According to the late Father Gabrielle Amorth, co-founder of the International Association of Exorcists, Hitler, Stalin, ISIS, Harry Potter and Yoga were all, in one way or another, touched by demonic influence, This does perhaps go some way towards explaining how he managed to rack up over 150,000 exorcisms throughout his long life. Of all of these cases, however, he admitted openly that only a small minority had been true, legitimate cases of demonic possession. Despite this, exorcism remains more popular today than in any other time in history, where it has existed as a long running ritual spanning centuries, continents and cultures. From personal demons to group possessions, humans battle with the Devil is a long, winding history of violence, perversion and projectile vomit.

SOURCES

St. Louis Globe Democrat (1949) Priest Frees Boy Reported To Be Possessed By Devil. St. Louis Globe Democrat, Sat, 20 Aug 1949, p.3. USA.

Laycock, Joseph P. (2020) The Penguin Book of Exorcisms. Penguin Random House, UK.

Foys, Martin, et al., eds. (2022) Old English Poetry in Facsimile 2.0 (Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019-): https://oepoetryfacsimile.org.

The University of Edinburgh School of History, Classics and Archaeology (2017) The Role of Psychological Distress and Social Contagion in Demonic Possession in Early Modern England. The University of Edinburgh, UK.

Baker, Ernest Edward, ed. (2009) A True And Most Dreadful Discourse Of A Woman Possessed With The Devil: At Dichet, In Sommersetshire. Kessinger Publishing, UK.

Rev. Father Sinistrari (2019) Demoniality: Incubi & Succubi. Quick Time Press, UK.

Goldsmid, Edmund (2018) The History of the Devils of Loudun. Read Books Ltd., UK

Evans, Hilary & Bartholomew, Robert (2009) Outbreak: The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary  Social behaviour. Anomalist Books, USA.

Reis, Elizabeth, ed. (1998) Spellbound: Women & Witchcraft in America. SR Books, USA.

Pitkin, Joseph (1740) The Diary of Joseph Pitkin. Connecticut State Library, USA.

Marianhill Mission Society (1927) Are There Devils Today? An Authentic Report on Two Cases of Exorcism Performed in Recent Years. Marianhill Mission Society, USA.

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