Ok. I was coerced into attending an exorcism back in 1984. Was told it would be 'for the good '



Despite all the talk of Anglican Deaconesses being in attendance and the whole thing being conducted under the auspices of the Church, with highly reputable and experienced persons in attendance -- it turned out to be more of a New Age exorcism



Once I realised these people were departing from the formal Roman Catholic exorcism ritual, I consigned myself and them (de facto) to God and all that's holy



While they droned on, I closed my eyes and began to pray for the welfare of all of us, because the very little I knew about exorcisms (one book, at that point, and not too many since) claimed that the exorcists basically barters his/her own soul in return for release of the victim. The exorcist then relies on faith in God to deliver his own soul to heaven in good shape, after his physical death. So, the stakes were high, yet the exorcists seemed oblivious to the danger -- not only to themselves, but to everyone involved and THEIR families and loved ones, in addition to the possessed victim



I experienced some amazing and unforgettable things while I was sitting there praying and as the exorcism droned on



Then, it was over, apparently. I questioned the methods used, but they patted me on the head and told me not to worry about it. Then they told me to go home and think positive, because this would assist the exorcised individual



Well, I'd been so scared about the forthcoming exorcism that I'd been taking the children to stay with a friend during the weeks leading up to the exorcism. But, having been told to think positive and having been assured by the exorcists that all would be well from now on, I decided it was time to reclaim our home and cast out fear. Accordingly, once dinner was over and the dishes washed, etc., I put the children to bed (first time in their own beds for weeks) and decided to watch tv



It was an engrossing programme. I was sitting on the floor, fully absorbed, when I sensed something behind me. Believing it was my small son, I said without turning around, ' Won't be a minute darling and I'll warm some milk for you '



No answer



I was riveted by the programme which was nearing its end. So even though I could still sense something behind me, I didn't pay much attention apart from murmuring a few more times (without turning around) to my son, to let him know I wasn't ignoring him



The feeling became too strong however and finally I turned around, a bit irritated at the interruption yet fully expecting to see my son standing there with his finger in his mouth, half asleep and wanting some milk



Instead, what I saw when I turned around was a very tall entity. It was so tall that when I think about it now, I suspect it might have been suspended a bit above the level of the floor. The ceiling was very high in that room, with exposed beams



I'm pretty sure it was a male entity, based on the width of the shoulders and the authoritative voice. It said to me:

' You've got rid of the rest of them. Now you have me to deal with '



At around that point, I left my body, for by now, I could see myself sitting down there on the carpet in front of the tv. I could also see the back of the entity. It was dressed in a cloak (how original, huh) of a brownish, yellowish colour. Hooded



I was up near the ceiling. Also, I was down on the floor



Not sure how that ended, but next I knew, I was hauling the children bodily out of their bunks. They were still asleep. I told them we were going to ' X's ' place again (the friend with whom we'd been staying nightly for weeks)



Then I bustled them into the car and drove off. I was scared



When I arrived at my friend's place and had put the children to bed, I phoned the exorcist to tell him what had happened. He let me know he was not pleased by the interruption and told me briefly that it was all in my mind, tra la



Next day after I'd taken the children to school etc,., I phoned the local Roman Catholic church and told them the whole story and asked for their help. They declined to do so on the grounds I was not Roman Catholic and suggested I approach the Anglicans, which is what I did



The Anglican minister agreed to see me later in the day, at which point he blessed the children and I -- and told me off for ' meddling in the occult '. He did the same at church service the following Sunday and made quite a spectacle of me before the congregation who were told only that I was pretty bad, pretty evil, due to my involvement ' in the occult ' (not much thanks for attending a scary exorcism, is it ? So don't let anyone drag you into anything of that nature, because when the chips are down, you'll find you're on your own )



Well, the New Age guru-cum-exorcist contracted kidney cancer almost immediately. He was basically consigned to a quick and agonising death by the medical fraternity, but his New Age survival instincts obviously kicked-in and he saved his own life. He amazed the medical fraternity sufficiently for them to arrange for him to have part of a building in a city hospital, where he taught survival techniques to others. This was all duly written up in a two page spread in the leading newspaper for the area



The New Age exorcist is still alive, I think, though elderly. He was a talented man with high ideals. Unfortunately, his ego exceeded all other parts of him combined. He's never apologised for stuffing up the exorcism or for dragging me into it. Nor did he ever show the slightest interest in the entity that threatened me and scared me out of my own body. My opinion now, having met a lot of other egomaniacs since, is that the New Age exorcist was scared silly by what I told him -- scared because here was something over which he had no control. Prior to conducting the exorcism, he'd boasted to me how he and his group went to newly razed building sites in the city (which at the time was going through a period of rapid redevelopment and bulldozing aside dozens of heritage sites, with the full knowledge of the then Premier of the State who himself was a bit of a cowboy) to persuade spirits to depart the buildings and 'move to the light '



So, because I confused that paragraph, I'll say it briefly again: the exorcist was very proud of his ghost-busting activities and talked of how he and his group used to go to old buildings and sites to rid them of spirits. He believed he knew all there is to know about spirits. He fancied he was on first-name basis with them and obviously believed he was a spirit-guru



Now, he'd learned from me that a bloody huge spirit-entity thing had traced me to my home and threatened to deal with me in repayment for the ousting of apparently other spirits at the exorcism



In other words, the entity who'd appeared before me had not succumbed to the New Age exorcist's ritual-technique. And this must have been a massive ego-blow to the exorcist. So -- rather than acknowledge that he wasn't as good or as correct as he'd believed he was re: the spirit world -- the exorcist had instead chosen to deny the existence of the big cloaked entity and blame me, claiming I'd imagined it. His choice. He got kidney cancer. I didn't



Of course, that's not to say I'm home free. And why the cloaked entity chose to threaten me instead of the exorcist and his clerical gang, is unknown at present. Maybe it's the fact I was closely associated with the allegedly possessed individual ? Who knows. Maybe the cloaked thing was a manifestation of the possessed individual's mind, outraged at my betrayal in attending the exorcism ? Who knows. Guess I'll find out at a later date, as I pass from 'life' to 'death'. Not something I'm particularly looking forward to. And as to the question ' Would you attend the exorcism if you knew then what you know now ? ' -- the answer is a resounding NO. I'd run like hell and wouldn't have a thing to do with it, not for a million dollars



The allegedly possessed individual did not improve, incidentally, and is still wreaking mayhem wherever she goes. I eventually took out a restraining order on her to prevent her coming anywhere near me or my family, after which she simply moved on to torment lots of others



Would like to add another little tale here. I recounted the above on a famous online forum devoted to the paranormal several years ago. I still remember one woman's response -- she said she'd been doing normal things in her house one night, when 'something' (she didn't know what it was or how to describe it) ' whoosed' out of a wall and into her while booming, ' You are MINE ! ' before whoosing off again into the opposite wall. The woman who wrote this said she felt as if she'd been shot. She was terrified



I knew from her many posts that she was an intelligent person, well respected in the forum. Usually, she didn't say much. She went on to say that when she'd recovered, she asked various people for advice and was told by someone experienced and whom she respected, that the 'other' worlds contain a lot of malicious tricksters who enjoy scaring the daylights out of humans. ' Ignore it ', she was advised. So, she was trying to -- and she tried to reassure me using the same advice



Who knows