While reading Brad Steiger's book Real Ghost Stories, I came across a story from the 50's that I wondered if it was true or not. The basis of the true story was the story of an eighteen year old Filipino girl named Clarita Villanueva who appeared to be suffering attacks from what she purported to be an invisible phantasm of sorts. The attacks on the girl left visible bite marks that, according to Steiger's account, officials saw appear out of nowhere whenever her invisible assailant attacked.
I decided to do some research a.l.a. Google, as I found myself skeptical of this story and wondered if it was just urban legend. At first, numerous paranormal and bogus Christian sites were popping up in my diligent search for any information on the case. Then, to my surprise, I started finding non-sensationalist newspaper entries from the 50s, revealing the legitimacy of the case.
First I came across an entry from Thursday, May 28th, 1953 in The Barrier Miner, a former newspaper based in New South Wales, Australia. A poorly shot black and white photo in the news clipping depicted Clarita seemingly crying out in pain as she was surrounded by numerous officials observing her. The entry revealed that mysterious teeth marks were appearing on the 18-year-old, ones that doctors attributed to hysterical fugue.
Next, I read an entry from The Beaver Valley Times dated May 20th, 1953. In that entry, I learned that the mayor involved with the court case (Arsenio Lacson) witness bite marks appearing on the girl within just 15 minutes of sitting next to her. The teeth marks, according to Lacson, were not Claritas, and more so, according to the article, specialists had examined the girl and found her to be mentally sound. Once again, a non-sensationalist news source just reporting a story. The article also mentioned that the girl described her invisible oppressors as "a very big, dark man with curly hair all over the body" and "a body with an angelic face and a big moustache." It is hard to picture those two descriptions going well together, much less sounding like a sane case of legitimate oppression. But some other details caught my attention. Despite all this, Mayor Lacson, according to the news clip, was requesting an exorcism from the archbishop. A medical examiner by the name of Mariano Lara, found herself scared stiff by the situation. Reportedly, when Clarita was asked to draw with a pencil what her oppressors looked like, the Mayor witnessed the pencil fly from her hand. The Sydney Morning Herald reported the same story more or less.
The Singleton Argus, another Australian newspaper, revealed that Clarita worked as taxi-dancer, being paid to dance for a single song with whomever would pay. Medical officials told The Argus that the reported bite marks were nothing but changes in skin coloring from nervous fits and that Clarita was suffering from a form of severe hysteria psychoneurosis causing her to have hallucinations and purported "attacks." The paper also mentioned that Clarita suffered trance episodes, where she would stiffen up and collapse. During a trance episode, a doctor Zaguirre observed that Clarita had no response when being pricked by a pin. As well, The Argus reported also that when she was given paper and pencil on one occasion, she attempted to chewed on the paper and bite the pencil. Finally, the paper also revealed in another piece about Ms. Villanueva, that she exhibited odd behavior like writhing, and laughing as if she had been tickled.
A final article from an Australian newspaper entitled The Truth, reported that over 100 medical men, civic authorities and reporters witness Clarita develop the markers from her "oppressor." The police chief doctor Maria-notora believed the event was of supernatural origin while doctors still believed it could be attributed to epileptic fits.
The question is, given all of the evidence, and no article mentioning an actual exorcism being performed, was Clarita Villanueva possessed or was she merely suffering severe neurosis and hysteria?
The question is, given all of the evidence, and no article mentioning an actual exorcism being performed, was Clarita Villanueva possessed or was she merely suffering severe neurosis and hysteria?
Sources:
The Barrier Miner: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/49265252
The Beaver Valley Times: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1981&dat=19530520&id=6F0tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DNoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=742,5825273&hl=en
The Sydney Morning Herald: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19530520&id=Wp9VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=srEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1348,2645122&hl=en
The Singleton Argus: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/82777105
The Argus: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23245809
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23245385
The Truth: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168044908
The Barrier Miner: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/49265252
The Beaver Valley Times: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1981&dat=19530520&id=6F0tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DNoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=742,5825273&hl=en
The Sydney Morning Herald: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19530520&id=Wp9VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=srEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1348,2645122&hl=en
The Singleton Argus: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/82777105
The Argus: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23245809
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23245385
The Truth: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168044908