This Paranormal Life - ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ Case - True Story Behind the Conjuring Movie

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

While horror movies are usually a fun escape into a fictional parallel world, some are rooted in real events even more disturbing than any film’s plot line. The Conjuring 3 is one such movie, based on the real life murder trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson in 1981. But was Arne really paranormally possessed? Time for Rory and Kit to investigate! Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our Secret Society Facebook Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get access to weekly bonus episodes! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy Official TPL Merch!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thisparanormallife.com/store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Intro music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.purple-planet.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Edited by Philip Shacklady Research by Ewen Friers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

February 16th, 1981, Sergeant Gordon Fairchild of the Brookfield Police Department sits with a senior lieutenant in a squad car. They're both settling in for a quiet night on the beat in Connecticut. They've just opened a bag of donuts when the radio stutters to life. Attention all units, attention all units. Attempted murder suspect on the loose. Thought to be armed and dangerous. The suspect is a white male, 19 years old and witnesses say he's growling like an animal.

The lieutenant turns to Fairchild in shock just before speeding off into the quiet suburbs of Brookfield. They're in search of a crazed knife-wielding attacker. And sure enough, two miles from where the gruesome attack had taken place, they find 19-year-old Arnie Cheyenne Johnson. This is obviously their perpetrator. He fits the description. The men shout, put your hands where I can see him, but he's not the crazed animalistic individual that they were warned about. Johnson is calm, if a little bewildered.

As he stands there covered in his victim's blood, it becomes clear to the police that he is no memory of the attack whatsoever. Why did Arnie Cheyenne do it? Would Sergeant Gordon Fairchild ever get to eat those donuts? If a UFO crashes in international waters, which country is responsible for the cover-up? Answers to these questions and more on This paranormal life!

Oh, Rory. Guys, thank you for joining us. This is a story we've been teasing for quite a while, the story of Arnie Cheyenne Johnson. A case so strange, it's become world famous for many reasons and one that only gets weirder the longer we investigate it. Yeah, what an opening. I can already tell this is going to be a case that could end up being a double yes on the podcast.

You think? And that's how I want to start the year. All right? Because I don't know if you know this, but last year, we started 2025 with a string of double yeses. Oh, yeah, you're right. Atlantis Man, the Mantis Man. Atlantis Man? The Mantis Man. So, who knows, we could be starting this year with some yeses too.

Rory, it's all to play for clean slate. I've got a clean criminal record as of 2026 and the podcast is also on a clean slate. What do you think we're going to learn some more? Yeah. I'm also still a little drunk from New Year's Eve. So I've got like... It's been like a week. I'm kind of up for anything.

Back to the day in question, Arnie seems extremely confused. Which, by the way, is such a classic response to when you're caught red-handed, literally red-handed as well. Yeah. Hands covered in blood. Just to be like, wait, what's happening? Guys, we're all trying to find the guy who did this. Seriously. Can you be caught any other color of handed?

Right. Like when you were a kid and you snuck into the kitchen and ate a whole jar of peanut butter, were you caught brown-handed? Don't say that. I don't know why. I'm just curious. Caught blue-handed, you mugged one of the members of the blue man group? Or you assaulted a smurf?

Yeah. I don't know. We should start ringing in every single color. But yeah, it's true. You know, he's trying to deny knowledge of the event. Maybe not trying. He genuinely is denying knowledge of the event, which... Brother, you're dripping in the event.

Is, is, is, it's a bold strategy. A bold strategy. Like me with the peanut butter. Yeah. You brown-handed. So they do arrest Arnie, helping him into the back of a police car. And he's muttering about how he, quote, didn't mean to hurt anyone. Sergeant Fairfield over, little late for that.

Sergeant Fairfield overhears him say, I need help because I've got a drinking problem. Now, it's only when they arrive at the station. Do they then find out that the victim has actually died in hospital? And at this point, Arnie Johnson becomes incoherent, yelling, and eventually passes out in his holdings. Just then, the police receptionist from the front desk runs in. Which one of you picked up that Arnie Johnson kid?

Sergeant Fairfield said, oh, that was us. The receptionist goes, there's a call here. Some lady is claiming she's a paranormal expert, a demonologist or something. She says Johnson was, well, possessed. Possessed by the devil. Whoa. Sergeant Fairfield says, sorry, who's the paranormal expert? They say her name is Lorraine Warren.

Whoa. So it's all coming together, Roy, just a couple of weeks ago. We deep dive, deep dove into the history of the warrants. This is the paranormal world's most infamous investigators. If I worked at a hospital, I, would be kind of annoyed if paranormal investigators were just calling to give their opinion on stuff. Like if they just called up and they were like, you don't understand. There's an evil inside. We believe that it is the the cursed energy of payment. Sure spit it out. The curse,

I'm trying to figure it. I'm trying to read the energy in the room. The cursed energy of payment, which is emanating throughout the body. And the doctor's like, it's cancer. We did the test. We know It's cancer. We can kind of treat it if we use chemotherapy. No! No, wait! I'll gather my things. Send a check.

A big one. I'll be there tomorrow. They're like, who are you? Stop calling us. You said it's a cancer? Yes. But it's some kind of ghost cancer, though. You still need me, right?

No, we don't. No, absolutely not. Tonsolitis. That's what it was. They're like, sorry, I'm just trying to, the energy's coming through from the other side. They're loading chat GPT. What is it?

What is it, chat? Yeah, I agree. It's nice to know that in kind of right now in 2026, you know, we live in an era of kind of, in our case, probably more like powerful people in society, like budding their heads into situations. Yeah. We've got someone like, I don't know, let's say an Irish society in politics. You know, we have Connor McGregor just kind of every now and again, just being like, right, this is what needs to change. I've decided this is what's wrong. This is what we need to do next.

I need to be president. It's like, shut up, man. Yeah. You're literally famous for getting kicked in the head. You're biologically the last person. We need running the country. Yeah.

And not only that, you don't even live here. I know. That's like, you know, Lorraine Warren. I'm supposed to say Elizabeth Warren. Hopefully she doesn't put her head into this story. God forbid. You know, calling in from three countries over being like, you know,

eating popcorn like Michael Jackson popcorn. Dock. No, you guys need to do? No. No. We're the professionals. Leave it in our hands. Yeah. Also, someone's died. It's kind of an inappropriate time to call up and talk about ghosts.

Maybe we're coming at Lorraine a little hot based off of how we talked about her a couple of weeks ago with me Warren's. Case, if you haven't listened to that, no worries. Go check it out. I mean, go f*** yourself. How about that? Because we've been doing this show for eight years. And if you've missed a single episode, you're not a real fan. I've never heard you use that tone before. we've been doing this for eight years and if you miss a single episode

why is it like a TikTok this is just how I'm going to talk in 2006 we're decided it's like you've turned into an influencer after you're travel to Asia we're going to be going to some of the greatest tourist hotspots

in Vietnam no people are very welcome to kind of dip in as they please some people might be listening for the first time you're very welcome to find a new podcast I would say that's the problem that's the problem

They're free to find a new podcast. So, no, I would say you don't need to have listened to the Warren's one to understand this. But if you have, it'll inform a little bit because needless to say, the Warren's case that we did a couple weeks back was complicated. And spoiler alert, when they weren't investigating hauntings, they were noncing. But whether we like it or not, they were here on the scene in Brookfield, Connecticut. And on this night in question, Lorraine Warren herself phoned into police headquarters. to come to Arnie Johnson's defense. But what led to these events?

These events that would go on to be known as the devil made me do it case. Wow. What transpired that night, and even in the days and weeks leading up to February 16th. I don't think that's in a good excuse in court. I don't think that means you get away with it. You can't just say the devil made me do it in the box.

Well, do you know? It's because it's going to happen. It's going to have a spoiler, right? It's going to happen in this case. Someone is going to say that in court. Guilty. That's what's going to happen then. So do you want to kind of, you know, in like in America in 2026, there's a lot of like, like,

I don't know if you know this, but all of life in the world is now like betting and gambling. Sure. Like what is it, polymarket, cashy or something? I don't know what you're talking about. Bro, you're missing out in the news right now. This is, you know the way, you know that America is kind of, you're backsliding into being a fascist, authoritarian kind of capitalist nightmare in which every possible. human transaction is commodified.

I think I read this morning that CNN has now partnered with one of these betting apps so that you can bet on like world events and world tragedies. That's wild. So this is kind of where the world is going. Do you want to place a kind of polymarket style parlay right now and whether you think the devil made me do it? Excuse is going to work in court. Sure.

It absolutely won't. Okay. How much you want to put down on it? Five bucks. I think you don't sound too confident anymore I don't have a lot of money That's everything I have Okay

Roy's put That's called all in In casino terms He's like five bucks Whenever he loses later He's like I meant five yen I meant five yen obviously Which is five pence probably

Okay well we're gonna find out Look to understand fully what's going on We've got to wind the clock back To autumn of the previous year It's October 1980 And Arnie And his girl Just to recap Arnie is the one covered in blood

Arnie and his girlfriend Debbie Glatzell have just secured a new rental property in Newtown, Connecticut, just a few miles from Debbie's family home. The whole Glatsell family arrived on the moving in date to lend a hand. Everyone had their chore. Debbie's parents and her three brothers busy themselves throughout the house. The youngest brother David was given a brush and sent to an upstairs bedroom to school.

That's a joke chore. That's when you know you're not trusted with any of the real chores. They're like, and you can, yeah, just brush, brush around a little bit. Well, everyone else is like removing nails from wood and doing big boy stuff. I'm a brusher if you didn't know. Yeah, I often think back to being a little kid visiting my extended family in Mayo in the West of Ireland. And it was game day for Mayo. But maybe it was in All-Ireland.

I don't know. We're at my uncles and he was like a Gaelic coach. So he was very involved in it. We're going to be watching the game all this. And I think I was clear looking back, I thought I was like being an integral part of the family and getting ready for the whole family coming around to watch the game or whatever. Looking back, I must have been annoying everyone to fucking no end because I remember my uncle like kneeling down and putting his hand on my shoulder and just being like, oh, I've actually got a really super special job for you. God, I can't believe I forgot. What we really need right now, you know, for the country to bring the cup home today.

for the big game is for you to take this flag and go outside in the garden. And then every time a car drives by, you wave the flag out. Okay? And then they'll beep. And if you don't do that, we're going to lose the game. We're honestly, the whole thing is going to come crashing down. I was out there for six hours. I was like, I took it as like my...

Saving private Ryan level. No cars because everyone was inside watching the game. That night they were like, where's kit? Oh, fuck. It's been out there for nine hours. hours. Yeah, totally. And I probably didn't realize what happened there in retrospect until the age of like 29. I was like, oh, I was annoying everyone. They were they were fobbing me off. I think the listeners probably currently running back through a lot of childhood memories to be like, oh. Yeah. Well, according to later testimony from David, which is the boy you went upstairs, it was here at this point in the story that the malevolent forces, paranormal energies first appear in our tale. Out of nowhere, David was violently shoved onto the bed.

He claimed that a shadowy old man, later described as, quote, a beast had materialized in the room and, quote, vowed to harm the glat cells if they ever moved into the rental. Whoa. Okay, so they were warned before they moved in. Mm-hmm. If that's happening on moving day, that's bad. Yeah.

it's not the first time we've heard that kind of thing. And it's also kind of a trope of horror movies in general, isn't it? It's like the, I make sense, like a spirit who's in a home, who has ownership over the home and it's like, get out. Yeah. Stop it. I'd be so, I'd be like, brother, you couldn't have done this during the house viewing? Yeah.

When we came to check the place out six months ago. I gladly, hey, if you old man had materialized during the house viewing, I would have gladly left the house alone. They saw the house that was fine. eight months of paperwork goes by, they finally move in, and it's like, get out! It's like, oh no, you don't get to do this. You had ample time, mother-f- were you six months ago. I was on holiday. I was on holiday, if I'd know. I didn't think you're actually going to do it. I know, yeah, I love that just being so, like, adult and matter-of-fact

to the ghost. You just like cartoon-style grab their lips. No, listen here. Okay, oh, you want me to get out? So, why don't you walk down to the little ghost bank and take it? take out the five grand deposit. We just put it on the property. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. You hand over the cash.

We'll leave. But until then, shut the fuck up and get back in the closet. Do you know how bad the housing market is right now? Every house was haunted. Everyone we saw. Yeah, yeah. You were the least scary ghost of all of them.

Yeah. Oh, really? What am I doing wrong? I don't know, man. What are you dressed like that for? Were you a pirate in the last life? No. then why you dress like a pirate?

Pirates are scary. Cut out of the voice, cut of the voice too. Yeah, sorry. Sorry, just. Yeah, it's like a ghost not wanting humans to enter their house is like an anti-immigrant, like, voter in a developed nation. It's like, no, no. You just, that's a bad take.

You just, you don't understand how economies work. We actually need immigrants in order to come in. Super valuable, yeah. To boost the economy. Because actually, most developed countries, populations are stagnating or declining due to increasing education standards. So we actually, no, you're just wrong. Ghost.

It's like, oh, oh, you don't want someone to move in. Oh, you know what they'll do? Demolish the house and turn it into apartments. Okay. Yeah, you'll be haunting a Walmart if no one moves into this place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're going to be a homeless-ass ghost soon if you don't get with the program. So, hey, make friends with little David and become and bunk with him.

Possess him. Throw him around a little bit. It's fine. Well, don't say that. You don't know where this story's going, Roy. The Beast Man threatened to steal David's soul. Uh-oh. And muttered in quote guttural Latin before disappearing.

That's bad. Yeah. Because like, you know with a human, yeah, if you have a human, with a person, if you have a disagreement, they might walk away muttering just like, yeah, that guy's a real piece of work. What a, what a ignorant gentleman. Yeah. What a, what a, ah, that guy's an ass. if they're being really cheeky.

But if the spirit walks away going, Moriuscribier dominio to atom, you're like, whoa, hey, whoa, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill. Yeah, that sounds like spells. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What were you just saying? Yeah. Muttering Latin is the same energy as yelling in German.

It's just got scary vibes. And I want to know what's being said. The intention might be good, but the aura... And Rory, I know we would never victim blame here on this paranormal life. Never. But I think you'll agree that looking at our first photo, which is a photo of young David, we'll gather that David did not deserve this treatment by a spirit. Oh, poor David.

That's kind of, you know, I feel a lot of sympathy for this kid because I was roughly the same size when I was growing up. Well, right. So if you're just listening to this, Rory is just kind of. of just, you know, breezing past it. Yeah. Okay, David was a little stalking as a kid. Yeah, who wasn't? That's fine. You know? I also discovered Cadbury's cream eggs and Doritos Cool Wrench around this age. I also had a very similar Justin Bieber haircut. So, um, listen, this is me in another world. But David looks like a sweet boy with kind of a sweet little 80s bowl cut kind of haircut slightly. But he looks like a nice child. And

Unfortunately, David's mental state deteriorated almost immediately. According to the 2023 documentary, The Devil on Trial, the local priest was summoned to the Gletzel family home once the family had returned. Evidently shaken by what David had claimed, they asked the priest to bless the house. Upon conducting the blessing, allegedly the entire house shook on its foundations, but the evil remained. Uh, within days. David went from experiencing night terrors to exhibiting violent behavior, seizures, and screaming profanities in a strained, raspy voice.

Uh-oh, the voice is back. A mere 12 days after the original incident and David's condition was deemed demonic enough to request the services of the United States' most dynamic demonic couple, the warrants. Oh, man, what did I just say? If it isn't the best, don't bring them in, because they're going to. going to make shit significantly worse. So between dittles, they invited the Warrens to come and help a child? Yes. There's no way to really refute what you just said.

It was literally between dittles. Oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah. If anything, if anything, he was, if anything, Mr. Warren was probably checking his watch, being like, I got a diddling appointment. Damn six o'clock. We need to get this little kid sorted. They're like, so we just.

We just don't have time for this. We are absolutely swamp. Oh, it's a cute, chubby little boy? Oh, yeah. Now we can make time. Yeah. That's horrible. This is so sad. This is bringing in the wrong person to help with this. Which is, again, I think like this is a dangerous thing in the world of the paranormal where, you know, sometimes when spooky things are happening, you want to get spooky people in to help, deal with it. Yeah. But you also got to bring a psychiatrist. You also need to bring a scientist. Because the people who believe in the most mystical, unbelievable things in the world, that's always going to be the explanation.

And I think when you have a room full of those people, it can be quite a dangerous thing. You need someone with their heads screwed on maybe in the world of real life, a little bit tighter, just to be a voice in the room. Well, Rory, for me, just like the British voting public in 2016 and Brexit, they've had enough of experts. I've had enough of experts. I think we've heard enough from doctors, psychiatrists. Such a terrible... There should never be a situation where we've heard enough from experts.

That's literally the reason that they exist is to be an expert in the field of blank. I think it was Brexit, where all the experts were just like, if we do this, it's going to be economic suicide. The country's never going to recover. Really, being in the European Union is one of the only things Britain has going for it.

That's enough. It's enough actually out of view. We've heard enough from experts. Because actually, let's make the passports blue again. Oh, yeah. Let's make them blue. And let's fly the flag twice as often. And let's change the national anthem to just the sound of a bulldog jacking itself off.

And that's what we want here in England. Yes. Well, Rory, say what you will about the Warrens. But they did conduct a series of tests in between dittles, recordings in between dittles. And interviews. Don't say it. After dittles. Okay.

At the Gladsell House with David and the family. And according to a Radio Times article, Ed Warren said he heard banging, pause and growling sounds coming from their basement. And that he also saw a rocking chair move on its own. Speaking to paranormal researcher Tony Spera, Ed claimed David's toy dinosaur also walked on its own towards the family. That's pretty funny. That's quite funny that the ghost did some.

Toy Story shit. It was like, hey, Woody! It was Rex from Toy Story. And then, I don't know if this is connected to the dinosaur. Ed also said they heard a deep voice speak to them saying, Beware, you are all going to die. Straight to the point. Yeah.

Damn. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. It's almost like a just a straight up, like, you know, ancient Egyptian curse. Now, they would use hieroglyphics, obviously, but that would be the sparks notes of the thing. I do have another little pick for you. This is nothing like wild, but it's just cool that we do have photos at all. This is David with his mother, allegedly mid-possession.

That is such a weird picture. That makes me so deeply uncomfortable. Yeah, it's David. Oh, hell. Why? Why? Describe what's wrong. It looks like he's getting pegged. No, whoa!

Yo! It does, though. Hey, Phil, take the photo off the screen. Jesus Christ. man. Jesus Christ. All right, Ed, Warren. All right, Ed?

Fri-in' hell. You asked me what it looks like. It looks like he's being pegged. Sorry. Sorry, this is a family show. This is a... Well, it was until 20 seconds ago. Just move on.

Let's move on. How would you describe it? Jesus. I said that's him and his mother. You animal. It looks like, sure, he's sitting on a toilet and he has diarrhea.

or constipation or something and he's like kind of in pain and she's maybe patting him on the back. Yeah. But not whatever you said. Yeah, he looks uncomfortable. She's trying to sue them. He really, you know,

isn't it great to know that the emo side sweep fringe was well and truly in play in the 80s? Yeah. Well before that, you know, we think we cooked with that in the 2000s when little David was, I mean, he looks like he, you know,

he's wearing a fallout. boy t-shirt or something. Yeah, honestly, I had that exact same hair for most of my childhood. Yeah. That was peak Riz in 2006, guys. That haircut. That with a green Zelda t-shirt and some three-quarter lengths? Oh, yeah.

You're talking to zero girls that year. The Legend of Zelda belt buckle. Yeah, and some khaki shorts. Love it. From the beginning of their time together, Ed Warren suggested that they start collecting evidence. and forming a case to bring to the Catholic Church. Oh, great, let's bring in some more diddlers.

Just joking, just joking. He asserted that David was indeed possessed. I'm joking. Was indeed possessed. Please don't smite me. Indeed possessed and urgently needed an exorcism. This is a really bad start to the year. This is off the rails.

Do you think we're still getting that double yes? I don't think we're not getting ads on this thing. That's for sure. Very good What would you say There's a casino that will sponsor us That might be all we'll get Sorry keep going

Do you think Spotify is going to like Do you think there's a line where they'll just be like No guys Nah take it down Where they'll just be like You know It's like whenever South Park They had never missed an episode

Like ever in their history Even when they make the show A little like this paranormal life Just week to week And then the week that Charlie Kirk died, they were like, there's not going to be an episode this week, guys. Yeah. It's not going to, yeah.

Hey, out of our hands, we've just been told there's not going to be an episode. That might be what happens to us this week with Spotify. Now, David was possessed and the church agreed. The request was granted, and the church allegedly conducted a series of exorcisms. Pretty damn cool. Now, Arnie was very close with the Glatzils, getting back to Arne who committed the crime, allegedly. And he would have been around for many of these events in the house. And it's important to get a sense of just how extreme the situation had become.

And pulling from some online articles for context, here's some more information about the terrifying state of affairs at the time. Quote, Debbie and her mother told the warrants they had seen David being beaten and choked by invisible hands. He had read marks appear on his neck afterwards. David had started to growl, hiss and speak in otherworldly voices and recite passages from the Bible or Paradise Lost, weird. The Gladzales recounted how each night a family member would remain awake with David as he suffered through spasms and convulsions.

Yikes. This was full-blown, as much as any other exorcism we've ever seen on this paranormal life. Oh, really should have got just one doctor. Hey, why? You think this is just 100% not paranormal already? I just feel so bad for the kid. I feel like having a real doctor there couldn't have hurt at the very least, or a psychiatrist or something. It feels like we're missing a certain bit of representation in this room right now.

What's a doctor going to do, Rory? What? Medicine. Give him a Xanax, drug him, so he just goes to sleep, all right? What's that going to do for the ghost? Something the ghost could just do whatever he wants. It just feels wrong that things seem to be getting worse, and his parents and everyone in the house is like, oh my God, I think we're going to lose him.

More wizards! Bring in more charlatans, please. Like, the room is overflowing with like odd balls, people with tinfoil hats and cloaks. It's like not, it's just making him worse. This is making him so much worse, it feels like. Right. It's like when you watch like a period drama movie or like, you know,

like imagine a movie set in like, yeah, Egyptian times. Yeah. And a boy has like athletes foot or something not that crazy. and they're just like, we've tried leeches, we've tried applying honey to his forehead. Nothing's worked. We have to cut it off. And we're all out of ideas. Yeah, sure.

Well, Roy, I'm kind of, I'm breaking your balls here, but you will see, don't worry, you're not alone in thinking that. Okay. Even within the Glatsell family, we will actually hear a little bit more later. Good. From some other voices. Because I literally see myself in this kid, and I really hope. I think that's my t-shirt. That might be me.

I bought that t-shirt vintage in the year 2000. I think that's his shirt. I'm looking for the Sora watermark because I think you put me in the past, but I actually think it's a real photo. Can we get the thumbnail for this week's episode to be Rory Photoshopped onto Little David? Not the pegging one. Dude, stop. Stop, stop, stop.

Stop. Peggy 18. Damn. Damn. Hashtag Peggy 18. Damn. Yeah. Friot take.

All right. Yeah. During the, Happy New Year, everyone. Hey. Another year. This paranormal life. Just the boss?

You're like, absolutely have to stop. Wait, I've got one. All right, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill. During the religious rituals, David writhed and convulsed, and Lorraine Warren later alleged that he levitated and became shrouded in a black mist. This all sounds insane, so to give us a sense of it, sense of it, while we don't have video of the black mist, let's listen to some audio recordings

of the exorcism itself. I don't want to do this. No, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to do, this is... Categorically, too late. Do we need to put a content? Well, we should put a content warning on a lot of this. Okay, let me jump, because this isn't the true crime show.

I don't want to freak anyone out. David's fine. Let me jump ahead and say that. Okay. You know the way sometimes we do an exorcism and it's like, they died the next day. He didn't die. Yeah. David is fine.

He is a happy, healthy adult. I believe he's 50 something. It's 50 something years old at the time of recording. Oh, cool. He's good. Amazing. I'm glad to hear it. So whenever you listen to this, maybe that's good.

You brought it up. Let's not feel weird about a little boy being in a little bit of distress. Yeah. There's also something a little funny about it. And maybe you'll hear that. Okay. Okay. David.

You're naming Jesus. Jesus repels you. Leave this child alone. Yes, member, you are not strong. You're weak. You're weak. You're lying. Jesus loves this boy. This is true tomorrow. Wake him out of it.

Drop them up to something. Name of the father and a son in the whole. Spirit. Amen. Mom is here. Mom is here. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Let's go. Come on. Get out of my son. Get out of my son. Come on. Come on.

Get away from my son. No. No. Your mother. You are my mother. David, David, Steve, lift up, get up.

You can't see the moffey. We're doing it. Just get up. My God, get up. Loki turned into Toad at the end there. That wasn't funny. So when he put this funny is she goes, I'm your mother.

And he goes, you're a douchebag. Oh, I did not hear that. Yeah, because there's a video where they have it like subtitled. I think it's subtitled for the movie and the documentary. I'm your mother, you're a douchebag, and he goes ha ha ha. So pretty mad, though. It seems like the demon's not intimidated at all.

It's having a fine time. Which is very consistent with Checks notes, the movie The Exorcist, isn't it? Yes, this is like a thing with his demon. They have a little bit of a sense of humor. Yeah, because I believe in the exorcists. While the exorcism is being performed in the little girl, she says, Your mother sucks cocks in hell. Famously.

Yeah, that's one of the lines that the demon says. Which, again, I have a problem with because that would imply that there isn't sucking cocks in heaven. Yeah. You know? Which I just thought's not my heaven. Peggy 18. You put that disclaimer at the start of every episode now. As a trusted member of the family, Arnie Chey N. Johnson was requested as a helper during the exorcisms.

During the final particularly violent episode, Arnie frustrated by the lack of progress and moved by a desire to help David yelled out, Take me on, leave my little buddy alone. The Warrens warned him that this. was unwise, but in an act of desperation and self-sacrifice, he repeated his request, Come into me instead of him, come into me instead of him. Peggy. Don't say a thing.

Don't say a thing. This is the climax, the most serious point of the investigation. Don't dare. Do you dare? Say Peggyate. What's funny about coming to me instead of him? What is literally, what is literally funny about? that. I don't get that. Oh, Lord. Do you want to explain the joke the whole class so we can all enjoy it?

So this individual offered himself up as a sacrifice. He hunger gamesed it. It's a real biblical moment. Volunteered his tribute. I have a lot of respect for that, you know, whether or not he thought he'd be able to take it on or whether he, you know, decided to be a vessel instead of this poor kid. I respect it. I really do. Now for the next section of today's story, the possession of Arnie. Yeah, this is what I was afraid of. In the days after, David finally started to show some signs of recovery. Funny that, his sleep improved. He became calmer and gradually he returned to what might be described as a normal childhood. Ominously, though, as David recuperated, Arnie started to change.

He began displaying strange behaviors. He was erratic. Scratching his neck. You know, first stages of the zombie bite. and his personality was changing. Then, on February 16th, 1981, the day that opened this episode, Arnie's sister Wanda joined Arne, Debbie, and their landlord Alan Bono, and Debbie's cousin, Mary, for a boozy lunch.

There's a bunch of people, including their landlord Alan. But back in Arnie and Debbie's apartment, Bono and Arne had some kind of disagreement which quickly turned into an altercation. The fight escalated and the two men spilled. out into the lawn in front of the house. It was here that, quote, Bono seized Debbie's nine-year-old cousin Mary, who had also been present and refused to let her go, which then led Arnie Johnson to confront him and eventually stab him repeatedly with a five-inch pocket knife, all while growling like an animal. Bono suffered four or five tremendous wounds, mainly to his chest area, and he died

several hours later. That's awful. It is. The murder is believed to be the first murder in Brookfield, Connecticut's 193 year history and the first in 30 years since the Todd had police records. So such a momentous event for the small quiet community only became more momentous when details about the case and Johnson's defense plea came to light. Now you've heard the details of the crime, Roy. You feeling so confident about your bet? Yeah, pretty confident. Maybe even more so.

He murdered him in cold blood. him in cold blood, so yeah, pretty confident. Yeah, he wasn't even the original person who got possessed. Grawling like an animal? Sure, yeah? Mm-hmm. Why did he have a... Anyone that's going around with a pocket knife, that's already a bad vibe.

I agree, but I think you'd be shocked at probably how many people carry around a knife. Well, this is America, right, so... Not for... And I'm not saying for weird reasons, I'm just saying, like, you know, guys who have, like, a tool knife of some description on them. Yeah. But maybe not in, like, cities. Well, yeah, not for you in East London, maybe.

Well, I'm actually... But in Brookfield, Connecticut, a quiet, sleepy town. Yeah, sure. Or maybe... They might even have open carrier. Carving wood, I don't know. Yeah, who knows? I know very little about Connecticut, I will say.

Pizza. That's kind of it. Now, when Arnie Johnson awoke in police custody, we're back, this is Tarantino mode. We're back to the start of the story. He had no memory of the murder, allegedly, and was convinced the police... The police had the wrong person.

Presented with the evidence, they showed him his own hands, and witness testimonies. He and indeed Debbie reasoned that this must have had something to do with David's possession the year before. So a whole year had gone by? Yes. Yikes. Okay. That's not exactly the following week, isn't it? Yeah, you'd hope it'd be the next day.

Yeah. Because there's no way he was acting this weird for a year and it was never brought up. Yeah. You do have to remember that, yeah, that it's like, man, he was, dude, the dude changed overnight. He was a different guy. It's like, what was he doing right before the murder? Brunch? Yeah. They went for brunch. Yeah. You know, anything's possible. You know, he might have just flipped out the demon just, you know, oh, those eggs Benedict brought out the demon in him, you know, maybe. But the price of an egg Benedict in 2025 would bring out the demon in me. Let me tell you that. But maybe when they were placing their brunch orders, they were like, oh, we're going to. do drinks, going, you know, around in a circle. What do you guys want? Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, bloody Mary. And his eyes, like, went back in his head and he's like, Yes. I must stab! Now that, that is a joke for the new year, guys. There you go. Wow. See, it's not all... Brunch to demonic possession, that is good stuff. There you go. It's not all just crass, disgusting, grotty jokes on this show. Well, we'll get in a couple more of those

before the episode died. And I never congratulate, on anything. It's true. Yeah. Is this like a new thing you're doing this year? Because I really enjoyed that. No, you've set the bar too high

if anything. You're not going to hit that high again this year. Sure. I think y'all will be waiting until next year for that one. Now, Arnie's lawyer, Martin Manella, was skeptical at first with the idea of him being possessed. But when presented with the entire story,

the recordings, and some more encouragement by the warrants, he changed his mind. Manela became convinced that Arne was telling the truth and must have been underpossess at the time of the murder. And inspired by a similar case in England, Manella decided to pursue a unprecedented in the US,

not guilty by virtue of possession plea. Wow. And the media frenzy that ensued was crazy. The trial became known as the Demon Murder Trial or The Devil Made Me Do It case. And international attention during the proceedings was huge. taking place in Connecticut Superior Court in Danbury, the presiding judge Robert Callahan quickly rejected the case of demonic possession,

and Manila and his client quickly pivoted to a manslaughter in self-defense plate. Sure, yeah, because that, if you say that, sure, the devil made him do it, that sets a really terrible precedent going forward for every criminal ever committing a crime. It's essentially the same as arguing free will doesn't exist. Right. Which is a real topic of debate in philosophical circles, which is does anyone, you know, what does it mean for the criminal justice system if no man, woman or child actually has autonomy over their actions? Yeah. The problem is, like I just said, there would be no criminal justice system anymore. No one would be accountable for anything.

So it would undermine the entire system of laws. I guess the closest that does exist in our world to something like this is insanity plea. Yeah. Which is not soft in jail time, but maybe the punishment is a little bit different if it's a viable thing. You can plea insanity. It might be almost like a hybrid kind of prison sentence slash, but it might be more of like a rehabilitation. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

The facility you end up in might be different. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Things have come on a long way, that way. Of course, in England and in the UK lately, what they do is they just every week release 12 people at random. It's like a lottery. They just release violent prisoners just at random and then they try and catch them. Afterwards, like a game.

It's like a little fun game show on Channel 4. Keeps the news exciting. Yeah, yeah. So after three days of deliberation, the jury found Arnie Johnson guilty of first-degree manslaughter. Not even murder. Interesting. and he spent five, I guess because it was already a fight, was the idea, and he spent five of his 10 to 20 years sentence behind Barnes.

During this time in prison, Arnie Johnson showed no signs of possession, the demon having presumably left after the murder. Yet he and the Gladsell family stood by their claims and maintained Johnson's innocence. And in fact, Debbie Glatsel went on to marry Arne in prison. That is them on their wedding day. Wow. What, straight up in prison?

Straight up in prison. That kind of sucks if you did get possessed by a demon and he forces you to commit an atrocity. And then you get found guilty. You end up in prison and you're kind of in solitary and you're like, well, it looks like it's you and me stuck together like you always wanted. And the demon's like, no, hell no, I don't have to be here. I'm not sticking around. Five years? No, no, no, I'm going back to the house.

Do you know how many little boys I could hunt in that time? Yeah, the, hell no, I'm on here. The ghostly demon just whoops slips through the bars. I'm out of here, man. Dude, they're going to electrocute you. I need to find a new guy.

He just goes straight into the prison officer. At least throw me the keys. Buddy, come back. We had a lot of good times together. That sucks. That really sucks. While in prison, he also received his high school deployed.

And according to the chief of parole was an exemplary inmate. So there you go. Yeah, I feel very conflicted about that. I mean, that's great. Glad the rehabilitation worked in some form. Probably shouldn't have killed that innocent guy. That also really sucks. Yeah.

It's like I was reading about how, again, it's like, it's such an interesting topic on which I don't have any judgment on. And we'll never get to the bottom of. But like, it's always this dichotomy of like, what's the point of prison? like, and is it to just rehabilitate people or is it just to punish people or is a combination of the both? Because I was reading about how in like some prisons in America, in some states, you can now work a job while in prison. Right. And so there's so there's guys who are now like they have like high paid like remote software engineer jobs from prison. And they're like buying houses on the outside like renting out those houses to make more money.

And so they're like making bank because the government obviously pays. You're paying all your food and accommodation because you live in prison. And I think some states have been like, okay, hold on, shit. So you can work, but we're going to take a third of your income because that covers some of the cost of you being in prison. Oh, right. I see. Yeah. And then some people are like, no, like the point of prison is you shouldn't get to like, you know, work and be better off than some people on the outside. It's really weird. It's really weird. Yeah, because I live in a tiny room now working a full-time job where the government takes,

More than a third of my income. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm starting to see a world in which I have it worse. Yeah, but it's really tough. I guess I have my own shower. And then it's tough, yeah, but then that's it. It's like, you don't want to be the guy who's just like, no, you must be punished. You must look at the wall.

Yeah. And it's like, no, shouldn't we encouraging, be encouraging people to be educated and like, and better themselves so that they are less likely to offend when they get off? Yeah. Yeah. Hey, let the guy, let the guy buy a Toyota so that he has something to live for on the outside, right? So who knows, who knows. But to bring this story home, Rory, the media blitz from the trial did die darn, but interest

in the cases never fully waned. It inspired a whole series of TV shows, dramatizations, movies, most notably the third conjuring movie, which all try to retell this story. You'll be glad to know Debbie's older brother, Carl Glatzell, has come out in recent years against the prevailing narrative in the documentary The Devil on Trial. contradicts his family's theory. He states that the Warren's exploited David's mental health episodes in a demonic possession narrative

that the whole vulnerable family got swept up in. And it appears as though the case added to the Warren's brand and indeed bank accounts, them getting lucrative publishing deals, leaving the family with little more than PTSD. So maybe he has a point. With that said, David and Arney maintained to this day it was a possession

and they have spoken in documentaries and things like that. This is a way when it becomes difficult because, yeah, you have like, I won't say mass hysteria, but definitely could potentially be family hysteria. And then to solve that problem, you hire two people whose best interest is that this is a real possession. We've said it before. That's the problem with a lot of quote unquote ghost hunting shows and paranormal shows. If they don't find a ghost, the show's canceled. They've wasted their time.

It's over. They don't get picked up for a second season. They have to find something. They have to hear something. They have to see something. And that's where it becomes a bit of a problem. Unlike Kit and I on this paranormal life, we get to say yes or no. And it doesn't impact whether we get to come back next week.

That's why you can trust our opinions on cases like this. And we also get to be skeptical, which is kind of refreshing. And we get to make pegging jokes. Yeah, probably should be. make less of those and do more of the actual paranormal investigating. So yeah, I think that's something to bear in mind as we approach our conclusion. And we are approaching that conclusion. I will say, it got my mind racing about the idea of like, it's very cool, isn't it? I think the reason it's most notable is like despite the court case, not really being a big feature of the story. It's not the

paranormal bit, right? It's like the exorcisms, the crazy bit, the murders the crazy bit. But yet the the show and the movies are all named after the legal argument. Because I guess that's what makes this story notable. It was a rare moment in which the paranormal world bled into the real world of the legal system. Yeah, yeah. Would they actually acknowledge legally that this is something that can happen? Which they didn't, of course. Sure, yeah.

The lawyer tried to argue that. But it got my mind going about, has this ever worked? And of course, there are a couple of examples through history, one of which we've talked about and it's probably the best example of this is a very well-known kind of real estate legal battle which was Stambovsky versus Ackley

in New York State 1991 this is essentially the big cahuna in terms of paranormal legal arguments and this was where Helen Ackley sold her Victorian mansion in Nyack, New York to one Jeffrey Stam's

And he alleged she didn't inform him the house was haunted. I think I've read about this. Yeah. He took her to court, basically not want, I guess not wanting the house. And it's super interesting to read about it. You can read about it online. It's very popular. And it's super interesting because it was a legal argument in court that the house is haunted and the judge had to rule was this legit or not.

And of course, it was significant because they ruled in the guy's favor. that like, yeah, you weren't told this house was haunted. Therefore, it was not proper pretences for buying the house. Yeah. And so she lost it as the owner of the house in the first place. But it was less to do with the court saying, yes, this house is legally haunted. What it came down to was the court said, look, lady, Helen, she had already in newspaper interviews and readers digest articles publicly claimed the house was haunted.

in the years running up to selling it. Yeah. And then when she went to sell it, she didn't tell anyone that. Sure, sure. And so it came down to, um, it came down to this legal argument of you can't, you can't claim the house is haunted after the fact if you've spent the past five years claiming it was. That would actually be a good episode of the podcast for us to do.

So maybe we could, if there's enough in it, turn into a full episode. See what the actual be, because it's like such an interesting headline, but like it would be interesting to know what were the actual what happened? hauntings. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And why did the guy genuinely not want the house? Yeah.

And was it just the lessened value of the house? But look, guys, at the end of every episode of this paranormal life, we do have to decide whether we think in our professional paranormal investigator opinions, whether we think this case is real or not. Today, I guess there's quite a lot going on, you know. Do we think was David possessed? Do we think Arnie was possessed when he murdered Bono? Crazy to say out loud? Yeah. Yeah, I guess it's one and the same.

It's technically one possession. Sure, well, it's one guy, one demon. Yeah, it's one spirit. So, damn, that was like a reggae lyric. One spirit, one guy. So I guess do you think the possession was real? I got a side with the courts on this one. I don't think there's enough evidence today.

to prove that this spirit really did exist and possess these people. If anything, I feel kind of bad for the kid, David. I feel like he maybe got swept up in the beliefs of his family, and maybe he was struggling with his mental health at the time, and that was kind of re-skinned into this possession that probably didn't make anything better. I think, luckily now, with modern medicine and a better understanding of mental health,

If a problem like this arises, we could deal with it better. But back then, sounded like, based off of their parents, they went down the path of getting two very controversial paranormal investigators involved in it, which I don't think made it any better today. And this idea of the creature leaping from one person to another, sure, maybe you'd have a better explanation if then, like, the next day they were acting weird and then the weeks acting weird, and at the end of the month,

it exploded in this big murder case. But a year? You said he went to brunch the morning of the murder. Like, presumably there was huge bits of time we were acting completely normal. And then, you know, I'm assuming it sounds like there was just a bit of a temper on him or there were some underlying issues going on here.

So, I don't know. I think it's an interesting case. And I like the idea of covering stories where the paranormal crosses over with the law and the rules of the world. I think that's really interesting. But it's going to be a no from me this week. Damn.

Yeah, I think I broadly agree. I don't think all exorcisms are bullshit necessarily. But yeah, I'm not sure about this one. Yeah. A couple of red flags. And it's unfortunate that, you know, the warrants are involved because it taints things because they, if you do go back and listen to that episode,

based on the warrants, they certainly did. manufacture evidence for some paranormal cases they were involved with. So that's hard. That muddies the waters, whether they did that in every case, who knows? We might never know. Yeah. But today, it will be a no.

Yikes. That's not how we wanted to just start the year. You're telling me, you know what's more disappointing than that? I owe you five pounds. Oh, yeah. Do you want to buy my lunch today? You think five pounds are going to buy you lunch in East London? To buy me a slice of pizza for my pizza place.

We can get the weekly special That pizza place Shout out to world famous Gordoes What I believe We're not getting any other ads I might as well do this one What I believe is the best slice of pizza in London But these guys are also like mad scientists

But you don't need to even do the ad Because I'm buying you the lunch Oh I just want to tell people Okay They did a couple weeks ago They did a bake bean pizza Yeah, that's bad That's f*** up

It was fire It was unbelievable I think the mad scientists are just in a lab somewhere going, we could put anything on this and these jumps will eat it up. Let's put tick-tacks. It's pretty hard to make pizza bad. I think that's the thing, yeah, isn't it? Yeah.

So you can see where Rory's heads at. Lunch. Try and guess what time of day it is, guys. You'll never guess. Every time you're like, and then they said they saw this. Rory, what are your thoughts? I'm like, don't have any. What happens next?

I'm starving. Let's look at my watch. Starving here. You're like the lines when you're going to be getting longer as well. Yeah. Jesus, man. Now, listen, just because the cases are a double no doesn't mean that it wasn't a fantastic episode of the podcast. I think that was a great story. One that we had wanted to cover since we heard about it.

And even though it's a double no, I think it's a killer way to start the year. Couldn't agree more. We have a jam-packed year ahead of us stretching out in front of us. 2026. I didn't think I'd even live to 2019. Jam-packed. There's an idea. a new slice.

Stuffed, crust. We have a lot coming this year, guys. We're going to tell you all about it as the year progresses, lots of cool plans.

If you've been listening to us through 2025, thank you so much, or earlier. Thank you so much for coming back year on year. We really appreciate you.

If you've only joined us as of 2025 or even just on this episode, thanks for coming along on the ride. We are here for you every Tuesday with this paranormal life. We're on patreon.com

as well, where there's hundreds of bonus episodes available for one click and around five pounds or five dollars pending local currency. A slice. That's the price of a slice. In 26. Yeah. And so head over there and you can get on Fridays. There's the behind the scenes after party episode where me and Rory basically shoot the shit, talk about what's going on behind the scenes. Yeah. And everything we're up to. There's also monthly full length bonus episodes, which are unique investigations into the paranormal. It's slightly weirdly wier, slightly wackier. We don't usually come down on conclusions. It's very fun,

all on patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. And we also like to sometimes round out with some shoutouts to people on the shout out tier over on Patreon. What do you say? Let's do it. Let's do it. Quick shout out to Really big. Whoa. Okay. Really big is, this is going to be interesting. I need to know how big you really are. because for safety measures, the doors to the commune are kind of like a single file corridor to kind of stop. Because if you make it too big,

everyone wants to leave it once. So we've had to make it very, very narrow to try and stop people from leaving it all. I think I, sorry, I haven't, yeah, I haven't had lunch yet. My vision's going a little blurry. I think I read it wrong. I think it's not really big.

It's O'Reilly, Greg. Greg O'Reilly. Sorry, that's weird. Oh, okay, well that's fine then. Yeah, come on in. You slender gent. It says bracket seven foot three. Stay out.

Jesus. Stay out then. Because I also, if you're in the commune, you either have to be smaller than me or do that thing where you put your shoes on your knees and walk around like you're small. Special shout out to Miguel. Now, Miguel, you might think that that was, you know,

the Spanish name, of course, for a Hispanic name for Michael. This is confused, because I can see their address. This is actually just confusingly. This is like a Glasgowian. Buying this is a gift for the girlfriend, Miguel. Oh, right. My girl.

I'm getting it for Miguel. I'm getting it for Miguel. So they bought the shadow and we were like, oh, who is this for? Miguel. Miguel. So I can't do a Scottish accent, so otherwise it would make a lot more sense. I actually thought that was pretty good. Yeah.

So, well, shout out to, and who, so who bought this then? What did it say? Hamish. Hamish. Thank you, Hamish, for buying a shout-out for Miguel. Miguel. Miguel. Thank you also to snossage.

Snossage. Snossage. Snossage. I think that's a slice I had last week. The spicy snossage and honey? Hot honey? My gourdo slice. We need to get Rory out of here.

God. Snossage is like the kind of thing where you like, you order it on a menu and then you take a bite and you're like, why does this taste so bad? I thought I ordered the snossage. Yeah, yeah. They're like legally we can't call it sausage. I was going to say it's giving like vegan, you know, it's like a tofurky, which is like turkey made of tofu. Just calling something else at that point. It's like not sausage.

Yeah. I could see that. It's not sausage. Snossage. well thank you very much to you guys thanks for tuning in we'll be back on Tuesday with a brand new paranormal tale back on Friday on Patreon with the after party and at the end of the month with the bonus episode happy new year guys wow this is this is going to be our best year yet I can feel it 2026 you want to put five bucks on it yeah absolutely five more bucks I'm not willing to

take that bet based off this episode we'll see you soon bye bye bye Thank you.