Tag Archives: demonic possession

Ukategorisert

The Demon Zozo: The Mysterious and Terrifying Entity of the Ouija Board

2 Comments
Advertisements

A collective memory of people summoning an entity called Zozo has taken over the Ouija Board sessions. The demon who goes by many names is said to be conjured from the human mind, but there are still those claiming that the demon Zozo is something real to fear.

For as long as people have attempted to communicate with the spirit world, there have been warnings about entities that should never be contacted. Among the most feared is Zozo, a sinister and enigmatic presence said to haunt those who dare to use a Ouija board. 

The stories of the demon Zozo have become almost like a Christian symbol of what evil the occult and Ouija can bring from the darkness. Reports of encounters with Zozo stretch back centuries, some saying its older Sumerian or African origins, perhaps ancient Babylonian, but in the modern age, its legend has gained notoriety thanks to chilling firsthand accounts and online discussions. But who—or what—is Zozo? And is it truly a demon, or a product of human fear and suggestion?

Demon Lore: The first mention of a demon named Zozo comes from a French book of demonology. Detail from the frontispiece to the 1863 edition of Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire infernal — Source.

The Legend of the Demon Zozo

The name “Zozo” with this particular spelling, first appeared in historical texts in 1816, when a French occultist named Jacques Collin de Plancy documented a demon by that name in his book Le Dictionnaire Infernal, a sort of encyclopedia of demons. This is decades before the Ouija Board we know today existed, but there did exist other planchette writing said to communicate with spirits.

In the text, Zozo was described as a minor demon capable of possessing people and told about a girl in Teilly in France, possessed by no less than three demons called Mimi, Crapoulet and Zozo. Someone from the church reported it to the authorities and she was hospitalized. However, Zozo’s notoriety skyrocketed in recent decades due to countless accounts of individuals encountering the entity through the Ouija board.

The demon’s rise to infamy largely began in the early 2000s when Darren Evans, a paranormal enthusiast from Oklahoma, claimed to have been tormented by Zozo after using a Ouija board. Evans shared his experiences online, recounting how the entity terrorized him and his loved ones, leading to unexplained injuries, psychological distress, and even suicidal thoughts. Perhaps the worst was his claim that the demonic entity had almost drowned his baby daughter and infected her with an illness.

His accounts were disturbing enough to catch the attention of paranormal researchers, and since then, Zozo has been considered one of the most dangerous entities that can manifest through Ouija sessions.

Today there are countless alleged encounters retold on forums and throughout popular culture. Some are more haunting than others. 

How the Demon Zozo Manifests

Zozo Lore: Some sourcers will put the divorce of Laura Brooks Ellwanger and Walter K. Martin was a part of the Zozo lore from the early 1900. He was a famous palmist and fortune teller who often went by the name Zozo. And according to Laura, one of his many ex-wives, he “stole her soul” as she put it in the article. Although it was from marriage, not demonic possession. Source

Zozo allegedly communicates with people through Ouija boards, often spelling out its name repeatedly—”Z-O-Z-O”—in rapid succession. Some believe the name itself is a trick, meant to lure the unsuspecting into prolonged communication. Once engaged, Zozo’s behavior can range from mischievous to malevolent. Users have reported the following eerie patterns:

The planchette moving in rapid figure-eight motions, often associated with dark entities and them wanting to take control over the board.

Repeatedly spelling “Z-O-Z-O” or variations like “Zaza” or “Zo”

Sudden temperature drops and feelings of dread

Threats and violent messages appearing on the board

Physical attacks, such as scratches, bruises, and unexplained illnesses after contact

Disturbances in the home, such as shadow figures, nightmares, and poltergeist activity

Some who have encountered the demon Zozo claim that even acknowledging its presence can open a door to further hauntings. Others say that breaking contact improperly—such as not saying goodbye on the Ouija board—can result in lasting consequences.

Theories Behind the Demon Zozo

Zozo’s existence is a hotly debated topic among paranormal researchers. There are several theories about what, exactly, this entity might be:

Could the Demon Zozo be a True Demon from Ancient Times?

Many believers claim that Zozo is a malevolent demon that thrives on fear and negative energy. They cite the consistency of its manifestations and the similarities in reported encounters as evidence of a real supernatural force.

Those believing the demon is real says it goes under more than one name, where Mama, Zaza and Zoso are some of them. 

Those claiming that the demon Zozo is real, most often claim that it really is a misspelling and that his true name is Pazuzu. This is a Mesopotamian deity of the wind and said to be the king of demons and believed to be evil by the Babylonians and Assyrians. Also, interestingly, a protector demon for pregnant women in some of the mythology lore. The demon caused famine and attacked people by summoning locusts.

Being so old in mythology, there are plenty of variants and meanings the ancient people put on him. This is also the demon who possessed Reagan in The Exorcist and has perhaps become most known in the modern world as a demon seeking to possess people. 

Pazuzu (𒅆𒊒𒍪𒍪): In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu was the king of the demons of the wind, and son of the god Hanbi. He also represented the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and drought.

The Real Exorcism of Roland Doe

Talking about the demon Zozo and the Exorcist, we must revisit the exorcism of Roland Doe who the Exorcists was said to be inspired by. The name was a pseudonym, but his exorcism by the Catholic Church in the late 1940s in the US really happened. He was a 14 year old boy said to be possessed. His family was Lutheran, but his aunt was a spiritualist who showed him the Ouija Board. The aunt died and the family claimed that strange things started to happen and he went through several exorcisms.

Was he truly possessed? Or was he simply a disturbed boy throwing temper tantrums? Although most of the story behind the exorcism of Roland Doe was based on hearsay, it created the foundation of how the western world would look at demonic possession in the modern world. 

The Exorcist: Much of the demon possession and the story of Zozo comes from the book and movie The Exorcist based on the allegedly true possession of a boy playing with the Ouija Board.

Some occultists suggest that Zozo is not a demon but rather a malevolent spirit or trickster entity that delights in scaring and deceiving Ouija board users.

Mass Hysteria Through Popular Culture

Mass Hysteria and the Ideomotor Effect: Skeptics argue that the demon Zozo is nothing more than an urban legend fueled by the power of suggestion. The ideomotor effect—a psychological phenomenon where unconscious movements guide the planchette—may explain why so many people “contact” Zozo. The letter Z and the number 0 are located right next to each other, and chances that Zozo was created by random muscle motions is high. That is also why so many come back with spirit stories about Mama or Abba from the board as well. 

An Internet-Age Myth: The rise of online storytelling, horror forums, and viral ghost stories may have amplified the legend of Zozo, turning it into a modern folklore figure much like Slender Man or other creepypasta legends.

Read Also: The Philip Experiment: The Spirit Created by Scientists 

Some of the earliest entries of the demon Zozo was in 2009 from True Ghost Tales, an online forum telling allegedly true ghost encounters. Darren Evans who originally made the post told about an entity seemingly friendly, turning evil, threatening to hurt his loved ones. His post went viral, and although people chimed in with similar experiences, his became the foundation of a new urban legend. 

The Led Zeppelin connection: Further, a symbol etching out the name “Zoso” as a code for the god Saturn appeared in a banned occult book in 1521. This would later be copied by Led Zeppelin as the symbol for their guitarist Jimmy Page. Did he invoke a demon, or was he simply channeling the planet ruling his zodiac, Capricorn? The origin of the symbol remains a mystery for now.

Darren Evans appeared on TV-shows and also published a book based on his experiences, adding more and more details to his encounter with the legend. In 2012 a movie based on tales of the demon Zozo also was released and truly cemented the Zozo lore in popular culture.

Back to the story from 1816, many skip the part about the book where the author talks about how untrue the story the girl told, as she had previously been publicly whipped as punishment for telling false demon possession stories. She was sentenced to life imprisonment. Even though the author himself denied its existence, people still use the book as proof, elevating the lore to something older than a 2009 urban legend.

The Book of Demonology: Although the author of this book claims that the demon Zozo was nothing more than an elaborate lie centuries ago, he still believed demonic possession was real. Read the book here.

Evans’ story has also changed over time, now claiming he first met the demon in 1982 when he found a Ouija Board in a basement with the name engraved on the back of the board, sometimes he said on the front. He has since spent his time trying to find further proof that the demon Zozo is indeed older than what the urban legend it created was. 

How to Protect Yourself from the Demon Zozo

I AM ZOZO: A horror film based on the legend was made about five young people who play with a Ouija board and attract the attention of the malevolent Ouija demon ZoZo. Watch here

Although the truth of the matter is built on rather flimsy evidence, the belief in Zozo is today widespread and countless people across the world now believe it and claim to have encounters with this particular demon. Whether the demon Zozo is a genuine demonic force or a psychological phenomenon, its presence in paranormal lore remains undeniable, and you can now buy the proper Zozo Ouija Board specially designed for a demonic encounter. 

For those who believe in the supernatural, avoiding Zozo means exercising caution when using Ouija boards. Paranormal experts offer the following advice:

Never use a Ouija board alone.

Do not ask for a spirit’s name, as this can invite malicious entities.

Always say goodbye before closing a session.

If the demon Zozo appears, immediately end the session and cleanse the space with sage or protective prayers.

Do not challenge or provoke the demon Zozo, as this is said to increase its influence.

Because true or not, better to be safe than sorry, eh?

More like this

Newest Posts

References:

Zozo, the Ouija Board’s Most Famous Demon

Zozo Demon Legend & Link to Ouija Board and Led Zeppelin – Thrillist 

Who Is Zozo, The Demonic Spirit Supposedly Summoned Through Ouija Boards? 

Dictionnaire infernal/6e éd., 1863/Zozo – Wikisource

Dictionnaire infernal/6e éd., 1863/Possédés – Wikisource 

Dictionnaire infernal/6e éd., 1863/Possédés – Wikisource

Zozo phenomenon documented in new book | Paranormal Corner – nj.com 

Pazuzu – Wikipedia

Zozo the Demon – Believing the Bizarre 

Zozo Demon (episode) | Ghost Adventures Wiki

The Zozo Phenomena 

Ukategorisert

The Amityville Horror: A Ghost Story That Refuses to Die

2 Comments
Advertisements

Even though the events in the haunting case of the Amityville Horror have been depicted again and again since it happened, there are still so many misconceptions and unanswered questions in this case. Was it an actual haunting by an evil entity, or just a cash grab after a real and deadly tragedy? 

Few paranormal stories have gripped the world quite like the chilling saga of the Amityville Horror. The very name conjures up images of sinister glowing eyes, disembodied voices, and a house steeped in unspeakable terror. The image of the Dutch Colonial house with its distinct gambrel roof  in the Long Island town of Amityville has become an iconic landmark. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from USA

Though skeptics have tried to debunk it, the eerie events surrounding the infamous house at 112 Ocean Avenue continue to haunt the public imagination. Was the Amityville Horror all a hoax, or did something truly supernatural take place in that cursed dwelling?

The Amityville Horror: James Brolin and Margot Kidder posing in front of a house in a scene from film ‘The Amityville Horror’, 1979. The movie catapulted the story into being a worldwide phenomenon.

The Tragedy That Started It All with the DeFeo Family

The house was first built in 1927, but the haunting was said to have started decades later. The true horror of Amityville began not with ghosts, but with cold-blooded murder. On the night of November 13, 1974, 23 year old Ronald DeFeo Jr. took a rifle and systematically slaughtered his entire family—his parents and four siblings—as they slept. 

Ronald DeFeo had a troubled childhood, the father was an abusive one and the mother was said to have been passive to it all. He had already threatened with a gun once before and was reportedly a known LSD and heroin user.. The grisly crime sent shockwaves through the quiet Long Island community, leaving the house abandoned, tainted by the bloodshed.

The Real Murder Behind the Ghost Story: Behind all the media frenzie and backstabbing of who would earn more money after the events in the house became famous, it’s easy to forget that the basis of the story of The Amityville Horror was actual deaths of a whole family.

During his trial, DeFeo claimed he had been driven to kill by malevolent voices whispering in his head. The jury didn’t believe his demonic possession as a defence and sentenced him to six consecutive life sentences. Though he later changed his story multiple times, he insisted on this fact until his death in 2021. His original claim planted the seed for what would become one of the most infamous hauntings in history.

Convicted: Ronald Defeo Jr., seen here leaving court shortly after the killings, died years later at age 69. His defense was that voices in his head told him to do it.

The Lutz Family’s the Amityville Horror Nightmare

In December 1975, just over a year after the murders, the Lutz family—George and Kathy Lutz, their three children and dog—moved into 112 Ocean Avenue. George Lutz was said to have an interest in the occult and paranormal and actively tried to summon spirits prior to the events in Amityville. 

Despite knowing its dark history, they saw the house as their dream home and for $80,000, it was a bargain. Their dream quickly turned into a nightmare. Strange voices echoed through the halls, whispering unintelligible words, sometimes calling out in eerie, distorted tones. Doors slammed shut on their own, furniture moved, and shadowy figures loomed in the night.

One of the things connecting the strange things happening to the DeFeo case was that George Lutz claimed he woke up at 3:15 AM every night—around the time the DeFeo murders occurred. The children allegedly started sleeping on the stomach, the same way the DeFeo children were found. Both he and Kathy allegedly levitated above their bed, unable to move, as unseen hands gripped them tightly.

Kathy was also said to have transformed into a 90 year old crone, and other really strange things only befitting in a horror movie. On the 28th day, on Jan. 14, 1976, the family fled the house in sheer terror, leaving their belongings behind. They refused to ever return.

The Investigation and Controversy

Already before they left, they had investigators into the paranormal claims. The haunting caught the attention of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren and two months after the Lutz family fled, the Warrens and a local TV crew did a segment on the house, bringing in so-called “ghost hunters” and paranormal experts to evaluate the couple’s claims. 

Read Also: Check out The Haunted Dark Entry Forest and the Cursed Dudleytown, The Haunting of The Mark Twain House: The Gothic Mansion on the Hill and Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 Disaster and Ghosts for more stories that the Warrens were involved in.

The Warrens visited the house on the night of March 6, 1976, and declared it infested with a dark, demonic presence. 

The Ghost Boy: One of the more iconic images from The Amityville Horror case is the photo taken when the Warren family visited the house. They snapped this picture and claimed it showed on of the murdered children.

Among other things, they snapped the now famed photo of the ‘ghost boy’, thought to be one of the DeFeo children. But was it? The picture has gone through a lot of investigations and mostly debunked by those who had a closer look. they claim it was It’s Paul Bartz, an investigator working with the Warrens on his knees and wearing glasses.

Paul Bartz: Wearing the same outfit, it is said he is the actual person showing up in the picture.

The Story Becomes Famous and Further Reading

One of the big books about the horrors was written by the American Author, Jay Anson in 1977. This book based on the experiences of the Lutz family was also the background for the movies that was produced from 1979 about the incident to this day. It was a sensation when published and topped the best sellers lists, but there were also a lot of lawsuits and controversy around it. 

Read more: Check out The Amityville Horror: A True Story

The Amityville Horror faced a lot of scrutiny over how real it was after its publication. Skeptics were quick to challenge the Lutzes’ claims, even after they both passed a lie detector test in hope to prove their story.  Anson said this about how he felt about the story; “I tell them that I have no idea whether the book is true or not. But I’m sure that the Lutzes believe what they told me to be true.”

One year later, director Stuart Rosenberg’s adaptation of the same name came out and became a modern day horror classic and would have around 50 sequels, remakes and other interpretations of the story over the years. 

Movie Franchise: The Amityville Horror spun many movies over the years, fueling the interest of the case.

Weber and the Lutz Falls out over Money

Some believed it was an elaborate hoax designed to profit off the tragedy. But where did Lutz get so many details of the murder correct? Turns out William Weber, Ronald DeFeo Jr. ‘s defense attorney had worked with the Lutzes to make a book. They fell out over how to split up the money though. Later admitted he had collaborated with the Lutzes to fabricate aspects of the story and that they had come up with the story after many bottles of wine.

The Lutz Couple: Although they never denied the haunting, many of their details were inaccurate, exaggerated or pure fabrication according to many of the people looking into The Amityville Horror.

He told a lot about how the details of the hoax came to be. Their daughter, Missy, had spoken of an imaginary friend named “Jodie,” a red-eyed pig-like creature that would appear outside her window. This creature was also said to stare down at George and his son Daniel from a window. Later, Weber would say this idea came from the neighbor’s cat who looked into their window at night on the TV program “A Current Affair” in May 1988.

A thick, green, foul-smelling substance oozed from the walls and keyholes were often mentioned and written into the story. According to Weber in 1988, it was inspired by an incident where De’Feo’s father once had smacked his mother when she held a plate of red-sauce spaghetti. In some variation of the legend, this substance was described as green, in some red or black. 

Priest Blessing the House

One controversy was the role of Father Pecararo, or Father Mancuso who he was named in the book The Amityville Horror (1977). George asked the Catholic priest, to bless the house when they moved in, which he did.

According to some sources, he sensed a dark presence in the upstairs bedrooms and had allegedly warned them to not sleep in there. This was said to be the room where the children had been killed. In the book, he was said to have felt a sharp slap in the face and someone telling him to get out. In the movie, flies inexplicably gathered in large numbers, particularly in one upstairs bedroom.

In the lawsuits following the book he stated that all he knew about the case had been in conversation with Lutz over the telephone. Although when interviewed about the The Amityville Horror in 1979 he did say that he entered the home for a cleansing and that he was in fact slapped by an entity who told him to “get out”. Other accounts say that the father did enter the house, but nothing of consequence happened there. 

The Haunting of a Native American Chief and an Escaped Witch from Salem

Another controversy after the Amityville Horror was the claim that the house was built on top of a Native American location of where they had abandoned the mentally ill and dying people of their tribes. Dr. Hans Holzer, the parapsychologist who examined the house in the wake of the events in the 1970s claimed that the house itself was not haunted, but the land was haunted by an old Native American chief. 

This is a very fundamental and a classic go-to in allegedly haunted places in America. Although it is impossible to document for certain as far back as when Native Americans first settled in the area, the local Shinnecock natives said that there had been no such thing.

In addition to stories about sacred burial grounds and Native American Chiefs, there were also Salem Witches put into the mix. Jay Anson’s book suggests that the property is cursed because it had once belonged to John Ketcham, a suspected witch, who had fled Salem, Massachusetts before taking up residence in Amityville. 

The Amityville House Today

So what really happened behind the scenes of the Amityville Horror? Was the mortgage and tax payments too much for the Lutzes and the poltergeist story made up to try and evade this? The Lutzes never retracted their story and George stood his ground until his death in 2006. Daniel, the son living there claims that he still has nightmares about the time he spent in the house. He believed it was his father’s interest in the occult that opened up to some sort of entity in their home. 

The Amityville house has since changed ownership at least four times. Some residents have reported no unusual activity, like James Cromarty who lived in the house from 1976 with his wife, Barbara. According to them, nothing strange ever happened in the ten years they lived there. They were bothered by the fans of Amityville Horror though, coming to their doors, asking for Ronald DeFeo and stole shingles from the roof and ripped out chunks of their lawn. In the end, they moved out as well. They tried to change the address to 108 Ocean Avenue to deter people from flocking to their door. 

They sold it to Peter and Jeanne O’Neill in 1987 and they sold it in 1997 to a man called Brian Wilson. It was sold as recently as 2017. The house itself has been renovated and even had its iconic quarter-moon windows changed, perhaps in an effort to erase its infamous past.

Regardless of whether the Amityville Horror was a genuine haunting or an elaborate fabrication, it remains one of the most terrifying and enduring ghost stories of all time. The legend of 112 Ocean Avenue and The Amityville Horror refuses to die—just like the restless spirits that are said to dwell within its cursed walls.

More like this

Newest Posts

References:

The Amityville Horror – Wikipedia 

The Chilling Crime and Real House Behind ‘The Amityville Horror’

The Real Story Behind the ‘Amityville Horror House’ | HowStuffWorks

Inside The Real Amityville Horror House And Its Story Of Murder And Hauntings

The real story behind the infamous Amityville Horror house 

The Amityville Murders 

‘Amityville Horror’ 50 years later — a look at the ‘most haunted house in the world’ decades after grisly killings 

With ‘The Amityville Horror,’ One House. Many Haunts. – The New York Times 

article

Cursed Books and Manuscripts

1 Comment
Advertisements

The legend behind cursed books and manuscripts have been feared and reported on since humans first started writing and reading, noticing something was wrong while flipping through its pages. Perhaps horrible things happened after reading it, or something strange happened while writing it. This is some of the cursed books and manuscripts throughout history.

How could a piece of writing be cursed? Letters of ink written on a piece of paper is seemingly could cause no harm. But the truth is that curses on paper was and to some extent, still is widely used, as curses goes. A book curse was a commonly employed method of discouraging the theft of manuscripts during the medieval period. Books and manuscripts was something of the most valuable things once upon the time. The use of book curses dates back much further however, to pre-Christian times, when the wrath of gods was invoked to protect books and scrolls.

Even today, we have modern poetry and written words that are said to be haunted when read out loud. Like the case with Tomino’s Hell — The Cursed Poem, that is said to bring death to everyone reading it out loud.

The earliest known book curse can be traced to King of Assyria from 668 to 627 BCE as he placed curses on many of his tablets he had carved out in stone. In the middle ages, many of these curses promised harsh repercussions would be inflicted on anyone who appropriated the work from its proper owner. Like this:

“If anyone take away this book, let him die the death; let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever seize him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen.”

A much harsher penalty than today’s libraries fees. Some books we today have a better understanding over, some books are claims we can’t prove or disprove. And some, we don’t understand at all. Here are some of the cursed books and manuscripts.

Read Also: Cursed and Haunted Paintings

Voynich Manuscript – The Most Elaborate Prank?

The Voynich manuscript: Hidden knowledge or an elaborate hoax?

The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex handwritten in an unknown writing system. It is perhaps the most well known manuscript that no one knows how to read. And that is part of the mystery, as the author and content is part of the allure and the mystery behind these pages.

The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century and may have been composed during the Renaissance in Italy. Some of the pages are also missing. making it difficult to decipher. It is also a theory that it’s made as a hoax, just a joke.

It is a weird piece of manuscript with weird stuff in it. Although we can’t read the text itself, the pictures is strange enough. Weird, naked women running around, botanical works and the likes.

And just as with any thing we don’t understand, the rumors of it being cursed and containing information not meant for us, spreads. And the mystery of the origins of the manuscripts continues to puzzle the experts.

Advertisements

The Untitled Grimoires – The Satanic Notebook from the High Priestess

Cursed books and manuscripts turns out to be very expensive. And this one was sold for $13,865 when auctioned off. These grimoires (a sort of spell book, or book of magic) was handwritten in a spiral notebook in the 60’s, so one of the more newer cursed manuscripts.

The author was the wiccan high priestess Persephone Adrastea Eirene and they came with warnings of a curse as well. But let us hope that the buyer were not scared for any curse. In the book it is written, both in English and in Theban (the ancient alphabet modern Wiccans use).

“To those not of the craft – the reading of this book is forbidden!  Proceed no further or justice will exact a swift and terrible retribution – and you will surely suffer at the hand of the craft.” 

Advertisements

The Codex Gigas – The Devil’s Bible

This cursed book named The Codex Gigas is also known as the Devil’s Bible because of a very unusual full-page portrait of the devil, and the legend surrounding its creation. As cursed books and manuscripts goes, this is one of the largest one.

The Devil’s Bible: A huge book, the Codex Gigas was supposedly written by a monk with the help of the Devil himself.

It is the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world and tests to recreate the work, it is estimated that reproducing only the calligraphy, without the illustrations or embellishments, would have taken twenty years of non-stop writing.

According to legend, the Codex was created by Herman the Recluse. The legend goes there was a scribe monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive.

In order to avoid this harsh penalty he promised to create in one night a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight, he became sure that he could not complete this task alone so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen angel Lucifer, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil’s picture out of gratitude for his aid. 

Advertisements

The Orphan’s Story – Historia del Huérfano

It took four hundred years after it was written to The Orphan’s Story got published. The Orphan’s Story or Historia del Huérfano as it is in its original Spanish, charts the progress of a 14-year-old Spaniard who leaves Granada and heads to the Americas to seek his fortune.

Historia del Huérfano: A tale of an orphan that is supposedly cursed.

When academic Belinda Palacios started working on the story she was warned about the curse that was over the book.

“When I started working on it, a lot of people told me that the book was cursed and that people who start working on it die I laughed it off but I was a bit apprehensive at the same time. It’s taken a while because the people who have worked on it have died – one from a strange disease, one in a car accident and another of something else.”

But so far, it looks like Palacios is safe, even after spending two years translating the old book.

Advertisements

The Book of Soyga – The Cursed Magicians Writings

The Book of Soyga, also titled Aldaraia, is a 16th-century Latin book on magic, one copy of which was owned by the Elizabethan scholar John Dee. After Dee’s death, the book was thought lost until 1994, when two manuscripts were located in the British Library. In addition to that, the book is also thought to be extremely cursed.

The Book of Soyga: John Dee supposedly wrote one of the most cursed manuscripts with the knowledge he got from the archangel Uriel.

Dee’s friend and fellow occultist, Edward Kelley, are said to have summoned the archangel Uriel and questioned him about the meaning of the final 36 pages of the book they were unable to decipher. This was just something they did, all in the queen’s favor.

The angel, who spoke through Kelley, claimed that the book was created when Adam entered Paradise. It could only be properly interpreted by Archangel Michael himself. Also, the angel stated that the book was cursed: anyone who deciphers the meaning of the coded tables would inevitably die two and a half years later.

As soon as it was announced that the Book of Sogya was found in the British library, cryptographers tried to decipher the meaning of its final 36 pages. It wasn’t until 2006, when historian and cryptographer Jim Reeds, gave an algorithm for solving the encrypted tables

He found that it had incantations and instructions on magic, astrology, demonology, lists of conjunctions, lunar mansions, and names and genealogies of angels.

And as far as we know, Jim Reeds is alive and well and not befallen to the cursed books and manuscripts.

Advertisements

More like this

Newest Posts

pop-culture

What The Truly Terrifying Thing About Cult Movie Antrum Is

Leave a comment
Advertisements

The 2019 faux movie-within-a-movie type of horror has taken up interest again, the movie, “Antrum, the deadliest film ever made”. I can’t really remember that a so popular movie have fooled so many people since Blair Witch. Correct me if I’m wrong, but most of the trending now is challenging people to watch it, believing the intended myth behind this mockumentary-found footage type of movie. The premise of the cursed horror movie is of a real cursed movie from the 70s, now resurfaced. After watching it, jumping on the wagon a bit late, I couldn’t help noticing, what truly terrified me after watching. So after the initial hype has died out, and the truth is sort of “out there”, this is my take on it.

Spoilers ahead, so be warned.

Synopsis

The movie opens with a documentary type of style, talking about a horror movie from the 70s allegedly from the Soviet that caused the death of many many people, from casual movie goers to film festival leaders. It claims that it caused the death of 56 people in Budapest when it screened in a cinema that burned down in 1988. And also it injured and killed a woman in San Francisco in 1993 when someone laced the popcorn with LSD. Then it does a countdown of a clock, and the movie Antrum starts. Simple, but so effective. Then the “real” movie begins.

Source: IMDB

It tells the story of a teen sister and her kid brother, hiking. They recently lost their dog, and the boy is convinced the dog went to hell. So they travel to a place and try to dig their way to hell to get the dog back. They follow the instruction of a book the sister claims she got from a certain “Ike”. All told through a beautiful European art-house film from the 1970s filter, but with a horror twist in the cinematography. The rest of the movie is them battling hillbillies, what is dream, what is reality and the lurking shadows in the corner of their eyes. An honest discussion about what happens when one believes a lie.

Advertisements

Background of the “movie legend”

Of course, none of this is true, but it is some of the allure of the movie, and in my eyes, some of the social commentary the movie Antrum brings to the table, elevating it from mere horror-flick, to more of a drama with a purpose and moral. We learn halfway through the sister is behind it all, making the book, lying about meeting the devil and that it was all made up in order to help her brother, suffering from nightmares and the belief that the dog went to hell. But the fiction turns on her, making her lie true because of people believing in it.

Source: IMDB

Perhaps, it is a long time since a mockumentary was able to fool as big of an audience as it did. What is truly frightening is the way some with so many followers, like the teens on Tik-Tok, blogs and YouTube channels fuels this “found footage” story. Isolated, this is fun. Harmless lies we tell in the dark as we always have, as good horror intends to. It is also fascinating that even in the time of internet, were the truth is literary one google search away, people still believe the hype, the narrative, the story. On the other side, it is in these time of “fake news”, a bit sad of when we see how actual important news, fake as well as real, can be manipulated, believed and not believed in. But never mind that (puts the media education away) let’s look at how genius they did it (puts on horror loving hat):

Yes, hell is real
source: IMDB

For one, it is clear they put a lot of effort in making it be in the 70s. From the clothes, filming style, the grainy filter and color palette. Even down to that creepy CGI of the squirrel. A truly demonic entity that is.

As with other cult movies, they did something cool in the way they let the influencer who were fooled market the thing for them, making the viewing something of an event rather than just a standard movie night. Also it is something quite endearing about the collective watching of it that is only found in the horror community, I think.

Even with my obsessive googling, it took a couple of searches to truly find evidence of the falseness. Even down to the actors’ age was removed from their IMDb profiles, making it easier to keep up the belief. It is also cool about how it is finally a movie thinking more about the movie being bigger than the actors, not the other way around.

Advertisements

The terrifying thing about the movie Antrum

Is this a scary movie? In some regards, yes. Like the Blair Witch Project, it is the format that makes the scares, the legend behind it, the myth bigger than a simple movie. And the way the shaky camera movements from most found footage makes movies unpredictable and scary, it is the the overlaying of “cut in clips no one knows were came from” and the clip in of the sigils and Latin phrases making one question: Could it really be?

Is it truly “bad” enough to be believed in though? I think not, and I was sort of bothered about how perfect it all looked from a Soviet movie from the 70s. But then again, it did sort of look too rough to be a more “proper” movie. Also they spoke English, and none of the non-English speaking people can sort of believe that mash up. It just seems weird and sort of a very American thing to do, making it in English instead of just putting subtitles on.

What my main take of it was that it was more of a heart felt movie than a demonic one. I felt more sympathy for the siblings and believed in their relationship than I believed I was cursed by Satan after watching it.

Advertisements

It occurred to me mid movie, what scared me the most though. Even the myth, claims I would die few days after watching it, and that creepy demon between the trees, it was none of them though that made my heart race. It was the threat of people:

True, jump scares don’t really work on me in the long run, great costumes sort of blend in when watching as many horror movies as I do. But what never cease to scare me, are the threat of real humans. It never goes away. In the movie, not only do they have to fight of demonic entities, but some good old fashioned hillbillies, that does these random gruesome things like: fucking dead animals, boiling people alive, shooting children and wear antlers on a trucker hat. Yes, not really the most original or in depth type of characters. But when checking my pulse throughout the movie, it is sort of only in those scenes a steady rush of fear comes. I found that very interesting. That no matter how much of a supernatural, demonic myth, claiming it would take your life, nothing is as scary as the threat of real humans, wanting to do you harm.

And that is what really was terrifying about this cursed movie.

Advertisements

More like this

Newest Posts