The Case Study Concludes - The Moffitt Family Poltergeist Case

 'The wheel of names' mirror writing of April 9, 1990 (one of several wheel diagrams found on the mirror that were photographed).  The name 'Baal' is found in an oval below the wheel.

 

The Moffitt Family poltergeist case is unique in regard to the extent of the communications that took place via anomalous writing with bars of soap on a bathroom mirror in the family's home.  Photographs of paranormal manifestations in Deborah Moffitt's nonfiction book Unwelcomed (2015) provide evidence of the variety of strange phenomena experienced between 1987 and 1992 in Rancho Cucamonga and environs (see preceding articles 1, 2).  What is shown in the photos includes objects knocked from shelves, religious objects thrown around, damage to vehicles, the entity's symbol carved out of the carpet, dirt and rocks in the bed of Deborah's mother-in-law Lee, an apported bent knife found on the stairs, holes found gouged in the wall, and mail found with burnt edges upon retrieval from the mailbox.

"The entity's symbol carved out of the carpet, this spanned over 4 feet long."

Reading about these distressing and inconvenient experiences raises questions in regard to relativity in comparing people's life circumstances.  It is evident from the considerable money spent on expenses for some of the ineffectual visiting would-be ghosthunters that the family was economically privileged despite Deborah's husband Bill Jr. having a heart condition that had ended his dreams of a successful career.  Lee's late father was Andre Cuccia, a member of one of the Cosa Nostra/Sicilian Mafia families in California.  If other readers are like me, they will consider the consequences of experiencers of paranormal phenomena equating manifestations with 'demons.'  Family outings and vacations resulted with evidence of 'Mr. Entity' always being with them.  After a parapsychologist from the east coast and his assistant were brought to the house, Deborah wrote:

In the face of yet another crushing disappointment our desperation mounted.  We began to think ourselves stuck with the entity with no chance of relief.  Still we took turns looking for help in every place we could find.  We held onto the logic that statistically it was an eventuality that we would come into contact with someone who could actually help us.

Deborah mentioned that with the return of paranormal researcher Gary who otherwise was facing the prospect of being broke and homeless, "the entity continued its pattern of diving its attacks between him and Lee" — "attacks" may seem an overstatement, depending on one's impression of the sensibility being expressed with the various clues beyond any incorrect associations and assumptions expressed by Deborah throughout the account.

To show his gratitude for allowing him to stay, Gary resumed his search for people to help us.  He was ecstatic when he found Ellen.

Ellen was a self-proclaimed Voodoo priestess who lived in New Orleans.  Gary reasoned that the portal that gave the entity access to our lives was managed through Santeria, which is in part derived from Voodoo.

It was another exercise in futility: "The only thing that had been banished was the money we spent on their tickets [round-trip airplane tickets for her and a companion]."  Deborah doesn't remember how she found out about Dr. Evelyn Paglini yet the occultist's perspective of the haunting presence being a demon brought reciprocal reviling mirror writing messages.  After the initial visit with the family, Paglini occasionally telephoned them and Bill Sr. would write on the mirror what she instructed.  The family would then wait to see the responses that appeared on the mirror.  "Dr. Paglini would tell Bill Sr. to draw a symbol.  The entity would then counter with one of his own.  In between moves the entity would write insults . . . [including] 'Dr. Piglini.'  It began describing her sexual habits, writing all sorts of filth including her proclivity for fornicating with dogs."

Deborah recalled about Paglini: "She believed the only way we would be safe was to pay it homage . . . We were not going to pay homage to a demon, no matter the cost.  Evelyn then warned us that we were never going to get rid of this demon because one of us was giving it permission to stay."  Evelyn soon thereafter identified Bill Sr. in this capacity.  When confronted, "Bill Sr. laughed and asked how we could believe a stranger over him."  Deborah commented: "No matter who came to help us, the entity always won."

Perhaps the two oddest photos of mirror writing were taken by the family on 2-28-1989.  In both, the same phenomenally rendered symbols are seen on the bathroom framed mirror.  The first photo shows a reflection of the bathroom while Deborah identified what is inexplicably seen in the background of the second photo as the family's kitchen.

In June 1989 there was a visit by a 'paranormal field investigator' named Chacon holding an electromagnetic field meter.  A mirror writing message informed Deborah: "the machine did not detect me you fools" (7-8-1989).  Another legible portion of a July message is shown stating "Chacon is nothing / no juice."

One 1989 photograph of the mirror writing shows the words "he wiped the mirror" with the caption explaining: "Mr. Entity told me Bill Sr. was wiping the mirror." 

A July 4, 1989 mirror writing message noticed by Deborah is identified as signifying "Mr. Entity writing to Bill Sr. to do his own dirty work."  The book photo shows the legible phrase "do your own dirty work."  Deborah interpreted the message as confirming that "Bill Sr. was trying to cement an alliance with the presence plaguing our home." 

A July 9, 1989 mirror writing message is transcribed for a caption: "Andre will stick the spear into Marcel's heart."
 
A book photo with a date that is unclear includes words identified by the author as "My other half old nutsy is back / thank Satan" and also the name "andre" and the word "nuts."
 
Another photo with no date has some legible words: "Andre is a vessel of hate / Andre must . . . of treason / crazy."  
 

Lee is identified as having been left "comfortably well off" due to her parents and thus she was the one who "held the purse strings."  While Deborah and Bill Jr. were happily married, this was not the case with Lee and Bill Sr.  Deborah mentioned in Chapter 19: "Lee's strength was returning in full as she recovered from her previous illness.  She grew more leery with each passing day of her husband . . ."  Also: "Mr. Entity's harassment continued daily . . . One day after being in the bedroom the whole day she remarked to Bill that she felt like she was glued to the bed.  The next morning we heard screams of terror from the bedroom . . . The entity had actually glued her to the bed . . . Thankfully it wasn't one of the more powerful adhesives, but it was very painful to peel away, especially from her hair."  In the same chapter, the family's aged dog Penny is found to have drowned in the pool.

Mr. Entity was proud to take credit for her death.  He wrote that she was old so he put her out of her misery, just like he was going to do to Lee.

At the end of December Gary went back east to stay with family members.  Between January and the beginning of March 1990, Lee was hospitalized several times with Deborah mentioning on one occasion "she was so inflamed they had to cut her wedding ring off before it cut off the circulation to her finger."  Here is Deborah's explanation of what happened to Lee: "Lee was severely allergic to aspirin.  If she ingested it she blew up like a balloon.  The entity began putting crushed aspirin into Lee's food.  Lee would unknowingly eat the tainted food and within fifteen minutes she would start to swell."  The following excerpt shows Deborah's brief account of one of her family's many mysterious situations.

One day Bill Sr. and I went to the grocery store and while we were there Bill Sr. bought a chocolate layer cake from the bakery.  The lady at the bakery put it in a box and tied it up so it would be protected while we drove home.  When Lee saw the box she commented how much she was looking forward to having a piece.  When she opened the box and took the cake out, it was covered in powdered aspirin.

After Deborah had learned she was pregnant again, a message written on the mirror stated "Congratulations.  You are having twins."  A sonogram later confirmed the news.  She gave birth to twins Jeffrey and Jessica in 1990.  The family continued to seek someone who could bring about an end to the haunting.  During a trip to Arizona to consult a 'medicine man,' Bill Sr.'s behavior reached a new level of strangeness.

Suddenly I heard howling coming from the room next door.  Bill and I burst into the room to find Bill Sr. sitting on the edge of his bed howling like a wolf.  His head was tilted back and his eyes were closed.  It was unbelievable.  He was making sounds that I didn't believe capable of him.  I walked over to him with great trepidation and shook him gently.  He just looked at me blankly and laid down again.

Gary returned to stay with the family in June 1990 after asking if he could live with the Moffitts temporarily as he just couldn't tolerate living with his stepfather.  Deborah mentioned a new incident involving Gary that occurred a few days later: ". . . he opened his brand new leather briefcase to find it filled with water.  I'll never understand exactly how it didn't leak prior to him opening it, but when he did I would have laughed if I wasn't the one to have to clean up the mess."

Deborah also recounted anecdotes involving telephone calls.  After the flood from the staircase, there was a telephone call from a plumber who told Lee he'd be right over.  "The problem was that we hadn't called or told anyone about the spontaneous waterfall on our staircase.  Later we found a message on the mirror that said 'that was me on the phone.'"

 

Lee went to several doctor's appointments only to find that they had been canceled.  The strange part was that the ones they had made the appointments with swore that they received calls from the ones who arranged it to cancel.  One day we got a call from Betty out of the blue.  She told us that Gary was a fraud and we couldn't trust him.  When we got another call from her the next day, she seemed to have no memory of the conversation the day before.  When we brought her up to speed on the contents of the discussion, she firmly denied having called the day before.

Deborah reported that after Gary's return: "It was during this time that the entity started back up with his demands for a blood ritual.  He wrote on the mirror again that he wanted us to bring Henri back to the house to perform it."  

The entity explained that we knew Henri as David.  Henri was David's name in a past life from which the entity knew him.

'Light worker' Reverend David made a new visit to the family in mid-July and witnessed a succession of mirror writing messages.  The spear head that had materialized in April was mentioned in the messages.  In the book, Deborah also identified 'Marcel' as the name used for Gary.

The Entity wrote that he wanted  Henri to perform a blood ritual with the spear.  It had to be the spear that drew blood; no other implement would suffice.  He wrote that Gary's blood was to be used and Henri should pierce his heart to get it.  Now this was a novel change.  Never before had the entity demanded the life of any other but Lee.  I again told Mr. Entity a blood ritual was not going to happen. 

  

"he must pay for his betrayal / you don't know the real andre" 7-11-1990

The top of a message is legible in another photo: "andre once fucked madame du barry left handed whore . . ."
 
Another photo shows a wheel symbol above what is described in the book as "the entity's symbol" alongside the message "debbie can stop meta not me" with a caption questioning "Who was Meta?"

Other 1989 photos included in the book show some legible three word statements: "Bill is me"; and "We love Bill / you will see."

Deborah reported that days after Reverend David's visit, Gary accepted a job as estate caretaker on an island off the East Coast: "For the third time we wished Gary luck and told him to keep in touch."

A unique message left on the wallpaper next to the bathroom mirrors was written in blue crayon:

       Lee

         do not gaze longingly
         at the forest or the trees
         will destroy you     he will
         destroy you

                      a friend

              the holy
               trinity

Deborah commented: Was this really another presence in the house . . . we could only speculate . . ."  She spoke to "the new entity" in the bathroom as she had to 'Mr. Entity':

I politely asked the spirit to do everything to Bill Sr. that Mr. Entity had done to Lee; cut his clothes, destroy his personal items, and harass him.  To my delight it worked.

 

Deborah wrote: “For the first time Bill Sr. assisted in the search for help.”  When Lee suggested he seek psychiatric help so he could let go of the hostility he felt for her, he agreed and began seeing a therapist.

Lee asked her husband to move into one of the guest bedrooms yet he was allowed to return to the room where the rest of the family was sleeping after telling them the entity had tried to electrocute him — he said he woke up laying in a puddle of water while his electric blanket was turned on.
 
A new message in crayon on the wall was photographed on 6-21-1991:

Lee

     why hasten
     your demise
     he wants you
     dead
          . . . . a friend
     I must move on
     as you do not
     heed my words
     may God help
     you

When Bill Sr. told his therapist that the entity had tried to kill him, he was placed in a mental hospital for observation and released two weeks later.  When the family arrived to pick him up, the staff wanted Lee to commit herself so she also could be helped.  This was the last straw for Lee concerning her husband.  She told him he had to leave the house and he did.  "The only way she would even consider taking him back was if the entity left and he mended his ways."

A month later, it was noticeable that the haunting phenomena was less active with Deborah commenting: ". . . the tension that Bill Sr. brought with him wherever he went was gone."

While Bill Sr. would never be permitted to return, Lee allowed Gary to stay at the house again after he telephoned to say that he had been fired from his job.  Again Gary found his clothes being destroyed and his shoes hidden.

Deborah wrote in Chapter 26 that Mr. Entity had been in her life for over five years at this point.  She told the haunting presence that Bill Sr. was never coming back and now Mr. Entity had to go.  The mirror writing response was: "I do not want to go."

Gary resumed his search for someone who could help the Moffitts and he obtained the telephone number for "a woman named Nanette, who purportedly channeled a member of the Great White Brotherhood."  Deborah explained: "This is an organization of 'Ascended Masters,' which are powerful spirits who were once incarnate humans that guide and enlighten the masses through select vessels."

During Nanette's visit, the family and Gary watched as she went into a trance and channeled a 'Brother' who lived in the Far East centuries ago.

Apparently Lee was connected to an ancient evil from a past life.  It was her karma to deal with the entity now and there was no avoiding it.

Gary told the 'Ascended Master' that he could write a book about Nanette and received an affirmative response from the 'Brother.'  Deborah thought that Nanette had been involved with a "poorly acted" performance; however, Deborah seems to have little knowledge and experience with 'channeling' among other paranormal topics.  Within a few days, the family was waving at Gary as he left in Nanette's car yet only five days later Gary returned due to Nanette insisting upon him paying rent.

Deborah reported that "Gary decided to try a different approach to our problem."  He went to the mirror and proposed that the entity leave with him as Gary was now planning on making a new start in England.

Following mirror writing messages are shown in the book: "Gary is me / I am him / not stable enough / all empty vessel / I want to stay here"; and "I will not work with an inferior being / I will defeat him if I must."

"no integrity / no homage / no depth / no character / no substance / no word / I will stop him in his pursuit"

During the next few weeks as Gary made arrangements for relocating to England, there were no anomalous manifestations.  Then on the night before Gary's departure, there was a new mirror writing message: "I am ready to leave here when you are Marcel (the name the entity used for Gary).  We now go on with our life.  You are now mine, my servant."  After Gary left in an airport shuttle van, Deborah went to the mirror and saw written in large letters: "Good Bye my family."  

Aloud I said "Good Bye Mr. Entity."  That was the last time I ever spoke to him.  Of course we didn't actually believe he was gone.  After what we had been through over the past several years it was doubtful that he would leave just like that.

The message would be the last communication of 'Mr. Entity' chronicled by Deborah.  Bill Sr.'s passing occurred in 2007 and he had not been in contact for years.  The official cause of death is reported to be congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  Lee made her transition in 2009 after returning home from a two week hospital stay for double pneumonia.  Deborah heard Lee say "mama" and speak in Tobresh shortly before Bill Jr. told Deborah that Lee had passed.  Deborah reported that Bill Jr. succumbed to his heart condition in 2012.

Gary lived for years in England and Deborah once heard that he was living in Spain.  "Shortly after he left he told me that he found the triangle with the tail carved into his apartment door, but after that he refused to talk about it and denied entirely that Mr. Entity was still with him."

Clues from 'Mr. Entity' - The Moffitt Family Poltergeist Case

"The bed was still moving when this photo was taken."  9-12-1990

 

Something to consider regarding Deborah Moffitt's nonfiction case study book Unwelcomed (2015) chronicling the unpredictable 1987-1992 haunting of her family residing in Rancho Cucamonga (see preceding article), the experiencers' perception of the haunting presence as a demon is a factor when one attempts to make sense of the phenomena that manifested.  The word 'demon' or 'demonic' connoting evil is a superstitious derivative of the Latin/Greek 'daemon'/'daimon,' perhaps reminding one of the account of the 'daemon' of Socrates with Socrates recognizable as being one of the chosen ones (not by men) to expand the spiritual understanding of others throughout the ages.  When reflecting about what is reported about a particular case of 'unexplained phenomena,' a reader also should evaluate how witness testimonials were influenced by personal beliefs, emotions and objectives. 
 
In a previous blog article about the Morse talking poltergeist case reported in a 1684 book by Increase Mather, it was noticeable that there were numerous calamities and some violent altercations in the descriptions of the uncanny travails of the Morse family by a "daemon"; however, no lasting injuries were mentioned.  It seems evident that experiencers of so-called 'paranormal phenomena' ignorant of context could—perhaps even unintentionally—distort or exaggerate aspects of their account in accordance with their own assumptions or theories; therefore, readers must carefully consider all the aspects of manifestations in developing a perspective of any particular case of transcendental communication/anomalous phenomena.

 

There are photos of knives included in Unwelcomed with Deborah reporting that knives were found placed in strategic locations throughout the house — ostensibly "for Lee to sit or lie down upon," Deborah appraised.  One photo shows six or more knives atop Lee's new bed.  In another photo, two knives are seen protruding from the carpeted staircase leading upstairs.  However, Lee was never actually harmed by any of the knives.  There are also photos of symbols carved onto a door.  The figure of a cross is a symbol seen repeatedly among the photos.

9-6-1990

 4-28-1991

After moving to their new house in the Alta Loma neighborhood, a gamut of mysterious phenomena continued to be experienced by Deborah Moffitt, her husband Bill, their son Jamie and her in-laws Bill Sr. and Lee.  The weird occurrences included:

* The family would sometimes hear their names called when each was alone
* doorbell ringing with no one at the door
* footsteps heard all over the house
* sounds "like someone was moving furniture upstairs" (the family were all sleeping in the downstairs bedroom)
* sawing noises
* the "creaking and rattling" of an antique wheelbarrow outside in the middle of the night (a sound that greatly disturbed Bill Sr.)
* knocks and raps (commonly associated with hauntings)
* a serenade one night with "a rhythmic pounding that resembled stereotypical Native American war drums" (the next day two Native American shamans were coming to the house)

Deborah mentioned that the pounding serenade incident "was enough to drive Lee and Bill crazy"; however, Deborah's reaction was different: "I guess the entity thought it was amusing, and to tell you the truth so did I.  Unfortunately, it appeared that I was the only one in the family who did."

I've personally always favored a scientific verbatim transcript approach to document transcendental communication; for example, books mentioned in previous blog posts such as  Health: Its Recovery and Maintenance (1929) by transcendental communicator 'Abduhl Latif,' Uri: A Journal of the Mystery of Uri Geller (1974) by Andrija Puharich (1, 2), The Magic Bag (first printed in 1949, expanded and revised in future editions with a Part 2 published in 1952) by [or through] 'trance channeler' Mark Probert, Where Two Worlds Meet (1951) by Arthur Findlay (1, 2), and The Image of an Oracle: A Report on Research Into the Mediumship of Eileen J. Garrett (1964) by Ira Progoff (1, 2, 3).

Verbatim transcripts make it less likely that misunderstandings will arise, which is my estimation in relation to what is related by Deborah about an occurrence described in the ninth chapter of Unwelcomed.  Seeking someone who might help them expel the unwanted manifestations, the family contacted Thelma Moss who had founded the UCLA parapsychology lab in the 1970s.  This resulted with researcher Kerry Gaynor visiting them in 1988 and he went on to hold a seance in the house with the mandate that the Moffitt family members themselves not participate.  Deborah described what she had learned from Gaynor about the seance.

Supposedly a spirit was contacted and spoke through the medium [a young lady].  He said that the spirit was the brother of my grandfather.  It seems that my grandfather had been responsible for giving his little brother a bath one day when tragedy struck.  Somehow the boy had drowned in the tub.  The spirit said that it was tormenting our family because it wanted revenge against me.

After consulting a female Native American shaman named Red Wind whose elder shaman told Deborah "You are not who you think you are," the Moffitts arranged for a new intervention to be attempted.  When Red Wind and another shaman, Fire Panther, confronted the haunting presence to force the entity to show itself in the attic, Deborah witnessed a bizarre event.

Slowly and right before my eyes I watched as the pink insulation on the inside of one of the walls slid off and formed into the rough shape of a huge head.  It was at least five feet tall, but only a head formed.  As it became more defined we could see that it had a very large chin, a large strong nose, high cheekbones, and where and ear should have been a circular horn began.  The horn made a circle on the side of the head and then curved over the head and past the forehead.

After around 40 seconds, the visage fell apart.  Before leaving, Red Wind told Deborah that Fire Panther had put the entity into Bill's dog named Jeff.  The followed a period without any paranormal manifestations.  During this time, the dog became very ill and diagnosed with lymphangiectasia "within a short time he passed away."  Deborah recalled what happened thereafter: "Almost immediately we began seeing signs of the entity's return."

In the later part of 1988, the Moffitts were referred to contact Los Angeles psychic Brian Hurst and Deborah mentioned that he has remained a trusted friend.  Upon meeting him, it was learned that Brian was a trance medium although he chose not to go into that state while inside the Moffitt house.  Through Brian, the Moffitts became acquainted with a paranormal researcher from the East Coast named Gary, who offered to stay with the family in the house and document the happenings.  Beginning his investigation by announcing "Show me what you can do!," a book immediately struck Gary on the side of his head.  Deborah wrote: "From that moment until Gary left the house months later, the entity tormented him on the same level as he did Lee; that is to say unmercifully."  Eventually some explanations about Gary's predicament would be offered by 'Mr. Entity.'

While researching paranormal investigators, Deborah learned about Ed and Lorraine Warren and was able to get their telephone number.  She recalled, "That night something happened that forced us into making a decision [about bringing the Warrens to the house from the East Coast]."  A torrent of water cascaded down the stairs from an inexplicable source.  Deborah went to the mirror [where messages were often found] and screamed for the entity to stop the water.  "It was as if a switch was suddenly turned off . . . We spent the next five hours using mops, towels, and wet vacuums to sop up the water."  It was 1:30 am on the East Coast when Deborah first spoke with Lorraine Warren via telephone.  Lorraine offered to have Deborah call again later.  Deborah learned that the Warrens were already scheduled to come to California to attend a meeting and the couple agreed to visit the Moffits and try to help them.

Deborah remembered: "During our wait for the Warrens the entity stayed busy tormenting Lee and Gary.  The entity's new favorite topic for discussion was Gary's sex life . . . the main theme seemed to be the diminutive size of Gary's penis . . ."  Deborah realized that having Gary stay with them "took some of the pressure off of Lee."  Photographs show the results of phenomena similar to the effect of scissors upon Gary's personal effects.

The Warrens arrived in February 1989.  During their visit, one night Ed performed the 'Rite of Provocation' in the Moffitts' living room.  During the rite, Deborah noticed "something was off with Bill Sr."
 

His left arm slowly curled up toward his chest.  His back began to curve forward and his head rested on his chest.  He stood up and started walking toward Ed, dragging his right leg as he went.


Slowly Bill Sr. advanced toward Ed.  He raised his hand, and between his fingers he held a small piece of wood, which he thrust in front of my father-in law's face.  "You can't hurt me.  This piece of wood is a holy relic and it protects me!" he shouted.  Bill Sr. looked at him in the face and said "I will bite off your hand, chew it and that piece of wood up and spit it in your face!"


Bill Sr. remained silent.  He walked back to the couch, sat down, and began acting like nothing had happened.

Bill Sr. "had no recollection of what just transpired."  Deborah reported: "He [the Entity] would take any religious objects the Warrens would give to us and either destroy them or throw them into the swimming pool."  Deborah wrote that Ed Warren explained that "there was nothing personally they could do to make the entity leave.  Lorraine believed that the demon was attached to Lee; so moving would not help us."  The Warrens had no church connections on the West Coast so they contacted a friend who put the Moffitts in touch with a High Episcopal Church.  The Moffitts went to Saint Mary's of the Angels in Los Angeles and after an impromptu baptism of Jamie, an exorcism was arranged for the following Sunday.

On Saturday Bill Sr. made it known that he didn't approve of an Episcopalian priest performing a religious rite at their house and warned her that the Catholic Church would excommunicate her.  Although the exorcist came to the house, rang the doorbell and knocked, he was not allowed inside.

The Warrens attended their meeting on that Sunday and went home the next day.  They called and I explained what had happened.  Ed was very nice and apologized for not being able to help us.

Deborah wrote: "The writing on the mirror resumed, along with the usual phenomena."  A metaphysical bookstore cashier recommended that the family contact a "light worker from Carson, California," Reverend David Zubrinsky.  When David told Deborah that he was a "walk-in" (indicating "a person who takes over another person's body when the soul leaves it" or at least a professed belief about such circumstances), Deborah was disenchanted yet he impressed her by presenting an old book with "a picture of a demon's sigil: a triangle with a tail.  Under the drawing, written in old script were the words, 'Demon of Destruction.'"  It was arranged for David to visit the Moffitt house the next day; however, the visit was brief and uneventful.  David telephoned them a few days later.
 

He told us he didn't have the power to make this entity leave.

Surprisingly the entity seemed happy to see David.  He wrote [on the mirror] that he knew David from one of the Reverend's previous lives, but at this time gave no details.

In March Gary returned to stay with Brian Hurst with Deborah observing, "With two thirds of his clothes destroyed and half of his hair left we didn't blame him one bit."  One night Lee went to the pantry and the door locked behind her.  Opening the door, the family found Lee laying on the floor, rubbing her neck and crying.  Deborah went to the mirror to talk to the entity.

I told him that I would treat him with respect and that he would treat me with respect.  He was not to touch my child, my husband, or Lee.


When I returned the entity had written on the mirror, "I will not touch the child.  I will not touch your husband, but Lee belongs to me."

Deborah asked the entity to clarify what me meant and acknowledged about her recollection of the messages, "the verbatim dialogue has been lost in a sea of time twenty five years wide."  The entity "wrote out a remarkable story of past lives and satanic worship" involving a monastery in 1600s France, black magic, blood sacrifice, and (as understood by Deborah) a "nun, who coincidentally was a previous incarnation of Lee."  It was at this time that Deborah began calling the haunting presence "Mr. Entity" as she refused to use "Prince."
 

He [entity] started to talk to me of  events past and future.  I asked him questions and he would answer me.  The entity even started to bring me small gifts: rocks, pictures, jewelry, and various odds and ends.

Deborah mentioned that the entity continuing to demand Lee's death put a damper on their communication.  When parapsychology researcher Dr. William Roll expressed interest in the Moffitts' case, a telephone conversation was scheduled.  Deborah and her husband were shocked when Bill Sr. "for some unknown reason . . . told Dr. Roll that we were planning on having a movie made about our experiences with the demon."  Dr. Roll's response was to no longer want to get involved with the case and Deborah was left pondering Bill Sr.'s conduct.  At this point in the book, a photographed mirror writing message is shown that states: "I got your chain and the cross.  I can enter him without his cross."

During a weekend getaway to Victorville, Deborah was awoken Sunday morning by pounding on the cabin door.  It was Lee from the adjacent cabin.  She brought Deborah and Bill to see the bathroom where Lee's baby powder covered the floor.  Deborah explained: "In the powder were spots that looked like footprints . . . The heel looked like a large semi-circle.  Where toes should have been were only small marks that looked like claws.  There was nothing in the space left between heel and claws.  They were considerably larger than a normal human footprint, with the length between prints suggesting a long stride."
 
Successive mirror messages "Lee die in 10 days" then 9, 8, 7, etc., proved to be warnings as on the last day Lee became "violently ill" with what was diagnosed as double pneumonia and congestive heart failure.  During her hospitalization for a month, Brian Hurst gave Lee a picture of India's Sai Baba and a plastic bag of ashes associated with the spiritual teacher who was known for the 'vibhuti' materializing in his presence (Spirit manifests in unusual ways around certain individuals to provide metaphors for others).  Deborah reported that on the same night after visiting Lee, Brian experienced a robbery attempt at gunpoint, found all the food in his refrigerator was spoiled, and his car was towed and impounded for no apparent reason: "He believed it was a warning from the entity to stay away from Lee . . ."  
 
Deborah wrote about the phenomena following Lee returning home from the hospital: ". . . everything started up again in full force."  Among the mirror writing messages shown in the book is the sentence "GOD PROTECT US" (written by Bill Sr.) with GOD crossed out and "PRINCE" written above the word; and Deborah reported a message about a pair of would-be interveners who visited the house: "Throw a net over him.  He's nuts" and "Thomas has a 12 inch dick.  That is why Muriel walks funny."

On April 23, 1989 around 3 am, Bill Sr. awoke when he felt something cold on his leg.  Deborah recalled: "It looked like a dagger made of dark metal . . . I went into the bathroom to query Mr. Entity.  On the mirror it said, 'I want a blood ritual' . . . He said that it was a spear head . . . he gave detailed instruction on how to perform the ritual . . . I told Mr. Entity that there was not going to be a blood ritual performed under any circumstances."  The next day, Deborah and her husband took the spear head to the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles.  A staff member examined the spear head and told them that it was from the Belgian Congo in Africa.  "He marveled at the fact that it was obviously over two hundred years old but showed no signs of deterioration." 
 

"The spear apported to us by Mr. Entity."  4-24-1989

Deborah noted that shortly after the appearance of the spear, Gary returned to stay with the family.  He told them that he had nowhere else to go.  Gary would eventually be involved in the events leading to the cessation of the signs of Mr. Entity's presence.  Unwelcomed will be further profiled in next week's blog article.

 

5/29/17 Update: Today an article at thedailybeast.com reported about Kerry Gaynor now being "Hollywood's Hypnotist to the Stars".  Reporter Miranda Frum was unable to stop smoking so a friend referred her to Kerry.  After watching some videos, she noticed quick results and commented: "As an initial skeptic, I was surprised by the results.  Hypnosis might not be such a kooky treatment after all."  Kerry is quoted: "The power lies in the subconscious.  As a hypnotist, I can help you connect to that power through your subconscious.  And that power can enable you to overcome what seems like a very powerful addiction.”  

 

The Moffitt Family Poltergeist Case 1987-1992

Unwelcomed (2015) is described as "The True Story of the Moffitt Family Haunting."  The book is the nonfiction case study of the paranormal experiences that occurred to the Moffitt family between 1987 and 1992 in Rancho Cucamonga, Southern California.  Author Deborah Moffitt has answered questions about her uncanny experiences with recorded interviews available online along with photographic evidence of her family's interaction with the haunting presence that she nicknamed 'Mr. Entity.'

There have been numerous articles at this blog about chronicled 'talking poltergeist' cases (see "List of 'Talking Poltergeist' Accounts").  Consistent blog readers will observe parallels between cases along with some aspects of novelty noticeable with each unique chronology.  In the Moffitt family's predicament, the 'talking' aspect was accomplished by a lengthy sequence of messages written on a bathroom mirror by an unseen being using bars of soap.  When asked for a name, the entity is reported to have once left on the mirror the name "Prince."

Comparing this case with others, I found a surprising correlation with a famous poltergeist case.  It was astonishing to learn about the strange harassment of Lee, Deborah's mother-in-law.  Deborah reported:

"Prince" turned his wrath toward Lee.  He wrote constantly of his hate for her and how he wanted her dead.  We soon learned that Prince had a symbol.  Throughout our home we discovered various manifestations of a triangle with a small tail extending out of the base.  He burned it into walls, carved it into the rugs, and even scratched it into the surface of our cars.  The entity started to destroy the second floor.  Lee and Bill's [Bill Sr.] bed was sliced to ribbons and eventually Lee and Bill were forced to move into the master bedroom with Bill [Bill Jr.], Jamie [Deborah's son], and I for protection.  Bill Sr. seemed indifferent to the entire situation.  He didn't act frightened or worried about Lee in the slightest.  He acted like he was an observer with no interest in what was happening.  His callousness was astounding to us.

 

"Baby powder was used to make the entity's mark at the Moffitt's home."

11-1-1988

Readers will perhaps recall a well-publicized aspect of the 19th Century 'Bell Witch' talking poltergeist case.  Richard William Bell wrote in memoirs eventually published in a 1894 book: ". . . the witch manifested a pernicious dislike for father, using the most vile and malignant epithets toward him, declaring that it would torment 'Old Jack Bell' to the end of his life."  As I wrote in a previous blog article about the Bell case, some passages denounce the haunting presence as culpable not only for physical ailments experienced by Richard's father and sister but even for his father’s death.  An undiagnosed malady was reported to have sometimes left John Bell unable to talk or eat while there was an interval when Betsy Bell was described as having been subjected to recurring fainting spells accompanied by a severe asthmatic condition.  Richard Williams Bell acknowledged: "There is no positive evidence that these spells were produced by the witch.  However, that was the conclusion, from the fact that there was no other apparent cause."

Some authors considering the published accounts have commented on the difficulty of attributing the death of John Bell to the haunting presence as described by Richard Williams Bell.  Colin Wilson wrote in Poltergeist! A Study in Destructive Haunting (1982): "As [Nandor] Fodor points out, there is something very odd about this death.  The witch had often revealed strength enough to strangle Bell, or kill him by hitting him with some object; yet she never made any such attempt . . ." 
 

In 1986, Deborah while living in the state of New York met her future husband Bill who resided in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.  The two had begun exchanging VHS tapes of local broadcasts of professional wrestling events.  She reflected: "When I stop and think about some of the letters he wrote about his family, I should have realized that our life wasn't going to be ordinary . . . His grandfather, Andre Cuccia, was a powerful member of one of the Cosa Nostra families in California.  Cosa Nostra is better known as the Sicilian Mafia.  Bill's mother Lee knew where more than one body was buried herself . . . She loved her father dearly, but she was ashamed of the things he had done."  Bill Sr., the father of Deborah's husband, "had a tendency to be sarcastic and insulting, hiding behind a guise of humor . . . the type of man who instigated situations just to watch an argument unfold."  Deborah wrote that Bill Sr. cheated on Lee and was a binge drinker.  At times Bill Jr. had to protect his mother from his father; nonetheless "Lee refused to be anything but a devoted and faithful wife to her husband."

After the wedding Deborah and Bill moved in with his parents.  "Bill had been an only child and he was very close to his mother.  Bill also had a heart condition, and as a result he felt more secure being close to those he loved."  The family owned three adjacent lots with houses.  The first strange events personally witnessed by Deborah involved objects mysteriously transported from one place to another, at times seeming to constitute actual instances of "apports" (inexplicably moved and/or materialized objects).  The family decided to sell the three houses and move to a larger house in the nearby Alta Loma neighborhood.  Before moving to the new home with a swimming pool, there were odd circumstances involving tenants of two of the houses.  Then the paranormal events started occurring in the house where the four of them lived.

A picture was turned backwards on the wall.  Soon things began to move from place to place around the house.  It was strange.  Some things seemed random while others indicated a type of intelligence or purpose.  Items moving, doors shutting by themselves, lights going on and off, and the TV changing channels on its own were just a few of the events that were growing more common.

Deborah and her husband urged his parents to contact "someone who knew about this sort of thing" yet Lee refused.  Lee worried about what people would think and "began to foster the notion that she was being punished."

There were astonishing incidents that occurred on the last day of moving to their new home.  Moments after finishing packing boxes in their bedroom, there was a loud noise from the front of the house and they found that in the kitchen all of the cupboards had been ripped completely off the walls.  Then, the glass and wood of the bedroom windows were blown out from the inside.  A pet dog (Pit Bull/German Shepherd mix) was left in the yard overnight and the family found a carcass the next morning: "Something incredibly strong had either pulled or pushed her through the four inch gap between the bars of our wrought iron fence, leaving her body with half on either side."  Considering the circumstances of the dog's killing, there is probably a more commonplace explanation as there is no certain evidence that the haunting presence is culpable for such a singular deed of actual violence.
 
Deborah gave birth to her son Jamie a month before the family relocated to the new residence.  For three weeks life in the new home was quiet.  Then: "We were put into a state of nervous vigilance when the first anomalous occurrence happened . . . A picture frame was turned around."  Upon accompanying Lee to the old house to get some plants as the new owners planned to demolish the properties, Deborah saw "Lee lifting off the ground as if someone very large and strong had kicked her in the backside."  This was followed by "a shower of pebbles" falling on them and the stones felt "ice cold" to the touch.

The mirror writing began in the upstairs bathroom of the bedroom shared by Lee and Bill Sr.  On one occasion, the entire family were together outside the bathroom after the mirror had been cleaned.  A few minutes, they returned to look at the mirror and there was a new message: "no escape."

At first, the messages weren't in response to their questions.  In one message, a nickname for Lee was used that was only known to her and her dead sister.

It wrote that there was danger in the attic and that everyone was to stay out of that area.  "Bad wire," sprawled across the mirror warned Lee that a fire was eminent.  Its purpose was to keep us out of the attic, but why?

Lee believed her sister was talking to her to issue warnings of impending danger but the others didn't think such a claim could be valid.  Other messages were regarded as threats, such as "Talk or burn."  Deborah recalled, "Fear finally convinced Lee to allow us to find help."  They decided to see a psychologist together.  The psychologist advised them to find a parapsychologist or university with courses in the paranormal.  Lee contacted a local priest who came to the house, made the sign of the cross, tossed holy water, uttered a few words and then left the premises.

"The entity used spray paint to make its mark above Lee's bed."

The symbol of "a triangle with a small tail extending out of the base" was "burned" into walls, carved into the rugs and scratched upon the surface of Lee and Bill Sr.'s cars.  After Lee and Bill Sr. moved into the master bedroom downstairs with Deborah, Bill and Jamie, the mirror messages commenced in the downstairs guest bathroom.  Deborah reported that oppressive manifestations were focused on Lee: "It destroyed her clothes.  It took her wallet, credit cards, and driver's license.  She no longer could carry money."

Deborah and Bill visited a shop called 'The Crystal Cave' in Claremont and the owner—"a well-known witch named Annella"—agreed to visit the house.  Annella conducted a ritual with a candle and bowl of water.  Deborah wrote: "Her assessment was that all of the strange occurrences were generated by negativity stemming from Bill's illness."  Before Annella drove away, the ritual items were gone and later found at the bottom of the pool.

Then "two local ladies" attempted to rid the house of the manifesting entity.  Deborah recalled how they went from room to room challenging the entity to show itself.

This was the only time I actually heard "Prince."  Booming laughter from upstairs reverberated through the house.  He followed them through the house terrorizing them.  He slammed the doors behind them, moved things in front of them, and when they entered the kitchen he turned on all of the burners on the stove, making the gas flames burn higher than I had ever seen them.

Among other would-be 'saviors,' a self-proclaimed magician brought eggs to confront the entity.  After chanting in Spanish over the eggs and placing them around the sitting room, the eggs began pelting him from different angles and he quickly ran away.  Another time, a 'psychic' told them to leave the house from the night before Halloween to the day after.  Two days later, they returned to find all the lights in the house were turned on.  The sitting room was a shambles and Lee and Bill Sr.'s mattress was slashed and left unusable.  Deborah commented about the people who tried to help the family:

They thought they would come to our home, do a little show, and tell us that the entity had left, and then wait for us to show our gratitude with fifties and hundreds.  Instead, many of them learned the hard way that there was something beyond their limited comprehension in our home.

The mirror writing became frequent.  "Running commentary on our lives and conversations became the main topic of his communications."  When Lee spoke to Bill in Tobresh to prevent the entity from knowing what she was saying, the entity's mirror messages began to be written in Tobresh.  Lee conversing in Spanish and Italian brought fluent replies in those languages as well.

Deborah estimated that around 1,000 photographs were taken of the mirror messages but most were destroyed on the advice of the paranormal 'experts' with whom they consulted: "Destroy these pictures!  That's what's keeping the demon here!"  Deborah surmised: "If I had ignored their advice and kept all the pictures, perhaps we could have pieced together some answer by now."

Still, I wasn't afraid.  Not for my own safety at least.  I had little knowledge of the paranormal beyond my own experiences, but I had the impression that the entity couldn't or wouldn't harm me.

Lee was a devoted Catholic and the gamut of observed paranormal phenomena included her porcelain saints having their heads and left arms ripped off.  During one period, the crow population in the vicinity increased exponentially in a matter of weeks, resulting with a cacophony of cawing that became "maddening."  Following the interlude with the crows, there was an invasion by rats.  On one occasion, Deborah and Lee went into the pantry and found five rats or more hanging from the beams in the ceiling.

In desperation I went into the bathroom and asked the entity to keep the rats out of the house.  I never received a response on the mirror, but from that day on we never saw or heard another rat in the house again.

"We found a picture of Lee inside this symbol it made with wood." 11-1-1988

 

10-26-1988

Some mirror messages related to two books that had been found in Deborah's shopping basket at a bookstore alongside the new picture books for Jamie and sports magazines for Bill. 

Not only did he ['Mr. Entity'] convey that he wanted me to read them, he even went to lengths to point out what pages in which books he felt were important. 

Deborah commented: "I'm not sure why, but I did read the books.  For the life of me I still can't remember the title of the books or what they were about.  For some reason it's a complete blank."

 

The family was visited by the police twice during the period of the haunting.  While searching for assistance and discussing their situation with people who might potentially know a way to intervene, a photo of the dead pet dog brought suspicion of animal abuse.  On another occasion, a Native American 'shaman' shopkeeper's conversation with Bill Sr. resulted with an officer warning Bill Jr. he would be arrested for elder abuse if anything happened to his father.

 

This article describes occurrences chronicled in the first seven chapters of Deborah's case study book, which has 27 chapters, a Foreword, Epilogue, Afterword and Postscript.  The most unexpected mirror messages were yet to come.  Unwelcomed will be further profiled in next week's blog article.

This 1984 movie poster art shows the orientation of many unenlightened people concerning 'anomalous phenomena.'

Note: This is the first in a series of nine articles about this case.