16. “…he asked her if she wanted him to perform an exorcism.”

So, this technically happened to me, but I was a baby and don’t remember. My mom told me this once when we were talking about paranormal activity and whether she believed. She had a couple of incidents, but the one with me went thusly:

Mom was at home waiting for the HVAC man to come do something – I do not recall what. My dad was at work, and she was alone with me. I wasn’t more than two. The HVAC man had a reputation of being a weirdo; he was weirdly religious and very superstitious and all the other women in the neighborhood didn’t like being alone with him. My mom figured he was just misunderstood, and she said he was odd but never made her uncomfortable.

Now, I was having screaming nightmares every night. No one knew why. I was in my own room, which was the first room a child had slept in, since the house was built after my sister was born. Mom didn’t tell the guy any of this.

So he is checking all the rooms for whatever he’s there to do, and he walks into my room and stops dead. He asked my mom if I had nightmares. She said yes, and he told her that the house was built on an Indian burial ground, and we had angered the spirits. They were upset, and that was upsetting me.

My mom said she didn’t really know what to say, and he asked her if she wanted him to perform an exorcism. Mom told him sure – wouldn’t hurt, right? He went to his truck, got his Bible, and wandered around my room muttering – she didn’t know what – waving the Bible, that sort of thing. After a few minutes, he turned to her and said that the spirits were calmed and everything should be fine. He finished his work and went in his merry way.

Mom said I didn’t have another nightmare after that. She has no idea how to explain it.