Exorcism!

Peter Underwood examines exorcism as a ritual intended to drive out spirits or demons, tracing its use across people, places, animals and objects. The book considers both the ceremony’s long-standing religious associations and the myths that have gathered around it.

Its case material ranges from alleged hauntings and witchcraft to vampires and animals, including a reported attempt to exorcise Bram Stoker’s black dog. Underwood also discusses claims involving a cursed trawler and efforts to remove an evil ambience from Loch Ness and the Bermuda Triangle. Research from Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, the United States and the British Isles is set against questions about mental disturbance, belief, ritual and the possibility of evil as a living force.