Speaker 1: Hello, it's Richard McClain smith here, host of Unexplained. I'm
Speaker 1: very excited to announce it's going to be a triple
Speaker 1: whammy of crime Con appearances this year, as I can
Speaker 1: now confirm I will also be attending crime Con in
Speaker 1: the US as well as crime Con UK. Crime Con
Speaker 1: is the world's number one event for true crime and mystery.
Speaker 1: It's going to be such a fun and fascinating event
Speaker 1: and I really can't wait to see you all there.
Speaker 1: Crime Con twenty twenty six will be in Las Vegas
Speaker 1: May twenty ninth to the thirty first. Just go to
Speaker 1: Crimecon dot com and use promo code unexplained when purchasing
Speaker 1: your ticket for ten percent off. That's promo code unexplained.
Speaker 1: For those in the UK, I'll be at crime Con
Speaker 1: UK in Birmingham on April twenty fifth and London on
Speaker 1: the third and fourth of October. For that, head to
Speaker 1: Crimecon dot co dot UK and again use promo code
Speaker 1: unexplained for ten percent off your ticket. Please note this
Speaker 1: episode contains adult themes. Parental discretion is advised. You're listening
Speaker 1: to the second and final part of Unexplained, Season nine,
Speaker 1: Episode nine, The Uninvited These days, most people know of
Speaker 1: Lorraine and Ed Warrant because of the hugely successful horror
Speaker 1: franchise The Conjuring and its numerous spinofs. In those movies,
Speaker 1: the Warrens are portrayed as superheroes of Christ, a source
Speaker 1: of impeccable and photogenic morality, pitched in a battle against
Speaker 1: a demonic threat forever on the cusp of corrupting domestic America.
Speaker 1: Their claims were always larger than life. Ed Warrant was
Speaker 1: a self professed self taught demonologist, while Lorraine declared herself
Speaker 1: a medium and clairvoyant. Together they founded the New England
Speaker 1: Society for Psychic Research and claimed to have worked on
Speaker 1: over ten thousand cases. It's a hard number to swallow,
Speaker 1: and critics of the couple have pointed to fabrications and
Speaker 1: possible fraudulents in the Warrens investigations over the years. Yet
Speaker 1: the Warrens were present at many of the most high
Speaker 1: profile supposed hauntings of the nineteen seventies and eighties, some
Speaker 1: of which we've covered on this podcast. These include the
Speaker 1: torment of the Poran family in Rhode Island, the focus
Speaker 1: of Season four, episode fourteen, Negative Space, and the infamous
Speaker 1: Enfield poltergeist, as detailed in Season six, episode four, The
Speaker 1: Widening Gyre. They were also the first investigators on site
Speaker 1: at one hundred and twelve Ocean Drive during the renowned
Speaker 1: Amitaval Haunting a future episode. Perhaps in arguably, then, the
Speaker 1: Warrens are key figures in the mid twentieth century fascination
Speaker 1: with the paranormal and the diabolical. They almost single handedly
Speaker 1: reorientated the culture to pose the home, and by extension,
Speaker 1: the American family, as the front line of a war
Speaker 1: between good and evil. Regardless of what we might think
Speaker 1: about their motives or methods, few of their peers have
Speaker 1: any doubt that the Warrens at least had complete and
Speaker 1: genuine belief in their spiritual mission. So when they answered
Speaker 1: a call on a cold morning in January nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: six to hear a distraught Janet smile begging for their help,
Speaker 1: they felt compelled to answer. Thus began the next and
Speaker 1: most terrifying chapter in the Extraordinary Haunting of an Average
Speaker 1: American Family. In the months prior to the Warren's involvement,
Speaker 1: life at three twenty eight to three thirty Chay Street
Speaker 1: in West Pittston Pennsylvania had reached a very dark point
Speaker 1: for the Smells after Janet's nighttime assault, when she was
Speaker 1: supposedly pulled roughly from her bed by an invisible assailant.
Speaker 1: Every one was living under a cloud of unseen threat.
Speaker 1: Jack and Janet were scared for themselves, but even more
Speaker 1: so for their children. After six year old Shannon was
Speaker 1: seemingly thrown down the stairs by something in the night,
Speaker 1: there was no longer any doubt among the children that
Speaker 1: something was deeply wrong in their home. The Smell's oldest Dawn,
Speaker 1: along with her sisters Heather, Karen, and Shannon herself, had
Speaker 1: each begun reporting strange disturbances in their bedrooms, fluttering rushing
Speaker 1: sounds like the wings of an enormous bird beating in
Speaker 1: the dark. As the family would later tell author Robert Curran,
Speaker 1: who wrote the foremost book on the haunting, only prayer
Speaker 1: had kept them calm during this period. Meanwhile, just a
Speaker 1: wall away on the other side of the duplex, jack parents,
Speaker 1: Mary and John also claimed to be suffering from some
Speaker 1: kind of supernatural harassment. However, since they felt their experience
Speaker 1: had been fairly minimal in comparison, they were more anxious
Speaker 1: about how it was affecting their family next door. In
Speaker 1: June nineteen eighty four, Janet was still fragile after the
Speaker 1: strange event in her and Jack's bedroom, and now in
Speaker 1: her mind at least, there was no doubt that some
Speaker 1: kind of demonic entity was stalking their home. The one
Speaker 1: constant the family's quiet source of comfort had been their
Speaker 1: loyal German shepherd, Simon. Simon had always been gentle with
Speaker 1: the children, as steady presence in a house that no
Speaker 1: longer felt safe. One afternoon, Janet was alone with him
Speaker 1: in the kitchen. She sat at the table, taking a
Speaker 1: moment for herself, while Simon laid sprawled at her feet. Then,
Speaker 1: without warning, the dog was wrenched violently into the air.
Speaker 1: Janet later said it happened so suddenly she barely had
Speaker 1: time to react. Simon was supposedly lifted off the floor
Speaker 1: and held there suspend it as if caught in invisible hands.
Speaker 1: A second later, he was hurled across the room, crashing
Speaker 1: into the door frame with a sickening thud. Janet screamed
Speaker 1: as Simon fell limply to the floor. He stayed there,
Speaker 1: whimpering while Janet did her best to comfort him. The
Speaker 1: next day, the pair were alone again in the kitchen
Speaker 1: when out of nowhere, Simon began to yelp and cringe.
Speaker 1: His legs began to shake and buckle. Then from out
Speaker 1: of his mouth came a hideous wail of pain like
Speaker 1: nothing that Janet had ever heard from him before. She
Speaker 1: later said it was as though he were being invisibly
Speaker 1: flayed right in front of her. Janet crouched down and
Speaker 1: held him tenderly until the pain abated. Later that night,
Speaker 1: Janet and Jack resolved to finally seek help. As head
Speaker 1: of the local Catholic church, father Raymond Carsiak, had known
Speaker 1: the family for years. When Janet and Jack reached out
Speaker 1: to him for help, he was only too happy to assist.
Speaker 1: Over dinner at the Smells Home, Carsiak listened with concern
Speaker 1: as the family detailed the litany of unnerving events that
Speaker 1: had taken place over the last few years. Carsiak didn't
Speaker 1: want to jump to any conclusions, but felt at the
Speaker 1: very least that blessing the house might offer the family
Speaker 1: some comfort. They should begin upstairs, he suggested, since so
Speaker 1: much of the activity seemed to be focused on the bedrooms.
Speaker 1: Taking the small black Bible that he always traveled with
Speaker 1: out of his back, along with a small vial of
Speaker 1: holy water. Father Carsiak asked Janet to lead the way
Speaker 1: as they slowly made their way up the stairs and
Speaker 1: stepped on to the landing. Father Carssiak at the sudden
Speaker 1: sense that something in the air had shifted. As Janet
Speaker 1: showed him toward her and Jack's bedroom. She couldn't help
Speaker 1: but notice how the priest's brow had begun to sweat,
Speaker 1: how nervous he seemed. Taking a spot at the end
Speaker 1: of the couple's bed, he called out into the air,
Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus Christ. I asked that any
Speaker 1: evil spirit or influence leave this home. May this dwelling
Speaker 1: be filled with the peace and protection of God, the Father,
Speaker 1: the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then he shook the
Speaker 1: vial of holy water and sprinkled it liberally around the room.
Speaker 1: And so it went broom after room, until the whole
Speaker 1: house had been treated. With each blessing. Father Carsiak became
Speaker 1: more and more pale and nervous. By the time they
Speaker 1: returned to the kitchen. He was sweating profusely and barely
Speaker 1: able to keep upright. He slumped down at the table.
Speaker 1: Jack rushed around to help ease him into a chair
Speaker 1: as Janet made up a fresh batch of coffee and
Speaker 1: quickly brought him a cup. Mercifully, the father's strength steadily
Speaker 1: returned as he sipped his drink. It was a great
Speaker 1: relief to see him feeling better, but seeing what effect
Speaker 1: the house had on him did little to ease the
Speaker 1: family's increasingly troubled minds. Carsiak couldn't explain exactly what it
Speaker 1: was that had set him off, but he hoped his
Speaker 1: blessing would do the trick, and for a short time
Speaker 1: it did, until it didn't. In the first few days
Speaker 1: after Father Carsiak's visit, all appeared still in the Smiles Duplex. Then,
Speaker 1: according to Jack's mother Mary, it was a few nights later,
Speaker 1: alone in the house that she awoke suddenly in the night.
Speaker 1: At first, she didn't notice anything strange in the dim light,
Speaker 1: only the vague sense that the dynamics of the room
Speaker 1: had somehow changed. Then she realized what it was. She
Speaker 1: and her mattress were floating several feet in the air.
Speaker 1: In terror, she quickly shuffled off it and carefully lowered
Speaker 1: herself to the ground. Moments later, as she told it,
Speaker 1: the mattress crashed down onto the bed frame. Meanwhile, next door,
Speaker 1: Janet and Jack's home was once again pummeled with all
Speaker 1: manner of bizarre occurrences, from creepy, inexplicable knockings to closet
Speaker 1: doors being furiously whipped open and shut seemingly on their
Speaker 1: own accord. In desperation, the family called Father Carsiak again.
Speaker 1: He returned with his more senior colleague, Monsignor Francis Kane,
Speaker 1: in the hope of lending further support and guidance. This
Speaker 1: time he told the family flatly that he was also
Speaker 1: now certain that a malignant entity was menacing them and
Speaker 1: their home. He and Monsigneur Kine reiterated the original blessings,
Speaker 1: and once again things appeared to quiet and down. Over
Speaker 1: the years, the family sought refuge in the countryside at
Speaker 1: the weekends, using their campavan to get away from it all.
Speaker 1: It was during these times that the Smell's extraordinary claims
Speaker 1: gained the most credibility, because, as many neighbours are said
Speaker 1: to have attested, the apparent haunting didn't stop when the
Speaker 1: house was supposedly empty. Though no one saw anything untoward,
Speaker 1: it was said that horrific screams were frequently heard emanating
Speaker 1: from inside the property despite no one being inside. On
Speaker 1: one occasion, the screams were so intense residents called the police,
Speaker 1: concerned that someone was being murdered inside the Smell's home,
Speaker 1: but when police arrived to investigate, they found nobody there
Speaker 1: and no sign of a disturbance. Before long, the news
Speaker 1: spread throughout the neighborhood that something very disturbing was occurring
Speaker 1: at three twenty eight and three point thirty Jay Street.
Speaker 1: For the most part, the community rallied around the family.
Speaker 1: This is how you find out who your friends are,
Speaker 1: Jack explained, and though there were a few people who
Speaker 1: wanted us to move, the neighbors talked to us and
Speaker 1: tried to come to some sort of peace with it. Indeed,
Speaker 1: it was a neighbour who finally offered a lifeline. Carla
Speaker 1: Davis was a friend of Janet's who lived locally and
Speaker 1: was well aware of the family's situation. She and Janet
Speaker 1: had been friends for a long time, and more crucially,
Speaker 1: she believed Janet when she told her about everything that
Speaker 1: had been going on. It was Carla who informed Janet
Speaker 1: about an article she'd read regarding a pair of psychic
Speaker 1: researchers Lorraine and Ed Warren, who specialized in what the
Speaker 1: article described as demonic infestation. The article concerned an apparent
Speaker 1: haunting at West Point Military Academy that the Warrens had
Speaker 1: been investigating. Perhaps Carla thought since they'd worked with the
Speaker 1: US military, they might be credible enough for Janet to
Speaker 1: get in touch with them. At first, however, Janet was skeptical.
Speaker 1: She and Jack had always considered occultists to be at
Speaker 1: best misguided and at worst out and out Charlatan's. But
Speaker 1: they were also desperate, so she gave them a call.
Speaker 1: It was a dark, overcast day when the Warrens pulled
Speaker 1: up to the Smells duplex on Chay Street, accompanied by
Speaker 1: Rosemary Freutsch, a regular member of their team. Thunder rumbled
Speaker 1: overhead as Ed regarded the property with unease. He sensed
Speaker 1: a sinister energy even from inside the car. However, both
Speaker 1: the Rain and Rosemary, who Ed considered more attuned than him,
Speaker 1: felt little as they got out and made their way
Speaker 1: to the front door. After being welcomed warmly by Janet
Speaker 1: and Jack, the three of them were invited to take
Speaker 1: a seat in the kitchen as the Smells filled them
Speaker 1: in on everything. Then the Warrens asked them some quick questions.
Speaker 1: Had they engaged in any kind of ritual in the
Speaker 1: house or played with a wigi aboard perhaps? Janet and
Speaker 1: Jack looked to each other and shook their heads. The
Speaker 1: Warrens then asked if anyone in the property had been
Speaker 1: reading books on witchcraft and satanism. Janet was confused. Both
Speaker 1: she and Jack had read widely on the topic since
Speaker 1: the strange occurrences had been gone. But why would that matter,
Speaker 1: she asked. Ed explained solemnly that in the past they'd
Speaker 1: helped people who they believed had unwittingly drawn demonic attention
Speaker 1: to themselves precisely because they downed too deep into the literature.
Speaker 1: Janet was horrified had they made things even worse for
Speaker 1: themselves and their family. Jack reached for Janet's hand and
Speaker 1: gave it a squeeze. He promised that everything would be okay. Then,
Speaker 1: as ed continued the interview, Lorraine and Rosemary went upstairs
Speaker 1: to explore. When they returned, Janet could see the unmistakable
Speaker 1: look of concern on Lorraine's face. What is it? She asked?
Speaker 1: There are four spirits in your home, replied Lorraine without pause.
Speaker 1: Oh God, said Janet, leaning into Jack as Lorraine went
Speaker 1: on to explain. One of them was an old and
Speaker 1: senile woman. She wasn't violent, just confused, she assured them,
Speaker 1: There was also a younger woman. This spirit was potentially dangerous,
Speaker 1: she said, insane and violent, but according to Lorraine, probably
Speaker 1: placatable by prayer. The third spirit, she continued, was much
Speaker 1: harder to discern. All she could tell was that he
Speaker 1: was a man with a mustache and blonde hair who
Speaker 1: was enveloped in sorrow. The fourth was something else, According
Speaker 1: to Ed's account of this conversation in Robert Curran's book,
Speaker 1: the Smiles looked at them with weary understanding. You think
Speaker 1: it's a demon, don't you, yes, replied Lorraine, sternly, A dangerous,
Speaker 1: malicious one that was hell bent on causing the family harm.
Speaker 1: Jack Smell felt an angry frustration rising up inside him.
Speaker 1: Like most people who fell victim to random, nefarious incidents,
Speaker 1: he just needed to understand why why was this happening
Speaker 1: to them, an ordinary, faithful American family. Ed explained that,
Speaker 1: in his opinion, the demon had likely been present at
Speaker 1: Chay Street for a long time, lying dormant. Such things
Speaker 1: tended to latch onto turbulence or emotional energy, he believed,
Speaker 1: especially that of children going through puberty. As if all
Speaker 1: that wasn't disturbing enough, he also suggested that, in all likelihood,
Speaker 1: Janet and Jack's oldest daughters, Dawn and Heather, may well
Speaker 1: have been the catalyst. With the warrant's assessment over, they
Speaker 1: proceeded to perform a number of experiments and interventions in
Speaker 1: the Smell home. They sprinkled holy water and said prayers.
Speaker 1: They played liturgic music loudly into each corner of the home.
Speaker 1: They set up infrared cameras in Jack and Janet's bedroom
Speaker 1: and ran tape recorders to trace any visual or voice phenomena.
Speaker 1: But these interventions only seemed to provoke the entity further.
Speaker 1: Over the coming days and weeks, the Smiles were apparently
Speaker 1: beset by more supernatural events than ever before. Those random
Speaker 1: knocking sounds that had been occurring throughout the house now
Speaker 1: became deep, pounding thuds that seemed to shake the very
Speaker 1: foundations of the building. The family also claimed to be
Speaker 1: repeatedly woken from sleep by what they took to be
Speaker 1: invisible fingers pouring at their faces. On one occasion, Janet
Speaker 1: also claimed to have woken suddenly with the unmistakable sensation
Speaker 1: that she'd just been slapped across the face. Another time,
Speaker 1: Jack was woken in terror by the sound of his
Speaker 1: wife flashing about in bed beside her him unable to
Speaker 1: calm her down, he could only watch in horror as
Speaker 1: she appeared to wrestle with an invisible assailant. When it
Speaker 1: was finally over, he switched on the bedside lamp and gasped.
Speaker 1: Her skin was covered in inexplicable red marks. By mid
Speaker 1: February in nineteen eighty six, the Warrens agreed it was
Speaker 1: time to bring their wider team to bear on the case.
Speaker 1: Charles Cravitas, a nurse, was the most skeptical of the group.
Speaker 1: After arriving at the Smells home, he took the family
Speaker 1: aside and explained his position to them. Having assisted on
Speaker 1: numerous cases with the warrants more often than not, he
Speaker 1: found that most supposed hauntings were in fact just the
Speaker 1: result of overactive imaginations or psychological distress. Having heard everything
Speaker 1: about the Smell's case so far, he wasn't shy in
Speaker 1: letting them know that, despite what the Warrens had told them,
Speaker 1: he was almost certain that there was no paranormal phenomena
Speaker 1: occurring in the property. Charles spent twenty four hours at
Speaker 1: three twenty eight Chase Street, mostly rushing from room to room,
Speaker 1: trying desperately to capture the host of bizarre sounds that
Speaker 1: seemed to emanate from the property's walls. Draws rattled and rustled,
Speaker 1: and on several occasions the lights went out entirely, periods
Speaker 1: of darkness in which loud, strange, tearing noises could be
Speaker 1: heard from inside the walls. It was an experience, he
Speaker 1: later said, that went far beyond anything he'd previously encountered
Speaker 1: in all his years of working with the Warrants. Another
Speaker 1: member of the warrants team, Al Vogel, was tasked with
Speaker 1: videoing anything untoward that happened in the Smile's home. One time,
Speaker 1: while following Jack around the house with a video camera,
Speaker 1: Owl later claimed he suddenly felt an electric charge fill
Speaker 1: the room that made his teeth and sinuses tingle. A
Speaker 1: second later, it felt a rough grip on his shoulders
Speaker 1: that jerked him back and forth. Later, when the Warrens
Speaker 1: reviewed recordings taken from inside the property, it's claimed they
Speaker 1: saw footage of a mirror that seemed to bend and
Speaker 1: flex within its frame. In another segment, it was said
Speaker 1: the couple noticed something peculiar about a TV set in
Speaker 1: the background. On its screen, despite the power being off,
Speaker 1: an image of a human figure appeared. The Smiles were
Speaker 1: beginning to wonder if they'd ever be rid of the
Speaker 1: supposed demonic menace, and the worst was still yet to come.
Speaker 1: One morning, Charles Cravitas was in the kitchen when he
Speaker 1: heard Jack scream out from upstairs. Moments later, he came
Speaker 1: rushing down down the stairs, still soaking wet, having come
Speaker 1: straight from the shower. Cravitas quickly grabbed a camera and
Speaker 1: began taking photos of Jack's earlobe that seemed to have
Speaker 1: become suddenly inflamed. As Jack explained, he just stepped into
Speaker 1: the shower when he felt something prickle on his skin,
Speaker 1: as though he'd just been stung by a bee. As
Speaker 1: he looked about for any sign of the culprit, he
Speaker 1: felt something clamp down on his earlobe. As Cravitas took
Speaker 1: the pictures, he reeled back in amazement. A third mark
Speaker 1: had just appeared on Jack's skin that looked for all
Speaker 1: the world like the markings of teeth. For Lorraine, it
Speaker 1: was all in keeping with their initial assessment. The demon
Speaker 1: wanted to hurt them, and its presence in the material
Speaker 1: world was getting stronger. By this point. She claimed to
Speaker 1: have already seen it herself, the very same thing that
Speaker 1: both Janet and her mother in law Mary had also
Speaker 1: so apparently seen. Lorraine described it as a hunched figure that,
Speaker 1: although it rarely stood upright, was immensely powerful, both psychically
Speaker 1: and physically. In June, during a rare lull in the chaos,
Speaker 1: the Smiles took the opportunity to enjoy a quiet dinner together,
Speaker 1: followed by a movie. Later that night, they all retired
Speaker 1: to bed a little calmer than usual, except for Janet,
Speaker 1: who decided to sleep on the couch due to the
Speaker 1: hot weather. As he later told it to author Robert Curran,
Speaker 1: Jack knew something was wrong the moment he woke up.
Speaker 1: He didn't know what had roused him, but from the
Speaker 1: moment he opened his eyes he was instantly alert on
Speaker 1: the verge of panic. There was a figure standing by
Speaker 1: his bed. As Jack's eyes adjusted in the dark, he
Speaker 1: took the figure to be a woman, almost albino like,
Speaker 1: with pale white skin mixed with reptilian scales. Jack recoiled
Speaker 1: at the sight of her body, which seemed to be
Speaker 1: covered in rupture wounds. Running with puss, the figure that
Speaker 1: he described as looking about sixty to seventy years old,
Speaker 1: leered over him, opening its mouth to reveal a set
Speaker 1: of gums gone putrescent with sores. The woman creature, or
Speaker 1: whatever it was, jumped forward, pinning the naked Jack to
Speaker 1: the bed, then proceeded to mount him. Jack could only
Speaker 1: lie transfixed as the apparent succubus arched violently back and
Speaker 1: forth above him until appearing to climax. Jack later claimed
Speaker 1: he felt no pleasure during the whole encounter, only a bright,
Speaker 1: complete panic, and then it vanished as suddenly as it
Speaker 1: had appeared. After a quick shower to wash himself, Jack
Speaker 1: raced downstairs to tell Janet, but before he could explain
Speaker 1: what had happened, they were joined by their seventeen year
Speaker 1: old daughter, Dawn, who looked deeply troubled. She couldn't sleep,
Speaker 1: she said, after having a terrible dream, but she didn't
Speaker 1: want to talk about it. According to Janet and Jack,
Speaker 1: after some gentle cajoling from them, she finally divulged what
Speaker 1: it was. She had found herself standing in the doorway
Speaker 1: to her parents' bedroom, forced to watch as some kind
Speaker 1: of hideous monster with saws all over its skin had
Speaker 1: sex with her father. Devastated by the apparent assault, Janet
Speaker 1: knew they had to try something even more drastic. For
Speaker 1: a good year, The family had tried repeatedly to convince
Speaker 1: the local diocese to take their haunting seriously, without success.
Speaker 1: This time, the phone was picked up by a friendly
Speaker 1: voice who introduced himself as Father O'Leary. Having gone over
Speaker 1: everything again for what seemed like the millionth time, to
Speaker 1: Janet's great relief, Father O'Leary was keen to help. More
Speaker 1: than that. He criticized the church for its reticence to
Speaker 1: get involved in what was clearly a very serious matter.
Speaker 1: He even offered to go directly to the chancellor of
Speaker 1: the diocese to plead the case on the family's behalf.
Speaker 1: It shouldn't be a problem, he told Janet, call me tomorrow, dear.
Speaker 1: The next morning, Janet called for O'Leary again, but this
Speaker 1: time someone else answered the phone. This person was confused
Speaker 1: by her request to speak to a Father O'Leary, because
Speaker 1: no one by that name had ever worked in the
Speaker 1: diocese office in the second half of nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 1: Believing they too had to do more, the Warrens brought
Speaker 1: in a priest named Father Robert McKenna, who worked in
Speaker 1: the Diocese of Monroe, Connecticut, close to where the Warrens lived.
Speaker 1: McKenna was a fifty nine year old staunch traditionalist who
Speaker 1: held to the older rights of exorcism. He claimed to
Speaker 1: have officiated over fifty of them, but worryingly admitted that
Speaker 1: only twenty had been successful. On his first visit to
Speaker 1: the house, he was apparently greeted with a number of
Speaker 1: bizarre occurrencies, from the usual cupboard doors rattling and slamming shut,
Speaker 1: to a noxious odor that seemed to hang in every
Speaker 1: room while he was there, everyone present also heard the
Speaker 1: sound of a young child screaming coming from some unreachable
Speaker 1: place high up in the property. Though the visit did
Speaker 1: seem to dampen things somewhat, McKenna was disheartened that he
Speaker 1: hadn't been able to fully cleanse the house. To that end,
Speaker 1: he returned a few weeks later, where he felt he'd
Speaker 1: done enough to finally banish the apparent demonic entity. After
Speaker 1: a cautiously celebratory dinner with the family, he drove away,
Speaker 1: leaving the Smiles with hopeful optimism, but it took less
Speaker 1: than six hours for the farrau to begin again. That night,
Speaker 1: Jack and Janet's mattress were said to have shaken so
Speaker 1: violently they were thrown to the floor, all while that infernal,
Speaker 1: ceaseless banging reverberated through the walls. At some point in
Speaker 1: the next few months, Jack claimed that he woke one
Speaker 1: night to find a pair of female figures standing in
Speaker 1: their bedroom, one younger and one older, conforming to Lorraine
Speaker 1: Warren's description of the two female spirits. Another time, he
Speaker 1: was staring at his face in the bathroom mirror when
Speaker 1: he apparently morphed into the decomposing face of a much
Speaker 1: older man. Meanwhile, Janet continued to be tormented by shakes
Speaker 1: and slaps, waking her up in the middle of the night,
Speaker 1: and throughout it all, the pounding in the walls refused
Speaker 1: to let up. It was so incessant the family began
Speaker 1: to worry that it might drive them all mad. Then
Speaker 1: one day, Janet received a panicked call from the twenty
Speaker 1: three year old daughter of one of the Smells close
Speaker 1: its friends, on the street. Janet was horrified to hear
Speaker 1: how the young woman's radio kept switching itself on at
Speaker 1: top volume, and the locks in her house began to
Speaker 1: open and close on their own accord. Then, another neighbor,
Speaker 1: Maureen Cows, is said to have phoned the Smells home
Speaker 1: one afternoon, not knowing that they were on a vacation
Speaker 1: at the time. Her call was apparently answered by what
Speaker 1: sounded like a young girl, who responded to Maureen's questions
Speaker 1: with a strange laughter and told her that the Smells
Speaker 1: didn't live there anymore. All in all, Janet sam that
Speaker 1: six different neighbors complained of inexplicable incidents in their own homes,
Speaker 1: much to the family's alarm. The haunting, it seemed, was
Speaker 1: spreading like the Smells. The Warrens also tried their hardest
Speaker 1: to gain permission from the Scranton Diocese to conduct an
Speaker 1: official exorcism in the house, but the diocese refused the request,
Speaker 1: and so in October Father McKenna came back to try
Speaker 1: and finish the job he'd started back in June. That night,
Speaker 1: along with McKenna, the Smiles were joined in their home
Speaker 1: by the Warrants and a number of friends in the
Speaker 1: hope that together they might finally banish the demonic entity
Speaker 1: from the property. After candles were lit throughout both apartments
Speaker 1: of the duplex, everyone gathered in Janet and Jack's apartment
Speaker 1: to pray, while at the same time, Father McKenna proceeded
Speaker 1: solemnly from room to room with Bible and holy water
Speaker 1: in hand, blessing each space and demanding the entity begone.
Speaker 1: In previous attempts, he'd only concentrated on Janet and Jack's apartment.
Speaker 1: This time, he left no stone unturned and blessed each
Speaker 1: nook and cranny of both apartments. He even blessed the backyard.
Speaker 1: When he finally left, it was with a shared sense
Speaker 1: of exultation. Father McKenna, the Warrens, and most importantly, the
Speaker 1: Smiles had the intense feeling that something had changed. Jack
Speaker 1: later described how in that moment, the scent of roses
Speaker 1: flooded the home, seemingly banishing for good the foul odour
Speaker 1: that had become an ever present since the father's last visit.
Speaker 1: On October twenty eighth, the Smiles released a statement to
Speaker 1: the press, who had been following the story closely, eagerly
Speaker 1: waiting each update. Jack announced that for several weeks all
Speaker 1: has been quiet in our home, and it would appear
Speaker 1: that our problem has been resolved. Thanksgiving was more meaningful
Speaker 1: that year than any that the Smells had ever celebrated
Speaker 1: at Chay Street. They had a lot to be thankful for.
Speaker 1: For the first time in nearly fourteen years, they were
Speaker 1: able to enjoy their time together in their home without
Speaker 1: fear or suspicion. It was mid December nineteen eighty six
Speaker 1: when Jack awoke from a light doze in his armchair.
Speaker 1: He turned off the TV and looked happily over at
Speaker 1: the soft glow of the lights on the Christmas tree,
Speaker 1: and froze in horror. In the mirror opposite, As he
Speaker 1: later described it, he saw that familiar dark shape standing
Speaker 1: behind his chair, the same hunched posture, the same billowing cape.
Speaker 1: It appeared to be beckoning him, he said. By now
Speaker 1: a veritable expert on demonic activity, Jack knew all the
Speaker 1: theories about how the process moved in stages, first infestation,
Speaker 1: then oppression, then finally possession, and now it was here
Speaker 1: for him. Jack watched in stunned silence as the figure
Speaker 1: glided closer, still beckoning as fast as he could, he
Speaker 1: bolted from his chair and ran for the stairs. After
Speaker 1: reaching the top landing, he looked back in horror to
Speaker 1: see the figure staring up at him from the bottom step.
Speaker 1: Then it took one step up, and then another. Jack
Speaker 1: grabbed the rosary from his pocket, which he now always
Speaker 1: kept with him, then closed his eyes and repeated the
Speaker 1: prayer that he'd been tort by Father McKenna and the warrants.
Speaker 1: When he gathered the courage to open his eyes again,
Speaker 1: the figure was gone. He didn't tell Janet or the
Speaker 1: girls what had happened. He didn't want to puncture their
Speaker 1: new found hope. Instead, as he lay that night, sleepless
Speaker 1: and silent beside his wife, he decided enough was enough.
Speaker 1: Whatever it was that inhabited three twenty eight to three
Speaker 1: point thirty Chase Street, it had won, It had stamped
Speaker 1: its claim to ownership. If it wouldn't leave, they would
Speaker 1: have to. In January nineteen eighty seven, the small family
Speaker 1: put their house up for sale. They asked the press
Speaker 1: to leave them alone to regather the threads of their lives,
Speaker 1: but tales persisted for years. Some said that the haunting
Speaker 1: followed the family to the Pennsylvania suburbs. There a story
Speaker 1: that Janet saw spectral black masses in the basement of
Speaker 1: their new home, and that they were only truly freed
Speaker 1: once the church agreed to conduct a secretive final exorcism
Speaker 1: for them. But none of this is verified or traceable
Speaker 1: beyond the supernatural rumor mill endlessly turning on Reddit and
Speaker 1: ghost hunting websites. What is known is that three twenty
Speaker 1: eight to three thirty Jay Street was purchased by a
Speaker 1: rental landlord named Richard Bridle. He claimed that the property
Speaker 1: was almost impossible to rent out due to the history
Speaker 1: attached to it. Later that same year, a woman named
Speaker 1: Deborah Owens bravely moved in. She lived there for twenty years,
Speaker 1: and in two thousand and eight told the local West
Speaker 1: Pitston newspaper, The Times Leader, that she never encountered anything supernatural.
Speaker 1: Janet's Smile still lives in the West Pittston area with
Speaker 1: her youngest daughter, Carrien. Today, Karen offers her services as
Speaker 1: a paranormal consultant. Jack Smell, who sadly died in twenty
Speaker 1: seventeen at the age of seventy five, never once changed
Speaker 1: his account regarding everything that had apparently happened to him
Speaker 1: and his family during those strange, unsettling years on Chay Street.
Speaker 1: The true depth and grain of that shadow will remain
Speaker 1: forever Unexplained. This episode was written by Neil McRobert and
Speaker 1: produced by Richard McLain Smith. Thank you as ever for
Speaker 1: listening Unexplained. As an Avy Club production, the podcast created
Speaker 1: by Richard McLain Smith. All other elements of the podcast,
Speaker 1: including the music, are also produced by me Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained.
Speaker 1: The book and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide.
Speaker 1: You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and
Speaker 1: other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in
Speaker 1: touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've
Speaker 1: heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or
Speaker 1: a story of your own you'd like to share. You
Speaker 1: can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and
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Speaker 1: and Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast
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