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Chapter 1: What led the Hitchings family to consider an exorcism?
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Donald, I'm being serious now. No more games. Me, my mum and dad.
Shirley.
Nan, John, all of us. We don't want to be famous. Not like this. And we're scared, so please. Will you go away?
What does that mean? No. No.
How did that make you feel, Shirley? Oh, we all went, oh, you know. This is the point where the newspaper reports start changing and suddenly it's all about Shirley having a ghost as a boyfriend. Yes, I used to say, oh, rubbish, you know. But no, oh, they run with that. You know, it came out in the next day's paper that the ghost who'd fallen in love with Shirley. Oh, it was utter rubbish.
I didn't want any of it. You know, I used to say, make it stop, Dad. I hate him. Episode 4, The Underground Exorcist. Oh, thank you. The coffee's just arrived. I think about us now, Shirley, and here we are talking in lockdown. And it feels almost like your family was in lockdown back in 1956. You were holed up in the house, surrounded by press and people who've come to gawp.
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Chapter 2: How did media coverage affect Shirley's experience with Donald?
The newspapers are effectively continuing that narrative of obsessions, but actually using the hook of a poltergeist relationship.
Why do you think we are, as a society, so in love with these stories of haunted female teens?
It maybe links back into evolutionary psychology. Where is the point where, as a society, you stop seeing young women as little girls? If you look at period romances, even like Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, we're fascinated with the point where young girls start having to meet up with potential partners. Women are seen as something to be wooed or chased. They're a possession.
And then we start getting this sort of paranormal fascination of them being possessively enraptured with something that is dead or beyond a force. And then we romanticize that as if it's not a form of abuse.
Right, and the headlines aren't just affecting Shirley. It's clearly having a big impact on Wally, too. All those sleepless nights and his worries about Shirley. It's starting to reach crisis point. Oh, you look awfully jinxed. Sit down. I meant to be starting shift, sir.
We think you should take time off.
Oh, right.
Got to think of the passengers. Yes. Couple of weeks or so. Paid, obviously. Oh, thank you. Half pay. Hopefully it'll all blow over. Will it? I don't know. It changes. Are you all right, mate? I don't know, sir. Go home, then. Sleep. Sleep.
Wally! Harry! You alright? I thought there was someone behind me. Platform's empty, mate. Glad I saw you, though. Been wanting a word.
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Chapter 3: What insights do parapsychologists provide about the case?
Come. See how I work. I don't know. Trust me, Wally. What's happened to Shirley, it's just the beginning. He's got his hooks into her. So this is Wally's colleague, Harry Hanks, a psychic, who's about to take this case in a new and quite dark direction. It feels like the family's now surrounded by people, telling them that Shirley is possessed. And it's coming from inside number 63 too.
We saw last episode how Shirley's gran, Ethel, is obsessed with this idea that Donald is quite literally the devil. I want you to listen to this clip from Shirley. One time she got the vicar to come with holy water and he sprayed it all around the house and then he threw it all over me. And I, what are you doing? And she said, that's to rid you of this awful thing.
That night, I think Donald was at his worst and dad blamed her. Dad said, now look what you've done, mother. She had an ornate crucifix. about 12 to 15 inches tall, and it always stood on a dressing table. And she brought this down and put it on the floor, and it was like somebody had kicked it like a football. Jesus has taken quite a beating. It's your grandmother's crucifix, Shirley.
Yeah, she put it in my bedroom last night. It went flying. Nan says it's proof that Donald's the devil.
Oh, I doubt it. Lucifer has better things to do than go around banging on people's walls.
You don't reckon he's trying to steal my soul, Chib?
Think about the most infamous evil masterminds. Hitler, Stalin, Franco. They worked on a grand scale. Why would Satan bother stealing individual souls? It's so... Inefficient. Far better to... Invest in atom bombs? Exactly. Or rock and roll.
So if he's not a demon, what is he?
A spirit. Trapped. Confused. Angry.
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Chapter 4: What are the risks involved in performing an exorcism?
If you want, Wally. Of course we do, don't we, Cheryl? Good, it's agreed then. Harry, there's some ladies I'd like you to meet. They're interested in making a donation. Grab me before you go, Wally, and don't worry. We'll sort her out.
Ah, well, I'm here, you know.
Wally, I would urge you not to do this. I fear it will only inflame matters. You saw tonight, Chib. He's got a gift. Mr Hanks is a showman. The dead are not theatrical props. Proper investigation will take time. We don't have that. Don't you understand, Chib? We are desperate. My mother thinks the devil's in our house, Kitty is sick, and Cheryl, she needs to be a kid, all right?
Not a newspaper headline.
Dad? We do it your way, Chib. How long are we looking at?
It's impossible to say. Weeks? Months? No.
Sorry, Chip.
Harry, we're on. So what's the plan? Bring her to mine tomorrow. We'll spend a few days preparing her and then we'll do it. Do what? A spiritual exorcism. We're going to force him to leave. Kieran and Evelyn, it really does feel now like we've stepped into a horror movie. What do we think about Harry Hanks' plan? It's a very emotive word, exorcism.
It is. I think there's lots of emotion bound up in it, but I think there's also lots of ethics bound up in it. At the very root of exorcism is the fact that an individual is claiming, I am going to remove a spirit either from a person or a place. In itself, it feels like quite an aggressive act. When you actually look into exorcism as what's happening in terms of rituals and
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Chapter 5: How does Harry Hanks plan to help Shirley?
It's serious physical assault. Some of these people are, you know, made to vomit. They're screamed at. I found a case where one survivor said it was like being raped. That was literally her word. There's that level of violation of space and body physically, but also mentally, emotionally, everything.
It's incredibly dangerous, and especially considering that Shirley is a 15-year-old girl, it's pretty harrowing.
I feel like I need to get my head around what's about to happen to Shirley. Is an exorcism really as dangerous as Kieran and Evelyn make out? And if so, why do people do it? So I decided to Google British exorcists and it's led me to this guy called Ralph Keaton. He's based in Hull in North East England and he runs his own museum of haunted objects. How often does your phone ring?
How often are you doing an exorcism? So on average per day, I'm getting maybe 30 to 40 calls a day. And then maybe about a hundred odd emails. Oh my God. I mean, I thought you were going to say like maybe once a month or something like that, 30 or 40 a day. Yeah, easily. Majority of the stuff can be explained. Most people ring me and say, I've got the devil in my house. Can you come and help me?
And then when I've turned up then I've gone, well actually it's your granddad and he's been slamming doors and saying hello to you for God knows how long and he's got fed up with you. Ralph's a striking figure in a polo neck with jet black hair. He looks a little bit like Gregory Peck in The Omen and he's been an exorcist for 30 years.
A lot of people will have seen the film The Exorcist and seen that famous scene of the priest reciting passages of the Bible as the girl wrestles in bed with the demon inside her. Is it anything like that? That's rare. And I'll be honest with you, if I walked into a bedroom and there's somebody with their head spinning and puking green stuff all over, I'm out.
So I was particularly interested in talking to you, Ralph, because Shirley, she's about to go through an exorcism. And I wanted to try and get my head around how that's going to work. Right. So what's happening is the mindset will be placed in such a place where she'll be guided through what's going on. They'll detach her from the energy. That's what they need to do. They need to separate.
But for her... She's got to be understanding what they're doing for her to be able to then release herself because she'll feel the loss. So you've got to want it to leave yourself? Yes. This is interesting because some people have actually portrayed this in the newspapers at the time as if the ghost is almost like her boyfriend. Here's the thing.
I like to try and relate things to life so people can kind of grab this. When you're in an abusive relationship, one partner is always being told, you've got to let him go, let him go. But part of them still loves the connection, loves the person. And they always think, oh, no, they'll get better. Oh, no. When you've got the spirit connection like this, it's the same problem you've got.
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Chapter 6: What ethical concerns arise during exorcism rituals?
After you.
Can you all hold hands, please?
Room for a small one.
Chib, you made it.
Give me your hand.
I wish I'd listened to you.
It's not too late. She's going nowhere. We're going to end this now. Together, we form a circle of power. In the name of God and Jesus Christ, protect us from evil. Let us be aided by entities of the light. And if there are entities of darkness, let us be strong enough to overcome them. Amen. Pray for Shirley. Surround her with power and love and light. Oh, I didn't like it.
That's when I started to get scared. We are coming for you, Donald. We will not let you have this girl. And I said, Dad, Dad, I don't want to do this, Dad. And he said, no, no, no, it's going to be all right. Nothing's going to hurt you. They're going to get rid of Donald for us. You want that, don't you? I said, oh, yes, yes. You know, I sat there scared. What's happening to him?
He's going into trance. Blimey, he doesn't do that at work. And he was writhing in the chair and moaning and he's... His face all seemed to change. I feel him. Wally. I want to go home. No. Hold on to each other. Do not break the circle. I have him. He is with me.
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Chapter 7: How do exorcisms impact the individuals involved?
Calm down.
No, I can't bear it. It's horrible. That's enough, Wally.
She's scared. Who's that? I think someone had better answer before they take the door off. All right. The rest of you, do not break the circle while he's in this state. It could be very dangerous. So she went out of the room and there was some steps down, opened the front door and we could hear a commotion going on and her shouting. No, you cannot. Is he all right? Hurry.
Hurry.
Can you hear us? And they were bringing him round, but he was in a poor way. I was still sitting there watching this happen. He came to Mr. Hanks. Where is Shirley? Here. I saw him, Shirley. And he is... Then Mrs. Hanks came back into the room and said it was the police. Right, nobody move. Sergeant, hit the lights. We've had a report of black magic.
Mr. Hanks, are you or are you not in the process of summoning the devil? Next episode on the Battersea Poltergeist. And Donald gets violent. It can get very serious.
Mum! Dad! Shell!
It's okay to be lifted and shifted around. That's frightening enough. What's that smell?
Something's burning.
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Chapter 8: What dramatic events unfold during the séance?
The Cipher. I don't know who I can trust anymore.
I'm sorry, I didn't want you to find out like this.
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