The Devil Made Me Do It!

Hey, everybody! Who loves a good, spooky true story to go with a horror film? I, for one do. So tonight I bring you the true story of the possession of David Glatzel & the trial of Arne Johnson. The case was known as "The Demon Murder Case". There was an episode from the paranormal show "A Haunting", and the episode entitled "Where Demons Dwell" (Filmed in 2006) featured both Debbie Glatzel & Arne Johnson. We are also are going to be talking about the new film The Conjuring 3- The Devil Made Me Do It, adding a little movie review into the mix!

So, where to begin? Well, let's just start with the first occurrence, shall we? David Glatzel was only 11 years old when he saw something extremely frightening. What he saw was terrifying, he saw an older man with non human characteristics. The old man had horns, hooves, a thin face, jagged teeth, big black eyes, pointed ears, & just an all around animal like face! He also said the old man was wearing flannel and a pair of jeans. This was over the summer of 1980, when David was helping his sister Debbie, and her boyfriend Arne clean out a house they were renting at the time. I would like to point out that this information was missing from the movie- The Conjuring 3. This entity taunted David repeatedly, and his family initially just blew off his claims of a ghost, chalking it up to the imagination of an 11 year old boy. When things got worse, such as David having episodes that was terrifying the family, a priest was brought in to perform a blessing in the home. This blessing did not work, and poor David continued to suffer. Arne Johnson was asked to move into the family home by his girlfriend Debbie, basically for emotional support and for help around the house. As David worsened, the Glatzel family sought out paranormal experts Ed & Lorraine Warren. Lorraine Warren was a clairvoyant and Ed was a demonologist .

David would hit, spit, bite, kick, speak in strange gutteral tones of voice, & he would also swear, or say other nasty things to his family during one of these episodes. David would experience being strangled by invisible hands, as well as being flopped around from head to toe by an unseen force. He was thrown around like a rag doll. David's terrors now seemed to seep into the daytime, as well as the night. As the child's visions of the old man in flannel with pointed ears & horns continued, there seemed to be strange noises coming from the attic, which no one of the family could logically explain. More over, it was around this time when David began to hiss like a cat & take seizures. He also began to really speak in a strange voice, and he started to quote John Milton's book "Paradise Lost" & the Bible. While the Warrens reviewed David's case and decided that he was definitely under demonic possession, a psychiatrist also reviewed the child's (After the case was investigated by the Warrens.) case who concluded that the boy simply had a learning disability!

After 3 exorcisms which was overseen by priests, the Warren's claimed that the boy had levitated in air, he had cursed, and he had even stopped breathing. Also, during one of the exorcisms, David allegedly predicted the death of Alan Bono, the landlord of the house that the Glatzels were renting & Debbie's boss. (She worked at a dog kennel.) Now, I also want to mention, that during David's possession, Arne had gotten the bright idea to challenge the demon residing in David. "Take me on! Leave my little buddy alone!" That was a huge mistake. You should never, ever challenge a demon or an evil entity. Ever. It was a mistake that Arne soon realized when in October of 1980, he started to see what David had been tormented by. It was around this time, when Arne was investigating a well in the property of the rental house. The well was in the backyard of the house, and the Warrens had advised Arne to stay away from it & to not taunt the demons that dwell within it. Arne supposedly did this to actually see if the demons could take hold of his body & possess him. Arne claimed that while he was taunting them at the well, he could see a demon trying to hide inside the well itself!

It is said the demon that Arne had seen was the one that possessed him until well after the murder of Alan Bono. It's said that after the murder, Arne Johnson walked off in a trance like state, just like David. He also confessed that he had began to see the same tormentor as David. So, what did actually happen between Arne Johnson & Alan Bono? What lead to the brutal stabbing of 40 year old Australian native Alan Bono? (He was renamed Bruno Sauls in The Conjuring 3) Well, it all began on the 16th of February in 1981, when Arne called off sick at the Wright Tree Service where he worked, and joined his girlfriend, his sister Wanda, Debbie's 9 year old cousin Mary, and Alan. As we said before, Alan was both the landlord and Debbie's boss at the dog kennel where she worked. That fateful day, Alan paid for all of them to go out for lunch, where unfortunately, Alan began to drink quite heavily. When the group had returned back to the kennel & after Debbie had taken her little cousin back out for pizza they quickly returned to find a very, very drunk Alan waiting for them! As Alan grew increasingly more volatile, he grabbed hold of little 9 year old Mary as she tried to leave the room as her cousin instructed.

Just then, Arne arrived home, and there was a confrontation between the two men & Mary eventually was released from Alan's grip, she then ran outside and to the car. As the confrontation between Alan & Arne grew, Debbie had tried to pull the 2 men away from one another. Arne began growling like an animal and produced a 5 inch pocket knife and stabbed Alan several times. Alan Bono died hours later, he bled to death from 4 or 5 stab wounds. He suffered tremendous wounds mostly to his chest, but there was one wound that stretched from the stomach to the base of his heart. Arne was found just 2 miles from the murder site, he was held at the Bridgeport Correctional Center with his bail set at $125,000. It was the first murder in the history of Brookfield, Connecticut. The day after the murder, Lorraine Warren called the Brookfield police that Arne was not guilty, by reason of demonic possession. The authorities that investigated the claims by the Warrens had concluded that Alan Bono was killed in an altercation between Arne Johnson & Debbie Glatzel, nothing supernatural.

The trial of Arne Johnson began on November 24, 1981. This was the first case of demonic possession used in court as defense to prove innocence. The jury found Arne Johnson guilty of 1st degree manslaughter and he was sentenced to 5-10 years prison time. He was released in 1986 on good behavior. Arne & Debbie got married while he was still in prison . Also, there was a book published while Arne was incarcerated entitled "The Devil in Connecticut" written by Gerald Brittle and Lorraine Warren. Debbie is still, to this day, very much into the paranormal. The trial also inspired a movie starring Kevin Bacon called "The Demon Murder Case" . Carl Glatzel, Debbie & David's brother was not amused with the publishing of the book Lorraine Warren and Gerald Brittle had penned, in fact, he sued them both He stated that the book was a violation of privacy & intentional affliction of emotional distress. He also claimed that the narrative was a hoax concocted by the Warrens who simply took advantage of David's mental health for profit.

So, now onto my review for the 2021 film The Conjuring 3- The Devil Made Me Do It

Personally, I felt the movie's narrative was rushed, and missing substance which was important to the story. Of all 3 installments of the Conjuring Universe, the latest picture was my least favorite. Was it a terrible film? No. Would I watch it again? Probably. My opinion of this movie is similar to that of The Nun (2018) starring Taissa Farmiga. (The little sister of Vera Farmiga) There was too much going on, too soon. The evil or demonic activity was so out in the open, that it became too far fetched to be scary. There was very little backstory of the possession of David Glatzel and even Arne Johnson. The added story line of The Occultist was not needed, and frankly felt like a cop out. Now, on the other hand, I did always appreciate a good love story, and in all three of the films, there was always a strong sense of love & dedication from Ed & Lorraine. I've got to say, if you do want to watch the movie, you should, but take my advice and wait for it to become available for online streaming, and don't pay a lot of money to watch it. Maybe I set the bar too high, but if it wasn't for the dynamic duo, Vera Farmiga & Patrick Wilson, the film would be a complete letdown. If you want a great supernatural horror film, I suggest watching the first 2 films, The Conjuring & The Conjuring 2, both are more based off of the true stories from the case files of Ed & Lorraine Warren. Also, these two pictures are super scary, and it's even scarier to think that it happened in real life, too!

Thanks for reading! I'll hopefully see you again for another post!