The Chilling Reason the Catholic Church Authorized an Exorcism on a Duplex
It was August 1986, and Jack and Janet Smurl were running on empty. They lived in a painfully average duplex in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. But inside, their home had mutated into a psychological warzone.
They weren’t dealing with noisy neighbors or a carbon monoxide leak. They were fighting something that could pick up their 75-pound German Shepherd and slam it into a wall. And the air? It constantly reeked of rotting meat.
The Smurls were up against something so violent, it forced the Catholic Church to break its own strict rules of silence.
The Slow Burn of Terror
This nightmare didn’t kick off with levitating beds. Back in 1974, it started as a slow, creeping dread.
At first, appliances would just spark and die. Annoying, right? But then, the entity started mimicking the voices of the Smurl children, calling out to trick the parents into walking into empty rooms.
Soon enough, the mind games turned physical. Janet was dragged out of bed by her ankles while she slept. Jack was paralyzed in his room, attacked by a massive shadow figure.
Whatever was living in that duplex was getting stronger. It was literally feeding on their exhaustion.
Calling the Paranormal Heavyweights
Desperate and out of options, the Smurls called in Ed and Lorraine Warren. After taking a look around, the famous demonologists dropped an absolute bombshell.
The duplex wasn’t just haunted. It was infested by four distinct entities. Three were minor spirits, but the fourth? A powerful demon using the others as pawns.
Normally, skeptics would laugh this off. But the Smurl case was built differently. Neighbors were calling the police, terrified after seeing dark, solid masses floating through the house’s windows.
Even reporters camping outside heard terrifying, rhythmic pounding echoing from inside the walls. With so many outside witnesses, calling the family “crazy” just didn’t hold up.
Did You Know? If you thought a demon-infested duplex was wild, history is packed with completely unexplainable events where reality just seems to break.
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Imagine a town where hundreds of people uncontrollably danced until their hearts literally stopped. The craziest part? Doctors at the time actually prescribed more dancing to cure this deadly 1518 dancing plague.
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You can explore more mind-bending true stories right here on Fact Fun, or jump straight into our darkest, most baffling mysteries.
When Religion Fails
The Catholic Church is notoriously tight-lipped about the paranormal. They demand hard, undeniable proof before doing anything, mostly to avoid mass hysteria.
But the freak show in West Pittston was so well-documented that the Diocese of Scranton took a massive, rare step. They authorized a formal, Church-sanctioned exorcism.
Father Robert McKenna stepped in to perform the ancient Latin rites. You’d think that would be the end of it, right? Wrong.
Instead of banishing the entity, the prayers just made it furious. The temperature inside the house instantly plummeted, and mirrors started shattering. McKenna performed three separate exorcisms, and the demon simply refused to pack its bags.
Conclusion
By 1987, the Smurl family realized they were fighting a war they couldn’t win. They packed whatever they could, abandoned the duplex, and never looked back.
The Church’s rare intervention proves that even the highest religious authorities believe some monsters aren’t just in our heads. Which leaves us with a deeply unsettling question.
If an ancient religious rite and the Vatican can’t protect you in your own bedroom, what exactly can?
References:
- The New York Times – Search for “Smurl family haunted house Pennsylvania”
- Skeptical Inquirer – Search for “The Smurl Poltergeist”
