Morbid - Episode 613: Latoya Ammons and the Demon house

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

In January 2014, a strange article appeared in the Indianapolis Star about Latoya Ammons, an Indiana single mother of three who claimed that for more than a year, she and her children were besieged by demons in their rented home. Ammons claimed, among other things, that the house was constantly infested with black flies, the children were levitated from their beds, and her nine-year-son became possessed and walked up a wall backwards. And that was only the beginning; by the end of just one year in the house, the Ammons family claim they were terrorized by all manner of supernatural assaults, from ghostly apparitions to demonic entities.    Latoya Ammons’ story might well have gone unnoticed, had it not been for the surprising number of witnesses to the paranormal events, from family and friends to police officers and social workers. Still, Latoya was not without her critics or skeptics—some accused her of fabricating the story to get out of her lease, while others assumed she was simply delusional. Regardless of the explanation for the cause of the events, there’s no denying that Latoya Ammons story is one of the most terrifying paranormal experiences heard in decades.Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesBiddle, Kenny. 2018. Demon House Deconstructed. May 21. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/demon-house-deconstructed/.Dawn, Randee. 2024. Is 'The Deliverance' based on a true story? August 30. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://www.today.com/popculture/movies/the-deliverance-true-story-latoya-ammons-rcna167984.Kwiatkowski, Marisa. 2014. "The exorcisms of Latoya Ammons." Indianapolis Star, January 26: A1.Maginot, Mike. 2012. "Report seeking permission of bishop for exorcism." Indianapolis Star. May 21. Accessed September 27, 2024. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1005721-report-to-bishop.html.Nickell, Joe. 2014. "The '200 demons' house: a skeptical demonologist's report." Skeptical Inquirer 20-24.Washington, Valerie. 2012. Intake officer's report of preliminary inquiry and investigation. Intake report, Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Department of Children's Services.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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So get going and growing with Constant Contact today. Ready, set, grow. Go to constantcontact.ca and start your free trial today. Go to constantcontact.ca for your free trial. constantcontact.ca Hey, weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Alina. And this is Morbid. This is Morbid.

It's Morbid at Ash's house in the woods. It's all different. Remix. Remix. F**k a F**k it. Remix. We have some construction happening in my house so luckily we have a second recording location. Yes. I need to work on getting this like a little more soundproof but all the soundproofy things that I found, I don't like. They're ugly. I don't like the aesthetic of them. The aesthetic. I'm going to work on it.

Yeah, you just got to get some bookshelves. There's actually going to be some construction going on at my house in November, so hopefully they're done with your construction. Yeah, we'll be switching back over to the other house. All the construction. Mucho construction. Guys, it's still spooky season. Guys, still spooky season. It's still spooky season. We went to our first haunted house of the season. Yes, Barrett.

It's always Barrett. You're wearing your sweatpants. I am. I'm wearing my Barrett's sweatpants. They're really comfy. Barrett, they're so comfy. Yeah. Barrett's in Abington. It's in Abington, right? I think so. Yeah. It's like behind the Abington Ale House. It is top notch. The best haunted house on the planet, I believe. They tear the shit down every year and rebuild it to completely new. And they do a fucking phenomenal job. This year, the theme is gameplay. And there's all these rooms, like little gaming areas.

Yeah, it's super. It's just so well done. And I think they spend months getting the sets together and you can tell. Yeah, and all the actors, the makeup they do, it's all top-notch. The process is just really impressive. So if you're looking for a haunted house in the New England area, that's your guy. Barretts, man, you got to go. We're going to do a couple more.

We were a little lackadaisical this year. We were, well we got like, you know, sidetracked. We have COVID, we got sidetracked, we have the book tour happening. I know. And now we gotta make up for it. We only got a couple more weekends. I know, we only have, I guess we have three technically.

I feel like we never go on Halloween weekend. Yeah, we really don't. I feel like it's too crazy. But maybe we will this year. Maybe we'll change it up. Maybe we'll be crazy. Where are we gonna go? Yeah.

I also went to a cat show this weekend. You sure did. I took the kids to the cat show. Me, my cousin, Drew, and all the kids. I was like, let's go to a fucking cat show. Yeah. And I fought every single urge within my body to not bring home another cat.

Because I mean, yeah Like if you have four cats go off, I could go off. I can't live a four cat life And and my cats will not live a four cat life and no franklin would just eat another cat. Yeah, we brought one home But they had those um Those like scottish like smushy ones. Oh, those are so cute. Yeah, they are They are really they have a lot of health problems. Oh no they're like an English bulldog. Yeah I think they're like interbreeded so they're like like it's not cool actually. It's not cool yeah like they're super cute but it's not cool. But I'm like I wanna save you.

I know yeah. I wanna save you. Exactly I was like I was waiting for you to pick that up. I just scream in the cat's face. Save me too. Scream a Something Corporate song into a cat's face. That's Ash energy. Do that today. If you haven't. Pour one out for Scottish cats and sing in your own cat's face. I think the Something Corporate tour just ended actually.

I just saw that our friend Connor posted and said, we did it. We love Connor. I said, you did fucking do it. You love Connor. I said you did fucking do it. You did fucking do it. You did all of it. Yeah, you made our lives. Hell yeah. I know.

We need to like, there's things to be done still. Yeah. There's work. There's work to be done. There's guests to be had. Guests to be booked. But we don't want to tell you. No, shut up. No, shut up. Imagine if I was serious.

That'd be so sad. I would never tell you guys to shut up. I actually don't like the phrase shut up. You don't. Rude. Yeah. It's a little rude. Sorry if you hear my ice for a second. It's, we're all alive and we're drinking iced coffee. I made us, it's actually really funny to see you drinking coffee out of a mason jar because Yeah. Because it's not you. Aesthetically. Aesthetic. Mason jars are kind of my vibe right now. I love this is good iced coffee.

Oh, you're welcome. Oh, you're welcome. I do make a pretty good iced coffee. Except I realized this morning that literally all of my creamer was expired. That's true. Luckily, I didn't realize it in the bad way. I said, oh, check those dates. And I checked and I said, whoop, whoop, whoop, three out of four. You got to be quick on the match. That's true. Luckily I didn't realize it in the bad way. I said, oh, check those dates. And I checked and I said, oh, oh, oh, three out of four. You got to be quick

in the trash. Yeah, I know. Well, I think it's still spooky season. We'll never really know for sure when these publish. We're never going to know when episodes are coming. Yeah. Sometimes we look at Mikey and say, what day is this coming? What day is? What's going on? Where am I? Hello? But someday we'll know. Well, hopefully it's still spooky because I put a spooky case. Hopefully it's still spooky. I think it is. Me and Dave, Daveo worked on this. Davio. Davio, exactly. This is La Toya Amens and the Demon House. The Demon House. The Demon House. This is, if it starts to sound familiar to you at all, this is the case that the movie,

The Deliverance was based off of. It's Glenn Close? Yes. It's that one scene. It's that one scene. That you're all thinking about right now. And if you're not thinking about it, go Google it. If you're not thinking about it,

you can't have the internet. Yeah. Like you don not thinking about it, you can't have the internet. Yeah. You don't have the internet. You don't have the internet. But yeah. So it all started in January 2014 when a strange article appeared in the Indianapolis Star about LaToya Amons. An Indiana single mother of three who claimed that for more than a year, she and her kids

were absolutely besieged by demons in their rented house. Oh damn. She claimed among other things that the house was constantly infested with black flies. So right off the bat, you're haunted. Oh yeah. The kids were levitated from their beds.

Oh shit. Her nine-year-old son became possessed and walked up a wall backwards. Oh my. Which like, you might say, that's silly. That didn't happen. Multiple people saw this happen that were like, I don't know how to explain what happened there.

And we'll get to that point. And that was just the beginning. By the end of just one year in this house, the family claimed that they were terrorized by all manner of supernatural assaults, from ghostly apparitions to straight up demonic entities. Oh my.

Yeah, things were popping off. Get Rachel Stavis in here. Rachel. Rachel, we need you. Rachel could have cleared this shit up in a minute. 100%. In a minute. Yeah.

That's our girl. That's our girl, Rachel. So her story might have gone completely unnoticed if it wasn't for the surprising number of witnesses that actually saw these things. That's what takes this apart. Yeah, like family, friends, police officers, social workers. It kind of reminded me of the House of Flying Objects that you just did.

Because people were like, people that you wouldn't expect to sign off on this were signing off on it. But still, Latoya obviously wasn't without skeptics or critics. People accused her of fabricating the story to get out of her lease, and others just assumed that she might have been straight up delusional. Yeah. But who knows what the explanation was for the cause of events?

Either way, probably one of the most terrifying paranormal experiences I've ever read of. Damn. Yeah. Let's go. Let's get into it. So in November 2011, LaToya Amunds, her mother, Rosa Campbell, and LaToya's three children, 13-year-old Nate, 12-year-old Shante, and 7-year-old Andre, moved into their new rental house on this quiet little tree-lined residential street in Gary, Indiana. And that wasn't their real names, right? No, I'm actually using the names from the movie based on the case,

the deliverance like we were just saying, because the kids' names aren't public. Yeah. But it would have gotten super confusing if I was like child A, child B, child C. And if they're not public, it's like. So I said, movie, movie. So the thing was things hadn't really been easy for Latoya in recent years. She was struggling to keep the kids on track in school, but among other things. But the new house was an opportunity to kind of start fresh and her main goal was to make Good use of that opportunity. She's like we got a new space. We're in a new area. Like let's go and fresh start Unfortunately things did not work out that way in any way shape or form

problems with the house started almost immediately and It was early December when they started noticing swarms of these large black flies just gathering in the screened-in porch, which was unusual because houseflies can't survive freezing temperatures. It was like Amityville. Yeah, exactly. But real. Yeah. And Rosa remembered thinking, this is not normal.

We killed them and killed them and killed them, but they just kept coming back, which is so gross. Yeah. And then other strange experiences followed pretty quickly. A week or so after they noticed the flies, Latoya and Rosa started hearing just inexplicable noises in the house, always after midnight, well after the kids had gone to bed. And it sounded like someone with heavy footsteps was walking up the stairs from the basement into the kitchen. Fuck that.

Which is what we heard our whole fucking lives. I was going to say that was my parents' house. You always heard, poom, poom. And it sounded like work boots walking up the steps. Always. And sometimes it was like, I would hear in the basement late at night, but then sometimes you would hear footsteps on the main stairs too. Yeah, and you'd go over there and nothing was there.

Literally nothing. I wouldn't even go over there. I was way too scared. Ugh. But yeah, they were like, is somebody breaking in the house? Because they would literally hear the door open and close. What the fuck? But they would come out of their bedrooms to investigate, like, you're a brave ass. There was no sign of anybody in the basement or the kitchen.

But they did notice that when they would turn the kitchen light on to get a better look, it would flicker, making a crackling sound for a time, and then stop. Ooh. Which is like so creepy. That's horror movie shit. Literally. A few days later, they both decided

that they were gonna leave their bedroom doors open in the hope that they might catch a glimpse of whoever was climbing the stairs. Because they kept hearing it night after night. So one night, a little after 3 AM. Of course. Of course. Rosa was woken by the sound of footsteps,

just like all the previous nights. And when she looked out into the living room, she saw the shadowy figure of a man just pacing back and forth. No. Yup. Nope. Yup. Just get rid of the whole house.

Burn it down. Burn it to the ground. Yeah. So the next morning she went out to investigate and she went with Latoya and they found, quote, what looked like muddy footprints from a boot. I would assume someone broke in my house. That's what they thought. They 100 percent thought that, like completely concerned that someone might be breaking in. They ended up putting a lock on the basement door. But on subsequent nights, they would hear the footsteps climbing the stairs.

They would also hear pounding on the door as if whatever it was, was trying to get in the kitchen. What the fuck? Yeah, I literally have chills. I just talking about it. Pounding on the door like, no. In the middle of the fucking night. Oh. So they they're like dealing with all this. Latoya is trying to keep the kids on track in school,

and she's also trying to keep these incidents from the kids because she's like, Yeah, they're young. But the speed at which things escalated made it impossible to hide the fact that something was obviously wrong with this house. One day about a month after moving in, Shante got home from school, and she went to put her things in her bedroom. But when she tried to open her bedroom door, it wouldn't open. She said it was like as if somebody was holding it shut from the other side. Oh no.

So after several tries to force the door, it finally popped open and there was nobody in the room. What the fuck? She probably assumed it was one of her younger siblings like fucking with her. Yeah, and then no one's in there and you're like. You're like, hello? Hello? In my parents' house we would have been like, oh the door just swelled. Yeah exactly.

We all, obviously. The amount of times we blamed like weird shit on the swollen doors. Oh yeah, just swelling doors or creaking or just the house settling. It's fine, don't worry. In the middle of winter we're like, oh it's the doors, they're swollen. Yeah, they're just swollen. But the family also noticed that there were indications of a problem seemingly all over the house. It wasn't just the basement, the kitchen, just like one bed everywhere. Their cell phones often failed to work despite full service. The picture on the television was constantly

getting interrupted. And Latoya and Rosa had constant mechanical problems with their cars. And the sticks to adjust the Venetian blinds always seemed to sway back and forth on their own. Which something about that. Yeah, that's just, that's ew. I don't like it. I don't like that at all.

For Latoya, the most disturbing experience was learning the extent of what the children had experienced in the house. Because she's trying to keep this from them. Just like Rosa had seen that shadowy figure in the living room, the kids also saw what they believed to be spirits in the house. Both boys, this is one of the scariest things

you'll ever hear in your life, so buckle up, Buttercup. Oh, god. Both of the boys reported seeing an elderly lady in the backyard who they described as looking like, quote, walking death with red eyes. I got that feeling that like, just like blooms out. The chills from within. Like the chill just came from the center of my stomach. That's a wham. Yeah, but it didn't even feel like a wham because to me that feels more warm. Okay. This was a, it was cold.

Yeah. It was yucky. I'm gonna vomit. Yeah, I don't like that at all. I think, I'm assuming that's probably what, like who Glam Close's character was, but I haven't actually seen the deliverance. When you look at a picture of her character.

Yes. Yeah, she looks like Walking Death with red eyes. Yeah. And the youngest son, Andre, would spend a lot of time with what he said was a boy his own age, who he would like play and talk with. And according to Andre and Nate, the boy would typically appear in their closet.

Yo. Yo. Just the long talk, yo. Just silence. It's just like, and look, when a ghost appears in the closet, they have bad intentions. 100%. Because no one, I'm ghost appears in the closet, uh-uh. They have bad intentions. 100%.

Because no one, I'm not appearing in someone's closet in the afterlife unless I want to fuck their world up. You know who appeared in front of the closet for me in my life? She didn't have a body, she was just made of bones. See? And I can still see her in my mind. Here's the thing, I'm horrified that you witnessed that as a child. It hurts my soul. But it's a cool story though. Would kill to have the image in my head that you

have. I wish you could project it out. Yeah, I'm not an artiste. So maybe I could talk to Sean for Mostly Horror. Oh my God. Describe her in vast detail. Yes. I think I could. I think he could draw it. I'm gonna text him after this. Yeah, Sean, if you're listening, we're coming for you. She had like cotton candy hair. It was like white, but it was like that texture. It was scary.

Yo, you gotta write this down. I don't know why I'm in a place of yo right now, but I do need to. Have you been hanging out with cable? You need to, I know, right? You need to write all these details down so he can make this because we all need to see the the actual vision. Yeah. Of this woman.

It's so funny because I have so many memories of like nightmares from when I was little that when I was little, I didn't think were nightmares. Like I thought they were real. And then now you're like, were they real? They probably were. I have a lot of them. That's scary. Yeah, it is. But then I'm also like, is it like the trauma?

I was going to say, is it trauma? Is it trauma or a nightmare? I don't know. It could be a mix of both. I know for a fact that she didn't have a body. She was just made of bones. She was real. Oh, you said that from the time you were little.

Yeah. That's never changed. I drive by that building and I look up at the window and I'm like, And you're like, she's up there. Yeah. She is. I guarantee you interview if a fucking kid lived in that. They'll see she didn't have a body.

She was just made of bones. Definitely. Yeah. 100%. But that's the thing. I'm like a kid showing up and showing up in someone's closet means you mean business. Yeah. Because if I'm in the afterlife, I'm like a kid showing up in showing up in someone's closet means you mean business. Yeah. Because if I'm in the afterlife, I'm showing up, there are some people

in my pocket right now that I will show up in their closet. Oh, and it will be me trying to fuck their whole world up. Absolutely. So I wonder like how that works. Like, how do you decide where you have to go? Do you get to sign in for the day? Like you You're like, today I will be showing up in this person's closet and you have to sign in. I kind of like that idea. So everybody knows where you are. Yeah.

I have this person's closet covered. It's like in Beetlejuice, sort of. Yeah. Like when they're all newly deceased. Yeah. Everyone's hanging out. I think it's something like that. I think so.

There's an office for sure. And who? I'm coming. Scary. Well. ["Sweet Home Alone"] Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking.

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That's audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500 500 to try Audible free for 30 days audible.com slash morbid. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. And this month is all about gratitude. So I want to start off this ad by saying thank you to our producer, Mikey, for all the hard work he puts into the show. And along with Mikey, there's another person that we really don't thank enough. You guys, that's ourselves. It's sometimes hard to remind ourselves that we're

trying our best to make sense of everything. And in this crazy world, that is not always easy. Here's a reminder to send some thanks to the people in your life, including yourself. And you know, one great way to thank yourself is by spending time on yourself. And where do you spend time on yourself? In therapy, honey. I have become a more calm person, like way calmer than I used to be. And I feel like that's via therapy.

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slash morbid. Back to the Amens haunting because it's so scary. For months the activity just continued disrupting everybody's lives. and before long the paranormal activity started affecting the children physically. Oh no they were experiencing this is like so sad they're experiencing regular bouts of vomiting fevers diarrhea things that kept them from going to school. Oh no later Latoya also reported that she would discover blood on their pillowcases frequently, then she believed it was coming from their mouths. Oh my god. Yeah, like something was up. Oh this is so upsetting. And just like so everybody knows I believe in this one. Like the we kind of like debunked the Amityville horror there, like it's already been debunked so we talked about it. This one, I believe. This is scary.

It's scary and just the sheer number of people who witnessed some like the things that LaToya was saying happened. Well, that's what's really taking me for a ride is like that this isn't, you know, like the House of Flying Objects where it's like, there's one person in the room always. Yeah.

You know, you can at least somewhat be like, maybe it's a mixture of things, or it could just be one thing or the other. Who knows? Right. This seems like other people that are in higher positions that would go in as a skeptic because they have the best interest of the children and everything in mind are seemingly witnessing this like you're saying.

Yeah. Except social workers and police officers. Yeah. So that's interesting. Like literally writing things in their reports of like this is inexplicable. That's scary. Yeah it is. And then Rosa, her health started like a noticeable decline. She had three different kidney ailments that struck her one right after the other. Oh jeez. And like living in this house. Up until that point like before then she had been fine and then she moves into this house. Up until that point, before then, she had been fine. And then she moves into this house, and she starts having all these kidney problems. Oh, kidney-ship is bad.

Yeah. Whatever was happening in the house had already taken a serious toll on everybody's physical and emotional health, but things just continued to get worse and worse. My god, how? On March 10, 2012, the family was all up late until the early hours of the morning.

They spent the day mourning the loss of a close family friend, unfortunately. And from the living room, Rosa heard Latoya screaming, Mama, Mama. So she went running to her daughter's bedroom where she witnessed 12 year old Shantae levitating several feet above her bed, completely unconscious. What the fuck? She said, I thought, what's going on? Why is this happening? And she immediately grabbed her Bible and the family surrounded Shante praying over her until she descended back onto the surface of the bed. What?

Moments later, she woke up with no memory of what had happened. She had no idea that that had just all happened. Holy shit. And people are like praying loudly around her and she didn't wake up until she hit the bed and then woke up a little bit after. According to LaToya, the guests who were staying at the house that night left and refused

to ever come back after the incident. Holy shit. Yeah. So other people saw this. And are like, fuck that. And are like, I'm literally never stepping foot in that house again. My god.

It turned out that the levitation incident was just the beginning of the physical torment that the family was about to endure. That weekend weekend Shante was sitting on the couch in the living room and she felt something grab her and yank her off the couch, throwing her to the floor. A few hours later, so that same day, one of the boys was in the bathroom when he claimed something grabbed him and jerked him to the floor, and this is like awful, quote, pulling on his limbs and genitals. What the fuck?

Yeah, like demon, demon activity. Holy shit. According to Rosa and Latoya, when they entered the bathroom after hearing his screams, they could see something pushing outward from the inside of his stomach. This is fucked up in every way imaginable. It's unreal.

Holy shit. And then a few hours later. So again, same day, Shante was targeted again. This time she was lifted off the ground and thrown into the refrigerator. My God. Insane. It turned out that whatever I know, it was poor parents like Jesus. Just everybody witnessed this happening to their kids. And it's sad.

And this is not a family that can just like pack up and go to a hotel for like, that's the thing. It's not like that's not, you know, an option for for a lot of people. Yeah, that's the thing. Like to just be like, oh well, fuck that. I guess we'll just go right. Pay this rent and also pay for something else. Exactly.

And this is a bigger family to five people. That's a lot. Yeah, that turned out whatever was harming Rosa Latoya and the children also wasn't limiting it to just to the family. Later, after family and friends left the memorial that they had at the house, several of them reported that something quote, followed them home,

giving them a heavy feeling or headache that took a couple weeks to finally dissipate. What? And this is multiple people who said this, and we'll get there in a little bit. But a police officer also claimed this. Holy shit. Yeah.

It's interesting. Again, this isn't just this family being like, oh, yeah, when no one's here, all this shit is happening. And you're like, oh, yeah. No, people would come over and see shit and be like, I'm never going back to that house. And then they'd go and have their own shit. Follow them. Yeah.

Crazy. That's terrifying. So it got to the point where no one wanted to come over. And a lot of people weren't even down to associate too closely with the family because they were scared. Yeah. So while Latoya and the kids had already endured various forms of unexplained phenomena and forms of supernatural harassment,

I guess you could call it. The incidents that occurred on or around March 10th were much more aggressive than any of the ones before. My god, how? Rosa Campbell told her daughter, we need help. We need to talk to somebody who knows how to deal with it. But neither woman knew precisely what it was. They were pretty convinced, though,

that it was supernatural in nature, so they went to the church to try to rid their lives of this. Which honestly I'm not even a believer and I think if all of this was happening to me I might find a church. I don't even know like that's and especially if you're already religious, then of course like that's gonna be your that's where you go your outlet. So they started with the leadership at the church they attended, but they were pretty disappointed to discover that while the clergy at their church were sympathetic, they didn't really take them very seriously and didn't-

That's fucked up. It is fucked up. And they said like, "'Sorry, we don't know what we can do to help.'" It's like, these are members of your congregation that are coming to you. And isn't that like the whole point of you? Yeah, you're supposed to offer.

Times of need. Yeah. You're supposed to offer your assistance. You would think. And aren't like demons your thing to say? You're passing that donation basket around, I'm sure. Like, come on, this poor family, like this mother with three children

that she's taking care of by herself with her mother living with her, you're not gonna try to help? No. Like just come in and do a blessing. That's the thing. You know, like just bless the house. You don't need to do an exorcism, you're not going to try to help? No. Just come in and do a blessing. Just bless the house. You don't need to do an exorcism. You don't need to do anything crazy. Just come in and say, most churches, I think a house blessing is pretty standard. Standard. I was going to say, I feel like every paranormal case that we talk about where the

church does get involved, they at least come down and do a blessing. A lot of times they're like, yeah, I don't know what we can do, but we'll do the blessing. It doesn't even sound like they did that. For real. That reminds me, if you guys haven't read The September House yet by Carissa Orlando, read it. Nice. Especially the spooky season.

Yeah. Read it. It's a real fucking good book. And this made me think about it a little bit. Oh, OK. So they were even more disappointed to find out that this was the case with all the other churches in the area. Cool. They went and talked to multiple officials at multiple churches and all were sorry to hear about what was going on, but they said they weren't

in a position to assist with the paranormal. Yeah. We can't come and just bless your house. No, we can't. To make you feel better. We can't. We won't. We can't make you feel better. Sorry. Sorry. Like, and that's fucked. You believe your whole life in something. Yeah, and then they don't help you in your time of need. They turn their back on you. And this seems like a fucking demon. And isn't that the whole thing? Like the whole thing is like demons suck. Let's get rid of them. I think so. Isn't that the whole shebang? So it's like, I'm pretty sure you can't just come in and toss some holy water around at least to make, maybe this will help make that family feel better. Yeah, exactly.

You don't even need to be like an official ceremony or anything. Just come in. Bless the house. Doesn't have to be anything crazy. Do anything. Literally anything. But after failing to find literally any help within the churches in their area, Rosa called her mother Ruth and explained to her what was going on.

And it just so happened that Ruth had a neighbor who, quote, belonged to a church that dealt with deliverance more than Rosa and Latoya's Baptist church. So the neighbor offered to speak with the pastor at her own church to see what they could do to help. Now while she waited to hear back from Ruth's neighbor, Latoya and Rosa took the advice of one local church and they cleaned the house from top to bottom with ammonia. And then they used olive oil to make the sign of the cross on every door and window. And they also performed a similar blessing on the children,

pouring the olive oil on their hands and feet and making the sign of the cross on their foreheads. So desperate for any kind of answer, Latoya also reached out to two local clairvoyants who informed her that, Desperate for any kind of answer, Latoya also reached out to two local clairvoyants who informed her that, quote, "'The family's home was besieged by 200 demons, and the best thing they could do was move.'"

200 demons? Which when you hear that, you're like, what the fuck, that's insane. But also I feel like it kind of makes sense with the level that they're able to assault. Like, it takes a lot of power. Like even we were talking about the House of Flying Objects, and that sounded like a poltergeist. Like that takes a lot of energy to build up. It takes like weeks and weeks. And it seems like this started happening to them like almost

immediately. 200 demons. 200 demons. And that these people are like the only thing you can do is get the fuck out of here. And like ultimately, yeah, pretty much. The explanation of the demonic infestation made sense to Latoya and Rosa because they were both about Christians, but they were barely scraping by as it was, so moving just wasn't financially feasible at that time. So instead they set up several altars around the house, draping end tables and white fabric and adorning them with religious icons, statues, Bible passages.

And they also took the advice of the local clairvoyants, and they burned sage in each room of the house from top to bottom until the smoke was so thick that it became difficult to breathe. I mean, that's not good. Like, they're desperate. Like, that's not good, everybody. That's not good. Also, if you're saging, you're supposed to have the windows open. I was going to say, that's not good. Like they're desperate. Like that's not good.

That's not good. Also, if you're saging, you're supposed to have the windows open. I was going to say it's not supposed to like build up in there. No, because the whole thing is like you're saging something out. So I'm pretty sure like the smoke carries it out. Also, like, and again, like I've always said it, like I'm you practice whatever religion you feel. Of course, I would never sway you against that or anything like that. But as someone who doesn't practice that religion or a religion, the idea of this like demon-infested home and now all these altars are set up. It's going to piss them off. Well, no, it is so chilling to think of. I'm like, this must have been the scariest setting of just this demonic chaos with all this religious

paraphernalia around. Because religious horror, to me- I was just going to say- Is the scariest. Because it just- It ups the ante. Yeah, it just brings a different vibe to it. I love it. Same. It really brings it to a place.

And this to me is like- But to think that this is real life, because I'm like, this is religious horror right here, setting up all the altars and shit. Then I'm like, oh my God, this was someone's existence. And like three children. That's so scary. And imagine just like going to sleep for the night. Just like wrapping up the day in that house. In that house. What's going on in that house? How scary. How it's all set up now. And you're at your like most vulnerable. And they're all just desperate as hell.

And it's like, holy shit. I would be living at my friend's houses at that point. Yeah. I'd be couch surfing. Yeah, seriously. But it's like, again. But your friends have distanced themselves because they're scared that they're gonna

have things attached to them. And there's five people here. Like you can't just show up on somebody's doorstep with five people. Like most people don't have friends that are like, yeah, all five of you can stay indefinitely. So to Latoya's surprise, the rituals performed around the house actually seemed like they worked. For three days, things in the Aymans' house

were finally peaceful. No incidents, no activity. But the peace they experienced in the wake of the cleansing did not last long. After three days, the assault on the family worsened considerably. So I think it pissed them off. The demons. According to Latoya, she and each of her children experienced demonic possession. She said, the kids' eyes bulged, evil smiles crossed their faces, and their voices would deepen every time it happened. No. Yeah. And she said she felt weak,

light-headed, and warm whenever a demon overtook her body. She said you can tell it's something different, something supernatural. I hate this. Soon after, Andre took to spending his afternoon sitting in the closet with the ghost boy who often told him what it was like to be murdered. Oh my god. I have chills that just will not evacuate. I like literally, I'm like, what? Like the fuck?

Yeah. Like my littlest had Skeleton that you all know about him. But Skeleton was just sitting there being like, I got a family and I'm gonna go visit my family. He said, I'm gonna leave. And he never came back. And he just left. And that's great.

And he never scared anybody, never said like, Hey, I was murdered. He just hung out. Yeah. You know, if she told me, like he was telling me what it's like to be murdered. No, I don't know what I do. No, like I say, I'm like, oh, I would do it. No, I don't know what I do. No. Like I say, I'm like, oh, I would do it.

No, I don't know what I would do. I think I just start crying. Yeah. For a long time. That is such an upsetting thing to think about. Start crying and never stop, yeah. Oh my God. And eventually the entity started moving

from one child to another so quickly that Latoya and Rosa wouldn't have time to react before it moved from one to the other. Like if she was trying to get three kids in the car, she said one would run to the car and start kicking it. One would be restraining the other, and the other would be thrown to the grass. Then one would start cussing or saying it's time to kill,

or doing some sort of demonic chant, where one would stop and the other would pick up just where the other left off. What the fuck? Like, uh, no. And she's just trying to to get them in the car to go somewhere for the day. No. No. No. No. No. You know how hard it is to get three kids in the car, sans possession? Yes. Yes, I do. They essentially are possessed. No matter what. And then you add demonic possession. They're in a constant state of needing an exorcism,

trying to get them into the car. Yes. And then to add actual possession into it? No. No. No, thank you. No. Holy shit.

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So by early April, the kids are missing school on a regular basis, and the administrators actually became concerned about their well-being. So out of options and with literally no help coming from the church, Latoya took the kids to their primary care physician in the hope that he might know what to do. Yeah. Which I think to me proves how desperate she is. She's going to the kids' doctor. The doctor, Dr. Jeffrey Anyaku, I believe it is, said, 20 years,

and I've never heard anything like that in my life. I was scared myself when I walked into the room. Wow. So it was visible what they were going through. A reporter for the Indianapolis Star was given access to the doctor's clinical notes from the visit. And he describes, quote, delusions of ghosts in the home

and, quote, hallucinations among the children and describes all of them as delusional. I mean, which he's looking at it from a point of view of, like, I can't just sit here and be like, yeah, you have ghosts. Yeah, they're possessed. I'm sure that's what's happening. He's seeing these kids going through it. He's thinking child abuse.

Exactly. And that's got to be his first concern. It was, unfortunately. You can understand, and I understand that this was probably fucking horrifying from both sides. But you can understand the doctor's point of view. That he's thinking of these kids and he's not in the house. And unfortunately, Child Protective Services, they had a history with this family. They had been involved before. So the doctor's notes are clear that he believed them to be a family experiencing a mental health crisis. The statements from medical staff, but so he thinks that,

but the statements from the medical staff in the office that day actually painted a different picture. Really? According to one member of the staff who was later interviewed by, I think they're DCS now, Department of Children's Services. According to one of those workers, during an interview, Latoya told the intake staff many stories, quote, regarding demons and spirits, and that her home has various demons and evil spirits due to somebody dying in the home. But regarding the children's behavior,

staff reported that during the examination, Latoya's youngest son was, quote, lifted and thrown into the wall with nobody touching him. Medical staff saw this happen. Medical staff who worked, I don't know if they were all doctors or nurses, but like- The staff. The staff working at this office literally saw this with their own eyes and wrote it down. Whoa.

Yeah. And that's the thing that makes me- Because those are the things that make me just go, what? Because there's some parts of this where you go, is there a severe mental health crisis happening here and some religious delusions and all that stuff? Is that happening? Yep. And then you see something like that,

and you go, what the fuck is that? Right, because how do you explain that? How do you explain that? Because if he stumbled into the wall, I'd be like, OK, that's probably a mental health crisis. He was lifted and thrown into the wall. And there's a crazier thing that happens later that's just inexplicable.

Other medical staff reported that the specific child was, quote, making growling noises, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Which that, I feel like you could kind of do on your own. Yeah. But still. But still, yeah. The situation finally ended when Latoya wrapped her arms around him and he became limp and was placed on the bed, at which point the medical staff actually called 911.

Yeah, because what the fuck is going on? Yeah, they requested emergency services. So several minutes later an ambulance arrived along with seven or eight police officers and the children were taken to the Methodist hospital in Gary. According to Rosa when the boys came to in the hospital Nate acted rationally but Andre screamed and thrashed like resisting the medical staff. This is so sad. It is it's awful. At the same time an anonymous call was placed to DCS and requested that the state open an investigation into the possible abuse of the Amon's children for possible child abuse or neglect. The caller indicated their belief that Latoya was suffering from symptoms of mental illness and quote, the children were performing for her and she was encouraging their behavior, which is awful.

But you can understand why somebody might think that. Why somebody might have thought that. If they're not seeing everything going on in this house, like all of this is behind closed doors, and then they're just hearing reports of this. That's the thing. I can understand that. Their job is to keep children safe.

Yeah, and I can understand somebody calling worried about the kids 100%. So DCS caseworker Valerie Washington met the family at the hospital that day and opened the official case into the alleged abuse and neglect. At the same time, all the children were physically examined and found

to be free of any outward signs of abuse, no bruises or anything like that. Meanwhile, Latoya was examined by staff at the Methodist Hospital and determined to be of sound mind. See, this is the stuff that makes me go, what the fuck is going on here? It was only in her interviews with the children that Valerie Washington started to think something actually strange was happening within the family, if not the house itself.

According to interview notes from a discussion with Shante, the girl told Washington that, quote, at times she has weird thoughts and unnatural events take place in the home during the evening time. She also reported being thrown across the room and grabbed by dark shadows a few nights ago. That's horrifying. So scary. And for a child to be saying this is so disturbing.

And Shantay is older. I think I said at the top, she's 12. So she's not like a little, little kid just like making up a story. You know what I mean? And also, it's like for Latoya to be, you know you're going to be looked at as possibly abusing these children. Absolutely.

Or that you're going through a mental health crisis. So if this is really happening, you're going out of sheer desperation because you know what you're going to face. Absolutely. And she's already faced it. But she was so desperate that she went for help when she could have just kept it to herself if that was what was really happening,

you know what I mean? Like if the abuse was happening. I completely agree. So it does tell you something that she was so desperate that she opened herself up to this knowing, cause she had to know. Yeah. This was gonna be the first thing they were gonna think of. And she still opened up to it to knowing, because she had to know. Yeah. You know, this was going to be the first thing they

were going to think of. She still opened up to it to be like, help, please. Like, I don't know what to do. Which is so devastating. And it is, absolutely. And that's what's so sad about the fact that she went to all the churches she did first. Yeah.

I think she was like, can we please find some help here so I don't have to go this other route? So I don't have to go somewhere else and get thought that I'm hurting my children. Yeah, like that's awful. I can't imagine how that would feel at all. Because you hope no parent would ever do something like this to their children.

No. And knowingly. Sometimes DCF does invest, or DCS, they're called a different thing a lot. I think here it's DCF. I think so. People call in cases to be assholes when abuse isn't happening.

Absolutely. And people are investigating. Yeah, for sure. They have to. They're mandated reporters. So it's like she's going through it and she knew. Exactly. So by far the most unusual event, and this is fucking crazy.

By far the most unusual event that day occurred while Andre was being interviewed by Valerie Washington. He told hospital staff that, quote, ghosts were attacking him and his brother, but before he could finish his statement, he had a quote weird grin and walked backwards up a wall to the ceiling. He then flipped over his grandmother, landing on his feet. There were multiple people in this room, including the caseworker Valerie Washington, who saw this happen.

Okay, I can't explain this. I can't explain this. According to those in the room, he never let go of his grandmother's hand. So he held her hand, walked up the wall backwards onto the ceiling and flipped over her body. Again, if this is just the family saying that this happened and no one else was there and I would be like, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. That would be akin to the Amityville story where it's like, Cathy Lutz got levitated up off the bed and then just levitated towards the closet for no reason. I'd be like, no one else was there except

for, you know, George Lutz. Why are we saying this? And y'all are trying to make money on this. Seeing that a social worker was in that room, witnessed it and wrote it in the report, which puts their own job in danger because it makes them look a little kooky kooky. And there was medical staff in the room who were like, what the fuck? Yeah, no one has, and people aren't going to be putting their whole fucking careers on the line here to keep up with some hoax for no reason. And even police officers were involved at this point.

Later in an interview with the police officers asked maybe if the boy had run up the wall or performed some kind of like acrobatic move. They were like, yeah. But everybody in the room insisted, no, he walked up the wall backwards and flipped over. One of the nurses at the hospital said, he walked up the wall, flipped over and stood there. There's no way he could have done that. And when this happened, both Valerie Washington, the caseworker and the nurse who was attending to these children ran out of the room in fear, like ran out of the fucking hospital room. Okay, something's, there's 200 demons in this house. Like I'm 100. That's the thing.

There's a lot of demons. So like it's happening. So when Washington and the nurse, they literally ran out of the room terrified and grabbed a doctor and was like, I don't know what the fuck's going on. The boy just walked on the ceiling. Yes. Like, let's, can we? Backwards. Let's fix this. So they reported to the attending physician what everybody had just seen and the doctor was like, yeah, fuck off. That didn't happen. Cause like, how do you reconcile? I would say the same thing. He's a man of science. Like this man is being like, there's no fucking conceivable way. Like, how could you? He's like, one of you doesn't even work here and you're fired. He told the nurse, okay, so if Andre walked up the wall backwards, then he'll do it again. But he was not only unable to repeat the

move, he had no memory of what even happened the first time. He told the doctor, I didn't walk up a wall. I can't walk up a wall. What the fuck? And when he tried, he was unable to get his foot, like his footing or balance. Because like, who can walk up a, it's one thing to like, it would even be shocking if like he ran up the wall and onto the ceiling and down. Like that's an acrobatic move of like,

someone show me how to do that. Yeah, show me to be Rachel. But to walk backwards slowly up the wall and onto the ceiling where gravity makes that impossible. Yep. And he's nine years old. That's the thing. I'm pretty sure I said at the beginning

he was nine years old. I'm trying to keep everybody's ages in check. Like, holy shit. But he's a baby. He's a baby. I would be like one of the girls just walking up the fucking wall backwards. Yeah. Like that's just. Let me know if they do that anytime soon.

It's the ceiling that gets me. The fact that he walked all the way up the wall and onto the ceiling and then flip back down. Yeah. Like gravity. Hello. My friends. Yeah. But despite having witnessed the wall walking and generally believing the story of demonic possession, the nurse still admitted that the children's behavior was likely due at least in part to mental illness. She was like, something's afoot here, but I also think mental illness is playing into this.

They might be driving them to this. Like, whatever is happening in this house might be literally making them mad. Absolutely. So that night, Latoya spent the night in the hospital with her youngest son while her mom returned home with the other children. The next day was Andre's birthday, and he night in the hospital with her youngest son while her mom returned home with the other children. The next day was Andre's birthday,

and he's in the hospital going through this. So Rosa and the children came back to the hospital to celebrate, but the celebration was short-lived. Oh, no. Not long after they gathered in Andre's hospital room, Latoya got a call from Valerie Washington informing her that DCS decided it was in the best interest of the children to temporarily remove them from the home

until the situation was resolved and there was a plan for their safety moving forward. And that's on his birthday. On his fucking birthday, which I'm like, you couldn't have done it one fucking day later. That's the thing. I get it. I know there's a murder.

I was involved in DCS as a kid. I get it. But I don't know. And it's just like, and you can see why they came to that conclusion because obviously they might, this might not even be against Latoya. You know what I mean? They're saying that home is unsafe.

It's just, yeah, it's the safety of the kids. Like we watch something happen in that home that we can't explain. They need to be out of that house and you can't remove them from the house right now. So it's such a sad situation. It is. And while the kids are getting so sick in that house that they can't go to school, this is affecting every part of their lives. Yeah. But my goodness. But to be separated as a family, it's just so sad.

And on your child's birthday. On your baby's birthday. And he's in the hospital. One has to spend his birthday in the hospital, and two, he gets moved to a foster home on his birthday. That's fucked. Latoya must have just been beside herself. So Latoya later told a reporter, it was obvious we were a team and we were beating it.

Whatever it was, we made it through together as a team, and they separated us. Oh, that breaks my heart. Yeah, she was like, that like really breaks my heart. That's a mom. That's a mom. That's a single mama right there being like, this family is a fucking team. Yeah. Makes me want to cry. Oh, like that like breaks my heart. It really does. Anything hearing about like DCS and foster care and stuff and like, it's traumatic. Families having to be separated. It's just like, it's such a sad thing that has to happen. It's necessary, like some kids do need to be. Oh, in many cases, it's the best thing that can happen.

Yeah. But when you hear about it, it's never, it's always devastating. And no matter what. No matter what, it's traumatic. Well, that's the thing, even if you're coming from this fucking awful environment, that's still devastating, that one one you had to live that. And now you have to live in the unknown as a kid who had no fucking business having to deal with that. I know. I actually, like I just said, I was involved in DCF and luckily I never had to go to

foster care because I had you and Ma and Papa. But I think about fostering sometimes just to give back. That's like them Hoffers there. If you didn't hear in the other episode, I'm on the Hoffer train this year. I fucking love the Hoffers. They're a perfect shining example of a lovely foster family. And it takes, just a sidebar here, it takes such a specific human to be able to do that because- If you're a foster parent, fucking kudos. Billions and billions of kudos because they will get like a newborn in the middle of the night, and then you bond with that baby. And then sometimes, and you know what they're coming

from, and sometimes you have to give that baby back. And obviously the goal most of the time for DCF is to reunite. Oh yeah, that's the main goal. Which in my opinion is not, shouldn't always be the goal. But knowing as a foster parent that like that's the goal. You may have to like, you got to be like what a selfless human being you have to be to just be like, I want to make this child's life as loving and beautiful as I can for the time I have them. Yeah.

But then I'm just going to have to put my own devastation aside and sever that bond to give them back to continue their life. Right. Like, fuck. You have to be such a selfless person. And also. But then there's assholes who completely use the foster kids. And are just in it for the money. Like we were talking about a couple cases ago,

they were foster parents and you're like, hello. You really got like the best and the worst. Yeah. I think I would just end up with 45 million kids because I just think I'll adopt this one too. I would adopt those. Yeah, 18 kids, let's go. I couldn't even, I don't even think I could foster an animal.

And it's just, and it's because I just will- The give and the back. End up with all of them. Like there's no way I couldn't even, I don't even think I could foster an animal. And it's just, and it's because I just will end up with all of them. Like there's no way I couldn't. No, I know. It's, it's, it's an angel. You're truly, you're a special kind of person. If you do that, I think Sabrina. Sabrina Sabrina just fostered some kittens and she's an angel. She is a fucking angel. Sabrina and Corinne are both angels. Truly. But yeah, sometimes I think, sometimes I think about it. Like I'm not at a point in my life right now where I would do it. But maybe later. Someday in the future I would think about it. Oh, it's beautiful. Beautiful. Weirdos, let's face it. After a night with drinks, you just don't bounce back the next day like you used to. You have to make a choice. Either have a great night or a great next day.

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Zbiotics, for sponsoring this episode and our good times, honey. But anyways, back to the case. In the formal paperwork, Valerie Washington noted, the children's physical or mental condition is seriously impaired and seriously endangered as a result of Latoya's inability to supply education or supervision, which is rough. In simple terms, the amount of school that the children had missed due to everything that was going on was seen as neglect.

Unfortunately, that does constitute neglect. And the home environment was not one that was promoting safety. No Unfortunately, that does constitute neglect. And the home environment was not one that was promoting safety. No, because shit's going down. But according to LaToya, she could not send the children to school sometimes, because the spirits would make them sick or they would be up all night with no sleep,

so they couldn't go to school. That's horrifying. She's in between a rock and a hard place. But like I said earlier, this was not the first time that DCS had been involved in the family. In 2009, a caseworker was assigned for the same reason, but at that point there was no mention of spirits or demons. It was just the kids not going to school. Not going to school and not having enough supervision, which also she's a single mother. I'm sure she's working multiple

jobs. It's a tough position to be in. But anyway, about a week after the children had been removed, Valerie Washington conducted a home visit to Latoya's house accompanied by three police officers, two of whom just joined out of, quote, professional curiosity. I honestly couldn't blame them on that, because you're like, what is going on here? Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is like a smaller town.

So people are hearing this, and they're like, I'm pretty sure this is like a smaller town. Yeah. You know, so people are hearing this and they're like, I want to go. So inside they discovered several makeshift altars around the first floor of the house as well as several circles of salt, which Latoya explained had been put in place to dissuade the demons. Which walking into that would be horrifying. Absolutely. And I'm sure these officers are like, OK. Immediately I'm sure they thought she was mentally ill. Yeah, like 100%. There's like some religious mania going on here. Yes, that's exactly what they thought was happening.

So good call. That's what I would think. So the officer officially tasked with accompanying Valerie Washington on the visit was Gary Police Captain Charles Austin. He was a veteran police officer with more than 35 years experience. And he later told a reporter that prior to his involvement in this case, he always believed in ghosts, but he did not believe in demons. But after investigating the case, he changed his mind 100%.

Among other things, he claimed there were unusual and unidentifiable, excuse me, silhouettes in the photos that officers took in the basement that day, which actually led them to believe Latoya's story of demonic possession. Oh, shit. And like those who left the house after the family wake, Austin actually believed he was followed home by some sort of entity that day that caused tons of electrical problems in his house for several days. What the fuck? This is a policeman with 35 years on the force who didn't believe in anything like this. He was like, yeah, I think there's ghosts, but like, no, there's not demons. And then he left and he was like, oh, there's demons and one followed me.

And one came to my house. No, not long after the children were removed from her custody, Latoya was informed that they would remain in the temporary custody of the state until she could prove that she was responsible and stable enough for them. So to her that meant she would have to rid her house and herself of the demons that were plaguing the family for months. Fortunately, help was actually much easier to find this time around than it had been in previous months. After hearing the story of what happened at the Methodist hospital, the hospital chaplain, David Neville, reached out to one of his colleagues, Reverend Mike Magino, the pastor at a church in nearby Merrillville. Unlike many of the other clergy in the area, Magino was actually a true believer in demons and did have some knowledge of exorcism.

Oh, we found one. We found one. We will always find one. Yeah, you got to find one. But he informed Neville that before he could do anything, he would have to speak with the family. And then if it was warranted, he would have to get permission from the bishop to perform the rite of the exorcism.

That's such an interesting... That interests me so much. Me too. Because I always thought exorcisms were one of those things where it was like a priest was like, here I come, I'm coming to do an exorcism. And it was just like, yep. The fact that there's like, they have to go through like special permissions and like, it's like a, you have to be like approved to perform this right and everything.

It's very interesting. Now you have to like jump through hoops. Yeah. And it's interesting that, like, I feel like a lot of the cases that we cover, the priest is so insistent on getting the bishop's permission. They're like, I'm not fucking around without his permission. Exactly. Then you have Ed and Lorraine who are always calling the archdiocese. It's crazy. Always. Always getting permission somehow. Always getting permission, but then the archdiocese, they forget.

They're like, no, no permission was made. They quickly get one of those men in black, like mind eraser things. They're like, we didn't do that. We didn't do that. And then they're like, they did it. They did. Totally shut up. They lie.

So in late April, Mugino met with Latoya and Rosette, their new rental apartment in Gary, where they gave him the lowdown on everything that happened in the previous months. Everything they told him was compelling, but he asked for permission to review any additional material, including any law enforcement or hospital footage or documentation, and they agreed to provide it. But it wasn't until he accompanied Latoya and two Gary officers back into the home that his belief in Latoya's case was absolutely cemented. According to the reverend, when LaToya entered the house for the first time since my interview with her, oil seemed to condense and drip onto the steps from the crosses she made above. It also appeared all over the blinds in her

bedroom. Yet, when he reviewed the police footage from the walkthrough later that afternoon, there was no traces of oil or any other unexplained phenomena that actually occurred like when he was visiting. What? Strange. Despite what he believed was compelling evidence of demonic possession, the bishop, Dale Melchick, I think, denied his initial request for permission to perform an exorcism. The archbishop said no. Denied. He did, however, suggest that Maginot, uh, Maginot, excuse me, contact other priests in the area and ask them for training in the right of a minor exorcism. Oh, bitch.

I didn't know there was different levels of exorcism. There are. And now I'm so interested. I think it'd be fun to kind of talk about on an episode. Yes. And like dive into the different levels. Because I didn't know all this. I didn't either.

So you can do a minor exorcism, and that does not require the church's approval. Those are the ones I'm thinking about, where they just run on in and perform an exorcism. Yeah, loophole. In the case of a minor exorcism, a clergy member will use prayer and religious symbols and other statements to drive out any negative entities that

might be in the home or space. So after making some phone calls, the reverend did locate a priest who was willing to provide the information necessary, and about a week later, Maginot was back at Latoya's former house, this time to drive out whatever had been tormenting the family. So in addition to himself and Latoya, the exorcism was attended by Virginia Washington, the caseworker, and officer Samantha Illich, I think it is, from the Gary Police Department and another unnamed officer. Samantha had been at the previous walkthrough and was actually somewhat skeptical of Latoya's claims, but was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She was like, I want to see this. I want to see this shit.

Because and she's like, you know, my captain there has become a believer. Yeah, maybe I will. After leaving the house that afternoon, she said she was fully convinced something evil was in that house. Damn. She said, we felt like someone was in the room with you, like someone breathing down your neck. Oh, I hate that. Yeah. So as Maginot prayed throughout each room of the house, he instructed Latoya to look up the names of the demons that could possibly be inhabiting the house. But each time she tried to do so, the computer would shut down without explanation. That's why you need an ancient tome.

Of course. No, stop using technology. Nope. You need ancient tome. You need ancient dusty ass tome. Has anyone watched Buffy? Where you're flipping through. Yeah. And it makes that sound.

And you find your spot. And you find the demon. It's true. That's what it is. But the deeper she dug for the right name, the sicker and more lightheaded she got, making the process so arduous and just completely unpleasant. So finally they discovered the demons inhabiting the home were Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies. Beelzebub? Beelzebub, thank you. The Lord of the Flies and

quote other high ranking demons, including lieutenants and sergeants that torture and hurt kids. I didn't know those were things. I did not know there were lieutenants and sergeants. I also didn't know they had rankings among the demons. It's a whole community. I had no idea. Yeah, I didn't either. It's very militaristic. It is. I don't like that. I'm not into it. The fact that Beelzebub is there, like you... Damn. Don't say it too many times in my house, please. You got like the... You got the demon. Yeah. I'm quite frankly Palo Santo-ing the room after this. Yeah, as you should. Yeah, with the windows open. Palo Santo me too, please, before I leave. Oh, I will. Whenever we talk about demons, I think we should start Palo Santo-ing, because I do think some weird energy is building up in the pod lab and we're in my house right now and that shit's not welcome.

Yeah, it's not happening. Thank you. So the prayer and ritual went on for several hours during which time Latoya was becoming more weak, more exhausted. She later said, I was hurting all over from the inside out. I'm trying to do my best and be strong. But eventually she fell asleep, which she said was, quote, the demon's way of lessening the ritual's effect, like knocked her out essentially. Ultimately, Maginot performed a Maginot, I keep going to say like making it fancier. I love it. Maginot performed three exorcisms between May and June, during which time Latoya and Rosa actually had moved to Indianapolis, but they drove back to Gary for each ritual.

Oh, wow. Because I think, I don't know if she was paying rent on this house and her next house, but she's trying to get her kids back. You can tell. But finally, at the last exorcism in June, Maginot changed tactics and, quote, paraded the demons in Latin rather than English, which he claimed was the key to successfully driving them out. And at hearing the Latin words in scripture, Latoya started to convulse and then went slack and seemed to be asleep. He said a prayer of thanks over her sleeping body, and when she woke

up, she and Rosa went back to Indianapolis, where they claim they have not experienced any demonic activity since So in cabin in the woods when he says do not read the Latin he's wrong Apparently you read the I think you can only read the Latin if you know the Latin and yeah what you're saying Yeah, you don't want to just read willy-nilly Never if we tell you one thing if you take one thing away from this episode never read Latin willy-nilly Yeah, don't just willy-nilly. You got to know about the Latin. But in November 2012, roughly one year after this whole ordeal began, LaToya did regain custody of all three children, and her entire family started participating in in-home based therapy services. According to one report

filed with DCS, they, quote, have not experienced any issues with demonic presences or spirits in the home in Indianapolis, and are moving on from that point in their lives. Damn. The report goes on to say, the family continues to attend church regularly on Sunday, but the family is no longer fixated solely on religion to explain or cope with the children's behavior issues. Whoa. So I think DCF definitely was like, there's too much. Yeah. Reliance on religion going on here to a point where it's dangerous. Religious mania. Yes, exactly.

In 2014, a long form article in the Indianapolis Star about the family's experience generated an unexpectedly large amount of national attention and thrust the family right back into the spotlight. Latoya said, I figured that I'd get an uproar from my hometown, but I never imagined that it would go viral. Just four days later, Zack Bagans of Ghost Adventures. Who? Zack Bagans.

Oh, a man named Zack Bagans? I don't know if you've heard of him. He bought the house from the owner for $35,000 and subsequently made a television documentary about the house, which I will be watching today. I will be watching that later. Yep. He referred to it as the next Amityville.

Wow. And I added, but real. I was just going to say, I don't know if you want to throw that one on there. Yeah, I'm like, don't do that. Because you're like, the next hoax. That's not good. I believe in this one a lot more.

I definitely, like, I'll be honest, I think there were probably parts of this one a lot more. I definitely, I'll be honest, I think there were probably parts of this that got dramatized. How do you say that? Dramatized? Dramatized. I always say dramatized. I feel like that's a good word. Is that a word too? Dramatized? Dramatized? You decide. I'll take both. I think there were parts of this that got both of them, that did both of those things. And I'm sure sometimes the kids were like, oh, I can't go to school. I'm a demon.

I think overall they did experience a lot of what they said. There is something very unexplained in this situation. 100%. There's something that does not. The fact that many people saw a kid walk backwards up a wall and onto the ceiling and then flip over his grandma while holding her hand. You're just never, you're never going to tell me that that wasn't a demon. Yeah, that's the thing.

So there's other things that for sure you can question. Yes. It just at least be like, huh, okay. Well, and then this next part to me, I'm like, huh, because like we all know Zach Bagan's has an entire fucking museum filled with the most haunted shit on the planet. When this documentary was finished, he had the house demolished. Just after the release of the documentary in 2016, he told a reporter, something was inside that house that had the ability to do things that I have never seen before.

Things that others carrying the highest forms of credibility couldn't explain either. There was something there that was very dark, yet highly intelligent and powerful. Whoa. So Zach Bagans was like, I don't want to fuck with that. We're demolishing that house. Holy shit. The man who will take like every haunted fucking thing into his museum. To me, that's like was like, let's get rid of this. That's like I have chills on my legs. Like to not be like, we're going to save this house

and like continue investigating. He was like, nope, no, we should just get rid of it. Completely got rid of it. So interesting. And several years later, LaToya's story was adapted into the deliverance this year. Yeah, this year. Isn't that for some reason, I thought that movie had been out for way longer. You're probably thinking of deliver. This year. Yeah, this year. Isn't that, for some reason, I thought that movie had been out for way longer. You're probably thinking of Deliverance. I was. That's exactly what I was thinking. Definitely different.

Netflix released it and it was directed by Lee Daniels and it stars Andra Day and Queen Glenn Close. Oh, and Glenn. I've never actually seen the movie. I haven't seen the movie. I've seen like the stills of like- But I've seen the clips. We're not, I'm not gonna say it.

I've seen the clips. Of Nana, Nana the stills of like, I'm not gonna say it, of Nana, Nana Glenn there. Nana Glenn. I want to watch it and I want to watch the documentary. I'm dying to watch the documentary. Yeah. Because nothing is more fun than watching a... Zach Biggins. Zach Biggins is such a character.

Or Taps. I love a ghost hunting show. Yes, yes. Ghost adventures and... And ghost hunters. Ghost hunters. I prefer ghost hunting show. Yes, yes, ghost adventures and ghost hunters. Ghost hunters. I prefer ghost hunters personally. Yeah, me too. But there's something to be said about all of them. Isn't this an interesting case though? That was a very interesting case. Like I would say I 98% believe most of what happened there.

It's funny because we went from a straight up hoax. We went from Tom Flurry. From just straight up shenanigans. Yup. Nonsense. And then we went to the House of Flying Objects where you could be like, all right, I think there's a little bit of something happening here, but who knows what? Is it the kid going through it and there's this energy that's building?

What's going on? Right. But you think there's a little bit of each. And then you go to this one and you go, a kid walked up a wall and onto the ceiling and flipped over his grandma in front of a whole fucking room of people. Yeah.

And like- That's a different scenario. DCS, DCF caseworkers were writing things in their reports where they were like, yeah, some part, some parts of this are inexplicable. Yeah. Nurses were like, yeah, I'm pretty sure. We didn't even mean to do that either, put them in that order.

I know. That they went into nonsense to like, this might be real. No, maybe, yes. Kind of thing. It was a nice way to top off spooky season. I don't know if this is the last spooky season episode or not. I have no idea. We have a fun guest coming up that's a little bit spooky.

Yeah. But he's also just a fun guest. Yeah. He's just a wonderful human being. He's lovely. Yeah. We're going to be recording that tomorrow. So it might be the next episode after this. Yeah. And then we have our fun Halloween episode. Oh, actually, I think that's the episode after this. There you go. So I don't really know, to be honest. But you know what? Oh, the episode is fun. I'm so excited. You're gonna, you know, you're gonna get a little nifty giftie along with it. So, so look out for that. Yeah. And fun subsequent gifts to come. Yeah, because we're, we are excited about this one thing. Not really gifts. Yeah. I shouldn't say gift. Like you're not going to hold a gift in your hand.

No, a fun thing that we never do. Yeah, exactly. But we might do more of soon. Yeah. So yeah, look forward to that. And we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you walk up a wall backwards and flip over your camera after your grandma, after walking on the ceiling. My grandma.

My grandma. My eyebrows. I'm sorry. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. In the upcoming episode of Killer Psyche, we will be diving deep into the unfolding case of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuerman. Heuerman is awaiting trial for the murder of three women, with many more victims still

being linked to him. Now a recently released tell-all bail application goes into unusual details and lengths to keep him locked away, revealing shocking updates about the case. Listen as we take a closer look into the newly revealed evidence and charges, bringing new insight into what we already know about the case and what may have motivated him. Follow Killer Psyche on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to Killer Psyche and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid and The Kill List early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

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