Within these pages, you will find eyewitness stories unlike anything you’ve read before. You will experience the terror, the helplessness, the loss of control, and the torment felt by those who have fallen prey to the dark powers in this world—the demon possessed.
The symptoms of demonic possessions manifest themselves in many ways—convulsions, bite marks appearing from nothing, and levitation are all common. The victims frequently inherit clairvoyant abilities, too, seeing directly into another person's soul to uncover their deepest, darkest secrets. Perhaps most incredibly of all, though, the possessed may begin speaking in a language they've never previously been exposed to. These are symptoms it's almost impossible to explain or dismiss.
This chilling collection of stories date from modern times all the way back to the 1600s, spanning multiple countries including the United States, Great Britain, the Philippines, France, and South Africa. From the poor to the middle-class, the prostitute to the housewife, and the schoolboy to the local butcher, you will learn demons do not discriminate between class, gender, or age—it can happen to anyone.
Most of the time, the demon possesses one individual, but not always. In this book, you will find the case of two brothers possessed simultaneously and interacting with each other in the throes of their possession as well as an instance in which an entire school of children seem to suffer at the hands of a demonic entity.
Some of these horror stories arose from poor judgment, such as a pact with the devil or seeking the help of an ill-reputed healer. Others succumbed to a curse, while some are unfortunate enough to simply find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Some of the victims of these stories were delivered, but found their lives cut dramatically short, no doubt due to the physical torments their human bodies endured during the possession and exorcism. Others faced prison, or found themselves locked up in asylums because of actions committed while they were under an evil influence. Yet, there are still those whom were unable to be delivered, one in particular even leading to a gruesome, haunting murder. It seems there are no happy endings when demons become involved.
So let me ask do you believe in demons? True Demonic Possessions and Exorcisms is guaranteed to befuddle the skeptics and confirm to believers that demons are not to be messed with. Whichever side of the fence you sit, one thing is for this collection of true stories of demonic possession is guaranteed to be a hair-raising experience.
4.0 stars — “True Ghost Stories” is a very short but well detailed account of some of the most well documented exorcisms in history. The book is fascinating because it provides a lot of information regarding the behavior of the possessed person both before and during the exorcism. The fact that these stories are purported to be true and believed to be based on witness accounts make them creepier than any novel ever written. If even one of the accounts is true then there is no other explanation than Satan is real, and we need to be mindful of that on a daily basis.
I have read another Zachery Knowles book and am familiar with his narrative style of writing and conveying supernatural and preternatural tales. Having participated in spiritual deliverance rituals, confronted possessed people, dealing with witches, and being a student of the exorcism rite, I possess extensive knowledge of this area of preternatural phenomena, possessions and exorcisms. I found this booklet an accurate and intense depiction of said events of demonic possessions. This first tale about Clarita is quite familiar to me because I am familiar with the ministry of Pastor Lester Sumrall and have read the book, "The Life Story of Lester Sumrall." That story alone is disturbing enough but Zachery added menace in the retelling. I was quite impressed with the recounting of the chilling tales of Priscilla Johnson, Clara Cele and the Burner brothers to the point that it I felt my sphincter tightening. Two of the other better cases came from the files and experiences of Ed and Lorraine Warren. The David and Cheyenne stories comprise the "Demon Murder Case." The other case is the strange and terrifying story of Bill Ramsey, "The Werewolf." The inclusion of two cases investigated by the Warrens added to the scope and reality of possessions and exorcisms. It also adds additional spice to this book. The other cases discussed also provided depth and breadth of the vileness of a demonic possession. The author effectively uses descriptive and emotional words and phrases to convey evil of these cases. It was also a good idea to include several of the aforementioned more infamous cases on the subject. I applaud Zachery Knowles for this impressive book of thirteen demonic possessions and exorcisms.
Although I am a sceptic I really enjoy paranormal stories. I read a book about Ouija boards by the same author so I hoped this would be interesting.
Unfortunately it seems as though every story was rushed, with very little detail. Two of the stories absolutely do not belong in the book - mass hysteria in pre-teens does have a medical explanation and has/is being heavily researched, despite the author stating otherwise. A man who murdered his wife due to "possession" is believed by experts to have faked the whole story to get out of a prison sentence and a brutal murder like that should not be used as paranormal entertainment, it feels incredibly disrespectful to the victim and her family and children. The story about "David" is one I have seen spoken about by the actual family and it is totally wrong, all of the details are wrong and no one was murdered.
So knowing how wrong those three definitely are does not instil much confidence in anything else written here. Everything is glossed over, real detail is scarce and the author does not acknowledge that exorcism and possession were around long before Christianity, it would have been interesting to read about other cultures approaches.
I am very glad I didn't pay for this book. I have borrowed a couple of others in kindle unlimited, I really hope they are better than this one.
“True Ghost Stories: Real Demonic Possessions and Exorcisms” by Zachery Knowles is a engaging collection of 13 cases dealing with helplessness, loss of control, and alleged demonic possession.
I don’t necessarily believe in such phenomena, but I find the whole paranormal world fascinating. From today’s scientific perspective, many of these accounts could likely be explained by neurological or psychological conditions that were interpreted through a religious lens, for example depression, schizophrenia, Tourette’s, dissociative disorders, or epilepsy. That connection really interests me, and I’d love to do more research into the specific cases as well as the broader topic.
At times, I genuinely felt chills down my spine, these stories were creepier than most horror novels, simply because they are presented as “true.” The language is descriptive and direct, which makes the atmosphere come through well. Still, some stories felt a bit rushed; I would have liked more detail and depth in certain cases.
All in all, a great book for the fall and Halloween season, definitely guaranteed to give you some chills.
Although I am a sceptic I really enjoy paranormal stories. Ive heard mixed things about this author on Goodreads and Audible so I thought I’d try reading one of his books. I hoped this would be interesting.
Unfortunately it seems as though every story was rushed, with very little detail and the author does not acknowledge that exorcism and possession were around long before Christianity, it would have been interesting to read about other cultures approaches.
The positive The only good thing I can say about these stories is two of them mentioned the warrens. I truly believe that the Warrens are gifted and what they have done with all their stories.
Overall I’m very glad I didn't pay for this book. I have free credits to use to maybe try reading his other books about the paranormal but I really hope they are better than this one.
This was a disturbing entry in the author's haunted series. These cases of possession were frightening and horrific. I had not heard of any of these cases before and this book is very well researched. The victims are described as the normal people they are and the demonic nightmares they become. Many had exorcism performed and sometimes the outcome is not always what you'd expect. A disturbing short read. I read this book using Whisper sync, reading while listening to the Audi book versrion
I'd realistically give this book 2.5 stars. It was okay, nothing more and nothing less, in my opinion. It was a super quick read, but I feel as though some stories didn't provide enough details and glossed over quite a bit. It read more like an informative book you'd have to read at school rather than something you wanted to read in your spare time.
I chose to read this book as true paranormal phenomenon intrigues me and I believe is true. A truly intriguing book both for believers and nonbelievers of the real paranormal!!!!!!!!!
Felt more of an overview of different possession stories really. This is my first book reading about exorcism’s so probably expected more details to be honest. Few spelling mistakes in the book as well
I really liked this book. Got it with the expectation that is was just going to be another scary story book that is so cliche. This actually read like case reports and was incredibly interesting.
This book was just okay for me. It was written more like a textbook than a book of “ghost stories”. I felt the details were very muted and some stories did not have enough details. It might work well for someone else, but didn’t quite hit the mark for me.
Well. That was scary. The stories were very short, I would have liked a bit more details on them. I feel like each one could’ve been a book on its own, easy. There were a bit of grammatical errors. The book’s message is clear: possession is real. Don’t mess with things you don’t understand.
This is great book to read , very interesting why I gave it 5 stars. I wished the book wasn't so short. I want more and I Will be following this author.
Great book, lots of creepy stories of real documented demon possession. I read the whole book in one sitting I could not put it down, just don't read it alone in the dark.
This was a good book that touched on many details and characteristics of the almost fully possessed. I would have liked a little more detail about what the priests actually did and said during the exorcisms-although the author did cover that to some extent. But it was certainly well worth reading.