Horrific Hauntings : Haunting of the Demon House || The Ammons Haunting

 Located 25 miles away from Chicago, Gary was once a thriving steel city. However, like other Rust Belt cities, “America’s Magic City” has become a shadow of its former self due to an economic shift caused by the drastic reduction of the local manufacturing jobs offered by its steel industry.

 The once-revered city suffers from noticeable unemployment and decaying infrastructure, making it an often-cited example of urban decay. The city’s struggling economy caused a significant decrease in its population and it is estimated that at least one in three of its houses is either unoccupied or abandoned. A noticeable racial change has been observed in the city over the years and 80 per cent of its population are African-Americans. As jobs moved out of the deteriorating city, a majority of the comparatively wealthy white population moved along with it, causing the racial shift.

 The quote from one of Gary’s Drug Enforcement Administration agents perfectly sums up the city’s state of affairs;

“We used to be the murder capital of the US, but there is hardly anybody left to kill. We used to be the drug capital of the US, but for that you need money, and there aren’t jobs or things to steal here.”

(Source: Guardian)

 When Latoya Ammons, her mother Rosa Campbell and her three children moved into a rented house at 3860 Carolina Street in Gary, Indiana, this was the cityscape they found themselves in. The modest, three-bedroomed single-storey house looked nothing different from its neighbouring constructions but unbeknownst to the matriarchal family, the house had a dark history.

(Source: The Hammond Police Department)

Eventful Initial Days

 After moving into the house in November of 2011, the Ammons found themselves in the middle of strange happenings almost immediately. Despite the freezing temperatures of the winter, big black flies had swarmed their screened porch. In line with Rosa’s testimony, killing the flies ironically raised their numbers.

 When the members of the family tried falling asleep in their beds, they would often hear loud and heavy footsteps climb up the basement stairs following which the old basement door would creak. Initially, the elders of the house had tried investigating the phenomena only to find no apparent cause. The family tried locking the basement door at night but it only made matters worse. In the aftermath, they found the silence of the otherwise serene night disrupted by wild, intimidating roars emanating from the basement and incessant banging on the basement door.

 One night Rosa had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room. She had woken up from her sleep in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, only to find a dark, shadowy figure of a man in the living room, pacing to and fro. She had darted across the room and turned on the lights, but the figure had already vanished, leaving behind large boot marks. It seemingly appeared as if someone had been walking on the flooring of the living room.

(Source: Indy Star)

 By March of 2012, the Ammons were thoroughly terrified by their inexplicable and dark housemate. On the 10^th of March, the members of the matriarchal family were all up late, mourning the death of a loved one with some extended family members and friends. As the adults chatted, Latoya’s twelve-year-old daughter screamed in horror as an invisible force pulled her off the couch. Simultaneously, Amate, Latoya’s youngest son, had been thrown into a freezer by something similar.

 During the early hours of the next day, the adults heard a piercing scream emanate from the room in which Latoya’s daughter was sleeping that night. Latoya darted to the room and turned the light on. Hearing her daughter screaming for her, Rosa rushed from another room to see her twelve-year-old granddaughter levitating above the bed. The commotion caught the attention of others in the house, causing them to circle the bed and pray for the levitating girl. A few minutes later, the young teen dropped back onto the bed and when she woke up, she remembered nothing that preceded.

 Following this dreaded day, the activity in the house started to intensify. In line with the claims of Andrew, Latoya’s oldest son, doors would slam and objects would move around as if being held by invisible hands. Furthermore, Amate was once thrown out of the bathroom when no one was physically near him. Realizing that they were in dire need of help, the Ammons started reaching out to local churches, eventually getting acquainted with a minister from a small church.

 The man told Latoya that their house was inhabited by spirits. He suggested scrubbing the house with bleach and ammonia, before drawing crosses with oil on the doors and windows of the house and anointing all members of the family. These measures were intended to prevent the entity in the house from becoming too powerful and protect the family members from possession.

(Source: Indy Star)

 Latoya contacted two more clairvoyants who claimed that their house had been infested with more than 200 strong demonic entities, whose forces were emanating specifically from the basement. They asked the Ammons to move out of the house but the lack of finance made it an extremely tough call for the family. Thus, the clairvoyants suggested an alternative, telling Latoya to create a shrine in the barren basement.

A Failed Cleansing

 Heeding their advice, Latoya set up a table in the eerily cold basement, covered with a white tablecloth and placed a statue of the holy family with a lit white candle beside it. She then went around the house with a burning stick of sage, reading passages from the bible. After invoking God’s protection, she placed her bible in the middle of the basement. After the cleansing, three days passed without any further incidents, giving the family a new sense of security. Unbeknownst to them, the activity was going to return, a lot more malignant than before.

 Latoya Ammons would later tell the Indy Star that she believed that she and her three children had been possessed by demons. In line with her statement, the eyes of her children would bulge, becoming flat and lifeless, and evil smiles would cross their faces. When they were in this state, their voices became notably deeper and emotionless. Occasionally, they would even speak in strange, nonsensical language.

 Amate, who was seven back then, often locked himself inside the closet, where he would be heard talking inside, seemingly participating in a conversation. When he was asked about the other conversant, he claimed that a young boy in the closet explained to him what it felt like to be killed. Latoya’s oldest child, her twelve-year-old daughter, would often be choked by invisible hands, stopping her from moving or speaking. The bewildering happenings caused Latoya and Rosa to take the kids to hotels to sleep at night, but this became financially impossible.

 On the 12^th of April 2012, the adults of the family decided to bring the kids to Geoffrey, their family doctor. Dr Geoffrey’s visit with the Ammons was absolutely bizarre. When he walked into the kids’ room, both of Latoya’s sons began to yell at the doctor and curse at him in deep demonic voices. The doctor and his accompanying nurse witnessed the youngest boy being thrown into the wall by an invisible force. Soon afterwards, both of the boys blacked out and despite the doctor’s best attempts, did not wake up, thus causing the involvement of the police.

Introduction of the DCS

 The children were transferred to Methodist hospital where they eventually came to their senses. Andrew seemed to be fine but his younger brother woke up in an inexplicable rage, screaming and throwing his limbs around. In line with Latoya’s claims, it took five men to hold him in place and neither of them knew what was happening.

 Latoya went around seeking oil, claiming that her children were possessed by demons, but it only resulted in ridicule and a call to the department of Child Protective Services. A CPS agent named Valerie Washington was assigned to the Ammons as their caseworker and she arrived at the hospital to handle the initial investigation. As she observed, the hospital staff examined Latoya and her three children, finding them to be free of any marks or bruises and sound in mind.

 She began interviewing Latoya's two sons before the seven-year-old began growling at her. He showed Valerie his teeth while his eyes rolled back in his head. The younger boy, then launched himself at his older brother and wrapped his hands around Andrew's throat, refusing to let go. His hands needed to be pried off by the adults in the room. The team took a break after the happening and reconvened later in an exam room.

 When the session re-commenced the Amate stared into his brother's eyes and began growling again, saying in a deep voice “It's time to die, I will kill you.” Within moments, the older brother began head-butting Rosa in the stomach, who grabbed his hands and began praying out loud. The events that followed baffled the people who had gathered in the room.

 In line with Valerie Washington's report, Andrew stated that a ghost was attacking him and his brother. Soon afterwards, Andrew started backpedalling towards the nearby wall and as Rosa still kept holding his hands firmly, he started walking up the wall, tip-toed himself on the ceiling and flipped over her, landing on his feet. A bunch of people, a majority of whom had no personal interest in supporting Latoya’s paranormal claims, bore witness to this anomalous event. Shortly afterwards, moments after Andrew came out of his trance, a doctor came into the room and asked the boy to walk up the wall again. Andrew, however, did not remember doing any of it.

 The next day, Valerie Washington informed Latoya that her three children were being removed from her car until the completion of a more in-depth investigation. After several mental health facilities denied admitting him, Andrew was placed in a Christian haven. His siblings were placed at the Carmelite Home in Chicago.

Introduction of Father Maginot

 On the morning of the 20^th of April 2012, with the help of a hospital chaplain, Latoya contacted Fr Maginot, a priest from Saint Stephen Church Marysville, and requested him to exorcise her and her children. Maginot, however, insisted on meeting the family before planning for an exorcism and thus, the following Sunday, he visited the Ammons’ house.

(Source: Indy Star)

 Maginot sat with Latoya and Rosa in the living room and talked with them for two hours. During this time, Rosa pointed out to father Maginot that there was a light flickering on and off in the bathroom. He walked over to check it out but each time he did this, the light stopped flickering. Maginot witnessed many other things during his first visit to the Ammons’ home. He saw Venetian blinds swaying in the living room even though there was no current of air. He saw wet footprints appear on the living room floor and he witnessed Latoya complaining of a headache. When father Maginot placed a crucifix on her forehead she began to convulse. Father Maginot also saw the Venetian blind rod in the kitchen swinging back and forth and this activity would continue going from window to window, swaying in synchronisation.

 In Latoya’s bedroom, Father Maginot noticed that a couple of ounces of oil had dripped onto the blinds. Latoya told him it was the olive oil she had used for the sign of the cross but she had done this months ago. She claimed that the liquid would sometimes dry up but then it would return wet and oily again as if it had just been placed there.

 After four hours of investigation, father Maginot concluded that the family and their house were being terrorized by demons and ghosts. Citing the hostile nature of the entities, he forced Latoya and Rosa to move out of the house, thus causing the ladies to temporarily move in with their relatives.

The First Investigation

 A week later, Valerie Washington accompanied by Lieutenant Gruska asked Latoya and her mother to assist them with inspecting their house. Because of their curiosity for the paranormal, three other police officers joined the investigating duo.

 Latoya greeted the visitors but she refused to enter the house. Rosa led Valerie and the other police officers into the house and guided them from room to room. The group went around the house taking pictures and recording videos and after they were done with the other sections, they entered the basement.

 The investigators, upon entering the basement, saw burnt-down candles, an altar and a nativity scene. Gruska also noticed that the area under the staircase had broken concrete pieces, suggesting that the flooring part had been ripped apart. According to police records, one of the officer’s audio recorders began malfunctioning. The power light flashed as if the batteries were dying but he had specifically replaced the batteries with new ones right before coming to that house. Another police officer on site was able to record some audio and when the audio was played back, they could hear a voice whispering “Hey!”

 In the photos of the underside of the basement stairs, a cloudy white image was present in the upper right-hand corner. When enlarged, the cloudy white image appeared to resemble the face of a little boy and it also revealed a second green image, less focused and more indistinct. When the green image was further zoomed in, it resembled the face of a woman.

Austin's Adversity

 Charles Austin, one of the officers who visited the house and a cop with 35 years of experience, claimed that he had initially assumed that Latoya and her family had concocted this strange tale for money or attention. However, after being present at the house that day, he became a believer. He was the one who had taken the pictures in the basement.

(Source: Daily Mail)

 After leaving the Ammons’ house, the radio in his police-issued vehicle malfunctioned. On his way back home, he had stopped to get gas when all of a sudden the radio went static before a voice growled out of the speakers saying, “who is that.” When he arrived at his home, Austin claimed that his garage did not open despite his house having power.

 Following his visit, many unfortunate things happened to Charles Austin and it seemingly appeared as if whatever had been in that house had followed him home. The driver's seat in his personal vehicle began to move back and forth on its own while he was driving and when he brought it to a dealership to get it checked, the mechanic told him that the motor on the seat was broken. This seat motor, however, had not stopped working. It almost took on a life of its own as if it was trying to cause Charles Austin to get into an accident.

 Austin also found himself in the middle of several accidents, which left him injured or hospitalized. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one.

The Second Investigation

 On the 10^th of May 2012, Latoya, Rosa and two police officers from the initial visit went back into the house. They were accompanied by Father Maginot, two different Lake County police officers, a police dog and Samantha, the new DCS case manager for the Ammons. Valerie Washington, the family’s previous case manager had refused to return the face. Mentally traumatized by the case, she had already quit her job.

 The police dog didn't pick up on anything of interest in the house, thus causing the whole group to venture into the basement. Father Maginot was insistent on checking the dirt under the stairs, hoping to find a cursed object or the remains of a person who had been murdered in the house and buried there. While the men began digging, Samantha saw a strange liquid dripping down the basement walls. Without thinking much, she touched it with her fingertips, claiming that it felt slippery yet sticky.

 Samantha walked back over to the stairs where a four-foot by three-foot hole had been dug. They had found a pink press-on nail, a white pair of women's underwear, a lid that appeared to belong to a small cooking pan, a small pair of socks, candy wrappers and a heavy metal object that looked like a cord weight for a drapery. Before leaving, the group filled the hole again, putting the discovered objects back in place, before father Maginot spread some salt under the stairs and blessed it.

 Parallelly, Samantha’s pinkie finger began to tingle and turn white. Within minutes, half of Samantha's hand turned white and she said it felt broken. She began to have trouble breathing and she started feeling as if she was having a panic attack. Samantha left the house and joined Latoya outside, but apparently, she had not gotten out of there soon enough. More than half of her hand turned white, seemingly as if the blood had been drained out, and she felt extreme pain.

 Over the course of the next 30 days, Samantha would suffer multiple accidents. She got in a jet skiing accident, breaking three of her ribs, she suffered third-degree burns from a motorcycle accident, she broke her hand after hitting a table and she broke her ankle while running. Similar to the case of Austin, it appeared as if something had followed her out of that house.

 The police officers still inside the house continued to look around. Charles Austin, however, left as soon as it started to get dark. In their pursuit, Brian Miller also noticed an oily substance but he noticed it dripping down the Venetian blinds in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Despite taking a closer look, he couldn't figure out the origin of the oil. The police photographed the substance on the blinds, cleaned it off and then sealed the room, preventing people from going into the room.

 When the police returned forty minutes later, they found the oily substance dripping down the blinds again. They immediately darted outside and shined a light on the exterior of the window hoping to find its source but they were neither able to determine the source nor determine what the oily substance was. To add to the oddity, the substance kept reappearing despite getting wiped off.

Exorcising the Ammons

 Father Maginot eventually persuaded the church into allowing him to exorcise the family. He performed an intense blessing on the house to expel the hostile entities it hosted, following which he performed a minor exorcism on Latoya. The proceedings were witnessed by two police officers and Samantha, who claimed that the exorcism gave her chills. In line with her statement, the trio felt like someone invisible shared the room with them, whose breath they could feel on their neck.

 Father Maginot performed three major exorcisms, two in English and the final one in Latin. During the last exorcism, which occurred in June of 2012, he pressed a crucifix to Latoya’s head, praised God and condemned the devil, causing terrible convulsions. After several hours of the proceedings, she passed out from exhaustion before confirming that she had been freed from the clutches of evil. In the aftermath, she claimed that something inside her was trying to hold on and inflict pain, a pain that was as intense as giving birth but far more agonizing.

 After the series of exorcisms, Latoya and Rosa left Gary and moved to Indianapolis. Six months after their separation, Latoya was reunited with her three children. According to Latoya, this was the happiest day of her life.

Psychological Evaluation

 After they were taken into the custody of DCS, all three children had been evaluated by clinical psychologists.

 Stacy Wright examined Amate, the youngest son, and she claimed that the boy tended to act possessed when he was challenged, redirected or questioned. The boy seemed to be coherent and logical unless he was talking about demons, when his stories would become bizarre, fragmented and illogical. Furthermore, he would often change the subject while asked by demons.

 Stacy did not believe that the child was suffering from a psychotic disorder, but she suggested that the behaviour could have been a result of religious indoctrination. Another clinical psychologist named Joel evaluated the other kids and he arrived at a similar conclusion. Latoya herself was evaluated by more than one psychologist, but none of them was able to determine any sign of psychotic disorder.

A Dark History

 The notorious house was purchased by Zak Bagans in 2014, following which its recent history came to light.

(Source: Discovery Plus)

 A previous tenant told Zak Bagans that previous tenants had also experienced paranormal activity in that house, events that had caused them to quit their jobs and move out of the state. A Neighbour on Carolina Street also told Zach that five people had died in the house and one of them had been a little boy who had died in the basement room. The previous owner of the property, however, rejected the claims

 One day, when Zak was investigating the house, Mika, a woman who had lived in the house during the 90s, drove by with her family. She had allegedly been ten years old when she and her family moved into the house, where they lived for five years. During her stay, she claimed to hear footsteps when no one else was home. A friend, who always visited the house, also apparently heard inexplicable footsteps. To add on, Mika never wanted to go into the basement the entire time she lived there because of its eeriness. Mika also told Zak that she used to have nightmares while living at the house, dreams where she was told someone she knew was going to die soon. Coincidentally, her brother, who used to live in the basement, was shot and killed.

Mika’s Adversity

 Zak invited her into the house and this time, she did go into the basement. While down there, Mika claimed she felt someone kick her. Zak's film crew had been filming the whole time and later when they reviewed the footage, they could see Mika flinching as if she had been kicked. While Mika was walking around the house, the camera crew's microphones picked up a sound, a woman's voice that sounded like she was saying “Latoya run!”

 Shortly afterwards, Zak had set up an altar in the living room but moments later, an inexplicable rage took over him. He became extremely aggressive, attacking a member of his own crew before being taken out of the house.

 Two days after being at the house, Erica, Mika’s teenage daughter, became irrationally angry and aggressive, threatening to kill her mother in her sleep. Erica began cutting herself and eventually attempted to kill herself by overdosing and stabbing herself. She was admitted to a hospital where it was discovered that the number six had been carved into her back. Father Maginot performed an exorcism on the teen following which she could not remember the events that followed after her day at the house.

Current State

 The hostile, paranormal nature of the house and the effects it had on him caused Zak to demolish the house in 2016. The staircase that led from the basement to the kitchen, however, was carefully taken and placed in Zak’s haunted museum in Vegas. The staff of the museum claim that a group of construction workers quit their job after the installation of the staircase, refusing to return.

(Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

 Both Zak and Father Maginot believe that the land that once hosted the house is not safe. The empty lot, which has two houses on either side, has become a hot spot for paranormal enthusiasts. People are often spotted doing seances in the plot, resulting in the police getting called. According to Father Maginot, “these people are in great danger and there is no way to protect them.” Despite cleansing the empty lot multiple times, he still claims that the land is a horrifying portal to hell, still open to any demon who wishes to find a human soul to attach itself to.