The exorcist

In his new book, mega-selling self-help author M. Scott Peck asserts that demonic possession is real -- and tells the story of two exorcisms he conducted himself.

By Rebecca Traister

Jan 18, 2005 | In 1978, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck published "The Road Less Traveled," a book that melded his interests in psychotherapy and spirituality. A bracing snap-out-of-it call for individual responsibility, difficult decision-making and the abolishment of laziness as the keys to mental health and happiness, it sold over 7 million copies. It was also one of the building blocks of the nation's infatuation with the school of psycho-spiritual therapy commonly referred to as self-help.

Twenty-seven years and a dozen books later, Peck, who was baptized a nondenominational Christian at age 40, is publishing what he says will be his last book. And it's a doozy -- one that aims to scientifically examine and report on the rather radical notion that some people who appear to suffer from mental illness may in fact be possessed by demons, or by Satan himself. "Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Account of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption" chronicles Peck's work as an exorcist more than 20 years ago in two cases of satanic possession. He's written briefly about both cases before, in "People of the Lie," his book about the role of evil in human nature. But in "Glimpses of the Devil" Peck "comes out" as the actual exorcist in both examples -- the only two exorcisms he says he's ever performed.

Peck's path toward encountering what he believes to be demonic possession began with the publication of "The Road Less Traveled," which received a positive write-up from Malachi Martin, a priest and the nation's most public exorcist. Peck took a liking to Martin and dedicated "Glimpses of the Devil" to him. Peck expressed an interest in evaluating patients Martin considered possessed, anxious to scientifically prove, he writes, that there is no such thing as demonic possession.

But when Martin referred a young mother from the Southwest to Peck for evaluation, Peck's mind was gradually changed. In "Jersey," he encountered a woman who claimed to have been possessed by demons for 15 years. She is Peck's first case study, and her exorcism, as recounted in the first half of "Glimpses of the Devil," is a sedate and civilized affair, almost disappointingly free of the kind of bile-spitting, levitating, teeth-gnashing we know from movies like William Friedkin's "The Exorcist." Peck and his team gradually expunge each of Jersey's demons, finally arriving at Satan himself. But it's all pretty low-key; at one point, the exorcism team breaks for cocktails, inviting poor possessed Jersey to join them. At another, Peck and his patient go out together for a much needed smoke break.

But Peck's second possessed patient, a middle-aged, severely depressed, suicidal woman he calls "Beccah," yields substantially scarier narrative results. For large portions of her exorcisms, Peck writes that Beccah seemed to transform into a snub-nosed, coiled snake. She attempts to bite her exorcism team, has to be forcibly restrained, and bucks violently when touched with the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. She tries to escape, and puts her hand through a bathroom window. Beccah's exorcism is ultimately a failure; she becomes repossessed and several years later dies as a result of cancer, though her doctor admits that she may also have succeeded in killing herself.

Peck, now what he called "an old 68" and suffering from Parkinson's disease, spoke to Salon by phone from his home in Connecticut about why it was so important to write this book, the disapprobation he'll likely face from the scientific community, and about the devil in the Supreme Court.

As a devout religious person and a doctor, you write about how important you feel it is to make scientific inquiries about religious beliefs, and this book proposes that demonic possession is a condition psychiatrists should investigate. But how do you juggle other conflicts between theology and science, like the divide between creationists and those who believe in evolution?

Next Page: "An exorcism is a massive therapeutic onslaught equivalent to brain surgery or open-heart surgery"

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