FROM THE CASE FILES OF DIRECTOR RYAN BUELL
Case File: 2009.11.XXF
Code Name: SUICIDE SPIRITS
DIRECTOR’s LOG’S
These log’s have been condensed and edited, but to the best of our ability, it remains an accurate account of the case:
PRELIMINARY ASSESMENT
Upon receiving the case, our original theory was that – providing they were truly experiencing supernatural phenomena – there were human spirits influencing their actions. In paranormal theory, this is nothing new. Researchers like Dr. Hazel M. Denning, Dr. Hans Holzer and even the Warrens have published cases of spiritual influence. I once read of a case where a young man moved in to a house as he was about to wed his long-time sweetheart. After moving in, he began to have uncontrollable and extreme sexual urges. He was driven to have sex with multiple partners in a day. If he couldn’t find someone, he’d hire prostitutes and soon the urges became more violent. Not understanding what was happening to him, he became suicidal and began to drink. It started to ruin his and his fiancé’s lives. At some point, a medium was brought in who made the claim that this young man wasn’t himself and that there was a spirit in the home who was a sex addict when he was alive. His impulses built over time and this spirit clung to this young man in the hopes that he could relive his addiction. They later found record, I believe, that the sex addict died in that very house.
In Joan and Tony’s case, Joan made the claim that something was driving them to harm themselves. Tony heard voices telling him to take a dangerous amount of prescription pills as well as to drink in the basement. Joan heard a voice telling her to “do it” while she was shaving.
According to Joan, Tony spiraled in to depression. He would lock himself in either the basement or upstairs bedroom. She would find him having conversations with something when he thought no one was listening.
THE PREVIOUS PARANORMAL TEAM
Whenever we take on a case that involves a previous paranormal team, we have a policy that requires us to contact them. We do this for several reasons. On one hand, we want to know their thoughts on the case and if they captured any evidence. Most importantly, however, we want to know about the clients. Talking to previous paranormal teams usually provides us with great insight in to whether or not the clients are lying or if the phenomenon is legitimate. We’ve also had groups give us information we never thought to ask. In this case, we certainly learned additional information we weren’t aware of beforehand. What that information was, however, will not be published at this time.
What sparked our interest in this case is when we learned that a previous paranormal team had investigated the house on multiple occasions. Joan claimed that they fled and refused to come back and help her because they were afraid for themselves.
Now, we’ve heard clients make this claim before in the past, but they usually tend to be exaggerations. However, in this case, there was some truth in Joan’s testimony. I spoke to the leader of the paranormal team (which I will withhold for privacy reasons) over the phone to get his take on Joan’s case. To my surprise, not only did he tell me that they felt that the case was violently demonic, but that a religious man in their group had also quit because of what he experienced. It’s hard for us to ignore such bold testimony from an established paranormal team.
Joan claimed that the paranormal team had collected hard evidence from their investigations. When I asked if we could obtain this evidence, she said that she was never given a copy of the evidence for her own personal records despite countless requests (I did not include this bit of information to ‘bash’ the unspecified paranormal team, as there are always two sides to the story. They could have either lost the evidence or had a valid reason for not turning it over. Since I was not involved with their investigation, I cannot comment or pass judgment on this. I put this in here so people don’t ask to hear/see the evidence provided by the previous paranormal team, as we never got to see it).
Despite the paranormal teams testimony, I wasn’t yet sold on the demonic aspect of it.
CONFIRMING THE DEATHS
We learned of two deaths that took place on the property, although neither could be confirmed with proper documentation (we did not find any articles or death certificates). However, we had strong testimony that leant credibility to these deaths.
The first death is of an original owner. The man was allegedly found dead, face down, on the stairway with a bottle of alcohol near his body. There was testimony that suggested this man was a functioning alcoholic. It may have come across on the episode that we were implying that he died of alcohol poisoning, but that is not what I personally believe. According to his daughter, who was interviewed by Katrina Weidman, it could have been alcohol poisoning or a heart attack (or both!).
The second death is interesting. At one point, the house Tony now lives in used to be a residence, a store and apartment. The store (pharmacy) was the front living room of the house. The family lived in the rest of the first floor and part of the second floor. There is a separate entrance to get to the second floor, and if you saw the episode of PS, you may have noticed that there’s a kitchen on the second floor. That’s because the second floor was divided. The left half was an apartment, and the other half was part of the residence. Both Tony and Joan heard a rumor that a woman died in that apartment. Eilfie and the production team researchers couldn’t find any proof of this. However, we found the original police officer who responded to the call to investigate the apartment after the woman wasn’t seen nor heard from in days. The police officer did not want to appear on camera, so this interview was conducted privately. When I spoke to him, he told me that it was a very bizarre case. He claims that he found a note on the back-door apartment entrance warning whoever was coming in to be careful of the kitchen floors since she had just mopped it. When they entered, they found a few suitcases packed and each case had a note attached to it. They went to the bedroom and they found the tenant dead. It appeared as though she had been dead for a couple of days, according to this officer. The officer claims that she overdosed on sleeping pills and that she clearly planned out her death. She left notes in the house addressed to remaining family and friends, and the apartment was packed up and cleaned (as if she didn’t want her death to be an inconvenience to anyone). There was no clear motive as to why she decided to kill herself. Unfortunately, the police officer was not able to recall an exact date or name, so we couldn’t find any record of her death beside his testimony.
TONY’S MENTAL STATE
After talking with Tony, I began to worry about him. It was quite clear that he was withholding information and downplaying events. It was very hard to get any cooperation from him. He interrupted me a lot and also had trouble concentrating on the questions I would ask him. I also got the impression that he was a violent man. I didn’t immediately confront Joan about this, since they had both omitted this from us. I assumed they did so for a reason and I wanted to build up our trust relationship a bit before approaching them.
Nonetheless, I asked a practicing Pennsylvania therapist, Adam to come to the residence and conduct an evaluation on Tony. Because the interview would take place out of state, Adam was only able to do so much. Adam conducted the MMPI-2 psychological test on Tony. He shared some of the results with us on camera (the rest was private out of respect to the family). Adam strongly urged Tony to seek professional counseling immediately. Adam felt that Tony’s testimony was truthful, but that he also lied a lot when it came to impressions on himself. Adam believed that Tony was trying to project a positive image of himself. On the episode, Adam discusses a good point. If Tony were concerned about his image, why would he discuss the haunting at all? He believes Tony was being truthful about his paranormal experiences, but was also hiding a lot. Adam also had concerns for Joan’s safety.
OUR EXPERIENCES
During the first Dead Time, we heard a few unexplained noises. Here is a list of most of the phenomenon we experienced and their possible explanations, if any.
KATRINA AND HEATHER HEAR A BANG IN DOWNSTAIRS KITCHEN: The sound was documented on tape. It sounds like a thud. Both Katrina and Heather claim that it was the basement door. On surveillance, you can’t see the door move, but they claim that it was slight. The audio sound of the thud was from a recorder placed near the basement door, so we’re inclined to believe Heather and Katrina.
HEATHER FINDS HANDS IN THE ATTIC: Surprisingly, a lot of fans have asked us if the hands Heather discovered in the attic were real. I say this surprises us because if the hands were real, obviously we would have made a big deal about them. To think we would find dead hands in the attic and then just go about our business is a bit insulting, but we laugh it off in all good fun. We assume production kept that in there because it is genuinely frightening (as it was to Heather when she first saw it), but they were just Halloween props that Tony kept in storage. If you listen carefully, Heather does explain that the hands are mannequin props after she investigates further.
HEATHER AND KATRINA HEAR KNOCKING SOUNDS UPSTAIRS: This is also caught on tape, and you can hear it if you watch the PS episode. The editors did a good job of cutting out the music and amplifying the sound of the three footsteps.
BABY CRY: During Dead Time, there was a sound that appeared to be that of a baby crying. We were able to explain this. One of the investigators shut a creaky, wooden window. Even though it does indeed sound like a baby, it is, in fact, the window being shut. We discussed and “debunked” this during our investigation, but the editors chose to leave that out, likely because of time constraints.
CHAIR MOVES ON SERGEY DURING DEAD TIME: As the episode shows, it was Sergey pushing up against the chair.
UNEXPLAINED ODORS: What I was shocked to find missing from the episode is our investigation in to the unexplained odors. There was a spot on the second floor where the scent of rot permeated. What’s strange about this smell is that it came and went. We assumed it was an animal, but we investigated the entire surrounding area and couldn’t find any evidence of a dead animal. Furthermore, the smell never had a trail. There wasn’t any particular area where it got stronger. The strong part of the smell was always in the middle of the hallway in mid-air. We didn’t know what to make of this.
TONY’s POSSESSION
I read a lot of fan feedback and commentary of people questioning our theory that a demonic spirit was influencing Tony. After watching the episode, I understand why many were confused. Although there’s no definitive, quantifiable way to prove that a demonic spirit is invading a person’s body, we found a lot of red flags that suggested to us that there was such a phenomena.
The problem is that a lot of our investigation in to this involved extremely sensitive information from the clients. There were a lot of things during Lorraine’s interrogation that could not be added. If it was, I have no doubt that it would floor people at how dark Tony’s past is. There was also a moment when I lost my cool with Tony for deflecting things and not cooperating. This was also cut.
Additionally, Tony exhibited a lot of revulsion to religious objects and had violent reactions that also did not make it in to the episode. Believe it or not, some of the most intense experiences we had were not included in this episode. Why? It’s likely because it happened when the film crew wasn’t present. We documented these experiences ourselves, but production has a tendency to dislike using “handy cam” footage for extended periods of time.
For example, at one point in the night, Father Bob sat in Tony’s bedroom in complete darkness as he used Latin prayer. As he did so, Joan and Tony screamed on a few occasions because of activity happening downstairs. At one point during Father Bob’s prayer, the ceiling fans stopped working, and then went in reverse (which they were not manufactured to do). There was also a very loud bang that occurred during Father Bob’s prayer. We also documented Tony’s personality changes during the process. We left camera’s on him, where we saw him staring off in to space for minutes on end without blinking. He would talk to himself.
One of the most convincing things I can actually speak about (since it does not violate the respect of the clients) is Tony’s deliverance itself. For people who are not familiar with demonology, it would seem insignificant. However, to religious demonologists, the following has astounding significance: Father Bob used passages from the Roman Rituals (the rite of Exorcism). In this prayer, Father Bob says a Latin word for “adjure.” Adjure is used as a term for expulsion of the demon. I have been witness to enough exorcisms and have heard the Latin rite of Exorcism enough to know when it is said during the prayer. Every time Father Bob would use this term, Tony would wince and his eyes would flare up like a man about to go in to a fit of rage. Every time. It’s one thing if Father Bob said it in English, and instead of saying, “adjure,” he said, “I exorcise you.” Then I would have entertained the thought that perhaps it was psychological or Tony role-playing. But can I really assume that a man with a limited education in a small town in New Jersey knows the Latin term for “Adjure?” Furthermore, most educated people are not aware of the term, either. I know I wasn’t, until I read the Roman Rituals and looked it up. Additionally, it is used in a specific context in the exorcism rite. Furthermore, the term “adjure” is extremely powerful in the Rite of Exorcism, and the demonic are known to react to it. The bottom line for me is that Tony wincing to a word that is hardly known – let alone it being spoken in Latin – and it having significance in exorcisms is powerful evidence to me.
In my opinion, Tony also exhibited the ability to know things that were not known to him and also strength more powerful than his body could handle, both of which are two of the three pieces of evidence the church requires in order to approve a formal exorcism.
Another interesting piece of information is that Michelle Belanger also came to the case as a favor. We were actually investigating another case that was ten minutes away. However, because of the intensity of Tony and Joan’s case, I missed the first day of that investigation in order to stay with Tony and Joan. Michelle later came that night, knowing nothing, and felt that our diagnosis of a violent, inhuman spirit was reasonable. What’s fascinating about Michelle’s walkthrough is the fact that activity picked up the moment she walked in to the house. At one point, Michelle felt that something was grabbing her trench coat. I looked down and observed the bottom of her trench coat pulled back, as if something was tugging on it. A second later, it dropped down, back in to place.
INTERVENTION:
Tony’s mental state was getting dangerous during the deliverance. Tony would look at us and say we were all nuts in believing that the house was haunted, and then minutes later Tony would talk to something, followed by a paranormal event occurring. He began to argue with us and say threatening things, only to claim seconds later that he didn’t recall saying it.
Joan informed us that Tony refused to walk in to a church. He would promise every Sunday to go, but when it was time to leave, Joan would always find Tony looking defeated, saying he couldn’t go. We strongly advised Tony to go to church to practice his faith. A handful of investigators (usually the same ones) tend to get worked up over our use of spirituality in investigations. However, I’d like to point out that EMF detectors and those ridiculous K-2 meters do nothing to solve or aid the clients with their struggle. What I can tell you is this: out of all the PRS cases we’ve successfully closed (in other words, where the client believes they are no longer experiencing activity), about 75% of those – if not more – found a resolution through spiritual practice. In other words, through a house blessing, exorcism, practicing their faith, etc. You can’t argue with those results. Additionally, we do not ask our clients to practice a faith that is not their choosing. We don’t tell a Jewish family to start going to a Catholic Church, etc. In the case of Tony and Joan, both were practicing Catholics. We asked Tony to consider going back to church. We also told him that the drinking obviously had to stop, and above everything else, he needed to seek professional, clinical help.
CONCLUSION:
It is my belief that we were indeed experiencing supernatural phenomenon at Tony’s residence. I believe, however, that the darker phenomenon traveled with Tony, who moved in to a potentially already-haunted house from the two traumatic deaths that occurred there. I believe there may have been some spiritual activity happening there, but that Tony’s changing of personality, violent mood swings and revulsion to religious objects was a result of demonic influence.
UPDATE:
Despite Joan, PRS’ and Adam’s plea’s to seek professional counseling, Tony has yet to do so. He has also stopped attending church and has picked up drinking from morning until evening, according to Joan. PRS remains dedicated to helping the family and plans to revisit the case during the holidays.
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Here's a blast from the past. In 2003, I met George Lutz at our annual conference, UNIV-CON. He is, of course, the man who lived in the Amityville house and fled after 28 days. It later inspired a book, "The Amityville Horror" and two films based off of it (one in 1977, then a remake in 2005). Back in my journalism days, I was a freelance writer. In 2004, knowing that they were remaking "Amityville," I asked if I could interview him about the process.
