The Exorcist Files – Infestation – S01E01

I just watched Exorcist Files, a new series from the Discovery Channel. The basic premise, at least for this first episode, is a discussion with several members of the Catholic Church who work in the area of exorcism. For this episode we main focus on Adam Blai who is a member of the International Association of Exorcists. First off, who knew such a thing existed? Second, he is the man who goes in to investigate claims of haunting, demonic infestations and possessions. In this episode, we get a glimpse of three of the cases he has worked on where supernatural forces are at play.

The first dramatization feels like it’s been pulled from the Amityville Horror. There are strange events in the house and the residents feel like they’re living in a dram state.

The second story discusses what seems like a haunted building with some interesting video and audio footage. I will say the audio footage sounds like someone coughing and talking, but the video footage shows all sorts of objects moving around such as doors falling over, brooms moving back and forth, chairs swiveling and things rolling around on a desk. That part was actually pretty wild.

The third story involves a ghost hunter. A woman goes out to investigate the paranormal and apparently brings something home with her. The interesting part here is that the church, or at least these representatives of the church, isn’t too keen on ghost hunting and paranormal investigations. They feel this is just inviting evil into you and your home and that it’s only a matter of time before something goes wrong. This seemed a little strange to me considering the number of priests who have worked with paranormal groups in the past. They were also indicating that saying a little prayer before you go and hunt down things from the spirit world isn’t going to help you.

Finally, we have a woman who’s had multiple bad experiences after her investigations into the paranormal. She now sees dark shadow figures, hears the sounds of footsteps and feels and evil presence. While in prayer she asked that the helpful sprits enter her to protect her. Adam says this was a big mistake and that she just invited the demons to use her body. That seems a little outlandish, but Adam comes across as a pretty levelheaded guy so you feel he has everyone’s best interest in mind.

There was interesting information in this. I assume this is a new series so I look forward to the next one. I think the discussion of the paranormal was the most intriguing part. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it, you might want to check it out. If you do a quick search on this show, you’ll find dozens of articles stating the Vatican gave backing to the show, then pulled out. From what I can tell, the Vatican never had anything to do with the show and at best may have offered a couple people to talk to. It looks like there are 10 episodes scheduled, but as with anything related to this sort of material and the church, we’ll have to wait and see if the rest of the episodes make it to the air. Ironically, if you to go the Discovery Channel website it’s pretty much impossible to find anything about this show.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Paranormal Lockdown – Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum – S01E01
• Ghost Lab from the Discovery Channel
• Paranormal Challenge Ohio State Reformatory S01E03
• Ghost Adventures Documentary
• The Unexplained – Hauntings
• Expedition Unknown – Kalahari Desert Lost City – S02E13
• Paranormal State comes to an end …
• Destination Truth – Jungle Temple Ghosts & Namibian Night Stalker – S04E12
• Paranormal Cops S01E01
• Paranormal Challenge – USS Hornet – S01E11