Types Of Exorcism

Superstitions are a mysterious part of any culture, and those mysteries greatly influence mysterious writers. Edgar Allen Poe, one of the most famous mysterious authors, use the many mysterious encounters he faced as an asset for his short stories. A major influence was his time in Charleston, South Carolina, where he learned of the many superstitions and rituals of both the blacks and the whites of the area. His interests in horrific rituals like premature burials and zombication (which mainly involves voodoo, familiar to the Lowcountry Gullah culture) helped him to write horrific short stories, like “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Poe’s gory and eerie setting of the house itself and the off-putting characteristics of the Usher siblings expressed Poe’s knowledge of paranoia and interest of the “living dead,” which comes in the weird rituals of the Gullah culture.

sinister thoughts and wrong doing, but for others it is a place of happiness and

For men, spirit possession acts as a mechanism to oppress women, ensuring they remain in their rightful societal hierarchies. This creates the line dividing both exorcism and adorcism, one of which promotes spirit possession as a means of cathartic release for women. However, exorcism is much preferred by men because it puts a complete stop to the spirit possession, not allowing for it to continue. Allowing women to participate in spirit possession ceremonies would be allotting them some sense of control and eliminating this act allows for men to remain in control of society. Adorcism is not evident in all Muslim communities that have strong belief in spiritual possession.

Ghosts are not there just to haunt, they have a purpose (same goes for other supernatural creatures found in literature)

Many Elizabethan bedsides were haunted from “the terrors of the night”. Back then their ghosts were nothing like the pasty blobs we call ghosts now. Theirs were quite gruesome. Ghostly visitations were claimed to have been very unpleasant. Not only this, but they claimed it cast them into a state of spiritual confusion.

A child’s ghost haunts several rooms on the second floor of one of the buildings. It tugs on peoples’ clothing and its spectral laughter is heard. A woman’s ghost has tapped people on the shoulder and touched them. Books fall from shelves by themselves. Crystals hanging from a set of candlesticks move back and forth when there is no breeze to account for this.

They became barbaric and sometimes left patients in comatose states. One treatment was submerging patients in extremely cold or hot water in order to release their demons. Another one was restraining the patient in a straitjacket and locking them in a padded cell. Electroconvulsive Therapy was also used and involved passing a current through the brain and induce an epileptic fit and sometimes caused injuries to the patient (The History of the Asylum). Lobotomy was also used and involved cutting the brain tissue within the frontal lobes of the brain (The History of the Asylum).

Melancholy, hysteria, and epilepsy are the three most likely causes of weird and abnormal behavior of the possessed.

Many individuals ponder whether paranormal activity in fact does exist, or whether it is just a hallucination of the mind. Although, this may be a controversial topic, countless individuals can swear that they have witnessed a spirit with their own eyes, as others couldn’t disagree more. In the book, The Hauntings of Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown, the author uses personal encounters of witnesses to justify the presence of a spirit in a historical location. The tales the author includes pertains to people from all different classes and statuses such as, slaves, soldiers, lost-lovers, and even the prosperous individuals of Virginia. Meanwhile, the author also provides historical information, by stating the establishment of towns and informing the reader about the effects of wars, such as the Revolutionary and Civil War.

On a gloomy Tuesday night, a group of teenagers from George Mason University circled around an Ouija board to find out what their final grade from a psychology class, Mystery, Madness, and Murder would be. Soon after, the planchette moved, allowing them to communicate with evil spirits from another dimension. Unfortunately, this communication led them into learning not only their final grade, but also into being haunted by an evil spirit until the end of their lives. This, surprisingly, is a very common practice in the United States. Even the International Exorcists’ Association (AIE) states that the usage of Ouija boards increased the exorcism practices within the U.S. (cite). According to a recent poll on LiveScience, 65% of Americans believe

As early as 5000 B.C. there would be attempts to cure the mentally ill. It was believed that an evil spirit would possess the body of an individual by drilling

People have come a long way about trying to figure out the best treatment, but there’s still are a few similarities between treatment now and treatment in the Elizabethan Era. Both put severe cases in facilities for treatment, however in the 1600’s patients were neglected and possibly abused. Back then it was believed that most mentally ill people were possessed by demons and were often “treated” with exorcisms. (British Library) Currently, however, people still can be brought to psychiatric wards, however are treated much more fairly and usually only there if they are a threat to themselves or others.

Mystic rituals include things like exorcism and prayer. “Due to a misunderstanding of the biological underpinnings of mental illness, signs of mood disorders, schizophrenia, and other mental woes have been viewed as signs of demonic possession in some cultures” (everydayhealth.com/). Cultures thought that performing exorcisms would relieve individuals and their families and communities of the suffering these individuals caused because of their mental illness. “The Hebrews believed that all illness was inflicted upon humans by God as punishment for committing sin, and even demons that were thought to cause some illnesses were contributed to God’s wrath...along the same spiritual lines, ancient persians attributed illness to demons and believed that good health could be achieved through proper precautions to prevent and protect one from diseases” (studentpluse.com). Trephination is believed to have started some 7,000 years ago.

Lim’s treatment did not consist of exorcism but of other means. The first was ritualistic massage. He would use an idol of Siamese sex god called "Phragann" and rub it all over the women’s bodies. After that, he would proceed to fornicate with them. He claimed that this treatment was effective in curing emotional problems. The second method was electro-shock therapy. He would attach electric wires on the women’s temples and requested them to soak their feet into a basin of water. Then, he administered electric shocks to them. He claimed those shocks would drive any evil spirits that was causing problems and adversities to them (Rajendran, 1997).

Christianity is mostly closely associated with Jesus Christ, its founder and premier exorcists. Out of all of Jesus’ healing one-fourth of them dealt with Exorcism and there are at least 26 references to exorcisms preformed by Jesus in the New Testament. Through out the Gospel many accounts of Jesus performing exorcists are documented in the Gospel by his apostles (Bancroft.) The first accounts of Jesus performing types of exorcisms comes from Mathew 4: 24. Matthew writes that Jesus cured all the people who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytic. This also integrates the idea that exorcism is not just about free an individual from demonic possession, but also free them of mental and physical diseases as well. In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus casts out multiple demons named Legion out of man from Gerasenes, who would cry all night and bruise himself with stones, into a herd of pigs who than ran off a cliff to their own demise (Mark 5: 1-20). Satan does not act alone when he posses an individual, he is working with several evil spirits such as lust, hate, destruction, , anger, anxiety, desperation, suicide, revenge death and torment. Conversely Exorcism is not always seen as a negative experience. In Acts 16: 16, It is told of a women possessed by an oracular spirit, literally a python spirit of whom was the guardian of Delphic oracles. In