THE EXORCIST

Father Barry May is impressively tall with a mop of white hair and pale, clammy skin. He is sweating profusely even though it’s cold and he’s wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

The Anglican priest and former police chaplain is never without the crosses which sit on either collar to protect him as he casts demons from people and homes.

The gentle purr of his assistant Zara Secker, of Kelmscott, is the perfect foil to his deep, booming voice.

She is two heads shorter with a round, impish face and thick glasses which magnify her eyes. Her job in the exorcism process is to sense the presence of spirits, and she too is never without a cross.

Though their work may seem the stuff of a fiction novel, it is supported at the highest echelons of Perth’s Anglican Church.

Roger Herft says he too performs exorcisms in his duty as Archbishop, ridding people’s bodies and their homes of evil spirits.

He says the Church is somewhat uncomfortable with the word “exorcism” because of its Hollywood connotations, though the ritual involving prayer and holy water to cast out demons has remained unchanged over the years.

“I have cast out people who had a sense of darkness (an evil spirit) attached to them,” Archbishop Herft told Agenda. “In part it is an emotional and psychological disturbance, there is no doubt about that, but there is more to it than that.

“They somehow sense there is a deeper estrangement that they can’t quite comprehend, and neither can I. All I can present to them is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is more powerful than any other spirit that binds you.

“I do believe there are elements of darkness that go beyond our comprehension.”

The Catholic Church also has its own exorcists, with the Vatican training some priests in the practice, but it is more secretive about it.

The Vicar-General of Perth Archdiocese, Brian O’Loughlin, refused to reveal the names of the local Catholic exorcists but said the Church considered it an important service that should be performed after psychological treatments had been exhausted.

Monsignor O’Loughlin said it was the Church’s firm belief that a spirit could take possession of a person, and dismissed any suggestion that exorcisms were akin to voodoo or the work of a witchdoctor.

“The ones who don’t believe in spirits at all . . . that’s a problem, because there is a spirit world and a material world,” he said.

But this is not a uniform belief. Father May admitted that some people sought help from him because their own priests believed they were crazy and in need of psychiatric help.

“Some priests wouldn’t touch what I do with a barge pole,” he said.

Father May invited Agenda to witness an exorcism at a family home. When Agenda arrives, Father May is talking to the occupants about the unexplained footsteps, unusual rattlings and an unnerving presence in their Northbridge home. He explains that poltergeists and spirits are the unrested souls of dead people who have failed to pass over to the other side to face God, often because they have not had a proper burial.

Members of the Northbridge family, who do not want to be identified, say they are not religious, but called in Father May because they were at their wit’s end over some “inexplicable” occurrences. They are considering selling the property if Father May’s exorcism does not work.

They admit their confidence in the exorcism is not so strong that they would pay for it. But Father May’s service is free.

His assistant, Mrs Secker, wanders around the house on her own and uses what she describes as “a gift of discernment” to sense whether evil spirits occupy the house.

She returns and delivers her verdict: “There is something, or somethings, in this house. I sense violence, aggression.”

The family suddenly falls silent.

Father May begins a prayer calling on the spirits to pass over to the other side and for God to bless the house. He says even if the spirit is evil, it recognises the authority of God and will listen when ordered by one of his earthly servants. He sprinkles the holy water — salty water blessed by a priest — around the room, concentrating on the areas where Mrs Secker “feels” the strongest evil.

The group of seven shuffle into the next room and begin the process again. They repeat the ritual in every room, the front and back gardens, and the narrow side pathways.

They are praying in a small hallway when a door a metre in front of them slams shut.

The front door down the corridor is open but Father May will not entertain the idea of a draft blowing the hallway door shut. He is adamant that it is the work of angry spirits.

Family members were not convinced that spirits were responsible for slamming the door, but when contacted a week later, they told Agenda they believed the exorcism worked.

Father May, a 72-year-old grandfather from Embleton, says that only one of the exorcisms he conducted on a person resembled Hollywood’s dramatic depiction of the practice. In 1987, a Manjimup woman snarled, hissed and bared her teeth as he lightly placed his hands on her and prayed for the demons to leave her body.

He has performed only a handful of other “cleansings” on people. They were all short, quiet affairs involving prayers and holy water.

Medical experts hold grave fears over the practice of exorcising demons. The Australian Medical Association has warned people not to ignore conventional psychological remedies in favour of spiritual cleansings.

AMA president Gary Geelhoed said people were entitled to their own beliefs but that it could be dangerous to ignore professional help and medication.

History is sprinkled with cases of people dying while being cleansed of demons.

In 1993, Joan Vollmer, a 49-year-old schizophrenic who lived on a pig farm near Dimboola in Western Victoria, died during an exorcism which lasted several days and was performed by a small charismatic church attended by her husband.

There are several cases where people have died after crucifixes have been forced down their throat or up their nose and into their brain.

A WA Catholic woman, who would not be named, claims that as a child she had witnessed an exorcism being performed on her mother and had spent much of her adult life trying to recover from the experience.

She believed that exorcisms could convince people with a mental illness that they had been possessed by evil, even if their problems were purely psychological or physical.

“Exorcisms are leaning towards being outdated when it comes to dealing with mental illness,” the woman said.

“It really attaches a stigma to a person that is with them for life. How do you deal with being told that you have been possessed by a demon?

“I remember my mother telling me that the exorcism was mental rape.”

Father May said exorcisms could cause psychological trauma if not conducted properly or when performed on someone who did not need one. But he had never personally been involved in such a case.

In fact, he had talked many people out of submitting themselves to the ritual, claiming 95 per cent of those who believed they were possessed by a demon were mistaken. He said 3 per cent had become demonised by messing around with “the occult”, but only 2 per cent were actually possessed.

Father May is unapologetic about his career as an exorcist, claiming he has been guided into it by God.

He left his first job as a banker in South Australia in search of excitement as a police officer. After several years on the beat, he studied for the priesthood and became the WA police chaplain for 15 years, until 2007.

These days, he spends much of his time researching exorcisms for a book he is writing on the subject, and performing one or two of the rituals each month.

“I feel like I’ve helped a lot of people,” Father May said. “This is my calling.”