The Exorcism of Donna
By Colleen Johnston © 1996 ( revised, edited 2004)
Prologue:
The name of Donna as well as others have been changed to pseudonym’s to protect the identity of each individual involved except mine. This is also excerpt from my book, ‘Surviving the Fall: A Journey Within the UFO Cult Mindset'. To this day do not fully understand why this situation actually occurred to Donna. My spiritual roots suggest there was indeed a demonic possession occurring. Yet, my intellectual self would rather believe that it didn’t occur at all. It seems though, the paranormal reality is just a valid and real as our own tangible, touchable third dimension. Colleen
In The winter of 1990 I along with five others had experienced the phenomena of apparent demonic possession. There where physical manifestations readily visible to everyone who took part in this anomalous event. In my opinion it was a very real, potentially dangerous as well as frightening experience; something I would not care to go through again. Even though my life has been on the edges of seeing evil with odd manifestations since childhood. I believe, being a spiritual person, that everyone involved was intended to recognize the magnificence of the Fathers realm and His complete power over such forces through Our Lord Jesus Christ. That seemed to be what everyone derived out of this nightmare. It also confirmed the magnitude of a power much greater than self, which I had to ultimately trust in order to leave the insanity of the cult I was in.
This event forever changed the mindset of everyone who was involved along with (in one sense) confirming the reality of God’s assistance when called upon. It was also an n extreme manifestation of the paranormal, equipped with all sorts of abnormal violent activity. The ordeal lasted over a weekend…. with the heaviest of the possession lasting approximately for five hours and completely exhausted everyone. The one thing the whole five-hour ordeal brought to me was a faith in God that became unshakable
Since this revised 2004 writing, Donna has become very mentally disturbed and I don't know what has happened to her. Her gradual slip from reality began about a year after the exorcism possibly triggered by work related accident, which almost completely destroyed the use of her arms. She was one of the most creative loving people anyone would ever want to meet before this happened to her. Now shadowed by a world of paranoia and mistrust, she has spent the better part of the last several years addicted to medications and street type drugs. In the early part of 1997 She became involved with someone who further helped her to dwindle down mentally as he fed her paranoia. As a result of this she now sometimes lives in a tent, feeling the government agents are after her. She is extremely unstable doesn’t make sense when someone talks to her. Her hallucinations have consisted of seeing men in army fatigues sitting up in trees near her house or seeing them crouched with riffles in a thicket of trees. The sadness is that there is no one who has the power to commit her, except one person, and he refuses to do so. The events that follow are true and was witnessed by other people as God the Father is witness:
The Possession of Donna
Donna made a pot of coffee as soon as I came in the door. She seemed a little irritated with me to start with, which was highly unusual because she was usually very calm. I felt the hair on my arms start to stand up as she pointed to me to sit down. We had done lots of crafts and hobbies together and this was supposed to a time for me to see what she had recently made.
I started out talking about how she had been and if she was still studying her Bible. She looked at me like I was a madman, to the point of backing her chair away from me. I had no Idea what was wrong with her, as my uneasiness grew stronger. She pushed her coffee mug aside and quickly stood upright as if she were ready to brawl with me. As God is my witness, she seemed to be preparing to crouch as if to attack me physically.
I looked at her yelled “Donna!” to snap her out of it.
She looked at me like she had just come out of a coma it was very apparent she didn’t even remember anything that had just transpired. I felt a frigid chill sweep over me. She was acting like an animal with small growling sounds escaping her throat!
I was torn between leaving her out of unsettling fear and calling Lynn who was a minister that I knew dealt with many demonic cases. I started to go to the door and she suddenly bolted in front of me.
Her eyes were pleading me to stay. “Please don’t go Colleen” she almost whispered. “I am afraid right now, weird things have been happening last night and all morning.” she finished.
I looked deep into her blue eyes looking for a truth “What's up?" I weakly smiled “What is the matter?”
She seemed to wince just at the mere thought of telling me. “Donna, what is it?” I asked as I shook my head to clear my vision.
The whites of her eyes seemed to be turning very crimson red in color. She let out another low growling sound that came from the back of her throat. By this time my heart was dancing in my chest. It dawned on me she might be under a negative demonic influence.
I needed to know if she was really under some type of possession, so I casually strolled back to the table hoping she or this thing inside of her didn’t see my knees shaking.
I simply stated, “Are you liking your new Bible study guide, are you finding out more on Jesus Christ life?” as a way to test her reaction.
She jumped up from her chair and cursed at me. I heard an audible hiss escape and thought she was under some type of drug induced influence. I didn't say another word about God or anything even closely related. I asked if I could use her phone to call Katie and to make arrangements for my mom to watch my daughter so I could remain the night with her. She obliged me reluctantly; because the Donna inside was afraid of what was happening to her, even though the creature was battling to stay within.
I called Lynn immediately to tell him of the situation. Lynn stated calmly that he could not come over until the next morning. He suggested I not leave her, but also not to be alone with her either. He also added it would be a good idea to have at least a couple of other people there. I called Katie...and she in turn called Tim and Jill to come to over as well.
He also told me to prepare for the absolute worst if an entity was there it was most likely demonic. My fear was like food to these creatures - he stated. If remained calm everything should be alight. I was so frightened of the mere idea she might be under this kind of dark possession. I never in my life had experienced a paranormal event so extreme even when a spirit took possession of my mom years ago. It took every ounce of calmness I could muster up just to be in the room alone with her. It seemed time was at a stand still until Katie, Tim and Jill arrived. Katie arrived first followed by the other two. Once they walked through the door I was instructed to have Tim call Lynn back to get further instructions. Keeping Donna pacified wasn’t an easy task, because each time Tim would get up to use the phone she would try to follow him. We were finally able to distract her long enough for him to do so. Lynn suggested we really be patient through this saga. If it were a legion of demons[1], it would try to weaken our faith in God and more so would try to find our greatest vulnerable spot. Lynn also told Tim to prepare al of us for a bad night, and explained the demons had more power at night so we should expect real physical phenomenon to rapidly develop after dark and peek sometime after 3 a.m.
Tim tried to get Lynn to come over and stay with us as well. Lynn refused and tried to reassure Tim we would be just fine. He returned from the phone conversation with a pale long face relaying the information to us in a slow deliberate whisper. I was afraid we had really gotten in over our heads at this point that it was too late to turn back. We were committed to stay with her and feared she would harm herself if we abandoned the situation.
But as nightfall advanced so did the ominous energies - a sulfuric smell began to thicken around us and Donna became more restless. She began to take on a morbid physical appearance of someone who was fever ravaged. Her face began to flush, as her eyes grew increasingly red and dulled. With the pretty blue retinas shrinking into murky dark pools of anger. Deeply colored dark patches of bluish-purple began to develop underneath the lower lashes like someone had beaten her with their fists. She was also taking on the persona of a caged animal, wanting to retreat with a dark corner to hide. We had been instructed by Lynn to above all keep ourselves calm and if she became violent to put her in a ring of blessed holy water and salt. He had given Tim instruction on how to make it.
Midnight came without any major events erupting. We were very grateful for that. Around 1 a.m., as if someone had stuck electrodes to her, Donna jumped up and let out a wrenching wolf like scream. If there are such creatures as the hounds of Hell than she mimicked their torment. The sulfuric smelling air within the room continued to thicken and the temperature became warmer as each hour progressed. She began to curse us, howl then, screaming at us to leave. We were instructed by Lynn to NOT feed the fear. As calmly as possible we just simply tried to ignore the ranting. Contrary to movie version of possession, people under attack have the ability toehold their own personas at times, which helped to make things less traumatic. Lynn also told Tim that when the demons took possession we would be able to tell when Donna was partially in control or when these forces were trying to consume her. This was very true; the redness would quickly start to dissolve, as her eyes would clear. Yet the darkness under her eyes remained steadfast. At these times we could allow her to use the bathroom with supervision. She was completely aware she was fighting this thing and would tell us so. She also was battle weary, exhausted from the experience. She would seem to be herself then suddenly begun to rage once more.
None of us could start to relax because if we dared to try, the creatures within her seemed to know it. The loud bellows erupted with out advanced warning, giving us the jitters along with putting us completely on the edge of terror. We had her encapsulated within a ring of holy water sitting in the middle of the living room area. When the being would start to come forth and take possession of Donna, it would start to scrape its foot across the ring to break free of its imprisonment. Another howl would explode shattering to stillness of the morning darkness, as it seems the invisible ring was burning the creature!
By 2:30 a.m. Donna appeared to be herself, so much that she begged us to let her go to bed. Tim prepared the holy water around the bed immediately as soon as she crawled into it. We left her bedroom door open; the bed was very visible from the vantage point of the living room. We still wanted to keep an eye on her in case something went awry. The phenomena abruptly quieted down so Katie and Jill both decided to try and rest as well. They both had worked that day and were quickly wearing down.
Tim and I were wide awake and felt we would take the first watch. I looked around and found a deck of playing cards that we decided to play rummy with. The quietness was absolutely unnerving; it reminded me of the stillness prior to a thunderstorm that contained a tornado. I even mentioned that to Tim, he just shrugged his shoulders and grinned. The silence was shattered when the clock above the refrigerator quietly struck 3:33 a.m. Suddenly, just above the clock on the wall, three very loud bangs exploded with a deep resonation. There was a slow seemingly deliberate pause between each boom. Tim and I looked at each other with wide eyes.
He jerked his head to the right, and half-stood and excitedly proclaimed, “ My God, did you hear tha…?” his voice was trembling, “MY God, listen to that! What the hell?”
My hearing isn’t that great and hushed him so I could listen. I heard several very distinct growls that appeared to be coming from all over the room, simultaneously like unseen dogs attacking us - charging at us. It was like World War III had just ascended from the bowls of hell with fervor. Donna bedroom door was open so we could keep an eye on her. As The Father Almighty is my witness, Donna began to levitate roughly a foot above her bed. A garbled noise came reverberating from her throat. She whimpered quite loudly, and then grew silent as the invisible forces floated her up and down. We were very surprised that Katie and Jill didn’t awaken. The Temperature began to rise rapidly as it had earlier in the day then fall and rise again. My chest began to tighten, and an odd feeling swirled around in the pit of my abdomen. I felt like I was going to become sick. I fought the feeling to wretch.
The pallor grew steadily on Tim's face. His normally bright blue eyes dimmed to a watery dull shade mirroring my own fear – we dared not voice it. We were petrified to even attempt to move the curtains in her dining room began to flutter outward; small pockets of air whirled around us as well. Thunder bellowed off in the distance every few minutes. It was too cold for Mid-south thunderstorms in the middle of winter it was only 35 degrees outside! The spook house carnival like atmosphere steadfastly held its rank. The activity seemed to up serge then improved as each new hour passed ebbing toward dawn. As abruptly as it started, at 5:35 a.m. the commotion swiftly stopped.
Jill woke up shortly there after, and walked over to fix a cup of freshly brewed coffee that I just made. Tim cautioned me to spare the details of our experience until afterwards. There was no need to create a more fearful environment. Katie had just awoken too; wearily the four of us planned our day. Lynn said he would be over between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Jill suggested both of us try to sleep, before he got there
I lay down to another wave of rumbling thunder in the dissolving background. I placed my head down, closed my eyes to pray for The Father to protect us all. I said my prayers and perhaps because I was extensively tired I kept feeling a presence of energy rushing the bed - oddly it felt blocked. I also felt as though I was a very small child laying in the lap of a very large Archangel, with each clap of thunder its soft wings wrapping tighter to protect me. I dozed into an ultra light sleep.
I suppose that when someone is faced with such a dilemma, it is only natural to be afraid. I look back on the experience now, with older eyes and wonder how much of the anomaly was created from our fear. The cult guru had clearly planted many of the images within my mind through discussions about demons and human possession. Part of me battles to this day as too how much of the experience was enhanced by her teachings and our overabundant fearfulness of the unknown. My resolve is that we experienced the real deal within the supernatural realm and was a necessary experience and training for the future. Something I will not soon forget for many years to come.
The Wake-up call:
It seemed that I just closed my eyes for a few moments, when Katie quietly came in to room to wake me. She announced Lynn was on his way and would be there within 20 minutes. The early morning storms had brought much cooler temperatures, dropping them into the low twenties. As soon as my feet hit the floor a cold rush of air swirled about, making me shiver even though I slept in my clothes. The window of the bedroom was frosted over. As I entered the hall, Donna was sitting in the chair firmly placed in her holy water laden ring.
“Hey BITCH!” the entity within her snarled as I entered the kitchen.
She was totally unrecognizable! Her hair was matted, greasy from apparent sweating. The hot reddened glow to her skin took on the appearance of someone who had severe sunburn. Donna’s blue eyes were hollow, and blackish; the darkened patches underneath the dullness had grown an angry black, like she had on mascara, which ran. Donna never wore makeup. Tiny red pin-like pricks covered her exposed parts of her face feet and arms. She was bloated, belly swollen puffy from the what was generating from within her. To this day I've have never seen anything like this. I numbly sat down to a poured cup of coffee and gulped it.
As soon as Lynn knocked on the door, Donna began to wail.
A masculine thunderous voice boomed from within her. “HE can’t come here, HE ain't welcome! F*** HIM!”
My chest tightened but felt relief that Lynn was there. Lynn walked right passed the thing and as he walked by it spat at him. He was carrying a briefcase that contained Holy water, Crucifix type crosses, a Bible and small Our Lady of Mt Carmel Brown Scapulars[2].
He quickly prepared what he referred to as his kit. He pulled us to the other side of the room, to convey what we would need to do in the event she became very violent. He also said for each of us to go into a separate room and pray to The Father and ask His forgiveness of any wrongdoing we may have done, either knowingly or unknowingly in our pasts. He stated the entity would try its best to tear us down, to weaken our faith or to blast us with old fears and old haunted memories. As I did this, my body quaked within fear. I thought I was going to collapse from all the pressure I was feeling. I wanted to bolt from the room, from the house, to my own place of sanction and safety. My perception was rapidly shifting, from never visualizing such an event happening to being placed directly in the middle of it.
The Removal:
He walked over to Donna and said something which immediately calmer her down. We moved her into a bedroom that had little furnishings as Lynn had instructed we remove anything she might be able to reach to throw at us or harm us in any way. We did as instructed; removing possible weapons that could be used against us. He placed her in the middle of the room; it was 10:35 am when he began to proceed with the ritual of exorcism.
It was akin to a macabre stage play; the minute he began to utter the 91st Psalm[3], the entity within Donna sprang to life with a vengeance. He continued with a prayer to St Michael, and then started to read aloud the exorcism prayer. A high-pitched yelp ushered forth, which was painful to hear as it pierced the ears in a painful way. He began to command the beast away in the name of Jesus Christ. But not using the term “I”, before hand, he said for none of us to use to use it as the legion would take that as ego and attack harder. It began to curse at him along side of the rest of us. The room took on the smell of rancid meat, Lynn called it putrefied flesh, which was what demons smelled like. Similar to a wet dead animal. What was more amazing was the smell came from Donna.
With each douse of Holy water, the thing would bellow in anguished pain. Small blisters erupted all over her legs and her arms in a frenzied tree like pattern. It soon began to work on our individual weakened minds, cursing at us, telling us we were going to be destroyed. None of us were buying into it. A full two hours had passed as the battle raged onward. We had been instructed by Lynn to repeat over and over “In the Name of Jesus Christ, leave her now, you have no dominion here “ As he read from the Bible and continued the exorcism. Donna had large painful blistering hives that were seemingly growing worse with each commanding prayer before our eyes.
“In The Name of Jesus Christ! Name thy self! ", Lynn would thunder.
The black hairs on his chocolate arms stood up on end. The thing continued to spit at him, reaching out to grab at him. Donna was a mere 110-pound, 5’1’’ woman. Yet she as the exorcism progressed had the ability and strength of someone twice her size. It took all of us to try to control what was within her. Lynn called it a demon; then a legion of demons. I wasn’t sure what we were dealing with at the time. He would place a cross and command the entities out of her and instructed us to do the same.
What was being experienced was in fact demonic in nature; nothing else could have produced such a result. I also trusted Lynn's judgment and respected his Christian ministry and devoted love for God. If Lynn said it was demonic, then it was demonic.
The ordeal was taking several hours. From what I understand about exorcism, we were fortunate to have had to endure so little it could have taken many days to get the job done. Donna never got completely out of control. As she was doused in the Holy water, the skin became redder and more so blistered; it literally looked like the water was burning the flesh.
The Exodus:
Around 2:45 p.m., the first demon wore down. Lynn hammered it into to revealing its name; but to this day I do not remember was it said as the name sounded foreign and ancient. It also told Lynn there were others with it and then it began to reveal other names of the lesser demons.
Demons of envy, anger, pride were some of their names also known as lesser demons of The Seven Deadly Sins[4]. As each one was commanded by name, Donna grew less reddened along with the lightness returning to her. Lynn was asking the assistance of the Archangel Michael to help pull the demons off of her and do what ever they need to with them. At last, near 4:00 p.m., the last one was removed. It made an astounding request, in a low jumbled and weakened voice; it asked to be returned back to God.
Lynn ignored the request and commanded it to leave Donna. As it did the room fell into a deathlike quiet. Donna began metamorphosing before our eyes. Within moments her eyes, the blisters, the red whelps all faded as if they had never appeared. To this day I have not witnessed such a Miracle of God. Another blessing was to notice that the small bowl of Holy Water dipped into by the five of us, was still completely full! I looked down at the bowl and began to sob. Katie asked Lynn why he didn't send the demon back to God, Lynn stated it was impossible and it was against spiritual law to do so.
Lynn didn’t really explain too much but questioned Donna as to what could have caused her to come under attack. It seemed that the weary Donna had gotten mad at something that was bothering her niece who was staying with her at the time. Then Lynn found out that Donna in her quest for protecting the niece had challenged the demon to take her on, instead thinking she could battle it. It came well prepared and prepared to stay. It is curious that all that participated within that exorcism are no longer part of the Cult or its teachings. Maybe that day The Father was looking out for all of us that day after all.
Footnotes:
[1] Legion of Demons - Is a number of demons – ranging from the weakest to the strongest like a paramilitary unit. They are structured to attack the possessed in part to wear them down. Biblically stated in (Mark 5:6-10) "My name is Legion,, for we are many." Some texts claim 15 to 36 while other claim legion can number in the thousands.
[2] Our Lady of Mt Carmel Brown Scapular -The small brown scapular is an outward sign of one's love and devotion to the Mother of Jesus Christ and an acknowledgment of her special role in His plan of salvation. It is a miniature model of the larger form worn by members of the Carmelite Order as part of their religious habit. Originally made as a sacrament for those who wish to receive the Virgin Mary's blessing.
[3] The 91st Psalm -He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Yahweh, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust. For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day; nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made Yahweh your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot. Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him. I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.”
[4] The Seven Deadly Sins - Pride (also known as Vanity), Envy, Gluttony, Lust Anger, (also known as Wrath) Greed (a.k.a as Covetousness) and lastly Sloth.