The worlds leading psychiatric authority on demonic possession delves into the hidden world of exorcisms and his own transformation from cynic to believer over the course of his twenty-five-year career.
Successful New York psychiatrist Richard Gallagher was skeptical yet intrigued when a hard-nosed, no-nonsense Catholic priest asked him to examine a woman for a possible exorcism. Meeting her, Gallagher was astonished. The womans behavior, a display of true paranormal ability, defied logic. In an instant, she could pinpoint a persons secret weaknesses. She knew how individuals shed never known had died, including Gallaghers own mother, who passed away after a lengthy battle with ovarian cancer. She spoke fluently in multiple languages, including Latinbut only when she was in a trance.
This was not psychosis, Gallagher concluded. It was, in his scientific estimation, what could only be describe as paranormal ability. The woman wasnt mentally disturbedshe was possessed. This remarkable case was the first of many that Gallagher would encounter. Sought after today by leaders of all faithsministers, priests, rabbis and imams, Gallagher has spent a quarter-century studying diabolic attacks and exorcisms throughout history and has witnessed more cases than any other psychiatrist in the world today.
In this eerie and enthralling collection of psychiatrists personal accounts, Gallagher chronicles his most famous cases for the first time, including:
- A professional who claimed her spiritualist mother had assigned her a spirit who turned on her.
- A petite woman90 pounds soaking wetwho threw a 200-pound Lutheran deacon across the room to the horror of onlookers in a church hall;
- And Julia, the so-called Satanic queen and self-described witch, who exhibited the most harrowing case, a once-in-a-century possession.
Going beyond horror movies and novels, Demonic Foes takes you deep into the supernatural, sharing in full details of these true stories of demonic possession.
