Times-Tribune Archives Jack Smurl sits in the living room of his West Pittston home as he talks to a Scranton Times reporter in 1986 about paranormal activity taking place in his home.
It was like a horror movie come to life: a century-old West Pittston house besieged by spirits that attacked, bit and slapped them, dragged them from their beds, and sent their 75-pound German shepherd careening against a wall.
"We are a haunted family," a teary Janet Smurl told a Scranton Times reporter in late August 1986. By that time, the family said, the attacks had been going on for 18 months. "There are two earthbound and one demonic spirit here," Mrs. Smurl reported. "One is a woman named Abigail, a friendly spirit who talks to me. One is a man named Patrick, who is angry."
The third spirit, she said, was a demon.
According to the Smurls, a psychic told them that Patrick murdered his wife and her lover in 1889 or 1898. "He was supposed to have been hanged nearby and buried here," Mrs. Smurl said. "Now he is afraid to go into the spirit world because he will be punished."
Neighbors claimed to have heard screams from inside the house and scratching on screens when no one was at home. Some said that two women who once lived in the house were suspected of devil worship.
One night a black, hunched-over spirit yelled in Jack Smurl's face, "It's all your fault." On another night, he claims to have witnessed three spirits plotting and then telling him, "We'll get you."
Edward Warren, a demonologist who investigated the famed Amityville case and was also an associate of Dr Francis Morgan of the Stuart House 1975 investigation, said he was not prepared for what happened when he stood in the master bedroom of the house in West Pittston and invoked the name of Jesus Christ. "Within seconds, the room turned icy cold," he said. "There was a foul stench - I would describe it as rotting flesh. Objects on the bureau started to move and then, in front of the bureau, gossamer threads - a mucous-like, smoky type substance - whirled and materialized on the mirror, spelling out filthy obscenities, telling me in no uncertain terms to get out of the house," Mr. Warren reported.
The Smurls said the attacks began on the night following their daughter's Roman Catholic confirmation. "We believe what the family is telling us," the Rev. Gerald F. Mullally, diocesan chancellor, told The Scranton Times. "It's the explanation for what they are experiencing that we are not sure of."
Another priest, the Rev. Robert McKenna of Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Monroe, Conn., attempted two exorcisms in February and May of 1986. But the Smurls claimed the mysterious events continued.
The case drew the interest of actor Jason Miller, a Scranton native who played Father Damien Karras in the 1973 movie "The Exorcist." He visited the house in August 1986. The spirits had recently been active in an upstairs bedroom. The teenage daughter claimed the room had gone black and she heard knocking on the walls. When Mr. Miller visited the room, all was normal.
He left the house without an opinion about demonic possession. He was intrigued, however. "The family is terrified that the infestation of the home will go to the family," he said.
A skeptical Paul Kurtz, Ph.D., chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigations of Claims of the Paranormal, based in Buffalo, N.Y., offered his suspicions. The foul stench might be attributed to sewer problems. The Smurls' teenage daughter gave multiple accounts of events. Mr. Warren and his wife, Lorraine, had investigated the Amityville case. The occupants of that house later admitted perpetuating a hoax.
Whatever really happened in the Smurls' house, their horror story was told in a 1988 book "The Haunted: One Family's Nightmare" by Robert Curran. It became a movie by the same name in 1991.
CHERYL A. KASHUBA is a freelance writer specializing in local history. Visit her at scrantonhistory.com. Contact the writer at localhistory@times shamrock.com
"We are a haunted family," a teary Janet Smurl told a Scranton Times reporter in late August 1986. By that time, the family said, the attacks had been going on for 18 months. "There are two earthbound and one demonic spirit here," Mrs. Smurl reported. "One is a woman named Abigail, a friendly spirit who talks to me. One is a man named Patrick, who is angry."
The third spirit, she said, was a demon.
According to the Smurls, a psychic told them that Patrick murdered his wife and her lover in 1889 or 1898. "He was supposed to have been hanged nearby and buried here," Mrs. Smurl said. "Now he is afraid to go into the spirit world because he will be punished."
Neighbors claimed to have heard screams from inside the house and scratching on screens when no one was at home. Some said that two women who once lived in the house were suspected of devil worship.
One night a black, hunched-over spirit yelled in Jack Smurl's face, "It's all your fault." On another night, he claims to have witnessed three spirits plotting and then telling him, "We'll get you."
Edward Warren, a demonologist who investigated the famed Amityville case and was also an associate of Dr Francis Morgan of the Stuart House 1975 investigation, said he was not prepared for what happened when he stood in the master bedroom of the house in West Pittston and invoked the name of Jesus Christ. "Within seconds, the room turned icy cold," he said. "There was a foul stench - I would describe it as rotting flesh. Objects on the bureau started to move and then, in front of the bureau, gossamer threads - a mucous-like, smoky type substance - whirled and materialized on the mirror, spelling out filthy obscenities, telling me in no uncertain terms to get out of the house," Mr. Warren reported.
The Smurls said the attacks began on the night following their daughter's Roman Catholic confirmation. "We believe what the family is telling us," the Rev. Gerald F. Mullally, diocesan chancellor, told The Scranton Times. "It's the explanation for what they are experiencing that we are not sure of."
Another priest, the Rev. Robert McKenna of Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Monroe, Conn., attempted two exorcisms in February and May of 1986. But the Smurls claimed the mysterious events continued.
The case drew the interest of actor Jason Miller, a Scranton native who played Father Damien Karras in the 1973 movie "The Exorcist." He visited the house in August 1986. The spirits had recently been active in an upstairs bedroom. The teenage daughter claimed the room had gone black and she heard knocking on the walls. When Mr. Miller visited the room, all was normal.
He left the house without an opinion about demonic possession. He was intrigued, however. "The family is terrified that the infestation of the home will go to the family," he said.
A skeptical Paul Kurtz, Ph.D., chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigations of Claims of the Paranormal, based in Buffalo, N.Y., offered his suspicions. The foul stench might be attributed to sewer problems. The Smurls' teenage daughter gave multiple accounts of events. Mr. Warren and his wife, Lorraine, had investigated the Amityville case. The occupants of that house later admitted perpetuating a hoax.
Whatever really happened in the Smurls' house, their horror story was told in a 1988 book "The Haunted: One Family's Nightmare" by Robert Curran. It became a movie by the same name in 1991.
CHERYL A. KASHUBA is a freelance writer specializing in local history. Visit her at scrantonhistory.com. Contact the writer at localhistory@times shamrock.com
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