Exorcism of Clarita Villanueva

The **Exorcism of Clarita Villanueva** is a alleged demonic possession occurred in May 1953 when Clarita Villanueva, a 17-year-old girl incarcerated at the Manila City Jail was said to have been bitten and tormented by two demonic entities. But, Clarita mentions that her two demons have followers. American pastor Lester Sumrall flew to Manila, Philippines, in order to deliver the girl from the evil spirits. The case has been widely and sensationally reported worldwide.

## Overview

Clarita Villanueva, a 17-year-old Filipina girl, had known a life of tragedy. She did not remember her father. She did not know if he had died or had deserted her mother. Her mother was a spiritist and a fortune teller by vocation. The girl was brought up watching her mother holding seances, communicating with the dead, and using clairvoyance to predict to sinful people what they could expect in the future. Her mother took money from people for her services, and then laughed at them behind their backs. To her it was all just a game, a means of making a living by duping unsuspecting and gullible people.

When Clarita was still very young, about twelve years old, her mother died. Since she did not have any immediate family to take her in and care for her, she became a vagabond. She fell into the hands of harlots and at the tender age of 12 was selling her body as a prostitute. The harlots taught her how to handle men, how to get money for her services.

Clarita worked her way up from her island home to the capital city of Manila. The big city was a hiding place, a center of money and vice for her business. The local harlots became her teachers and she learned the night life in the big capital city. In Manila there were more men to seduce. By the time she was 17 years old, Clarita was frequenting the bars and taverns of Manila, living the 'gay life' by soliciting men for harlotry. But one morning at 2 a.m. on the streets of down-town Manila, Clarita made the mistake of offering her services to a plainclothes police officer. The policeman called for a vehicle and Clarita was taken to the ancient Bilibid Prison, used as the city jail. Bilibid has been a prison for over 300 years. It was built by the Spanish and used by the Americans, the Filipinos, and the Japanese as a prison and a place of torment.

Two days after Clarita was incarcerated, there struck the strangest phenomenon to ever hit Bilibid Prison in its 300-year history. This young harlot was bitten severely on her body by unseen and unknown entities. There were two of them – a huge monster-like spirit and a smaller one. They sunk their fangs and teeth deep into her flesh making deep indentations. They would bite her neck, back, legs and arms simultaneously. Blood flowed, mostly underneath her skin, from the bites. The 17-year-old girl screamed in horror and fainted. The guards and medics heard the commotion and came running to the women's division of the prison. The other female inmates pointed to the writhing, tormented girl on a cot.

The girl was taken to the prison hospital for observation and treatment where all the doctors declared that they had never seen anything like it. These strange demonic bitings began to occur daily, baffling all who saw it. Dr. Lara, the prison physician, appealed for help through the media and permitted many to view the strange phenomenon. Filipino, Chinese and American doctors, university professors, and other professionals were called in to analyze the situation.

The news media soon caught wind of the occurrence and sent reporters out to investigate. The newspapers, radio stations and magazines found it their kind of story and began to publicize it. Even the cartoonists were soon drawing pictures of the entities from Clarita's descriptions, as the bitings continued day by day. The UPI and other world news services began to report the phenomenon worldwide.