Speaker 1: The following episode includes descriptions of violence against women and
Speaker 1: children through real life cases of exorcisms. Listener discretion is
Speaker 1: strongly advised. In nineteen ninety nine, the Catholic Church made
Speaker 1: a major update. You see, they have rules about exorcisms
Speaker 1: and they hadn't been changed since sixteen fourteen. The point
Speaker 1: of it was to address an important issue, what is
Speaker 1: the difference between demonic possession and psychological or physical illness.
Speaker 1: If someone is displaying signs like what we see in
Speaker 1: the movies, like twisting, yelling out curse words, hurting others
Speaker 1: or themselves, would a preset automatically assume that they were
Speaker 1: being possessed by the devil maybe some other demonic entity
Speaker 1: by default, And if they displayed multiple personalities, was that
Speaker 1: considered grounds to perform an exorcism? That's what changed now.
Speaker 1: You must a lot causes, So they're going to work
Speaker 1: with teams of doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists to roll out everything.
Speaker 1: After all, you might have a case such as epilepsy
Speaker 1: or schizophrenia and not something supernatural. If nothing else worked,
Speaker 1: they would begin what they call deliverance prayers, and if
Speaker 1: those don't work, then a major exorcism was next, and
Speaker 1: that would be sort of a last resort. But not
Speaker 1: everyone follows these rules, things that go from simple things
Speaker 1: like what a priest must wear, tools to use, and such,
Speaker 1: to the actual process and things to say. But in
Speaker 1: two thousand and five, a Romanian priest and four nuns
Speaker 1: were standing before a judge, receiving sentencing fourteen years in
Speaker 1: jail for the priest and the nuns receiving between five
Speaker 1: to eight years each. The reason the death of Arena Carnucci,
Speaker 1: a twenty three year old none that had died during
Speaker 1: an exorcism. That's only one of the cases I will
Speaker 1: tell you about today where exorcisms, the practice of getting
Speaker 1: devils out of a person, have turned deadly. My name
Speaker 1: is Edwin and here's a horror story. Most of what
Speaker 1: we know about the case of Arena Carnicci was documented
Speaker 1: by the former editor of the Bucharest, Romanian Bureau of
Speaker 1: the BBC, one who followed the story closely and wrote
Speaker 1: a nonfiction novel about it, ended up being called Deadly Confession.
Speaker 1: This was written in two thousand and six and then
Speaker 1: a second edition published in twenty twelve. The story was
Speaker 1: so bizarre and tragic that it was later made into
Speaker 1: a film called Beyond the Hills is based on these
Speaker 1: two books, but despite the success of these stories, the
Speaker 1: actual case was nothing to be happy about, and it
Speaker 1: starts off in a state orphanage. Two friends, Irena and Kitsa,
Speaker 1: had spent their childhood there an orphanage subjected to abuse.
Speaker 1: Once they turned eighteen, Irena decided to go to Germany,
Speaker 1: but before she leaves, she goes to visit her friend
Speaker 1: that had also been her teenage sweetheart. The thing is
Speaker 1: Kitsa as now living a religious life and worships God.
Speaker 1: In this convent, Irena can't stand the fact that she's
Speaker 1: lost Kitsa, and eventually she suffers a violent fit. Turns
Speaker 1: out Kitsa had confessed their sexual experiences in the orphanage
Speaker 1: to Father Daniel, which is, of course, in the Catholic Church,
Speaker 1: a sin. Because of this fit, they desperately try to
Speaker 1: get her some help and are finally able to get
Speaker 1: her to the hospital. Irena was sedated and diagnosed with schizophrenia,
Speaker 1: moved from place to place, but neglected by the staff. Eventually,
Speaker 1: still in two thousand and five, even though Irena is
Speaker 1: not doing well, she is discharged from the hospital because
Speaker 1: they say that she's going to get better at the convent.
Speaker 1: They take her there and she's given a booklet kind
Speaker 1: of thing, a list of a bunch of sins, and
Speaker 1: she's supposed to check mark the sins that she's committed.
Speaker 1: You see the head of the convent here, Father Daniel,
Speaker 1: is a super traditionalist priest from the Romanian Catholic Church.
Speaker 1: He performs healing sessions for pilgrims and believes that evil
Speaker 1: is all around them. But a few days go by
Speaker 1: and Arena is having trouble because, if you remember, she's
Speaker 1: trying to get to Germany, but the place where she's
Speaker 1: trying to go to, once she gets there, working with
Speaker 1: a wealthy family, it turns out someone else had taken
Speaker 1: that job. Irena then has another fit and begins to
Speaker 1: kick everything and everyone around her. But at this time
Speaker 1: there are pilgrims at the ceremonies that Father Daniel is running,
Speaker 1: so in order for no one to notice, they take
Speaker 1: Erina up to her cell and tie her to the
Speaker 1: bed Erna obviously isn't happy about this and begins hurling
Speaker 1: insults and yelling. Eventually they tie her to another stretcher
Speaker 1: that they made on the spot, one in the shape
Speaker 1: of a cross to bring her into the church, and
Speaker 1: that's where the exorcism begins. For two days, the priest
Speaker 1: and the nuns are fasting and praying for the demons
Speaker 1: to go away, the ones they believe are possessing her.
Speaker 1: She's chained to this cross. A towel is stuffed in
Speaker 1: her mouth so she stops screaming. All while she's mumbling
Speaker 1: curses and kicking. Eventually, Irena calms down and Father Daniel
Speaker 1: thinks that the job is done, but then Irena faints.
Speaker 1: They call an ambulance who finds her unconscious and gives
Speaker 1: her shots of adrenaline, but once they get her to
Speaker 1: the hospital, they found out that she's actually dead. What
Speaker 1: happens after is a series of blames. Was it the
Speaker 1: member of the church that killed her, or was it
Speaker 1: the ambulance medic. Was she alive when she got to
Speaker 1: the actual ambulance, or did she die along the way. Eventually,
Speaker 1: the manager that was in the emergency units gives out
Speaker 1: a report, one that says that Arena was dead for
Speaker 1: a few hours, even though the nuns that called in
Speaker 1: the emergencies say that Arena was still speaking that's when
Speaker 1: they called the ambulance. Still, the court spoke and made
Speaker 1: the ruling. The victim, Irina Cornici, twenty three years old,
Speaker 1: was killed during the ritual at the convent in the
Speaker 1: northeast of Romania. An article by the BBC mentioned Daniel
Speaker 1: Petru Koragino, thirty one years old, Father Daniel, the priest
Speaker 1: at the Holy Trinity Convent in Tanuuk Village, as a
Speaker 1: main guilty person. Manslaughter was a charge, fourteen years in
Speaker 1: jail was a sentence. Father Daniel was banned from priesthood.
Speaker 1: The four nuns were excommunicated, one of which Nicoletta Arcolinu
Speaker 1: got eight years in prison for while the rest Adina
Speaker 1: Sipraga Elena Hotel Simona Burdana got five years each. Sadly,
Speaker 1: though Irena would still not rest, the appeal from the
Speaker 1: accused led to Arena's body being exhumed for a second autopsy.
Speaker 1: The results were that she had died from suffocation and dehydration,
Speaker 1: Consistent to what another novice nun had said, Irena had
Speaker 1: not been given water during the ritual. This case would
Speaker 1: later become known as a Tenaku exorcism, something you may
Speaker 1: have heard of before. Many things bothered me about this case.
Speaker 1: There was a history already from a psychiatric hospital that
Speaker 1: Arena Carniccci had symptoms of skin zophrenia. This was noted
Speaker 1: by doctor Georgia Sevostrovicci, who said that Arena thought that
Speaker 1: the devil was talking to her and was telling her
Speaker 1: that she was a sinful person. This would make sense
Speaker 1: considering she was given a list a checkmark with sins
Speaker 1: that she had committed, things like falling in love with
Speaker 1: another woman. When more details came out, they came up
Speaker 1: with the truth. Irena had been gagged with a towel,
Speaker 1: left in a room at the convent for three days
Speaker 1: without food or water, bound to a cross. This was
Speaker 1: something that the priest said was necessary because she was
Speaker 1: violent and refused to drink holy water. Of course, as humans,
Speaker 1: we hold our own biases with this like for me,
Speaker 1: for example, it was once observing a ritual in the
Speaker 1: hills of Peru, a food offering to the Bacha Mama
Speaker 1: Mother Earth, when due to the heat of the middle
Speaker 1: of the day, a woman we had been talking to
Speaker 1: began to faint. Instead of taking her to the shade,
Speaker 1: offering her water or getting medical help. The group leader
Speaker 1: lit up the cigar like thing they had and started
Speaker 1: blowing smoke on her face while chanting. Thankfully, she reacted
Speaker 1: and was sat down to rest, but I was still
Speaker 1: pretty shaken up. My point is that if we're going
Speaker 1: to believe in the power of rituals and exorcisms, something
Speaker 1: that requires us to trust experts with our lives, there
Speaker 1: needs to be more than just quote medical clearance, especially
Speaker 1: if it's monitored by themselves all Catholics, as established by
Speaker 1: the Catholic Church. Of course, the nuns and the priests
Speaker 1: believe that they were helping her, which if we look
Speaker 1: at it with an open mind, could be possible. But
Speaker 1: as a person living in a human body no food, water,
Speaker 1: no air, well, we know what happens and these types
Speaker 1: of cases are not uncommon. More recently, in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: Claudia Hernandez Santos was arrested with assault on a child
Speaker 1: in San Jose, California. The victim was her three year
Speaker 1: old daughter. She told the police that her daughter was
Speaker 1: possessed because she would be sleeping and then wake up
Speaker 1: out of nowhere, screaming and crying. She was taken to
Speaker 1: church where they performed in exorcism along with her father.
Speaker 1: I will spare the details here, but the little girl
Speaker 1: was held down and was left unable to breathe. The
Speaker 1: entire thing took about two hours. The child's grandfather and
Speaker 1: pastor of the small Pentecostal church, as well as a
Speaker 1: child's uncle, Renee Nande Santos, were arrested. There was another
Speaker 1: case that I could not immediately find the time or
Speaker 1: location about it, but in the Journal of Forensic and
Speaker 1: Legal Medicine by Science Direct, I found another case of
Speaker 1: a nine year old child taken by her mother to
Speaker 1: an exorcist. This was to expel a demon from her body.
Speaker 1: On the second day, after being given only water to drink,
Speaker 1: she lost consciousness and then she was taken from medical attention,
Speaker 1: but she was pronounced dead. It turns out they had
Speaker 1: been giving her medicinal syrups by force and some of
Speaker 1: it had gotten into her lungs, causing aspiration pneumonia. And
Speaker 1: then in twenty twenty three, a man died of an
Speaker 1: exorcism performed on him by his family, according to a
Speaker 1: Taiwanese article. And like this, there are many more accounts
Speaker 1: of deaths by exorcism, but there was one case you
Speaker 1: may have heard of. It was from a woman in
Speaker 1: Karawa that sparked an entire movement to protect women in
Speaker 1: the Latin American country. High in the mist covered mountains
Speaker 1: of northern Nicaragua, deep within the rural committee of El Cortessal,
Speaker 1: a chilling event unfolded in twenty seventeen, an event that
Speaker 1: would horrify a nation and draw international headlines. It began,
Speaker 1: as many stories in isolated villages do, with whispers. Vilma
Speaker 1: Trujillo was a twenty five year old woman, young, quiet,
Speaker 1: and deeply religious. She lived in a small wooden home
Speaker 1: with her family, including her husband and two children. Life
Speaker 1: in El Cortresal was simple and steeped in tradition. It
Speaker 1: was a place where neighbors were lied on each other,
Speaker 1: and faith was not just part of life, but it
Speaker 1: was life. But in late February of that year, something changed.
Speaker 1: Wilma began acting strangely. According to those who knew her,
Speaker 1: she wandered off into the forest alone and returned saying things,
Speaker 1: things that frightened her family. She spoke of visions of evil,
Speaker 1: of something trying to take control of her. People said
Speaker 1: that she was no longer herself. In many places, someone
Speaker 1: in Wilma's states might have been taken to a hospital,
Speaker 1: diagnosed and treated. But Cortesale is a place far removed
Speaker 1: from cities and doctors, and so her family turned to
Speaker 1: the only authority they trusted, the church pastor Juangregorio Rocha.
Speaker 1: Romero was a spiritual leader of a small and magelical congregation.
Speaker 1: It was not a man of formal theological training, but
Speaker 1: he was deeply respected. When Wilma's relatives brought her to him,
Speaker 1: he didn't hesitate. He said it was clear Wilma was
Speaker 1: possessed by the devil. What followed can only be described
Speaker 1: as a nightmare. Cloaked in the language of faith, the
Speaker 1: pastor ordered an exorcism. For several days, Villema was held
Speaker 1: inside the church, tied up, denied food, water, subjected to
Speaker 1: repeated prayers and spiritual cleansing. According to some accounts, she
Speaker 1: was physically abused during this time, her body showing signs
Speaker 1: of restraint and injuries, but it wasn't enough. On the
Speaker 1: fourth day, Pastor Rocha told his followers that the only
Speaker 1: way to rid Vilma of the demons was by fire.
Speaker 1: He claimed the spirit within her had resisted all prayer
Speaker 1: and that the only thing that would help would be flames.
Speaker 1: So they took Vilma, frightened, exhausted, and still alive, to
Speaker 1: a ravine near the church. There they built a fire
Speaker 1: and then, in front of several witnesses, they threw her
Speaker 1: into the flames. When asked later why he did it,
Speaker 1: Pastor Rocha insists that it was not him, but the
Speaker 1: voice of God that spoke through him. He said the
Speaker 1: fire would not harm her, that it would only burn
Speaker 1: the demon, But it burned her. Vilma was pulled from
Speaker 1: the fire, still breathing. Her body was covered and burns.
Speaker 1: Over eighty percent of her skin had been seared. She
Speaker 1: was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, and for
Speaker 1: days doctors tried to save her, but the damage was
Speaker 1: too severe. Vilma died on February twenty eighth, twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Her death sparked national outrage in Karawa. Protests erupted and
Speaker 1: human rights groups demanded justice. How, they asked, could something
Speaker 1: like this happen in the twenty first century? How could
Speaker 1: a woman be burned alive under the belief that she
Speaker 1: was possessed? Pastor Drocha and four of his followers were
Speaker 1: arrested and later convince for Villema's murder. The trial revealed
Speaker 1: horrifying details how the group believed so deeply in their
Speaker 1: spiritual mission that they ignored her screams, her pain, and
Speaker 1: her humanity. For many, Villema's death exposed the dark undercurrent
Speaker 1: in parts of Nicaragua, the dangerous intersection of religious fanaticism,
Speaker 1: poverty and isolation, and communities without access to proper health care,
Speaker 1: mental health support, or education. Superstition can become deadly. But
Speaker 1: at the heart of it all was a woman, a mother,
Speaker 1: a daughter, someone whose life had ended not because of evil,
Speaker 1: but because of those around her believed in it too much.
Speaker 1: Vilmatruhillo became a symbol, a cautionary tale of what can
Speaker 1: happen when blind faith replaces compassion. Though her voice was silenced,
Speaker 1: her story continues to echo across Nicaraiwa, a tragic reminder
Speaker 1: that belief, when twisted, can become a weapon. Joanna Lee
Speaker 1: born kilm Oak Lee was a South Korean woman in
Speaker 1: her late thirties, carrying with her a life marked by trauma.
Speaker 1: Daughter of divorced parents, she had battle depression, attempted suicide
Speaker 1: more than once, and lived with vitoligo, a condition that
Speaker 1: made her skin change color in patches, something that reportedly
Speaker 1: contributed to her emotional struggles. In nineteen ninety nine, she
Speaker 1: met a man named Luke Lee, a self declared pastor
Speaker 1: with a criminal past. He had served prison time in
Speaker 1: South Korea for fraud and dodging military service, and yet
Speaker 1: somehow he entered New Zealand on a student visa and
Speaker 1: began building a following. He founded a small religious group
Speaker 1: he called Lord of All in Auckland Part It's been
Speaker 1: a costal part cult like and deeply secretive. Joanna identified
Speaker 1: with Luke Lee's message, his charisma, his conviction, and his
Speaker 1: promises of healing seemed like answers she had long been
Speaker 1: searching for, and by October two thousand, she left her
Speaker 1: life in South Korea and traveled to New Zealand on
Speaker 1: a three month visitor permit. She moved in with a
Speaker 1: pastor and became immersed in his church and the community.
Speaker 1: By early December, pastor ly announced to his congregation that
Speaker 1: Joanna was possessed by demons, at least twenty of them,
Speaker 1: he claimed, and to free her she needed deliverance, and
Speaker 1: what followed would be called in exorcism by those inside
Speaker 1: of the church. Others would later call it torture. On
Speaker 1: the night of December eighth, the ritual began in the
Speaker 1: church hall. It continued the following day in Pastor Ly's
Speaker 1: rented home in Mount Roscoe. Witnesses described a six hour ordeal.
Speaker 1: Joanna screamed, cried, thrashed, and Pastor Lee sat on her chest.
Speaker 1: He balanced on her body, he struck. Her bones were
Speaker 1: broken and bruises spread. Finally, she was strangled and she
Speaker 1: stopped breathing, and yet no one called for help. Instead,
Speaker 1: Pastor Lee told this congregation that she would rise again,
Speaker 1: that she would resurrect, and so they waited. They recorded
Speaker 1: her lifeless body on video. They tried to clean her
Speaker 1: corpse with alcohol to suppress a stench of decay, but
Speaker 1: after nearly a week, someone on the outside grew suspicious
Speaker 1: and alerted the authorities. When police arrived on December fifteenth,
Speaker 1: they found Joanna Lee's body decomposing in the home. Pastor
Speaker 1: Luke Lee was arrested in charge with manslaughter. At trial,
Speaker 1: Lee represented himself, but he barely participated. When he did speak,
Speaker 1: it was to say something strange like Joanna will rise
Speaker 1: from the dead. His court room performance must have been
Speaker 1: bizarre to witness. In two thousand one, he was convicted
Speaker 1: and sentenced to six years in prison, but a story
Speaker 1: wouldn't end there. By two thousand five, while appealing the conviction,
Speaker 1: he was deported back to South Korea, and then in
Speaker 1: two thousand and six the New Zealand Court of Appeal
Speaker 1: overturned the ruling. They argued that Joanna may have consented
Speaker 1: to the exorcism, and that this possibility hadn't been adequately
Speaker 1: addressed in court. Every trial was ordered, but by then
Speaker 1: Pastorly and most of the witnesses were gone. Authorities issued
Speaker 1: a warrant for his arrest should he ever return to
Speaker 1: New Zealand, but he never did. To day, the house
Speaker 1: on Mount Roswell stands quiet. Most people have forgotten the
Speaker 1: name Joanna Lee, but her story lives on in whispers.
Speaker 1: A desperate woman, a dangerous pasture, and a fatal ritual
Speaker 1: in the name of salvation. Del Gooda, a town nestled
Speaker 1: about forty kilometers from Colombo in Sri Lanka, is a
Speaker 1: place where ancient beliefs intertwined with daily life. Among its
Speaker 1: residents was a woman who was known for her ability
Speaker 1: to expel demons, a self styled exorcist whose methods were
Speaker 1: as feared as they were sought after her local mother
Speaker 1: grew convinced that her nine year old daughter was possessed
Speaker 1: by a demon, and in her desperation, she turned to
Speaker 1: this exorcist, hoping to free her child from the unseen
Speaker 1: forces she believed were at play. The ritual was brutal.
Speaker 1: Oil was poured onto the young girl's forehead, a traditional
Speaker 1: preparation for the ceremony, and then the exorcists began to
Speaker 1: beat her with a cane, striking repeatedly in an attempt
Speaker 1: to drive out the supposed demon. The child's cries echoed
Speaker 1: through the neighborhood, prompting concerned neighbors to intervene, but despite
Speaker 1: their efforts, they couldn't stop the ritual's deadly progression. The
Speaker 1: girl lost consciousness and was rushed at the hospital, where
Speaker 1: she was later pronounced dead. The authority swiftly arrested both
Speaker 1: the mother and the exorcist, and they appeared in court
Speaker 1: facing charges that underscored the tragic consequences of deeply held superstitions.
Speaker 1: Police issued warnings about the dangers of such rituals, noting
Speaker 1: that this is the first time an exorcism had resulted
Speaker 1: in injury or death in the area. This incident forced
Speaker 1: Algoda to confront the perils of unchecked beliefs and the
Speaker 1: practices they engender. It served as a grim room reminder
Speaker 1: of the need of awareness and education to prevent such
Speaker 1: tragedies in the future, and again cases like these continue.
Speaker 1: In October of two thousand and seven, in Wellington, New Zealand,
Speaker 1: twenty two year old Janet Moses tragically drowned during a
Speaker 1: family conducted exorcism. It was a ritual intended to lift
Speaker 1: a Morrowi curse or a makutu. It was believed that
Speaker 1: it was afflicted due to a relative's theft of a
Speaker 1: sacred artifact Taunga. Approximately forty family members gathered, using large
Speaker 1: quantities of water in an attempt to cleanse her. The
Speaker 1: ceremony turned fatal as Janets was held under water, leading
Speaker 1: to her death. Authorities treated the incident as a homicide,
Speaker 1: highlighting the dangers of such intense spiritual practices. My intention
Speaker 1: for this story I was telling you about now initially
Speaker 1: was to just share with you how cult like following
Speaker 1: can turn deadly, but very quickly, I was thrown into
Speaker 1: religious and cultural ideas that are near impossible to argue with.
Speaker 1: They're just too massive, they have a large following. Who
Speaker 1: is to say that there isn't power of belief to
Speaker 1: cast out devils? Though? But then again, what if there
Speaker 1: are just mental and psychological issues that must be dealt
Speaker 1: with using the tools we have available. It's up to
Speaker 1: us to make our own decisions as to what we
Speaker 1: choose to believe. But the more I read up on this,
Speaker 1: the more I realize what a slippery slope our mind
Speaker 1: can be when we start believing something that gets reinforced
Speaker 1: by others. Losing control of our minds is a real horror.
Speaker 1: How can we firmly believe that we are doing something
Speaker 1: good when quite literally, we might be making a fatal mistake.
Speaker 1: This episode of Horror Story was written and produced by
Speaker 1: me Edwin Kowarubyas. I've been receiving cases and places to
Speaker 1: research through email and DM so we have a lot
Speaker 1: of work to do over here, which I'm thankful for.
Speaker 1: I'm also looking for new cases I can talk about
Speaker 1: in my new podcast called Paranormal Club. You can find
Speaker 1: Paranormal Club by searching for it right now on your app.
Speaker 1: Links to everything, including how to get in touch and
Speaker 1: how to support the show, are in the description of
Speaker 1: this episode. If you are following this podcast, I will
Speaker 1: tell you another story next week. Thank you very much
Speaker 1: for listening, but scary everyone so soon.