The Alleged Smurl Family Haunting, Part 1 | Morbid | Podcast
On August 19, 1986, a curious news item appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader regarding the home of West Pittston, PA family Jack and Janet Smurl. The couple claimed, for more than eighteen months their home had been a battleground of spiritual warfare that included everything from ghosts wandering the halls and tormenting the family dog to demons attacking the children and even sexually assaulting the adults in the house.
The article in the Times Leader began a weeks-long fascination with the family and their ordeal, drawing reporters from all over Pennsylvania and the surrounding states, and eventually attracting the attention of self-proclaimed demonologist and psychic medium Ed and Lorraine Warren. At first, the Smurls' claims of demonic infestation were taken seriously by the church, many members of the press, and countless of the Smurls neighbours. As time wore on, however, the inability of both the Smurls and the Warren’s to produce any evidence of their supposed haunting led many to believe the claims were just a hoax perpetrated by the family for attention and fame. Thank you to David White for research assistance
References
Citizen's Voice. 2017. John James Smurl obituary. June 23. Accessed July 5, 2023. www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/....
-. 1986. "Ghosdt briefing turns into shouting match." The Citizen's Voice, August 26: 5.
-. 1986. "Haunted family negotiating movie deal." The Citizen's Voice, September 6: 2.
Collins, Jim. 1986. "West Pittston Mystery: Is basis murder or mishmash." Scranton Times, August 22: 3.
-. 1986. "If you like sideshows, there's one close to home." Times-Tribune, August 31: 23.
-. 1986. "Screen exorcist Jason Miller visits site of demonic doings." Times-Tribune, August 22: 3.
Corbett, Steve. 1986. "Family: Home is under siege by evil spirits." Times Leader, August 19: 1.
Curran, Robert. 1988. The Haunted: One Family's Nightmare. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.
-. 1986. "Brain surgery revelation casts demon dwelling doubts." The Scrantonia, August 24: 15.
-. 1986. "Smurls credit prayers of many with cleansing house of demons." The Tribune, October 27: 3.
DeAndrea, Francis. 1986. "Different kind of scare job." Times-Tribune, August 30: 3.
Kurtz, Paul. 1987. "A case study of the West Pittston 'haunted' house." The Skeptical Inquirer 11 (Winter): 137-146.
Lancaster New Era. 1986. "Scientists, priest skeptical about 'demons' in house." Lancaster New Era, August 23: 1.
Morning Call. 1986. "Demons: Exorcisms fail to end family's nightmare." The Morning Call, August 22: 3.
Porter, Jill. 1986. "A demon by any other name." Philadelphia Daily News, August 29: 2.
Rotstein, Gary. 1986. "Bedeviled: Town is divided over 'haunted' family." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 25: 1.
Shurmaitis, Dawn. 1986. "Demonologist says family is 'under attack'." Times Leader, August 19: 12.
Singleton, David. 1986. "Publicity has cost haunted family." Danville News, August 23: 1.
Trosky, Pat. 1986. "Are ghosts haunting West Pittston family?" Citizen's Voice, August 20: 3.
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Пікірлер: 23
Glad y'all are okay after that scary fire! And it's fun to find out there are people other than my wife and I who refer to Baphomet as "Baphy" too. :D Is part 2 going to be posted here? I discovered y'all on spotify but I like listening here, too. :)
Omg I did not expect there to be a fire for you girls😭🤣
There is PLENTY of intentional spookiness in the Sims 1 (See: Tragic Clown, Clowntastic Land, Bonehilda, the entire Burglar sequence.) and Sims 2 (Olive Specter's whole story, the Bella Goth mystery, a haunted vampire lair downtown, secret societies at University, the sassiest Grim Reaper in the series). Aside from the cemeteries in TS3 and the Strangerville pack for TS4, the later games really toned down the creep factor to appeal to a broader audience, but it's always been present in the series.
Am I really the only one who thought of supernatural when John and Mary was mentioned 😂
Fun fact! The pronunciation of Wilkes-Barre is debatable (the Barre part comes from a surname of French origin), but I'm from PA and most locals where I am pronounce it like "Wilkes-Berry" haha!
thats actually terrifying that a fire started its givin sinister vibes for sure
Animal crossing is so fun. It is truly the only game I have enjoyed as an adult other than the sims.
During the panoramic 😂😂😂
@Bobby_sprinkles
9 ай бұрын
So funny haha
Hey ladies! Mary was praying a 'no-vee-nah' (novena) when the black form passed from Janet's through to Mary's place.
I remember watching the film about this haunting when i was 13 scared the shit out of me
Is there a part 2?
@adrianh332
10 ай бұрын
It's available on their website
Did you girls make a part 2?
@adrianh332
10 ай бұрын
It's available on their website.
Oh no a fire!! Cris cross applesauce though
I have a huge sim life!!!!!!! 🤟🏼occasionally my nieces that ride horse's, are invisible n it's hilarious!!!
It boofed and poofed 😂
It boofed then poofed
Ghoul boys, yay
I absolutely love the stories you girls do but all the extra talking and the silly chats about every little part of the story really is a bummer...I think morbid would have much better ratings if u got STRAIGHT to the story and didn't add like 40 extra minutes off commentary between the two of you ....like idk kind high school vibes
What about Fortnite