- [ominous music plays] - [crickets chirping]
[ghostly whooshing]
- [insects chirping] - [frog croaking]
[ghostly whooshing]
[animal sounds grow louder]
[music intensifies]
[music fades]
[mysterious music plays]
My name is Christian,
and my family has been cursed by evil for generations.
[sinister music plays]
I was born in Oregon City, Oregon...
same place as my dad.
I'm half-Mexican. My mom's from, uh...
She grew up in Mexico City, one of 11 kids.
Dad met her traveling in Latin America and Mexico.
And then she came to Oregon pregnant with me when she was...
Yeah, when she was 22 years old.
My childhood really is still some of the happiest times of my life.
It was pretty idyllic.
School was great.
Went to a nice private school, had great friends.
I was a very precocious kid, very smart.
[Luz] Whenever I... I...
show you, I, uh, tried to teach you, you get it like this.
So fast. You were so smart.
Thanks, Mom.
[sawing]
I loved hanging out with my dad.
I looked up to my dad.
[both blow]
He was a badass. He was cool.
He worked a lot.
He was an engineer.
And he was religious.
[chuckles softly]
He always hung out with us on Sundays.
[light switch clicks]
Our life was just so happy and fun.
Just thinking about that time, I get sad because
our whole life changed.
All of a sudden,
Dad stopped going to church.
And he never gave me a reason for it.
I started getting more freaked out,
because my dad started getting so negative about Catholicism.
He'd say, "God's a joke. Do whatever the fuck you want."
And when that started happening...
he just kind of got lost in his thoughts.
And, uh,
he was just never, um... He never left the room.
[man on recording] Book of Hebrews, chapter 11...
[Christian] Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months.
...conviction of things not seen.
- [groans softly] - Verse 1. Of things hoped for...
- That is where it's from. - [applause on recording]
[inhales sharply]
[groaning softly]
[hand thuds]
[inhales sharply]
[groans]
[inhales sharply, groans softly]
[paper crumpling]
[man on recording] In the middle of chapter 11, verse 1...
[chuckles]
[inhales sharply]
[groaning softly]
[grunts]
[breathes deeply]
[recording continues indistinctly]
[groaning softly]
[chuckling]
- [spits] - ...Scripture says...
- things not seen... - [groans]
- We're talking about faith here, friends... - [groaning loudly]
- [continues groaning] - ...Lord's promise...
[eerie music plays]
[ghostly whooshing]
- [dad yells] - [demonic snarl]
[yells]
- [ghostly whoosh] - [dad yells]
- [yells] - [whooshing intensifies]
- [whooshing stops] - [fire crackling]
[crickets chirping]
- [sinister music plays] - [groans]
[dad screaming]
- [gurgled screams] - [hissing, squelching]
- [groaning, grunting] - [squelching continues]
[yelling in pain]
- [screaming] - [squelching]
[Christian] It was late, maybe 1:00 a.m.
All those squeals...
It sounded like a very violent, wild human being.
We all heard it, like, loud and clear.
I was like, "Do we call the cops or mental health police?"
I don't know why the heck that's going on.
[crickets chirping]
[man talking faintly]
[man's voice growing louder]
[man on recording] We're talking about faith here, friends,
and that is the Lord's trump.
- Man cannot lose faith. - [door creaking]
Pray, do not turn your back on God, because the serpent awakes.
- [whistling breath] - We continue.
We must follow our faith no matter what the temptation,
- and temptation is always there. - Dad?
- Let us not open ourselves up to evil... - [hissing]
I hope you're listening.
We must follow God with all of our faith,
and we must learn our lessons from the tree of knowledge.
- That is huge in our daily life. - [hissing]
It was scary. He would never leave the house.
I would come home and he would just say, "Please don't leave me alone."
And he was alone, so that was...
It sounded either he was talking to something,
or he was not feeling well...
but I didn't want to be with him.
It's the first time I realized, "Holy crap, he's not the dad that I know."
You know, he's...
He's lost in negativity.
Dad really stopped being
the good stuff our dad was.
We saw him get very vulnerable and weak,
in a... in a strange way.
Dad's kind of losing it. He's losing it.
We didn't know how bad it was gonna get.
It was getting worse.
[ominous music plays]
Dad?
[sinister musical sting]
[Christian's breathing grows louder and faster]
[thuds loudly]
Niño!
[eerie music plays]
That's when I started cussing at Dad.
I was like, "Fuck you, Dad!" Because I was pissed.
I was pissed that we were being abandoned.
But at that point...
I didn't understand...
what was going on.
It gets even worse.
- [ominous music plays] - [fire crackling]
[crickets chirping]
[dramatic musical sting]
[eerie musical sting]
[sinister music building]
[music stops]
[door creaks]
[dramatic musical sting]
[eerie music plays]
[sinister music building]
[music fades]
[eerie music plays]
[hissing]
[eerie music continues]
[hissing continues]
[breathing heavily]
[sinister music building]
[music fades]
- [dramatic musical sting] - [hissing continues]
[ghostly voices whispering]
[dramatic musical sting]
[high-pitched ringing]
[dramatic music plays]
- [woman] No! - [blows thudding]
[screams] No!
[dramatic music continues]
[scream echoes]
[Christian] What happened to my grandma was...
totally batshit insane.
Uh...
My dad just goes into this deadpan mode,
where he takes her into a bathroom and...
essentially tortures her for a while.
[sinister music plays]
[grandmother whimpering]
[eerie music building]
[music fades]
[Christian] It wasn't normal passion violence.
It was razor blades.
There's bloodletting involved.
There's a very methodical... torture.
Nobody's supposed to do stuff like that, like violent with your own mother and...
They said, like, he...
He tried to kind of... strangulate her, or something like that.
How did this happen? Why... How can this be happening?
This is, like, strange bizarre violence that I have never even seen in a movie.
This is weird stuff that no one understands.
So, after what he does to Grandma...
he runs off, barefoot.
- [dad screams] - [sinister music plays]
- [insects chirping] - [owl hooting]
[sirens approaching]
[guttural groan]
[thudding]
[dad panting]
[chuckles]
[strained groan]
[dog barking]
[indistinct police radio chatter]
[dog continues barking]
[dramatic music plays]
[music intensifies]
[chuckles]
[music building]
[yells]
[music fades]
I remember the stories, they said
he had practically supernatural strength.
I think it took eight officers to get him down and several Tasers, and...
when they had him in custody, he didn't remember his name.
He was so in this other place.
- Totally nuts. You know? - Yeah.
We're starting to understand
there's something else going on.
[whispers] Fuck.
Fuck.
[strained] Fuck.
Fuck.
[coughs]
[strained] Oh, God.
[inhales sharply] Fuck. Ah.
[Christian] I didn't understand then.
I hate my home life.
My dad's in jail now for being a murderer, almost.
Didn't try to lose hope, but I'm in a dark place,
and I'm like,
I'm gonna have to just put my head down.
I'm a smart kid. And get straight A's.
I'll get A's in school. I researched online.
If I get into...
elite schools, most have need-blind admissions.
They'd pay everything, 'cause my family can't afford it.
That lit a fire under my ass. When I was 14, I said...
"Let's get good grades. I can do that much."
I had to do what I had to do, I needed to leave.
And, um, so, you know, I had a 4.0 coming out of high school.
I applied to, like, 13 schools, and then one day, randomly, Mom calls us.
We're at a Target.
And she's like, "A lot of big envelopes just got in."
And... And the Yale admission letter was in there,
and it was just so amazing.
I remember my Yale admission letter
had a handwritten note.
It had a note saying, "You have to come here."
I feel so proud...
and I... I knew it.
I said, "Oh, that's my boy."
I know when he wants something, that he wants to do it, he can do it.
And to a certain degree, I'm like, okay... maybe I get to have a normal life now.
And that's part of the big allure of why I moved to the East Coast
and I'd go to Yale.
[birds chirping]
[indistinct conversations]
[bell tolling]
You know, my first year at Yale...
is hard...
but I get A's.
I start going to the local Catholic church for 7:00 a.m. prayer almost every morning.
We start hanging out a lot, doing all kinds of Bible study.
We went through a lot of books.
Like, we read all of Genesis, I think, in like a day.
You were doing really well.
[Christian] Yeah, I felt really connected to God.
I was happy and I'm excited.
Things aren't perfect, but they may be okay.
[man on recording] We're no longer in Eden...
because the serpent awakes.
We must live in complete faith and obedience to God.
[Christian] And then all of a sudden...
I'd look at the Bible, and the energy in the room would change.
For some reason, I'm not feeling like myself.
...the evil waiting.
If we turn our back on God...
It was like something was trying to take over me.
...Antichrist. Serpent awakes...
Like, "Crap, something bad's gonna happen."
We must not be vulnerable.
Only faith can protect us from our sins.
- [grunts] - [clatters]
- Only faith. Only faith... - Ah!
...can protect us from the sins of our...
[recording continues indistinctly]
[sobbing]
[clock ticking]
[breathing heavily]
- [ticking stops] - [sighs loudly]
[breathing heavily]
[groans angrily]
[breathing heavily]
[chuckles]
[continues breathing heavily]
[yells]
- [dramatic, sinister music plays] - [yelling, groans]
[groaning]
Fuck God!
- [spits] - Fuck God!
- Fuck. - Fuck God!
Fuck.
[music climaxes, fades]
[gasps]
- [musical sting] - [grunts]
- [hissing] - [Christian groans]
[demonic rasp]
- [screams] - No!
- [screaming] - [squelching]
[both groan in pain]
[dramatic music building]
- [groans] - [squelching]
[screams]
[music fades]
Literally, out of nowhere, I got a terrible pain in my stomach.
It was like there was something in me trying to just kill me.
My brain would just go on automatic, saying, "Fuck God, fuck God, fuck God."
I'm turning into Dad.
[ominous beat]
I believe that a clock kind of starts ticking inside of me...
as to whether I'm next in line.
I'm next to do something heinous that no one will understand.
I'm losing my fucking mind.
And what terrified me was that I began to manifest
some of that dark, scary energy towards my sisters.
[indistinct conversations]
[suspenseful music plays]
Christian?
[classical music playing through speakers]
[knocks on door] Christian.
[man on recording] ...now safe, gives me the assurance of...
[sister knocking at door] Christian!
[knock at door, knob clicks]
Christian? [knocks loudly]
- [tense musical sting] - [breathing heavily]
[ominous music plays]
[knocking continues]
Christian, it's us. Open up.
- [knocks] - [tense music builds]
[knob clicks]
[Christian grunts]
[dramatic musical sting]
[sister] Christian!
[Christian] I didn't do anything.
But something's coming over me...
that likes carnage,
likes destruction,
likes evil stuff, like...
And it scares me.
And I started just wandering.
[dramatic, eerie music plays]
I knew I was losing my family and everybody thought I was crazy.
It would only get worse. I wouldn't graduate from Yale.
[grunts]
[groaning, screams]
- [groaning] - [squelching]
[chaotic music plays]
[groaning, whimpers]
- [groaning] - [bell tolls]
- [music stops] - [gasps]
[panting]
[bell tolls]
- [thunder rumbles] - [breath shudders]
[bell tolls]
[man] I baptize thee, James,
in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
- [door slams open] - [Christian groans]
Help me, please!
- [eerie music plays] - [groans] Ah!
- [people] Oh! - [Christian coughing]
[groans softly, sniffles]
- [dramatic musical sting] - [grunts]
- [gasping] - [hissing]
[loud hiss]
[squelching]
- [people gasping] - [pants]
[squelches]
[retches]
- [people scream] - [hisses]
[dramatic music plays]
[screaming continues]
[music building]
[Christian grunts]
[squelching, chittering]
[Christian gasps]
- [squelching] - [breath gurgles]
- [dramatic musical sting] - [sizzles]
- [musical sting]
[Christian exhales]
[sizzling continues]
- [panting] - [metallic clang]
[ominous music plays]
- [music softens] - [crickets chirping]
I start convulsing, spitting stuff up,
practically vomiting.
And a python started coming out of my mouth.
And it starts wrapping around me.
And it starts constricting me. And I pass out.
And I wake up.
And I'm like, "What the fuck? What just happened?"
What they later told me was, "That's the Antichrist Spirit."
That's a spirit that hates God,
a spirit that curses God.
That's a spirit that says, "Fuck God," essentially.
[ethereal choral music plays]
- [panting] - I baptize thee...
Christian...
[Christian] The moment I got baptized, true faith...
that demonic spirit had to leave.
It no longer had a hold on me.
It no longer lived inside of me.
[music continues]
Now I feel like there's a future for me.
The evil my dad and I experienced,
it's over now.
[music fades]
[ethereal choral music plays]