Hostage to the Devil
The Possession and Exorcism of Five Contemporary Americans

There are two books I have read in my brief life that truly frightened me. One is The Tailypo: A Ghost Story by Joanna C. Galdone, which I read in the third grade (scared the absolute crud out of eight-year-old Me, and even still makes me uneasy when I think about that evil little creature watching......more

Okay, my reasons for the low rating here may not be all that important to some. I may also be in the minority today in that I believe in evil (and yes an actual Satan). C.S.Lewis once observed (as have others) that the fact that no one believes in him is Satan's greatest advantage. Martin agrees wit......more

This is a shocking account of possession, deviant psychology, and most importantly: the religious approach to combating it. I found this book in the footnotes to "People of the Lie" and found it to be another intriguing page-turner, but clearly something that I would not recommend just anyone to rea......more

These 5 true stories of demonic possession all have the flavour of fiction, they're told in a literary style: setting the scene with lyrical descriptions of the scenery and weather. Perhaps we can accept this as a necessary story-tellers aid, a harmless flourish to help us get in the mood? I know th......more

This book really surprised me. I grabbed it from my boss's office to have something to read on the train--tales of five "true" American possessions? I was expecting something a lot less interesting than what I got. I believe the book dates from the 70s. It's interesting to see how the attitudes of th......more