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Devil returns to haunt demonic authors
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 UNITED STATES. Just weeks after being named America’s top ghost hunter – along with her husband Ed who died in August 2006 – Lorraine Warren is facing a major lawsuit. It concerns the reprinting of The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle, about an alleged case of “demonic possession”.
Often cited as more frightening than the Amityville possession case, also investigated by the Warrens, the main subjects now claim it was not a case of possession at all but of mental illness.
The Warrens – devout Roman Catholics – were called in the help the Glatzel family, one of whose sons, David, then aged 11, was apparently being possessed. What really hit the headlines, however, was the stabbing to death of Alan Bono, 40, his landlord, by 19-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson, the boyfriend of Debbie Glatzel, David’s elder sister.
Johnson had witnessed the disturbances in the Glatzel household and the minor rites of exorcism conducted by the Catholic Church in consultation with the Warrens to try to rid David Glatzel of the “42 demons” they said were possessing him.
The attorney in the murder case, Martin J. Minella, attempted to enter an unprecedented plea on Johnson’s behalf of “not guilty by virtue of demonic possession”. He argued that his client had become possessed as a direct result of challenging the demons to “take him on” during the minor exorcism rites.
The judge rejected the plea on the basis that there was no such defence in law, and Minella changed the plea to acting in self-defence. Johnson was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter in what became known as the “demon murder trial” and served five years in prison.
The Devil in Connecticut was published by Bantam Books in 1983, the possession of young David Glatzel eventually ceased, Arne Johnson languished in prison for a crime he said he could not remember and which witnesses said he did not commit, and some sense of normality eventually returned to the family.
 Until, that is, The Devil in Connecticut was reprinted by iUniverse.com in 2006, with a cover quote claiming it to be “More terrifying than The Exorcist”. The back cover blurb refers to it as “a case that stunned the world” adding: “The spirits had come to take a soul. And take it they did – in a bizarre, out-of-control murder that violated the very rules of God. Here Amityville demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren reveal the facts the courts refused to hear. Judge for yourself why The Devil in Connecticut is considered to be one of the worst cases of possession in the 20th century.”
Among those who decided to make that judgment are Carl Glatzel Jr and David Glatzel and, now adults, they are said to be horrified by the book’s contents. Carl Glatzel, who is acting as spokesperson for the pair, is challenging the Warrens’ credibility, stating:
“My brother was never possessed. He, along with my family, was manipulated and exploited, something the Warrens were very good at, and along with their author, Gerald Brittle, they concocted a phoney story about demons in an attempt to get rich and famous at out expense, and we have the evidence to prove it…. I knew from day one it was a lie, but as a child, there was nothing I could really do about it.”
 As well as Lorraine Warren (right), Gerald Brittle and iUniverse, the William Morris Agency of New York – the literary agency which represents both Warren and Brittle – is also being sued by Carl and David Glatzel. The defendants face several charges including invasion of the right to privacy, libel and causing intentional emotional distress through the supposed false information contained in the book, which was reprinted without the Glatzels’ knowledge or consent.
It is reported that the Glatzels were particularly unhappy that a movie was also being planned of the reprinted Brittle book.
They are, however, planning to reveal the truth of the “possession” in their own book, Alone Through The Valley, and say they have already turned down offers from several publishers and are waiting for the right one who will “recognise its importance”.
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Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007
Category: Ghosts
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