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The exorcist's assistant: Columbia University psychiatrist and avowed 'man-of-science' witnessed hundreds of 'demonic possessions' - including a Satanic high priestess who put a hex on his cats and a 90-pound woman throw a Lutheran priest across the room
Dr Richard Gallagher, a board certified psychiatrist and avowed 'man of science' details his journey from skeptic to believer in a new book, Demonic Foes. As a consulting doctor to the Vatican he says: 'I think I have seen more cases of possession than any other physician in the world'
'Exorcist' is an unlikely job title for an academic physician but for Dr. Richard Gallagher- it was a profession that happened entirely by accident.
The Yale-trained, board-certified psychiatrist from New York who currently sits on the faculty at New York Medical College and Columbia University is a self- avowed 'man of science.'
He has spent the last forty years of his illustrious medical career racking up credentials as a doctor who specializes in personality disorders and psychopharmacology.
Needless to say, the veteran psychiatrist felt 'deeply skeptical' when an unexpected visitor, dressed in head-to-toe clerical garb, showed up at his office in the early 1990s asking for help. The priest wanted Gallagher's psychiatric opinion about a woman who claimed that she was being attacked by evil spirits.
Despite being a lifelong Catholic himself, Gallagher told the priest that he was incredulous, but he agreed to observe the patient and promised to keep an open mind. To his surprise, the priest responded: 'If we didn't think you were skeptical, Dr. Gallagher, we wouldn't have wanted to use you.'
Thus began Dr Gallagher's unusual side-career as an expert in evil spirits. Three decades and hundreds of 'oppressions later' - the disciplined 'man of science' has become the world's leading consultant on demonic possession for the Catholic Church.
Now Dr Richard Gallagher has put his experiences to word in a new book titled, Demonic Foes: My Twenty-Five Years as a Psychiatrist Investigating Possessions, Diabolic Attacks and the Paranormal.
'I suppose my major motive in writing the book was just to present the evidence,' he told DailyMailcom. 'I don't try to convince people. You read the evidence and make up your own mind, it's a free country.'
The book outlines how the doctor went from skeptic, to believer, to expert and illustrates his journey with a handful of compelling cases that he has witnessed over the years, from a 'Julia' - a Satanist high priestess who spoke in tongues and levitated during her exorcism. To 'Stan' a middle-aged man from the Pacific- Northwest who claimed that he was periodically scratched and occasionally choked by (in his words) 'some kind of weird, unseen assailants.'
There was also 'Catherine,' a housewife from rural West Virginia who went into trance-like states and uttered vile blasphemies anytime something related to religion was mentioned. And 'Barbara' - a petite woman, '90 pounds when soaking wet' who threw a Lutheran deacon across the room and spoke Latin without any formal higher education or knowledge of a foreign language.
(Note: all names have been changed to conceal patient's identity).
Dr Richard Gallagher admits that he was 'deeply skeptical' when a priest visited him early in his career asking for his psychiatric opinion about a woman who claimed that she was being attacked by evil spirits at night. It eventually turned into an unlikely side-career for Gallagher who has advised faith leaders all over the world in distinguishing whether a person is suffering from a mental illness or true demonic attack
Gallagher says that a well-trained psychiatrists can easily distinguish the difference between a demonic possession from other mental illnesses (like schizophrenia and multiple- personality disorder). The criteria for an official diagnosis is very strict and priests must have 'moral certainty' in order to perform an exorcism. 'The Roman Ritual, which is the official manual, advises that exorcists consult with a physician'
Richard Gallagher, 70, was one of five children born to an Irish-American family in the suburbs of New York City. 'I was instilled with a deep Yankee skepticism,' he writes. 'I didn't give much thought to the idea of a devil, let alone the strange idea of demonic possession.'
Gallagher was a classics major at Princeton and went on to play semi-professional basketball in France after graduating. He then entered medical school and completed his psychiatric residency at the Yale University School of Medicine. Soon after, the young doctor enrolled at Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
By the 1990s- Dr Gallagher was teaching a course on Sigmund Freud at Cornell Medical College and well on his way to pursing a conventional career as an academic psychiatrist when he received an unexpected visitor that would lead him into the world of exorcisms.
The elderly Catholic priest (whom Gallagher refers to as 'Father Jacques') was dressed in head-to-toe black except for his identifying white Roman collar. He wanted Gallagher's help in diagnosing a woman, who claimed that she was being assailed at night by invisible spirits.
She had traveled 2,000 miles from California to meet with Father Jacques (was a well known exorcist throughout country at the time). Curiosity outweighed ambivalence and Dr. Gallagher agreed to meet with Maria.
'She was a very charitable and Holy person,' said Gallagher. 'But bruises would just appear all over her body and she would have the sensation of being beaten up but they were by, you might say, spirits or invisible forces.'
Gallagher's job was to evaluate whether there might be any diagnosable mental or physical illness behind Maria's bruises, some of which were still visible on her arms. He investigated her ailments with the same exacting methods and scientific protocols he used as a physician.
He ran a battery of tests: a physical exam, repeat blood work (specifically tests for clotting abnormalities), an EEG, and a CT scan. All were negative. Her bruises superficially resembled a disorder called 'psychogenic purpura' – an illness caused by stress and trauma that creates swelling and spontaneous lesions. But Maria seemed mentally healthy and showed no sign of inflammation.
'Could she and her husband Alejandro both be delusional?' Gallagher wondered if they shared psychotic condition called folie à deux, but neither appeared paranoid. 'Could Alejandro be beating Maria and making up a story to hide his abuse?' But that also proved to be a dead end, surmising that the couple had traveled too far to involve Father Jacques, and Gallagher in their ruse.
'They went to a number of different doctors and they basically told them, as I eventually told them as well, that we couldn't find any medical or psychiatric reason why this was happening.' According to Father Jacques, Maria was suffering from a demonic 'oppression.'
Films such as The Exorcist have focused frequently on possession in pop culture, and Dr Gallagher says common real-life symptoms include superhuman strength, fluency in ancient languages, trance-like states, demonic voices, hostility toward the sacred, and other 'paranormal activity' - like psychic knowledge and 'the extraordinarily rare phenomenon of levitation'
One of the most extreme possessions Gallagher ever consulted was a patient named 'Julia' (not pictured). She was a 'once-in-a-century-case' who entered trance-like states, spoke in demonic voices and allegedly levitated during her exorcism. Gallagher says that eight witnesses corroborated the story
According to Gallagher there are two types of demonic attacks: 'oppressions' and 'possessions.' Oppressions are 'less dramatic attacks by evil spirits' and more common than full-blown possessions. A true possession happens when 'an evil spirit controls a person and completely takes them over.'
Despite their rarity, Gallagher estimates that he's seen 'a little more than a hundred' full-blown possessions in his lifetime. 'But again, remember that's over 25 years,' he said.
There is a very strict criteria for a demonic possession and patients must exhibit more than one symptom in order to be diagnosed.
Classic signs include: trance-like states, demonic voices, have hostility toward anything sacred or religious, fluency in foreign languages and a tendency to spew violent and crude vitriol. 'There also has to be evidence of what in modern times is called 'the paranormal,' said Gallagher. 'For instance, they can exhibit highly impossible superhuman strength or display the extraordinarily rare phenomenon like levitation.'
Finally, some have what's called ''hidden knowledge' of things that as a human being, they never could know,' explained Gallagher. 'For instance, one woman knew that my mother died of ovarian cancer.'
Father Jacques' prominence in the field meant that he traveled all around the country to perform exorcisms and Gallagher began to work as his apprentice.
Eventually the young doctor was introduced to 'Father A.' - an enigmatic priest who Gallagher says 'was probably the most experienced exorcist in US history.' (He denied to DailyMail.com that 'Father A.' was a concealed alias for Father Gabriele Amorth, the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican who is said to have performed 160,000 in his lifetime).
Through their ad hoc training, Gallagher began to understand the many nuances and various manifestations of his new field.
Diabolic afflictions can occur on a 'very wide spectrum,' some can be minor while others can be very severe. 'For instance, I knew a woman who would get strong pains every time she went for communion and that was her only problem.'
He learned that demonic attacks are never random, 'There is almost always a discernible cause.' In Maria's case, she was being punished for her devout holiness. But the most common cause is when someone has turned to evil or the occult, and paradoxically it's often when they move away from that world, that the demons attack.
Such was the situation with 'Stan,' a middle-aged man from the Pacific Northwest, who like Maria, felt like he was being hit and choked by (in his words), 'some kind of weird, unseen assailants.'
His condition puzzled a number of physicians who had evaluated him through a battery of tests. Stan was a 'brilliant man, well- read and knowledgeable about religious history.' He admitted there was a time that he questioned his Christian upbringing and briefly explored Eastern religions, but vehemently denied engaging with the occult. Gallagher was suspicious, and eventually Stan admitted that he had briefly turned to Satanism as a young man, and 'promised his soul' in an exchange for favors.
Father Jacques subsequently delivered Stan from his demons in an exorcism.
He mentions the case of another US housewife, 'Catherine' - who 'as a teenager had dabbled in satanic rituals, and she had kind of promised herself, in some fairly foolish way, to evil spirits,' he says. 'She did a few grisly things, which I'm not going to go into, but she also, with a couple of friends, they did minor satanic rituals and she became possessed.'
Catherine had a very odd symptom in which she selectively could not hear things specifically related to religion. 'If you said to her: 'Catherine, did you go to the store today?' She would respond 'Yes, I bought meat and potatoes.''
'But if you said, 'Catherine, did you go to church today?' She would say, 'What?' I'd ask again, 'Catherine, did you go to church or did you pray today?' - 'Did I what?''
Her sense of hearing was completely blocked. So Gallagher then tested it by writing his questions on a piece of paper and she responded well to the first round of written queries, such as 'What has your day been like?' or 'How are your children?' But when he held up a piece of paper that asked Catherine, 'Did you pray today? Did you go to church?'
'She looked at me quizzically and said, 'Dr Gallagher why are you doing this? Why are you showing me these blank pieces of paper?'
Prior to seeking spiritual help, Catherine had visited an ear, nose, and throat specialist, she had seen psychologist, and an audiologist - all three doctors were unable to discern any concluded that there was no psychological or physiological explanation for these symptoms.
Catherine's inability to hear anything pastoral in nature made helping her very challenging. 'The obvious motive there was to prevent her from being able to talk about anything spiritual, get the help that she needed, get the solace and spiritual support she needed.'
- Dr. Richard Gallagher is a renowned, board-certified psychiatrist from New York who helps diagnose 'demonic possession' for the Catholic Church
- The Yale- educated physician currently sits on the faculty at Columbia University and New York Medical College - and says he's an avowed 'man of science'
- As a trained doctor, Gallagher uses modern scientific protocols to determine if a person is possessed and says the criteria for diagnosis is 'very rigorous'
- Gallagher began consulting on in the 1990s after a preeminent Catholic exorcist asked for his medical opinion on whether a patient was mentally ill or possessed
- He admits that he was 'skeptical' at first despite being a devout Catholic himself; later he served as scientific adviser to the International Association of Exorcists
- Signs of demonic possession, he says, can include extraordinary strength and even blocked senses as spirits stop people from hearing or seeing the spiritual
- His most extreme case was a woman named 'Julia' - a patient he observed for months who spoke in tongues, put a vex on his pet cats and levitated
- Despite having witnessed 'hundreds' of cases of 'demonic oppression; Gallagher insists that it is still a 'rarity' and is most often a mental illness
- His new book, 'Demonic Foes' outlines evidence he's collected in the 30-years he has worked as an exorcist's consultant
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@BarbaraLee
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@blinditems
@Buckeye Rose
@Caramel Dipped
@CaribbeanQueer
@Chic Noir
@Clearly Nicole
@cloutdemon
@Chocobun
@Cocoathunda
@Cutiefab
@DeafningSilence
@Demeter
@ddilianaa
@EbonyWisdom
@ElizaBorden
@elvynn
@evil_sandy
@FawkeryFree30
@floridapalmtree
@GlitterTarantino
@Gloryngold
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@Janet Jackson
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@SerendipiTEE
@Sin Verguenza
@SoFlyTho
@Strawberryfreckles
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@SugarWater
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@TellEmWhyUMad
@TheLurker2019
@thephoenixslays
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@TheNewMedusa
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@Too shyshy
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@wendysfourforfour
@williams86
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@Xiolito94
Dr Richard Gallagher, a board certified psychiatrist and avowed 'man of science' details his journey from skeptic to believer in a new book, Demonic Foes. As a consulting doctor to the Vatican he says: 'I think I have seen more cases of possession than any other physician in the world'
'Exorcist' is an unlikely job title for an academic physician but for Dr. Richard Gallagher- it was a profession that happened entirely by accident.
The Yale-trained, board-certified psychiatrist from New York who currently sits on the faculty at New York Medical College and Columbia University is a self- avowed 'man of science.'
He has spent the last forty years of his illustrious medical career racking up credentials as a doctor who specializes in personality disorders and psychopharmacology.
Needless to say, the veteran psychiatrist felt 'deeply skeptical' when an unexpected visitor, dressed in head-to-toe clerical garb, showed up at his office in the early 1990s asking for help. The priest wanted Gallagher's psychiatric opinion about a woman who claimed that she was being attacked by evil spirits.
Despite being a lifelong Catholic himself, Gallagher told the priest that he was incredulous, but he agreed to observe the patient and promised to keep an open mind. To his surprise, the priest responded: 'If we didn't think you were skeptical, Dr. Gallagher, we wouldn't have wanted to use you.'
Thus began Dr Gallagher's unusual side-career as an expert in evil spirits. Three decades and hundreds of 'oppressions later' - the disciplined 'man of science' has become the world's leading consultant on demonic possession for the Catholic Church.
Now Dr Richard Gallagher has put his experiences to word in a new book titled, Demonic Foes: My Twenty-Five Years as a Psychiatrist Investigating Possessions, Diabolic Attacks and the Paranormal.
'I suppose my major motive in writing the book was just to present the evidence,' he told DailyMailcom. 'I don't try to convince people. You read the evidence and make up your own mind, it's a free country.'
The book outlines how the doctor went from skeptic, to believer, to expert and illustrates his journey with a handful of compelling cases that he has witnessed over the years, from a 'Julia' - a Satanist high priestess who spoke in tongues and levitated during her exorcism. To 'Stan' a middle-aged man from the Pacific- Northwest who claimed that he was periodically scratched and occasionally choked by (in his words) 'some kind of weird, unseen assailants.'
There was also 'Catherine,' a housewife from rural West Virginia who went into trance-like states and uttered vile blasphemies anytime something related to religion was mentioned. And 'Barbara' - a petite woman, '90 pounds when soaking wet' who threw a Lutheran deacon across the room and spoke Latin without any formal higher education or knowledge of a foreign language.
(Note: all names have been changed to conceal patient's identity).
Dr Richard Gallagher admits that he was 'deeply skeptical' when a priest visited him early in his career asking for his psychiatric opinion about a woman who claimed that she was being attacked by evil spirits at night. It eventually turned into an unlikely side-career for Gallagher who has advised faith leaders all over the world in distinguishing whether a person is suffering from a mental illness or true demonic attack
Gallagher says that a well-trained psychiatrists can easily distinguish the difference between a demonic possession from other mental illnesses (like schizophrenia and multiple- personality disorder). The criteria for an official diagnosis is very strict and priests must have 'moral certainty' in order to perform an exorcism. 'The Roman Ritual, which is the official manual, advises that exorcists consult with a physician'
Richard Gallagher, 70, was one of five children born to an Irish-American family in the suburbs of New York City. 'I was instilled with a deep Yankee skepticism,' he writes. 'I didn't give much thought to the idea of a devil, let alone the strange idea of demonic possession.'
Gallagher was a classics major at Princeton and went on to play semi-professional basketball in France after graduating. He then entered medical school and completed his psychiatric residency at the Yale University School of Medicine. Soon after, the young doctor enrolled at Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
By the 1990s- Dr Gallagher was teaching a course on Sigmund Freud at Cornell Medical College and well on his way to pursing a conventional career as an academic psychiatrist when he received an unexpected visitor that would lead him into the world of exorcisms.
The elderly Catholic priest (whom Gallagher refers to as 'Father Jacques') was dressed in head-to-toe black except for his identifying white Roman collar. He wanted Gallagher's help in diagnosing a woman, who claimed that she was being assailed at night by invisible spirits.
She had traveled 2,000 miles from California to meet with Father Jacques (was a well known exorcist throughout country at the time). Curiosity outweighed ambivalence and Dr. Gallagher agreed to meet with Maria.
'She was a very charitable and Holy person,' said Gallagher. 'But bruises would just appear all over her body and she would have the sensation of being beaten up but they were by, you might say, spirits or invisible forces.'
Gallagher's job was to evaluate whether there might be any diagnosable mental or physical illness behind Maria's bruises, some of which were still visible on her arms. He investigated her ailments with the same exacting methods and scientific protocols he used as a physician.
He ran a battery of tests: a physical exam, repeat blood work (specifically tests for clotting abnormalities), an EEG, and a CT scan. All were negative. Her bruises superficially resembled a disorder called 'psychogenic purpura' – an illness caused by stress and trauma that creates swelling and spontaneous lesions. But Maria seemed mentally healthy and showed no sign of inflammation.
'Could she and her husband Alejandro both be delusional?' Gallagher wondered if they shared psychotic condition called folie à deux, but neither appeared paranoid. 'Could Alejandro be beating Maria and making up a story to hide his abuse?' But that also proved to be a dead end, surmising that the couple had traveled too far to involve Father Jacques, and Gallagher in their ruse.
'They went to a number of different doctors and they basically told them, as I eventually told them as well, that we couldn't find any medical or psychiatric reason why this was happening.' According to Father Jacques, Maria was suffering from a demonic 'oppression.'
Films such as The Exorcist have focused frequently on possession in pop culture, and Dr Gallagher says common real-life symptoms include superhuman strength, fluency in ancient languages, trance-like states, demonic voices, hostility toward the sacred, and other 'paranormal activity' - like psychic knowledge and 'the extraordinarily rare phenomenon of levitation'
One of the most extreme possessions Gallagher ever consulted was a patient named 'Julia' (not pictured). She was a 'once-in-a-century-case' who entered trance-like states, spoke in demonic voices and allegedly levitated during her exorcism. Gallagher says that eight witnesses corroborated the story
According to Gallagher there are two types of demonic attacks: 'oppressions' and 'possessions.' Oppressions are 'less dramatic attacks by evil spirits' and more common than full-blown possessions. A true possession happens when 'an evil spirit controls a person and completely takes them over.'
Despite their rarity, Gallagher estimates that he's seen 'a little more than a hundred' full-blown possessions in his lifetime. 'But again, remember that's over 25 years,' he said.
There is a very strict criteria for a demonic possession and patients must exhibit more than one symptom in order to be diagnosed.
Classic signs include: trance-like states, demonic voices, have hostility toward anything sacred or religious, fluency in foreign languages and a tendency to spew violent and crude vitriol. 'There also has to be evidence of what in modern times is called 'the paranormal,' said Gallagher. 'For instance, they can exhibit highly impossible superhuman strength or display the extraordinarily rare phenomenon like levitation.'
Finally, some have what's called ''hidden knowledge' of things that as a human being, they never could know,' explained Gallagher. 'For instance, one woman knew that my mother died of ovarian cancer.'
Father Jacques' prominence in the field meant that he traveled all around the country to perform exorcisms and Gallagher began to work as his apprentice.
Eventually the young doctor was introduced to 'Father A.' - an enigmatic priest who Gallagher says 'was probably the most experienced exorcist in US history.' (He denied to DailyMail.com that 'Father A.' was a concealed alias for Father Gabriele Amorth, the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican who is said to have performed 160,000 in his lifetime).
Through their ad hoc training, Gallagher began to understand the many nuances and various manifestations of his new field.
Diabolic afflictions can occur on a 'very wide spectrum,' some can be minor while others can be very severe. 'For instance, I knew a woman who would get strong pains every time she went for communion and that was her only problem.'
He learned that demonic attacks are never random, 'There is almost always a discernible cause.' In Maria's case, she was being punished for her devout holiness. But the most common cause is when someone has turned to evil or the occult, and paradoxically it's often when they move away from that world, that the demons attack.
Such was the situation with 'Stan,' a middle-aged man from the Pacific Northwest, who like Maria, felt like he was being hit and choked by (in his words), 'some kind of weird, unseen assailants.'
His condition puzzled a number of physicians who had evaluated him through a battery of tests. Stan was a 'brilliant man, well- read and knowledgeable about religious history.' He admitted there was a time that he questioned his Christian upbringing and briefly explored Eastern religions, but vehemently denied engaging with the occult. Gallagher was suspicious, and eventually Stan admitted that he had briefly turned to Satanism as a young man, and 'promised his soul' in an exchange for favors.
Father Jacques subsequently delivered Stan from his demons in an exorcism.
He mentions the case of another US housewife, 'Catherine' - who 'as a teenager had dabbled in satanic rituals, and she had kind of promised herself, in some fairly foolish way, to evil spirits,' he says. 'She did a few grisly things, which I'm not going to go into, but she also, with a couple of friends, they did minor satanic rituals and she became possessed.'
Catherine had a very odd symptom in which she selectively could not hear things specifically related to religion. 'If you said to her: 'Catherine, did you go to the store today?' She would respond 'Yes, I bought meat and potatoes.''
'But if you said, 'Catherine, did you go to church today?' She would say, 'What?' I'd ask again, 'Catherine, did you go to church or did you pray today?' - 'Did I what?''
Her sense of hearing was completely blocked. So Gallagher then tested it by writing his questions on a piece of paper and she responded well to the first round of written queries, such as 'What has your day been like?' or 'How are your children?' But when he held up a piece of paper that asked Catherine, 'Did you pray today? Did you go to church?'
'She looked at me quizzically and said, 'Dr Gallagher why are you doing this? Why are you showing me these blank pieces of paper?'
Prior to seeking spiritual help, Catherine had visited an ear, nose, and throat specialist, she had seen psychologist, and an audiologist - all three doctors were unable to discern any concluded that there was no psychological or physiological explanation for these symptoms.
Catherine's inability to hear anything pastoral in nature made helping her very challenging. 'The obvious motive there was to prevent her from being able to talk about anything spiritual, get the help that she needed, get the solace and spiritual support she needed.'