Tales of the Possessed

by C Torrington

The idea of people possessed by evil spirits against their will is as old as the hills. Often there is thought to be a special way a person has become possessed. It might be the result of a curse cast on them by a sorcerer, or some unfortunate mishap such as stepping over a dead body. Or the demons can have been invited, in a Satanic ritual. More often, at least in recent Christian tradition, there is no initiating moment that can be identified-they just find their way in, like disease. From Pearl Curran, a housewife living in St Louis, Missouri, who soared to fame in the second decade of the 20th century as the amanuensis of 'Patience Worth', a writer who had died in the 17th century, to victims of Dissociative Personality Disorder (thought to have inspired Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde), this book examines demonic possession from every angle.

192 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2017

Reviews

[Vincent Konrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A remarkably level-headed survey of apparent demon possession. Because it’s fact driven there’s not too much spook to be got from it, nor a lot of detail in some cases. A good overview of general attitudes, possible causes (though openly inconclusive; the author doesn’t seem satisfied by any of the available explanations, including the supernatural), and notable cases both historic and more recent (including the nuns at loudun and the basis for ‘the exorcist’)