Hospital managers have called in an exorcist after shaken workers complained they are being terrified by a ghost. Spooked staff at Derby’s new Royal Hospital claimed a black-clad figure wearing a cloak was stalking wards and corridors.Now chiefs at the £334million NHS site are to summon a local priest to see off the “spirit”.

Petrified staff were briefed on the spooky goings-on in an email from bosses. Senior manager Debbie Butler wrote: “I’m not sure how many of you are aware that some members of staff have reported seeing a ghost.

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LegalNewsline reports that the US Supreme Court has been asked to hear the case of a former Texas woman who claims she was abused during a forced exorcism in 1996. Laura Schubert, 29, says she was cut and bruised and later experienced hallucinations after themembers of the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God performed an exorcism on her in 1996.She sued the Colleyville, Texas, church in 2002.

A Tarrant County jury found the church and its members liable for abuse and falsely imprisoning the girl. She was awarded $300,000. An appeals court in Fort Worth later reduced the verdict to$188,000.

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We’ve all seen “The Exorcist”, the infamous film based on William Peter Blatty’s equally infamous book. We also know that Blatty based his story on something that really happened, the exorcism of a boy in 1949 that took place at no less than four different places during the months-long exorcism. For years it was thought that a house in Mt. Rainier, Maryland was where it all started. Problem is, it wasn’t the place. For years the Mt. Rainier house sat vacant, presumably in part because of its “history”, where it was frequently broke into by teenagers who were undoubtedly scared out of their wits and the place became the brunt of god knows how many ghost stories. Ultimately, the local fire department burned the home in an exercise and that should have been the end of the story. Itwasn’t.

In 1998 writer Mark Opsasnick determined in an article for Strange Magazine that this home wasn’t just the wrong house, it was in the wrong city. The actual case began in a home located in Cottage City, Maryland. I am uncertain as to whether or not this house is still standing, but the other places associated with the exorcism are not. After moving the boy from Maryland to St. Louis, three places have gained notoriety for their involvement with the story. Two of them are gone. A rectory on the campus of St. Louis University that is no longer standing, and a demolished wing of the Alexian Brothers Hospital. Of particular interest is the room at the hospital. This was demolished in the 1990’s, and at the time, stories around St. Louis ranged from demolition workers opening the locked room and seeing a black figure escape, to inverted crosses being found painted on the walls of the roomin dried blood even though supposedly no one had entered the room since 1949. The validity of any of these stories, like anything else, are seriously questionable. But the last place associated with the exorcism still stands. Its a non-descript house in the North St. Louis County suburb of Bel-nor. Stories abound about this home, everything from the victim’s bedroom always being strangely cold, to talk of an otherworldly vortex that can be felt by sensitives on the upper floor of the home. This Halloween, a local radio program known for an annual show broadcast from a haunted location spent the evening there seemingly to much paranormal success.

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Hundreds of germans, tortured by inner voices, are on the search for priests who can free them from what they believe to be the grip of the Devil, according to an extraordinary radio documentary that has stirred an awkward debate about exorcism in the Catholic Church. "Over the past year alone I have received requests from around 350 people who think they are possessed by an evil spirit," says Father Joerg Mueller, who heads a group of priests, doctors and therapists to deal with the problem. "Therapy hasn"t worked for them; they want exorcism — a prayer that can free them." Father Mueller, who is based in a Bavarian monastery, was talking to a team from WDR, the state radionetwork, which was allowed to record extracts from eight exorcisms.

A Polish exorcist, named only as Father Wiktor, suggested that this was only a fraction of the actual number seeking help. "I would say that every day at least one person is undergoing a full-scale exorcism," he told WDR. This has come as a shock to the Catholic Church in Germany, which has shied away from exorcism since the tragic case of Anneliese Michel in 1973. Ms Michel, 23, from a strongly Catholic Bavarian village, had epilepsy and suffered from hallucinations. Two priests were authorised to perform an exorcism. They performed the ritual 67 times until she died, having starved herself to 31kg (68lb). After her death the priests and her parents were sentenced to six-months" suspended jail sentences for notreferring her for medical treatment. That verdict and the publicity — two films were made about the case including The Exorcism of Emily Rose in 2005 — scared the Church hierarchy. Permission for a full exorcism now has to be granted by a bishop, but few permits have been given. In a poll of German dioceses, only Paderborn admitted to having authorised three exorcisms. Frustrated by the lack of exorcists in their own country, disturbed Germans are turning to esoteric spiritual healers and priests in Switzerland and Poland.

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Hundreds of Germans, tortured by inner voices, are on the search for priests who can free them from what they believe to be the grip of the Devil, according to an extraordinary radio documentary that has stirred an awkward debate about exorcism in the Catholic Church.“Over the past year alone I have received requests from around 350 people who think they are possessed by an evil spirit,” says Father Joerg Mueller, who heads a group of priests, doctors and therapists to deal with the problem. “Therapy hasn't worked for them; they want exorcism — a prayer that can free them.” Father Mueller, who is based in a Bavarianmonastery, was talking to a team from WDR, the state radio network, which was allowed to record extracts from eight exorcisms.A Polish exorcist, named only as Father Wiktor, suggested that this was only a fraction of the actual number seeking help. “I would say that every day at least one person is undergoing a full-scale exorcism,” he told WDR. This has come as a shock to the Catholic Church in Germany, which has shied away from exorcism since the tragic case of Anneliese Michel in 1973. Ms Michel, 23, from a strongly Catholic Bavarian village, had epilepsy and suffered from hallucinations.

Two priests were authorised to perform an exorcism. They performed the ritual 67 times until she died, having starved herself to 31kg (68lb). After her death the priests and herparents were sentenced to six-months' suspended jail sentences for not referring her for medical treatment. That verdict and the publicity — two films were made about the case including The Exorcism of Emily Rose in 2005 — scared the Church hierarchy. Permission for a full exorcism now has to be granted by a bishop, but few permits have been given. In a poll of German dioceses, only Paderborn admitted to having authorised three exorcisms. Frustrated by the lack of exorcists in their own country, disturbed Germans are turning to esoteric spiritual healers and priests in Switzerland and Poland. Andrzej Trojanowski, a Polish priest, even has plans to set up an exorcism centre in Poczernin, on the Polish-German border. WDR broadcast some of the sessions of the exorcists with Ms Michel. She is heard growlingand barking. &ldqu......

A exorcist was called in to purge a haunted pub after it was claimed a ghost tried to kill a barmaid and her brother. Ghostbuster Ian Lawman, 39, had to take drastic action against the violent poltergeist, believed to be a former landlord at the 230-year-old Crown Inn pub in Farnham Common. Lainie Rutter and her brother, Mitchell, have been living in fear in a small flat at the pub. They struggled to get a night’s sleep after furniture mysteriously moved across the floor, and shelves fell off the wall. The final straw came for pub owner Mike Orme when a fire broke out and a terrified manager refused to live at the Crown Lane local because of the bizarre goings on. Mr Orme, said: “Ihave been here for about two years and strange things have happened the entire time.

A flat on the premises constantly had CD-racks falling from the wall in the middle of the night and when an electrical fire broke out in Mitch’s room, we decided to call on the help of a television programme the ‘Living with the Dead’ to help us deal with the problem.” A seance was ordered by Mr Lawman, a member of the Christian spiritualist church which believes in life after death. Miss Rutter, 20, from Burnham said: “When we called the medium in to conduct the seance, we found out that the spirit was a former landlord of the pub who had tried to commit suicide in the room which is now our flat. “He used really bad language and said that he hated all women and wanted to take Mitch’s body because it was young andstrong. “It was always quite nerve-wracking knowing we had a ghost in our flat, but to find out that it was a hostile spirit determined to kill us – that was terrifying.” Mr Lawman who carried out the seance and exorcism last month, said: “When I got to the room I instantly noticed poltergeist energy, which is always negative. “At first I was going to use the Ouija board, but the spirit became aggressive and hurled a roulette wheel and chips across the room. This obviously spooked everyone and we decided to have a seance instead.

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Some of the mystery surrounding the devil and exorcism is being unveiled in a television and Internet report series, detailing the work of the exorcist of the Diocese of Rome. Society of St. Paul Father Gabriele Amorth, Rome's exorcist for the past 21 years and a specialist in the figure of Mary, explained in the first edition of the series how he performs exorcisms."I go to one of Rome's churches, to a parish that is closed during the day," he said. "There is Mass in the morning and then the church is closed. There I perform the difficult exorcisms. I always work with seven to 10 people who help me, and use a small bed. Sometimes we need totie people down or simply subdue them." With Christ, the priest said, it is possible to overcome the devil: "The exorcist acts in the name of Jesus and with the strength that comes from Jesus."The first question Father Amorth addressed in the report is if the devil exists: "I respond with the words of John Paul II, who was once asked this question: 'Your Holiness, I find many bishop who don't believe in the devil.' And John Paul II responded: 'One who doesn't believe in the devil doesn't believe in the Gospel.' "The devil is an angel, and therefore, a pure spirit created good by God and who perverted himself because he rebelled against God.

Therefore, he maintains all the characteristics proper of a pure spirit, such as a very large intelligence, immensely bigger thanours." The devil is pleased by the way he is generally represented -- with wings and a tail, horns, as a bat, etc. -- because these images make him seem ridiculous and help people to believe that he does not exist, the exorcist reported.

Medical or spiritual Father Amorth suggested that diabolic problems be separated from psychiatric ones; and to do so an exorcist is needed in every diocese to help in discernment. "Normally when a person experiences these conflicts and problems, the first thing he does is see a doctor and psychiatrist," he said. "It is very difficult to distinguish the devil's action from a psychological problem. The person goes to a psychiatrist and after years of therapy obtains no result. "Then he begins to suspect thatthe probl......