Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

Possession and Exorcism 209
that take place in the Darkness novels, such eerie
encounters reflect a fascination with the supernatural
and, more specifically, with angels that has
come to characterize contemporary, conservative
Christianity.
See also Demons
For Further Reading:
Hexham, Irving. “The Evangelical Response to the
New Age.” In James R. Lewis and J. Gordon
Melton, eds. Perspectives on the New Age.
Albany: State University of New York Press,
1992.
Peretti, Frank E. This Present Darkness. Westchester,
IL: Crossway Books, 1986.
———. Piercing the Darkness. Westchester, IL:
Crossway Books, 1989.
Peter Ellis Case
In New Zealand, a number of ritual abuse cases
emerged following a conference that took place in
Christchurch in 1991. A workshop on Satanic
ritual abuse was part of the program. Following
the conference, the notion of ritual abuse was
promoted by the mass media. Partially because of
the media attention, and partially because of a
New Zealand law that allowed child molesters to
be convicted on the uncorroborated testimony of
young children, the stage was set for a ritual abuse
panic.
In one such case, Peter Ellis, an employee of
the Christchurch Civic Child Care Centre, was
convicted of child abuse. Following an extensive
police investigation, he was accused of sadistically
abusing at least seven small children, both in the
center and at other locations. The case began
seventeen days after the Christchurch conference
when a therapist filed a complaint alleging that
Ellis may have abused her son. The child never
corroborated his mother’s charges. Although
arrested, the case against Ellis was eventually
dropped. The mother subsequently filed a similar
complaint against a different employee at another
day-care center.
Later, at a meeting of parents with children at
the center, a social worker provided a list of symptoms
that was so general—tantrums, bedwetting,
and nightmares—that almost any parent might
entertain the notion that her or his child had been
abused. Concerned parents then formed support
groups that came to serve as rumor mills. Some
went so far as to grill their offspring with questions
until the children began relating tales
congruent with Satanic ritual abuse folklore. As in
other ritual abuse cases, the stories became
increasingly bizarre. The children were, they
claimed, forced to kill another child in a Satanic
rite, placed in ovens, forced to stand around naked
while female centre workers danced around them
in a circle, etc.
Although four of his female coworkers were
also arrested, Ellis was the only person charged
and convicted. He remains in jail to this day,
despite the fact that the ritual abuse notion has
been thoroughly discredited in recent years.
See also Satanic Ritual Abuse
For Further Reading:
McLoughlin, David. “Second Thoughts on the
Christchurch Civic Creche Case; Has Justice
Failed Peter Ellis” North and South. August
1996, pp. 54–69.
———. News Statement. North and South. July 19,
1995.
The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, July 28,
1995, p. 3; January 9, 1995, p. 11.
Possession and Exorcism
Possession is a situation in which a discarnate spiritual
being invades a living person and takes over
control of the body and, sometimes, control of the
mind. Possession can occur with or without the
cooperation of the individual, and the invader can
be the spirit of someone who has died, a deity or a
demon. Exorcism is the expulsion of otherwise
disembodied spirits who have taken over control
of (i.e., “possessed”) a human being. This driving
out can be a formal, ritual procedure, or a less
formal process, depending on the tradition.
Notions of possession and exorcism practices are
found worldwide, in every major religious and
cultural tradition.
Within Christianity and other monotheisms,
possession is almost always viewed as demonic.
The Gospels and the Book of Acts contain many
stories of demonic possession and exorcism by
Jesus or the disciples. In Christianity, however, one
may also be “possessed” by the Holy Spirit. The