Crazy Crazy Facts

5 Exorcisms That Led To Death

1.) At the age of two, Terrance Cottrell Jr. was
diagnosed with autism. Like many other
children who have autism, he acted out-which
led people at his church to believe he was
possessed. When he was eight years old,
Terrence's mother, Patricia Cooper, brought
him to Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic
Faith in Milwaukee, where he was given nine
special prayer sessions over a three-week span.
On August 2, 2003, at the storefront church,
Ray Hemphill, who was a minister at the
church, tried to perform an exorcism on the
young autistic boy. Terrence, who hated to be
touched, was held down by his mother and two
other parishioners while Hemphill laid a cross
on top pf the boy's chest.
While it is unclear what happened from there, at
the end of the two-hour exorcism Terrence
wasn't breathing because he had been
suffocated. Hemphill was sentenced to only two
and a half years in prison for killing the eight-
year-old boy.

2.) Charity Miranda-Martin was a depressed 17-
year-old, which, really, isn't too unusual for a
teenager. Her family, on the other hand,
believed that this was a sign of demonic
possession.
On January 18, 1997, at their home in Sayville,
New York, Charity's family-which consisted of
her mother and two sisters-performed an
exorcism. Over the course of seven and a half
hours they tried to drive the demon out of her
body. The mother then sent the youngest
daughter (who was 15 at the time) out of the
room and tried to smother the demons out of
Charity. First she used a pillow, which failed to
work, so she got a plastic bag and smothered
the 17-year-old cheerleader to death.
After Charity died, the mother and two sisters
all joined hands and listened to a Frank Sinatra
recording , because it was a favorite of Charity's
grandfather, who had passed away a week
earlier. Then they prayed and read passages
from Revelations.
The mother, Vivian, was found not criminally
responsible by reason of insanity and was sent
to Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center.

3.) Most of the time, exorcisms are performed by
professionals with the approval of the Vatican.
That helps provide some measure of control
over circumstances which, as we've seen, can
become extremely dangerous. Needless to say,
it's usually a bad idea to take matters into
your own hands, and that couldn't be more
evident than with the tragic case of five-year-
old Amy
Amy, who moved from Miami to New York City
when she was four, soon began missing a lot of
school before vanishing altogether. Nobody was
sure why until authorities investigated her
disappearance and uncovered a brutal scene.
It turned out that her mom and her
grandmother thought the girl was possessed by
demons. That was when they tried their own
home remedy for curing demons. Around April
27, 1997, they made the little girl drink a
mixture of ammonia, pepper, vinegar, and olive
oil, then taped her mouth shut . The girl died
and they threw her dead body in the garbage.

4.) The most recent and most horrible case on this
list happened on January 17, 2014, in
Germantown, Maryland.
Twenty-eight-year-old Zakieya Latrice Avery, a
mother of four, was sharing a home with 21-
year-old Monifa Denise Sanford, who she had
met at church. The tragic event began on
January 16, when a neighbor called police
because one of Avery's children had been left
unattended in a car. By the time the police
arrived, the child had already been brought
inside. The police investigated and arranged for
child protective services to visit the home.
But at around 9:30 the next day, police received
another call saying there was blood and a knife
in front of Avery's home. When police arrived,
they found a heartbreaking scene. Avery's
youngest children, one-year-old Norell Harris
and two-year-old Zyana Harris, had been
stabbed to death. Her older children, five-year-
old Taniya Harris and eight-year-old Martello
Harris, were also injured after being stabbed,
but they would go on to survive the horrific
ordeal.
Both Avery and Sanford claimed that the
children were possessed and that they were
trying to perform an exorcism. Whether that is
true or not, it is a sad and disturbing end for
two innocent children.

5.)Even from these few examples, it's hard not to
get the impression that, sometimes, the real
demons are on the wrong side of the exorcism.
Blaine Keith Milam and his girlfriend, Jesseca
Carson, of Rusk County, Texas, are two of the
worst offenders.
Milam, who was the boyfriend of Carson and
not the father of Amora, thought that the 13-
month-old girl was possessed by demons . Why
he thought this was unclear, but the couple
was trying to get money to pay for an exorcist.
When they couldn't raise the money, the couple
tried to expel the demons themselves about a
month after Amora's first birthday, on
December 2, 2008.
Despite being the youngest victim on this list,
baby Amora unfortunately suffered one of the
worst deaths. Amora was bitten 24 times, her
ribs were broken, her liver was torn, and she
received multiple blows to the head. At first, the
monstrous Milam and Carson blamed the death
on a dog attack, then a car accident. In reality,
Milam beat the 13-month-old with a hammer
and sexually assaulted her. Her injuries were so
severe that the medical examiner couldn't
determine which one specifically caused her
death.
Jesseca Carson was given a life sentence
without parole, while Milam is currently sitting
on death row so that the state of Texas can
exorcise the life out of his body.