Smurl Haunting

The Smurl Haunting stands as one of the most controversial and extensively documented cases of alleged demonic infestation in American history. For fifteen years, Jack and Janet Smurl and their extended family endured a nightmare of escalating supernatural terror in their West Pittston, Pennsylvania duplex, culminating in exorcisms, national media attention, and a case that would become a book and television movie.

The Family and Their Home

Jack and Janet Smurl were an ordinary working-class couple raising four daughters in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 1973, they purchased one half of a duplex in West Pittston, a quiet coal-country town in the Wyoming Valley. Jack’s parents, John and Mary Smurl, moved into the adjoining half, creating a close-knit multigenerational household.

The duplex had no known history of paranormal activity, and the Smurl family had no prior interest in the supernatural. They were practicing Catholics who attended church regularly and led unremarkable lives. Nothing in their backgrounds suggested they would become the center of one of America’s most publicized haunting cases.

Early Signs of Something Wrong

The disturbances began subtly in 1974, shortly after the Smurls moved in. Small incidents that could easily be dismissed started accumulating. A stain appeared on new carpet in one room, and no matter how many times it was cleaned, it returned within days. The plumbing developed problems that defied explanation, pipes making sounds and water appearing in places it should not.

Strange sounds echoed through empty rooms at odd hours of the night. Footsteps paced hallways when no one was there. A foul odor would sometimes permeate the house, a sulfurous stench that seemed to come from nowhere and vanish just as mysteriously. For years, the family rationalized these incidents, blaming old pipes, settling foundations, and overactive imaginations.

The Terror Escalates

By the early 1980s, the phenomena had grown impossible to ignore. Radios that were unplugged would suddenly blare music. Drawers opened and closed by themselves. The temperature in certain rooms would plummet to freezing even in summer, while other areas grew unbearably hot. Most disturbingly, a bathtub on one occasion filled with what appeared to be human feces, despite no one having used it.

The violence began gradually but intensified rapidly. Furniture moved on its own accord, sometimes violently. Objects flew across rooms. Violent scratching sounds emanated from inside the walls, as if something were trying to claw its way through. Both halves of the duplex experienced the activity, suggesting that whatever was present did not respect property boundaries.

The Entities Manifest

In 1985, the family began seeing the entities responsible for their torment. Multiple witnesses described encountering distinct beings within the home. A shadowy black form appeared in hallways, humanoid but featureless, radiating malevolence. A woman in white was seen floating near the ceiling, her face a mask of sorrow or anger depending on the witness. Most terrifying was an entity with pig-like features, a grotesque creature that multiple family members saw on separate occasions.

The physical attacks began around this time as well. Jack Smurl reported being thrown against walls and held down by invisible forces. Janet described being sexually assaulted by an unseen entity, experiences that left her traumatized and terrified. Scratches appeared on family members’ bodies, sometimes spelling out words or forming patterns. The family dog levitated before horrified witnesses. Neighbors reported seeing apparitions outside the house, faces in windows of rooms they knew to be empty.

The Warrens Investigate

By 1986, the Smurls had reached their breaking point. They contacted Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous paranormal investigators who had worked cases including the Amityville Horror and the Perron family haunting. The Warrens conducted an extensive investigation of the duplex and reached a disturbing conclusion.

According to the Warrens, the house was infested by at least four spirits. Three were minor entities, possibly human spirits that had been corrupted or controlled. The fourth was something far worse: a powerful demon that commanded the others. This demon, the Warrens believed, had targeted the Smurl family specifically, drawn perhaps by their strong faith or family bonds.

The investigation documented extensive evidence including recordings of unexplained sounds and voices, photographs showing strange lights and forms, testimony from multiple witnesses across both halves of the duplex, and physical evidence of the attacks on family members. The Warrens declared it one of the most severe cases of demonic infestation they had encountered.

The Exorcisms

The Catholic Church became involved through Father Robert McKenna, a traditionalist Catholic priest brought in by the Warrens. In 1986, he performed the first exorcism on the property. The ritual seemed to work initially, with activity decreasing dramatically in the days following. But within weeks, the phenomena returned stronger than before.

Multiple additional exorcisms were performed over the following years, each following the same pattern. Activity would decrease temporarily, giving the family hope, only to return with increased intensity. The entity seemed to grow stronger each time, as if feeding on the attention and spiritual combat. During one ritual, witnesses claimed the demon manifested and spoke in Latin, mocking the priests attempting to expel it.

Most disturbing was the discovery that the entity was not bound to the house. When the family attempted to escape by vacationing in the Pocono Mountains, the demon appeared at their campsite. It manifested at Jack’s workplace. Wherever the Smurls went, it followed, demonstrating that it had attached itself to the family rather than the location.

Going Public

In 1986, the Smurls made the controversial decision to go public with their story, appearing on national television programs and allowing journalists into their home. This decision generated intense debate both within the paranormal community and the general public.

Supporters argued that the family desperately needed help and resources that publicity could bring. The attention might lead to solutions or bring forward others who had experienced similar phenomena. Critics suggested that the media attention itself was the motivation, that the family sought fame or financial gain. Some paranormal researchers felt that publicizing the case actually strengthened the demonic presence by giving it the attention it craved.

Skeptics from organizations like CSICOP investigated but were denied full access to the property. They noted that no controlled scientific observation had occurred, that evidence relied heavily on witness testimony from interested parties, and that natural explanations had not been adequately ruled out.

Resolution and Aftermath

In 1989, unable to endure any more, the Smurl family abandoned the West Pittston duplex and moved to a new home. The activity did not cease immediately, following them to their new residence, but gradually diminished over the following years. By the early 1990s, the phenomena had largely stopped.

Whether the multiple exorcisms finally weakened the entity, whether moving broke some connection, or whether the demon simply lost interest remains unknown. The family never received a definitive answer about what had tormented them for fifteen years.

Media Legacy

The case inspired significant media coverage. In 1991, Ed and Lorraine Warren collaborated with author Robert Curran on “The Haunted,” a book detailing the Smurl case. That same year, a television movie of the same name brought the story to a wider audience, dramatizing the family’s ordeal for viewers across America.

The Smurl case remains a touchstone in discussions of alleged demonic possession and infestation. It is cited by believers as evidence of demonic reality and the power of faith to resist evil. Skeptics point to it as an example of how hauntings can be sustained through expectation, attention, and belief.

Sources

• Wikipedia search: “Smurl Haunting”
• Society for Psychical Research — SPR proceedings, peer-reviewed psychical research since 1882
• Library of Congress — American Folklife Center — American folklore archive