A little over a decade ago, archaeologists announced that they had found something

intriguing. Two objects had been discovered under the floor of a building in the ancient

city of Sardis in modern day Turkey.

They were containers and both dated back nearly 2,000 years.

Each of them held a set of bronze tools, along with some other seemingly random items, such as coins and eggshells.

To you or I, they would probably look a lot like primitive trash cans, but to experts in this sort of thing, their purpose was crystal clear.

Collections of items of that sort were often assembled back then for one specific purpose,

to ward off evil spirits. In fact eggshells alone were pretty common in

ritual objects from that region of the world. In the ancient lands that are now

Iran and Iraq for example, eggshells were part of the typical demon traps that they crafted.

And it's discoveries like this that help put our beliefs and folklore into perspective.

For a very long time, cultures around the world have believed two complementary things.

Evil spirits are real, and there are things that we can do to ward them off.

Whether or not you agree doesn't matter here. This was one of the truths that

ancient people built their lives around. From talismans to demon traps and

everything in between, humans have spent thousands of years so worried about the powers of

evil spirits that they devised countless ways to protect their households and loved ones

from them. But all of that deals with the problem of keeping demons away. A more frightening

question to ask, of course, is what we're supposed to do if they actually get in.

I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is Lour. It's always a good idea to ask the question. Where did that come from? This goes for any strange food you might find at the back of your fridge, but it's also true when we examined folklore because there's so much to learn from digging a little deeper.

So when I mention the word exorcism, I think we need to be clear that you and I probably have a go-to

mental image, right? A Catholic priest in a black cassock holding a Bible and a crucifix over a bed,

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