Episode 17 – Climbing the Walls: The Demon House of Gary, IN
Hello, there! Ready for another walk in the Strange Woods? As it happens, we are too! On this week's episode, we dive back into the paranormal and discuss the infamous Demon House of Gary, IN. This one has it all: hauntings, EVP, celebrity ghost hunters, exorcism, and iconic 80s dance moves. Super creepy sauce. Let's get into it!
STOP! INSIDE JOKES AHEAD!
If you haven’t gotten to listen to the episode yet, spoiler alert! This post contains lots of stuff that will make waaay more sense if you listen to the episode before or while reading. So if you haven’t already, pump the brakes and listen to the episode or just click above to play so that you can be in on all the shenanigans to follow!
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Produced by Peter Woodward
Welcome to Gary, IN...Come on in...
- At 3860 Carolina Street in Gary, IN, a small rental house caused a big problem: a haunting that is one of the more well-known and (more importantly) well-documented paranormal occurrences in recent history. Known as the “Ammons haunting case”, “200 Demons House”, or mostly “Demon House,” this story continues to perplex and excite us. The house itself is very small and simple. Consequently, it appears pretty non-threatening at first glance. But, make no mistake…this house had plenty of bite to go with its bark!
The family...
- A family of five moved into the house in November 2011: Latoya Ammons, her 12-year-old daughter, her 9- and 7-year-old sons, and her mother, Rosa Campbell.
While not much information is given regarding specific reasons why this residence would have paranormal activity, its location may be reason enough. Gary, IN was once the murder capital of the United States. As such, it makes sense that with a lot of death comes a lot of spiritual activity. Layota learned from two psychics she brought in that the house was haunted by at least 200 demons!
It begins...
Manifestations started just days after the Ammons family moved into house. Large, black flies swarmed on the porch with no apparent source AND during winter. The family heard footsteps in the basement and the creaking kitchen door opening at midnight each night. One of the women witnessed the shadowy figure of a man pacing in the living room. Muddy bootprints were found when no one was home to make them. Latoya’s daughter and Rosa reported being choked by an unseen force.
- In March of 2012, several instances occurred. The family experienced the loss of a loved and had extended family sleeping over while they were in mourning. With multiple witnesses, Latoya’s unconscious daughter began levitating above the bed where she had been sleeping. Everyone gathered around her and began praying, continuing until she finally came back down to the bed. She awakened with no memory of the incident. Around this time, Latoya’s younger son began locking himself in a closet and talking aloud to a boy that no one else could see. The children were missing school days while these things were going on. A request from CPS prompted the first of several visits from Captain Charles Austin with the Gary Police Department.
Things begin to escalate...
Unsure of what to do to help the situation, Latoya began asking around the local churches for advice on how to stop the activity in her home. Multiple suggestions were given to her, mostly that the family leave the house, but they were financially unable to relocate.
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Latoya attempted numerous things to cleanse the house of evil:
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– physical cleaning with bleach and ammonia
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– burning sage
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– drawing crosses on all the doors
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– anointing the kids with oil
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– reading Psalms 91 aloud
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– wearing white clothing to symbolize purity, and
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– building an altar in the basement.
- The harder she fought, the worse it got.
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By this time, Latoya claims she found her children speaking in tongues with bloodshot eyes. They would often growl and speak in deep, demonic-sounding voices.
Seeking outside help...
- In April 2012, Latoya brought her children to see a physician. Dr. Geoffrey Onyeukwu was skeptical of Latoya’s stories and did not witness anything paranormal. He endorsed delusions and hallucinations after his assessment of the kids.
- During this visit, both of Latoya’s sons cursed at the doctor and staff in demonic voices. They were also yelling and growling and cursing at each other. During this exchange, medical staff stated the 7-year-old was “lifted and thrown into the wall with nobody touching him” according to a DCS report.
- Both boys then fell to the floor and could not be awakened. They were taken to the hospital for further evaluation. DCS was contacted over this incident for investigation of potential child abuse, and sent a representative to the hospital. DCS believed the kids were faking for their mother’s attention. Physical examination of the children revealed no signs of abuse. A psychological evaluation of Latoya, which was done at the same time, revealed that she was “of sound mind.”
The incident...
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At this time, while still at the hospital, Rosa, a DCS case manager named Valerie Washington, and a psychologist were with the boys. The 7-year-old began growling and saying strange things. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he said “It’s time to die…I will kill you.” He head-butted his grandmother in the stomach. Rosa took his hands and began trying to calm and coax him, backing him up to a wall. At this time, all in the room stated they witnessed the boy walk backwards up the wall and flip over his grandmother’s head, landing on his feet on the other side of her…all without ever letting go of her hands!
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Valerie and the psychologist immediately ran from the room and a doctor was called in. The doctor asked the boy to do again what he had just done. Latoya’s son, who by this time had returned to normal, had no idea what the doctor was talking about.
- At this point, DCS took the children with them, and Latoya temporarily lost custody as a direct result of these incidents. She returned to the house to continue to try to rid it of whatever was causing her family’s suffering.
Inside the house...
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DCS was required to do a site visit to the house, and this was undertaken by Valerie Washington, Capt. Austin, and Detective John Gruszka. Capt. Austin had been to the house previously, and very much agreed that paranormal activity was present there. He and Detective Gruszka actually captured a disembodied voice on a tape recorder they had running while on site. You can very clearly hear something say “HEY” on the recording. The policemen also witnessed flickering lights, heard whispered voices, and saw disembodied faces in smoke/mist in photos they took. They also noted that the entire floor of the basement was concrete except for the area under the stairs, which struck them as odd. More on that later…
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Capt. Austin had an experience in his police cruiser after leaving the site: there was a static interference on his radio and loud voice suddenly said “YOU IN THERE!”
- Valerie Washington was so disturbed by the entire ordeal that she removed herself from the case after this point. She has since been interviewed and states that this situation had a lasting impact on her mental health.
The priest...
- Father Michael Maginot was a local priest who was brought in to evaluate the home and Latoya. He felt family was being “tormented by demons,” and he experienced the muddy footprints and flickering lights. He performed blessings on the house, but ultimately decided an exorcism would be necessary, both for the house and Latoya.
- He was granted permission from the Catholic church to conduct these exorcisms. He reported that he was thrown by an unseen force from his bicycle while en route to perform an exorcism.
Father Maginot performed an exorcism on Latoya in which he stated that she would convulse with a cross placed on her forehead and stop when it was removed. This interview details the exorcism: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/01/25/the-disposession-of-latoya-ammons/4892553/?fbclid=IwAR1FK_JQ_1V6sqUTO4POpMaiBR5UZgXCffgiwfxxCsvCKbH8yaXBxjs7plQ
- The exorcism was apparently successful. Latoya soon got her children back, and immediately, the family moved out of the house to Indianapolis. It is reported that all paranormal activity stopped for them following the move.
The follow-up visit...
- On May 10, two weeks after the Ammons family moved, a second home study follow-up was completed by DCS. Austin and Gruszka returned, but a new social worker, Samantha Ilic attended this time. Also in attendance were Father Maginot, Rosa, and other Gary Police officers. After entering the house, they found an oily substance trailing down basement stairs. Ilic touched substance and immediately, her pinky finger turned white and painful.
Father Maginot was convinced that the source of evil in the house was coming from the basement. It was his belief that some sort of necromancy had been performed or that perhaps there was a body buried under the steps.
On this repeat visit to the house, police dug a 4×3′ hole under the basement stairs and found several very strange items: a pink press-on nail, a pair of women’s underwear, two kids socks, a political pin, and a cooking pan lid. Some sources also say there may have been a drapery cord and/or a comb. Weird.
At this time, in the central bedroom, the window blinds started dripping that same oily substance that had been found on the basement steps. Police took photos, cataloged their findings, and then cleaned the blinds off. To assure that the substance wasn’t being placed there by someone, they sealed the room afterward. When they returned forty minutes later, more of the oily substances was present on the blinds, and they couldn’t determine a source for it.
After leaving the site, Samantha Ilic continued to have issues. Within thirty days of her visit to Demon House, she was reported to have sustained multiple injuries: three broken ribs from a jet ski, third degree burns from a motorcycle, a broken hand from hitting a table, and a broken ankle from running.
Yikes.
Enter Zak Bagans...
- The house was quickly purchased after it was vacated by the Ammons family. The buyer: Zak Bagans, a celebrity ghost hunter known for his show, Ghost Adventures. He wanted to make a documentary around this site and purchased the house sight unseen for $38,000.
- The 2018 documentary Demon House is currently available to stream with Tubi for free or on Amazon Prime with a subscription. Give it a watch if you haven’t already.
Let's make a documentary, guys...
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- In this documentary, Zak got more than he bargained for. Much like the Ammons family’s experience, problems began immediately. Before even getting to the house, Zak had a dream in which a demonic goat man is chasing him. He didn’t share this with anyone, but put a pin in that.
- Zak initially met with Capt. Austin at the house and interviewed him as they did a walk-through. He also attempted to interview the Ammons family. Latoya and her mother refused, fearing that whatever was haunting the house could have attached itself to Zak and come back into their lives. He did manage to interview Latoya’s brother. The Ammons family then refused to allow the man back into the house afterwards because of the brother’s contact with Zak!
- In doing his debunking due diligence, Zak had the house inspected. Black mold, abnormal levels of carbon monoxide, and asbestos were found in the house, which could possibly contribute to distorted thinking (ie. hearing/seeing paranormal stuff). He interviewed the home inspector, who after leaving house experienced the following:
- – tree nearly fell on his car while driving home
- – choked by an unseen force while sleeping
- – developed cancer soon after
- In another crazy turn of events, Capt. Austin sustained a head injury in a fall within two days of his return to the house. He reported walking down the sidewalk and feeling like his legs were pulled out from beneath him. He struck his head on the concrete and was hospitalized.
The past comes knocking...
- During filming, a previous tenant named Meka came to the house. She told Zak she lived there when she was younger and remembered a lot of spiritual activity. Meka went into the house with Zak, accompanied by her children including her teenage daughter. Clearly, she was disturbed by the house, particularly the basement. She told Zak that her brother used to stay in the small room in the basement at the time of his death.
- Two days later, Zak got a call from Meka telling him that her daughter attempted suicide by overdose and stabbing herself in the wrists and stomach. Her daughter also reported little memory of time spent in Demon House, which had only been about three weeks before. Her family all agreed that her behavior and mannerisms leading up to the suicide attempt were “not her”.
- After this news, one of the crew members for the documentary quit immediately.
- Meka’s daughter underwent an exorcism from…you guessed it…Father Maginot.
The house begins attacking the crew...
- At this point, everything started to come to a head. Clearly, whatever inhabited this house was officially over it. Tragically, Zak’s good friend, Debby Constantino, a medium who attempted to contact one of the demons in the house directly, was soon after murdered by her husband.
- The crew went into the house accompanied by Dr. Barry Taff to test for electromagnetic anomalies and conduct a thorough investigation with some techie, ghost-huntery equipment. A number of strange things occurred while they were there:
- -Zak got feelings of anger and aggression out of nowhere
- -Dr. Taff became very disoriented and confused
- -cameraman Adam Ahlbrandt began acting strangely:
- – feeling bad and having to lay on the floor in the house
- – confusion
- – sneaked to basement and found later lying on the floor in basement room
- Later at the hotel, Adam began vomiting blood and screaming for Zak. When the crew got to him, he was pacing the halls and going in and out of the hotel elevator. He was aggressive, hostile, and yelling at an unseen entity in the hotel elevator. He told them he was having visions of a tall goat man. Remember that dream Zak didn’t tell anybody about? Yeah. Goat. Ew.
- Adam also reported feelings of being touched on the hand by something. The crew felt a clear area of coldness around his body during the times he would get aggressive or feel like he was being touched. That same night at the same time, Dr. Taff was feeling confused and nauseous. According to Zak, the doctor was unaware of what was happening with Adam and was two full floors above them in the same hotel. Adam was removed from the team shortly after this incident due to ongoing issues and, according to the documentary, has never fully recovered.
- Additionally, Dr. Taff went into organ failure shortly after his visit to Demon House. While he survived, the reason for this sudden and very unexpected health crisis was unable to be determined at the time.
Zak gives it one last shot...
- Zak decided to board up the entire house–doors included–and spend the night in Demon House alone. Capt. Austin was kept on stand-by in case he needed to bust him out…
- During his lock-in, Zak witnessed voices, animalistic noises, and sweeping black figures around him. He began experiencing intense pain in his head behind his eyes with changes to his vision, and he eventually called to be let out of the house to go to the hospital. He apparently developed severe diplopia (double vision) with no clear source and was told the condition could be permanent.
- At this point, Zak decided the house was too dangerous to continue to stand, so he decided to have it torn down.
- Demon House was demolished in 2016. The basement was filled in, and now 3860 Carolina Street is an empty lot with a few trees on it. It is reported that people go there to conduct satanic rituals.
- Zak Bagans kept the basement stairs and some dirt from under the steps because…reasons. Souvenirs? Idk.
What else did we talk about?
We discussed the Demon House’s crazy proximity to churches, water, and ley lines! No wonder like ALL the entities want to party there.
Also, let’s not forget how close it is to Michael Jackson’s childhood home, which could certainly account for some bad juju. Yeesh.
Goats...and goats
On the record, I (Brandi…hi…) am genuinely creeped out by goats. Not babies, but adults. Big difference going from this…
To this…
Registered grown goat pervert
And…um…they seem sort of evil to me. No? Check it out.
Also there’s the association with the occult figure of Baphomet, a deity with the head of a…yep…goat.
Moving on…
Mr. Ballen!
We love this guy! Check out his video on this haunting. It’s great!
And because it's cool...
That’s it for now! Thank you for stopping in and joining us! We love you guys and hope you come back again soon. Now take a nice little moonwalk up a wall, don’t let a goat eat your soul, and stay strange!
References, articles, and sources:
Peter’s wife. Registered nurse. Uber-fan of The Strange Woods Podcast.
