 Welcome to Paranormality Magazine. Each week, Paranormality Magazine explores all 40 subjects from phantoms to UFOs and every cryptid creature in between. Each week, you are treated to a collection of well-researched and investigated stories, interviews and reports on cutting-edge paranormal projects and topics they know you crave. And here in the podcast, I share stories from the magazine to give you just a taste of what you receive in every issue. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Paranormality Magazine. On the face of it, Ronnie Cancella seems like just another regular guy. That is, until you learn what happened to him. Then, you see how extraordinary he really is. You see, Ronald Cancella believes that he has been abducted by aliens. Unusually, he remembers his experience. But Kayla Ford from Paranormality Magazine brings us the story. Ronald is a twin. He and his identical twin brother, Philip, were born and raised in Lutton, very near to the Lutton Town Football Club grounds. Hazelbury Crescent, where they lived in 1982, the time of the abduction, was a regular street, filled with large Victorian houses backing onto an old railway line in the concrete jungle of Lutton's suburbia. Ronnie looks back on it as an idealic time. He was 13 years old, playing out with his brother, getting into the type of mischief kids did in the 80s, exploring derelict factories, setting fire to aerosol cans, building dens and climbing trees. Ronnie wistfully mentions that if there is a heaven, I would like to live in Lutton back in 1982 as a child, forever. Perhaps poignantly because it was just after this time that Ronnie's world changed forever. The incident occurred on a cold, dark winter's night, an ideal night in the world of horror films and tales of murder, fitting then for the events which began to unfold on that fateful night. Ronnie remembers going to bed as usual. He was asleep in the bedroom that he shared with Philip when he was rudely awakened by the sensation of being lifted upwards by some unseen force. He rose up through his bedroom ceiling, through the loft and out through the roof of his house. He remembers this with clarity. There was no sense of cold as he rose at speed toward an incredibly large object indistinguishable to him at the time of the event. Within the blink of an eye, I was in the thing. It took a moment for me to gauge my surroundings because I was evidently in shock to realize I was in some kind of medical environment. I quickly discerned I was seated within a very modern-looking wheelchair and that I was partially paralyzed. I could move to a degree but could not turn or stand. I think my arms were also paralyzed. The wheelchair was white and I believe the surroundings may have been of similar hue, though I can't for the life of me determine that part. He says that to the side of the chair was a small medical utensil rack and to the left the room appeared curved and squat. He has no recollection of the other side of the room. Ahead of him were three figures stood in front of an operating table. He became convinced that some kind of medical operation was imminent. He described the figures as seeming to be like human men at first glance, but on further inspection there were market differences. In his book about the experience, The Digital Demon, he writes, I realized they appeared to be much taller than us, with the added peculiarity of being totally covered. Holy, the bizarre costumes they wore reminiscent to the World War gas masks and ultra-modern radiation suits were familiar with indicated either biological caution on their behalf or the fact of concealing difference. Reflecting on this now, I did state that even our current neurologists performing the most sensitive of operations do not require such get-up, so the hypothesis as to why might well ring true in either protection from germs or just simply masking disparities. I think they were white, though memory of this is vague at best and I will not color the particulars. Ray could feel a fourth figure just behind him, but try as he might, Ronnie could not manage to turn around to see him. Then a voice spoke, We are going to perform an operation on you, Ronald. The voice was authoritative, clear-cut and distinctly British. It was a voice that expected to be obeyed. Ronnie says there was no malice to the voice, but it was a tone which brooked no argument. Ronnie began to sob, pleading the figure not to operate on him. The reply was not what he wanted to hear. No, it has to be done, he resounded. It is for your own good and I promise you, we shall not harm you. We shall not harm you. Ronnie believed the figure and sat still as he leaned over to take a utensil from the rack. Ronnie remembers feeling the pressure of him pressing against his back as he reached forward. The doctor figure then picked up Ronnie's left arm and pressed the utensil against his upper left hand. It was a silver rod with another thinner pole jutting from it, ending in a small sphere. As the sphere made contact with his skin, everything went black. The next thing Ronnie knew, he was hurtling back toward the roof of his house. He felt a noticeable static charge running through his body in waves. Every hair he possessed seemed to be standing on end all over as if electrified. Slipping back through the loft, he descended past the bedroom ceiling and landed with a small bump on the mattress of his bed. Ronnie says that it was this small bumping sensation that was especially horrible as if being entirely manipulated by the being in the craft totally controlled and helpless. Once the static feeling subsided, Ronnie lay cold and terrified on his bed, trying to make sense of what had happened. However, the night-time visitors had not finished with Ronnie just yet. Ronnie explains, A hologram which I knew was fabricated by them by some electronic method was projected onto the ceiling of the bedroom and this clever mirage was a sight to behold. It took the form of a huge, chest-shire cat, headshot only, which wavered within an electric blue hue, the trembling of its mass skillfully adding a sense of motion to the horrific apparition. He was grinning down at me, this monster of a thing, and put the original concept to shame. This thing was ugly, totally ugly. His eyes were wide, teeth exposed with ears pricked up. It lasted perhaps just a few minutes, but those minutes seemed like forever as I merely gopped up at the terrifying and baffling conclusion. The mirage swiftly faded, leaving only darkness and fear. Apart from twin brother Philip, Ronnie did not tell anyone else about his experience for the next 40 years. For the next few months after the event, Ronnie remembers piling things up against his bedroom door every night in a futile attempt to keep out his alien visitors. I suffered in silence back then, after the snatching and thereafter for a time propping old hardback books up against the door at night, along with a broken guitar to make a racket should anything untoward enter. Ironic that these futile measures were vital to me considering they took me through the roof. Perhaps it was an added degree of caution, along with myself stuffing books up my back while I slept. Don't ask me why I did this, I just did. They screwed me up big time. Ronnie has not seen the visitors since, although he has had many experiences of seeing UAPs. Interestingly, his twin brother Philip had his own experience seven years later in 1989 with figures which resembled the grays. He finds it interesting that Philip's experience was exactly seven years later when he and his brother were born exactly seven minutes apart. Coincidence or synchronicity? Since his life-changing experience, Ronnie has tried to make sense of what happened to him. One conclusion he has come to is that the Sheshire cat hologram was probably an attempt to mask the abduction in his memory. It was a clever insurance policy on their part, conjured by them to add a kind of sting in the tail as far as I was concerned. When I visited a psychologist back then to explain the bizarre encounter, they would have merely told me it was based on a fantasy that the cat was nothing more than the residue of Alice in Wonderland with the doctors preceding him, perhaps a fear of hospitals. The cat would have spearheaded a logical approach with the psychologist concluding as much. Nowadays, Ronnie spends his time writing books about his experience and researching theories as to what might be at the center of these types of abductions. I get the sense that he will always be searching for an answer, no matter how long it takes. He has become a master of digital artwork, which he uses to create visual images of the figures in his memory and to artistically represent the creatures that other people have described and countering. Many of the images and figures are breathtakingly detailed and imposing. One gets the feeling that Ronnie needs this outlet in order to make sense of this incredibly harrowing experience from his youth. He comes across as a sincere man. He says he is a person of honesty and integrity. He believes wholeheartedly that this happened to him. If all these things are true, then what does this mean for the future of our world? Should we be excited or terrified? These art can be seen on his website at theconcellatwins.com. His latest book, The Digital Demon Countdown to Disaster, is available at all good online bookstores. Are some areas just plain old cursed? When looking for a good old-fashioned paranormal investigation, people tend to think of the big names like Alcatraz, Hotel del Coronado, and Eastern State Penitentiary. But what about all the space in between? What is some of our most haunted areas are little more than wide spots on the road? Billy White looks into the haunting legacy of Verden, uncovering paranormal secrets in a forgotten village. One of these areas is the village of Verden, as it is now called, right on the southeastern corners of New Mexico and Arizona. Originally called Richmond, this town was first owned by the New Mexico Mining Company. As Richmond, the area functioned as a mining camp for a local silver mine. In 1916, Richmond was sold to Mormons as Mormon polygamists were returning to the United States from colonies in Mexico. A grandmother's parents were in this small group of Mormons who came to New Mexico from the colonies in Chihuahua. When you visit today, the former Mormon Church is the largest building in town, as the town never became more than a small farming community. The church now houses the village's library and is a sort of convention center that can be rented out by families for reunions and other events. My family has rented out the old church, which sits across the street from my grandmother's childhood home many times for reunions. You would think that a church would be a safe zone or free from paranormal activity. Maybe it was the old church or maybe something else that happened there years ago, but that building was full of strange activity. The most common paranormal events in the old church were the playing of the old piano and doors slamming throughout the downstairs area. Since the building has been used as a sort of family reunion air B&B for large groups, all the former rooms and offices, aside from the chapel, have been converted into bedrooms and shower facilities were built outside of the building. Most of the rooms hold one or two beds, aside from the old children's Sunday school room, which is set up as more of a dormitory with many beds. The downstairs held the most desirable sleeping rooms because these were the only ones where central air conditioning was ever installed. However, once you were downstairs, you were fairly removed from the large gathering room which held the piano and the old church entrance. Like most Mormon churches, the old Virden church had what is referred to as a cultural hall, which is basically a large gym slash gathering area with a basketball court, a stage, and a piano. The cultural hall connects to the old kitchen with doors leading to the old hallway separating it from the old chapel. The piano in the cultural hall is old and out of tune, its notes very distinctive and easy to identify. One night, back in the early 2000s, as my siblings and I sat in one of the downstairs air conditioned rooms, we clearly heard the piano start to play up above us. At that time we were the only ones, or we thought we were the only ones in the building. Unlike to say that we raced up the stairs and into the cultural hall, but we slowly approached the upstairs area since all the lights were out. We noticed that all of the lights remained out as we went. The cultural hall was completely dark. When we neared the hall, the music stopped, but we did not hear anyone walking around the area or leaving the piano. When we entered the cultural hall, we saw that the room was empty and dark. We searched the church, but we found no one in the building. Since the old church building also likes to slam doors in areas where no one is around, it could be easy to dismiss these experiences as issues with the air conditioning or ventilation system. Also, being part of a huge extended family, it is possible that while we believed that we were the only ones in the building, there could have been a young cousin who was playing a trick on us to get a reaction. Verden never became any sort of real town, it never had a true grocery store, and the school closed in the mid-1900s. Today only a couple of hundred people live in Verden. However, those of us who have descended from some of the original founders of the small colony remember some of the old ghost stories about the old house and the cursed feeling of the area in general, and it seems that not all of its stories are about traditional ghosts. Typically, when you think of the paranormal or supernatural, you tend to think of the usual hauntings, ghosts, holtergeists, maybe even an occasional demon or two. However, sometimes an entire family can be haunted by something tangible, a being that can be found buried in an attic years after the children who remember its terror have grown up. This story comes from my grandmother, a very down-to-earth woman who was raised in an extremely devout and religious family. If you asked her if she were superstitious, she would have denied it, although her skepticism regarding the paranormal only went so far. My grandmother firmly believed that there were multiple presences located in the house where she grew up in Verden. Most of the stories that she told about the old house in Verden were the fairly typical paranormal haunted house story featuring lights turning on and off, phantom knocking, and voices in the other room, but there was a presence that was different from anything in the traditional paranormal guidebook. My grandmother's version of the story always began at the end. She started the story with the gathering of the siblings to clean out the attic in the old house. This old house was an old adobe that had been constructed by their father back at the turn of the century when her family returned to the United States after living in the Mormon colonies down in Mexico. My grandmother's father constructed two houses, the old adobe for his first wife, my grandmother's family, and a house a few doors down in the village of Verden for his other wife. The old house wasn't the main house for long, and it wasn't the house that my great-grandparents spent their remaining years in. After the construction of the new house with modern amenities like running water and plumbing, the old house became a sort of storage unit. After the deaths of both of her parents, my grandmother and her sisters were working together in the old house to clean out some of the items that had been collected over the years. At one point, one of the sisters cried out and exclaimed, Oh my Lord, he is real. The other sisters gathered around her to see what she had found. My grandmother's sister was holding in her hand a small doll who was dressed in traditional cowboy clothing. He wore blue jeans and a plaid shirt. He had a small hat and a red scarf around his neck as the sisters stood there together. They looked at each other and finally one of them spoke up and said, You mean you saw him too? After this discovery, the sisters took a few minutes to sit together and have a very long overdue talk. What they discovered was that each of them remembered the same man, one that was identical to the doll found in the attic, visiting their room when they were children. As the sisters were growing up, they shared one bedroom. All of the sisters distinctly recalled that while they were sleeping, this small man would crawl through their open window and creep across the beds to the water bucket that was across the room. They would then hear the small ladle scrape the edge of the bucket as the man drew water and took a drink. Finally, he would cross back to the window across their beds and he would leave the room. Each of them was sure that they had to be dreaming it and so they never mentioned it to the others. It was only as older women when they were going through their parents' things did they find that every sister had the same exact memory. Memory is a funny thing. It is quite possible that this story was told to the sisters when they were growing up. Maybe they had all just felt that the doll was slightly creepy and created a story around it. However, as devoutly religious and level-headed as my grandmother and Oliver's siblings were, the older generation later refused to sleep in the old house when they would visit their parents. They had no qualms about putting the younger generation, my father and his siblings, in the old homestead even if they wouldn't step through the building's doors. Today, no one really visits Bearden unless they are returning as descendants of the early families. Is the irrepressence that seems to hover over the little river valley just left over family ghost stories? Is there a deeper reason than regular child mortality rates that Bearden still has a very unusual ratio of young graves in its small graveyard? Are some of the most haunted places the ones that hardly see visitors? Maybe the next time you take a ghost-hunting road trip, look for a village or hamlet and check it out for yourself. Want more Paranormality? Subscribe to Paranormality magazine and each month get it delivered digitally or via mail in our print version. Paranormality magazine is a collaborative endeavor featuring works from people like you who have a passion for all things mysterious and unexplained. Our goal is the pursuit of knowledge, gathering captivating stories from our own team of writers, researchers and investigators, as well as from writers such as yourself. Each monthly issue also includes a list of paranormal, horror, UFO and cryptozoology events around the country, incredible paranormal-themed artwork, articles and writing sent in from our readers, suggested books and podcasts to consume and more. Visit ParanormalityMag.com and subscribe today for as little as 3.99 a month. That's ParanormalityMag.com. ParanormalityMag.com Every October we take the month and raise funds for organizations that help people who struggle with depression. It's called Overcoming the Darkness. AZ wrote in a few years ago talking about our Overcoming the Darkness campaign. I can tell everyone that no matter what you think, there is a way out of depression and I'm living proof. I spent 30 plus years in a funk so deep there are large chunks of my life I simply don't remember. At times it was just a feeling of sadness and impending doom. I thought of ways out many times. I finally got tired of barely being alive. I talked to a doctor and began taking antidepressants. Now I rarely get depressed or stressed and I no longer find myself not dreading tomorrow. This is why our Overcoming the Darkness campaign is so important. It supports organizations that help people who struggle with depression so that they too can start looking forward to tomorrow instead of dreading today. Please donate today, right now if you can. Go to WeirdDarkness.com Overcoming We've all had friends or family members suffer an extreme trauma, be it an accident, death in the family, loss of a job, house fire. But what happens if that friend or family member just suffered something paranormal? How do you support that person? Rebecca Montiel wrote an article for Paranormality magazine and she gives us her thoughts on the subject. Maybe you've noticed your friend acting a little differently. For the past few months the joy has left their eyes and they say they haven't been sleeping well. When you press them for answers they decline to offer any more details and maybe mumble something about not believing them. Their relationship is fine, no, they aren't fighting, their family is healthy and so far work has been okay. But you know there is something going on. Then one day they can't keep it inside anymore. They ask for your audience and start to tell you about how every night a dark visitor enters their room. They can't move, they can hardly breathe due to the pressure on their chest and they have never been more terrified. But when you ask about the stranger in their room there is a mix of hesitation and embarrassment. You see the person is an intangible shadowy figure that whispers terrible things into their ears and the worst part is they can't move or scream, they just have to stay and listen in fear. Are they talking about a ghost? Does my friend believe they are being haunted? Yes, they do. When we think of hauntings and paranormal experiences one may recall the latest thriller movie or no sleep podcast episode, something made of fiction, Q the X-Files theme song. There is no such thing as ghosts, is stated in a way to calm your friend's emotions. But is there a better way to express support for your friend? In order to be more sympathetic to our friends and family who are dealing with this situation we should first look at what a paranormal experience is and why it can be considered a traumatic event. Dictionary.com defines paranormal as, quote, of or relating to the claimed occurrence of an event or perception without scientific explanation as psychokinesis, extrasensory perception, or other purportedly supernatural phenomena, unquote. In short, it is an experience one cannot explain away. It is a tale as old as time, being afraid of the unknown. And unless a person has put themselves in a situation to have an experience, such as a guided ghost tour or a past life regression, the experience and or intrusion was not an act of consent on the experiencer's part. This leaves the experiencer or victim to have to deal with the after effects of the events on their own. Often the victim is left wondering if what they witnessed is a side effect of a mental illness or perhaps their sanity is in jeopardy. The risk of ridicule from friends and family is also something they have to consider. Growing up I was taught there was no such thing as ghosts. In fact, the paranormal was nothing that we addressed as a family and I didn't know how to express myself when I had an experience of my own as a child. I kept my experience to myself, only revealing it to my younger sister, and never spoke of it as an adult until I was well into my 30s. Although this experience led me to a deep love of the unknown, I was left feeling I had to learn how to deal with this situation on my own. It was hard to process. I didn't know if I could trust my mind and the fear of not being believed was hard for me. In the two years of being a podcaster about paranormal experiences, the resounding reasons as to why someone is exposing their private and sometimes traumatic stories is to have some sort of explanation for what had happened, finding someone who can relate and getting closure. They share their stories with other experiencers in the hope of finding support from someone who will believe them, perhaps because they have been rejected already by their friends and family. This situation can be particularly difficult for people who come from strong religious backgrounds where discussion of paranormal activity can be forbidden and the risk of punishment or expulsion is on the table. This makes the importance of supporting a loved one as they process the situation even more important. They have heard for years already that what has happened to them is not possible and can't exist, therefore their traumatic experience is invalid before they can even get a word out. When my sister and I started our show, we had two rules. The first rule was that we believed every story and the second rule was to never debunk the experience. The paranormal leaves little to no evidence, which is something humans strive for but can be impossible to prove. So why should we make someone prove their trauma? You don't. If someone has come to you with a deep, dark secret they never thought they would tell anyone, they already know the risk of not being believed is inevitable. I'll offer a few tips on how to support your loved one while they are processing their experience. Be a good listener. It takes a lot of courage to speak out about a traumatic or scary event, so the best thing a supportive friend can do is listen with an open heart. Allow their story to unfold and withhold any urge to interrupt or impose a solution. This is not the time to insert any sarcastic or comedic relief. Wait for the speaker to pause before asking any clarifying questions. Thank them for sharing their story and express your support. Try to keep your skepticism at bay. Even if you cannot get behind the thought of ghosts or aliens or Bigfoot, you can understand that a situation has caused a lot of fear and anxiety for them. Keep in mind that no one is asking you to change your beliefs, they are only asking you to believe them. Try to put your judgment and beliefs aside and consider what your loved one is saying. This isn't just about your friend or family member talking about something you don't believe in. This is an event that has caused them to have an emotional response. And now ask yourself, do you have to find a scientific explanation? No. This type of service tends to mock the situation. Unless your friend is asking what you think it is, I think it is best to keep a skeptical comment to yourself. 1. Take cues about what your friend wants. So what can you do from there? It depends on what the experiencer is looking for. Sometimes just getting their story off their chest can bring some relief. Validation that what they experienced happened can be cathartic in itself. Telling your loved one that you believe them may be all they hoped for. Resources to recommend. 2. If a matter of mental health is in question among the experiencer, it is always in the best interest of anyone to have a medical exam. This topic can be delicate and difficult to bring up, but ruling out any possible medical concerns is always a good place to start. In the long run, it may bring peace of mind that it is not a mental health issue. But if your friend is still looking for answers, giving advice about the paranormal can be difficult due to the lack of seriousness we as the masses give to paranormal research. But it is out there. Encourage them to research until they get answers that satisfy their needs. Fortunately, it appears, thanks to the current spiritual movement and gained curiosity into the paranormal, there are lots of people and organizations willing to help people who are going through this type of trauma. If modern therapy and medicine do not yield satisfactory results, perhaps a medium or psychic intervention is the next step or the first one. What would a paranormal podcast be without talking about exorcisms? Paranormality magazine in the May 2023 issue brought us an article entitled Terrifyingly True Tales of Exorcisms Around the World. Exorcism is synonymous with a cult classic horror movie and the actress Linda Blair. Clear visions of 13-year-old Reagan McNeill standing at the foot of the stairs in a white tea-length nightgown with a far away look in her eyes peeing on the floor have been burned into the frontal cortex of our brains. It has become the calling card for what to expect during an exorcism. But let's look at a few other examples of what an exorcism might look like. We'll span the globe from London to Florida to South Africa to better understand what happens when a solo life experience suddenly becomes a horrifying tandem nightmare. An exorcism not to be confused with exercise is, as Miriam Webster defines it, the act or practice of exorcising. The Encyclopedia Britannica says exorcism is an adoration addressed to evil spirits to force them to abandon a person, place, or thing. Finally, the Conference of Catholic Bishops says an exorcism is a specific form of prayer that the Church uses against the power of the devil. Much can be said about the Catholic Church, but one thing is for sure, their doctrine is clear and they rarely mince words. From Jesus to Shakespeare, the rite of exorcism has been a part of our global culture for thousands of years. In the Gospel of Mark, written around AD 70, Jesus used the practice of exorcism to cast out evil spirits all over Galilee. Shakespeare also engaged in the art of exorcism, although in a slightly less impressive way, referencing the rite in his works King Lear and the 12th Night. However, the practice of exorcism is not reserved only for those with Biblical prowess. One of the earliest stories of this exotic art includes a man by the name of George Lukens. George was an English tailor who suddenly began singing hymns backwards, speaking in mysterious voices and making inhuman noises. For me, it wouldn't take much more than a few pints to engage in his behavior, but for George, it was a fate much worse than mere drunkenness alone that defined his story. His is one of the strangest cases of demonic possession ever recorded. On May 31, 1778, Susan, a parishioner, approached an Anglican vicar in Bristol, England with the story of a man, George Lukens, who had what she called an unexplained condition. Explaining an exorcism using the term condition at any time in history would be like referring to a foot amputation as an ingrown toenail. Susan stated that George, a man in his 40s, was having fits of singing loudly and was hurling abusive language at the men and women in his company. With great concern, she said that while George was exhibiting the strange behavior, he seemed to be in a state of trance. After 18 months in a London hospital, George's condition continued. The villagers' tongues were wagging and he was soon labeled possessed. The only possible explanation offered by George was that it might have something to do with what happened during a performance with the mummers one Christmas. He was walking through town, drunk, and felt a slap so hard it rendered him unconscious. It was then that the bizarre twitching and barking behavior started. As priests and reverends gathered around barking George, they all agreed he was a genuine case of demonic possession. Seven holy men were summoned to cast out each of the seven demons that apparently dwelled within him. Also, in attendance was a local reporter just to set the record straight. Let no man say there is anything more potent than the press. While George sang a backward version of Tatyum, the priests shook holy water on him and commanded the evil spirits to leave his body, repeating, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And just like that, the curse was lifted, the possession was over, and life for George returned to normal. Gatsleben Didis is another victim of involuntary shouting and movements. In 1842, 28-year-old Didis described her house as being haunted. Unlike some of the other early exorcism stories which could easily be explained as having a mental disorder like schizophrenia or Tourette's syndrome, the story of Didis offers us a slightly more graphic vibe. Plus, this tale starts inside an alleged haunted house, so my paranormal radar is up and engaged. In short order, Didis would slip in and out of a trance-like state and her actions would become more violent in the presence of a man of the cloth. Specifically, Didis would bring down the house with her erratic behavior if a priest came bearing tidings of an exorcism. For two years, she was strapped to a chair, vomiting glass, nails, and blood. Didis and the dutiful priest worked together, continuing to try and purify her body. In the end, teamwork makes dream work, as they say, and finally a comment was made by the devil in a white dress herself, Jesus is the victor, she declared, and the devil was never seen again, at least not beneath the strange and complicated roof of Didis. The next story captures my heart and my attention. It has all the makings of a true paranormal phenomenon, and it happened to a girl who was the same age as my daughter. The year is 1906, and Clara Germonacelle is a 16-year-old girl attending Michael's Mission Christian School in Natal, South Africa. For no good reason, impulse took hold of poor Clara, and she decided to make a pact with the devil. Having raised many teens myself, I can certainly understand this level of impulsivity. Before too long, Clara was speaking in tongues and began performing feats of superhuman strength. She became enraged by religious artifacts and mastered multiple unknown languages. One of the most disturbing details of Clara's experience was her ability to levitate. In front of 170 people, Clara levitated no less than five feet off the ground. Many people in the village, including two nuns, reported the incident. Psychic powers were also part of the supernatural buffet that was once known as Clara. She had intimate knowledge of the thoughts of people around her, as well as a clear understanding of their personal history. When it comes to the possession of Clara Germonacelle, it is painfully evident that there is much more at work here than a mortal mental disorder. In the end, for two full days, priests read from the Bible, recited scriptures, and attempted to cast evil demons from within poor Clara. The clergy sprinkled holy water over her body, helplessly watching it bubble and burn as it landed on her skin. Miraculously, after 48 hours, a noxious smell was witnessed leaving her body, and Clara was finally free. The devil finally made his exit. However, not all exorcisms have a happy ending. In 1990, Gina, a 16-year-old who suffered from bouts of psychotic episodes, was strapped to a chair and filmed for the nationally syndicated television show 2020. Claiming to have the ability to rid her of paranormal demons by way of an exorcism, two Catholic priests stood above Gina's thrashing body while they dramatically administered the rite. Ominous music played in the background as the two clergymen performed in front of a crowd of millions. Pressing a cross against her face, one of the priests asked her, Do you want pain? I'll give you pain. Incidentally, if your blood is boiling, that is a perfectly natural and correct reaction to hearing what happened to Gina at the hands of those men. It was only later that her mother, who had given her consent, said that she had felt forced by the church to participate in the exorcism of her daughter. After all of the pomp and circumstance, it was less the exorcism and more the anti-psychotic drugs that offered the poor girl relief. In Gina's case, I can confidently say that the devil was not hiding inside her but standing directly in front of her, with a crucifix in one hand and holy water in the other. In 2003, eight-year-old Terence Cottrell got a taste of what it would be like to participate in an exorcism. Looking to drive out the evil spirits allegedly living inside him, Reverend Ray Hemphill employed a technique on Terence called external chest compression, which means he sat on his chest until Terence stopped breathing. The homicidal priest was convicted of murder and, God willing, he will never see the light of day again. When it comes to spiritual possession, it is often that the entity will target young teenage girls. One can only assume that it may be the raging hormones that act as a beacon for the bloodthirsty baddies, although it is likely not the only variable. Now, that is not to say anyone is exempt from the fast and furious grip of what lurks in the lower reaches of the spirit world. But keeping ourselves emotionally and spiritually fit may be our proverbial kryptonite, our ace in the hole giving us a leg up on yet another curious paranormal occurrence few can explain. Most importantly, however, if you remember one thing, make it this, the devil does not always appear in an evil spirit form. He often arrives as an angel of light. Buyer beware. Thanks for listening to Paranormality Magazine. Get more information about the magazine and subscribe to our monthly publication at ParanormalityMag.com or click the link in the show description. And if you are a researcher or investigator, send us your stories. We might feature you in our next issue. If you have a paranormal podcast, you can add it to our website so our readers can find your show. And artists, if you would like your work to be featured in our magazine or on our back cover, contact us. Again, our website is ParanormalityMag.com. I'm Darren Marlar and I'll have more paranormal for you next time from Paranormality Magazine.