Oct 25, 2026 · 33 min
Exorcist separates possession claims from illness and myth
Exorcist Explains How NOT To Get Possessed This Halloween
The conversation examines how Catholic exorcists investigate alleged possession while confronting the risks of confusing spiritual claims with mental or physical illness.
- 1Catholic exorcists investigate alleged possession by distinguishing supernatural claims from mental illness, physical illness, or ordinary events.
- 2Father Carlos Martins frames exorcism as a juridical process involving alleged demonic rights, confession, and renunciation.
- 3Halloween does not cause a seasonal rise in possessions, though occult groups may become more active around the holiday.
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Martins describes controlled tests using hidden prayer and behavioral changes to distinguish alleged possession from mental illness or other explanations.
The brief
Father Carlos Martins says he created The Exorcist Files to explain Catholic exorcism as belief in demonic phenomena persists even as religious affiliation declines.
The interview challenges Hollywood’s version of exorcism, arguing that the church’s central task is diagnosis: separating spiritual claims from mental or physical illness.
Martins describes controlled tests involving hidden prayer and behavioral changes, while estimating that most people who suspect possession do not actually have a demon.
He presents possession and haunted locations through the language of alleged demonic rights, saying confession and renunciation can revoke the claims behind spiritual influence.
Halloween, Martins says, does not bring more possessions; its significance lies in Christian origins and the possibility that occult groups become more active around the holiday.
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