After all these year, I always believed that it was Zombies that truly terrified me.  But Zombie movies don’t make me pull the blanket over my head and whisper to myself that it will all be over soon.  To the contrary, Zombies give me an adrenaline rush.  No, I have come to discover that I am quite terrified of possessions.  This evening I was watching The River via Hulu, and during this episode of Row, Row, Row, Lincoln was brought back to life by the assistance of the river spirit and ultimately possessed.  No lie, every scene creeped the freak out of me, which is rather sad because I would not rate the show high on the Horror scale.  While watching this particular episode, I began to slowly relive the memories of watching The Exorcist at the young age of 7.  I couldn’t sleep for a year after watching that horror, and my father sneaking into the attic (which was conveniently located above my room) to scratch at the floor after the said night of horror did not help my imagination in the slightest.  Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing that creepy white-faced daemon thing that Damian Karras saw in his dreams.

What is it about the horrific possession that sinks fear into the cockles of my heart?  Yes, the images of Lincoln doing head-to-heels back bends on the table gave my spine the willies and the dreaded possessed Reagan head-spinning, green vomit spewing escapade make me sick to my stomach when I see split pea soup, but those images burned into my mind are not the things that make me so fearful of these types of movies.  What utterly terrifies me is the fact that these possessions could quite possibly be REAL! 

All through antiquity up until modern-day, there have been well documented cases of possessions and exorcism.  The most notable stories were the basis of many cult classic horror movies:  The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, A Haunting in Connecticut.  The weak minds and bodies become prey to some powerful spirit or daemon trying to make their way into our mortal world.  The church comes to the rescue to rid the possessed human of the interloper in a valiant attempt.  Most times the possessed make it out free…  right?

Of course, that whole scenario gets me thinking:  Can the human spirit truly become so weak that some random evil can easily take over and seize control?  And religion can truly abolish the ones who are trespassing?  Does one thinking about the whole process open your mind to the unknown, which could possibly lead down a dark and soulless path eventually leading to your mind, body, and soul being taking over?  As I am typing this post, there are some weird thumping noises coming from my kitchen… and it is making me scared that something is coming from me just for thinking about all of this.

Do the possessors go bump in the night?  Or do they just quietly sneak in and take over. 

To be honest, I have always wanted to write a genuinely creepy tale about possessions and exorcisms, but that is one can of worms that I am a bit terrified to open. 

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