A photoshopped representation of the scene of this event, using an actual photograph of the idol in question found on John Zaffis' website (linked to in the sources section of this article).
John Zaffis is the nephew of famous demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, and has certainly followed in their controversial footsteps - garnering over 40 years' worth of experience working as a professional demon hunter and paranormal investigator. As one can gather from this information, he doesn't scare easily - and so it's all the more notable when a case has the power to jangle his nerves. One such case is that of a nightmarish idol purchased by a young man named Kevin. This is the story of that idol...
We Need to Talk About Kevin[]
On the way home from school one evening, a sixteen-year-old boy named Kevin decided to casually browse through a local yard sale - and was soon drawn to an exceptionally ugly black resin sculpture of a head mounted on a pedastal. He thought that its grotesque appearance was 'cool' and so he bought it for one dollar - taking it home and putting it in his room without his parents ever seeing it.
Initially it was naught more than fun little curio, but soon it started to exude an odd presence which quickly filled the entire room and infected Kevin with the urge to investigate matters of the occult. He had never previously been interested in the possible existence of magic and the functionality of spells, but now he had seemingly developed something of an obsession. He would research all sorts of thaumaturgical topics on the Internet, and splashed out to purchase books about magic and even occultic tools. He had a small table in his room, and he decided to transform it into a makeshift altar - placing the resin head in the centre. Now it was time for Kevin to start practicing the witchcraft into which he had already been researching.
At first nothing happened - leading Kevin to momentarily conclude that magic must be 'a bunch of bull' - but his curiosity kept him toiling over his metaphorical witch's cauldron, and he was soon attempting much more complex rituals like those used to summon spirits. As he progressed deeper and deeper into the occult, he seemingly became more of a recluse, placing a lock on his bedroom door and keeping to himself much more, never discussing what he was doing inside his now-mysterious bedroom. He had previously been a 'model teen' - happily employed and 'excelling' in school. His parents trusted him, and so had allowed him to have his private space - but they had not been allowed inside his bedroom for months.
Although Kevin had been compelled into studying the occult and practicing witchcraft through possibly supernatural means, he had evidently not been spontaneously given the power to control whatever forces he was now playing with. It soon suddenly dawned on him that his summoning efforts had succeeded, and that there was now a spirit lodged in the resin idol head. There was no big show or obvious manifestation of this entity, but Kevin knew that there was suddenly a presence in the head which had not been there before. This new presence didn't seem to want to leave, and Kevin was filled with the urge to paint the head to better fit what he sensed the spirit looked like - outlining its eyes with a stark red colour.
Kevin was highly inexperienced with how to deal with spirits, and so unsurprisingly he soon found himself in some seriously hot water. Although he had summoned the spirit in question, it was obvious that it was the spirit which was now in control. Thick black shadows slithered around his bedroom, haunting him all through the long nights. He could now always hear and feel the growling voiced presence of the idolatrous entity in his head. It watched him through the awful idol while he was in his room, and its invisible gaze followed him wherever he went - chasing him at school and at work.
Desperately consulting his occult books to try and find out how to get rid of this oppressive enigma - Kevin learnt that one must demand the name of a malevolent spirit in order to regain control. However, when he demanded to know the name of his ostensibly demonic assailant, he would hear nothing but unpronounceable gibberish. Spelling it out phonetically came back with no results from various dictionaries of demons and spirits. Sometimes the spirit wouldn't even bother to spit gibberish, and would instead just say 'you know who I am' before cackling maniacally.
Soon the draconian rule of this enigmatic entity progressed to a more frightening phase - it could now seemingly control what Kevin thought and said to a certain degree. The whisperings of the resin-residing wraith soon became darker and more violent. It would constantly tell him how 'worthless' he was and how nobody cared about him - commanding him to commit suicide. It would tell him to go up onto the roof and throw himself off, and to step out in front of traffic. 'You deserve to die, so die now!' Unsurprisingly, Kevin soon fell into a deep depression - giving up his magical rituals and yet still remaining unable to vanquish the terrifying spirit. He tried everything to banish the being, but these rituals only seemed to make it stronger and angrier.
Realising that he couldn't take it anymore - he eventually found himself rushing down the stairs and hurtling into the living room to stand before his parents, Tom and Christine. His parents were watching television at the time - and Kevin hysterically announced that he thought that he had 'brought something in' and that it was now trying to kill him. With his parents initially too stunned to speak, the room then fell silent save for Kevin's desperate sobbing. Presumably after their parental instincts kicked in, Tom and Christine leapt to their feet and were led upstairs by their son, who showed them the occultist den which had once been his bedroom.
The curtains were drawn and black fabric had been draped over all the surfaces - making the room look almost like a funeral parlour. Black candles flickered through the gloom. Various bizarre objects were scattered all over the floor, ranging from goblets and small knives to pictures of demonic faces and nondescript symbols. There was a small table placed up against one wall, and there were statues, candles and further papers filled with symbols atop it. As the menacing centrepiece of this gruesome display sat the resin idol head, which was mounted on a pedastal. The head was described as looking 'like something straight out of someone's nightmare'. The hideous thing was unformed and misshapen towards the top, perhaps being intended to mimic a crude stone carving. The object had a long and narrow face bordered on each side by large ears. Its large mouth drooped open, and a moustache and beard surrounded it. The unsuspecting couple were utterly horrified by it.
Physically shaking at this point, Kevin pointed desperately towards the head and tearfully cried that he was certain there was 'something evil' living in the head and that he couldn't get rid of it. Tom and Christine were able to eventually coax their traumatised son into retelling the story of how he had come into ownership of the idol (a long story, all of which is recounted above). They were now faced with a seemingly very real problem which refused to fit into their pre-established belief system - and yet they had to do something if they were to save their son. Although they didn't regularly go to church, they did have some contacts who were of the cloth - and so they were able to call in a minister. It is unclear how exactly they knew him, but they also thought to call the John Zaffis mentioned in the introduction of the article. Zaffis made his way to the demon-wrought household as quickly as possible.
When John got there, he was alarmed to see the changes that had taken place in Kevin according to the comparison he made between the current Kevin and the Kevin depicted in a photograph displayed on the mantle of the living room fireplace. The boy had once been 'happy and vibrant' with glimmering brown eyes and curly dark hair. He now looked 'thin and shrunken'. His hair was noticeably dirty, and his clothes hung from his frame. His eyes had grown dull, and there were dark circles of fatigue beneath them. He took John up to his bedroom to show him the ritualised state of the accursed room. There were what John recognised as 'heavy duty manuals of magic' littering the space, among other books on demonology and spirit summoning. There were innumerable ritual objects dotted about, some of which had occultic symbols craved into them as customisation.
John quickly came to the conclusion that the odd idol head had apparently been previously used for summoning rituals, and that it had probably even been made specifically for this purpose. It was 'an ideal house for spirits'. Kevin must've been unknowingly getting closer and closer to calling something into our world until he finally summoned an extremely powerful entity which was now making quick progress in possessing him. He was clearly wracked with fear and regret, asking Zaffis if what he had summoned would ever leave him. Zaffis was able to provide some reassurance here - but inwardly thought that success would depend on how long Kevin could hold out against the spirit vying for control of his body and soul. Tom and Christine were deeply apologetic, feeling that they had somehow failed their son. In another element of the source which makes this sound more like a fictional narrative than anything real (more on that later) - some dialogue describes how Zaffis told them not to worry. It is glaringly obvious that Zaffis is now our storybook protagonist.
According to Christine, she had seen her son 'go under' since he had made the leap to reveal his occult practices to his parents. This 'going under' was clearly a form of trance, which often happens in possession cases according to Zaffis. Christine said that Kevin would laugh to himself in a 'low, gravelly voice' and would speak what she could only perceive as gibberish. When Zaffis asked her if it sounded like a foreign language she nodded in confirmation, but said that it wasn't any language she could recognise. It apparently sounded like a mix of Latin and 'an ancient Middle Eastern tongue'. This might've been ancient Sumerian, if some references to this sort of spontaneous Foreign Language Syndrome (which is an actual thing, look it up) in other possession cases are anything to go on.
John rightly pointed out that speaking in tongues was a sign of demonic possession, and so he announced that they needed to use a deliverance ritual and to find out the name of the spirit. Deliverance rituals are similar to exorcisms but are not performed by Catholic clergymen, according to Zaffis - and yet according to an actual source known to apparently be an expert in deliverance, they are not actually all that similar. Exorcisms use rituals and highly intense practices like you see in the movies, while deliverances are slower and calmer processes focused on using ongoing treatment to remove a demon. Perhaps Zaffis got confused.
Christine followed John's advice in covering all possible causes of her son's ailment, and so took him to see a psychiatrist for evaluation. This psychiatrist apparently gave Kevin confirmation that he was mentally healthy, and John stated that this would work in Kevin's favour seeing as there would be less internal anguish onto which the spirit could latch itself. Some time later, Zaffis met with the family and the minister of their choice, and the minister brought a group of willing volunteers with him from his church to perform prayers around the house as a way to bless it. These people were stationed all over the property - on the ground floor, the basement, upstairs and obviously in Kevin's bedroom.
Now it was time for the deliverance ritual to be carried out. Kevin was placed down in a hardback chair with two church members on either side to hold him down - both for support and to prevent the demon from using his body to lash out. All the other church members in the room started to murmur prayers, with their heads bowed and their hands clasped on their knees. The other church members throughout the house also got to work on this task simultaneously. The deliverance had begun.
Exorcising Kevin[]
Almost immediately after the people stationed around the house went to work, Kevin went 'under'. His eyes rolled back in his head, becoming a ghastly milk white colour. The temperature in the room dropped sharply, and I can imagine that perhaps Zaffis and his team were now surrounded by the fog of their own condensed breath. The minister was the first to speak, opening the session with a formal prayer before demanding to know the demonic entity's name. As one would expect, the possessed boy's face contorted into a savage grin and the entity inside him spat out meaningless gibberish. The minister asked again, but only got the same response followed by the entity hissing a declaration that the minister was stupid.
After several more attempts on behalf of the hapless minister, Zaffis realised that they had been getting the name of the entity all along - but that it was totally unpronounceable. This apparently meant that the spirit inhabiting Kevin was a very powerful being, and that it knew that it did not have to reveal itself. If they wanted to use its name against it, they would have to pronounce the gibberish that the incorporeal critter had been spouting. This was, of course, virtually impossible. Instead, the minister resorted to simply informing the spirit that it was no longer welcome and that it would need to leave the premises immediately. These words seemed to actually have an effect on the unclean spirit in question, and Kevin squirmed in discomfort and screamed at the clergymen in a frighteningly altered voice. 'No! I will not go! You go and get out of my sight!'
The spirit spat a string of obscenities and then shrieked its desire for everyone around it to die before lapsing into its nonsensical native tongue once more. Unfazed (presumably this happened to them a lot), the impromptu congregation - and of course Zaffis as well - continued to demand that the enigmatic idolator leave this world. The foul fiend provided steadfast resistance against this for two hours before its human host reached the point of exhaustion. The frigid energy in the room suddenly dissipated, and the malevolent presence departed with a 'great whooshing sensation'. Kevin sighed and sank down into his chair - his eyes finally falling shut.
They all waited for a few minutes until Kevin regained consciousness, and soon found that the boy had no recollection of what had happened after he had sat down in the chair. Zaffis proudly declared that the spirit had been vanquished before checking the idol head and seeing that its eyes and face now seemed vacant. Presumably they had always been vacant due to being made of resin, but you get the gist. The congregation discussed what had taken place and made further plans about how to proceed. Zaffis knows that spirits sometimes fake being banished, only to sneak back later - and so he warned Kevin and his family to be very careful, as well as forbidding Kevin from any further occult practices. He also announced that all of the objects in Kevin's room would need to be taken out of the house and cleansed.
Aftermath[]
He gathered up everything in the room and loaded them into his car. He told Tom and Christine to be on full alert for 'a very long time' and that Kevin should never be allowed to get involved in any occult practices ever again. They were told to call him if they noticed anything else 'unusual or wrong'. When John got home, he unloaded the presumably haunted objects into the yard and prepared to cleanse them. He always did this outside his home for fear of contaminating his house with any evil spirits. The objects were treated with sea salt and holy water, and Zaffis said a special set of prayers over them. He also performed a binding ritual over the resin head to prevent any malevolent energy still attached to it from jumping to anything (or anyone) else.
After two days, he felt safe enough to take the objects into his house, where he performed the same rituals before placing them into his museum - where they all rest to this day. The minister continued to perform further deliverances in Kevin's home, and Zaffis was told by Christine that she would sometimes still find occult objects in her son's room. Despite these, Kevin was now doing much better in school and was back in employment. John would come to the house while Kevin was at school to retrieve the objects in question for cleansing and addition to the museum.
Nowadays, Kevin is in his thirties. Although he has supposedly returned to his old self, he has remained permanently changed on some level. He is still paranoid on some level about the spirit returning and regaining control, and Zaffis states that this anxiety is unfortunately not without good reason. Kevin is apparently 'marked', and the spirits will now always know where he is and will be waiting to slide back into his life if he lets his guard down. Luckily this has not yet happened to Kevin, who is still in touch with Zaffis. The idol head is on display in Zaffis' Museum of the Paranormal, and some visitors say that they can feel it watching them and that it makes their skin crawl. It is one of the only objects in the museum which still has the power to scare John.
Calling John Zaffis (Out)[]
My source for this story, a book named 'Haunted by the Things You Love', was purchased by a slightly younger me in completely good faith. I wanted to learn more about cases of haunted objects and the entities that were allegedly attached to them. While I technically did, I also learnt a lot about John Zaffis. Every single case detailed within involves Mr. Zaffis stepping in and acting in a stereotypically heroic fashion. He is apparently not interested in convincing people, but is instead only fighting to save people's lives. This is me paraphrasing something that I actually read in the book in question.
Zaffis hosts a television show on the SYFY channel called 'Haunted Collector' in which he investigates cases just like the one described above and frequently confiscates reportedly haunted objects from various allegedly haunted houses. I can't shake the feeling that it might all be a scam. He is the nephew of Ed and Lorraine Warren, and I feel that he might've continued their legacy of profiting off what may be real paranormal events as well as what may be complete fabrications on his part. I have no real evidence for this claim other than the manner in which the book is written. It is very much an advert for John's services and his museum. I feel that this case should probably be ignored until it is backed up by another researcher - which makes it all the more frustrating that writing this article took me roughly a week. I hope you enjoyed the story, at least.
Sources[]
'Haunted by the Things You Love' by John Zaffis and Rosemary Ellen Guiley
johnzaffisparanormalmuseum.com
'Exorcism or Deliverance - What's the Difference?' on aandbcounseling.com