The True Story Of The Nun: Who Is Valak?

Rather than the 62nd demon of Hell who governed 30 legions of spirits, Wan’s inhuman entity has been theorised to have shared more in common with the lord of flies, Beelzebub. While that is an amusing name which is darn hard to pronounce, Beelzebub was no laughing matter.

Said to be among the three most prominent fallen angels by 17th century exorcist Sebastian Michaelis, Beelzebub was denounced as the personification of pride and gluttony, as well as the prince of false gods. Blacklisted from Heaven, Beelzebub had frequently been identified as an object of supplication by confessed witches, with his name frequently being mentioned during the Salem witch trials.

The connection to Wan’s Valak arise from Beelzebub having been held accountable for numerous slow-building cases of demonic possession. The most modern and infamous being the exorcism of Annelise Michel in 1975 which culminated with the crippled and depressed German’s death a year later (of which there are multiple disturbing audio recordings), followed by her parents and the involved priests being charged with negligent homicide.

A more relevant possession occurred in 1611 in the South of France with Ursuline nuns and a priest. After a Father Louis Gaufridi was convicted of invoking the possession through a pact with Satan, he was burned at the stake where a party of onlookers saw flies rise from his body.