The Indiana Demon House, From Barking Dogs to Levitation: Six Strange Facts

"It's a tale, they say, that started with flies…"

What follows is an excerpt of a news report from the Indiana Star Newspaper...In November 2011, Latoya Ammons' family moved into a rental house on Carolina Street in Gary Indiana, a quiet lane lined with small one-story homes. Big black flies suddenly swarmed their screened-in porch in December, despite the winter chill. "This is not normal," Latoya’s mother, Rosa Campbell, remembers thinking. "We killed them and killed them and killed them, but they kept coming back." There were other strange happenings, too. After midnight, the mother and daughter both said, they occasionally heard the steady clump of footsteps climbing the basement stairs and the creak of the door opening between the basement and kitchen. No one was there. Even after they locked the door, the noise continued.

The mother, Rosa said she awoke one night and saw a shadowy figure of a man pacing her living room. She leaped out of bed to investigate, and found large, wet bootprints. The daughter Latoya said the family's unease turned to fear. It was about 2 a.m., Normally, grandma, mom  and children would have been asleep, but they were mourning the death of a loved one with a group of friends. Latoya, who was in her mom’s bedroom, startled everyone by screaming, "Mama! Mama!" Rosa, the grandmother said she ran into her bedroom, where her then-12-year-old granddaughter and a friend were staying. Both Latoya the mom and Rosa the grandma said the 12-year-old was levitating above the bed, unconscious. Rosa said, "I thought, what's going on? Why is this happening?" Eventually, Rosa said, her granddaughter descended onto the bed. The girl woke up with no memory of what happened. The people who were visiting that night refused to return.

What Latoya and Rosa say happened next also was detailed in a DCS report of a family case manager's interviews with medical staff. They went to their family physician, Dr. Geoffrey Onyeukwu (on -ye-kawoo), on April 19, 2012. Dr. Geoffrey told The Star it was "bizarre." "Twenty years, and I've never heard anything like that in my life," he said. "I was scared myself when I walked into the room." Rosa said her grandsons cursed the doctor in demonic voices, raging at him. Medical staff said the youngest boy was "lifted and thrown into the wall with nobody touching him," according to a DCS report. "He began to have a weird smile on his face and he charged at the grandmother's stomach and head butted her several times until she grabbed his hands and started praying. "He was speaking in a different deep voice saying 'It's time to die,' 'l will kill you,' and staring around the room. "He had a weird grin on his face and began to walk backwards while the grandmother was holding his hand and he walked up the wall backwards while holding the grandmother's hand and he never let go. "He flipped over and landed on his feet in front of the grandmother and sat down in the chair."

After failing to get help from psychics and soothsayers Latoya Ammons was directed to call a Catholic priest. Fr. Mike Maginot responded to the call and after the initial interview in which he placed a crucifix on the forehead of Ammons she began to convulse, Fr. Maginot sought permission from the bishop to pursue the path of formal exorcisms. The priest said he blessed the family's new home to prevent more problems. After that, Latoya said, her nightmares subsided.

In the third and final exorcism at the end of June 2012, Fr. Mike Maginot said he prayed and berated the demons in Latin. It would be the last time Latoya saw Fr. Mike. She and her mother drove back to Indianapolis, where Latoya regained custody of her kids and they say they now live without fear. 

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Like almost every other true story about exorcisms, it is only the Catholic priest that can put it to an end. This is because the Catholic priest continues the ministry of Jesus Christ and has access to the deposit of grace that Christ earned from the cross.

When interviewed, Fr. Mike corroborated the Indiana Star report and the documentary Demon House on what I consider to be six more strange facts that add to the body of knowledge on demonology and exorcisms.

1. The Name(s): When asked what the name of the demon was Fr. Mike refused to say. He probably didn’t want to inflate the demon’s pride. He did, however, say that it was one of the seven most notorious. After researching I found a group of demons that are called the seven princes of hell. They are Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Leviathan, Belphegor, and Mammon.

2. Dogs and Goat-Like Giants:  Dogs were heard barking and growling by the Ammons family, by the police officer and by the documentary maker. They had no pets. The film-crew also had encounters in dreams and visions of an aggressive and giant goat-headed creature.

3. Levitation of Objects: Objects levitated and flew around. A Febreeze bottle was thrown into a room with a lamp that was on, knocking it over and putting the light out. Then two illuminated red eyes were seen in the darkened room. 

4. Physical Attacks: Many people who went into the house to investigate became sick, were injured in freak accidents or were tempted to be aggressive toward others or themselves. Even Fr. Mike was thrown off of his bike with his seat inexplicably turned 45 degrees.

5. Electronic Interference: The lights in the home would flicker and buzz when the dark presence was felt. The audio recordings by the police and other investigators picked up demonic voices. A computer kept malfunctioning when research was conducted on the name of the demon.

6. Aversion to Holy Objects and Words: Latoya convulsed when a crucifix was placed on her forehead. The demon(s) reacted to the Book of Job in a very violent way when read aloud during the exorcism rite. A rosary that was given to Latoya which had a St Benedict medal was torn into five pieces and left on the ground in the church parking lot.

When discussing supernatural occurrences, we should always be a little skeptical. I would like to offer three sources from which I am deriving information for this article:  Indiana Star News, Bob After Dark interview with Fr. Mike Maginot which is found on Audible and the Zak Bagans documentary called ‘Demon House’ also on Amazon. These sources all utilize or refer to Gary, Indiana Department of Child Protective Services Reports, Gary Police Reports and interviews with several eyewitnesses, all of whom were acting in a professional capacity. This story is factual...it's legit.

We end every Our Father with an excorcism type prayer. It is appropriate to end this article with the same...

Deliver us (Lord) from evil. Amen.