Demonic Foes as Witnessed by a Psychiatrist

[Michie]

In any case, it’s not the exorcist who liberates people — it is Our Lord.


The world’s leading psychiatric authority on demonic activity, Dr. Richard Gallagher gives scientific and psychological insight into the world of Satanic attacks in his new book, Demonic Foes: My Twenty-Five Years as a Psychiatrist Investigating Possessions, Diabolical Attacks, and the Paranormal (HarperCollins, 2020). Although Gallagher was once a skeptic, exorcists began seeking him out for his careful assessments. It soon became obvious that, rarely but definitively, some people were not suffering from psychosis or other psychiatric conditions, but rather from demonic attacks.

Gallagher is a professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College and a psychoanalyst on the faculty of Columbia University. He graduated Phi Beta Kapp in classics at Princeton and trained as a resident in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. Gallagher has been an active member of the International Association of Exorcists since its founding in the early 1990s and is now its longest-standing American member.

Continued below.
Demonic Foes as Witnessed by a Psychiatrist

 

[Basil the Great]

I read much of the article. I find it hard to believe that he encountered at least 100 complete possession cases in his 25 years. I thought that true possession was very rare. If he is correct, then it would seem that possession is on the increase.

 

[tturt]

or awareness of it

 

[Xenophon]

I read much of the article. I find it hard to believe that he encountered at least 100 complete possession cases in his 25 years. I thought that true possession was very rare. If he is correct, then it would seem that possession is on the increase.

I've been alive little over 25 years, I've seen a handful of cases without trying to (all in the third world.) Anyone who spends much time in the third world, not as a tourist but as a resident, will become acquainted with supernatural happenings - and then you'll recognize it for what it is in the 1st world. I imagine it would be very easy to see 100 possession cases if you are looking for it.

 

[Xenophon]

If you've ever seen the horror film Candyman, where you've got rationalist academics arrogantly discussing folklore who think the folklore just arises out of impoverished people trying to deal with the material horror in their world vs. the people in the hood who know that material evil is intrinsically tied to supernatural evil and that forces are admixed and the folklore about real danger.

 

[Bob Crowley]

I've been alive little over 25 years, I've seen a handful of cases without trying to (all in the third world.) Anyone who spends much time in the third world, not as a tourist but as a resident, will become acquainted with supernatural happenings - and then you'll recognize it for what it is in the 1st world. I imagine it would be very easy to see 100 possession cases if you are looking for it.

Some years ago I was at a church somewhere when a missionary to an Asian nation was speaking.

He pointed out one of the differences between East and West.

In the West, he said if you were at a party, and you said to someone "You know, this room is full of spirits!", they'd give you a sickly look, peer across the room, and try to find someone else they knew.

Then it would be, "Well, that's nice, but I really should go and see Dick over there", and make their excuses.

They'd think you were a nut.

But if you said the same thing at a party in the East, the other conversationalist would think "Well, so what? That's like saying the sky is blue!"

The East, generally speaking, has a belief in the reality of spirits. The West doesn't.

 

[Xenophon]

Some years ago I was at a church somewhere when a missionary to an Asian nation was speaking.

He pointed out one of the differences between East and West.

In the West, he said if you were at a party, and you said to someone "You know, this room is full of spirits!", they'd give you a sickly look, peer across the room, and try to find someone else they knew.

Then it would be, "Well, that's nice, but I really should go and see Dick over there", and make their excuses.

They'd think you were a nut.

But if you said the same thing at a party in the East, the other conversationalist would think "Well, so what? That's like saying the sky is blue!"

The East, generally speaking, has a belief in the reality of spirits. The West doesn't.

Many missionaries are unwilling or hesitant to share their experience of supernatural happenings due to that kind of reaction (a reaction that is bad for much needed funding) to people who aren't also missionaries. But miracles, including the resurrection of the dead, is still witnessed in this world.


...


Also,

"You know, this room is full of spirits!"

"I know, the bar is over there!"

 

[Chrystal-J]

I saw something like this in my bedroom doorway. Among all the other "shadow people" I see regularly.

 

[Michie]

View attachment 287156

I saw something like this in my bedroom doorway. Among all the other "shadow people" I see regularly.

I saw one that looked like my mom after my dad died when I was a kid. But it looked like her with glowing eyes. There is more detail to it but I’m not crazy about talking about it too much. Really traumatizing though.

 

[Chrystal-J]

I saw one that looked like my mom after my dad died when I was a kid. But it looked like her with glowing eyes. There is more detail to it but I’m not crazy about talking about it too much. Really traumatizing though.

That would traumatize me too--seeing someone I know in ghost-like form. The one time I screamed at a shadow figure was when I was at my mom's and I had fallen asleep. I opened my eyes and one of them was right up in my face (not in a doorway as usual).

 

[Michie]

That would traumatize me too--seeing someone I know in ghost-like form. The one time I screamed at a shadow figure was when I was at my mom's and I had fallen asleep. I opened my eyes and one of them was right up in my face (not in a doorway as usual).

Yikes!

 

[Xenophon]

I saw one that looked like my mom after my dad died when I was a kid. But it looked like her with glowing eyes. There is more detail to it but I’m not crazy about talking about it too much. Really traumatizing though.

I had a girlfriend whose entire family had a shadow that followed them. People would see it around them. Maybe about 8'. Sometimes cupboards would open and shut 'on their own.'

Turns out her great grandparents, out in California, would lure young people to their home, drug them, rape them, and kill them - apparently in ritual as their daughter (my girlfriend's grandmother) still had a very strange idol in her home that she made offerings to. They would dispose of the bodies in a nearby forest. Though they claimed to be christian (the current generation, not the grandmother's generation), they were not permitted to go to Church, instead they would go to their grandfather's house (other side of the family), who was the patriarch of the family, and he would serve them bread and wine in some kind of 'communion.'

 

[Ezana]

Interesting experiences here--particularly yours, Michie; it reminded me of when, as a child, upon getting out of bed in the middle of the night to use the washroom, I saw a frightfully wizened man hunched over on the toilet, glaring at me with red eyes. To this day I have a hard time believing what I think I saw, but I remember the terrible fear I felt and running to wake my mother. I don't mean to derail the thread in any way, but what are the possible reasons for these things happening specifically to children?

 

[Michie]

Interesting experiences here--particularly yours, Michie; it reminded me of when, as a child, upon getting out of bed in the middle of the night to use the washroom, I saw a frightfully wizened man hunched over on the toilet, glaring at me with red eyes. To this day I have a hard time believing what I think I saw, but I remember the terrible fear I felt and running to wake my mother. I don't mean to derail the thread in any way, but what are the possible reasons for these things happening specifically to children?

I think children are more aware of these things than adults. I had other experiences growing up as well. All very strange.

 

[Chrystal-J]

I had a girlfriend whose entire family had a shadow that followed them. People would see it around them. Maybe about 8'. Sometimes cupboards would open and shut 'on their own.'

Turns out her great grandparents, out in California, would lure young people to their home, drug them, rape them, and kill them - apparently in ritual as their daughter (my girlfriend's grandmother) still had a very strange idol in her home that she made offerings to. They would dispose of the bodies in a nearby forest. Though they claimed to be christian (the current generation, not the grandmother's generation), they were not permitted to go to Church, instead they would go to their grandfather's house (other side of the family), who was the patriarch of the family, and he would serve them bread and wine in some kind of 'communion.'

The house I moved into had a pentagram painted in a place that you could see if you laid way back on the Lazy-Boy chair in the living room. The house had one brother and two sisters who lived their entire lives in the same house--never married and basically just stayed home. (The brother worked a good job and they lived on his retirement.) But, once they got about 50ish, you never saw them outside again (their cousin did their shopping, ect). Although, I've had many haunting experiences since I was a child, I wonder if they became more frequent because of what they may have done in the house.

 

[Basil the Great]

Interesting experiences here--particularly yours, Michie; it reminded me of when, as a child, upon getting out of bed in the middle of the night to use the washroom, I saw a frightfully wizened man hunched over on the toilet, glaring at me with red eyes. To this day I have a hard time believing what I think I saw, but I remember the terrible fear I felt and running to wake my mother. I don't mean to derail the thread in any way, but what are the possible reasons for these things happening specifically to children?

I had what I am sure was an hallucination when I was a child. I think I had stolen a minor object from a store that day and probably got caught and got scolded by my parents. All I can recall is that I woke up in the night and saw an apparition of the Devil standing at the foot of my bed. I was so scared that I tried calling out to my parents, but had no voice. I think that I hid under the covers for a few minutes and then when I looked up the apparition was gone. I am certain that my experience was all in my head, but I do believe that some people see real things.

 

[Ezana]

I am certain that my experience was all in my head, but I do believe that some people see real things.

Agreed. But what might really matter is not so much the "authenticity" of the experience, but more so the consequences of the experience in one's reaction, as the one reason I can think of for these things to happen to impressionable children is perhaps to pique their curiosity, so as to lead them to the occult and away from God.

Indecent of the demons to go after little kids. A shame they can't be shamed.