The Exorcist Files - Case #06 - A Taste of Honey - Pt. 3

Episode Date: June 3, 2023

In the climactic season finale, Evelyn discards her veneer as Trent is forced to confront the evil he invited in.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. Welcome to the Exorcist Files, a masterful meander through the real case files of Exorcist and Priest,

Father Carlos Martins, dramatized with 3D binaral audio for your listening pleasure. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and with a touch of melancholy and a dash of pride, we bring you part three of our final case file of season one. If you've made it through parts one and two, then you know the drill. This episode is not for all audiences, and it contains mature themes. When we last left off, our fateful trucker trucker,

Trent, just learned a rather painful lesson. Evelyn gets what she wants. Right when Trent realized that his now girlfriend turned witch was psychically stalking his every move, he found himself being summoned home by a strange hex, helpless to combat its power. Upon walking through the door, Trent succumbed to a night of tormenting passion from Evelyn, who then left him discarded, slumped into a coma-like state. And on that note, let's dive back in.

When Trent awoke the following day, he was in agony. He was swollen and in excruciating pain. The act of relieving himself in the bathroom was unbearable. The swelling barely allowed the urine to pass. Evelyn was waiting with a picnic basket in one hand and a blanket in the other. After how beautiful last night was, I thought we would have breakfast in the park today.

Get some pressure. Beautiful, Trent said to himself. Last night was a nightmare. I felt like I was controlled and raped by something inside me. He had no idea how to respond to her. Let's go, before the coffee gets too cold. Trent wanted to have breakfast in the park as much as he wanted his teeth pulled. Somehow, however, he was unable to say so.

When Evelyn started exiting the house, he found it all but irresistible to follow. It required a tiny fraction of the energy to walk behind. her than it did to resist and remain still. Were it not that the impulse to obey was coming from inside him, he would have said he felt like a dog being dragged by the leash. The park was close by and they arrived there after only a few minutes. Evelyn spread the blanket on the grass, opened the basket, and started to set out his contents.

Let's sit down right here and have some oatmeal, shall we? Trent's body robotically obeyed. She handed him a bowl of oatmeal, and he used everything in his power to resist taking him. Here you go, honey. With all his force, Trent pressed his hand into his thigh, refusing to let it move, not only because he found oatmeal disgusting, but by now he knew that he was in grave danger and needed to escape. Evelyn was turning him into her slave. Take the oatmeal, Trent.

It's good for you. Take it. Eat it. Afterwards, we'll go back home and we'll make love again. Please. Just like last night. Take it, my lover. You must be nourished so that he may be nourished.

I don't know what you did to me, but I'm done with all of it. What? You and me are finished. We're through. With his assertion, he felt something heavy slide off of him. He felt both lighter and more in control. Sit down. Whatever the hell it is, it won't work on me anymore.

Now I'm le- Suddenly, he couldn't breathe. Evelyn's face turned into one of the most menacing countenances he had ever seen. His lungs were unable to draw an air. It felt as if two hands were around his, throat, she was somehow managing to strangle him. Trent did everything he could to breathe, but it was futile. I thought to eat. Don't you want it now? Trent? Just then a frisbee landed between him. Hey, look out. Its unexpected appearance broke Evelyn's concentration, and her

stranglehold abated. Go away from her! She's evil! She's pure fucking evil! In a flash, Trent ran as fast as he could towards his pickup truck. Now, I'd like to use this temporary break of Evelyn's metaphysical grip on Trent so that we may a sidestep for a moment into the vexing world of curses. As we teased last episode, Father has no shortage of experiences with this dark perversion. Allow us to take you back to a young Father Martens, who was fresh into seminary and already encountering agents of evil working against him.

When I first became a seminarian, I was sent to our novitiate house, which is the place where we spend our first year. It was about six weeks into my career pursuing the priesthood. One day, a priest who was in residence there at the time, he came into my room. Enter? Carlos, I need you see this now. Can it wait? I'm in the middle of something. No, I think you need to see this.

Just come see. Okay. So I went out the side door following him to go outside. And on the second step down from the top. Lord be with us. Was a frog. The frog was dead. What do you think?

Stay back. Do not. It was dead because, well, it had its mouth sewn shut. Someone had taken thread and a needle. and stitched this poor frog's mouth shut. What happened to its face? For context, the sewing of an animal's mouth shut has been a common form of witchcraft, especially in Europe.

Along with mice, the frog in particular is associated with black magic, and the sewing of its mouth is a way to transfer evil onto someone, or even more specifically, to silence them. Who would you such a thing? Jol, defend us in battle. Are you okay? Be our protection against us. the wickedness and snares the devil.

May God rebuke him. What should we do? We humbly pray. And do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host by the power of God, thrust into hell, Satan, and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen. When I saw that frog, I knew that frog was intended for me. Because a mental picture opened up in front of me, frankly, it was hard to discern whether I was seeing this in my mind or whether I was seeing it in the air, so to speak. But I could see someone, this was a person whom I somewhat knew.

I could see her approaching a, let's call him a witch doctor, an occultist, and was invoking that curse in real time. As I'm seeing this frog is when this thing is happening. From a Christian perspective, this vision for young Carlos is known as a word of knowledge or discernment of spirits and is a good example of a supernatural gift from God, which we touched on last episode. In this particular instance, God spoke through an image to provide an awareness of a hidden danger and the cause behind it. While the event may sound identical to clairvoyance, that is, what a psychic might experience, it differs from it in two ways.

First, God is the direct cause of this knowledge, and because of that, it possesses not even the slightest taint of evil. Secondly, such a gift always produces the good result which it intends, thus building up the church, the mystical body of Christ. In the scriptures, the Apostle Paul talks about these, quote, charismatic gifts in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I have no idea how I knew that that was happening, but it was a knowledge that I had. I just said to him, Whatever you do, do not touch it. There's evil here. Evil?

Witchcraft. You see the stitching? I just knew that it would produce a horrible effect if that frog were to be touched. Hang on. I'll be right back. Make sure no one else comes near it. Okay. I went into the backyard and I grabbed two sticks.

and I picked up that frog with the two sticks. How can I help Carlos? And I placed it underneath a rock in the forest, and it was a heavy rock. Put the frog beneath it, rolled the stone back on top, and I did that because I was going to ask the superior, who was away that day, to say a prayer undoing any evil that was done there. So the next day, I went and moved that rock, and there was no frog there.

That frog just disappeared. Later, maybe a year or two after the fact, I actually ran into the woman. And I said to her, I didn't know you lived in the end. So you're the one who failed. And she had a look of guilt and shock on her face. Excuse me?

You failed. Have no idea. Spare me your protests. I know you tried to curse me. You've been spending too much time in that monastery, father. You're coming unglued. Cursed you. Lying to priests is also not recommended.

And I named the day. Wednesday, October 23rd, early evening. The time of day. You met with a man. And I described that witch doctor. A man with the blood eye? Her jaw dropped and she stood there stunned. And her response to me was.

How? How on earth? God sees everything. How could you know? Everything. How could you know? We sheep know the voice of our shepherd. The Lord saw fit to reveal it to me.

Need me do it. We needed you to leave. You're not supposed to be here. You don't belong here. You're supposed to leave. Sorry to disappoint. This was a person who was on the devil's payroll. Her intention, and she did reveal it, was to get me out of seminary.

She wouldn't say why. I never found out, and I really don't want to know, what would happen if I somehow had accidentally touched that frog? Because that's what the intention was. Well, no sewed-shut frog mouths are going to silence our commercial partners. So let's take a quick break. And when we come back, we will hear from a friend who has an all-too harrowing first-hand experience with the power of curses over generations. We'll be right back. Amen.

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Welcome back to the Exorcist Files. For some, the topic of curses can seem about as fantastical as Tolkien-style fiction. To disabuse you of this notion, we bring you today a special guest who graciously agreed to share her own harrowing experience with the reality of curses. Tammy Comer is the wife of well-known pastor and best-selling author John Mark Comer, who is perhaps most famously known for his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, which is become a classic in the Christian community. One of the reasons I was excited to have Tammy share her story is because I know the family, I know her husband's ministry. What is remarkable is not just

how odd and bizarre the entire thing was, but that it happened to them, perhaps in my opinion, the least likely candidates for such a trial. We are grateful that she has trusted us with her testimony, so without further ado, please give a warm welcome to Tammy Comer. As long as I can remember, I have walked with Jesus. I always hated the demonic. I never liked scary movies. I knew that dark stuff was real, but I'd kind of avoided anything that was dark.

I was raised in a Christian family. My parents were both first generation Christians. My dad was from Mexico City and my mom is Italian. I watched both my siblings kind of go off the deep end in their teenage years and in that season of just will I walk with God or will I party and do all the things? Watching what that did to our family, I just decided, no, I want to walk with Jesus. I felt like I had a really authentic faith. I remember having like a Christian club that I started in first grade.

So when I fell in love with John Mark, he was interesting to me. He was really thoughtful, super pure. He was the most godly man I'd ever met. When we dated, I befriended this homeless man and his name was Shadow. And I said, I want to bring Shadow to church. But he was quite a dark character. John Mark picked me up in his Volkswagen bus, picked up Shadow and took him to church. And I thought, this man loves Jesus and can love people who are far from him.

for me that was a sign of I can partner with this man. We ended up getting married very young. I was 19. He was 21. Both virgins when we got married. After we got married, John Mark was like, I think I'm supposed to plant a church in Portland. And he was called in the ministry in Portland, Oregon for 20 years. Portland was great art, good food, good drinks, amazing coffee, great place to walk, outdoors.

hiking, you bike everywhere, but just, man, a lot of sadness. It was a beautifully broken city. And we lived right in the city for most of it, ended up starting in a church. It kind of exploded. Over time, we got to see God do a bunch of cool stuff and people were coming to Jesus. Our first son was born when I was 23. And it was shortly after that that something in my body, we could just tell something wasn't quite right. Long story short, just started having struggles with chronic illness.

I would call them flare-ups. You know, a lot of digestive things. Serious fatigue, severe brain issues to where I couldn't think, couldn't track. I couldn't remember whole conversations when I was sick. And I had a lot of signs of early

dementia. I would have blocks of my memory gone. It lasted about 10 years. I ended up going to a bunch of different doctors. ended up with a couple different diagnoses, depending on if it was Western medicine or a more naturopathic doctor. When I was five, I was bit by a tick, and then when I was 11, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. We didn't realize at the time that you could have lasting issues if you don't treat Lyme disease right away. But during those 10 years, we were like, oh, this is probably just

lime resurgence of some sort that kind of flared up. But after about 10 years, there was this moment where I was doing some different therapies, and something in my body just completely broke. At that point, I started to shake. It was like I had Parkinson's. I lost a bunch of vision. My face started having spasms. I got a ton of weakness in my legs and was losing muscle control in certain areas. I was having a crazy amount of neurological issues. This sent us on a journey to figure out what is going on. At its worst, we thought I was dying, and the doctors were saying,

it looks like a brain tumor. Then it was spinal tumors, and it was all these things that would kill you. And I think through dealing with chronic illness, I felt like I had come to peace with dying young. I felt like I can die with dignity. I can feel really grateful for my children. By this time, I had three children.

And when it got really bad, after a while, they stopped saying things that will kill you, and it was more like things that will kill you. cripple you. And that was a lot more difficult to come to peace with because the implications of having to be taken care of was just so humbling and the opposite of everything I ever thought I would have to deal with. And I never was really mad at God for being sick. It didn't feel like it was his fault. It was just a little bit confusing. I eventually was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder on top of another neurological disorder.

This particular one was primarily connected to your face. It was in the same family as Parkinson's. It had a 50% chance of increasing in your lifetime. And if it decided to increase, it would become really hard to eat, really hard to kiss my husband, to talk to my kids. It would make me look very, very weird. This disorder made it so that your face was. spasming so out of control that your tongue would be going in and out of your mouth,

your lips up and down, your eyes squinting back and forth, super hard, your face completely contorting all over, but you having zero control over it. And nothing is wrong with your brain. So you just know that you're hard to look at. And I thought, oh gosh, like, how am I going to ever talk to my kids? That was harder to come to peace with. But it pushed me toward the need to do like the inner work around if I die young or if I'm crippled and have to be cared for by my husband and my children, then I need to make sure that I'm not a burden while I still have agency over my body. In that space, I wouldn't say I came to peace with it, but I came to peace with the day. And if it flared up, I'll reorient and have to re-wrestle with God about that.

I lived every day with spasms all the time and with a knowledge that I probably would be crippled and die young. I ended up getting a phone call on my way to Whole Foods one day. It was my brother, and he just said, hey, I just found out the craziest thing. You're not going to believe this, but it affects you. He went on to tell me that he'd been doing research on our family line, you know, recording stories, trying to just understand our family lineage.

And this story had come up. My great grandmother on my dad's side, who's lived in Mexico City, and I knew as a kid, she only spoke Spanish and she squeezed my cheeks so hard all the time. She was into tarot cards and palm reading, like spiritualism stuff. She had fallen in love with a diplomat who was from Cuba, and they lived together in Mexico City, and they had eight children together, but they were never married. And apparently they had had a bunch of sickness, and I think they may have had a child die. my great-grandmother went to a fortune teller and said, tell us why we are sick and dying.

The fortune teller said it's because there is a curse that's been placed on you in your bloodline, and it's from the man you live with wife. And up until this time, she had no idea that he was married. And apparently he had left his wife in Cuba, left her at a mental institution. and she had hired either a witch or a shaman to put a curse on my great-grandmother that the first-born girl in every family down through your line will be cursed with terrible illness or early death. Now, what was so crazy about this was that about three years previously, we'd been going

through a book where we did genograms, where you basically make a family tree and you're looking for patterns that happen in your family. And I told John Mark, look at my... family tree. There is so much sickness and early death on my dad's side of the family in the women, specifically. It wasn't every single one. In hindsight, it was a firstborn girl of every family. It was four generations strong and it never skipped one generation. My great grandmother, her firstborn daughter, was my grandmother who died in her 60s and was sick for probably 10 or 20 years. Her firstborn daughter is my aunt who is still alive and crippled and has had more surgeries

than anybody I've ever even heard of. Her first born daughter died in a car accident at 16. My brother's first born daughter was handicapped. She was actually born healthy and then became handicapped at one and died at eight or nine. I'm the first born daughter of my dad. And there was just one cousin that it hadn't hit. But then I got a phone call saying that that particular cousin was just diagnosed with stage three or four throat cancer.

And she's just younger than me. I'm 41. It was just very shocking. We were just not raised in any kind of church where we talked about this kind of stuff. We didn't even know this was a thing. What do you do about this? So I talked to John Mark. He was like, call Gary Breshears, one of his theology professors, who was a dear friend.

I just called Gary and was like, Gary, is this even a thing? Because I don't want to go somewhere and have a bunch of people put their hands on me. And like, I just have not into that at all. He was like, no, it's absolutely a thing. It has power, so you need to break it. So he connected us with somebody who did deliverance work. We fasted, we prayed, we got our community to fast and pray. And when I went to meet with this man, when they called me into the room, I was going up a staircase.

And as soon as I started coming toward the room, my face started spasming, the worst it ever had. I went through the doorway and my face was contorting out of control. One of my eyes were barely open. It was so weird and shocking. This man sat aside. down. He had me confess sin. And then it was like breaking a legal contract. He just said, I call to attention to the spirit that was called upon by Tammy Comer's grandmother. And he went through and just was very specific. And then he's like, in repeat after me, by the power and authority of Jesus

blood, we break this curse. And it was when I repeated it that my whole face went totally calm. and it felt like there was this tight beanie on my head. I felt it like come off my head. Then it was like I could think really clear. John Mark was watching and just said, what just happened? I'm like, I don't know, but something. That was October 14th of 2020.

And I have been totally healed ever since. I had never had occurred to me that I would get healed as a result of breaking that curse. but my healing was immediate but also progressive because it had abdominal effect. I was still doing treatments and stuff, but I was like all of a sudden I didn't need them. I was healing. And literally the mantra of my whole life sense has just been, thank you, Jesus. The same Jesus that freed me, I got to know in suffering. And that is where I would say it is the most transformative work happened for me.

And I feel so remarkably grateful. And I feel like people need to know that it wasn't my sin that I bore the repercussions of. It was actually my great-grandmother's sin who was sleeping with a man who was married and never married him and was playing in the cult. It's so cool that God gives man agency to choose whether we follow Jesus or we deny him. but that also includes our decision to choose even what we do with the brokenness we come in contact with. Obviously, not everybody gets healed, but there is this empowering kindness of God that our agency against evil can shift our whole life and people's lives as we engage on behalf of others. That's like kind of crazy. It has radically changed everything.

in my life. I would say my healing gave me a category for gratitude and a boldness, and then the extravagant kindness of God freeing me and feeling like God gave me a whole second chance at life. I'm so grateful. I just love God so much. This story affected me deeply. It is one of the most profound mysteries of the Christian faith. Why suffering is allowed to befall mankind, even when they genuinely besie. teach God to intervene. In Tammy's case, they had prayed and contended for healing for nearly two decades, but only after that specific breaking of evil was healing granted. Today, Tammy is healthy and curse-free, so we can at least rejoice in that. Now, for those wondering, as to the mechanism

of how cursing can affect us, Father Martens has some thoughts. The effectiveness of a curse is due to three principles. The first is that words have power. The universe was created with a word. The church pronounces the words of baptism while pouring water on someone, and that pagan recipient becomes a new creation in God, Romans chapter 6.

A man and woman pronounce their vows at their wedding, and they become one flesh, Genesis chapter 2. And other examples abound. Second, every evil curse is a mystical conjoining to Satan. When someone curses another, he's imitating Satan, whose rebellion was a curse against God

and against everything that God loves. And this imitation opens him up to a connection with Satan wherein demons can enter into the curse and produce what it invokes. Three, humans are mystically connected. The common inheritance of original sin, which is the very reason why we baptized to begin with, is evidence on a spiritual level. So to believe in curses is neither irrational nor simplistic.

Belief in curses is a universal human phenomenon. All human societies have curses within their understanding of reality. Just as all human societies contain a cultural understanding of curses, so do IHeart Podcasts. have commercials. We now break for some of them. Be right back. Welcome back to the Exorcist Files. It's been a minute. So let's get back to Trent and Evelyn. After a merciful intervention by a wayward frisbee, Trent managed to break free of Evelyn's spell just long enough to start sprinting. Dear God in heaven, please. I'm sorry, whatever I did. Can help me? It's meant to be a maim.

Reaching his vehicle, he jumped inside, turned on the ignition, and pressed the gas so hard, the tires squealed as the vehicle shot into motion. Trent kept driving until he got to southern Idaho. Then the strangest thing occurred. Trent. While driving on Stanwood Road, a horse galloped at full speed towards him. Trent veered to the left, but the horse also changed lanes. Trent swerved back to the right lane.

again the horse reciprocated. I came too. I limped up the road. I saw the college sign and walked until somebody found me. And here we are. Trent, I don't even know where to start. When Trent finished, John sat pensively. The college was a product of four individuals, John one of them,

whose spiritual journeys all passed through the charismatic renewal. For those curious what the charismatic renewal is, it is a fast-growing segment of Christianity. The word charism means gift, and it refers to the aforementioned gifts St. Paul writes about in First Corinthians, such as prophecies, speaking in tongues, healings, and discerning good and evil spirits. Charismatic churches essentially believe that God is still doing signs and wonders to this day. Charismatic spirituality was very much at the heart of the college. Every Friday night had hosted a gathering where those who desired it could receive prayer ministry. You have clearly been through a lot and praised God you escaped, but from what you've told me,

you're not out of the woods yet. We have a prayer group that actually meets in 90 minutes. People from miles around drive in for it, and it's open to everyone. Would you allow us to pray over you? I'll tell you, if we're being honest with each other, Before all of this, I'd have said thanks, but no thanks. All this stuff is a little too weird for me. But after whatever the hell that woman did to me, I think maybe asking for God's help is a good idea. Now, she would have killed me, John.

If I went back into that house, she... She would have drained me until there's nothing left. I'd be gone. It's okay. I think you finding us was God's plan. Now, for the prayer to have any positive effect, you need to repent of your sins. Can we do that right now? Just you and me? Yeah. You know what? Let's do it. Let's do it. We're doing it.

You can sit back down. Right. Your relationship with Evelyn was sinful. Do you repent of that? I do. Do you repent of ignoring God for not culting. cultivating a relationship with him. I do. Are you ready to give your life completely to God?

Yes, absolutely I am. Good. You've rejected a life of sin and have placed yourself at the feet of the Lord. The Holy Spirit's power be upon you. The prayer gathering met in the chapel. Most merciful Jesus, who are consolation and salvation

of all who put their trust in you, we humbly beseech you. Grant the healing to Trent, delivering him from evil. With us, he may praise and magnify your holy name. John served as the evening's facilitator and, introducing Trent, discreetly asked everyone to intercede for him that he would be free of all ties to an evil he had recently encountered. The music ministry led the group in a worship song,

after which everyone invoked the power of the Holy Spirit upon Trent. I come before you today to ask for your head. I come to free today with a heavy thing. He lifted a man who was under attack from an spirit. The room became a buzz with a symphony of prayers, asking God to free him from the grip of evil. Trent started rocking from left to right, his way increasing more and more. Suddenly his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell backwards onto the floor. His body shaking and convulsing.

After a few seconds, he screamed, and his head began shaking from side to side at a rapid pace. No one was phased. Most were veterans of intercessory prayer long enough to have seen the clash between the enemy and the Holy Spirit. They are the visible expression of the devil of having to give up his grip on the victim. The gathering stormed heaven on Trent's behalf for almost an hour.

All Trent remembered was John's introducing him. The next thing he knew, he was lying flat on his back with people around him praying. Trent felt a beautiful peace like he had never experienced before. For the next several days, the people at the college continue to pray for Trent each evening. Each time there was some disturbing manifestation, but it became less and less each day. Trent stayed at the college for another four months, soaking in the Lord's presence and discovering his identity in him. Come to your queen. Come to me.

I encountered Trent when he was in his second month at the college. By then he was mostly free of the wounds, nevertheless two symptoms endured, which caused him to seek me out. So how are you holding up? Good. Mostly good. The back is feeling better, too. Good, good. Do you feel you're fully recovered? Well, in one sentence, yes. I'm free from any carnal feelings towards her, and I don't feel her hold on me anymore, but it's not all gone. What do you mean? I still hear her voice, mostly at night. I have these dreams where she's there, but I can't see her face.

It just has this blur over it. She glides towards me and everything starts to hurt down there. She jumps on top of me. I hear this horrible voice and then I wake up in my, you know, twigginberries, shall we say. It's just aching and terrible pain. The same pain he experienced after spending his last night with Evelyn. He had visited numerous doctors and taken various answers and taken various antibiotic treatments to no effect.

I see. Trent, nightmares, of course, are not always spiritual, but given what you've experienced, I do have to ask. Is there any way she could still be connected to you? Do you have anything in your possession

that she gave you? Uh... Even the most minute object can be of significance. I don't... We'd actually... It is chain. I forgot. We bought it together at a stop on one of my drives. But actually, now that I think about it, I said I liked it, and then she went back and bought it for me afterwards.

Hmm. The act of her purchasing it makes it her as legally, and as such, it could be a connection. You must remove everything. You see, in the spiritual realm, even the most mundane object can confer power. And with Evelyn, there's no telling what she did to that name. what she did to that necklace. I want you to remove it, pray with me, and then I want you to throw it into the lake, lest someone else fight it.

Yes, Father. Next, I said a prayer of exorcism over Trent. He did not manifest during it, but stated that he felt a heat in his private area as it was happening. I blessed him and sent him on his way. Trent was free and untroubled from that moment onward. He eventually met a wonderful woman,

settled down with her and started a beautiful family. And as some might say, all's well that ends well. Thus our favorite trucker finally found true love and is now a living happily ever after. As it turns out, Evelyn was not an employee of the restaurant she worked at, but was its owner. That is why she could take time off whenever she desired. She is what some exorcists might call a black widow,

a witch who lures unsuspecting men under the guise of a relationship, but then turns into a predator who enslaves them. Her owning a restaurant ensured that she had a steady supply of truckers who were just passing through. Trent was only one of her victims. She had destroyed the lives of several truckers before Trent. We don't know exactly what happened to Evelyn. So if you end up hitting it off with someone at a diner,

might we suggest not moving in the next day? Give it a week at least. So there you have it, folks. We've presented you now with six cases from Father's Personal Archives, and we've learned a lot this season. Throughout this series, you've heard stories that should certainly raise an eyebrow. I mean, come on. Is this stuff actually real?

Perhaps some feel it was all mental illness. Fair enough. Some might point out that our guest contributors all share certain Christian beliefs. Also true. But still, is it likely the two renowned priests, an Ivy League psychiatrist, a Boston University neuroscientist, and a prominent pastor's wife, are all mistaken? We'll let you decide. And that's been our goal from the beginning. Throughout this show, we've tried our best to present the stories in such a way that you can determine what really happened. And regardless of your spiritual beliefs or worldview, we truly hope you've enjoyed the ride thus far. For me personally,

What matters most is that all of the victims in these case files were liberated from their diabolical shackles, and it was achieved of the power of exorcism. And while Father Martens is an exorcist, he'll be the first to tell you he is merely an agent of the one true exorcist. When Jesus came to Earth for, as stated in Luke chapter four, was to set the captives free, and that friends is the core of exorcism. It's about liberation of the oppressed. If there's one notion we'd like to reframe in your understanding of Christianity,

is that Jesus came not only in love and forgiveness, but also to undo the works of the devil. Christ took on the devil cosmically, and his incarnation, his coming into the world, was an exorcism of the universe. John the Apostle writes in his first epistle, chapter 3 verse 8, The reason why the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Exorcism was the reason for the incarnation, because what is present in other religions was insufficient.

And then the proof's in the pudding, right? Everything's fun in games until somebody has a demon and you want them out. And then who are you going to call? Who are you going to call? Right. As soon as the words can. out of my mouth, I thought, okay, that song's going to come back. When pressed, Father could not speak to the accuracy of the Mesopotamian or Babylonian gods of Zul and Gozer,

but we can assure you that if someone asks Father, if he is a god, he says no. Thank you so much for joining us this season. If you missed any of our episodes, be sure to go back and check them out. And if you haven't done so yet, now would be a great time to give us five stars, perhaps leave a kind review, and most importantly, spread the word. Podcast listenership grows best through word of mouth, so recommend the exorcist files to your friends and family, share it on your social media, write poems, sing songs,

and just keep listening to it over and over again, 24 hours a day. The last part, of course, is optional. Now, to answer the big question many of you have already messaged us about, how long until season two? Well, we do want to prepare you in my life. emotionally. We must first rest, recover, and take a much needed break. But if you stick around, we will try and drop periodic updates from our demon disciplinarian. And we know it would have been cruel to leave you without something to keep you on the line. So we do have a bonus case file

loaded up and ready to unleash on the masses. When you ask, stay subscribed and find out. We sure know how to keep you guessing when it comes to episode drops, don't we? Can you hear me winking? On a serious note, we want to thank you all for the support. The show has done tremendously, and while we know the episodes came a bit slower than you might have liked, it was worth the wait, wasn't it? Now, don't be a mute spirit. Stay in touch. Keep those emails coming.

And remember, if there's something strange in your neighborhood, who are you going to call? Local clergy. The devil is there for a reason. You don't get possessed by riding the bus and by sitting next to somebody who might be. possessed, you don't get a demon by living next to somebody who's possessed. You get a demon by opening a door, whereby jurisdiction is given to at least one demon who now takes up a residence inside a victim. That is the story that's worth telling. And only when that part of the story is known and appreciated, can one really understand the work of the church at bringing about

You've been listening to The Exorcist Files. Make sure you follow us on social media. Our Instagram is at ExorcistFiles and visit our website at exorcistfiles.com. And sign up for our email list to be made aware of new case files. You can also email us absurd and overly specific criticisms at ExorcistFiles at gmail.com. All cases 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 the Big Easy, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Atlanta, Georgia. These recordings wouldn't be possible without our special locations manager and producer, Everything New Orleans expert, Katie Weiss. Thank you, Katie, for your hospitality and help on this case file. The character of Trent is portrayed by Cameron Stout, Evelyn by Virginia Tucker, Curse Woman by Kimberly Green, the seminarian by Jonathan Wade,

father Martin's by Eli Banks. The Wayward Frisbee Man by Ryan Bithay, and Headmaster John by Keegan Macy. Any likeness or similarities of characters are entirely coincidental and unintentional on the part of the writers. We also want to give a special shout out to Tammy Comer for trusting us with her awesome testimony. Thank you for sharing with us, Tammy. And on that note, we also want to extend a very special thank you to all our guest contributors for the season. Dr. Richard Gallagher, Dr. Joshua Brown, and Monsignor, Patrick Brankin. We appreciate the support and wisdom you imparted.

to us. Additional research provided by Anne-Marie Robson and Miranda Hawkins. Script written by Chandler Mays and Rhine De Thee. For this particular case file, the score is written and composed by the uber-talented Annalia Lentini, our guest composer hailing all the way from Argentina. You can contact her at her website, Myfusamusic.com. That's M-Y-F-F-U-S-A-Music.com. And you can stream her works on YouTube and Spotify under her name, Analia Lentini. Original theme song written and composed by Dan Carey Bailey. Assistant Editor is Kristen Vermilia. Supervising producer, sound designer, editor, and mixer is Chandler Mays.

Executive producers are Carlos Martens, Ryan Bethay, Ben Bowlin, and Chandler Mays. The Exorcist Files is a production of IHeart Media. You're still here? It's over. Go home. You're living in the past. Live in the now. Wow.

A Ghostbusters? Ferris Bueller and Waynesworld reference in one episode, we're really dating ourselves, aren't we? I'm sorry, folks. I have no Easter egg for you. But I could give you my best impression of Christopher Walken auditioning to play Father Martins. You know, I saw a demon one time, and I said, demon, tell me a name, and he said,

Legion. I said, wow, that's a lot of demons. Do Don Curley-Obe. Do the Godfather. Listen to me. Demon. What have I ever done to make you treat me

with such disrespect, huh? As such, I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse. You're going to come out now in the name of the Padre and the name of the spirit

and you're going to leave. And of course, I may ask you to do a service for me at some time and that day may never come. But, Demon, I say to you, Buenos Aires, Bono San.

I would ask you to do Liam Neeson, but I think you should save that for season two. Yeah. Okay. For real this time, though, we're done. Bye-bye now.