"I Was Raped By A Demon": Ed and Lorraine Warren on the Sally Jesse Raphael Show (1992)

I'm pretty certain that almost everyone reading this post is familiar with the "Haunting In Connecticut" case investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren back in the early 1990s. The incident was documented in the 1992 book "In A Dark Place" (left) by horror author Ray Garton, who has spent his time since the novel's publication declaring that it was a complete fabrication. Garton tells of Ed demanding that he make the book as scary as possible, even if it meant completely inventing elements of supposed haunting. Garton states:“Elements of Carmen Snedeker’s story clashed with elements of Al Snedeker’s story, and it seemed everyone was having a problem keeping their stories straight. Frankly, I didn’t notice until I had nearly finished all my interviews and began going over my notes, then I started having trouble matching up the details. Ed told me 'make it up and make it scary'”

I highly recommend listening to Garton's interview with MonsterTalk here, it's a doozy. You're also very likely to be familiar with the 2009 film based on the case.  You may even be acquainted with the 2002 documentary produced by the Discovery Channel, also named  A Haunting In Connecticut. But what you maybe less familiar with is Carmen and Al Snedeker's appearance with Ed and Lorraine Warren on 1990s daytime television show Sally Jesse Raphael. The show truly has to be seen to be believed. 

The title alone "I Was Raped By A Demon" should tell you the level of discussion one display here. A major part of the show's focus was the idea that both Carmen and Al were sexually abused, and even sodomised by demons. Ironically, Garton tells us in the above-linked interview, that Carmen hated that feature of his novel and petitioned hard for its removal. Yet here she is the same year, with her husband happily climbing on to a bed to demonstrate and recount in some detail how she was abused. Money talks and bullshit walks I guess.

The show begins with Sally giving a run down of Carmen and Al's story (or Garton's depending on your position I guess) with stock doom-laden music and creepy images. If this gives you the impression that Carmen and Al's account will be accepted wholesale, you're mistaken, The Audience is loaded with local residents who strongly dispute the Snedeker's tale and boy are they going to tell them so! Remember, this is a 90s daytime talk show on US network TV, two factors dominate these shows. Sex and conflict.

In addition to Carmen and Al, the family is represented by son Michael and niece Kelly who lived with them at the time. Kelly, in particular, looks less than thrilled to be present, and there's very good reason for this. I'd actually say she is collateral damage in this whole tale. Carmen's son Stephen, the main focus of both the book and the film, who was said to be suffering from Hodgkins Lymphoma at the time of the haunting. This is hardly a surprise, firstly "Stephen" is actually Phillip, there is no Stephen Snedeker. Also, whilst researching his book Garton says he  was only allowed to speak to Phillip once on the telephone. During the conversation, Phillip revealed he was the first in the house to see ghosts and that these sightings ceased when he began treatment for schizophrenia. Garton claims that the phone was quickly snatched from Phillip by Carmen who immediately ended the call. He was not part of any publicity for the book, film and documentary after this. To my knowledge, to the day of his death in 2012, Phillip had never talked publically about what occurred at that time. Unfortunately, there's a more serious reason for this and his exclusion from the show than his simple failure to toe the line with regards to the haunting.

During the show, Kelly is asked to recount her experiences being sexually abused in the house. Unlike Carmen's claims of being sodomised as she washed dishes and ran down the road, which are delivered rather sterilely, Kelly is clearly uncomfortable and upset as Carmen talks about cold hands under her bedclothes and pulling at her bra, on Kelly's behalf. The reason for this may well be because Kelly WAS sexually abused in the Snedeker household.

Unlike with the demonic assaults that Carman and Al claim to have suffered, there's corroborative evidence for Kelly's ordeal. This abuse wasn't perpetrated by a ghost or any demon though. Phillip (left), the Snedeker's eldest son, was removed from the Snedeker home at some point during the "haunting" by the police. He was accused of sexually abusing Carmen and Al's two nieces, including Kelly, and confessed to the abuse and also attempting to rape his 12-year-old cousin. He was placed in juvenile detention where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.When questioned about her son leaving the house, Carmen claims he was hospitalised, she also claims she had him diagnosed by a psychiatrist. This is patently untrue. Knowledge of all this makes Carmen's urging that Kelly "tell her story" on the show, and her then stopping Kelly to tell her version of events for her, even more disgusting. Carmen seems nervous when other memebers of the family talk, and this is most notable when Kelly speaks. In my opinion, she's concerned that Kelly may slip about Phillip's role in her abuse.

I wonder if Carmen actually managed to persuade this young woman that it wasn't her son that abused her, but the black mass that she describes. During the show, and a subsequent investigation by Joe Nickell (more on him in a moment), further details of Phillip's activities emerged, including drug use and criminal behaviour including breaking into neighbour's homes.

Carmen's demeanour during the whole interview is off somewhat, she seems angry and defensive from the offset and as a sceptical audience member points out, both her's and Al's stories seems highly rehearsed, for example, Carmen frequently refers to her son Phillip as "the eldest boy" careful not to name him. She's also very quick to interrupt other family member's accounts to elaborate or correct them. Throughout the interview, she clutches rosary beads. She handles the audience questions with abject and outright hostility. When questioned if she sought medical attention after being raped by a demon, Carmen snaps "No. Why would we?" Why indeed? Carmen also contradicts herself at several points, For example, she insists she sent Phillip to a psychiatrist because she didn't believe his story, yet she too claims to have not only seen spirits by this stage but to have raped by them!

Legitimate concerns with the Snedeker account are raised by residents of the area, including the present residents of their home. Carmen laughably pounces on the current residents, insisting they too had an exorcism, which they deny. She then has them confirm that there are hardwood floors in the building, which they do as if this somehow confirms the Snedeker's story. Carmen tells the couple to dig into the walls 12" to discover "exorcism metals" and "other stuff" which will prove their story is true. The most common complaints brought to the Snedeker's are that stories of problems with the home, including the "demonic presence" and claims they were unaware of the home's history as a funeral parlour, only arose when the Snedeker's fell behind with their rent. Also, the quite ridiculous idea that despite being frequently raped and sodomised by demons, Carmen and Al remained in the house for almost two full years!

One neighbour, rather brilliantly, has kept a log connecting the events that the Snedekers reported to the papers and local events occurring in the neighbourhood.

It's now time for Ed and Lorraine Warren to appear. This is when Ed makes one of the most disgusting claims I've ever heard made concerning the paranormal, the reason for this haunting was that bodies had been subjected to necrophilia whilst the house was a funeral home. The funeral director who had operated in the home was a well-known and much-respected member of the local community. Many of the local resident's loved ones had passed through that home at one time. Ed cared nothing for this or the potential upset and harm that could've arisen from this completely false and disgusting allegation. When people ask me why I loathe Hollywood's portrayal of Ed and Lorraine so much, I frequently point to this show. Ed is an absolute bully of a man, completely without class. There's none of the quick wit or charm displayed in Patrick Wilson portrayal of him on display here. He shouts down critics of the Snedeker's story, even going as far as accusing them of being "paid off" be the owner of the house, and claiming money and fame as their motivation for attending the show. One sharp young lad responds to this by asking Ed if he is there in the studio for free, which fails to silence him for even a moment, he continues to bellow. 

You often judge people by your own standards, is it any wonder Ed prioritises money as a motive before any kind of reverence to the truth?

Ed claims that a priest conducted an exorcism at the home, as if that is any real validation of the events having actually occurred, but refuses to name him other than calling him "Father A". When a neighbour asks him to provide more information he angrily shouts "Why should I? Father A is the name I give you." as he angrily gestures at the young man in question.Perhaps so your account can be somewhat corroborated Ed?

 Ed's response to almost all this criticism is "were you in the house?" He laughingly attempts to invalidate the questions and opinions of anyone who wasn't in the house, and therefore isn't complicit in the hoax!

Ed also makes the claim at this point that they have "the proof" of the occurrences in the home. That's a question which Ray Garton also asked Ed during his research for "In A Dark Place". Ed told Garton that there were videotapes of "evidence", but they had rather inconveniently been destroyed. Presumably, why we see not a jot of evidence on the Sally show. 

Don't worry though, Ed has brought along an eye-witness to the occurrences in the house. Unfortunately, he fails to mention that this "eye-witness" whom he refers to as "that gentleman" is well-known to him, it's his apprentice and nephew, John Zaffis.

Zaffis has since made a killing, and career, on the Connecticut case. He has authored a book with Chip Coffey regarding the story and has worked with Carmen Snedeker, now Reed, in retelling her experiences in book form. Zaffis is often, also credited with being the lead investigator on the case, but it's clear from his appearance here that he has no real sway in the case. Ed refers to him only to offer back up and corroboration and he is never made a part of the main dialogue.

An audience member comes to the Snedeker's aid asking why they would fabricate this story when there are other ways of making money, a ridiculous argument, imagine that being deployed as a defence in a bank robbery case: "Your honour, why would my client rob a bank. There are other ways of making money!" The truth is, the Snedekers were following the advice of Ed Warren, who admits moments earlier he urged them to write a book. Ed and Lorraine were always envious of the success enjoyed by George Lutz and the Amytiville case, they'd attempted to cash in on that case and when that failed, had attempted to emulate it repeatedly. This was their latest and most successful effort. I believe the Snedeker's started this nonsense as an attempt to blackmail their landlord into dropping the arrears in rent they owed. When they involved the Warrens, the blue touch paper was lit. Secondly, Carmen had tried to make money other ways, as the book was being written she was, according to Ray Garton, running an illegal interstate lottery scam, which she was, understandably, keen he not mention in the text.

Now we come to the final five minutes of the show, or as I like to call this point: And now a word from our skeptic. TV shows rarely give skeptical voices much air time, and Joe Nickell's contribution here is also burdened by the fact that Ed Warren constantly shouts over him. Ed clearly does not want Nickell to be heard, and even urging from the shows host cannot curtail his angry shouting. The exchange is actually immortalised in the Conjuring 2, with Nickell (left) replaced with a pudgy balding "scientist". Of course, Ed comes off the better in that fictional exchange, but Nickell takes him to the cleaners in the real version, correctly decrying Warrens as a loud-mouth. 

Nickell also has to deal with the hectoring of Carmen Snedeker, who seems to believe that denouncing Nickell as an atheist is a blow to his credibility. "This man doesn;t even believe in God. What would he know?" she cries, somehow winning the argument that exists in her own head.

Whilst being hectored, Nickell makes excellent points about the case, highlighting it's inconsistencies and it's similarities to the Amityville Horror amongst other cases and it's scheduling for release around Halloween.  Of course, one thing Joe misses possibly due to time constraints or even the fact that this wasn't common knowledge at the time, that killer blow to the credibility of this tale is the fact that the book's author is absent from this promotional appearance, for reasons we are now all too aware.

I see this 48 minutes of schlock television as somewhat important in view of the current reference in which the Warrens are held. Ed comes off as a brutish bully, unable to express any ideas without aggression, In fact, he frequently gestures right in Lorraine's face as she sits and blankly stares ahead. Lorraine simply doesn't speak. She actually seems apart from the debate raging around her, so much so that I have to wonder if she was medicated at the time of the show. The show also leaves little doubt as to how we should view the Snedeker's claims. Local residents simply demolish their story. Many elements of the show were seized upon by Nickell in a subsequent investigation into the case which is essential reading for skeptics and believers alike.

Examining Chip Coffey's Psychic Kids.

I recently came across a seemingly harmless article on Week I Weird, which I thought may make some amusing reading: "Gone Too Soon: The Five Best Paranormal Reality Shows That Should Never Have Been Cancelled "  Unfortunately, the article left me rather pissed off when I saw the image  which heads it.

Why? In the top left of the image is a representation of Chip Coffey's "Psychic Kids". The person clutching their face in terror, a common image in paranormal TV shows, isn't an adult. It's a child. Also, that isn't simulated fear we're seeing there, that's a child placed in an extremely tense, scary situation in a state of absolute terror.

The show ran for three seasons between 2008 and 2010 and its basic format  was as follows: Coffey and his team met with children who claimed to have psychic abilities with the aim of "training them" or enabling them to "cope" with their experiences in some way. Usually, this involved taking them to some haunted location to "face their fear". Many of these children were clearly vulnerable and Coffey pushing his bullshit beliefs on them could potentially have done an untold amount of damage in their lives.

Perhaps the easiest way to demonstrate why I find Psychic Kids so utterly repugnant is to talk through an episode as I did in the past with the recently cancelled Ralph Sarcchie vehicle "The Demon Files". For the sake of fairness, I'm actually going to look at three episodes, Demon in the Mirror, The Ghost of Georgie and the main episode I'll focus on, season one's The Demon House. 

Needless to say, before the episode, we are met with the usual disclaimer distancing A&E from a show that they are airing, and in this case, also produced. This disclaimer is the television executive's answer to a "protective white light" it sounds good but it remains to be seen if would actually protect them from anything. In this case, legal action presumably being the concern rather than evil spirits or some such hogwash. The show begins properly, with various soundbites of some of the "psychic kids" describing how scared they are of the paranormal entities and phenomena they believe they experience. It's clear from the get go, front and centre that this show is specifically designed to exploit the fear and anxiety of the children involved to invoke catharsis from the audience. Of course, the audience is sat at home and can turn the TV off if they so chose, the "psychic kids" aren't so lucky.

After the credits, we meet the two girls who are our psychic kids for the episode, Hayley and Alexia and their mothers. Alexia is the main focus of the episode, as it is her old home in which she allegedly saw demons which the team will investigate later. The most striking thing about the segment isn't the girls themselves, who repeat the same paranormal stories we frequently hear, it is the mother's fear and distrust of mental health professionals and the whole scope of health professionals in general. 

"I can't take her to a psychiatrist... who is going to help her? An ear, nose and throat specialist?" 

Hayley's mother scoffs, as if those are the only two types of medical professionals that exist, and seemingly doesn't even consider that care workers and teachers could possibly help her child. Of course her mother never even tried a medical intervention, nor did Alexia's.

 This distrust and dismissal of the mental health industry and the general paranoia at how the outside world will deal with the kids "powers" is a common theme throughout the show, it's touched upon in every episode I've watched thus far. At one point Hayley's Mum states that if she takes Hayley to a doctor, the social services will "take her away". Hayley, displaying more common sense than anyone I saw during the three episodes states "No they won't mom." Her mother emphatically puts down this attempt at rationality.

The look of distress on Hayley's face when her mother says this is genuinely upsetting.

The other parents featured on the show express similar ideas and the general mistrust of the medical and social establishment. Likely this is encouraged to create the narrative that the heroic Coffey is the only one who can help these children, but it's an irresponsible and worrying idea promoted with perverse glee in the show. The most disgraceful thing about this permeating attitude of fear and paranoia is that the show features a trained, and well-qualified psychologist. Dr Lisa Miller (left in final image below) is Coffey's partner in crime on the show and is also a trained clinical psychologist from Columbia university. Later in the show when the mothers meet Miller they repeat their fears that their daughters will be taken away or heavily medicated if they seek professional help to her. And Miller, a qualified mental health professional, a PhD associated with a well-respected university, the director of clinical psychology no less, sits and fucking nods in agreement! One of the mothers actually suggests that her child would be given electric shock therapy, a treatment that is no longer employed anywhere in the treatment of mental health.... AND MILLER NODS!























At no stage does this doctor, this woman of science, correct the mothers about their misrepresentation of the profession in which she makes a living. I've screen capped the sequence above, is the look on Miller's face in the final image reflective of the dilemma she's faced with? She either allows the show's narrative to continue or she defends here profession from blatant and public misrepresentation. She has the opportunity here to publicly dismiss some of the stigmas that blight both mental health professionals and those that suffer from mental health issues. She chooses to allow the show's narrative of Coffey being the only person who can help these girls to continue. Now, you may be thinking that Miller could well have offered these parents legitimate help off screen, that's a possibility, but it doesn't help the audience, some of whom may share these misconceptions. Some may even have children dealing with these issues, or worse, and Miller's silence endorses the idea that they should avoid medical and social care.

Let me be clear here. Dr Lisa Miller Ph,d. You are, in my humble opinion, an absolute disgrace to your profession. Your silence during this scene is complicity. I sincerely hope your superiors at Columbia become aware of your inaction and what you helped promote on this show. You're shameful.

Miller also clearly indulges the fantasy of psychic abilities the girls have developed. At no point does she suggest any kind of testing of the girl's abilities. In the "Ghost of Freddie" episode she actually partipates in the calling forth of evil spirits!

She also thinks that placing the children in a stressful, potentially oppressive environment is a fine idea, and never issues any words of caution at all. This is all relayed in a conversation that is bizarrely filmed from in a bush and behind a tree, possibly in an attempt at creating an impression that this was filmed without Coffey and Miller's knowledge, which is clearly nonsense as they are obviously micced. So Miller thinks this experience would be helpful to the girls, is that her professional opinion? Is she prepared to stake her reputation on it? I doubt it. Probably why she insisted on being filmed from the shrubbery.

On to Coffey. One thing I notice is Chip seems to have a thinly veiled disdain for his charges in the show. His relationship with them is cold, he shows little warmth or affection towards them. As a side note, I find this is often the case with self-proclaimed psychics. Chip claims he is going to teach the girls methods to protect themselves but actually teaches them.... well nothing. All he seems to do is accept the paranormal claims they throw out and agree with them, never elaborating on what is offered and responding as monosyllabically as possible, often mumbling "Ahmm" as an answer. Never mind communicating with the dead, from what I see over the three episodes I watched, Coffey can barely communicate with the living!











The image above comes from a scene when Coffey takes Alexa to a dock near her home to "test her power" by detecting  spirit she has supposedly seen there. Everything she throws out Coffey simply confirms, it's quite laughable:

Alexa: It's gone cold....

Coffey: Freezing...

Alexa: I feel him in my stomach...

Coffey: I feel  it in my gut...
Coffey: I feel  it in my gut...

This is supposed to confirm Alexa's abilities, but that's only valid if we assume Coffey also has these abilities. There's no attempt at verification and the whole scene simply appears as a grown man indulging a child's fantasy.

Of course, Coffey's role is greater than that. When the children are placed in stressful and frightening situations Coffey amps up the anxiety by warning of things such as "negative entities". The general approach of the show is also driven towards the aim of ensuring the children involved are as scared as possible. As with most ghost-hunting TV shows all investigations are conducted in the dark with night vision cameras. This is despite most of the children clearly describing having experiences in broad daylight. The reason for this is clear, the participants in the show must be afraid, or the audience won't be afraid. This is the basic premise of catharsis, if these children aren't afraid, why would we, the audience feel the thrill of fear?

The third act of the three episodes I watched all revolved around one of the children involved "facing their fear". We're told this is necessary for the kids, but we're never actually told why it's necessary.  So it's the  third act when the kids are exposed to high pressure, tense and particularly scary environments. It's these sections that expose Psychic kids as pure exploitation. In "Demon House"  Alexa is being taken back to her old home where she believes she has encountered evil spirits to confront them again. This confrontation must, of course, be conducted at midnight and in the pitch black. She seems visibly shaken returning to the house, but repeats she has to do it for "reasons". I think that Alexa, despite her fear, enjoys the attention of being the focus of this narrative, Hayley less so.

At the house comes the only example I found of Chip disagreeing with one of his charges when Alexa suggests that a noise is just the wind. "No it wasn't!" he snaps in an admonishing tone. Coffey won't tolerate any attempt at rational thinking.

Alexa corrects her error by immediately "sensing" a laughing figure. Coffey reacts by shouting "whoa" at apparently nothing and the girls flee the house in terror. Chip remains in the house, looking around with the blank expression more befitting a ventriloquist's dummy than a man who has just terrified two teenage girls, while Hayley consoles a seemingly genuinely upset Alexa.



When Coffey finally comes out to console the girls, he does so by suggesting to these already scared and vulnerable children that what they encountered was a demon.

The kids agree this is a demon, and Chip drafts in two self-appointed experts, Linda Isbell who claims to have been a demonologist for 26 years and Beth Roberts who doesn't tell us how long she's been an expert in things that don't exist... sorry... a demonologist. Their role is to "cleanse" Alexa's old home. The episode goes out with a whimper rather than a bang, with the girls returning to the house with Chip and the crew. Alexa declares the demon cannot hurt her anymore and we're done.

Bizarrely, all three episodes end in this exact way. In the episode "Demon in the Mirror" Coffey acts out a role play in which one of the Psychic Kids is physically dragged in front of the titular mirror to banish a "demon lady". It's a weirdly uncomfortable scene and one that gives a very clear picture of Coffey. As he stands in front of the girls, arms crossed giving orders in militaristic tones, it's very clear he is enjoying the control he has over the situation immensely. He strikes me as a rather pathetic little man, probably the ideal choice for a show like this, who else would be so desperate for affirmation that they would have to seek it by exploiting potentially vulnerable children?

I hope I've demonstrated how exploitative this show actually was. It certainly wasn't just harmless paranormal fluff like other psychic and ghost hunting TV shows. As parents and Aunts and uncles, and brothers and sisters we work tirelessly to protect our children from being placed in unnecessary stressful and frightening situations. Making a child who believes in demons go into a "haunted house" at midnight, one which holds horrible memories for them, be they false or otherwise, or physically forcing them to stare into a mirror in which they believe they have seen a "demon" is unspeakably cruel.

I'll leave you with this. The three children (below) featured in "Ghost of Freddie" episode are twelve, eleven and eight years old. At the end of the episode, Coffey sits in a room with them calling forth "evil spirits" with Dr Miller. These aren't adults. Not even teenagers. I don't ever want to see children subjected to such ideas and conditions for my amusement. Psychic Kids should not come back. it should have been commissioned, it's a blight on the careers of everyone involved. If you think that show was in any way acceptable, that it was justified in placing minors in a position in which they are so scared, then you need to have a serious think about the about the amount of suffering you think is acceptable for entertainment's sake.