All language subtitles for The.UnXplained.S03E02.Satanic.Encounters.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Deals with the Devil,

portals to hell

and innocent people
possessed by demons.

For thousands of years,
people around the world

have believed
in the existence of Satan,

an entity that is thought
to be the embodiment

of pure evil.

But is Satan just a myth?

A figment
of our collective imagination?

Or is he lurking,

ready to tempt us

and possess our souls?

Well, that is what
we will try and find out.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

The Holy Land.

For thousands of years,
religious pilgrims

of many faiths have come
to this sacred city to express

their devotion to God.

But just outside
the walls of Jerusalem

lies the Valley of Hinnom,

an ancient place
of unholy worship

where evil deeds
were performed long ago

in honor of God's enemy, Satan.

In the book of Jeremiah,
God reports,

through His prophet,
that people outside Jerusalem

in a place called
the Valley of Hinnom,

are sacrificing their sons,
and also their daughters.

And God explicitly says,
"I never asked you

to do this satanic ritual,"

and expresses that He's angry,

that there's going to be
a terrible punishment for this.

Historically speaking,
in the days of the Bible,

not everybody was faithful
to the Lord.

Satanism influenced
the Israelite community.

And what they would do,
literally,

was they'd create
a big pit of fire,

and they actually
would sacrifice

their firstborn male
through the fire.

This was performed
in the Valley of Hinnom,

which is actually the Hebrew
word today for "hell."

I can't imagine
what would cause someone

to want to sacrifice
their own child,

to anything, for-for any reason.

But this demonstrates how,

in antiquity, people believed
that their crops wouldn't grow,

that the rains wouldn't come
if they didn't offer sacrifices

up to some satanic demons,
spirits, whatever.

And now you have introduced
this new being

that's responsible
for the bad things,

and his name comes to be Satan.

SHATNER:
What can explain the shocking events

that took place
in the Valley of Hinnom

thousands of years ago?

Was it simply the result
of human wickedness?

Or is it possible that, as
the biblical accounts suggest,

Satan and his demons were
and still are real entities

that have the power
to influence people?

MIKKI BROCK: Some people
think of Satan as Beelzebub

or Lucifer
or the Prince of Darkness

or "the evil one" or Old Nick.

And some of these names
come from scripture.

A lot of them
come from folklore.

And if you think of Satan
as this ubiquitous figure

who's constantly tormenting
and tempting people,

then it makes sense
that the Devil can be known

by all of these
different nicknames.

Is there really
a character of the Satan?

Well, the definition of that
is going to differ

between the major
world religions.

But fear of an eternal damnation
in the afterlife

has always been sufficient
to keep people religious,

and in line with the beliefs
of their religious clerics,

who warn them
that failure to comply

will lead to an eternity
of suffering and damnation.

Or in other words, the stories
from which this developed

were to teach moral lessons.

LAYCOCK:
Throughout history, many religions have

interpreted the world
through the lens of having

a figure of evil, Satan,
who is responsible

for evil in the world.

According
to Christian tradition,

Satan was one
of the most powerful

and beautiful of the angels.

He rebelled against God,

a third of the angels
sided with Satan,

and there was a war in heaven.

Satan lost
and was cast down into hell.

Satan is the embodiment of evil,

a fallen angel who tempts you
to not follow your best values.

He is a god of sorts and he can
offer something like that to us,

great knowledge,
control, mastery.

The stuff of transcendence.

Of course,
it will cost us everything.

After all, this is not
a straight shooter.

This is not somebody
who's going to tell the truth.

His job is to tempt you.

CHRIS BADER:
Satan is believed to have tried to tempt Jesus

when he was in the desert with
visions of earthly delights.

So Satan is continually,
throughout the Bible,

someone trying to draw people
from God to evil.

But the idea of Satan
flows throughout history

and across religions.

There is Mara in Buddhism,
who is a demonic king,

a entity representing evil,
and therefore,

would tend to take on
very frightening forms

which oftentimes are mixtures
of human and animal.

There is Iblis, who is the
Islamic representation of Satan.

So, we see this figure of Satan,
a singular entity

that is in charge of evil
across religions and over time.

BROCK:
In Western Europe, we start to see depictions

of the Devil around
the eighth and ninth century.

And the Devil becomes
depicted all over churches,

in various other sorts of art
and statue and so forth.

He is always portrayed
as a monstrous beast,

half human, half animal,
sometimes winged,

sometimes horned,
sometimes red, sometimes black,

occasionally surrounded
by his subordinate demons,

and often emerging
from the flames of hell.

SHATNER:
Does this universal belief in an evil,

tempting enemy of God

suggest that Satan,
by whatever name he's called,

is actually real?

According to one of the most
important spiritual leaders

in the world,
the answer is an emphatic yes.

Pope Francis
publishes a statement

which contains a dire warning
to those who don't believe

in the existence of Satan.

The pope declared

that "we should not think
of the Devil as a myth,

"a representation, a symbol,

"a figure of speech or an idea.

"This mistake would lead us
to let down our guard,

"to grow careless
and end up more vulnerable."

Pope Francis has spoken
about the reality of Satan

than the previous popes have.

And he often speaks about Satan
as a-a real person, of course.

And also, that, he said,
"Don't try to argue with Satan.

"Don't get into a dialogue
with Satan

because he'll outfox you,"
which is good advice.

BROCK:
The current pope,

who people usually think of

as being this sort of
progressive figure,

he talks about the powers
of Satan as a literal entity.

But the Devil is still
a very powerful force

who sort of lurks in the bounds
of our imagination,

and for some people,
genuine belief.

It's a common misconception
amongst academics

and secular people that
the Devil is an outmoded idea,

that it went away
in the Middle Ages,

and that couldn't be
further from the truth.

Very recent data
from the United States

shows that over half
of Americans believe

that the Devil is a real entity,
not merely an idea.

There are certainly many
who believe in the Devil,

uh, by whatever name,

and that doesn't mean
it's just fantasy.

There's something happening.

Human beings are encountering
something more than themselves,

so one theory is it's the Devil.

LAYCOCK:
I think that our ideas about things

like supernatural evil
tend to depend

on the situation we're in
and what's happening to us

on a given day.

And ultimately, many people say

they absolutely believe
in the existence of Satan.

If Satan is actually real,

then it begs the question:

how does he travel from hell
or wherever he is to Earth?

Perhaps the answers can
be found by examining a city

located in the mountains
of China.

A city that many believe

is a portal to Hell.

SHATNER:
High in the mountains of Central China,

along the banks
of the Yangtze river,

lies a complex
of shrines and temples

that is known
as Fengdu Ghost City.

According to the Chinese legend,

Fengdu is considered
to be a place

where our world
meets the underworld.

As you're approaching
Fengdu City on Ming mountain,

you're imagining something
that's gonna be beautiful,

but instead you see
these depictions

of hellish images,
and devilish creatures

are actually devouring
human beings.

One of the first things
that you encounter, uh,

when entering the complex is,
um, actually a gate

that is shaped
as the head of a demon,

and you have to enter it
through its open mouth.

So it's a very impressive
first sight

that the visitor encounters.

JEREMIAH:
Walking through this complex

is like walking
through hell itself.

It's supposedly the place where
the Devil actually resides.

SHATNER:
The vast array of devilish statues and carvings

found throughout Fengdu
have earned the city

a ghoulish reputation.

But why did the ancient Chinese
feel the need to create

an entire city filled
with such ghastly depictions

of the forces of evil?

Well, Fengdu Ghost City
is believed to have been

first built
during the Han dynasty

around the year 200 AD.

The city was constructed
to represent

Chinese believes
about the afterlife,

and how a person's soul
is judged after death.

STEAVU:
The Fengdu Ghost City is a type

of purgatory space in Chinese
conceptions of the underworld.

It's a place where the souls

of recently-deceased people
are brought

so that they can be in front
of the court of the underworld,

and tried and judged
for all the actions,

the good deeds and the misdeeds,

that they performed
during their life.

If their karmic balance
is positive,

then after their judgement,
they are taken

to various celestial realms

where they can enjoy
a nicer afterlife.

If your misdeeds
overshadowed your good deeds

during your life, then you will
be unable to complete this trial

and you will be presented
for judgement forthwith

and then carry
out your sentence.

SHATNER:
The final judgement takes place

inside the oldest temple
in the city,

where a person's soul
is put on trial by King Yama,

the gatekeeper to hell.

STEAVU:
This main building, which is actually King Yama's court,

is presided over
by a statue of King Yama,

very fearsome in appearance.

King Yama is the overseer
of the underworld,

in the Chinese tradition.

So he judges the deeds
and misdeeds of the deceased

and oversees
all of this distribution

of postmortem justice.

So he's bringing down
the full power

of the underworld state to bear

on the people that he judges.

And he is also flanked
by a retinue of demons.

Their role is to dole out
the punishment

and to make sure that
the punishment is respected.

For those who don't go straight
to the celestial realms,

they have to spend
a certain amount of time

in the 18 levels of hell.

And you have a variety of hells,

you have the hell of burning
oil,

you have the hell of fire,

you have the blood pool hell,

in which you have
to spend a time,

sometimes close to eternity.

The fact that this has
become a major site

that is open to the public
and that people can visit

perhaps serves as a kind of
warning or an incitement,

uh, for, uh, people to live
more moral lives

and, uh, to be kinder to others.

SHATNER:
The idea that your soul can be doomed to hell

for eternity is concerning,
to say the least.

But it also raises
an intriguing question.

What led people to believe
that this particular location

was so strongly
connected to the devil

and hell in the first place?

STEAVU:
There's a long history of connecting Fengdu

to the gate of hell.

the gui-men-guan,
or the gate of demons,

and this is considered
to be the actual gate to hell,

to the-to the courts
of the underworld.

It's the actual entrance portal
to the netherworld.

This portal to hell
is actually a two-way portal,

so not only can
the deceased enter it

to get to the netherworld,

but you have the demons
of the netherworld

who are allowed to leave,
who can emerge from it

and sometimes wreak havoc
in the world of the living.

SHATNER:
The notion that Fengdu Ghost City could be a portal to hell

may sound far-fetched to some.

But on the other hand,
there are similar places

throughout the world that are
also thought to serve as bridges

where Satan crosses over
from his realm into ours.

The idea of a portal
to the underworld,

a doorway to hell, shows up
in many different cultures

and various locations.

There are certain caves
in the Mediterranean area

that that is how you enter
or someone returns from Hades.

There's a burning bowl
in Turkmenistan.

It's actually a natural
geological formation,

but it is continually burning,

and it looks like
a gateway to hell

if you would descend there.

The concept was always,
if Satan shows up on the Earth,

people asked,
how did he get here?

Does he have a magic power
where he can just appear

and just disappear,
or is there a way to a shortcut?

And what happened
in a lot of religions

is you had to have
some kind of way

to get from the underworld
up to the terrestrial plane.

And so, you needed to have
a cave or some kind of portal.

BADER:
These can be in graveyards,

they can be in old mines.

There's been a number
of these reported over time.

These places have developed
a folklore or mythology

that they are dangerous,
scary places you should not be.

And the belief about
portals to hell

is these are places where
the dimensional walls are thin.

These are places
where it's easier

for Satan and his minions
to cross over.

Portals open us up
to different dimensions.

Anyone with wisdom,
who cares for their soul,

will stay far away
from those locations.

Because the nature
of what has occurred there

and continues to occur
in these places

is always a danger.

The dark side entities
are not too far away.

Satan is clearly not
trapped in hell.

He clearly has some ability
to go into our world

and cause all sorts of problems.
In fact,

he's often imagined as being

temporarily in control
of the world.

SHATNER:
Could it really be true that Satan and his demons

use portals to spread
across the Earth?

According to many systems
of belief, the answer is yes.

And there are some
who believe that,

once Satan has
entered our world,

he has the ability
to take many different forms.

It's recorded
in ancient literature

that these forces

who we call shedim, or demons,

it is well known that
they can sometimes materialize

into physical form.

And they would look like
whatever form they would choose.

In Christian demonology,
angels don't have bodies.

Demons don't have bodies.

So they can take
whatever form they want,

they're natural shape-shifters.

One of the common forms that
the Devil and/or his demons

are expected to take
is that of the hellhound,

oftentimes described
as a monstrous black dog

with red eyes.

That has been commonly
reported across history,

sometimes reported
even attacking a church.

And there have been reports
of these things in modern times.

So, we need to understand
that these entities

are not relegated
to the ancient past.

We must protect ourselves
from these interactions.

Could we be surrounded
by satanic beings

that have the power to take
any shape they please?

It's an alarming thought.
At least, to most of us.

But believe it or not,
there are those

who have actually chosen
to welcome evil into their lives

by making a deal with the Devil.

SHATNER:
This small town,

located within an area
known as the Mississippi Delta,

has been called
the Birthplace of the Blues.

FISHOF:
The Delta blues music

basically started
in the early '20s,

and it came from Mississippi

and it was
African American musicians

who sang very soulfully...

♪ ♪

...very fiercely with their
guitars, with their harmonicas.

And it wasn't usually
a whole band,

It was usually
an individual person.

SHATNER: Of all the blues
musicians to play

in Clarksdale
during the 1920s and '30s,

one of the most influential
was a guitarist,

singer and songwriter
named Robert Johnson.

SYLVESTER HOOVER:
Robert Johnson,

before he got really famous,

he would go down on the corner
and play his blues music.

But early on in Robert Johnson's
career, he wasn't that good.

The Delta people
would tell Robert Johnson,

"You go to the cemetery
and play,

"and you would have
a big audience,

and nobody would complain
how bad you play your music."

FISHOF:
Robert Johnson, in his early part of his career,

was an okay harmonica player,
not a great guitar player.

He just, uh, basically
thrown out of places

because he really wasn't
considered very good.

ANTHONY SHERROD:
He really wasn't good at all,

but he kept on wanting to do it,

to show people
that he had potential.

SHATNER:
When faced with the prospect

of having his musical ambitions
thwarted,

according to legend,
Robert Johnson chose to enlist

the help of a higher power,

by making a deal with the Devil.

HOOVER:
Peoples in the Delta would say, if you play blues

at midnight at the crossroads,

you gonna meet
a lot of strange peoples,

and you might meet Satan
himself at the crossroad.

And so, Robert Johnson
went to the crossroad

that Saturday night.

He really went
to the crossroads,

gave his guitar to the Devil.

The Devil strummed it a few
times and gave it back to him,

and from that moment on,
he sold his soul to the Devil

and became an amazing
guitar player overnight.

And that's how the legend goes.

He came back maybe two
and a half or three hours later,

and this guy
was a different person.

After he left the crossroad,

he was doing stuff
that he couldn't do before.

Whatever he did,
he never was the same again.

Honeyboy said
he could play so great,

people would come
from here and yonder

to hear this guy play his music.

This guy seemed
like he had a magnet

after he left the crossroad.

FISHOF:
From that point on, he became an amazing guitar player.

He was just a lot different
than what any musician could do.

Robert Johnson's legacy will
live for many, many years.

You cannot listen
to a song from the Beatles,

Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin
or from the Rolling Stones

without giving credit
to Robert Johnson's style

that many
of these musicians copied.

And even Keith Richards said

he could play the guitar
like three musicians together.

He had that ability.

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
Today, Robert Johnson is widely considered

to be one of the greatest
blues performers of all time.

And his songs are among
the most influential recordings

in the history of popular music.

But there are many who point
to the lyrics of his songs

as evidence that he really did
make a pact with Satan

in order to achieve greatness.

FISHOF:
Robert Johnson,

in his music,
refers to the Devil

basically by saying,
"I went to the crossroads

and fell on my knees."

And he asked the Lord for mercy.

BROCK:
If you believe that the Devil is ever-present,

that you can encounter him
on the crossroads,

and that's a really
critical idea

informing this notion

of the Faustian bargain,
the deal with the Devil.

This promise of their souls

in exchange for something else
from Satan.

This is key to the fear
of the Devil.

That Satan could be so knowing,
so ubiquitous, so powerful,

that he could know
your secret wants,

and he could offer
something to you,

and you might
be willing to take it

depending on your circumstance.

SHATNER:
Did Robert Johnson sell his soul to the Devil?

It's a question
that is hard to answer.

But the mysterious circumstances
surrounding his death in 1938

have helped perpetuate the myth.

FISHOF:
Robert Johnson's death is basically a mystery.

Many say that he met up
with a jealous husband

after flirting with his wife

and the husband gave him
a bottle of whiskey

that was filled with poison.

There's many other theories
of-of how he passed away,

but many people say
he just died,

and maybe it was time
for the Devil to take his soul.

HOOVER:
That mystery, it throws a monkey wrench in it,

and some people
gonna believe this,

some people gonna believe that.

Didn't nobody know
the full story of this guy

because that's the way
he portrayed himself.

You know? S-- And-and that's
just the way it is.

The mystery of the crossroad.

But while some people choose
to do business with Satan,

others fall
under his spell unwillingly,

a type of encounter
that is referred to as...

demonic possession.

SHATNER:
Anneliese Michel, a 20-year-old student

at the University of Wurzburg,

claims that she's hearing
disembodied voices

...and seeing visions
of the Devil.

Before long, her family
comes to believe that Anneliese

suffers from a condition
that defies understanding...

...demonic possession.

PICKNETT:
Anneliese Michel was indeed

tormented
by a possessing something.

She spoke
in a horrendously growly voice.

(Anneliese speaking
indistinctly)

PICKNETT:
Her eyes seemed to go black,

and she had a great aversion
to holy statues,

of which there were
a great many in the house

because they were
very pious Catholics.

And she was taken to a doctor

and who said
she might be epileptic,

um, and she was taken
to a psychiatrist,

and nothing changed in her life.

In fact, she was
getting worse and worse.

BADER:
Her family believed from the beginning she was possessed.

The Catholic Church
accepted that framework

and engaged in the exorcism.

Ultimately, Anneliese Michel
died of starvation

and dehydration over the course
of numerous exorcisms.

This was a case
where that belief

directly led to her death.

What we cannot say for certain
is what was really going on.

I can't say that she for sure
was not possessed

or for sure was.

SHATNER:
The story of Anneliese Michel

is perhaps the best-known case

of an alleged
demonic possession.

But what happened to her?

Was she actually
possessed by demons?

And if so, how does one identify
when a person's mind and body

have been taken over by Satan?

RICHARD GALLAGHER:
During the course of my career,

I've witnessed a number of cases
of possession in-in my life,

but I definitely started
as a skeptic.

I certainly never thought
I would see anything

sort of paranormal or diabolic.

A priest who, I guess,
knew I was Catholic--

I don't exactly know how
he got my name-- but he came

to my office when I was
at Cornell Medical College.

And he said, "Dr. Gallagher,
I'd like you to, uh,

"evaluate someone for me

who I think has
a demonic attack."

And I said, "Well,
with all due respect, Father,

"you know, I'm-I'm
an academic psychiatrist,

and I'm pretty skeptical
of those sort of things."

And I remember
what he said to me, he said,

"You're the perfect man
for the job

because we want somebody
who's skeptical."

Of course, in the years since,
you know, 25-plus years,

I've seen so much
that I'm not a skeptic anymore.

There are very strict criteria

which clearly have to be
present to distinguish

the case from a psychiatric
or medical disorder.

You have to see something
that is inexplicable

in terms of purely
materialist science.

Things that could
not possibly manifest

in somebody who doesn't
have a diabolic attack.

The first case sent to me
was a woman who claimed

that she would be lying in bed,

and she would be pummeled
by invisible forces.

She and her husband
were convinced

that she was attacked by demons.

So we did a number
of medical tests on her

because she had bruises
all over her body.

And at the end
of my evaluations--

and she was a very sane,
lovely woman--

I said to the priest,
"Look, this doesn't seem

like a medical or psychiatric
case, it doesn't seem possible."

SHATNER:
Mysterious bruises

inflicted by invisible forces?

While that may sound
like something

out of a Hollywood horror movie,

the truth is that accounts
of possession

have been recorded
for thousands of years.

BADER:
Any scholar can tell you,

cases of demonic possession go
all the way back to the Bible,

when Jesus had to cast
the demon out of a man

into a herd of swine,

who then ran off of a cliff
and into the water.

Very famous story in the Bible.

And stories
of demonic possession,

they are not confined
to Christianity.

The idea of possession
is inherently tied to the idea

of Satan and demons,
and is an attempt by Satan

to take over your personality
to ultimately control you.

The film The Exorcist
is believed to have

really brought attention
to the idea of possession,

but it's not that those ideas
started with The Exorcist,

those ideas spread
with The Exorcist.

STEPHEN ROSSETTI:
The Exorcist was actually

based on a real case.

It was a 12-year-old boy
who was possessed, not a girl.

How did he get possessed?
Using a ouija board for months.

Start doing something occult,

that creates
an inner vulnerability to evil.

You're using magic that does
not come from the Lord.

You might not know this,

but you're actually invoking
the powers of Satan,

whether you believe it or not.

GALLAGHER:
Most people who are possessed,

in a sense, they've invited
it in, wittingly or unwittingly.

Possession is the most
dramatic attack

of a demon upon a human being.

In a way,

spiritual warfare should
be a concern of everybody.

That we're all sort of
in a battle

in our own souls
between goodness and evil.

If Satan is trying
to possess us,

are we defenseless
against his attacks?

Or is there a way to fight back?

Well, there are those
who believe

that there is a powerful tool
we can use to protect ourselves.

The ancient rite of exorcism.

SHATNER:
Thousands of Christians are gathered

in Saint Peter's Square

to watch Pope Francis
perform Sunday mass.

As he greets the crowd,
the pope lays his hands

on the forehead of a man
who is thought to be possessed

and recites a prayer.

A video of the incident
went viral,

and left many viewers
to conclude

that they had just
witnessed the pope

performing an exorcism.

GALLAGHER:
Pope Francis

believes in evil spirits,
he believes in Satan,

he believes in the possibility
of possession

and the need for exorcists.

He's quite traditional
in that respect.

Exorcisms appear in the oldest
writings that we have.

From the ancient Near East,
from India, from China.

So exorcism is literally
as old as recorded history.

There's many different forms
of exorcism all over the world

and in different religions,

and most have
various types of objects

that are used to drive
away unwanted spirits.

Holy relics, crosses,
uh, holy water,

and even exorcism itself
are what the Catholic Church

called sacramentals.

So, the church's view is that
these are symbolic expressions

of the authority of the Church.

And so, even though they are,
in a sense, symbolic,

at the same time,
they have real power...

...and can help a priest
to display the authority

of the Church
and drive away demons.

SHATNER:
If Satan and his army of demons

are really waging a war
against humanity,

then exorcists
are on the front lines.

It's important to realize
that an exorcism is not magic.

W-We don't do magic.

It's a prayer, essentially.

It's the Church's prayer
to God and Jesus

to cast out the demons.

And so we invoke that authority

as his disciples
to cast out the demons.

And then we use
the Church's prayer

called the Rite of Exorcism.

We use holy objects
like Rosary beads,

holy water, crucifixes,
any holy object,

uh, Satan can't stand it.

When the person is manifesting
a demonic presence,

The first thing
that happens is...

you've got this
incredibly evil look.

As a matter of fact, they'll
look at me and they'll say,

"You stupid priest."

If you've ever really looked
into the eyes of evil,

you won't forget it.

And then different things
happen which are physically

not explainable.

A 110-pound young woman

throwing three big guys
around the room.

So we've had some
of those sorts of things.

A couple teams in the country
have had people levitate.

We-we haven't.

Uh, so there are--
things do happen like that.

SHATNER:
Levitation?

It's one thing
to believe that Satan

can take control
of a person's mind

or even attack their body.

But floating in midair?

Is such an extraordinary
phenomenon even possible?

About 35, you know,
salt of the earth people

have told me they have
witnessed, during a possession,

a levitation.

It's widely believed
in these circles

one of the paranormal things
that demons can exhibit

is getting their possessed
victim to levitate.

A lot of people challenge
what I say,

and they say, "Well, okay,
you believe in levitation,

which is against
the laws of science."

Of course it's against
the laws of normal science.

I understand that, you know.

I'm not saying
I don't believe in gravity.

What I'm saying is
there are spiritual forces,

including dark forces,

that can violate
the-the normal laws of nature.

SHATNER:
To some, the stories about the power of exorcism

may seem far-fetched.

But on the other hand,
this practice of banishing evil

has offered spiritual relief

to people
from all walks of life.

In most of the cases
that we have,

the people are very
psychologically balanced.

We have professional people.
We have lawyers.

We have military people.

We usually heal on both tracks
at the same time.

We heal on the spiritual level.

We also heal
the psychological level.

Many times,
we find that the demonic feeds

off the internal wounds,
the angers,

the unforgiveness, the hurts.

So when you start healing
some of those inner wounds,

they have less to feed off
and grab onto.

Exorcists believe they can
channel the power of God

to drive Satan away, and that's
certainly a comforting notion.

But then again, is it really
possible to defeat evil?

Perhaps the answer can be found
by examining a recent report

about the surprisingly
high number of people

who claim to have had
an encounter with the Devil.

SHATNER:
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis reveals

that in just one year,

they have received
1,700 requests for exorcisms.

Ten times more
than in previous years.

But what could explain
this rise in demand?

All of the exorcists
I know in this country

are busier and busier,
and busier.

We, frankly, we can't deal
with all the cases.

We have people come to us
who are Muslim or Jewish,

atheist, many don't believe
in God or whatever,

but they know they have demons,
and they need some help.

So we'll-we'll often
exorcise people

of other faiths
or people with no faith.

CARGILL:
I think exorcists are so busy today

if somebody believes
they're possessed by a demon,

then maybe the only remedy
for that

is for a spiritual authority
to come in and tell them,

"This spirit is out of you."

They're not going
to believe that a doctor

can remedy evil manifestations
of some sort.

SHATNER:
Evil manifestations?

Is it possible
that Satan is not only real

but that his influence on our
world is actually increasing?

ROSSETTI:
There are certain hallmarks of Satan's presence.

Discord, rage,

violence,

lack of dialogue,
lack of compassion,

hatred,
all these sorts of things.

I think we see more and more
of that in this country,

so I think we're seeing more
and more of Satan's influence.

Does that mean people
are possessed? No.

But can Satan influence
a whole culture? Sure, he can.

BADER:
If you start looking very, very hard

for satanism, you will find it,

You will find certain crimes
that draw attention,

like the Richard Ramirez
crimes...

...that clearly have some sort

of satanic motivation
behind them.

One of the most iconic images
of Richard Ramirez

is of him holding up his hand
with a pentagram on his palm

and showing it to the jury.

And this is unfortunately
what has happened in many cases

where a serial killer might
leave behind

so-called satanic symbols
or images at a crime scene.

Any crime will be
more frightening

to the general public if a layer
of satanism is added to it,

because that means this crime
goes beyond human motivation

and that there was something
more at work here

just than a deranged person,
that maybe the devil himself

was motivating these killings.

ROSSETTI:
Satan tempts everyone.

And sometimes it's subtle,
but he's a great psychologist.

He knows you,
he tries to manipulate you,

and sometimes you don't
know it's the evil one.

You know, the voice says,
"You're evil. You're a sinner.

God doesn't care about you,
there's no hope for you."

That's not God's voice, that's
Satan's voice in your ear.

So, what do you think?

Is Satan an all-powerful
lord of darkness?

The source of all evil
in the world?

Or is he an idea
that humanity created

an excuse,
or a method of control

so that we don't have
to face the darkness

that lurks within ourselves?

Perhaps the answers
to these questions

will, as they have
for centuries,

remain UnXplained.

CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY
A+E NETWORKS