Retreat announced for Moodus, Ct.

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Maybe it's just the mega-tsunami of information that washes by the giga over the internet -- the fact that so much that was never reported before by the "media," that had to run through the filter (and gauntlet) of secular, non-believing mainstream news organizations, is now available -- but there seems to be an awful lot, of late, spooky happenings, on exorcisms, and mass "possessions."

The later have been reported for some time -- outbreaks whereby a number and even dozens of schoolchildren and in some cases adults are suddenly taken over by what appear to be evil spirits.

Often, the reports come from places such as Central Africa, where superstition reigns supreme but also where there is the real problem of sorcery, witchcraft, ancestral worship, and animism (communing a bit too intimately with animals and plants).

You'll find the same in India, which is likewise plagued with occult underpinnings to the belief systems.

There, whole villages have been sent into panics over odd reported creatures (including one known as the "monkey man").

How many are indeed imagined and how many are a bit too quickly, conveniently branded as "psychological" (see Tourette's syndrome") is your guess.

Let's allow Wikipedia (which has greatly improved) a word on it: "In May 2001, reports began to circulate in the Indian capital New Delhi of a strange monkey-like creature that was appearing at night and attacking people. Eyewitness accounts were often inconsistent, but tended to describe the creature as about four feet tall, covered in thick black hair, with a metal helmet, metal claws, glowing red eyes and three buttons on its chest; others, however, described the monkey-man as having a more vulpine snout, and being up to eight feet tall, and muscular. 

Theories on the nature of the monkey man ranged from an Avatar of the Hindu god Hanuman, to an Indian version of Bigfoot. Many people reported being scratched, and two (by some reports, three) people even died when they leapt from the tops of buildings or fell down stairwells in a panic caused by what they thought was the attacker. At one point, exasperated police even issued artist's impression drawings in an attempt to catch the creature."

We can smirk with self-satisfaction in our own "maturity" at things like this (it's easier to smirk than to investigate), but spirits play games, and while it seems ridiculous when framed in a strictly empirical, "rationalistic" context, it might be otherwise for those caught in the encompassment of a deception.

Here's Christian Today two weeks ago -- this time, South America (photo at top):

"Now's the best time to pray for Peru, where the devil seems to be inflicting pain on innocent schoolchildren. More than eighty students aged between 11 and 14 from the Elsa Perea Flores School in Tarapoto town in northern Peru are believed to have been possessed by evil spirits. The students have reportedly been experiencing intense seizures, widespread convulsions and abrupt fainting. They were also seen screaming and appearing delirious. What's more terrifying is the fact that the schoolchildren experienced bizarre hallucinations, where they saw a man dressed in black trying to murder them."

To be laughed at? (Those who scoff, one must observe, are often the first to run.)

Here's a headline from London yesterday (caution: tabloid): 'Spirits' recorded speaking to real-life ghostbusters during chilling exorcism of 'haunted' house

And in the U.S : 'Exorcist' Director Says Witnessing Actual Exorcism Was Life-Changing." As stated: lots of exorcism in the news.

Meantime, there has been a constant and unsettling stream of reports pertaining to various folks from around the world who have been injured or even killed during non-Christian "exorcisms" (which often administer physical violence against the possessed, or presumably possessed; at times the skeptics are right and it's not really possession).

The Catholic news outlets are finding out that folks are interested in such matters. Reported the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper (the Angelus) last week: "There's a demon that specializes in attacking the family, said exorcist Cesar Truqui, a priest who participated in a course on exorcism held in Rome last year. Fr. Truqui warned that everything that is harming the family, including divorce, pleases the devil. Speaking to the Italian weekly Tempi in 2015, the priest said that there is a demon who specializes in the attack on the family, also cited in the story of Tobias, called 'Asmodeus.'"

Read or re-read the Book of Tobit; it's fascinating; don't think demons can harm and kill?

And how many report "night terrors" or "paralysis"?

This is often caused by a spirit and should be taken seriously, for when it is dealt with that way, it often dissipates and quickly.

How many of us have problems in our families that we attribute to emotions, personalities, psychological aberration, odd circumstances, genes, or behavioristic inheritance but in truth are caused by spirit or spirits -- even, Asmodeus, who can be very powerful (causing effects beyond a household) and is even mentioned in a message at LaSalette (where Mary appeared in 1846)?

Here's something called The Inquisitor:

"Idaho is a state in the midst of a population expansion, and in addition to all of the new people, businesses, and construction, Idaho is oddly seeing exorcism rates soar as its population continues to grow. According to Jeff Mason, founder of Apparitions Paranormal Investigations and self-proclaimed 'exorcism expert; people are increasingly calling his company with reports of paranormal activity in their homes and/or businesses in Idaho."

It's just all over the place.

Should it surprise?

So many eldritch circumstances.