The Exorcist Files - Case #05 - All In Your Head - Pt. 1

Episode Date: April 9, 2023

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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. This encounter with Lena and her family was just to make a kind of initial assessment

and to do some information tapping. So she followed me, along with her mother and stepfather, and then all of a sudden I heard her mother gasp. I looked back and in the hallway where the four of us were standing, Lena was levitating. Welcome back to the Exorcist Files, an illuminating expedition into the real case files of Father Carlos Martens. In today's episode, we bring you a heartbreaking story of a young girl, her absentee father, and a nefarious demonic plot to prey upon her trauma. The circumstances of this case will force us to confront one of the most common objections that is raised against exorcism.

How much of this is just mental illness? How much of the victim's symptoms are psychological? It is certainly true that many mental illnesses imitate common signs of demonic possession, and any exorcist will tell you that it can be difficult to distinguish the two. But, to make the situation more complex, complex still. What if the two are not mutually exclusive? Because they're not. Demons do not play fair. They have been known to attach themselves to mental and emotional defects in humans in order to camouflage their presence. Now, without further ado, I present to you,

the case of Lena, and her battle against the psychological and the demonic. You're in so much trouble. Well, you just tell Miss Vaughn that your father demanded, that you eat dipping dots and listen to justify it. And if she has any question, she can cry me a river. Okay. And here we are. Love you, dad. I'll see you after school, yeah? Yeah, yeah, same time as always.

Oh, Lena. If anyone messes with you, just keep it chill. I know. Because you'll always win if... That's my chickpe. The case of Lena is an interesting one, and it remains, for me, as an exorcist, one of the starkest cases that I've ever had of someone who became possessed because of a human wound.

When she came into my office, the only thing that I knew at this point, having just encountered Lena, was she was a pleasant, older adolescent and eighth grader who her mother and stepfather thought was possessed. she had been seeing as psychologist and had come because of his work with her to accept the fact that she had a mental illness. She had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic. Schizophrenia is a terrible illness. It presents to her as true experiences that are not true. Because it plays a significant role in Lena's case, it's important we set the table with a proper understanding of schizophrenia. and to do so, we reference the DSM 5TR, which, as of this recording, is the latest edition

of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known to some as the Psychiatric Bible. The DSM states that to diagnose schizophrenia, two or more symptoms must be present for one month, and the disturbance must persist for at least six months. The three primary symptoms are delusions, aka false beliefs, hallucinations, and disorganized speech, such as incoherence or frequently jumping from one idea to another completely unrelated idea. Other symptoms include extremely disorganized behavior, diminished emotional expression, and complete lack of motivation.

If the onset occurs in childhood or adolescence, the individual's academic performance, relationships, and self-care will diminish remarkably. Essentially, schizophrenia causes one to lose touch with reality. It can be severely disabling and create. profound distress on the individual as well as their family and friends. Now, what you might find interesting is that the DSM-5TR considers cultural differences when evaluating schizophrenia. It acknowledges that while some ideas, such as the influence of spirits, will appear delusional in one culture, those same ideas may be commonly held in other cultures.

For example, visual or auditory hallucinations, such as hearing God's voice, are a normal part of religious experience in many cultures. Furthermore, I also found this statement humorous, quote, the assessment of disorganized speech may be made difficult by linguistic variation in narrative styles across cultures, end quote. Basically, they want to prevent us from diagnosing someone's disorganized speech

as a medical symptom, when in reality, the person may just be from Boston. I'm kidding, of course. To all our Bostonian listeners, we love your linguistic stylings, and to any new listeners, why you can skip the commercials. You can't skip these dad jokes that occasionally appear as an attempt to bring levity to these heavy subjects. Lena, it's good to see you.

Hi, Father. How have you been holding up? All right, I guess. Still just thinking a lot. Hmm. I'm starting to think maybe I have something wrong. like I have something broken in here. There's no shame in that.

All of us are broken at some level, and we all have the power to fix it to some degree. I hear you were put on some new medication. Has that been helping? It's been good, I think. It makes me a little tired sometimes. But I also don't get as mad, I think. Like, when my dad visits me,

I still feel really good. When he leaves is when it gets harder. So your father visits you? Yeah. I know now it's not real, but he would visit me, and I'd see him next to me, and he'd talk to me, and we'd go places. Does this happen a lot? Not as much as it used to, but yes. but I...

It's okay. Go on. I do hear things sometimes. What do you hear? Voices? What do they say? Bad things. In the course of her talking, she seemed so in control of herself, and she was not disagreeing with her mother's assessment that she was possessed.

After she had a chance to tell her story, I suggested that we go into the chapel and do some praying. At this point in his interaction with Lena, Father is still looking for signs of possession, one of them being extreme aversion to holy places or objects. So inviting her to the chapel is an easy way to test for this particular sign. An exorcist never takes an alleged victim's claim of demonic harassment for granted. He tests it.

This is because the majority of possession claims are bogus. If someone is faking possession, the victim or the alleged victim might be deceived himself in that he suffers from mental illness and he just believes that the cause of it is the demonic. His own mind is not able to perceive that it itself is not functioning properly. There is, though, the kind of person that would intentionally, deceive because sometimes they like to just cause trouble. Other times they like attention. To a certain kind of person, it gives a false sense of care, a false sense of power that

their person might crave. Whether intentional or not, given the large number of inauthentic possession cases, a significant portion of the exorcist time is spent discerning between counterfeit and authentic cases of demonic attacks. And there are different ways by which we would test it. One of them is to clandestinely use tools that are holy to provoke a reaction in the alleged victim. So I will use holy water in a glass and offer the individual a glass of water. Watch for a reaction.

I will tape under the chair a relic of a saint. He might sit and find it uncomfortable within a few seconds. If you recall, we mentioned that in addition to his exorcism ministry, Father Martins is well known as the Relic Guy. We will take a deliberately deep dive down the Royal Road to Reliquaries in the next episode, alliteration intended. The other thing I will do is pray. The devil knows when a victim walks into an exorcist's office,

and he's not going to want to manifest. What the exorcist needs to do is provoke the demon. And the best way to do that is to pray. Now, if the alleged victim is faking the whole enterprise, then as soon as the priest starts praying, he's going to manifest, quote unquote, demonically. So what I will do is I will always start with genuine prayers against the demonic.

I will utter those in Latin, because the Latin version is the official version of the Catholic Church, but secondly, people don't understand Latin by and large. So in order to eliminate a false positive, I will switch texts into something nonsensical that is in Latin, for example, an article from ESPN. And if there is a genuine demon there, the demon will not react because there's nothing in that text that is attacking him.

So if I can see duress only when authentic Latin prayers are being uttered, I've been able to establish that there's a genuine demon here. I would say of cases that I have had, somewhere in the range of 15% are people who are intentionally deceiving the exorcist. Among people who might be prone to mislead exorcists are those with personality disorders. For almost 40 years, Dr. Richard Gallagher, the esteemed board-certified psychiatrist we introduced you to in episode six, has aided in the evaluation of individuals for possible demonic possession. In his article, a case of demonic possession among the many counterfeits, Gallagher wrote,

quote, typical of these character disorders are a struggle with deep-seated feelings of rage, low self-esteem, a need for attention, a strong sense of victimization, or, as is most relevant here, a strong sense of inner evil. Psychiatrists commonly encounter such troubled patients, paradigmatically, as, quote, borderlines. These individuals often feel that their powerful inner feelings of being bad are due to some foreign entity inside them, described as a monster or an evil presence. This internal foreign body is a thinly veiled projection of one's own inner sense of badness that is felt to be outside one's control, while still somehow contained, quote,

within the personality, end quote. More on identifying false possessions in a bit. For now, let's get back to Lena, where we will discover that not all cases are counterfeit. Lena, if it's all right with you, I'd like to move us into the chapel and pray. Are you okay with that? Yeah, that's chill. The chapel is pretty chill. If you could all just follow me, please.

This encounter with Lena and her family was just to make a kind of initial assessment and to do some information tapping of what she had been experiencing. It's just on the hall. So she followed me along with her mother and stepfather, and then all of a sudden, I heard her mother gasp. I looked back and in the hallway where the four of us were standing, Lena was levitating.

What is happening? My dear, sweet Lord. Ma, Lena. What is happening to me? Father! In the midst of her walking, as if the demon had turned a magnet on, the bottom of her feet stuck onto the floor and her body moved forward with her stride.

Her body is at a 45-degree angle, relative to the floor. That was a very haunting image. This poor girl, she had her head turned to the side looking up at me, saying, what's happening, what's happening to me? So I gave a command, demon, in the name of Jesus, let her go. Lena, Lena, you're right? Oh, I think so. Okay, come with me. Let's go to the chapel.

My intention was not to do a full exorcism. and I didn't have my full team there. And so what I wanted to do was just recite enough prayers to put the demon down so that Lena could be free enough to go home and then schedule another appointment when I had my team present for a full-blown exorcism. Now, before we backtrack to the origins of Lena's story, I must say that after recounting his experience,

I pressed father on the levitation event. I have always interpreted levitation as someone hovering completely off the ground. For example, someone floating above their bed, a la Linda Blair, in The Exorcist. Although the bottom of Lena's feet were still touching the floor, the same defiance of the law of gravity was obviously occurring. However, I did ask Father if he had ever witnessed levitation resembling a total separation of the victim from the ground. And he said, yes. Perhaps we'll learn more in season two? Float around and find out.

Hey, Lena. Hey, do you need to call someone for a ride? Oh, no, thank you. My dad's coming to get me. It's almost 4.30. Do you want to call him? It's okay. He'll be here any minute. He probably got held up in traffic. Okay. Have a good day. Hi. How are you, dad? Lena's biological father, Dave, he was an odd human being in general, but to Lena, he was very good.

He took really good care of her, paid an awful lot of attention to her at home, And in one sense appeared to be the epitome of a good father. Where he fell short was the fact that he could never hold down a job. He had no interest in work, no interest in helping the family financially. He and Lena's mother, Rita, met in college. They dated briefly. And in the course of that, Rita got pregnant. Lena was born nine months later.

Rita and Dave moved in together. and they were incompatible from the get-go. Rito's a tough worker, very serious person, and she had to be. Otherwise, that family wouldn't survive. Dave didn't have a care in the world. He showed only interest in his daughter and in growing marijuana,

which he did constantly. He wrote music and dreamed of being a musician. It was the music of an amateur, but he always talked about moving to the West Coast and making it big. He and Rita thought all the time, and Rita constantly called him lazy, good for nothing, and Lena, of course, took the side of her father

because he doted on her. He wouldn't lift a finger to do any dishes at home or bring any extra income into the family, but he spent a lot of time with Lena. And so for that reason, Rita tolerated him because at the very least, she didn't have to get a babysitter. I'm so sorry about the confusion. Come on. It's okay. Where's dad?

Something came up. That's weird. He said he was going to pick me up the same time. It's not like him to just not show up. I hope he's... Mom, are you okay? I'm fine. Everything's fine, sweetie.

Mom, is dad okay? Yeah, Lena, he's okay. He's... I don't know how to say this, sweetie. He's not coming back. What? What do you mean not coming back? I just saw him this morning.

He said he'd be here. Lena? What are you talking about, Mom? I'm here because he's gone. Baby, I'm so sorry, but there are just things that are hard to understand. But... Mom, what happened? Honey, he left.

This morning, he left a note that he's moving to the West Coast. And he was just gone. For how long? I don't know, Lena. He just left a note. I don't believe this. Dad didn't do this to me. Did you guys have a fight?

Were you mean to him again? Enough. Dad will come home. Honey, I'm sorry. You were always so mean to him. Lena, please. I hope he comes back too. I really do.

I am praying that you are right. One day, Dave left, definitively. His intention was to move to the West Coast, and that's probably what he did, but he never contacted Lena ever again. This was so traumatic. She blamed her father's leaving on her mother's quote-unquote meanness to him.

She was always calling him lazy and good for nothing and always questioning his love for his daughter. Rita did hear from him months later. He sent her an email asking for a $500 loan so that he could get an apartment. But he never in that email asked about his daughter. Rita had no interest in communicating with him anymore, and she never answered that email.

There was no communication from his end from that point forward. But even Rita was surprised at how callous and cold Dave was towards his daughter. How do you go from being devoted to her to just dropping her? When addressing the environmental factors that caused schizophrenia, what the DSM notes lines up well with Lena's experience. It identifies that the symptoms of schizophrenia correlate with the severity of adverse childhood experiences, such as trauma and neglect. Furthermore, a study in the comprehensive psychology journal identified emotional neglect

as the most common type of trauma associated with schizophrenia. Childhood trauma can permanently alter neurochemistry, and it may be that the sudden and traumatic abandonment by Lena's father was the catalyst for her issues. And to make matters worse, trauma and psychological woundedness can be exploited by demons as they attempt to make their way into our lives. Let's go do something. Hey, let's go get ice cream. No thanks. My daughter doesn't want ice cream.

Chocolate moment sponge? Not hungry. Okay. Well, what if we went to the aquarium? We can go out to penguins and do the penguin walk. No thanks, Mom. You love that stuff. Baby.

You can't sit inside all day. You're a kid. You have to go live life. We have to go live life. He will come back, you know. I'm sorry. I don't think he's... He said he would.

Lena, your father hasn't been home in months. I'm so sorry you have to endure this. And I know some of this is my fault too. I know that. But you need to hear me. He's gone. I just don't want you sitting around, hoping and waiting for something

that's not going to happen. Stop saying that. He will come back. We can't make him come back. For you, maybe. He'll come back for me. I know it. He just needed some space.

Okay. We're going out. I've offered you penguins and ice cream. Pick one. Come on. Let's go. Lena entered a really dark period. She would come home from school and she would cry all the time in her room.

She wouldn't hang out with friends. She wouldn't even return her friend's phone calls. This really was a profound level of trauma that she experienced. Lena was clearly showing signs of clinical depression, which in turn made me curious about the Catholic stance on treating depression and other psychiatric disorders. As it turns out, the church holds great respect for psychology and psychiatry and their ability to help people who are suffering psychologically.

And is addressed to the members of the American and World Psychiatric Association. Pope John Paul II stated, quote, Your work involves a sensitivity to the often tangled workings of the human mind and heart, and an openness to the ultimate concerns which give meaning to people's lives. These are the areas of utmost importance to the church, and they call to mind the urgent need for a constructive dialogue between science and religion for the sake of shedding greater light on the mystery of man in its fullness. End quote.

We will delve further into this interplay between the spiritual and psychological later. For now, let's take a 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 Spirit.

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Welcome back to The Exorcist Files, where young Lena was experiencing a heavy depression after being abruptly abandoned by her father, and her mother Rita is understandably concerned. I'm really worried about her. She's not taking it well I mean Girl, just let it all out I'm sorry You're fine

Have you heard from Dave at all? No Not since he emailed me for money For an apartment Last I heard he was somewhere out Near San Diego I can't believe he did this to her How could he do this to his daughter

You know? You really can't blame yourself It was bound to happen sooner or later Silver lining is Now you're free to find a man worth your time. You always deserve better than him. I know, it's just, she sits in her room all day now. That poor girl. She barely talks. She's just so, so empty now. Is there anything I can do? No, you've helped already. I did mean to thank you for those books you got Lena. It's no problem

at all. Honestly, that's been the one right spot here. At least she has interest in something. Rita, my friend. I hope so. I really do. Lena always had a fondness for reading. Rita was an avid reader herself. She had always encouraged her to read. Lena discovered a series of books that centered on a group of friends

that found some magical hats within a thrift store. When they would put on the hats, they could transport themselves back in time and modify history. Lena began to be enthralled with that concept of being able to create your own reality. She read that series of novels completely. She read it a second time. She even read it a third time.

A long face. I told you had come back. Where? No, where? It's okay. It's okay. It's okay now. I'm going to explain everything.

They all said you were gone, but I knew better. Yeah, you did. Are you coming home? No, no. Are we going home? Not yet. No, I wanted to surprise you first, but we need to leave this place and get out of here.

You come with me? Where are we going? Well, I know someone who loves penguins. You want to go to the aquarium? I'll tell you everything when we get there. Come on. Okay. Gradually over time, she began to imagine her father coming back for her and taking her to live with him. And then at the end of each visit, he would transport her back into her home.

What a perfect day. Hey, Dad. Hmm. I've really missed you. I missed you too. Look at that view, chick Pee. It's pretty amazing, huh? Yeah.

Let's put her heads against the glass. Come on, come on, come on. Come on, come on. We'll do it together. This is one of the tallest buildings in the world. Up here, you're the queen. You make the rules. Everything looks so small.

Uh-oh. Looks like it's time to get back. Queen up. That's mom. Come on. Let's tell her you're coming back. No, no, not yet, Chickpey. You can't tell it just yet. Let's make this our secret. But, Dad, why aren't you coming home? In time. I'll be taken care of. But what do you say I come to visit you more often? Do I have your permission?

Why are you asking that? You should visit me all the time. Excellent. That's great to hear, Lena. It's great to hear. Lena. Let's get you home, Chick-Pee. Tragically for Lena, the onset of delusions and hallucinations and hallucinations and hallucinations have begun to take over her reality. For those of us untouched by this debilitating disorder, it might be difficult to imagine just how convincing these symptoms can be for the patient. In my research, I found a telling account from Peter Chadwick,

a psychology lecturer based in London, and a diagnosed schizophrenic. In his account of what it is like to suffer with this disorder, he wrote, quote, As my delusional system expanded and elaborated, I was totally enslaved by the belief system, Almost anything at all happening around me seemed at least relevant and became assimilated to it. Confirmation bias was massively amplified and everything confirmed and fitted the delusion. Nothing discredited it.

Indeed, the very capacity to notice and think of refutory data was completely gone. End quote. Schizophrenc hallucinations are most commonly auditory, but can also be experienced by any of the senses, and with such extreme symptoms, it's easy to see how the disorder could be confused with demonic attacks. In his book, demonic foes, Dr. Richard Gallagher writes, quote,

throughout my career, I have had to bluntly tell suffering patients and families, no, the patient is ill, and there is no demon of schizophrenia. In fact, regarding discernment of demonic activity, this is a good time to acknowledge, from our current vantage post-dawn of psychological sciences, that in the past, grave diagnostic mistakes were made. Many people who suffered from ailments such as paranoia, dyslexia, Parkinson's, or mere skin conditions like psoriasis,

were regarded as possessed or, quote, touched by the devil. Up until the late 1800s, victims of Tourette syndrome were easy targets, due to the subject's involuntary outbursts of blasphemies, profanities, and obscenities, as well as grunts, grouse, barks, tics, upward eye-rolling, and facial consterns, torsions that occur suddenly and without provocation. Throughout ancient history, epilepsy was often attributed to possession because its seizures were characterized by violent spasms, vomiting, loss of consciousness, and even supernatural hallucinations.

Interestingly, the oldest existing secular writings on epilepsy is from a text called On the Sacred Disease, written around 400 BC and attributed to Hippocrates, which suggests that the symptoms believed to be from possession were actually due to a brain disease. Regardless, epilepsy couldn't even be properly diagnosed until the first human EEG was performed in 1925. Then, of course, there are the dissociative disorders, the most severe variant being dissociative identity disorder, or DID, originally known as multiple personality disorder,

where the subject constructs separate personalities or alters, in which one of the altars may present as a devilish, type, or even as an outright demon. It should be noted that D.D. is often fabricated by attention-seeking patients that likely have narcissistic tendencies. But regardless of whether the patient is being honest or deliberately manipulative, D-I.D. can simulate true possession to a strikingly similar degree. And this is why, in potential cases of conjoined mental illness and demonic attachment, it is highly necessary for the exorcist to work closely with medical professionals and to practice careful discernment.

in order to sort out which elements of the problem are spiritual and which are natural. However, on a final but important note, it would be a mischaracterization to assume the Catholic Church had no knowledge of the difference between physical and spiritual illness throughout history. For example, in 1583, the National Synod of Rames decreed, quote, Before the priest undertakes an exorcism, he ought diligently to inquire into the life of the possessed,

into his condition, health, and other circumstances, and should talk them over with wise, prudent, and instructed people, since the two credulous are often deceived, and melancholics, lunatics, and persons bewitched, often declare themselves to be possessed and tormented by the devil, and these people nevertheless are more in need of a doctor than an exorcist, end quote. In making this distinction, the church is simply following the lead of the New Testament,

which distinguishes between illness and possession, with descriptions of Jesus both casting out unclean spirits and healing the sick. So in short, while the ancients did not have the extensive medical knowledge we possess today, the claim that they did not know how to distinguish between mental illness and demonic affliction is simply untrue. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. I am available for corporate gatherings and birthday parties. At this point, Lena's behavior began to change towards the podcast.

positive, Rita could see her daughter exhibit a kind of happiness and engagement with life that she for the past couple of years had not had. All of this continued until an event one day that happened at school. Every year there was a photo shoot where the class photos would be taken by each grade. And Rita had a tradition whereby she would receive the class photo and decorate it with gaudy scrap-making materials and frame it on the wall of the house. There was this row of class photos from kindergarten all the way up to seventh grade, and so it was a tradition that Rita liked to do.

Photos are here, go pick out of your friends. But when the pictures came, Lena was not in the photo. Lena, come here, please. You mind explaining this? Explaining what? Well, I'm looking at a really nice portrait of your class. Jamie and Ben, but you know, I don't see my daughter. Did you skip class? No. Don't lie to me. I will not have any more liars in this house. Don't call me a liar. I'm not. Then why is my daughter not there? See?

Don't insult me, Lena. Why weren't you in this photo? I don't know what to tell you. I showed up. They took the photo. Maybe the camera broke. Some of the graders think they are pretty smart, but this is ridiculous. You're really going to stand there and lie to me like this. Shut up. I was there. I showed up. Maybe you just make things disappear like my dad. How dare you? That's it. Up to your room now. I wish I'm going to disappear from all these stupid photos. I don't even want to be here. I'm happy you're out there. That night was a very tension-filled night in the home. The next day, Lena had a dental appointment. So Rita picked her up at school and they didn't exchange any words in the car.

When they arrived back at home, Lita stated she was going to have a shower. Her mother poured herself a glass of wine and sat on the couch. Her husband, Mike, was home too, and they were just sharing a conversation in the living room together. Let's start with our champion Angela.

Who did you think of? Laurel and Hardy? Tom and Jerry, going to cost you. Yep, see, and I told you. I can't have you finished that. No, no, and he didn't bet right too. Oh, my gosh. You got to put in a random mouth.

Just so because it's got to be worth the risk just in case somebody else gets a wrong or right You should go on the show. I, you know, I apply. What is your deal? She's at that age. What are you going to do? I mean, how are you like at that age? A lot better than that.

I don't think we think so. You might not ask you wrong to that. Where is it? Where is what? Gosh, calm down. My house this morning and I collected all the towels. It should be done in like 30 minutes. I'm awesome.

Excuse me? All right, we're about to have a talk. Lena, don't you ever use that tone with me again? You talk to me like that? You'll be grounded for a month. My father gave me this towel. What was interesting about that claim is that her father owned virtually nothing in this world. Even when he lived in home, he had a guitar, he had the marijuana that he grew, he had clothes,

but he didn't own anything else. And he had been gone now over two years. What are you talking about, Lena? Your father never left anything here for you. Dad gave it to me and it's very special to me. Sweetie, I got rid of everything. It's just a towel. He gave it to me last week.

Okay, come. Lena, what are you saying? Dad visits me every week. Your father hasn't been here in two years. He's gone. No, my father loves me. He cares more about me than you ever could. Hey, hey, hey, settle down.

No, Lena, don't talk to your mother that way. Your mother loves you, and she doesn't deserve to have you yelling at her. Hey, Mike! Get the hell out! I never liked you. That is un-cultful. I don't want to hear your voice. It's bad enough I have to hear my mother's. I don't need yours to. Lena!

It was uncalled for you. You do not get to talk to either of us like that. What is wrong with you? I think he's trying to keep the peace in this house, and I don't know how you feel about your father, but at least I show them. I think you're a loser, and you should show the fucking out of you because I hate you and I hate you both. Enough! Rude child.

Mike is a great man and he has been here for you and your father has it. You do not get to act like that. What the hell is that you're going to do with you? I am sick of it. I pour my fart tool for you and all you do is act like a spoiled brat. I'm tired of it. You're grounded. All of a sudden, Lina takes a deep breath, leans up against the wall,

cocks her head to one side, exhales, and there's this slight grin upon her face. Hey, Chick-P. What do you say? We'll get some hot dogs and listen to Justified. Sounds nice. I am sick and tired of everything that I do for you going out the window because of your dad who abandoned you. Rita.

Get over it. Grow up and be an adult already. Rita. What? Look. What? Look at the mirror. What the...

Mike at that moment is looking at the big, long mirror, over the sink, and Mike was fixing. all he can do is point to the mirror. What she could see was her and Mike in the bathroom, but Lena was not showing in that mirror. For some of us, looking into the mirror is scary enough, but imagine staring into it and saying nothing. We will reflect back on this crazy story

right after this short commercial break. Welcome back to The Exorcist Files, where things are heating up now for Lena, as reality and the fantasy world she's been living in are on a collision course. Rita looks at Lena. She can see her daughter clear as day, looks back at the mirror, and there's no reflection of her daughter's showing.

What? Okay, let's just take her. Come on? She doesn't have a reflection. What the hell is happening wrong with you? Rita gives her a shake to try to wake her from whatever trance, that she's in. Lena, snap out of it, honey.

Sweetie, come on. You're scaring me, Lena. Lena quickly gives her mom a push. Rita went flying through the air and hit a large desk out in the hallway and just fell down onto the floor. It was as if she had tossed a rag doll effortlessly. Lena, what are you doing?

You're going straight to me. Mike reaches out to grab a hold of Lena, and Lena punched him so hard in the gut. Mike went down like a ton of bricks. I suggest you discipline your own bloodline. Mike? You dare with me. And you are not of the kingdom? No protectors who felt like you.

Not even the enemy protects are cuckold. Mike was over six feet tall. He was athletic, very fit. But in that moment, he described being hit so hard that he had never had the wind knocked out of him as much as in that moment. Within the Catholic framework, a little girl sending a full-grown adult through the air

across the room and knocking a six-foot-tall man to the ground with a Mike Tyson-style haymaker certainly points to demonic activity. Along with speaking in strange tongues and divulging future and hidden events, the Roman rite of exorcism lists displays of power which are beyond the subject's age and natural condition as one of the main signs of possession.

Now, in my perpetual quest to entertain the skeptical position on these signs, I wondered if there was a natural explanation for possessed victims displaying incredible bouts of strength. The only plausible justification I could find is a phenomenon known as hysterical strength, which is a display of extreme physical strength exceeding what would seem normal, usually occurring when one perceives themselves

to be in a life or death situation. The most common anecdotal examples of hysterical strength include lifting a heavy vehicle or piece of machinery to save someone trapped underneath, and there's also the compelling account of a Quebec woman who fought a polar bear to save several children. While the cause of the phenomenon is not 100% known, it is most likely due to a heightened fight or flight response,

adrenaline and cortisol responses, and a conscious effort to utilize maximum strength, which we rarely tap into. Unfortunately, there is little scientific evidence for hysterical strength, as attempting to simulate life or death situations in a laboratory would be highly unethical. But enough incidents have been reported and corroborated to conclude that it probably can happen.

And in Lena's case, like all of them, We must weigh the evidence in totality. Here, we have a small girl displaying enormous strength, and what I think is even more telling, she casts no reflection in the mirror. That alone would have me calling Father Martins. But more importantly, in most reported incidents of hysterical strength, the common denominator is the threat of immediate death, and it seems highly unlikely that an argument over a bath towel

would constitute a life or death situation for Lena. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for now. But join us next episode as we dive deeper into the mysterious interweaving of psychological ailments and demonic attachments, Father's Relic Ministry, and of course, Lena's Exorcism. Here's a sneak peek of our next episode. All relics are not alike in their effect. There's a universal effectiveness, and then there is a visceral effectiveness that really causes, a kryptonite effect, a tremendous amount of weakening to the demon.

And that is what you're looking for in the relics. And not each one produces that effect in demons. So that's the reason why I bring a very large number. I've got lots. I mean, you're talking to the relic guy. Thank you for listening. And given the seriousness of the topic, we felt it vital to leave you with one last dad joke.

Knock, knock. Come on, Chandler. Please humor me. Knock knock. Who's there? Unknown spirit. Unknown spirit, who? Why are you talking with an unknown spirit?

You fool. Have you learned nothing? Go back now and listen to all the episodes again. Don't have to be a dad to tell dad jokes. This is true. Phenomena. You've been listening to The Exorcist Files. For additional materials and video resources,

you can follow us on social and sign up for our email list at Exorcistfiles.tv to be made a way of, of new case files. You can also email us absurd and overly specific criticisms at ExorcistFiles at gmail.com. We do get hundreds of emails, so give us some time. All cases in the Exorcist Files are recounted by Father Carlos Martens from his personal archives. The Exorcist Files is hosted by Father Martens and myself, Ryan Bethay. This episode's reenactments were directed and recorded by Chandler Mays and Ryan Bethay in Los Angeles, California. Dave was portrayed by Joey Loomis, Lena by Kennedy Hatton,

Father Martins by Paul Leach, Rita by Lexi Flores, Step Dead Mike by James Brent Isaac's Concerned Teacher by Chandler Mays, and Rita's phone of friend by Miranda Hawkins. Any likeness or similarities of characters are entirely coincidental and unintentional on the part of the writers. Additional research provided by Anne Marie Robson and Miranda Hawkins. Script written by Chandler Mays and Rhyam DeThay. Original theme and select scores written and composed by Dan, Carrie, Bailey.

Additional music graciously provided by Zguba. You can find his music at Z-G-U-B-A-B-A-B-B-A-B-B-B-B-Camp.com. More original music also graciously provided by Dim, spelled D-I-M. And you can find his beautiful album, Steep Sky, Stained Light, at I-M-Dim.BanCamp.com. Assistant editor is Christoph Ares.

Supervising producer, sound engineer, editor, and mixer is Chandler Mays. Executive producers are Carlos Martens, Ryan Bethay, Ben Bolan, and Chandler May. The Exorcist Files is a production of IHeartRadio.