I think I was subjected to some crafty Catholic propaganda.

[Hoping4Change]

Last night I tuned in to A Haunting in Connecticut on Discovery Channel. It was based on a "real" story about a 14 yr old boy with cancer who was besieged by a demon and then eventually saved by an exorcism.

Anyone who liked Unsolved Mysteries as I did is familiar with the storyline. But this was different. Normally this kind of thing is just spooky fluff but as it progressed I started taking notes because the real story was not about possession but about child abuse in the Catholic Church and a blatant justification for years of inaction. I'd be interested in what you think of the following story.

The first thing that struck me before I had any suspicions was that the demon looked like a stereotypical gay man circa 1977 sporting a natty suit and carefully manicured beard. I used to be a waitress back then and he could have been any number of waiters I hung with. Anyway since it was a tacky production from the get go, the demon's appearance just put it over the top. However you knew he was ever so evil because his eyes were completely black with no white part however when he was planning to rape the father (more of that later) his eyes were rimmed in red.

I started taking notes when the Narrator explained how the "Entity" worked his way on the young boy who slept in a basement bedroom with his younger brother.

The Narrator explained how the Entity chooses the most vunerable then isolates them knowing that families would never believe the child. Later on the Narrator would then speak about the crushing guilt the parents felt for not believing the boy.

We learn that the demon could take the shape of anyone the boy loved and trusted, in one instance it appeared at the top of the basement stairs as his sister.

Well the family got annoyed with kid who was starting to act out and be mean to everybody so they committed him. The boy became hysterical when taken away saying that the demon would come after the family. Well how true that was. That night all hell broke loose in the house and the Entity even followed the perturbed father to his work at a construction site. For the next five minutes I was out of the room so I didn't see what happened but I was surfing the net looking for reviews about this "documentary" and one guy was saying that the doc was scary but he didn't believe the part when the demon raped the father. Well what a thing to miss! Anyway back at home crucifixes were quickly disappearing and everyone got thrown against walls so the mom decided it was time to call her priest. who turned out to be very reluctant to get involved. His advice was to ignore the demon because evil only increases if you pay attention to it!

Well this didn't impress the Mom who then remembered a story in the newspaper about some demonolgists who she called. They being very spooked about the very evil evil presence said the RC Church needed to do an exorcism. The demonlogists said the house was a portal to hell.

The Narrator informs us that exorcists are supposed to be very very skeptical. A Father Frank conducted the investigation to rule out "psychological, neurological, social problems and, yes, even fraud". Father Frank it is repeated is required to remain very skeptical. We are told that the family could not even tell what Father Frank concluded. "His expression was inscrutable so it was very hard for the family to tell what he thought."

Father Frank after careful investigation concluded the boy was possessed and agreed to perform the exorcism. The family credited their faith for getting rid of the Entity as well as the rite. Getting rid of it we are told depends on the willingness to believe it is gone.

The bad feeling was now attached to the house rather than to the Entity so the family decided to sell their house. Not only did the evil go away but so did the boy's cancer.

It closes with the Narrator assuring us that the "family has moved forward despite the nightmare they had lived through so many years ago."

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Cripes, that's bloody weird

Got me kinda spooked. I'm curious what really was happening and happened, but whatever it was, they made it stop.

Someday we'll get a scientific explanation of this stuff. Soon, hopefully. Until then, it sure seems spooky.

[salinen]

2. Any higher up catholics

will tell you exorcism if real, which means being possessed by a demon is real. The possessed is said to speak in unknown languages, do levitation, make animals noises, etc. Alright, film an exorcism. I mean take a real film crew to an exorcism. If they can show me all those tricks, maybe I become catholic. After all, prove the devil exists and I guess I'll be forced to believe in Jesus.

[Hoping4Change]

3. What I found disturbing is that the story seemed to be really

about the sexual abuse of children by priests and the church justifying its years of inaction as simply not wanting to encourage more evil by paying attention to evil.

[salinen]

4. So maybe what the propaganda is

is that these priests are possessed into buggering boys. Well, that lets the church off the hook. Everyone knows Satan hangs around the churchyard.

[Hoping4Change]

6. My read on it was that Satan is taking the form of priests, so

no priest is actually guilty.

[TlalocW]

5. Good Spooky Story

But more than likely complete crap in regards to the possession.

TlalocW