The Smurl Family haunting refers to claims made by Jack and Janet Smurl of West Pittston, Pennsylvania who alleged that a demon inhabited their home between 1974 and 1989. The Smurls claimed that beginning in 1974, their double-block home located at 328 Chase Street in the city of West Pittson, Pennsylvania was disturbed by a demon that caused loud noises and bad odors, threw their dog into a wall, shook their mattress, pushed one of their daughters down a flight of stairs, and physically and sexually assaulted Jack on several occasions.
The Smurl Family Haunting
The American claimed demonic possession known as The Smurl Haunting served as the inspiration for the movie The Haunted.
The alleged occurrences allegedly occurred at the West Pittston, Pennsylvania, home of Jack and Janet Smurl between 1974 and 1989. There is disagreement about whether the haunting was real or a well-planned deception.
The Smurl residence was divided. The double-block home on Chase Street had Jack and Janet living in one half and Jack’s parents, John and Mary, on the other.
The Smurls claim that the first indications of paranormal activity appeared in 1974. They said that a television caught fire, and that a stain overnight emerged on a carpet. Even after being regularly resoldered by a plumber, water pipes started to leak, and paintwork and bathroom fixtures started to develop scratches that resembled those from a huge cat.
The recorded instances were getting worse by 1977. Without human assistance, toilets flushed, footsteps were heard on the stairs, chest drawers opened and closed, radios operated even though they weren’t plugged in, rocking chairs rocked when they weren’t occupied, and the home was filled with an unpleasant odour.
In 1985, Jack and Janet’s home frequently got very chilly, and John and Mary reported hearing loud, vulgar language.
Two days later, the house was hit by an arctic chill, and Janet was apparently in the kitchen when a bizarre black human form materialised. It had no facial characteristics and was around five feet nine inches tall. Mary Smurl saw it later in her kitchen.
The level of aggression and the frequency of the incidents increased.
The Warren family invited prominent demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren to the house in 1986, and they claimed the place was possessed by a strong, wicked demon as well as three smaller ghosts. They prayed and played sacred music to try to get the demon to depart. Mirrors, wardrobes, and drawers started to shake in response to the claimed demon.
Jack claims that one night he was sexually assaulted by a succubus with the body of a young girl and the head of an elderly lady. Janet further alleged that pig sounds were heard coming from the wall cavities and that she was sexually raped by a dark humanoid figure (identified as an incubus). The depiction of Carla Moran’s attacks as they were shown in the film “The Entity” is similar to the attack on Janet and the eerie apparition.
Father Robert McKenna was called in by the Smurls. He performed two Latin exorcisms and more than fifty Catholic Masses, which are said to have enraged the demon even more. They said that the devil followed them on a trip to the Poconos and bothered Jack at work.
The Smurls then made their television debut on Richard Bey’s chat show The People are Talking in Philadelphia. In retaliation, the demon supposedly raped Jack once again and gave him the appearance of a half-man, half-pig. Unseen powers threw Janet about and choked her.
If the attacks were so brutal and upsetting, one obvious issue that sceptics often pose is why the couple did not leave their home. The Smurl’s reply was that the devil seemed to be able to track them wherever, as evidenced by the fact that they left the house for a week only to experience intense harassment in the campsite where they were staying.
The Smurl family relocated a few years later, and the ghost followed them, according to the TV movie The Haunted. They were haunted until an exorcism authorised by the church in 1989 put an end to their agony.
Richard Lloyd, a renter, was discovered dead in the early 2000s, perhaps from a drug overdose.
