10 Disturbing Possessions And Exorcisms That Really Happened

Proof that siblings are the worst, Janet Moses’ family believed the 22-year-old was cursed due to her sister nicking a suspected taonga. When they returned the stone lion statue and found Janet still acting strange, they resorted to performing a Maori exorcism more horrific than anything depicted in the movies.

At their deceased grandparents’ flat in Wainuimota, New Zealand, Janet’s family surrounded her in a circle and shouted, ‘Get out’ and ‘You’re not going to have her’. The mother of two was then held down on the floor as water was poured onto her face and several people tried sucking her eyes.

When she understandably begged for a chance to breathe, her family members grabbed her arms and legs while others sat on her stomach to make her vomit. After a full night of having water poured on her face, in her eyes, and down her throat, she eventually drowned, and the family turned their attention elsewhere.

Believing that the curse had moved into Janet’s 14-year-old cousin, the family scratched and rubbed her eyes, leaving them swollen and oozing blood. Nine hours later, police finally intervened and arrested eight people. In a trial that lasted 29 days, the Moses family remarkably admitted to improvising the exorcism due to not knowing how to rid a possessed person of a makutu. Five of the eight family members were found guilty and received community sentences rather than time in prison.