If there's one thing horror film lovers enjoy, it's a thrilling demon possession story.

Ask any lover of the genre, and they'll gush about the 1973 film that kicked it all off,

the exorcist, based on the novel by William Peter Blattie from a couple of years before.

That film is almost sacred ground to many people, the soil from which grew an entirely new genre.

And it's no wonder, I can't think of a person who doesn't enjoy having control over their lives,

their bodies and their experiences, that idea that someone could climb inside, grab the controls

like some sort of supernatural gamer and just take over the human machine is pretty frightening.

But the most powerful exorcist stories, the ones that most people know and repeat to their friends,

are the ones supplied to us by Hollywood. That's not bad, but it does ignore the role of history,

because for as frightening as the idea of demonic possession might be, the fact that it's been

documented for centuries might just be the most terrifying story of all. It might not surprise you

to learn that I'm convinced history can be just as entertaining as any hit film or television

sensation. The stories that are tucked away in those old dusty pages contain details too frightening

for the screen and too fantastic to believe, and yet the proof is right there, written down for us

all those years ago. So let's take a trip together, a journey into the past, where possession stories

were rarely taken for granted, and where real lives were impacted by real superstitions,

where the devil himself showed up and lives were destroyed in the process. But hold on to something

solid, lock the door, and maybe turn on a lighter too, because this one is bound to get under your

skin. I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is lore.

Pure Evil

Pure Evil is there any idea more universally feared than that? For thousands of years and across

countless cultures, the concept of evil has lurked in the shadows, influencing just about everything.

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