Exorcisms

[WarHawk]

So last night while talking with some family members at a party (very religious family, im probably the only atheist) a cousin brought up exorcism, he told us that a friend of him used to be possessed by demons, his friend went to some psychiatrists that analyzed him, they saw how he would get pulled out of his bed from his feet by apparently no one, nobody could help him so he went to some shaman lady or whatever and she performed an exorcism with a lot of witnesses, they all saw how every time the shaman struck him with a bunch of i guess magical leafs the leafs would melt, and then she showered him with some special water and he began to make the cliché demonic voices and cussing and blaspheming. So everyone got scared and i just had the biggest face plain and called the story bullshit.

I still can't find an explanation for this kind of thing rather than, its complete bullshit or its complete bullshit, any ideas on not just this case, but on all cases of exorcisms and demonic possessions?.

[Darth Servo]

Pulling out of bed? Easy. Seizures or some other involuntary muscle contraction. Does he have signed statements from these psychiatrists so we can verify he is describing what they said accurately?

Did the visit to the shaman fix the problem?

And don't you find it curious that so many of these stories happened to "a friend" of theirs? Why can't the "friend" tell his own stories? Another reason why this is unreliable--remember playing the telephone game as a kid?

[Darth Wong]

Your relatives are fucking liars. It ain't polite, but it's the truth. They've either grossly exaggerated events or made them up whole cloth.

Think about it: if a real certified psychiatrist really did witness these kinds of supernatural events, don't you think the fucker would run, not walk, but run to document this scientifically? He'd be world famous. The fucking book tour alone would make him fabulously wealthy. But noooo, he didn't say anything to anyone, right? Because he couldn't understand what was happening, or because he was afraid he'd be laughed at, or because of some other dumbshit excuse why, for the umpteenth time, a "miracle" happened without the benefit of scientific observation.

[mr friendly guy]

I still can't find an explanation for this kind of thing rather than, its complete bullshit or its complete bullshit, any ideas on not just this case, but on all cases of exorcisms and demonic possessions?.

Its likely they are just lying.

However in regards some of the exorcism line - ever heard of the movie "The exorcism of Emily Rose" or some such. It was originally based on a German case (the movie changed it to an American family naturally). The "possessed" girl had schizophrenia, and given the lack of pharmacological treatment, they turned to a priest who felt she was possessed (The RCC felt she wasn't).

One thing you don't do with mental health patients is to reinforce their delusions, which is what the stupid priest did when they performed the exorcism. Needless to say the exorcism went "wonderfully". The girl eventually died from starvation, but look, she's free from Satan's influence. Praise the Lord.

Oh, and the Catholic priest and parents were charged with negligence and found guilty.

[Darth Wong]

One thing to point out: a lot of people who tell lies like this rely on others to be too polite to accuse them of lying.

[Surlethe]

One point: even if she did cuss and scream at holy water and whatever, there's no reason to think that means there was actually a demon there; she could simply have believed herself possessed. Christianity is certainly culturally ingrained enough in us to influence delusions; witness the kid in Australia a few weeks back who killed people "because God told him to." Nobody actually believes God told him to; why is the default suddenly the other way around in this case?

[Setesh]

This also wouldn't be the first time someone under the delusion of being 'possessed' has been sent to the priests for an exorsism. It, while not curing the source of the problem, can at least make them more reasonable for treatment. While they are 'possessed' they activly fight treatment.

You'd think they'd want to keep this as unreligious as possible since only the 'faithful' aquire this delusion, calling it 'real' possession does bring up the question, why aren't there any cases of non-belivers being possessed? (I mean documented cases not word of mouth/chain e-mail 'an atheist until possessed' kind of story.)

[PainRack]

There's also a well known fact that rage can truly multiple a person strength.....

Just look at any person running amok.

[Superman]

I still can't find an explanation

People lie. Just like a child who plays 'Bloody Mary,' religious idiots lie all the time about this like this. Only to them, it doesn't actually count as a true lie (the kind that sends you to hell) because it makes them seem more Christian somehow.

[Ritterin Sophia]

No, Supes, he got help from a Shaman, a master of the dark arts, an exorcism can only be performed by a true priest, clearly his soul has been stolen away by the Great Lord Satan, praise be unto him!

[PainRack]

Some people change their story just to make things more dramatic... As a kid, I used to do this when telling ghost stories, as the "truth" is just too prosaic.

One can also look at some email news and see how the truth is exaggerated for greater dramatic effect.

[WarHawk]

Your relatives are fucking liars.

i agree, but in this case, someone else told them a bullshit story and they fell for it, i bet it gets more exaggerated every time they tell it

[Darth Servo]

i agree, but in this case, someone else told them a bullshit story and they fell for it, i bet it gets more exaggerated every time they tell it

Just like any bit of "good" gossip.

[Surlethe]

Fun quick story to illuminate how quickly gossip fucks the facts up: last semester, right before the last dorm hall council meeting of the year, I was coming out into the lounge and the hall vice president pulled me aside and told me, quite seriously, that the hall director was that very evening going to restrict all activity in the lounge during finals, prevent people playing pianos, no talking, etc. (the lounge is separated from the actual dorms, so it's not like you can hear what's going on or anything).

Instead, the hall director stood up and simply asked us to be even more courteous than usual to people who might be out in the lounge studying. There was a half-hour conversation/argument at cross-purposes simply because that vice president misinterpreted what he'd heard.

And that's only one 'generation' of storytelling. Imagine how quickly things could get bad through three or four.

[Vampiress_Miyu]

One thing you don't do with mental health patients is to reinforce their delusions, which is what the stupid priest did when they performed the exorcism. Needless to say the exorcism went "wonderfully". The girl eventually died from starvation, but look, she's free from Satan's influence. Praise the Lord.

Oh, and the Catholic priest and parents were charged with negligence and found guilty.

Wow. That's just so typical... o.o; Exorcisms are silly things. My mother's a minister, and she's told me some stories about exorcisms. She's had to do a few, apparently. They're really funny to hear. =P

[Hillary]

Wow. That's just so typical... o.o; Exorcisms are silly things. My mother's a minister, and she's told me some stories about exorcisms. She's had to do a few, apparently. They're really funny to hear. =P

"Funny" just doesn't seem quite the appropriate word here to me.

[Vampiress_Miyu]

Wow. That's just so typical... o.o; Exorcisms are silly things. My mother's a minister, and she's told me some stories about exorcisms. She's had to do a few, apparently. They're really funny to hear. =P

"Funny" just doesn't seem quite the appropriate word here to me.

Well, none of hers ended up with death. >.< I didn't mean that the dying bit of most exorcisms is funny... I just meant that some people are really ridiculous, and it's kind of funny, but in the same way it's really...off...and bad. Sorry if it came out as being all, "oh, hey... death. that's funny!" That wasn't my intention. X.x

[Aaron]

My father witnessed an exorcism in Cyprus when he was on a UN tour there in 73. Apperently the Greek Cypriots thought one of the Observation Posts was haunted and they called in a priest to do an exorcism. He found it funny but he also only understood one word in five because it was in Greek.

[Darth Wong]

You just watch. When Peak Oil comes, these fuckers will be beating and starving homosexuals and feminists in order to appease the Sky Fairy that brought this fate down upon them. It won't be too funny then, and don't think I'm joking.

[Hillary]

Wow. That's just so typical... o.o; Exorcisms are silly things. My mother's a minister, and she's told me some stories about exorcisms. She's had to do a few, apparently. They're really funny to hear. =P

"Funny" just doesn't seem quite the appropriate word here to me.

Well, none of hers ended up with death. >.< I didn't mean that the dying bit of most exorcisms is funny... I just meant that some people are really ridiculous, and it's kind of funny, but in the same way it's really...off...and bad. Sorry if it came out as being all, "oh, hey... death. that's funny!" That wasn't my intention. X.x

It read to me "Ha ha - the mad people are funny to watch". Obviously you didn't mean that, so apologies.