A Day in the Life of a Modern American Exorcist

The ancient rite of casting evil spirits from the possessed is on the rise in the United States. Historically, demonic possessions have been used to describe mental or physical illnesses and even strings of bad luck, but the scientific community has debunked many of the outdated convictions.

With the U.S. being home to 20 percent of the world’s exorcists, VICE investigates why the phenomenon of exorcism is on the rise. We speak to Father Lampert, a member of the International Association of Exorcists and Michael Shermer, a former Evangelical Christian and founder of Skeptic magazine, to see why the modern exorcism is thriving in the West.

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[nxyulwi]

Person: Do you even lift bro??
Priest: No, I exorcise...

[liambrunner]

i like how vice conveniently left out how in the Catholic Church anybody who says they need an exorcism has to go through extensive medical and psychological examinations to make sure that what they are experiencing is definitely not a mental illness

[Kareymorris]

Father Vince was the priest at our church for many years, he actually baptized my son. He's a very interesting man. Very dry and matter of fact, but funny (as you can tell). My favorite thing he ever said about exorcism is that people get it in their head that he's gonna show up and swing dead chickens around by their necks and burn sage or something. People are surprised that exorcism is actually just prayer and faith in God. His stories are incredible, but told like it's just another day at work. He's wholly unaffected by the stunts of Satan, just another day at the office. If you meet him, you'd completely understand why he was chosen for the role. Amazing guy. One day he rang my doorbell and I thought, "oh shit... there's an exorcist on my porch. This can't be good." He was just returning my ID that I dropped at church. 😂 Normal everyday guy. My family and I are big fans.

[MVKruz]

Can we just get a Netflix film or series based on this priest’s experiences, so Colm Feore can portray him?

[potatoes_]

My professor in religion and ethics told us of his first time seeing an exorcism when he was in college he assisted a pastor with some deacons in casting the demon away through songs and prayers. The possessed man turned to their side and said in a demonic voice "You're praying to cast me out when you're cheating with your wife?" then one of the deacons got up and was too terrified he walked away.

[littlemissfacts]

It is hard to believe in the paranormal until something paranormal happens to you. Never close your minds to the possibilities.

[HumanErroReXe]

Damnit now I have to rewatch the video because I was too busy reading comments and not paying attention to the video.

[TheMeJustMe]

I have had first hand experience with a demon. It's nothing like in the movies. I did experience temperature change, felt like something was breathing in my face and there were growls and a sense of anger. I saw absolutely nothing, no hideous creature, it was invisible. When I spoke the name of Jesus it went ballistic but it never touched me. It ended up going down the hallway into a bedroom. The door slammed and you could see the door move like someone was punching the door from the other side. When my friends and I prayed it started crying out, like it was multiple voices. God can give you strength in these times and fear is gone. After it's over then your mind freaks out.

[mexikunt]

I want Vice to give me more of these types of videos.

[dwrink]

if this man saw someone levitate then we need to strap a gopro on him

[the_real_eszosy]

Gotta love the humor
"I jokingly like to refer to her as my Ex-or-sistant"
Pure gold lmao

[Ceci]

Many people downright mock & ridicule not believing in demonic possession however I experienced a horrific demonic possession of my very young daughter. She verbalized incidents she had no possible way of knowing including things that took place when I was little ... she had absolute knowledge at that time of horrific things and stating unsettling ugly statements. I was just a single mother of 3 children and gathered my other 2 children while we prayed over my daughter asking God to place his hand on this situation. We prayed 5 hours for her until she said "mommy, he's gone." Faith is soooo important.

[chrisandrews]

No one really talkin about the “exor-sisstant” joke?
That one got me out of nowhere 🤣

[ZZZ]

I don't know, the father strikes me as a reasonable, genuine, open and tolerant person, which is completely the opposite of what religion haters depict catholic priests

[stephanielim]

For the non believers. My sister is a licensed psychologist, and she herself admits that exorcism isn't performed randomly. You need to present medical and psychological information that proves that medicine can't help you, and the priest is not just any priest because you need to file a permission to the Vatican and they themselves will contact a exorcist priest near to your hometown.

[robertolimpio]

I appreciate vice giving an even take on a truly extraordinary phenomenon.... I understand they still benefit from pushing a certain position, but this felt as close to a journalistic approach as I have seen in a long time.

[kevinpark]

My cousin so poor that when she couldn't pay the catholic church for exorcism, they repossessed her.

[Verinius]

I grew up as a Catholic, got into Pentecostal churches, then went back to being a Catholic. The priests in the Catholic church are less concerned about converting people to their faith and more about helping people in the community, even if they are not Catholics. Catholic priests, especially the Jesuits, have no problem relying on science and psychology and believing experts in the field. In fact, in my university, our President back then was a priest with a doctorate in Physics. They are definitely more open-minded and temperate than Pentecostals based on my experience.

Speaking of exorcisms, my Jesuit priest friend told me that exorcisms in the Catholic church are documented. They have videos of the sessions, though not publicly available I suppose. He told me that one of the cases involved a baby that could lift a fridge. It sounds funny when I type it here, but when he told me it was documented on video I got scared a little bit.

Anyway, healthy skepticism is good. That's how we avoid accidents and injuries. The priest himself said it, most claims of demonic possession are fake and needs mental health support.

[atheaalvarado]

" Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; *blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed* "
- John 20:29 - 30

[brooketaylor]

How anyone can look around at the world around them and still not believe in spiritual warfare is beyond me.