Infestation and oppression: the phases prior to possession

What it is

In classical demonology and mystical theology, the loss of human will before a spiritual entity does not occur suddenly. It is the result of a gradual process divided into precise stages. Infestation and oppression are the initial and external phases of this process. Unlike possession, where the entity takes control of the victim's body, in these stages the siege occurs from the outside. The entity's goal is to weaken the individual's physical, mental, and spiritual resistance to facilitate its subsequent invasion.

How it manifests

The process unfolds in a hierarchical order of affliction: The **infestation** is directed against the environment, objects, and animals. It manifests through phenomena identical to those of a *poltergeist*: strange noises of unknown origin (knocks, footsteps), unpleasant and persistent odors (sulfur, rot), the movement of heavy objects, extreme thermal fluctuations, and erratic or terrified behavior from household pets. The **oppression** moves from the environment to the physical and psychological plane of the person. The victim experiences extreme fatigue that is not relieved by sleep, localized physical pain with no medical cause, wounds or marks on the skin that appear overnight (typically three parallel scratches), and an inexplicable streak of financial, professional, and emotional misfortunes. The **obsession** is the mental assault phase. The person suffers from intrusive thoughts of a violent, blasphemous, or self-destructive nature that they do not recognize as their own. Recurrent nightmares and a state of constant anxiety appear, isolating the affected person from their social and religious environment.

History and traditions

The systematization of these stages comes from medieval Catholic demonology and was consolidated in exorcists' manuals such as the *Malleus Maleficarum* (1487) and, later, in the guidelines of the *Rituale Romanum* of 1614. Historical theologians and exorcists like Francesco Maria Guazzo (*Compendium Maleficarum*, 1608) detailed that these phases are necessary because the demon lacks any legal or spiritual right to inhabit a human body unless the victim surrenders their will, whether through despair, mental weakness, or express invitation.

Famous cases

The case of the Smurl family (Pennsylvania, 1974-1989) illustrates the complete transition. It began as an infestation in their home with the sounds of footsteps and foul odors, escalated to severe physical oppression with physical assaults on family members, and culminated in the need to perform multiple exorcisms on the premises. The Snedeker house (Connecticut, 1986), a former funeral home, experienced a process of infestation where embalming tools moved on their own and the water in the tub turned red, followed by severe psychological oppression that affected the mental health of the residents before the intervention of investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.

What explains it

The theological explanation establishes that demonic entities operate under strict laws. Lacking a physical body, they need to wear down the human being's energy field and free will. They use fear and exhaustion as tools to break down the person's spiritual defenses. Clinical psychology and psychiatry explain these phenomena through post-traumatic stress disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, psychosis, and episodes of mass hysteria. The noises and movements of objects in infestation are usually attributed to cognitive biases, structural flaws in the home, infrasound vibrations, or carbon monoxide poisoning—a gas that produces visual and auditory hallucinations, as well as sensations of oppression and terror.

Connections

This phenomenon is directly connected to the poltergeist, spiritual obsession, demonic possession, and the activity of incubi and succubi, and requires for its resolution deliverance blessings or rites of minor exorcism applied to the affected places and people. ---