Take a photo of a barcode or cover
160 reviews for:
The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren
Gerald Brittle
3.53 AVERAGE
160 reviews for:
The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren
Gerald Brittle
3.53 AVERAGE
I have never met an atheist in a haunted house
Lorraine Warren has never heard about Shane Madej from Buzzfeed Unsolved, which is a shame.
Two things to know before reading my review:
1. I really like horror movies and enjoy them (especially The Conjuring movies, this is why I'm here), while not believing any paranormal stuff. I also don't believe anything supernatural - gods, angels, devils, ghosts, etc. - but the so called "evidence" for their existence interests me, however, I have yet to encounter anything that's not total bullshit.
2. I knew when I started that this would be bullshit and Catholic propaganda, but oh boy, I was not really prepared for it to be sooo bad. (The fact that this was written in the 80s is not a redeeming quality. Stupidity is stupidity, and I condemn, wholeheartedly!)
The foundation
After/ during the satanic panic in the US, a guy called Gerald Brittle decided to write the biography of the Warrens the (in)famous ghost-hunters/ demonologists. In a biography you would expect some independent investigation however, Brittle's main source on the Warrens and their questionable carreer are the Warrens themselves. The author takes their word for everything - never questions the validity or the truth of their claims. He is biased here - so don't expect objectivity, criticism or doubt. The most ridiculous claims will be handled as serious, valid facts.
The bad
The first half of the book. The book tries to frame demonolgy as a serious subject but fails miserably doing so; almost every claim (or so called fact) gets contradicted in the next chapter; first they say the spirits gather energy from the environment, then that ghost/ demon activity cannot be measured objectively (bitch, which is it?); they bash real science for not taking them seriously, then also bashing science for needing evidence - you can't win when you're doing science, can you?
Also, the continuous mentioning of "evidence" stacked up by the Warrens is tiring. If you're the selfless heroes of people who want everyone be safe from evil educate them! (This only stands when you're not a liar/ lunatic.)
The plain evil
The second half get worse and doesn't stop until it turns into pure madness (I only powered through for this review. My rage while reading could have powered a smaller country for months if we had the technology.) The Warrens are hardcore Catholics and believe evrything in the Bible. (I don't and many other people don't either, so they should've given better arguments than Bible and I have a photograph of demon faces in the dark.) The end of the books reads like a twelve year old writning stories for the first time and throwing in everything that pops in their head (than the girls started to levitate, they had seizures every night, and then stones started to fall from the sky until morning -.-)
They also try to justify Anneliese Michel's exorcism and death. That poor mentally ill woman was literally tortured with around fifty? subsequent exorcisms while wasn't given food or water. And she died. This book portrays her as a saved soul (only her body died!) not a victim of ignorance and lack of medical care. The exorcism killed her, no need for lies. I almost threw my e-reader to wall at this part, but I paid much for it, so I didn't
The last part of my rant is the misogyny. The book told about several cases where an interesting pattern unfolded: whenever a woman/ girl was haunted they explained in excruciating detail what did she do wrong, what's her sin, why is it wrong, why women shouldn't do anything a patriarchal authority didn't let her; when a man was the "victim", they said: well, he was haunted, poor man. An evil witch did something very wrong here.
Conclusion
This is bullshit. Stick to the Warrens in the movies. The real ones were lunatics. Or liars. (And don't read their wiki)
The only funny thing here
There was a really obvious lesbian couple in the book, but the narration didn't acknowledge it: the single women were living together on a farm that was their own; they had two dogs, they escaped together a very rural town, they did their renovation alone and with no intention to marry -- yeah, just two gals being pals here, nothing to see...
THEY ARE LESBIANS HAROLD!
Lorraine Warren has never heard about Shane Madej from Buzzfeed Unsolved, which is a shame.
Two things to know before reading my review:
1. I really like horror movies and enjoy them (especially The Conjuring movies, this is why I'm here), while not believing any paranormal stuff. I also don't believe anything supernatural - gods, angels, devils, ghosts, etc. - but the so called "evidence" for their existence interests me, however, I have yet to encounter anything that's not total bullshit.
2. I knew when I started that this would be bullshit and Catholic propaganda, but oh boy, I was not really prepared for it to be sooo bad. (The fact that this was written in the 80s is not a redeeming quality. Stupidity is stupidity, and I condemn, wholeheartedly!)
The foundation
After/ during the satanic panic in the US, a guy called Gerald Brittle decided to write the biography of the Warrens the (in)famous ghost-hunters/ demonologists. In a biography you would expect some independent investigation however, Brittle's main source on the Warrens and their questionable carreer are the Warrens themselves. The author takes their word for everything - never questions the validity or the truth of their claims. He is biased here - so don't expect objectivity, criticism or doubt. The most ridiculous claims will be handled as serious, valid facts.
The bad
The first half of the book. The book tries to frame demonolgy as a serious subject but fails miserably doing so; almost every claim (or so called fact) gets contradicted in the next chapter; first they say the spirits gather energy from the environment, then that ghost/ demon activity cannot be measured objectively (bitch, which is it?); they bash real science for not taking them seriously, then also bashing science for needing evidence - you can't win when you're doing science, can you?
Also, the continuous mentioning of "evidence" stacked up by the Warrens is tiring. If you're the selfless heroes of people who want everyone be safe from evil educate them! (This only stands when you're not a liar/ lunatic.)
The plain evil
The second half get worse and doesn't stop until it turns into pure madness (I only powered through for this review. My rage while reading could have powered a smaller country for months if we had the technology.) The Warrens are hardcore Catholics and believe evrything in the Bible. (I don't and many other people don't either, so they should've given better arguments than Bible and I have a photograph of demon faces in the dark.) The end of the books reads like a twelve year old writning stories for the first time and throwing in everything that pops in their head (than the girls started to levitate, they had seizures every night, and then stones started to fall from the sky until morning -.-)
They also try to justify Anneliese Michel's exorcism and death. That poor mentally ill woman was literally tortured with around fifty? subsequent exorcisms while wasn't given food or water. And she died. This book portrays her as a saved soul (only her body died!) not a victim of ignorance and lack of medical care. The exorcism killed her, no need for lies. I almost threw my e-reader to wall at this part, but I paid much for it, so I didn't
The last part of my rant is the misogyny. The book told about several cases where an interesting pattern unfolded: whenever a woman/ girl was haunted they explained in excruciating detail what did she do wrong, what's her sin, why is it wrong, why women shouldn't do anything a patriarchal authority didn't let her; when a man was the "victim", they said: well, he was haunted, poor man. An evil witch did something very wrong here.
Conclusion
This is bullshit. Stick to the Warrens in the movies. The real ones were lunatics. Or liars. (And don't read their wiki)
The only funny thing here
There was a really obvious lesbian couple in the book, but the narration didn't acknowledge it: the single women were living together on a farm that was their own; they had two dogs, they escaped together a very rural town, they did their renovation alone and with no intention to marry -- yeah, just two gals being pals here, nothing to see...
THEY ARE LESBIANS HAROLD!
fast-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Car accident
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry
dark
tense
fast-paced
First, anecdotal evidence is the weakest form of evidence and this book sure seems to think the opposite.
Second, the book implies that the Jonestown massacre was demonically influenced. So...
If you're interested in the Warren cases and want a more neutral source, just read their Wikipedia page.
Second, the book implies that the Jonestown massacre was demonically influenced. So...
If you're interested in the Warren cases and want a more neutral source, just read their Wikipedia page.
Fascinating. I don’t usually get absorbed by no fiction but this one was a real page-turner!!
3.5/5 ⭐️‘s on this one!
I really wanted more encounter description on specific cases than this offered. A lot of the novel was a general overview of hauntings/possessions. It reads as a sort of informal discussion style and breaks possession into 3 general categories!
I really wanted more encounter description on specific cases than this offered. A lot of the novel was a general overview of hauntings/possessions. It reads as a sort of informal discussion style and breaks possession into 3 general categories!
This book is FICTION.
I was looking forward to reading this, but as I got further in the book, I tried to remain open-minded as some things seemed too bizarre to be true. I reached a point where I questioned the credibility of this book, so I did some research and found out the Author Gerald Brittle, has stated the Warren's lied about their stories and there is proof they are frauds.I do believe the paranormal exists but this book truly is fiction. Some examples
Stones falling out of the sky, some falling slowly as if sinking through water, other stones fell in erratic zigzags and half the stones vanished.
Doors and other objects being teleported.
A doll that became animated and behaved like a human being for over twenty years.
Money that goes missing is teleported to sorcerers who have a pact with the Devil.
There's even a photo with the caption saying a plastic garbage can is levitating over a pile of furniture, but you can see clearly it's literally sitting on top of the furniture.
When a inhuman demonic spirit corners a person, either two things will happen, spontaneous combustion- when the person bursts into flames and is reduced to ash, or dematerializes- disappearing without a trace.
To believe this book is to have blind Faith.
I was looking forward to reading this, but as I got further in the book, I tried to remain open-minded as some things seemed too bizarre to be true. I reached a point where I questioned the credibility of this book, so I did some research and found out the Author Gerald Brittle, has stated the Warren's lied about their stories and there is proof they are frauds.I do believe the paranormal exists but this book truly is fiction. Some examples
Stones falling out of the sky, some falling slowly as if sinking through water, other stones fell in erratic zigzags and half the stones vanished.
Doors and other objects being teleported.
A doll that became animated and behaved like a human being for over twenty years.
Money that goes missing is teleported to sorcerers who have a pact with the Devil.
There's even a photo with the caption saying a plastic garbage can is levitating over a pile of furniture, but you can see clearly it's literally sitting on top of the furniture.
When a inhuman demonic spirit corners a person, either two things will happen, spontaneous combustion- when the person bursts into flames and is reduced to ash, or dematerializes- disappearing without a trace.
To believe this book is to have blind Faith.
I learned more about the early lives and pre-Amityville careers of the Warrens. Extremely interesting and informative. Also, much scarier cases discussed than previously known by me. Worth a read by anyone interested in the Warrens or in the evolution of 20th century "ghost-hunting" and paranormal research.