Indiana “Demon House” Meets Its End

With a high poverty rate, declining population, rampant crime, and nearly a fifth of its buildings standing vacant, there isn’t any mystery why Gary, Indiana has been called one of America’s most miserable cities. What has been left behind since the majority of the town’s industrial jobs have dried up over the past few decades isn’t a very pretty sight. Therefore, it isn’t uncommon for the rest of the country to simply look the other way. However, in early 2014, a shocking tale of demonic possession and exorcism drew international attention to this forgotten little corner of the United States and briefly all eyes were fixated on Gary, Indiana.

In a piece published by The Indianapolis Star detailing the incredibly unusual tale of a 32-year-old mother, Latoya Ammons, and her three children, the world was first introduced to the extraordinary claims being made by this family. The article, written by Marisa Kwiatkowski, has since been credited as the most read article in the newspaper’s history, but was only the beginning of the onslaught of media that would come to surround Latoya Ammons and her “demon house”.

The experiences of the Ammons family in the small, unassuming cottage on Carolina Street began when they rented the property in November 2011. While it all began with common “haunted house” business, such as hearing footstep and seeing shadows, it didn’t take long to escalate out of control. It was in March 2012 when the family claims to have witnessed one of the children levitating over her bed while sleeping. They contacted local churches for help right away, but initially found no one who was willing to take them seriously. So, feeling desperate, they settled on inviting two clairvoyants into the home for assistance. While they believed that they had gathered valuable information from the spiritualists, the activity only escalated.

According to information obtained from the psychics, the Ammons family was under attack by as many as 200 demons. Although they urged Latoya Ammons to move her children away from the house, she said that her financial situation made it impossible. Becoming ever more severe, the attacks on the family began causing injuries and the children would later recount to medical professionals instances of having been choked, held down, and thrown across the room by unseen forces. On many occasions, they resorted to staying at a hotel to escape the continued torment.

At the point when Latoya Ammons brought her children to their family physician as a final act of desperation, this story decisively takes a turn that makes it stand out from other cases like it. After explaining the situation thoroughly to the doctor, medical staff claims to have witnessed the youngest boy being thrown into the wall without being touched and both boys cursing in demonic voices. The children are then said to have passed out abruptly and were promptly transferred to a local emergency room for evaluation.

The spectacle continued at the hospital after the children finally came to, and hospital officials were forced to call in the Department of Child Services (DCS) even though the children didn’t appear to be victims of child abuse. Witnesses from the hospital, including a staff nurse, DCS employees, and police, later reported seeing the youngest boy speak in a demonic voice and rage wildly requiring him to be restrained by several men. They also claim to have seen him walk backward up a wall, defying gravity. Although events similar these have been reported by families before, this case uniquely involves several credible witnesses who have no immediate connection to the family. The children were subsequently taken into the custody of DCS following that evening.

After a request was made by the hospital chaplain, Reverend Michael Maginot agreed to visit with Ammons in her home. A convincing four-hour interview preceded Maginot’s decision that the family was being harassed by demonic beings and that he needed to perform an exorcism. As a former Catholic priest, Maginot had been trained in how to perform the Church’s fiercely guarded ritual and it ended up taking him no less than three exorcism attempts between May and June of 2012 to rid the family of their unholy enemies.

Following the nightmare, Latoya Ammons eventually regained custody of her children and the family relocated to Indianapolis. Although she has been accused of fabricating the whole ordeal, Ammons has spoken openly about it on several occasions and stands by her story. The tale is expected to be depicted in a movie set to be released later this year. The Ammons family has reported no further disturbances of the demonic kind, and they seem to be moving on with their lives.

As a result of the media circus surrounding Ammons after the original article was released, the property caught the attention of Zak Bagans, host of the popular Travel Channel show Ghost Adventures. He went on to purchase the house for $35,000 and shoot a documentary at the location. It was reported by many news outlets as recently as January 2016 that the house was demolished during the taping of Bagans’ documentary. Like the motion picture, his film is also expected to be released later this year.