Saturday, October 3, 2009

The Smurl Family Haunting

The Smurl Haunting was an alleged demonic possession in the United States, on which the film The Haunted was based.

The claimed incidents began in 1974 and lasted until 1989 in the home of Jack and Janet Smurl in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. Whether the haunting was genuine or an elaborate hoax is debated.

The Smurl house was split. Jack and Janet lived in one half of the abode while Jack's parents, John and Mary, lived in the other half of the double-block house on Chase Street.

According to the Smurls, the first signs of paranormal activity began in 1974. They reported that a television set burst into flames, and a stain appeared on a carpet overnight. Water pipes began to leak even though they were repeatedly resoldered by a plumber, and scratches resembling those from a large cat appeared on paintwork and bathroom fittings.

By 1977, the reported events were escalating. Toilets flushed without human intervention, footsteps were heard on the stairs, chest drawers opened and closed unaided, radios worked when they were not plugged in, rocking chairs rocked while empty, and a sour smell filled the house.

In 1985, John and Mary claimed to hear loud, obscene language, and Jack and Janet's house often became extremely cold.

Two days after this, an icy cold swept the house and a strange black human shape allegedly materialised in the kitchen in front of Janet. It was about five feet nine inches tall, and with no facial features. It later appeared to Mary Smurl in her kitchen.

The violence and frequency of the events continued to escalate.

In 1986, the family brought in a controversial pair of demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who announced the house was haunted by three minor spirits and a powerful, evil demon. They tried to persuade the demon to leave by playing holy music and praying. The alleged demon reacted by shaking mirrors, dressers and drawers.

Jack alleges he was raped one night by a scale-covered succubus with a young girl's body and an old woman's head. Janet also claimed she was sexually assaulted by a shadowy humanoid figure (described as an incubus), and that pig noises were heard from the wall cavities. The attack on Janet and the shadowy apparition are similar to the description of the attacks on Carla Moran that were portrayed in the movie, "The Entity".

The Smurls brought in Father Robert McKenna. He conducted two exorcisms in Latin and more than fifty Catholic Masses, which allegedly infuriated the demon further. The demon was said to follow them on a vacation to the Poconos and harass Jack at work.

It was at this point the Smurls appeared on television on a Philadelphia talk show called The People are Talking hosted by Richard Bey. The demon allegedly reacted by raping Jack again, and appearing to him as a half-man, half-pig. Janet was throttled and thrown about by invisible forces.

One obvious question that skeptics always ask is why the couple did not move out of their house if the attacks were so violent and distressing. The Smurl's response being that the demon could apparently follow them anywhere; having shown this to them when they abandoned the house for a week only to be intensly harassed at the campground where they were staying.

According to the TV Movie, The Haunted, the Smurl family moved some years later, only to have the spirit follow them. They were haunted until, in 1989, a church-sanctioned exorcism finally ended their horror.

In the early 2000's, tenant Richard Lloyd was found deceased after an apparent drug overdose.

20 comments:

  1. hey bud get your facts straight. its richard caffarello. he is my dad. you dont know the real story about him. so with all respect take it off.

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  2. everything written here is well documented, with due respect to you, show us other facts, and we will gladly post your side of the story asap.

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  3. Hello there, I would really want to know if this story is really true and is there anyone who can actually prove it. Do you know if I could find the show people are talking in the philadelphia talk show on the internet?

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  4. i can show any facts. my dad died april 25 2001 from an overdose. i will not tell my name though im sorry. But we grew up there until my family got put into foster care for personal reasons. it is true about the house though. We have all seen things that will stay in your head forever.

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  5. I don't understand. If it is the house that is haunted, why would the entity have followed the Smurl family? Why would the Smurl family have claimed to be haunted no matter where they go? At the same time there is an anonymous post on this website stating that they too experienced a haunting. This is why I am confused. Please explain?

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  6. Hauntings can occur in various forms and in some instances it is a person that is affected. Many believe that these type of hauntings are the work of Demons or entities rather than a mortal that once lived. Demons never lived as humans, they are Archangels. Quija boards, those very sensitive to psychic energy and people that have experienced severe trauma can bring forth these experiences. Places that are haunted by spirits is different because the activity is energy created by a person that once lived and perhaps died in a sudden or emotionally charged event.

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    1. Demons are not Archangels only Lucifer himself was a high ranking Angel known as a Seraphim. 1/3 of Gods angels were banished from heaven because they decided to rebel and follow Lucifer. The Bible speaks of demons but no where does it state that when a Archangel falls from heaven they become a demon. Familiar Spirits commonly mistaken as ghosts are the primary suspects in haunting accounts. Familiar Spirits are generational demons that follow a families bloodline constantly harassing the family members till they are delivered from the Demons stronghold. My point though, is Demons are not Archangels that have fallen from heaven. They're manifested spiritual beings that are decaying soul of a fallen angel.

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  7. that doesn't really answer my question, which is it a spirit or a demon? also why are you saying that demons are archangels? wouldn't a demon just be a demon, how is it linked to archangels?

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  8. A demon is a supernatural being described as something that is not human and usually malevolent. A demon is a spiritual entity that may be conjured and controlled. Many of the demons in literature were once fallen angels.

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  9. In contemporary Christianity, demons are generally considered to be angels who fell from grace by rebelling against God. Demonic possession is the supposed control over a human by a malevolent supernatural being or evil spirit. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying.[1] Other descriptions include access to hidden knowledge (gnosis) and foreign languages (glossolalia), drastic changes in vocal intonation and facial structure, the sudden appearance of injuries (scratches, bite marks) or lesions, and superhuman strength. Unlike in channeling or other forms of possession, the subject has no control over the possessing entity and so it will persist until forced to leave the victim, usually through a form of exorcism.

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  10. I know who is writing here as anonymous..I use to be their neighbour in 94. They aren't lying. I'm not mentioning my name either. They were great people and yes that house had some real crap going on there. I was six but hey I was a kid what do I know...but as far as Richard I have high respect for him from what I remember of him..me and my brothers all remember that fuckn house. Blew our minds away.

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  11. well i lived there in 92 i beleive..i moved out at the age of 7..so in 2000. he was a great guy. i still remember...

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  12. im glad everyone has great respect for my dad the overdose had nothing to do with the house being haunted, there was deeper problems within the family.

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  13. this is so fake bro

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  14. i lived there in the 60 wat they are telling the truth

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  15. This activity is real!! It may come in many forms and activity can vary from mild to absolulty terrifing! This happened to me not to long ago. I was picked up off my feet and thrown down the steps after i interveined the attack on my sleeping girlfriend. If you would like to learn more and the experiences to follow from beginning to end email me @ reaper6480@yahoo.com thank you

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  16. Where is the alleged evidence collected during the "haunting?" The Warrens first claimed they gave it to a news station yet couldn't remember which one. Then they say they gave it to the church. It's difficult to find credibility here if you claim to have evidence but do not share it will anyone

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  17. The Smurls are my family .. i feel bad for them...

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  18. I am sorry for everyone involved..whether people are skeptic or not...Demons exist..n.nI grew up in a house in ga where not just one..but four were...it was only my mom and I living there...we moved in when I was 5 in 1971...and in 1979 when I was 13 after my mom's breakup with a boyfriend...they started letting themselves be known...one day the attic door flew off it's hinges at me down the hall!

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  19. Geez scary stuff guys. My best friend lived in a haunted house... when the bought the place they where going to renovate. And they tried. They fixed a lot of stuff but up the narrow flight of stairs to the second floor there was blood stains on the walls that never went away no matter how many times they painted over them. And in my friends room there was a small closet just under the stairs where a large dark hole could never be fixed in the wall of the closet. We thought it would be a fun hide out as kids... we were wrong. We went in with our blankets and flashlights but no matter if we had new batteries or not our lights always flickered out we tried different lights as well but to no avail. So we decided we didn't need light and sat in the closet talking until something started pulling at the blankets... the room got really cold and it was the summer. I got really nervous but my friend said I was being a chicken so we sat some more until what ever it was grabbed her shirt. She sat bolt straight and stopped breathing then whispered to me to move slowly and get up out of the closet so she could get out as well. We never went in there again.

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