"I have witnessed 20 exorcisms"

* not me personally ... that's the title of the story

Story here - The Independent - UK

The theory goes that demons possess people, affecting them – as one person described it – as if from the end of a pipe. The exorcist's prayer stimulates the demons, forcing them through the pipe, as it were, and they take over the body. The demons try to get the exorcist to stop saying the prayer, often by causing dramatic behaviour. For example, because the demons can't look at the priest, the person's eyes roll up and become white or they close tight. ....

The ritual lasts half an hour. When it ends, the demon detaches itself and goes back to being a spirit. It's a repeat process – the ritual diminishes the ability of the power of the demon until it can be said to have been cast out completely. Exorcism is not always violent. There are famous cases, perhaps most notoriously that of Anneliese Michel, a German who died as a result of exorcism, but another thing that surprised me was that the ritual is often very mild. And those who react strongly often come with other people. I saw one woman who was very violent but came with her parents and husband, who could restrain her. Usually, though, it's enough for the exorcist to place his hand on top of the person's head and say the prayer. There's no shouting or screaming – just a sense of calm.

I fully believe that evil spirits exist. I have encountered them in two places.
When one is next to you .. you know it. It's like something is standing there
that you can't see but that is absolute and total hatred .. and it's all directed
at you. It's extremely frightening.

Anyways .. this fella claims to have personally been present at 20 exorcisms.
He also claims they last 1/2 an hour. I'm pretty sure they last longer than
half an hour. And I've been told by priests that many times it takes quite
a few visits to the exorcist to get the job done.

Anyways .. I thought you all would find this interesting. Enjoy reading.
Feel free to post comments about evil spooks and/or exorcisms if you like.

I was just directed to this thread - A guide to exorcisms .
Anyone reading this thread of "I have witnessed 20 exorcisms" may find that thread interesting co-reading.

I have seen demonic spirits as gray clouds, as balls of light, as night terrors and somewhat human form. I can tell you if you have never had to deal with them you don't want to. They are almost beyond weird, violent and screwed up. Think of the worse person that ever lived and that is what people want to hunt down and see. However there are other cases like Mothman that killed and gave information of the future and some other cases of the past. Then others that only made a noise or two or just moved a bed sheet. I can tell you **many cases go unreported due to people thinking that one may be crazy or that the person themselves feel that they just must be seeing things and mistaken do to medical reasons.**

Although (from evidence-experience) I do not doubt “demons” exist; or that some people may truly have been possessed; I have to say (that far from proving the paranormal) the TV series “The Real Exorcist” simply proved (to me) it’s possible to make a career out of convincing people they are possessed; and then promptly charging for the required exorcism.

It’s acturally a fact that many perfectly normal people “conform to suggested expectation” when facing a large crowd; and that this may be because (normally subconscious) areas of our brain can be encouraged to (unknowingly) override our consciousness.
It probably evolved to help us survive facing large (potentially hostile) tribal-village gatherings.

Therefore don’t believe every exorcism you see is real.
Most will probably be psychology and psychology alone; because its psychology that can reliably unearths glitches in the brain that can be manipulated in just about anybody (if you're the right expert-professional).

Nevertheless I believe stage style psychology “exorcisms” could do an invaluable service (with power as greater or greater than most psychiatric drugs) if individuals recovering from certain mental illnesses (schizophrenia-depression being a prime example) were informed of their potential value.
After all I tend to take the view it doesn’t matter how cure works providing the help helps and is fairly harmless (in at least, nearly every case).