Ohhhhhhh Spooky spooky.
The Briefing:
The home of Jack and Janet Smurl in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, was the scene of
a horrific and terrifying haunting from 1985 to 1987. The case received wide
attention in the media. Although the house went through three exorcisms and
investigations by demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, the demon refused to
leave. The hauntings were chronicled in a book and portrayed in a movie both
named "The Haunted".
The Story:
The house involved is a duplex, built in 1896 on a quiet street in a middle class
neighborhood. After hurricane Agnes flooded much of north-eastern Pennsylvania
in 1972, the Smurl family was forced to leave their home in Wilkes-Barre. Jacks
parents, John and Mary Smurl, bought the house in West Pittston in 1973 for
$18,000. They lived in the right half and Jack, Janet and their first two daughters,
Dawn and Heather, moved into the left half. The Smurls spent much time and
money redecorating and remodeling, doing much of the work themselves.
The Smurls say they are a close, loving family. Both Jack and Janet grew up in the
area, meeting in 1967 and marrying in 1968. Jack served in the Navy, becoming a
neuropsychiatry technician. Both Smurls were raised in Catholic homes and had
strong religious beliefs. They enjoyed living with Jacks' parents and had no trouble
sharing the duplex with them. The first 18 months on Chase St. were happy ones...
But strange things began to occur after that. In January 1974, a strange stain
appeared on a new carpet, Jack's television set burst into flames, water pipes leaked
even after repeated re-soldering. The new sink and bathtub in the remodeled
bathroom were found severely scratched, as if a wild animal had clawed at them.
Freshly painted woodwork in the bathroom also showed similar scratches. In 1975,
their oldest daughter Dawn repeatedly saw people "floating" around her bedroom.
By 1987, the Smurls realized their house was in some way... spooked. The toilets
flushed without anyone using them, footsteps would be continuously heard on the
stairs, drawers would open and close on their own accord, radios would blare
although they were unplugged and empty rocking chairs would mysteriously rock
and creak as if someone were actually sitting in them. As time went on, they began
to smell sour and vile smells throughout the house and on several occasions, Jack
felt the touch of an unseen hand caress him. By now there were 2 more Smurls,
twins Shannon and Carin, and the family was growing frustrated and fatigued by
the increasing phenomena.
In 1985, what had started as annoying disturbances became frightening experiences.
The house now often became ice cold. John and Mary heard loud, abusive, and
obscene language coming from Jack and Janet's side of the house although Jack and
Janet were not even arguing. In February 1985 Janet heard her name being called
while in the basement doing laundry, after searching for the unseen caller, she
realized she had been alone the entire time.
Two days later, icy cold again was felt in the house but this time a black, human
shaped form with no facial features appeared to Janet in the kitchen. It de-
materialized through the wall and appeared to Mary on the opposite side of the
house. From that point on, the haunting activity increased in both frequency and
magnitude. A large ceiling fan crashed down inches from Shannon, nearly killing
her, on the night her now 13 year old sister Heather was to be confirmed into the
Catholic religion. As activity increased Jack and Janet had, on occasion, levitated.
Janet was violently pulled off her bed after making love to her husband while he lay
paralyzed, gagging from a foul odor. The family's German shepherd, Simon, was
repeatedly picked up and thrown. Terrible rapping and scratching noises were
continuously heard in the walls. One night while sleeping, Shannon was tossed out of
bed and down the stairs. Even neighbors were not spared; several heard screams
and strange noises coming from the house when the Smurls were not even home.
Most of the neighbors were sympathetic as the Smurls vowed to fight.
In January 1986, Janet heard about Ed and Lorraine Warren, psychical researchers
and demonologists from Monroe, Connecticut. Although skeptical but having no
where else to turn, she called the Warrens. The Warrens arrived shortly thereafter,
accompanied by Rosemary Frueh, a registered nurse and psychic. They began the
investigation by quizzing the Smurls carefully about their religious beliefs, the
happiness of their family life, whether they had ever practiced Satanism, occultism,
used a Ouija board or in any way invited the supernatural into their home. Then the
Warrens and Frueh walked through the house, identifying the bedroom closet as the
crossover point between the two sides of the duplex. The team said they detected the
presence of 4 evil spirits. 3 were minor but the fourth was a demon.
Without any evidence of family dysfunction, occult invitation or tragedy, the
Warrens could only surmise that the demon must have been dormant, probably for
decades, and had arisen to draw on the emotional energy generated by the girls'
entrance to puberty.
The Warrens tried twice to provoke the demon to expose itself by playing tapes of
religious music and confronting it with prayer. The demon reacted by violently
shaking a mirror and dresser drawers and yet another instance by spelling out
"You filthy bastard, get out of this house." Only Holy Water and prayer seemed to
stop the manifestations.
The situation began to turn more serious as Jack was raped by a scaly succubus
posing as an old woman with a young body. Her eyes were red and her gums were
green. Ed Warren was choked and then began to suffer from terrible flu-like
symptoms. An incubus sexually assaulted Janet and pig noises (a sign of serious
demonic infestation) could be heard in the walls.
The Smurls said they tried several times to obtain support and action from the
church. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton said it would consult with experts
but official involvement would be unlikely. At one point in time, Janet thought she
was getting help from a priest named Father O'Leary but discovered no such priest
existed. The Warrens brought in Father (now Bishop) McKenna, a traditionalist
priest who refused to abide by the changes in ritual mandated by the Second
Vatican Council. He said mass in Latin and had performed more than 50 exorcisms
for the Warrens. He conducted the ancient rite which did nothing but infuriate the
demon.
The haunting continued. Daughter Carin fell seriously ill from a strange fever and
nearly died and Dawn was almost raped by the evil presence. Janet and Mary had
slash marks and bites on their arms... everyone was depressed. Ed Warren
explained they were in the second demonic stage, oppression, which follows
infestation and is followed by possession and death.
Bishop McKenna performed a second exorcism in late spring but to no avail. The
demon even accompanied the family on camping trips in the Poconos and harassed
Jack at work. The family now knew they could not move to another house because
the demon would just follow them. After repeated refusals by the church to help, the
Smurls decided to appear on television. Remaining anonymous behind a screen,
they were interviewed by Richard Bey on a local Philadelphia show called "People
are Talking." The demon retaliated. It levitated Janet and then hurled her against
the wall. It later appeared to Jack as a monstrous creature resembling a pig on two
legs. A human hand came up through the mattress and grabbed Janet by the back
of the neck. And again Jack was raped.
In August 1986, the Smurls felt the risk of ridicule did not outweigh the need to tell
their story to a wider audience and granted an interview to the Wilkes- Barre
Sunday Independent newspaper. Almost immediately, their home became a tourist
attraction for the press, curious on-lookers and skeptics who wished to investigate.
Some skeptics, who included some of the Smurl's neighbors, said they believed the
family was concocting the story to profit from book and movie contracts.
The Smurls contacted an medium, Mary Alice Rinkman, who examined the house
and corroborated the Warrens' findings of 4 spirits. She identified one as an old
woman named Abigail and another as a dark, mustachioed man named Patrick who
had murdered his wife and her lover and had then been hung by a mob. She could
not identify the third but the fourth was a powerful demon.
Press coverage finally pushed the Scranton diocese into action and they offered to
take over the investigation. The Warrens had also planned a mass exorcism with
several priests . prayer groups came to the house to give comfort. Bishop McKenna
came a third time to exorcise the house and this time the ritual seemed to work,
there were no disturbances for about 3 months.
Shortly before Christmas 1986, Jack again saw the black form, beckoning him to
the third stage of possession. He clutched his rosary and prayed, hoping this was
simply an isolated incident. It was not, the banging again started, as well as the
putrid smells and violent acts of aggression.
Frustrated, tired, and hopeless, the Smurls moved to another town, shortly before
the release of a book concerning their ordeal, "The Haunted", went to press. The
church performed a fourth exorcism in 1988, which finally seemed to have given
them peace.
The home of Jack and Janet Smurl in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, was the scene of
a horrific and terrifying haunting from 1985 to 1987. The case received wide
attention in the media. Although the house went through three exorcisms and
investigations by demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, the demon refused to
leave. The hauntings were chronicled in a book and portrayed in a movie both
named "The Haunted".
The Story:
The house involved is a duplex, built in 1896 on a quiet street in a middle class
neighborhood. After hurricane Agnes flooded much of north-eastern Pennsylvania
in 1972, the Smurl family was forced to leave their home in Wilkes-Barre. Jacks
parents, John and Mary Smurl, bought the house in West Pittston in 1973 for
$18,000. They lived in the right half and Jack, Janet and their first two daughters,
Dawn and Heather, moved into the left half. The Smurls spent much time and
money redecorating and remodeling, doing much of the work themselves.
The Smurls say they are a close, loving family. Both Jack and Janet grew up in the
area, meeting in 1967 and marrying in 1968. Jack served in the Navy, becoming a
neuropsychiatry technician. Both Smurls were raised in Catholic homes and had
strong religious beliefs. They enjoyed living with Jacks' parents and had no trouble
sharing the duplex with them. The first 18 months on Chase St. were happy ones...
But strange things began to occur after that. In January 1974, a strange stain
appeared on a new carpet, Jack's television set burst into flames, water pipes leaked
even after repeated re-soldering. The new sink and bathtub in the remodeled
bathroom were found severely scratched, as if a wild animal had clawed at them.
Freshly painted woodwork in the bathroom also showed similar scratches. In 1975,
their oldest daughter Dawn repeatedly saw people "floating" around her bedroom.
By 1987, the Smurls realized their house was in some way... spooked. The toilets
flushed without anyone using them, footsteps would be continuously heard on the
stairs, drawers would open and close on their own accord, radios would blare
although they were unplugged and empty rocking chairs would mysteriously rock
and creak as if someone were actually sitting in them. As time went on, they began
to smell sour and vile smells throughout the house and on several occasions, Jack
felt the touch of an unseen hand caress him. By now there were 2 more Smurls,
twins Shannon and Carin, and the family was growing frustrated and fatigued by
the increasing phenomena.
In 1985, what had started as annoying disturbances became frightening experiences.
The house now often became ice cold. John and Mary heard loud, abusive, and
obscene language coming from Jack and Janet's side of the house although Jack and
Janet were not even arguing. In February 1985 Janet heard her name being called
while in the basement doing laundry, after searching for the unseen caller, she
realized she had been alone the entire time.
Two days later, icy cold again was felt in the house but this time a black, human
shaped form with no facial features appeared to Janet in the kitchen. It de-
materialized through the wall and appeared to Mary on the opposite side of the
house. From that point on, the haunting activity increased in both frequency and
magnitude. A large ceiling fan crashed down inches from Shannon, nearly killing
her, on the night her now 13 year old sister Heather was to be confirmed into the
Catholic religion. As activity increased Jack and Janet had, on occasion, levitated.
Janet was violently pulled off her bed after making love to her husband while he lay
paralyzed, gagging from a foul odor. The family's German shepherd, Simon, was
repeatedly picked up and thrown. Terrible rapping and scratching noises were
continuously heard in the walls. One night while sleeping, Shannon was tossed out of
bed and down the stairs. Even neighbors were not spared; several heard screams
and strange noises coming from the house when the Smurls were not even home.
Most of the neighbors were sympathetic as the Smurls vowed to fight.
In January 1986, Janet heard about Ed and Lorraine Warren, psychical researchers
and demonologists from Monroe, Connecticut. Although skeptical but having no
where else to turn, she called the Warrens. The Warrens arrived shortly thereafter,
accompanied by Rosemary Frueh, a registered nurse and psychic. They began the
investigation by quizzing the Smurls carefully about their religious beliefs, the
happiness of their family life, whether they had ever practiced Satanism, occultism,
used a Ouija board or in any way invited the supernatural into their home. Then the
Warrens and Frueh walked through the house, identifying the bedroom closet as the
crossover point between the two sides of the duplex. The team said they detected the
presence of 4 evil spirits. 3 were minor but the fourth was a demon.
Without any evidence of family dysfunction, occult invitation or tragedy, the
Warrens could only surmise that the demon must have been dormant, probably for
decades, and had arisen to draw on the emotional energy generated by the girls'
entrance to puberty.
The Warrens tried twice to provoke the demon to expose itself by playing tapes of
religious music and confronting it with prayer. The demon reacted by violently
shaking a mirror and dresser drawers and yet another instance by spelling out
"You filthy bastard, get out of this house." Only Holy Water and prayer seemed to
stop the manifestations.
The situation began to turn more serious as Jack was raped by a scaly succubus
posing as an old woman with a young body. Her eyes were red and her gums were
green. Ed Warren was choked and then began to suffer from terrible flu-like
symptoms. An incubus sexually assaulted Janet and pig noises (a sign of serious
demonic infestation) could be heard in the walls.
The Smurls said they tried several times to obtain support and action from the
church. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton said it would consult with experts
but official involvement would be unlikely. At one point in time, Janet thought she
was getting help from a priest named Father O'Leary but discovered no such priest
existed. The Warrens brought in Father (now Bishop) McKenna, a traditionalist
priest who refused to abide by the changes in ritual mandated by the Second
Vatican Council. He said mass in Latin and had performed more than 50 exorcisms
for the Warrens. He conducted the ancient rite which did nothing but infuriate the
demon.
The haunting continued. Daughter Carin fell seriously ill from a strange fever and
nearly died and Dawn was almost raped by the evil presence. Janet and Mary had
slash marks and bites on their arms... everyone was depressed. Ed Warren
explained they were in the second demonic stage, oppression, which follows
infestation and is followed by possession and death.
Bishop McKenna performed a second exorcism in late spring but to no avail. The
demon even accompanied the family on camping trips in the Poconos and harassed
Jack at work. The family now knew they could not move to another house because
the demon would just follow them. After repeated refusals by the church to help, the
Smurls decided to appear on television. Remaining anonymous behind a screen,
they were interviewed by Richard Bey on a local Philadelphia show called "People
are Talking." The demon retaliated. It levitated Janet and then hurled her against
the wall. It later appeared to Jack as a monstrous creature resembling a pig on two
legs. A human hand came up through the mattress and grabbed Janet by the back
of the neck. And again Jack was raped.
In August 1986, the Smurls felt the risk of ridicule did not outweigh the need to tell
their story to a wider audience and granted an interview to the Wilkes- Barre
Sunday Independent newspaper. Almost immediately, their home became a tourist
attraction for the press, curious on-lookers and skeptics who wished to investigate.
Some skeptics, who included some of the Smurl's neighbors, said they believed the
family was concocting the story to profit from book and movie contracts.
The Smurls contacted an medium, Mary Alice Rinkman, who examined the house
and corroborated the Warrens' findings of 4 spirits. She identified one as an old
woman named Abigail and another as a dark, mustachioed man named Patrick who
had murdered his wife and her lover and had then been hung by a mob. She could
not identify the third but the fourth was a powerful demon.
Press coverage finally pushed the Scranton diocese into action and they offered to
take over the investigation. The Warrens had also planned a mass exorcism with
several priests . prayer groups came to the house to give comfort. Bishop McKenna
came a third time to exorcise the house and this time the ritual seemed to work,
there were no disturbances for about 3 months.
Shortly before Christmas 1986, Jack again saw the black form, beckoning him to
the third stage of possession. He clutched his rosary and prayed, hoping this was
simply an isolated incident. It was not, the banging again started, as well as the
putrid smells and violent acts of aggression.
Frustrated, tired, and hopeless, the Smurls moved to another town, shortly before
the release of a book concerning their ordeal, "The Haunted", went to press. The
church performed a fourth exorcism in 1988, which finally seemed to have given
them peace.