The Exorcist Files - Case #01 - No Life Without Death - Pt. 2

Episode Date: January 26, 2023

With Cheryl’s behavior becoming increasingly erratic, Mark struggles with what to do, ultimately seeking assistance from an unlikely neighbor. Father Martins arrives on the scene to determine if the battle is one of the mind or ultimately spiritual in nature.Want more Exorcist Files Content? Subscribe to The Vault for exclusive deep dives into past cases and Ask Me Anything Episodes with Father Martins. SPONSORS OF TODAYS EPISODEFireBreaker Series-    A dramatic and epic adventure recounting the legend of George and the Dragon. A fun narrative podcast that is great for the family, starring Wizards of Waverly Place Star David Henrie.  Click here to listenExodus90- Ultimate men's spiritual formation curriculum. Co-hosted by Father Martins. Join the St. Michael's Lent with a group of likeminded warriors.   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you crave more Exorcist Files content? Do you want to go deeper into theology and spiritual warfare? Well, you're going to want to subscribe to The Vault, our new premium subscriber program. The Vault is our way of ensuring we bring you content all year long. Subscribers will get access to exclusive once a month, Ask Me Anything episodes with Father Martins, where you can submit questions and vote on the ones you want him to answer most. You'll also get access to a very special case behind the case series,

where we relisten to past episodes and cases, and Father reflects back on insights and anecdotes he just didn't have time to get into in the podcast. To subscribe, head on over to Exorcistfiles.tv and sign up, or just click the link in the show notes. Again, that's exorcistfiles.tv to get access to the vault. The way the devil experiences reality is not the way we do. We experience reality as a corporeal being in space and time.

The devil does not. He is not limited by space. So he is just as present right now to me as he is to the deepest place in the bottom of the ocean, as he is to the edge of the universe, because he has no body. The devil doesn't travel. He's already there. So when he is quote unquote present in a person, place, or thing, it's merely because he has gained some additional.

legal jurisdiction that enables him to interact in a more authoritative way. And getting rid of that legal connection that he has with that person, place, or thing, that is the job of the Exorcist. Welcome back to The Exorcist Files, the deep dive into the true case files of Exorcist Father Carlos Martens. I'm your co-host, Ryan Bethay, and I'm excited to help bring Father's stories into the world. Now, in today's episode, we continue the story. story of Mark and Cheryl and their struggle against an ever-growing darkness. If you're joining us for the first time, welcome.

I recommend you listen to part one of this story before moving forward. We are dropping right back into Cheryl's first major manifestation. So as a reminder, listener discretion is advised, as this is a heavy subject. Get out of my way. This ends now. Don't you dare. Put that back. I should have stopped this soon.

They are mine. I want to get pregnant. I have to get pregnant. This is how we get pregnant, you blindfold. Just calm down. All you can see is the death around you. Instead of the life inside of me, look beyond the material.

Their death now has a cosmic purpose. He will give us a child. I can't do this. This is demented. The energy of old begins. Energy of new. Never energize your fears. Energize your beliefs.

Move beyond the limits of the small-minded harness the frequencies of matter and create new flowers. Please. You leave them alone. I get the broom. Thin brain cretan. For once in your witless life.

Open your eyes. See beyond death. We are stronger than death. When Cheryl screamed this last sentence, a shiver ran up Mark's spine. Although it was Cheryl that said it, it was not her voice that came out of her mouth. The scream was deep and low. and resonated off the wall of the kitchen. Stunned by what happened,

Mark got into the car and went for a drive. He was bewildered and unsure of what to do next. Cheryl had never made an outburst like this before. It just wasn't in her personality to do so. This is a good time to mention that personality changes are one of the more common external displays of possession. German religious psychologist T.K. Osterich wrote the book, possession, demoniacal, and other, which was a key influence for William Peter Bladdy's vision

for The Exorcist. In it, he wrote, The Patient's Organism appears to be invaded by a new personality, governed by a strange spirit. It is as if another spirit had entered into the body and subsisted there in place of or side by side with the normal subject. After driving around for a while, Mark finally calmed down. He picked up some dinner for the two of them and headed back home. You're okay? I'm so sorry. I don't remember what happened.

I'm not... I just remember getting mad at you. And the next thing I know, you're driving away. It's so fuzzy. I'm sorry. It's okay, it's okay. It's okay. Mark, something is wrong.

I had so much anger. I just remember this rage. And then I blacked out. Shh, shh, shh. Look, we all get angry, okay? Everything's fine. You're fine. Look, I'm already over it.

Okay? I brought home dinner, all right? Look at me. Hey, it's okay. Come here. Come here. Come here. Just breathe.

Just breathe. Just breathe. In the week following that incident in the kitchen, Cheryl's behavior became even stranger. There was now a dead bird on the living room windowsill, and six times. Sometimes Mark heard Cheryl speaking baby talk in the nursery, not just a sentence or two, but a conversation lasting five to ten minutes.

Yes. Hello there. Cheryl. Your life. Mark could see Cheryl made cash withdrawals almost every day from their checking account, $200 a day for five days straight. One of their credit cards also had daily ride-sharing charges on it. Since they had only one car, which Mark used to go to work,

it wasn't unusual for Cheryl to use a ride-sharing service. But she had never used it this much. Mark wondered what was going on, but after what happened earlier in the week, he was afraid to confront her. So he devised a plan. The next day Mark left his house at the same time he always did. Babe, I'm off. You too.

Love you. I'll be back by five, okay? But instead of going to work, he parked his car further up the street, and there he waited. After about 30 minutes, a ride-share vehicle pulled into his driveway. Cheryl got in the car, and just as he had suspected, the driver dropped her off at the bank. Using his phone, Mark could see she withdrew $200. Then she was back in the car, and it pulled away. Mark followed.

The car headed downtown and stopped in front of an old house with a large sign over the front door that read Psychic Healer. This place had been here since Mark had been in his early teens. He never thought anything of it, and he had never seen anyone go inside before now. He now watched his wife do just that. Cheryl stayed inside for a long time. Finally, another ride chair car arrived. Cheryl got into the car and it pulled away. The car stopped at a pet store.

Ten minutes later, Cheryl walked out carrying a paper bag, and the ride chair drove her back home. Mark parked his car on the street and planned his next conversation with Cheryl. Okay, so your wife is acting in bonkers. There's just go in there. Here we go. Her hoarding of dead animals, her conversations with an imaginary baby, and visiting a psychic, none of this made any sense to him.

He walked inside the door that led into the gate. kitchen. Hey, Ben. On top of the kitchen table were two dead, bloody rats. A third one was on the counter, blood oozed from its head, and it was twitching. Cheryl held a wooden, tenderizing mallet in her hand. Babe, what's wrong? From oblivion comes first breath.

The kingdom of death brings us new life. Babe, babe, what's wrong? The voice made the ceiling and every cover. door in their small kitchen vibrate. In all the years he knew her, Mark had never heard Cheryl use a crude word. Her moves were confident and aggressive, behaviors he never saw her exhibit before. Suddenly, Cheryl seemed significantly larger and broader than he had ever remembered. Her face was not her own. Also among the more common external displays of possession are a change in facial character, a change in vocal tonality, and a change in spirit or temperament.

I'll bring us quickly back to T.K. Osterike's book Possession, and bear with the phrasing as it's an academic book translated from German. He writes, quote, In the first place, the possess takes on a new physiognomy. The features are changed, an expression of psychic constitution. The second characteristic is the voice. At the moment when the counten insults, a more or less changed voice issues from the mouth,

of the person. The intonation also corresponds to the character of the new individuality manifesting itself in the organism and is conditioned by it. But the most important particular is the third. The new voice does not speak according to the spirit of the normal personality. Even if this is described as good and irreproachable, the words uttered by the strange voice generally betray a coarse and filthy attitude, fundamentally opposed to all accepted ethical and religious ideas. The accounts of these particular cases are full of vile expressions and abuse of all kinds. End quote. Tragically, these external science track with Cheryl to suggest the root of her issues might in fact be demonic.

We'll be right back after this short commercial break. Amen. Father Martin's here. I want to do a quick plug for one of the most powerful tools. I've seen for breaking free and growing closer to Christ. Exodus 90. The Exodus 90 challenge begins this year on January 20th, but this isn't just a 90-day program. Exodus 90 is a spirituality for modern men

that is built on three ancient pillars, prayer, self-sacrifice, and fraternity. We all long for something more. We long to be the men God created us, to be, sons of a loving father. It's time to turn away from our idols. It's time to break free from the pharaohs that hold us in bondage. If you're ready to make a fresh start and embark on a journey to uncommon freedom in Jesus Christ, then download the Exodus 90 app today. This is your chance to break free, refocus, and rediscover who God is calling you to be in the new year. It starts January

20th. So go to Exodus 90.com slash X-Files to learn more about Exodus 90. That's Exodus 90.com slash X-Files to join tens of thousands of men from all over the world for Exodus 90. Again, it begins Monday, January 20th. God bless you. Hello again. And thank you for listening to the Exorcist files. Let's get back to Mark and whatever was animating Cheryl's body. Mark knew that it was not his wife speaking. He was interacting with something else. Sherry, Sherryl, Cheryl, Cheryl, just... You can be away from us. Cheryl, just calm, calm down. I'm gonna go for a drive. I'll be back. Low light contact.

Most hot. Returns a side. Mark got into his car. Shit! Okay, come on, come on. Figure this out. You can figure this out. Just then, Mark thought of something strange. Neither he nor Cheryl were very religious. They did, however, have a handful of religious frames

and a cross hanging inside their home. The frames consisted of scripture quotes received as wedding gifts, a picture of Jesus that had belonged to Cheryl's parents, and a picture of a guardian angel guiding two small children across a rickety bridge that Mark had possessed since childhood. About three weeks earlier, he found them in a cardboard box inside their garage. At the time, Mark didn't think much of it.

He assumed his wife was redecorating. However, she had only taken down the religious items. All he could think of was to drive to a church two blocks away. It was the church he and his wife occasionally, though rarely, attended. Sometimes Cheryl made them get up early on a Sunday morning and attend church. Since this was her way of asking God for a baby, Mark always complied. Mark was not sure he believed in God. He believed in something, but he was not sure what. Now, what Mark did here, which was run away to find help instead of engaging the possessing

spirit, according to Father, that was the correct move. When one finds themselves out of their depth in any field, the best advice is usually call professional. And that notion is no different. in the field of spiritual warfare. In the Catholic Church, only an ordained priest may be an exorcist, because exorcism is a dangerous enterprise. The uninitiated can get himself into an incredible amount of trouble very quickly before he even knows that he's in any danger. The devil is an angel.

Scripture informs us that he was the most powerful angel, the chief of all the angels, and an angelic intellect is a profoundly mighty and powerful tool. The devil has nothing that slows down the sheer power of his calculation. He knows more about you and your life than you know about yourself. He knows what makes you tick so he can tempt you in a way that you simply can't foresee. I mean, to imagine that you could outmaneuver him intellectually, it would be very dangerous for you. So in addition to being immortal, they're also incredibly smart.

Fantastic. Also, quick note, you will often hear Father substitute the word devil for the word demon, but that does not necessarily mean he's talking about the prince of darkness. I will use the words demon and devil interchangeably. is it the devil himself that inhabits everyone? No, it might be one of the lesser demons and not the devil himself, but it might be him.

It might be him. I've encountered demons that identify themselves as Satan. We will learn more about identifying demons and demonic personalities later. For now, back to Mark. Hello? Hello? Is anyone here?

I need to talk to a pastor, hello? Hello? Whoa! Take it easy there, fella. I'm Pastor Jim. Nice to meet you. You're a preacher? Most days, yes. Just kidding. Jim Master, senior pastor here. Mark. My name is Mark. Nice to meet you. Um, I think I need to talk to you. You're wide as a sheet, Mark. Yeah. What's on your mind? I... I have a problem. The church was a Methodist church. The minister had spent two years in South America with a peace corps when he was a young adult.

In that time, he saw some wild demonic manifestations, and the experiences left him rattled and disturbed. Mark, that's quite a story. The worst part is, I believe you. Do? Sure. God is very real. That means the other side is too.

What do I do? Can I hire you to get right? That's not how it works, son. Look, the demonic is real. No way around it. It appears to have found you. And it's something quite serious. Now I'm going to pray with you. But I'd be remiss if I didn't refer you to St. Gregory's. There's a priest that works with their pastor there. He's better equipped to handle these situations. He sounds like my guy. I want to interject a brief point of clarification here. While there is no formal right of exorcism in the non-denominational tradition that I am aware of, in my research, there have been noted successes within Protestant deliverance ministries. So we're not trying to suggest that only special Catholic prayers will help.

There is, however, a great respect and deference to the Catholics when it comes to spiritual warfare, even among Protestants. In a way of mystery, Christ resides in the prehistoric. priest in the power of his ordination. And so when the priest commands in an exorcism, it's not just a man issuing a command. It's Christ himself within the priest who is commanding. So even it isn't enough for a man who is a priest to engage in exorcism. It needs to be a man who has been trained as an exorcist so that when he engages with the devil, he's not being sent into a slaughter. How does one engage in exorcism?

You apprentice. That model is a tried and true one. I mean, you can't really learn exorcism from a book. It's like trying to learn to dance by reading a book. It doesn't work that way. I learned under more than one priests, but there was one under whom I worked, who was really a living saint.

I learned an awful lot from him, and from that I began to develop my own kind of style that reflected my own gifts, and every exorcist has to do that. No one is able to copy his teacher 100%. You need to find your own stride. So that's what I did. God called me to be an exorcist, to help people who were ensnared by his enemy, and I appreciate very much that work. But I would have been just as happy had I never encountered any devil in my life. This is Father Martens. Welcome back to the Exorcist Files. Where we left off, Mark was being referred to a Catholic church for his particular problem. The pastor of the church

referred him to me. As it turned out, Mark's house was less than five miles from where I was on that particular day, helping a friend clean out his garage. I agreed to meet Mark at a coffee shop down the street from the house later in the day. Over coffee, he gave me details about Cheryl. This isn't normal. No. She was smashing rats. Yes. Look, I know I sound crazy. I just, I don't know, I just don't know where to go from here. Like, it doesn't sound crazy. We can help you. We decided to go to his house together so that I could meet her. A priest typically wears distinctive clothing, a black clerical shirt with a white collar and black pants. But on this particular day, because I had been cleaning out a garage, I was wearing an old

t-shirt and jeans. Cheryl is normally like, she's like the light of the room kind of girl, okay? So whatever we go into, just know that if she's not that, it's something else. I understand. Cheryl, honey, I have someone here I want to introduce you to. There are three classic signs that denote possession by the devil. Knowledge of unknown languages, languages that people have never learned. Superhuman strength.

And knowledge of hidden and distant events. Something that the person could not possibly have known. And so that third one is what Cheryl exhibited. She had no idea I was coming. Since she had never met me before and because I was wearing ordinary clothes, She couldn't have known that I was a priest. So the conclusion that I had made right there in that moment is, yeah, well, she is possessed. Keep in mind those three classic signs that indicate possession, as they will come up a lot throughout the series.

Also note that the previously mentioned external possession signs, like personality changes, voice fluctuations, and facial shifts, are not used as proof of possession. People who desire to mislead others by faking demonic possession can exhibit the same symptoms. So something more than these external signs has to be present for one to have certainty that someone is possessed. Cheryl didn't recall meeting me in her living room that day. She remembers sitting down and sensing her husband was close by. And she remembers at that point just kind of slipping into what she described as a kind of a sleep. Several hours later she came to and she had no idea what had happened. Often during episodes, of demonic oppression and possession, victims will cite memory lapses and blackout periods

where they remain unaware of what transpired. This was no different with Cheryl. So once I became aware that, hey, there is possession here. I needed more of a picture of what was going on in Cheryl that caused her to turn to the devil and what she specifically did that gave him rights. And so what I did was I sent Cheryl for a battery of psychological testing. And that would give me more of a picture of where Cheryl's fragility existed, then I immediately scheduled her for an exorcism so that I could make contact with the devil and see what I was up against. Both of these sciences, if you will, the science of exorcism and the psychological sciences

can certainly work in tandem. And they ought to work in tandem. This is a good point to emphasize that exorcism is not a first resort. The Catholic Church is far more likely to lean on psychological treatment before attributing particular behaviors to the demonic, and you will hear Father insist throughout this series that whenever possible, psychological screening with a professional should be done prior to an exorcism, as the vast majority of cases are not rooted in the demonic, but are in fact cases of mental illness.

As someone who came into this investigation with skepticism, I found it interesting that there are actually quite prominent psychiatrists, like Dr. Richard Gallagher and New York, whom we will hear from later, that specialize in this area and work to help people with suspected demonic afflictions. The bottom line is, a true Catholic exorcism is not something taken lightly. Cheryl had a wound. She had grown up in a very large family, and in this family, not being able to conceive, was viewed as nothing short of a tragedy. So when Cheryl was unable to conceived at all, she had bound up her own personal happiness with being a mother. And that if she couldn't be a mother, she couldn't view herself as having any legitimacy as a wife or just as a

person for that matter. Once she had exhausted what medicine could give her an exhausted prayer, I went to God. He didn't answer my prayer. So the only thing left was become God. I'm going to take matters into my own hands and I'm going to work with the hidden powers of nature and the spiritual realm to see if I can usurp this problem and give myself what God was unable to give me. Cheryl went to this psychokheeler to see if she could find a remedy for this lack of fertility. That is a violation of the First Commandment you are taking the place of God. You're giving religious devotion to this reality. So when Cheryl did that, the devil pounced on it.

That is what led to her possession. In Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 31, it is written, do not turn to mediums or necromancers. Do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them. I began the first exorcism on Cheryl, and the demon was very aware of what was happening, and he didn't want anything to do with it, and what he kept saying is, I have a right to be here.

She gave me that right. He didn't call her Cheryl, called her this pig. This pig refused God's will for her life, so she's mine. You can't have her. At first, the Demon's hold was very, very strong. And at this point, I'm still drawing information, but the exorcism itself is going to reveal to me who is it that's in her, what personality is there, what is he after?

And then at the same time, the psychologist helped Cheryl to see that her desire for motherhood was rooted in unhealthy expectations. and that her refusal to accept the circumstances that life dealt her was the most significant factor contributing to her unhappiness. Cheryl was able to see that her obsession with motherhood was exactly that, that it was an obsession. And it was only when Cheryl began to accept that, yeah,

I've been engaging in behavior that doesn't make sense. I veered into the occult. and that has brought implications. That in and of itself was already greatly lessening the demon's power. With her having begun that movement, my prayers and adjurations against the demon would have a more powerful effect. And Cheryl was able to be liberated after eight sessions. And there you have it. Cheryl ultimately found freedom, and her battle came to a victorious end.

after processing this case, one aspect of the story gnawed at me a bit. How a noble and virtuous desire for children and family, then the very real pain of that desire unfulfilled, ultimately would be the first step in a path towards evil. Additionally, a question that will arise time and time again, why Cheryl? How come she ended up possessed, but not the others who have also turned to psychics, mediums, and spiritual guides?

This is one of the many profound mysteries about these types of stories. One could only answer that if one had the mind of God. Because at times, you would think, gosh, that person did something so possessable. And they're not? At other times, somebody does something so relatively minor that you've done yourself, perhaps, and they're ensnared. There's a mysterious element to it.

It's kind of like, you know, you hear a knock at your front door. You can open your door and, hey, it's your neighbor. there saying some mail came misdelivered to my house and so here's your mail. So that's a good interaction. You get what belongs to you. But you can open the door and there can be somebody on the other end with a knife and opening that door is the last action you ever commit on this earth. In the spiritual realm, you never want to open the door to the unknown because you're subjecting yourself to whatever is out there. And if it's not in tune with God, well now you have a really to it. Now you might want to end that relationship, and it doesn't have to abide.

It doesn't have to. In the case of Cheryl, in the end, it took the pain, the humiliation, and frankly the powerlessness of the possession to convince her that she made motherhood her idol, and the funny thing about idols is they demand to be served. This story touches on an important truth that many traditions will agree upon. We all seem to be wired to worship. something, and I don't think it's hyperbole to suggest that all of us have at times placed things on a pedestal, as the saying goes. Whether or not one believes in the events that transpired, perhaps a broader lesson we can all take from this is that anything, even a good thing, placed in an unhealthy context,

can lead to catastrophe. Ironically, about two years after this, Cheryl did get pregnant, she had a beautiful baby girl. Cheryl decided to accept the will of God. And in so doing, she removed the pressure off herself. Now, was she able to get pregnant because she didn't have the stress of needing to get pregnant? Or did she get pregnant because God granted a divine healing? And you know, I don't have an answer for that. At the end of the day, I don't think we need one. We thank you for joining us on the Exorcist Files and the inaugural case from the archives of Father Carlos Martens. Before we leave you, I must say that in these first couple episodes, we felt it important to first

give you an overview of how one actually gets possessed before diving into Father's battles with the enemy. So for those of you saying, wait a minute, I wanted to hear an actual exorcism. Fret not. Next week, you will get to be in the room and hear Father's confrontation with a possessed firefighter. So buckle up. Until then, here's a sneak peek of our next episode. I need a priest. What do you think it is? Something that's been inside me for a long time. Before we say goodbye, I do want to give a heartfelt apology to any taxidermy enthusiasts out there. And if you enjoy collecting insects, well, just make sure you clear it with your spouse first. All cases in the Exorcist files

are recounted by Father Carlos Martins from his personal archives. The Exorcist Files is hosted by Father Martins and myself, Ryan Bethay. This episode's reenactments were directed and recorded by Chandler Mays and Ryan Bethay in Los Angeles, California. Mark is portrayed by Mark Reiniga, Cheryl by Melissa Hunt, Pastor Callahan by Dominic Baradino, and Father Martins is portrayed by Paul Leach, script written by Chandler Mays and Ryan Bethay. Original theme and select scores written and composed by Dan Bailey. additional music graciously provided by Scuba, and you can find his music at Z-G-U-B-A-D-B-A-D-B-Camp.com.

Supervising producer, editor, sound engineer, and mixer is Chandler Mays. Executive producer is Jonathan Dressler. No rats were harmed in the making of this episode. And finally, who would like to thank the residents of Burbank for not calling the police on us as our actress screamed, No Life Without Death, down a quiet neighborhood street at 9.30 p.m. on a weeknight. The Exorcist Files is a production of IHeartRadio.