RedHanded - Arne Cheyenne Johnson: The Devil Made Me Do It | #419

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

In 1981, nineteen-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson stabbed his landlord to death – but claimed he wasn’t guilty. Why? Because he was possessed by the literal Devil.With a wild alibi starring a possessed tween, budget exorcisms and even a cameo from America’s most notorious spooky grifters Ed and Lorraine Warren, Satan was going on trial...But would a judge believe that the horned guy himself was roaming small-town Connecticut in the early eighties? Find out as we explore the case that shocked a nation – and almost changed US law forever.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. I'm Surruti. I'm Anna. And welcome to the first week of red-handed dust. October slash Halloween Welcome Come on in The water's dark and creepy And maybe filled with toilet snakes

When you've been in the world of true crime For as long as we have You reckon that you've seen it all When it comes to wrong and making excuses Whether it's You've got the wrong guy Or I lost control You can bet those wily defence lawyers

Will do whatever it takes To weasel their clients out of facing the music But back in 1981, a smartly dressed young man named Arnie Cheyenne Johnson stood in front of a New England courtroom and claimed an alibi that the American justice system had never heard before. It wasn't me, it was the devil. And just like that, what should have been a straightforward murder case morphed into a media shitstorm,

featuring angry demons, a possessed 11-year-old boy, and even a cameo from America's most notorious Ghostbusters, Ed and Lorraine Warren. Hold on to your rosary beads. This is one hell of a story. As in any matter of faith, this case is about what you choose to believe in. The tangible facts, it turns out, are pretty straightforward.

At around 6.30pm on the 16th of February 1981, A fight broke out between two men in the small town of Brookfield, Connecticut. 19-year-old Arnie Johnson, who went by his Native American-inspired middle name Cheyenne with friends, had been hanging out with his 40-year-old landlord, Alan Bono, at the older man's apartment above the dog kennel business that he ran. Despite the age gap, the pair were firm friends who'd hit it off since Bono employed Johnson's girlfriend, Debbie Glatzel, as a groomer a few months earlier. But something went sour between them that evening, and it all kicked off on the lawn.

While stories differ on why the two guys were fighting, we do know what happened next. One of Johnson's little sisters saw him pull out a knife, and a few moments later Alan Bono fell down bleeding onto the grass. Within an hour, he'd be dead, and Cheyenne Johnson would be facing the first murder charge in all of Brookfield's 193-year history. If the cops were daunted by their very first homicide, at least they got an easy one, right? With four witnesses and just one suspect,

this looked like an open and shut case. And all their prime suspect Johnson had to say for himself was that he couldn't remember what had happened. The good men and women of the Brookfield Police Department were probably already picking out their donuts for their post-shift wind down. That is, until words started spreading around town that the kid in the cells had a bigger monkey on his back than just a short fuse and a pocket knife.

Enter Ed and Lorraine Warren, the self-styled demonologists who rose to fame with cases like the Amtivill haunting and everyone's favourite demonic doll, Annabelle. They began appearing on every TV channel and radio station that would have them, and they had big news. Satan himself had been lurking in Connecticut for the past year.

First in the body of a tween boy named David Glatzel, and now in his brother-in-law, Cheyenne Johnson. And with that went any hopes that the police had about a simple, uncomplicated murder? Now the whole world converged on Brookfield. And one thing was for sure. This was not going to be a home-by-five job. To understand this bizarrest of claims, we need to take you back to the summer of 1980.

The Glatzel family were like countless others in suburban Connecticut, honest hard-working Catholics who kept mostly to themselves. Dad, Carl, worked long hours as a refrigeration mechanic, while Mum Judy was a housewife in charge of wrangling the kids, 26-year-old daughter Debbie and sons Carl Jr., 15, Alan, 13, 19, and David, the baby of the brood at 11. Debbie's much younger boyfriend, 19-year-old Cheyenne also lived with them at their ranch-style house

nestled in an acre of woods near a Christmas tree farm in Brookfield. So far, so idyllic, until the 2nd of July. Keen to get engaged and settled down together, Debbie and Cheyenne found the perfect rental home in nearby Newton. So, naturally, Debbie roped her squad of younger brothers into helping with the move, arming David, a chubby pre-team, rocking a floppy late-70s fringe, with a broom, and she set him to work cleaning out the master bedroom, only for him to leg it out of there a short while later, pale, as if he'd seen a ghost. It wasn't until dinner that night that David told the others what had allegedly gone down.

According to the 11-year-old, a wizened old man with burnt, charred-looking skin and coal-black eyes had shoved him violently onto a waterbed because it's the 70s that the previous tenants had left behind. The man apparently looked like the devil from a Halloween costume, horns, hooves, all of it. But he also was wearing a flannel shirt and ripped a jeans because it's the 70s. And as if that weren't disturbing enough, the burnt man had pointed. at David and growled, beware. David knew instinctively that this was 70s Satan and he wanted his young 70s soul. Now at first, like any family, the Glatzel family weren't quite sure what to think of all this. Maybe David had just made the whole thing up to get out of cleaning. Or perhaps he'd given the waterbed a cheeky test drive, fallen asleep and had a bad dream. But that night,

when David woke up screaming that he'd had a night, that he'd had a night. vision of The Beast. His mum, Judy, didn't think twice. Like any decent pastor-Catholic, she skipped past alternative explanations like sleep disorders or mental health issues and went straight to her trusty Bible. So Judy called up the family's local priest, Father Jim Dennis, and asked him to come and bless the house, which he did, with prayers and holy water. But David's night terror is only worsened and were now accompanied by terrifying phenomena that Judy, Debbie and middle son Alan all attested to. There was the sound of rumbling over the house, lights flashing,

and even glasses suddenly smashing out of nowhere. The Glatzels were convinced that they had a ghost problem. So, who were they going to call? America's spookiest couple. And, you know, who also just so happened to live in Connecticut quite conveniently? Yeah, yes. Ed and Lorraine Warren. I don't think.

there is another set of people or individual person, apart from maybe Rudy Giuliani, who I have grown to hate more over the years of doing red-handed than Ed and Lorraine Warren. I despise them. Yeah, I'm not going to fight you on that. Back then, the middle-aged pair of charlatans may have looked like Sunday school teachers,

but by this point they build up a formidable trade in all things, evil. Ed claimed to be a demonologist, whilst Lorraine said, that she was a psychic. They didn't charge for their creepy consultancy services, but they made a killing on the lecture circuit and book tours and also, you know, just invented things like the Amityville Horror. And they also ran a so-called occult museum, now owned by Matt Rife, that's it. And they have that in their home.

It's packed with cursed objects from their extensive casebook, investigating over 3,000 cases of supernatural phenomena around the USA, from Faltergeistice to full-on demonic possession. If their name sounds familiar, it's because you've seen the conjuring films, which happens to be the highest grossing horror franchise of all time. I hate that so much. That makes me very angry.

The first conjuring? Great. Love it. Fantastic. And then it's just a fucking downhill journey into what was the shittest two, two and a half hours. cinema-going experience that I've had in quite a long time when we went to go watch the conjuring the last rites a few weeks ago. Yes, I was very upsetting for everyone involved. But not because we were scared.

Definitely not because of that. And if you've had the misfortune of watching it, I'm sorry. Back in the 80s, the Warrens were still riding the wave of the Amityville horror case that gripped America in the late 70s. And if you don't know it, it's your classic haunted house tale where a family was allegedly terrorised by evil spirits and flies and a pig's head flying around after moving into a home where a mass murder had occurred. Judy and Debbie Glatzel knew the Amityville story. In fact, you could even go as far as to call them Warren fan girls, because they had actually attended

several of the couple's lectures. And guess what? The Warren's just lived a tiny, hop-skip jump, 25 minute drive away from the glancels. How fucking convenient. Yes, I wonder why the devil chose Connecticut specifically to do all of his deviling. I mean, I don't know. If you have any questions about anything to do with any of this, then you sure as fuck won't find it by watching The Cundering, Ha ha!

Last Right. I know I should stop talking about it, but that film just made no fucking sense. And I know I gave a full deep dive review on it on Under the Duveh over on Patreon. But my fucking God, the level of contempt that James won and all of the people who made that film have for the horror-going audience is like nothing I've seen in quite some time. It was just like, here's a bunch of shit we've just like mixed together that doesn't make sense. And we'll just chuck it at you. And you're going to like it, you stupid idiot.

Absolutely, absolutely. And if you don't like it, I don't care because you've already paid you £20 to come and watch it. So, fuck you. Honestly, it was rage-inducing. It's just like, if you watched it and you liked it, I don't know what to say. I'm happy for you. I'm so happy for you. But just when that bit, when they go, you're not there.

When Judy turns to the fucking demon and says, you're not there. And then the demon disappears. I'm like, then what's the point of him being a fucking exorcist? If that's all you need to say to get rid of a demon. Anyway, never mind. When it came to this particular event, it appeared at first. first glance that the Glatzels and the Warrens were a match made in very convenient Connecticut heaven.

On the night of the 14th of July, Ed and Lorraine Warren first visited the Glatzel home with two Catholic priests in tow, Father Dennis and Father Grosso. They brought along their personal doctor, a man named Dr. Tony Gian Grosso, who was no relation to the aforementioned Padre. And this doctor reviewed David's medical history and declared led him totally normal. David was apparently not suffering from any form of serious illness or seizures and had a, quote, minimal learning disability that he didn't even take any medication or supplements for.

As David himself put it, Dr. Tony never said I was off my rocker or anything like that. During this visit, Lorraine Warren described how David's whole demeanor changed in front of their eyes, from an ordinary tween boy to something far more sinister. But don't take my word for it, we're going to listen to Lorraine tell you herself. Now you would watch David and he would be doodling, you know, drawing or something like that. And he'd be concentrating on what he was doing. And then he would look up and it was no longer a little 11-year-old boy. So to them, there was only one explanation.

David was under the devil's influence. With earthly causes ruled out, Ed Warren did his demonologist thing, asking the supernatural entity to knock on the table three times if it truly had the power. And according to those present that night, they heard three loud thuds. Quote, like someone took a sledgehammer and tried to break through the kitchen door. And then all the lights in the house flickered. House old objects started levitating, including a cake that reportedly left smithes. of icing on the underside of the cupboard above.

As for David, he started acting bizarrely, quoting from the Bible and even Milton's Paradise Lost, which was pretty damn impressive for an 11-year-old boy described as functionally illiterate. It's always fucking Paradise Lost, isn't it? Fucking hell. Try harder, Ed. Lorraine Warren slowly circled the room

and suddenly announced that she could sense a black misty form looming next to Little David. This was no pesky ghost. It was a full-on demonic entity. So the Warrens did everyone a massive favour and explained their five-tier philosophy for diagnosing demons. Step one. Permission.

It's the act that lets an entity into the mortal world. It's also why you should literally never have a dormant that says welcome. Oh, no. Mm-mm. Nope, nope. You can have one. Just don't let them in. Sure.

Just don't put yourself in a compromising position when you don't have. Absolutely. Why would you take such a risk? Exactly. Step two. Infestation, which is when spirits take residence in a home but remain external to the individuals within it. So ghosts, for example. Step three, oppression when a demonic entity starts to influence a targeted person's behaviour and thoughts, and then step four. The one we've all been waiting for.

Possession. When the entity gains total control over a host. Step five? Well, it's probably best for the Glatzels not to know about that one just yet. Ed Warren warned the family that David was already at the oppression stage. The family could expect him to start showing disturbing symptoms like growling, spitting profanities and even physically attacking his loved ones. David's big brother Carl remembers thinking it was odd

that the Warren's told them all of this while the children, including David, were present. It's almost like Ed Warren is telling David what he should do next. Hmm. But at the age of 15, Carl didn't really have much say in the whole situation. And soon after that initial visit, surprise, surprise, Ed's grim prophecy somehow, some way, completely inexplicably, came true. Throughout the summer holidays in August and September, David Glatzel became utterly. unrecognizable from the ordinary tween boy he'd once been.

He bowled on 60 pounds, which is a staggering 27 kilos or four stone. That's unbelievable. And he woke up every night screaming, clawing at his throat, as if he was being choked. His body would thrash around like a rag doll, and he'd break into random 30-minute frenzies of sit-ups, which according to his mother, Judy Glatzel, David, couldn't even do before. Who can't do a sit-up? Come on. Everyone can do a sit-up. What she means is I'd never seen him do a sit-up before.

It's like, it's not a pull-up. Everyone who's not elderly or infirm can do a sit-up quite. But it didn't stop with the sit-ups because apparently young David would also snarl in tongues. Her obscene insults at family members. And even once reportedly chased his grandma with enough. when she held rosary beads near him. The Glatzel's kept a constant vigil by David's bedside each night, physically restraining him to keep him from leaping out of bed and attacking them.

Judy Glatzel told a reporter how they'd know the beast was descending upon David. This is a quote. His head lowers to his chest and he slowly lifts it. When he does, his features have contorted into a snarl and there is nothing to be seen but the whites of his eyes and then he laughs a hideous laugh

so he's seen a Kubrick film then right and let's have a little listen to an audio recording of 11 year old David when he was possessed I mean I mean

I'm a I'm not I mean, it's not very nice. If I had an 11-year-old boy and he was making that noise, I'd be like, what the fuck? Yeah. But it doesn't seem like noises that an 11-year-old child couldn't make. I agree. But all in all, at this point, everyone's thinking, it's demonic possession 101.

So the warrants continue to visit regularly to support the family through David's episodes. And during these times, Lorraine reported seeing David levitate and even, darkly predict the future, snarling about grisly murders and stabbings to come. According to her, they were, quote, sitting on a powder keg that was about to blow. I don't doubt that you are, Lorraine, but I feel like it's a powder keg of your own making. You're listening to an episode of Shorthand, our weekly show for Wondry Plus subscribers. Listen exclusively and ad-free every Tuesday on Wondry Plus through Apple Podcasts and Spotify. or in the Wondriam.

All right, very quick break because I know you are gagging to get back to this particular episode. But we have to tell you a little bit about what's going on on Patreon this week. Certainly. Well, this week we have

under the duvet where I explain how hypnosis works badly, but it works. It does work. And I will tell you how I came off the pill and now the back knee's back.

We also have a little chat about Russell Brand and contemplate the composition of the soul and whether it even fucking matters. And then I do a little review on a throwback dating TV show that I watched on Channel 4 called Perfect Match where I literally couldn't believe

A, that people were smoking in clubs, because it's that old, and then all the horrific things that were coming out of people's mouths. And you can listen to all of that over on Patreon and you can watch it too, under the duvet is every week. We release it every Wednesday morning

and also on Patreon you can get red-handed, totally ad-free. and we also do monthly bonus episodes, and you can find all of that at patreon.com forward slash red-handed. Not everyone in the family was on board with the whole demon situation. Basically, if your name was Carl Glatzel, you were not on Team Supernatural. Carl Jr. told Ed Warren flat out. I think my family's nuts.

And Carl Sr. started spending most of his time at work and only coming home to sleep, which I understand not being on the angels and demons team but if your family is in this much distress and you just stop coming home that's not going to help is it Carl Senior no it's not going to help I think Carl's just like both the Carl's the Carl's is they've just had enough of all of it

oh I completely agree and understand why both of them said that they never saw supernatural spookiness like levitating kids or floating cakes actually in their opinion David was having a mental health crisis and the others, the Warren's, Judy, Alan Debbie and her boyfriend Cheyenne were only making it worse. And so, as if David's affliction wasn't enough, the family grew even more fractured and strained.

The believers in the group were not for turning. Following the Warren's advice, they began documenting David's episodes with hundreds of polaroid snaps and audio tape recordings to build up evidence for their case. Alan says Judy was still desperate for the Warren's help to be a cure, to repair her family, and she'd do whatever it took to get the demon out of David. So you know what that means.

It's exorcism time, baby. Now Ed Warren always insisted that he and his wife were good Christian people, who didn't mess about with demons themselves. They simply brought them to light. He likened them to a supernatural police department, whose job it was to bring the culprits to the powers that be for them to have to have. In this case, that was the Catholic Church and their Bible-wielding priests. But getting an exorcism approved wouldn't be easy.

Alan was surprised by the amount of paperwork and red-tapered involved, quipping that the church does not give out exorcisms like candy. Now, while the Glatzl's claim that a cardinal came to visit them, dressed all in red, with a swanky red Porsche to match. And he apparently agreed that something was serious. wrong. The diocese was reluctant to authorise an official exorcism for David. Instead, it signed off on several so-called deliverance sessions, aka an exorcism light. Four of these dire exorcisms were performed on David across the summer and autumn. Lead priest, Father

Francis Vergilac, allegedly warned the glatzels that these sessions may be so intense that death could occur, which, of course, scared the bejesus out of them. However, they were so determined to rid David of his evil entity that they agreed to go ahead anyway. The first of these sessions was a high mass conducted in the Glatsel home by four priests. The second was an intimate service with David and his family at St Joseph's Church in Brookfield.

The third was in a local convent, and the final one was a six or seven hour vigil at David's bedside, while he fought against demons in his sleep. And, just like in the films, these sessions were every bit as dramatic as you would expect. Judy and Debbie told lurid tales to the press of how David thrashed and growled and hurled obscenities at the priests, his body contorting in horrid unnatural ways.

The Warren say that this is when they realised David Glatzel was possessed by more than just a single demonic entity. He snarled the Latin names of at least, least 42 demons that had taken over his convulsing body. You name of Jesus, Jesus, we tell to you, leave this child around. It's time of your boyfriend. Yes, no, but you're about starting to read it. You're a little bit?

Jesus loves this boy. You know, I like that. I listen to his child. I mean, it does sound scary, but that's because that's not something. I mean it does sound scary but that's because it sounds like they're fucking torturing a small child During the final vigil shit started to get seriously real

David lunged at Father Vergilac Sir Ed Warren and Cheyenne Johnson had to pin each of his legs down to the bed as he thrashed and groaned Alan claims that Cheyenne pressed a crucifix to David's forehead and that it sizzled. David's tongue swelled up, and he started struggling to breathe, turning blue.

It was all too much for Cheyenne to see his little brother-in-law suffering like this. So while reports vary on the exact words he actually used, Cheyenne directly addressed the demons on multiple occasions, basically saying, come at me, bro. Now Lorraine grew frantic, while Ed gravely reminded Cheyenne of the first rule of deuce. demon club. You never challenge an evil spirit. In demonology circles, the phenomenon of an entity passing from one host to another during an exorcism is known as transmigration. And with

his reckless taunts, the Warrens were pretty sure that Cheyenne Johnson had just booked a one-way ticket to his own possession. But nothing happened straight away. According to Lorraine Warren, when you challenge the demonic, it doesn't act immediately. It waits until you are the most vulnerable. And then it strikes. Hoping for a fresh start after the whole ordeal with David, whose behaviour was still troubling the family, Debbie and Cheyenne moved out of the Glatsel home.

Debbie scored a job as a dog groomer at the Brookfield boarding kennels, which came with an apartment for her and Cheyenne to build their very own love nest. Debbie's new boss-slash-landlord, Alan Bono, was new to town after moving from Florida to make. manage his sister's business. He was a big drinker and an even bigger talker full of stories about his life, including far-flung travels in Australia. To a young couple who'd never ventured out of Connecticut, he was exciting and cool.

The trio hit her off, and for a while the future looked bright. But the devil hadn't forgotten about Cheyenne. Over the next few months, his behaviour allegedly started to change. Now it's worth bearing in mind that Demiard, Debbie Glatzel, speaking after the killing of Alan Bono, is our main source for all of this. So, maybe take it with a healthy grain of salt. But according to Debbie, one day they went back to visit the rental house, where her little brother David had supposedly met the devil.

And it was there in the garden that Cheyenne stared at something invisible and said, There he is, the beast, before gnashing his teeth and growling like an animal. Now this story has been embellished over the years, with some versions including Cheyenne apparently seeing the devil climbing out of an old well at the property, but you get the gist. Debbie also claimed that Cheyenne went into a trance-like state at least four times in a six-month period following this,

and when he came round, he'd have no memory of the incident. And one time, at his job as a tree surgeon, Cheyenne allegedly fell over a hundred feet, but mysteriously didn't have a scratch on him while the cross from a necklace he wore lay intact on his chest despite the chain snapping worst of all

apparently Cheyenne started showing random and uncharacteristic outbursts of aggression like the time he punched a set of wooden drawers in front of his mates and during one mass service at church with the glatzels Cheyenne apparently yelled son of a bitch I want to get out of him I've also said that during mass

I was going to say. I mean, whether that was the devil talking or just the sign of a boring priest is anyone's guess. And Lorraine Warren hadn't forgotten about Cheyenne's challenge to the demon either. In October 1980, she walked into the Bridgeport police station and warned Detective Glenn Cooper that she predicted a grave tragedy. Remember that fifth step of demonic possession? Well, it's actually death. either destruction of the entire family or the individual.

Lorraine warned the bewildered cops that she saw serious injury or death with a knife on the horizon for the Glastal clan. And as it turned out, she was right. What really happened on Monday the 16th of February 1981 is up for debate. So we're going to give you the facts as far as we can assemble them from witness statements and key events. It began with Cheyenne pulling a sickie from his job as an arborist.

The scyving tree surgeon invited his teenage sisters, Wanda and Janice, along with their nine-year-old cousin Mary, to come and hang out with him and Debbie at the kennels. The girls watched Debbie groom a few canine clients, and later Alan Bono took them all out to lunch at a cafe in Brookfield. He was in high spirits, telling corny jokes. And while he was knocking back the booze, Debbie claimed that she and Cheyenne only indulged in a few glasses of wine. The afternoon was uneventful.

While the girls watched Debbie at work, the men went up to Bono's apartment, where Cheyenne fixed hysteria for him. Bono cranked the music up high to what Debbie called a grating volume, and she felt like there was tension brewing in the air. When Debbie took the girls out to grab pizza, about 6pm,

she said that she was anxious to get back because she sensed that there may be trouble between her boyfriend and her boss. And Debbie's hunch was right. a drunken Bono urged them all to cram into his flat, where he apparently began being boisterous and erratic, punching his fist into the palm of his hands repeatedly. Debbie and Cheyenne say they were keen to get the girls out of what felt like an unsafe environment,

so they hustled them out towards the stairs leading to the lawn below. According to Cheyenne, that was the last thing he remembered. So, for the rest of our story, it's over to the girls. The girls' witness statements claim that Alex and Bono suddenly grabbed Little Mary and wouldn't let go of her until Debbie yanked her free. At this point, Cheyenne barreled up to Bono and confronted him, and the two men started tussling. The two youngest girls made a run for the car, while Debbie and 15-year-old Wanda attempted to break up the fight. Wanda said her big brother was like a stone, and she couldn't budge him.

The next thing she saw was the glint of a knife in the air, and then Alambonno went down. Blood soaked into the lawn. The girl's screams filled the air, and Chey and Johnson, he reportedly began growling like a dog before vanishing into the woods beyond. In the chaos after the stabbing, everything happened in a blur. Someone called 911 and a sobbing Debbie rang her family

and begged them to come. The Glatzels, all except for the younger sons, Alan and David, leapt into their truck and raced to the scene where 15-year-old Carl Jr. had to help, helplessly watch as the life drained out of Alan Bono. Alan Bono had suffered at least four stab wounds to his chest, and he died on the way to hospital. The five-inch pocket knife that Cheyenne Johnson carried everywhere

was still on the grass outside the kennels. But its owner was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, back at the Glatzel home, 13-year-old Alan was freaking the fuck out when Debbie called them to tell them what had happened his younger brother David chillingly declared that the beast was now with Cheyenne and he was on his way to kill them.

Frantic, the two lads desperately tried to barricade the doors of the house. Alan later said, Never in my life was I afraid of Cheyenne Johnson. But when David told me that he was under demonic possession, I was scared shitless. Their fears, thankfully, came to nothing. Cheyenne Johnson was apprehended at the side of the road roughly two miles from the sight of the stabbing,

having wandered seemingly aimlessly on foot. As Alan Bono was still clinging to life at this point, Cheyenne was initially arrested for assault. But later, at Police HQ in Brookfield, officers broke the news that his victim had died. Did Cheyenne cry, scream, expressed remorse? No. He reportedly became incoherent and fell asleep for 20 minutes. When Cheyenne eventually woke up, he was taken to the Bridgeport Correctional Center

and charged with first-degree murder. According to Detective Glenn Cooper, he asked the police what had happened and claimed that he couldn't remember a thing. When they told him that he'd killed his friend, Cheyenne insisted that they must have the wrong guy. And to Cooper, it didn't sound like the usual excuses of a criminal. Rather, it seemed that Cheyenne genuinely seemed shocked to hear what he'd supposed to. But Cheyenne Johnson wasn't the one who first said that he was possessed by the devil.

It was the Warrens and the Glatzels who got that particular ball rolling. Debbie eagerly told police what David, who, let's not forget, was still infested with his own demons, had said about seeing the beast take over Cheyenne's body. It was the only explanation that made sense to both the Glatzels and Cheyenne's mum Mary, who insisted to the press that her blonde curly-haired boy was a total cherub. He played Little League growing up, sang in the church choir and had no criminal record, and the most convincing argument of all. He had short hair and he did not use drugs.

With Cheyenne, behind bars awaiting trial, Judy and Debbie Glatzel spilled the details of all of their demonic possession saga with the series of emotional interviews. Meanwhile, the Warren shouted from the rooftops that the devil was on a rampage in Connecticut, stoking up a media firestorm and drawing press from all around the world, which is what they do best, and is the only reason we know their names. The police were bewildered.

As long-suffering Chief John Anderson told the press, they'd found nothing out of the ordinary in their investigation, though even he admitted he couldn't personally acknowledge or dispute whether Cheyenne was under demonic influence at the time. That was above his spiritual pay grade. But as the headlines splashed across international papers told it, one thing was clear. This was anything but your average murder.

Before anyone could even blink, reporters were camped out outside the Glatzel's front door. The media savvy warrens wasted no time in milking the publicity machine dry, appearing on countless radio and TV shows to pedal their shocking claims. And the dust had barely settled on Alan Bono's grave when the pair revealed that a book based on the case was already in the works and even teased potential Hollywood movie deals.

Why not? They'd done it before. Quite. Writing for the Washington Post in September 1981, journalist Lynn Darling summed up the couple's role in the demonic saga by calling Lorraine an affable denmother and Ed an impresario to the occult. Social workers and spin doctors all at once.

In other words, the devil might be all over the front page, but the Warrens were very much the ones pulling the strings. Now, unsurprisingly, many sceptics suspected that the Warrens had their own skin in the game. Among their critics was famous mentalist George Kresker, aka the Amazing Kreskin, who accused the couple of preying on public superstitions to sell their vaudeville act. Their motivations? Money, fame, and even more money.

But the Warrens refused to let their halo slip, repeatedly promising that their sole aim was to warn the public of the very real dangers of Satan they insisted that this case represented a battle between good and evil but instead it became a battle between those who believed

and those who did not and where was the church in all of this as the media circus exploded it turned out they were keeping pretty quiet local priests were banned from speaking to the press while a representative from the Diocese of Bridgeport firmly shut down the rumours swirling around that David Glatzel had been the subject of multiple exorcisms.

Father Nicholas Gryko told reporters that it was a delicate situation where the church was reluctant to jump the gun because while demonic possession is a real phenomenon according to Catholic ideology, it doesn't happen often. He also clarified that while a few minor deliverance sessions had taken place, no formal exorcism was ever.

requested or performed. Something that the Glatzels blasted as a lie since they had desperately wanted an official exorcism for their son. It turned into an embarrassing he said, she said situation where everyone came out looking pretty bonkers, to be honest. The Catholic Church

have long been trying to divorce themselves from the hell that they invented to get money out of people. Now Judy Glatzel publicly slammed the church for abandoning their family and asked why it was so hard for the public to believe that the devil was in her child. After all, he was everywhere

to be seen in their gambling, drinking, vice-ridden nation. And, according to Judy Glatzel, if you believed in God, then you also had to believe in the devil. Which, like, that argument I can agree with in terms of the Catholic ideology, you literally cannot have one without the other, it's kind of the whole bag. If there's no devil, then who was tempting Jesus in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights? Like, you have to have both, or none of it matters. or makes sense. Yeah, I mean, spoken like a classic satanic panic mum, but I think Judy has a point.

In the early 90s in a traditional religious community like Brookfield, most people would have believed in these core tenants. A national gallop poll taken in 1980 for the Journal of Christianity today found that 34% of adults believed that the devil was, quote, a personal being who directs evil forces and influences people to do wrong. So, as mad as it might sound to us more, modern-day heathens. Perhaps it wasn't so crazy to consider that David Glatzel and Cheyenne Johnson really were possessed. So let's play devil's advocate and say that the devil

really had been in Connecticut between July 1980 and February 1981. Surely the big question then became, was he still there? According to Judy, the answer was yes. David was enrolled in a special school for children with emotional and physical needs in November 1980, but in the lead-up to Cheyenne's trial scheduled for late 1981, he continued to still suffer from vicious night terrors and demonic visitations. Judy told the press that David's demon count had actually increased from 43 to 47. They described the ongoing haunting of their family home, with Judy blasting the spirits as punks for engaging in poltergeisty shenanigans like dumping her makeup on the floor,

while in the same breath, revealing horrors like being clawed at in their beds every night. Life in the Glatsel home was still a nightmare, no matter how many candles they lit, or psalms they read out loud, to ward off evil entities. And as for Cheyenne, funnily enough, Lorraine Warren reckoned that the demon had achieved its goal

by taking one life and destroying his, so it had gone on its merry way. The key thing was that Cheyenne had been possessed at the time of the stabbing, and that was going to be his golden ticket to getting away with it. At least, that was what Cheyenne's defence lawyer Martin Manella reckoned. He'd never believed in paranormal stuff before taking on this case, but after a few cosy chats with the Warrens and a spot of his own research,

Manella said he was now a believer. Of course, I'm sure it also helped that this was one of the biggest cases in America at the time and taking it on for free would likely reap lucrative. clients in the future. And Manila knew damn well that if his gamble worked, he would be carving his name into legal history by arguing that his client wasn't guilty because he was literally possessed by a demon. And just to be clear, we're not talking about insanity, we're not talking diminished responsibility. No, no, no. It was a full, that stand-alone, the devil really truly made me do it defense. A confident Manella told the press, I'm going to

show the guy isn't insane, that it's not a delusion. The courts have dealt with the existence of God, and now they're going to have to deal with the existence of the devil. It sounded crazy, but it might just bloody work. The trial of Cheyenne Johnson kicked off on the 28th of October 1981. Prosecutor Walter D. Flanagan shrugged off concerns that Bonilla's Maverick defence strategy could be a potential threat, sassily remarking, this is a case the media and the Warrens have spent a good deal of time publicising for their own, I suspect, financial interest. But as far as I'm concerned, this is a routine homicide. For the charge of first-degree murder, Cheyenne was facing a whopping 25 years to life.

But Martin Manella was confident that it just wouldn't come to that. Here's what he had to say. I could put the Pope on and he'd tell you that if a guy is demonically possessed, he is not responsible. I'd love to see you try. So, game on. God and the devil and the judge were all crammed into one tiny Connecticut courtroom

and Arnie Sheehan Johnson wasn't the only defendant in the dock The devil himself was about to go on trial Until Judge Robert Callaghan hit the brakes And said a big fat hell no In a shock move at the start of the trial Judge Callahan immediately tossed out

Manella's motion to plead not guilty by reason of demonic possession. Regardless of whether it was possible, Callahan insisted that evidence pointing to a supernatural cause would be irrelevant, unprovable, and needlessly confusing to a jury. I agree with him, but I'd be really interested to know

if the existence of God has been cross-examined on the stand in the same way. Because it sounds like Mandela thinks it has. I know. I read that and I was like, I don't know specifically what case. he's referring to when he says the existence of God has been dealt with by the cause. But no, I think Callahan was probably right.

It's going to lead the whole trial down a very specific route that I feel like is a distraction. I agree, but from my, like... Yeah, I know. I'm saying I genuinely don't know what trial he's talking about when he says the issue of God has been spoken about. I think from my like satanic temple fan girl seat, I'm just like, okay, but why are you making swear on a Bible then? Like if God's not in the courtroom, you know, like I can see why Manila thought he was going to get it. Because it's one of those things where like Clarence Dara and the Monkey Trial where like just a lawyer just shines an impenetrable spotlight on a really big problem with the law and then it all just sort of goes from there.

I really understand why Robert Callahan was like, I really don't want to have to do that. Yeah, absolutely. And reviewing the case in 2024, Gabriella Miller of the Vermont Law Review wrote that if the judge had allowed this evidence, So had allowed the plea deal of not guilty by reason of demonic possession, legal observers predicted that it would have set a precedent for others to use the same defence and would hamstring law enforcement moving forward. But she's not wrong. No.

So basically, if that had happened, we might well be living in a world today where you could get out of paying like a parking fine because a demon snuck its way into your morning Cheerios. So this ruling utterly torpedoed Martin Manella's game plan. He'd been counting on shocking the courtroom with the warrant tapes and exorcism photos, and had even gleefully announced a plan to defy the Catholic Church's gag order by subpoenaing priests. Now, the jury were under strict instructions not to consider the occult as a factor in the killing of Alan Bono in February 1980. Still, Manila clung to a shred of hope. After all, the story was splashed across newsstands from coast to coast.

No matter how hard Judge Callahan may try to back. banished the devil from his courtroom. The cat was already well and truly out of the bag. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well researched.

Of the 880 men who survived the attack, around 400 would eventually find their way to one another and merge into one larger group. With a touch of humor. Shout out to her. Shout out to all my therapist out there's been like eight of them. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. That motherfucker is not real. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal. Or you love to hop in the way back machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes.

You should tune in to our podcast. Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad free by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. You know those creepy stories that give you goosebumps? The ones that make you really question what's real? Well, what if I told you that some of the strangest, darkest, and most mysterious stories are not found in haunted houses or abandoned forests, but instead in hospital rooms and

doctor's offices? Hi, I'm Mr. Ballin, the host of Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries. And each week on my podcast, you can expect to hear stories about bizarre illnesses no one can explain, miraculous recoveries that shouldn't have happened, and cases so baffling, they stumped even the best doctors. So if you crave totally true and thoroughly twisted horror stories and mysteries, Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries should be your new go-to weekly show. Listen to Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the

Wondry app or on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. With the devil on the bench and just a regular Joe in the dock, most of the national reporters had bugged off by the third day of the trial, I certainly would have. And Cheyenne later said that he felt abandoned and robbed of the chance to tell his story. Now the ball was in the prosecution's court and honestly, slam dunk. Prosecutor Flanagan didn't bother with a motive.

He let the cold hard facts do the talking. Signed witness statements from Cheyenne's sisters left no room for doubt that he was the one who stabbed Alan Bono. The medical examiner testified that he was stabbed four times in the chest and once in the shoulder with two fatal blows piercing his heart up to seven inches deep. These wounds were consistent with Cheyenne's personal blade that he carried everywhere, which was found just yards away from Alan Bono's body. Shooting for first-degree murder, Flanagan stressed that the number and depth of wounds

made it clear that Cheyenne Johnson intended to kill. The thing is, the trial of Cheyenne Johnson didn't need any spooky demons or Halloween stories to explain what happened. According to the prosecution, the real evils at play were the ordinary humankind. The first potential deadly sin? Jealousy. Rumors persisted that Debbie Glastell and Alan Bono, her boss, were having an affair, introducing a juicy new love triangle angle to the case. Debbie admitted to Detective Glenn Cooper that she and Alan Bono,

Bono had once been involved, but she insisted that that was over, and the stabbing had nothing to do with it. So it all came down really to two things. Cheyenne's supporters said he was possessed, while others, like Debbie's own brother, Carl Jr., called him possessive. The Star Cross Lovers' romance came under further scrutiny when the papers picked up on how Debbie and Cheyenne first met when she was 19, and he had been just 12. For Cheyenne, it had been love at first slight, although Debbie didn't agree to officially start dating until he turned 16. And for last orders, the demon drink. Flanagan brought in a waitress who testified that she served the party 13 to 15 glasses of wine over lunch that day, which among three adults is quite a lot.

It seemed like most of it was put away by Alan Bono, whose blood alcohol level shortly after death measured 0.33%. more than triple the state's driving limit of 0.1. In contrast, Cheyenne Johnson's result came back at just 0.03. Still, the state's chief toxicologist explained that Cheyenne's blood sample wasn't taken until four hours after Bono died, so given how alcohol metabolises, it's likely that he was in fact legally intoxicated at the time of the stabbing. I always think using the parameter of like driving limit to show how driving. drunk someone is, is odd.

Because the driving limit is always very, very, very low. So being triple the driving limit, it's probably not that drunk, you know? I mean, yeah, I don't know. I don't know how drunk. I don't know either. I just, it's always struck me as a very odd thing. When you Google it, it's like an alcohol blood content of 0.3% is extremely dangerous, signifying severe alcohol intoxication and high risk of losing consciousness, coma and

even death, and he was a mild percentage point even higher than that. I don't doubt that he was absolutely mortal, but I always just think it's an odd measure. Yeah, I don't know. Dammingly, a paramedic recalled Debbie Glatzel sobbing to her dad at the scene, Oh, Daddy, he didn't mean to do it, but you know how he gets when he's drinking. And Sergeant Gordon Fairchild revealed that, on the way to the police station, Cheyenne told him, I need help, because I've got a drinking problem. So could it be that sexual jealousy and liquid confidence

had created a deadly cocktail? Suddenly, the idea of a demon taking the wheel had started to lose its grip. So, with the devil's defence off the table, Manella needed to pivot and fast. He switched to a plea of manslaughter in self-defence, arguing that because Cheyenne had impulsively pulled the knife during a tussle, it wasn't first-degree murder.

Manella later admitted it was a half-bake plan. Anyone could see that if you stab a guy at least four times in the heart, you're not just trying to defend yourself anymore. But it was the only card the defence had left to play. And now they had to see if it'd fold. The jury deliberated for three days before finding Cheyenne Johnson, not guilty of murder, but guilty of first-degree manslaughter,

which still carried hefty prison time. On the 18th of December 1981, Judge Callaghan handed him the highest possible sentence of 10 to 20 years in a maximum security prison. But demonic possession notwithstanding, Cheyenne clearly had divine intervention, or just spectacularly good luck on his side. Described as a model inmate, he ended up serving just under five years at the Connecticut Correctional Institute. He and Debbie had a jailhouse wedding in January 1985. a year before his release. From there, it was less dark shadows and more white picket fences. The couple built a family and stuck together for decades

until Debbie died from cancer in 2021. Today, Cheyenne said his stint behind bars brought him closer to his faith, and he no longer feels in danger of being possessed. Considering that the courts called bullshit on his brush with the devil, we'd say that he got off pretty lightly in the end. Back in the 80s, The story didn't end with the cell doors closing on Cheyenne, however.

Curiously, David Glatzel seemed to get better. By 1982, he was no longer exhibiting any signs of demonic possession. Evidently, the devil had just got bored and tutled off to haunt some other unsuspecting soul. On a wider scale, the case lived on, largely thanks to everybody's favourite supernatural swindlers, Ed and Lorraine Warren. True to their word in 1983, they published a book, written, by mystical theologist Gerald Brittle, titled The Devil in Connecticut. The book was a sensation, cementing the Warrens as America's top spooky bitches. But over time, the relationship between them and the glatzels started to sour.

Whilst Judy and Carl Sr. reportedly received around $2,000 from the book deal, was obvious that Ed and Lorraine were dining out on way more than that, with eldest son Carl Jr. claiming that they earned at least 81,000, dollars from sales and publicity. The driving factor throughout all of this appeared to be money. The Warrens had seemingly promised the family that the case would make them millionaires, with David claiming. Lorraine told me I was going to be a rich little boy from this book deal.

That was a lie. The Warren's made a lot of money off us. If they can profit off you, they will. Gradually, even hardcore Warren Stan, Judy, started to realise that she'd been played, and she lost faith in former bosom buddy Lorraine. As Carl Jr. puts it, they were very good con people. And it wasn't just about the money. It was about trust. Carl Glatzel Jr. had been a consistently vocal critic

of how the Warrens exploited the cracks in their family, which he says was miles away from the wholesome nuclear unit that they presented to outsiders for their own game. From the earliest days of David's supposed possession, the Glatzel clan had to pick sides as their family was torn apart. Back then, Carl Jr. was alienated from his mum and his siblings for not going along with the story that the devil was inside his little brother. It was even harder to accept his mum, Judy,

trying to portray herself as a holy roller. While in reality, she'd never even gone to church before Ed and Lorraine Warren came on the scene. From Carl's perspective, the whole thing was a hoax. and a show, propagated by the Warrens to create content for their brand. Which, children, is all they ever did. They trained David on how to act, with him copying every move that they predicted. And instead of helping David, when he appeared to be suffering, they shoved cameras and audio recorders in his face instead.

Carl Jr. told the Netflix documentary crew about a time when their usually distant dad burst into the room and smacked David ordering him to cut the crap and sure enough. he did. He rolled his eyes and said, I'm glad at least the devil listens to my father. Even decades later, the Glatzor family feud was still raging. In 2006, Carl Glatzor Jr. decided it was finally time to fight back against the bullshit. In a public statement, he declared the following. My brother was never possessed. He, along with my family, were manipulated and exploited, something the Warrens were very good at.

They concocted a phony story about demons in an attempt to get rich and famous at our expense. And while Carl has always been the villain of the story in his family's eyes, now he had David, the possessed preteen himself on his side. By now, all grown up, David admitted the following. Ed and Lorraine told me I was possessed,

so I fed into it. They told me how to act, so I acted that way. I wanted attention and I got it, but it wasn't possession. In 2007, the brothers jointly sued and newly widowed Lorraine Warren and author Gerald Brittle for Invasion of Privacy, Emotional Distress and Libell. They branded the Warren's fame-seeking frauds who peddled an international hoax and the book as a series of bizarre incidents twisted into malicious untruths for profit. Carl insisted that the Warrens robbed them of their childhood and education,

with the publicity turning them into social outcasts who were forced to drop out of school early. Lorraine then in her 80s brushed it off as upsetting but maintained that the Glatzel family had willingly cooperated in the book. Author Gerald Brittle backed her up, claiming to have over 100 hours of taped interviews with the family who signed off on the final draft

before the publication, and it looks like the court sided with them. The lawsuit fizzled out on insubstantial grounds. Not that Carl Jr. ever let it go. He built a website that you can still find online. It's called Devil Busted in CT, where he laid out all of his evidence against the Warrens and announced that he and David were writing their own tell-all book about the case.

Entitled alone through the valley, the brothers called it an important and disturbing tale of dysfunction, greed and manipulation. But that book never happened. But Carl has never budged on his public stance. that it was all just a big hoax. Now we can't say the same for the star of the show, David. By the time the Netflix documentary, The Devil on Trial, came out in 2023,

he'd flip-flopped right back to insisting that he really was possessed in 1980. The film's director, Chris Holt, said afterwards that he believed everyone he interviewed, whether they swore the devil was real or laughed in his face, were being sincere. Which is what makes this case so bloody fascinating. It isn't just a black and white matter of lies versus truth.

Something was clearly going on with David Glastell in the early 80s. Something powerful enough that a child could be coaxed into believing he really was possessed. So, let's talk theories. First up, some kind of mental health crisis. During the satanic panic craze in 1980s America, blaming the devil became a handy way to dodge the fact that access to proper mental health care was frankly abysmal. and conditions like Tourette's syndrome can cause sudden vocal outbursts

and jerky physical tics that to the untrained eye might seem like possession. Number two, maybe a sleep disorder. We said it before in our shorthand on the Sally House. I'll say it again. Dodgy sleep can explain a lot of paranormal shenanigans. Sleep paralysis in particular is notorious

for summoning shadowy intruders. Around the world, sufferers report eerily similar figures like the old hag, a witch-like figure who presses down on your chest and one of the creepier guest stars of the sleep paralysis multiverse, the flannel man. So many people have reported

seeing a bearded man in a flannel shirt silently staring down at them at night. So many people have done this in fact that he's become his very own urban legend. Do you know about the hat man? No. So the hat man is a phenomenon urban legend that if you take Benadryl to go to sleep,

the antihistamine, you are met with the hatband in your sleep. And he's just like a dark shadowy hatman. So a similar thing, but it's like Benadryl-related. But we're going to leave it to Carl Glatzel Jr. to float the darkest theory of all. In the 2023 documentary, he made the bombshell claim that Judy Glatzl may have been slipping Sominex, a common over-the-counter sleep aid, into her family's food for years. After her death in 2011, Carl says that he found a note from. the time they all went nuts, where Judy had written,

the family had their medicine tonight and everything was good. We're not sure what led him to join the dots on the Somminax, but Carl Juni is convinced that his strong-out mom was using the drug to control all of us boys and my dad. And he also pointed to how long-term Sominix usage has been linked to symptoms like mood swings, weight gain, and even hallucinations. Dr Rami N Kaya, a specialist in sleep medicine,

confirms that the active ingredient of Sominex can cause hallucinations and delirium if the dose is extremely high. So who knows? Maybe the real devil isn't lurking under your bed. He's in the kitchen pouring your cocoa. Back in 2007, the following words were in all caps on the devil busted in CT website.

There will be no devil in Connecticut movie, which is pretty awkward, to say the least. because in 2021, against Carl's wishes, the story finally got the Hollywood treatment in the form of the Cundering Three. The devil made me do it. To date, the franchises grossed a whopping $2.2 billion worldwide. And of course it didn't end there,

as you've heard us moan about, the final, thankfully, conjuring film came out this year. So Lorraine Warren kind of got the last laugh. When she died in 2019 at the age of 92, let's just say she was a very rich lady. Sheehan Johnson's devil made me do it, schick, was the first, and to this day, only time such a defence was officially submitted in US law. Just to be clear, there's a difference between saying,

I thought the devil made me do it because I'm mentally ill, and no, no, the devil actually made me do it because I was truly demonically possessed. That's what we're talking about here. Now other defendants have got lesser sentences from pleading insanity, but no one's ever gone full, latent with it. The Vermont Law Review actually calls it an impractical defence, because it basically means you're dodging responsibility for your own actions, but the proof to back that up is always

going to be pretty nebulous. So the takeaway here, if you ever end up in the dock, maybe don't try pin it on our old pal, Lucifer, because it probably won't end well. Although, he only got five years. Well, he only did five years. This is true. So that's it. guys, that is the true story behind what really happened in that Glatzel house. I don't know. The conjuring three is fine if you really insist on watching it. But yeah, I guess now after being reminded how upset Carl Jr. was by that film being made and how much money it made the fucking Warrens, don't watch it.

Don't watch any of it. Yeah, I just think that the true evil, the true devil in Connecticut, and Lorraine Warren. I agree, sadly. And I am going to look into God in the courtroom because nothing makes me happier and less angry about the warrants which I currently am quite than poking holes in systems of legal justice. Well, I will look forward to an update on that.

And we will see you next week, where we get even more. To listen to shorthand every week, start your seven-day free trial with Wondry Plus and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or in the Wondry app.