On this classic episode of Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know, Ben Bowlin and Matt Frederick look into the history of exorcisms. Most of us are probably very familiar with the Hollywood version of demonic possession and exorcism, but the true story is a little more complicated. Ben and Matt look at the Catholic definitions and accounts of exorcism, but also look into the practice in other religions and countries and how they differ. Exorcisms can be performed on people, places, or things believed to be infested with demons or malicious spirits – and as it turns out, you may have already been the subject of an exorcism yourself.
The version of exorcism that Hollywood likes the most is called “real exorcism,” when a demon is removed from a human body who is possessed. Though this is the most commonly portrayed version in movies, it’s actually the rarest in real life; in Catholicism, these can only be performed with explicit authorization from the Vatican. Then there are “simple exorcisms,” where a priest comes to bless an item or location believed to be haunted. Finally, there’s the most common form of exorcisms: Baptisms. Because Catholics believe in original sin, a baptism is a form of cleansing those demons from our bodies.
Symptoms of demonic possession include clairvoyance, or accurately predicting the future; speaking multiple languages you previously had no knowledge of, especially Latin or Aramaic; and superhuman feats of strength or dexterity. Ben points out that there are more mundane explanations for a lot of these symptoms, and they both wonder how much mental illnesses like schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder have been misread as demonic possession throughout history. And though the Western world might be most familiar with the Catholic ritual, exorcisms do occur in Islamic nations as well. They get into all the implications of a demonic possession, break down the numbers of acknowledged exorcisms within the Catholic Church, discuss the differences between Islam and Catholicism, and much more; listen to the episode for all the Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know about exorcisms.
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