In Western exorcism films, a famous demon would often possess an innocent child. But after those famous demons finally managed to return to the human world, what did they do?
Eat spiders, crawl backward, scratch at walls, curse, spit everywhere—any mischievous child could have done better than that. No wonder Zodiac said The Exorcist, filmed in 1973, was a comedy.
The Key of Solomon was an important demonological text. The oldest existing version was published in the early seventeenth century, though the book itself was likely written before the French Revolution. Solomon's seventy-two demons also originated from this book.
Not all the demons in the book were evil. Stolas, who often appeared in the form of a raven, taught people astronomy and the arts.
Phoenix had the voice of a naughty child, a kind and gentle nature, and was a poet.
But there were also demons like Asmodeus, who stole other men's wives. Amun, the seventh demon, possessed the ability to know the past and future, and to turn friends against each other or reconcile them.
A ladybug was merely an insect. Because it ate aphids, it became a beneficial insect. If a ladybug did not eat aphids and instead ruined human crops, then even if it was vegetarian, it was still a pest.
Humans distinguished beneficial insects, pests, gods, and demons based on whether they benefited or harmed themselves.
Coca-Cola also had sugar-free cola, but when customers made purchases, more still chose the sugary kind. It was always easier to blame one's mistakes on someone else.
Zimbardo believed that the first step in fighting the Lucifer effect was admitting one's own mistakes.
But before admitting a mistake, one should first determine whether the mistake was actually theirs. If it was not, why admit fault?
Likewise, before performing an exorcism,