've ever experienced. But after multiple attempts to rid the home of the entity, it just disappeared. No explanation, no answers, and no proof that it had ever truly gone away. Which leaves only one question. If the Catholic Church and the Warrens couldn't get rid of this demon, then who can't?

Today, we're going through one of the most terrifying and well-reported demonic possession cases ever. And this is the story of the Smurrle family. So without further ado, sit back, relax, and welcome to Canada. What's up people and welcome back to camp. My name is Mark Gagnon, and thank you for joining me in this beautiful tent. Every single week, we do episodes that explore the most interesting, fascinating, controversial stories

from all time, forever and always, and today is no different. But as always, I'm enjoying my dear friend, Christos. How are you? Doing good, Mark. How are you? I'm doing excellent. Thanks for contributing. Of course. No problem at all. The audience loves it when you do that.

Oh, they certainly do. This is going to be a spooky episode. I'm a wuss for this stuff I was raised Catholic I'm still afraid of demons to this day I've never seen one I don't want to see one and we're recording this late at night

and I am I'm gonna do my best all right because this is all about the Smurl family if you never heard of them strap in because their story is is a pretty weird

now again I just want to put a disclaimer on this I don't know if demons are real I don't I don't I assume that they are because I'm Catholic, but I don't know, I've never seen one. I don't know really how it all works. Okay, I've spoken to a demonologist on this very program, and he was pretty compelling. He spooked me out pretty good. But again, I don't know. If you have experience with this, I'd love to know what you guys think. And if there's any gaps in my story, please drop it in. So let me just put a

disclaimer. I'm not claiming that any of these things are necessarily true, but I'm just telling you what they documented with the local police as well as Ed and Lorraine Warren's account. So what do we know about the Smurl family? The Smurals basically were, you know, a quiet little family and a quiet little town. West Pittston, Pennsylvania. This is like a quiet working class town in Luzerne County. It's nestled, you know, near a little river. And in 1973, Jack and Janet Smurrell moved into a duplex on Chase Street.

Jack's parents, John and Mary, lived in one half while Jack, Janet, and their four daughters, Dawn, Heather, and twins, Shannon, and Karen lived in the other. The family's previous home was destroyed in Hurricane Agnes, so they were forced to basically go somewhere else. The home wasn't anything special. This was your average two-story duplex built in the 19th century, and Jack basically described their first year there as completely normal. He said the girls adapted to their new home,

and both families settled into what they thought would be the perfect little place to raise their kids. But within a year, that would change completely. What began as just a quiet little home and a quiet little town soon became the stage for one of the most disturbing hauntings in American history, a case so intense that even Ed and Lorraine Warren couldn't stop it. Now, if you're wondering who they are, I'll explain that a little later. But with the haunting. It began with little things. So the television caught on fire without any type of warning. The pipes were leaking constantly. Freshly painted walls were covered in scratches and tools were disappearing and reappearing. And, you know, you might just be like, oh, it's an old house.

You know, weird stuff happens. And then came sounds. Scrashes from inside the walls, knocks and empty rooms, footsteps walking around, upstairs when everybody was downstairs. Who knows, right? I mean, even the Smurl family, these are normal people. You know, they were just trying to rationalize things by being like, you know, old houses are creaky, wiring is faulty.

Maybe we got rodents or something. But then the smell. The smurls reported sudden bursts of like rot and decay that would basically fill the room and then just vanish without any type of source or trace. And by the late 1970s, the disturbances had gotten so bad that they couldn't be ignored and had actually gotten violent. Furniture would be dragged across floors and beds would shake while the family was sleeping and the lights would flicker on and off.

And it wasn't just the smurals who witnessed the events. Neighbors started to notice too. They reported screams and growls and pounding from the house, even when the smurals weren't home. And the creepiest part of all is they witnessed a black mass through the windows, though would move from room to room. I mean, I'm already out. Right?

Like, if you're living in this house, immediately, I'm like, I'm gone. I'm not dealing with this. This is... I don't like this stuff. But they never do. They never... I guess it's hard to get a mortgage. Just move, right?

Get a friend or something? I don't know. So, ultimately, Janet became the main target of this haunting. At night, she would feel herself being dragged or pinned down, unable to cry for help. And she reported being scratched and shoved and even claimed to be sexually assaulted by this entity. Jack also described attacks, but they weren't as physical as Janet's. Well, not yet.

He claimed to see the entity take the form of like an old woman, then an animal, and then like this grotesque human figure that would climb into the bed with him. And then the daughters started to suffer. They would feel the blankets getting pulled away. Some even described being slapped or touched by invisible hands. This is no longer just like a little haunted house. This was torment. What's up, guys? We're going to take a break really quick because you need help pitching your tents.

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Use the promo code gagged on and start laying it down like they deserve. Let's get back to the show. Then by 1986, after a decade of this relentless activity, I mean a decade, come on, Smurles. Come on. A decade? All right. I mean, I guess it's hard to move. Whatever.

Basically, the Smurles had enough. and so they decided they needed help. So they reached out to anyone and everyone, and they actually got the attention of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Now, the Warrens, if you don't know, they are famous demonologists. They work with the Catholic Church, and they are known nationwide for their work at Amityville

and the parent family cases. So the Smurro family had a lot of confidence that all this was about to be over. When the Warrens had arrived at the home, Lorraine, who was clairvoyant, immediately sensed what she called a demonic presence in the home. She later said, the very air inside was heavy and oppressive.

I knew instantly this was not a human spirit, but something much darker, something that had been there for a long time. And the Warns themselves documented dozens of phenomena from levitations, violent noises, those bad smells, the family report, even seeing the black shadow that previous witnesses had seen going from room to room.

Lorraine told the family, this is not a human spirit, this is demonic. After she witnessed how the entity could interact with its surrounding, she said, this thing is ancient. It knows how to frighten, how to be. manipulate, it feeds on the family's fear, and that is why it's growing stronger. Kind of sounds like victim blaming, but whatever. Lorraine and Ed have been in the game long enough to know that this shit is getting pretty

serious, so they decide to do something. But they also know their limits. They can't perform an exorcism without the authorization of the church. So in 1986, the Warren's contact of the Catholic Church insisting that the family was under this demonic infestation. Now, if you don't know much about the Catholic Church, the church is the first ones to be like, all right, well, let's be cautious about this, right? The church already had some, you know, suspicions about the Warrens because of their massive popularity

and all the media attention that their cases were getting. And so that made them a little reluctant to take the job. Even after the Smurals asked for a full exorcism, the Warrens pushed the church harder and the church officials declined due to a lack of evidence. So instead, priests were sent to just bless the house. Holy water was sprinkled, crucifixes were put on their walls, prayers were recited all around the home. And the family claimed that the activity actually went down for a few weeks,

but it didn't last long, and when it returned, it came back worse than ever. Ed Warren later said, The priests who came here witnessed the phenomena for themselves, the banging the voices, the smell of rot, and still the church dragged its feet. Meanwhile, this family was under siege. Despite all of this, the family was left with having to deal with this activity on their own. Now, the haunting was public knowledge,

and reporters were getting statements from the neighbors who heard these noises or saw these shadows themselves, but critics accused the smirles of faking the whole thing. They said it was all a hoax. Some said they were trying to escape their financial struggles by getting popular and, you know, national notoriety. Others claimed that they were trying to get famous through the Warrens. Remember, the Warrens were like quasi-ce celebrities within sort of the paranormal space at the time. But then there's also a lot of witnesses in the neighborhood that are also seeing the event, so it's kind of hard to tell what's really going on. Then finally, after months of pressure and documentation, the church authorized several exorcisms, not on the family,

but on the house itself. And this decision came partly because Ed and Lorraine kept fighting on the Smurals behalf, and partly because priests who had blessed the home admitted to church officials that they had witnessed disturbing things on their own. So the priests made their way to the home and performed the right of exorcism inside. They went from room to room reciting Latin prayers, blessing the place with holy water, and once again, for a brief moment, the walls would stop knocking, the rot went away, and the smurals thought maybe, maybe the nightmare was over. But just like last time, the attacks returned. Janet said that she was picked up by this invisible presence, dangles six feet in the air,

then tossed across the room while still being assaulted throughout the night. The daughters, Heather and Don, are now claiming to hear their names being called by these disembodied voices that sounded like they were mimicking family members, luring them into empty rooms. The family dog was thrown against the wall, and the most wild thing of all, Jack claimed a succubus entered the room and sexually assaulted him while he was on the couch watching TV. Even, don't laugh, Christos.

What the hell is wrong? Dude, this guy got freaking sucked off by a demon. That's funny? It's straight out of scary movie. Dude, well, it is scary. And they did make a movie about this. Anyway, the whole film is under attack.

People are getting thrown across rooms into walls. Even the black shadow that was following them. It's still there. It's no longer in corner. it's making itself known. During these exorcisms, Ed Warren was attacked by the entity. He claimed he was choked by these invisible hands thrown to the ground. Another time he was slashed across the chest, leaving what looked like claw marks. Every failed attempt drained the family more and more.

And they were hoping that things would get better, that they'd get their hopes up and then everything would pick back up again. Despite repeat failures, Ed and Lorraine Warren didn't abandon the case. They've returned to the Smurlholm over and over again, organizing prayer sessions and more crucifixes, more statues of saints, holy relics, anything that they thought would push this entity away. They even brought in priests who just felt bad for the family. They were unable to act in official capacity on behalf of the diocese, but they still offered blessings and prayers and support. When no amount of prayer or relics or anything at all would weaken the activity, the Warrens acknowledged that this case was beyond their control. I mean, the Warrens had faced hauntings

before, but here every effort, whether from them or from priests, only seemed to make things calm down for little and they come back again. So now it's 1987 and the Smurl family basically made a decision to leave Chase Street and this is the place that they lived for, you know, over 10 years. And by then, the story had attracted national attention. The reporters were outside their house all the time. So moving was both a chance to escape the haunting, but also a way to get out of the public spotlight. But here's the crazy part. Even after moving into their new house, Jack Smurrow claimed that he woke up to see the same black shadow standing at the foot of the bed. Jana reported that she continued to be assaulted at night just not as frequently as before.

And over time, the incidents just stopped. But the family emphasized that the haunting never fully felt over. The story was eventually published in 1988 in The Haunted, which was a book co-authored by journalist Robert Curran alongside the one and only Ed and Lorraine Warren. The book presented the Smurrell's experiences in detail, drawing on both the Warren investigation as well as interviews with family members. Then in 1991, a TV show called The Haunted, aired for the first time,

and both the book and the film helped cement this case in pop culture. But they also drew heavy skepticism. Because now it was really starting to look like the Smurrow family was maybe in it for the money, right? They got the book, they got the movie, they got the fame, but the haunting still remains one of the most compelling and controversial stories

from Ed and Lorraine's investigations. I mean, this haunting was different because unlike Amityville or the parents, case, which produced photos and recordings, this case had no resolution, right? I mean, in the eyes of, you know, Ed and Lorraine Warren, evil wasn't defeated. It just went away. To people who believe this is all true, this makes the case even more terrifying, because that means that some demons can't be fought. But for others, it's just evidence of faking it. What can be said for certain is that the working class family spent more than a decade in a

house where disturbances were witnessed by priests and neighbors and journalists, and the warrants stood by their claims that this place was in fact infested with a demon until the end of their lives, continuing to cite the case as an example of true demonic infestation. Today, the Catholic Church's official position on the Smirrel case is kind of a touchy subject. Even though it was officially authorized for exorcisms, the diocese never officially declared the house to be demonically infested. Church officials acknowledge that, on explained phenomena occurred, but they stopped short of confirming an actual supernatural explanation. From a scientific perspective, the case presented a lot of challenges. Most of the phenomena

wasn't independently verifiable because most of the activity happened when family members were present. And the few times when neighbors witnessed activity like the shadow or hearing banging sounds or growls, it could potentially just be explained by psychology, right? The neighbors may have been looking for something strange, and so their brain psychologically was like, oh, here's a shadow man. And maybe there's a shadow man. And maybe there's a a deer in the backyard that they couldn't fully see, but because they were primed to believe that this was supernatural, that's what they saw. And after the Smurals left the house, the house just remained vacant for a few months. Yeah, only a few months until a woman named

Deborah Owens moved into the duplex. I couldn't imagine what the conversation was. I mean, can we look into Deborah Owens? Because I need to know what this woman was all about, right? Like, was she someone that was looking for a thrill? Was she just like a random lady? They got tricked by some shady real estate agent. Yeah, no, there's a beautiful place. It's a two-bedroom, two-bath. No previous tenants. There's one current tenant that he's demonic.

I couldn't imagine how you would pitch this to someone trying to move in. What was her deal? Do you know anything? Yeah. Deborah Owens moved into the house and claimed she never experienced anything strange. Right. Well, was she just like a regular lady? Was she like an investigator?

Because if this thing is national attention, I would assume the person that moved in would have like some vested interest or something. like that. So there you have it. Deborah moves in and claims that nothing weird ever happened, which again causes a lot of people to suspect that the Smurals were faking it or maybe they were having their own delusions or maybe one of them themselves was actually possessed. Who knows? When looking back at a lot of these paranormal cases, it feels like they were a long time ago, right? But most of these people are still alive today. I mean, Jack Smurl died recently in 2017, but Janet is still alive in Pennsylvania in the town of the port. The daughters have all moved on with their lives. Heather him a teacher. Shannon works in the health field. Karen does social work. And Dawn, just by coincidence,

went on to have a son. And her son's name is Mark Gloinski the second who actually plays professional football. He's in the NFL as a linebacker for Zehawks, the Giants. Most recently at the Colts. Have you heard of this guy? I'm not a big sports guy. He's a linebacker for the Colts. I mean, that's sick. Haven't heard of him. Crazy though. So the family has largely maintained that they didn't fake any their experiences and most have chosen to kind of live quiet lives away from the spotlight that once made their, you know, childhood a nightmare. So what really happened on Chase Street, right? After more than three decades, there's no definitive answer. The Smurl haunting stands out because it represents something that our usual explanations, whether it's scientific or religious, psychological,

whatever you believe, isn't ever fully solved, right? There's no resolution on any front. You have a family that's reported over a decade of strange, phenomena that multiple investigators, you know, explain, like, saw, they couldn't explain it. They couldn't, you know, express what actually happened in them. Priests saw it. Neighbors reported, the Warren's document it. Yet, no one could stop it. So whether you believe in the supernatural or not, the case kind of just forces us to think about this uncomfortable thing, like what actually happened to these people. And is it possible that there are situations that don't fit right into our understanding of how the world actually works? The Smurals lived through something that

challenged a lot of, you know, normal explanations and was never really defeated. And today, the house on Chase Street looks like any other house in West Pittston. There's no historical marker or tourist attraction, nothing to indicate that it was ever once the center of, you know, America's most extensively documented paranormal case. But for those that live through it, and for those that study cases like this, the smearle haunting remains just a reminder that there are still some mysteries that may never be solved. and maybe that's the scariest thing of all. I don't know.

It's just, it's a little spooky, right? Like, what's going on? Like, this is what I always wonder when talking to people that experience these kinds of, like, paranormal phenomenon or even, like, UFO abductions or anything like that where I'm like, when I talk to them,

I don't get the sense that they're lying. But I'm just like, what actually happened? But your brain also plays tricks on you. Absolutely. But, like, I don't know. if your brain could make you like levitate or like you know if you're like a journalist like I would love to know do you actually could you look up any of the journalists on like the smirrell case like the independent journalist because like it's is it possible that like again I'm not

discounting demonic possession or whatever but like is it possible that the journalists I guess like if the parents are suffering some type of delusion the kids can easily start to suffer from it because they're just going to believe like what the parents are telling them and then they're going to start to like see things that's possible and then the priests obviously they're predisposed to like having some type of religious predilections so like they might be on ed and lorraine warren they obviously have seen stuff and so maybe there can be i don't know it's just when you get too many people it starts to get weird i want like a cop like a hardin like pennsylvania cop or like a journalist or someone that popped in and they were like look dude i don't really even believe in all

this stuff but what i saw was terrifying like there's there's a case specifically latoya something i forget her name jackson Not Jackson, a different one. This was a case somewhere in like Detroit, I think, where like multiple police independently witnessed something and they were like, oh, that was insane. Like they put a police report in where they were like this kid like climbed the wall like to the ceiling or something like that.

Very sketchy stuff. But when a cop is standing here, like, I'm kind of more inclined to believe the cop, you know. Do you have anything from any of the journalists? Some journalists have recounted the Smurl's experience with empathy and detail. for instance, families' claims of demon haunting they were passed in house, emphasizing their intent to help facing similar distress. Most journalists have approached it with skepticism.

So even just looking at some of these other things, it seems like the Wilkes Bar Times leader and the Scranton Tribune, both ran pieces on the home when the store was public in the 80s. And they did describe strange noises or like a heavy atmosphere in the house, but not the violent attacks that the Smurals actually talked about.

And this guy named Paul Kurtz, who was like a skeptic that investigated the case, they sat in the house for hours and they saw nothing unusual. And the Warrens, they were insisting that the demon could basically hide itself from outsiders and show itself only to the family. Which, I mean, again, if we're in demon world, like, I don't, I mean, it's possible. But I don't know. I mean, this kind of stuff. I just, this is one of those things where I'm like, I don't want to know.

Like I would rather just be like Who knows Then be like oh it's true and I saw it I used to be so afraid Dude one time I saw a movie with my mom And it was like the apparition of Mary Like Mary like showed up to like a bunch of kids Fatima or something

And I was like so terrified that even About like something good Like the Virgin Mary showing up is like a good thing I was so terrified from this movie That I prayed to God that the Virgin Mary wouldn't visit me I was like a little kid I was like God like please don't don't bless me with the Blessed Mother showing up in my house.

Because I just didn't want to see, I just was like, I mean, anytime you see anything good or bad, like what is the first thing all the angels say in the Bible? They always say, fear not. So whenever people see an angel or a demon, they're terrified. Either which way you see one, you're like, holy, this is crazy. It's objectively terrifying. Is it the scariest thing ever?

Yeah. Even if it's good. That's my point. So I'm like, look, I can just live my life by faith and faith alone. You know, I don't need too much. concrete proof of the demonic in order to believe. I'm just a good old Catholic boy. But I don't know.

What do you guys think? Have you guys ever experienced any type of paranormal activity similar to this? Has there been anything strange? I mean, like the weirdest thing that's ever happened in this studio was when that light flickered behind Ethan. You remember that? Yeah. That was weird.

I don't like that. And I'm getting goosebumps as I'm describing it. That's one of the freakier thing that's ever happened on this show. I've been here a little over a year. Has never happened with that exact alike ever again. Ever. That was the one episode right when he was talking about it. I don't even want to discuss it, okay?

Praise be the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you guys so much for listening, and we will be back. Next week with another episode of camp, check out religion, camp, history camp, all the other camps. We're going to be dropping content all week. Thank you guys so much. Also, the top comment on this video will be getting merch. That's right. We're giving merch away to all the top comments on our videos.

So after like a few days, I don't know, we'll check in like three or four days or something. Whatever it is, we'll get in touch with you. We'll send you some stuff. Also, I'm on the road. Mark Yagnon Live. You can see me do stand-up comments. It's not going to be demonic at all. Thank God.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of camp. You are always welcome in my tent, and I'll see you guys next time. Peace.