The Evidence for Demon Possession

Reports of demon possession have fascinated and unsettled Christians and critics for centuries. In the modern world, some dismiss cases of demonic possession as misdiagnosed psychiatric disorders, while others think these find a home in paranormal TV shows. Yet such accounts persist across cultures and throughout history. What is the plausibility of these reports? And how can we think through this subject while being biblically and rationally balanced?

To begin, we will consider some of the reports of demonic possession that seem to be well-evidenced. Then, we will consider common questions that are raised when discussing this subject. Finally, we will conclude with our own assessment of these reports.

The Case of Latoya Ammons

Latoya Ammons and her three young children (ages 7-12) claimed to have been demonically oppressed in Gary, Indiana between 2011 and 2012.

Who corroborated the story?

This case was witnessed and corroborated by several people.

Marisa Kwiatkowski is a well-credentialed reporter for USA Today’s national investigation team, as well as the woman who broke the story on the sexual abuse of the USA gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar. She is also the reporter who broke this story of demonic oppression in 2014. She stated that this case was well-evidenced, being detailed in “nearly 800 pages of official records… and recounted in more than a dozen interviews with police, DCS personnel, psychologists, family members and a Catholic priest.”[2]

What allegedly happened?

According to the reports, the family was overtly oppressed by demons. Specifically, “The 7-year-old once flew out of the bathroom as if he’d been thrown… Medical staff said the youngest boy was ‘lifted and thrown into the wall with nobody touching him… Some nights were so bad the family slept at a hotel.” The 12-year-old daughter was “levitating above the bed, unconscious” (at 2 a.m.), and “the kids’ eyes bulged, evil smiles crossed their faces, and their voices deepened every time it happened.”[3]

Valerie Washington (the Children Services Case manager) wrote this in her official report: “[The 9-year-old] child became aggressive and walked up the wall as if he was walking on the floor and did a flip over the grandmother. The episode was witnessed by the psych counselor and DCS worker FCM Washington.”[4] Washington and the psychologist were so terrified that they fled the room. Washington claimed that she thought an “evil influence” was affecting the family. Her official report can be found online.

Willie Lee Walker (the Registered Nurse on staff at Lakewood Methodist Hospital) witnessed the event firsthand. She stated, “[The 9-year-old child] walked up the wall, flipped over her and stood there. There’s no way he could’ve done that.” She added, “We didn’t know what was going on. That was crazy. I was like, ‘Everybody gotta go.’”[5]

Charles Austin (a 36-year veteran of the Police Department in Gary, Indiana) was initially skeptical. But after interviewing everyone involved, he said he became a “believer.” During an interview, his audio recorder picked up voices over the interview (“Hey…”). Furthermore, the photos that he took on his iPhone of the basement had images of a face in the picture and “strange silhouettes.” Even though Austin was a weathered cop in one of the most violent cities in the United States, he said that he wouldn’t stay in the “house past dark.”^[6]

Brian Miller (the Police chief at the Hammond Police Department) also became involved in the family’s case. He recorded conversations with the grandmother (Rosa Campbell) and the case worker (Valerie Washington). When he went back to listen to these recordings, he heard voices in the middle of the interview. He also claimed to see objects moving in the house.

What did Ammons do for help?

Sadly, most churches wouldn’t help Ammons when she reported these examples of demonic oppression. So, Ammons turned to the occult for help. She invited two clairvoyants. They told her to protect herself by:

This didn’t help. Finally, Michael Maginot (a Roman Catholic priest) performed an exorcism on Ammons. Captain Brian Miller, his partner, and the DCS family case manager witnessed this. Miller and his partner “remained silent for two years after the exorcisms, refusing to openly share their experience.”[7]

How do skeptics respond to this case?

Skeptic Joe Nickell[8] investigated this case thoroughly, and he made the following arguments. We assess his arguments one-by-one below:

(1) Ammons and Austin were religious believers. Nickell argued that Ammons was a religious believer with a “high superstition quotient.” Moreover, Austin was “already an admitted believer in the supernatural.” However, there are a number of problems with this argument. First, everyone has a worldview bias—not just religious believers. But a person’s worldview shouldn’t disqualify their objectivity. Nickell is an atheist, but that doesn’t disqualify him from investigating this case. Second, this doesn’t explain the multiple eyewitnesses involved beyond Ammons and Austin. Third, later Nickell argues that Ammons, Austin, and others were engaged in faking this for a movie deal. So, which is it? Were they self-deceived or were they deceivers? Nickell cannot have it both ways.

(2) The odd pictures and odd sounds in the audio recordings were underwhelming. Specifically, these were examples of “simulacra,” where an individual sees and hears people and voices that aren’t really there. We haven’t seen the pictures or listened to the audio, so this might be a fair critique. However, it should be pointed out that these data were convincing to the people involved. Officer Austin wouldn’t stay in the house after dark, and he was a veteran cop in the former murder capital in the country. Moreover, officer Austin saw images in the photos, while officer Miller heard voices in his recordings. Therefore, this means that both officers misinterpreted two sets of data. This isn’t impossible, but it shouldn’t be brushed away cavalierly.

(3) The children were simulating being possessed because they had behavior issues, and Ammons reinforced this because it took away responsibility for her as a mother. This argument is very weak. Think about it: Would a mother prefer to think her children were misbehaving, or that her children were possessed by Satan? Moreover, this belief resulted in Children’s Services taking Ammons’ children away for a time.[9] This shows that she must’ve been very committed to this belief.

(4) Ammons didn’t use the word “levitation” in one interview with Inside Edition. But what exactly is Nickell’s argument? Does he think that Ammons was caught in a lie by neglecting to use the word “levitate”? At best, this is an argument from silence. Moreover, in the interview, Ammons stated that the demon “raised her up off the bed.” This is synonymous for… levitation! Moreover, in their original interview with Marisa Kwiatkowski, the family claimed that the daughter levitated, and they have never retracted that statement.

(5) The 12-year-old made it look like levitation by bouncing on the bed and arching her back. Nickell writes, “The twelve-year-old simply propelled herself upward, no doubt taking advantage of the springiness of the mattress. (If she arched her body, supported at head and feet, she might have appeared to float briefly.)” Again, perhaps Nickell is right, and maybe everyone in the room was caught up in a religious-induced fervor. However, it’s hard to believe that a person could confuse levitation with bouncing on a spring mattress.

(6) The grandmother held the boy on the wall and ceiling. Nickell writes, “The laws of physics were not contravened. The boy was obviously supported, braced by the rigid arms of [his grandmother] who no doubt instinctively steadied him and helped him maintain his balance as he progressed, perhaps to the ceiling… this was a stunt of an agile boy, not in the least proof of the supernatural.” This argument is very hard to believe. For one, it requires a grandmother to lift a child by the hand up a wall and onto the ceiling. Second, this needed to fool the DCS case manager, the hospital nurse, and the psych counselor who were all present.

(7) Supernatural events like these have never “been documented by science.” Nickell presumes that demons would agree to follow a double-blind test in a laboratory. If demons are personal agents, then they lie outside the purview of the scientific method.

The Evidence from Dr. Richard Gallagher

Dr. Richard Gallagher (MD) is a graduate of Yale University School of Medicine. He is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at New York Medical College and a faculty member of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Columbia University. He has evaluated 27,000 people over his career, and he claims that he has personally witnessed 100 cases of possession. He cites several cases as especially notable:

A young woman, a self-described Satanist, who levitated for half an hour during her exorcism in front of eight witnesses—a “once in a century” case, in the words of her two experienced exorcists.

A housewife whose hearing was blocked whenever anyone mentioned anything related to religion and who uttered vile blasphemies during recurring trancelike, possessed states.

A professional woman who suffered from unexplained bruises, spoke several languages completely unknown to her, and during her states of possession periodically ran amok, potentially wreaking havoc on herself and her reputation.

A petite woman who in her possessed state threw a two-hundred-pound Lutheran deacon across the room.^[10]

Gallagher’s book and testimony seems credible for a number of reasons:

First, he is a first-rate academic—not a fanatic. In his book, he describes how he goes to great lengths to rule out natural and psychiatric causes. This is why many of his fellow academics have supported his work. For instance, his book was endorsed by a Harvard faculty psychiatrist and also a prominent professor of neurology. He adds, “Readers may be surprised to learn that many physician colleagues of mine—around the world—agree with my findings, though they may be reluctant to speak out so openly.”^[11]

Second, Gallagher claims that demon possession is very rare. That is, he doesn’t jump to this conclusion quickly. In his career of treating 27,000 patients, Gallagher claims that he has only seen 100 cases of genuine demon possession. However, he only believes that he witnessed these cases because religious leaders brought these individuals to him. If he hadn’t developed a solid reputation for assessing such people, Gallagher claims that he most likely never would’ve come across such cases.

Third, Gallagher is critical of fanatical forms of demon possession. He gives a lengthy critique of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA),^[12] as well as the credibility of bizarre exorcists like Fr. Malachi Martin^[13] and psychologist Scott Peck.^[14]

Why are there less cases of demonic oppression in the western world?

First, if overt demonic oppression increased in our culture, this might lead more people to Christ. In our culture, most people hold to a worldview called methodological naturalism. According to this view, when we study a subject in the hard or soft sciences, we can only posit natural causes, and supernatural causes are excluded a priori. If demons openly oppressed people in our culture, this would challenge our skepticism of the supernaturalism. As a result, it’s quite plausible that more people would be drawn to believe in God.

Second, since more people know about demon possession in the western world, more people would know where to turn if they encountered it. At the very least, we hope that an oppressed person would know to knock on the door of a church or call someone who was a follower of Jesus. People in animistic cultures, however, don’t have such knowledge or opportunities.

Third, despite that fact that demonic oppression is far less frequent in the western world, there are still some well-evidenced cases. The work of Dr. Richard Gallagher (MD) demonstrates that demonic oppression is more prevalent than we might think, as does the specific case of Latoya Ammons and her three children (2011).

Why aren’t demon possessions ever caught on video?

First, demons likely have no interest whatsoever in performing on camera. Indeed, we might as well ask why a stealthy criminal wasn’t caught on camera. Indeed, why would demons want to help skeptics believe in the supernatural?^[15]

Second, if you saw a demon on video, would you believe it? We believe in demons, yet we would still find ourselves very skeptical of such evidence. In a world of AI and CGI, how could we ever have confidence in evidence like this? Indeed, when people allege hard evidence, this is heavily scrutinized. In the case of Latoya Ammons, Police captain Charles Austin claimed to have a photo on his iPhone of a demon, and Police chief Brian Miller claimed to have an audio recording of a demon’s voice. Skeptics like Joe Nickell claim that these are mere “simulacra”[16] that aren’t reliable.

Third, some people report that video recordings were wiped clean. Are these claims true? We have no idea. In fact, such claims sound superstitious. However, if demons exist, they would have such a supernatural ability. So, we find it foolish to hold out for such an arbitrary form of evidence.

Is demon possession simply a misdiagnosed psychiatric disorder?

First, the DSM-5 doesn’t give a cause for the phenomenon of demon possession. The DSM-5 is silent on what causes the phenomenon of demon-possession. In its short excerpt on the subject,^[17] the DSM-5 specifically states that this phenomenon isn’t attributable to Dissociative Identity Disorder (or drug use or anything else). This means that psychologists are moving beyond the bounds of the DSM-5 if they are ruling out demonic oppression.

Second, the DSM-5 doesn’t explain complex disorders like Dissociative Identity Disorder. Even if the DSM-5 did state that allegedly demon possessed people were actually suffering from a condition such as Dissociative Identity Disorder, this still wouldn’t explain the phenomenon of demon possession in the slightest. After all, the DSM-5 states that this disorder is “characterized by two or more distinct personality states, which may be described in some cultures as an experience of possession.” It goes on to state, “The disruption in identity involves marked discontinuity in sense of self and sense of agency, accompanied by related alterations in affect, behavior, consciousness, memory, perception, cognition, and/or sensory-motor functioning. These signs and symptoms may be observed by others or reported by the individual.”^[18]

Yet, what causes these psychiatric symptoms? The manual doesn’t say. It records nothing about the cause of this disorder that some associate with an “experience of possession.”

Thus, while the DSM-5 describes the symptoms, it doesn’t even begin to explain them. One philosopher of cognitive science states, “There are no successful causal explanations of (exemplary) mental disorders that cite a single main cause or a final common pathway for their pathogeneses.”^[19]

Third, those with psychiatric disorders could also be suffering from demonic oppression. It isn’t a case of “either/or” but “both/and.” Think about it: if Satan sees that a person is in a weakened state, why wouldn’t he choose to attack? This is precisely what we observe when Jesus was fasting in the desert for 40 days (Mt. 4; Lk. 4). When we’re physically or mentally weakened, we cannot call a “timeout” with Satan. Instead, this might be the most opportune time for him to strike. As Guthrie writes, “I may have acquired a paper cut, but it does not mean that someone else could or would never be able to aggravate it by throwing salt water on it. Could not someone with a mental disorder simply be a ripe environment for this kind of assault?”^[20]

Fourth, demonic oppression is difficult to discern. Demons don’t perform for us on command, and oppressed people move in and out of such states. Furthermore, some aspects of demonic oppression dovetail with psychological diagnoses. This calls for an integrative approach between theology and psychology—not the common approach where academics are too specialized in their respective fields to work together.

Should exorcisms become an emphasis and a focus in our churches?

No. As Dr. Richard Gallagher stated, he has treated 27,000 people in his career, and yet, he has only run into 100 cases of demon possession. Furthermore, he claims that he never would’ve encountered these cases unless religious leaders began taking people to be psychiatrically evaluated by him.

More importantly, the Bible simply doesn’t emphasize exorcisms in ministry. We agree with McCallum when he writes, “Surely if deliverance from possession was integral on the level of preaching the Word, discipleship, evangelism, or prayer, we would have some instruction or reminders. How could Paul, Peter, and the rest fail to mention a central key to ministry success? Instead, their letters focus on dealing with Satan’s deception, temptation, and accusation. These more covert or hidden tactics are front and center because we will see Satan acting in these ways far more often than in overt acts of power, like possession.”^[21]

We need to be prepared for overt spiritual attack. However, these forms of oppression pale in comparison to the ways Satan typically operates (see “Satan’s Tactics”). For every one case of overt spiritual attack, we’ve seen hundreds of ways that Satan has covertly ruined people’s lives through accusation, bitterness, and discouragement—not to mention his ultimate masterpiece: the world-system itself (see “The World-System”).

Conclusions

Do reports of demon possession provide a rock-solid case for the existence of a demonic realm? Not necessarily. We should be cautious not to overstate the evidential weight of such accounts. Many of these reports include elements that seem superstitious, bizarre, or even inconsistent with biblical teaching. But if demons are indeed behind these manifestations, such confusion should not surprise us. As psychiatrist Richard Gallagher rightly observes:

Evil spirits habitually lie about their true nature. One of the major aims of demons is to confuse human beings, and throughout history they have repeatedly feigned being dead souls or angels, or, perhaps, the deities of pagan religions. Evil spirits take delight in stimulating superstitious and frightful beliefs in people about their real nature, which is why they try to obfuscate their diabolic identities. Such obfuscation is also an attempt to create havoc with our belief systems. Demons disguise their aims sometimes by faking what may otherwise be supposed to be what are known as “private revelations” (thought, that is, to be a genuine, if rare, experience in saintly souls, for example), with their “messages” often serving as fodder for the tabloids and sensational social media.^[22]

If deception is part of the demonic strategy, what better tactic than to lure us into obsession with the strange and sensational? What better way to undermine our credibility than to have us gullibly gulp down sensational stories of demon possession? Christians look no more sophisticated to the watching world than people who follow shows about “ghost hunters.”

It’s hard to approximate how strong this evidence is. In our estimation, these reports simply make the concept of demon possession plausible—even if they don’t offer a conclusive case. At the very least, the evidence from reports of demon possession gives plausibility to the biblical view that demons are alive and active in our world.

[1] Marisa Kwiatkowski, “The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons,” Indianapolis Star, January 25, 2014.

[2] Marisa Kwiatkowski, “The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons,” Indianapolis Star, January 25, 2014.

[3] Marisa Kwiatkowski, “The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons,” Indianapolis Star, January 25, 2014.

[4] “Intake Officer’s Report of Preliminary Inquiry and Investigation: Latoya Ammons,” State of Indiana Police Department, April 20, 2012.

[5] Marisa Kwiatkowski, “The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons,” Indianapolis Star, January 25, 2014.

[6] Marisa Kwiatkowski, “The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons,” Indianapolis Star, January 25, 2014.

[7] Billy Hallowell, Playing with Fire: A Modern Investigation in Demons, Exorcism, and Ghosts (Nashville, TN: Emanate Books, 2020), 21.

[8] Joe Nickell, “Investigative Files: The ‘200 Demons’ House: A Skeptical Demonologist’s Report.” Skeptical Inquirer (Volume 38, No. 3, May/June 2014).

[9] Two clinical psychologists stated that Latoya Ammons influenced her children into acting like they were demon possessed. Joel Schwartz (a clinical psychologist involved in the case) evaluated two of the children, and he argued that their mother talked the children into the delusion. Stacy Wright (another clinical psychologist involved in the case) said that one of the children was perfectly sane unless he was talking about demons. In fact, the children were taken from their mother by Children’s Services for some time as a result of this analysis. We address the idea that demon possession is simply a psychiatric disorder in this article. Beyond what is said there, this explanation for the children doesn’t explain why so many other witnesses also believed that the family was demonically oppressed. Moreover, it wouldn’t explain why so many witnesses claimed that a 9-year-old walked on the ceiling at Lakewood Methodist Hospital.

[10] Richard Gallagher, Demonic Foes (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2020), 8.

[11] Richard Gallagher, Demonic Foes (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2020), 2.

[12] Richard Gallagher, Demonic Foes (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2020), 208-227.

[13] Richard Gallagher, Demonic Foes (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2020), 39-40.

[14] Richard Gallagher, Demonic Foes (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2020), 79.

[15] Richard Gallagher, Demonic Foes (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2020), 4.

[16] Joe Nickell, “Investigative Files: The ‘200 Demons’ House: A Skeptical Demonologist’s Report.” Skeptical Inquirer (Volume 38, No. 3, May/June 2014).

^[17] The DSM-5 states, “Possession-form identities in dissociative identity disorder typically manifest behaviorally as if a ‘spirit,’ supernatural being, or outside person has taken control, with the individual speaking or acting in a distinctly different manner. For example, an individual’s behavior may give the appearance that her identity has been replaced by the ‘ghost’ of a girl who died by suicide in the same community years before, speaking and acting as though she were still alive. The identities that arise during possession-form dissociative identity disorder present recurrently, are unwanted and involuntary, and cause clinically significant distress or impairment (Criterion C). However, the majority of possession states that occur around the world are usually part of a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice and therefore do not meet criteria for dissociative identity disorder (Criterion D).” Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fifth Edition Text Revision (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Publishing, 2022), p.332.

^[18] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fifth Edition Text Revision (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Publishing, 2022), p.292.

^[19] George Graham, The Disordered Mind: An Introduction to Philosophy of Mind and Mental Illness (2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2013), 55. Cited in Shandon L. Guthrie, Gods of this World: A Philosophical Discussion and Defense of Christian Demonology (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018), 93-94.

^[20] Shandon L. Guthrie, Gods of this World: A Philosophical Discussion and Defense of Christian Demonology (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018), 116.

[21] Dennis McCallum, Satan and His Kingdom: What the Bible Says and How It Matters to You (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2009), 213.

[22] Richard Gallagher, Demonic Foes (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2020),