I’ve noticed a remarkable jump in the number of e-mails I am getting from folks who say they are encountering demonic activity in the field, so I think I might spend just a little time revisiting what I know about the topic.

First of all, in 40 years of field research I’ve encountered all sorts of things, but with hundreds of fully researched cases in my files, I have personally only encountered three that I would categorize as truly “Demonic.”  Of those, two were infestation cases, and only one involved demonic possession.  While some might think that is a relatively low number among hundreds, and others have said that I’ve just been lucky, I think it due more to the fact that I had a good grounding in comparative religions and their philosophy and was better prepared to see the subtle differences that would make a case the work of a demon.

Recently, I was asked by one reader how I could be sure.  My answer may surprise some people, but honestly, there is a “smell” associated with these cases.  I can’t honestly say that it is a physical attribute of demonic cases, but it existed in all three that I investigated.  Over the years the ASUP, Inc. has developed set protocols for almost every situation and in the case of demonics, the rules are simple.  Once a field team ascertains that they are dealing with something out of the ordinary, they immediately call for supervision.  A senior investigator or director will respond immediately, and if there are signs of something demonic at the location, the team will back out, taking care to protect the clients, while outside assistance is summoned.

These cases are best left to those who specialize in them.  Our basic rule is, “Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s…”  Demonic cases are the realm of religion, not science and it takes a very special person to deal effectively with it.  I tend to lean toward the Jesuits for this sort of thing, but that is a personal preference, being the product of a Jesuit education.  The personality necessary to deal with this kind of activity is unique, so let the Church hierarchy make the choices.  They have a set system to determine what is at hand and how to deal with it.  No offense to the “demonologists” among us, but this is really bigger than most can imagine and only a fool would rush in “where angels fear to tread!” In many cases, regardless of the faith of the client, his or her own church will defer to the Jesuits, simply because they have the experience.

That being said, lets return to my original statement.  I have only seen three real demonic cases in 40 years!  The problem I surmise is that people all too often meet up with a nasty “spirit” and misidentify them as something demonic.  Just like the Internet, or dating services for that matter, anyone can claim to be anything, and that includes spirits.  Here is a general guideline to consider. If in fact a spirit is the essence of a dead human, it is only logical to assume that the human’s attitudes, personality, etc. will carry over to that spirit.  Thus, if a person was warm, loving and caring in life, so too will they be as a spirit.  On the other hand, if the person was nasty, abusive or corrupt in life, those faults will follow his personality into death.

This is the basic rule of thumb to follow when doing field work.  If you run into a spirit that wants to taunt you, scare you or be abusive, you are only seeing that spirits personality from life.  We already know that spirits can and do lie, so why be surprised when you hear what sounds like a demonic voice in an EVP.  You can’t jump to that conclusion without supporting evidence to the demonic nature of that particular case.  That is where the higher than expected number of demonic claims is now coming from.   Unfortunately, poorly trained “ghost hunters” misinterpret what they see and hear.

The fact is that an active poltergeist case is very much like the opening stages of a real demonic encounter.  The only difference is that the poltergeist is PK driven and will eventually dissolve, where the demonic cases will grown and remain until it wins or is successfully challenged.  While I always say that there has never been a documented death directly from the hands of spirit, I believe it is possible when dealing with a demon.  For that matter I have personally been in a situation where I was assaulted by a spirit, but there was nothing demonic about it.  In that case, the client had been physically abused by her father in life and after he committed suicide in their house, he continued to harass her.  When I confronted him, he struck me in the chest with enough force to cause me to lose my breath.  Eventually, he left the premises after a cleansing of the house, but that was in no way a demonic infestation, rather it was a bitter, nasty spirit trapped in something of his own making and striking out to anyone who challenged him.

There were two studies done in the last century to attempt to determine exactly how many demons exist in the global perspective in the battle between good and evil.  It was a large, but countable number in both cases, based purely on scripture.  Assuming that all of those demons worked full time at infesting and possessing the living and assuming that they immediately went from one victim to another immediately after being dispossessed, the number of possible demonic cases can be counted in the thousands each year.  Of course, we don’t really have good statistics to balance out that claim, while we have some estimates of reported demonic cases in the United States and Western Europe, we do not have dependable numbers from approximately 2/3rds of the planet, but assuming a consistent distribution, the number of supposed demonic cases in America is much higher than you would expect.  I suspect that is the fault of misidentification.

I think the message is very clear, we have to be certain of how we categorize and document those cases carefully.  I am not sure which is worse, rushing into a case that might be truly demonic or failing to recognize the difference between a negative case and one of demonic influences, but the only way to really correct that problem begins with good training and reasonable research.

 © 2009 Rick Moran and the ASUP, Inc. All rights reserved.  Republication with permission.