Or so wrote William Shakespeare. But in the late 1990s–at least according to Evangelical Christians–hell was full to overflowing and yearning for more souls. The Satanic Panic was in full swing.
Here are some stories from our Facebook community. It’s almost unbelievable what religious people will teach their children.
- Here’s a story my church friend’s mom told us as kids: “Once with my girlfriends, we decided to do the thing where you chant ‘light as a feather, stiff as a board,’ and then altogether you are able to lift one of your group with just your index fingers! We did it in the front yard at dusk, and as soon as we started, we saw a creepy man in a cape walking towards us down the sidewalk. We all screamed and ran inside to pray to Jesus, and that’s why you shouldn’t play with the demonic, kids!”
- My grandmother used to tell me stories about when the “demons” had a hold on my bio dad. My aunts would get in on it, too. They would tell me how you could see the demon in his eyes and they could hear it roam the house when he slept. And that they prayed it out of him and saw it leave his body. She would tell of many times she banished demons in the name of Jesus. Really he was just on coke. But even in my 20s, when she would tell these stories, they horrified me so much that I slept with a lamp on for years.
- In the Charismatic part of Christianity, they tell you superstition is bad and just letting the Devil make you afraid. On the other hand, your words have power, so don’t say anything like “I feel sick” because that’s a “negative confession.” So you’re supposed to feel victorious over evil and also afraid to say the wrong thing.
- I was told never, ever to fall asleep listening to secular music because demons could attach themselves to you.
- Also, there was grave spiritual danger if you read the horoscope placemat while eating in a Chinese restaurant. Also applied to fortune cookies.
- Familiar spirits. You can inherit curses and demons you’re not even aware of, and did nothing to deserve, from the sin of any ancestor way back to whenever.
- My mother taught us that Barbies, the radio, secular music of any kind, the Simpsons, Harry Potter, and My Little Pony were all “Satanic”. If I dare to even speak to her regarding horoscopes or the occult, she starts “speaking in tongues” over me. It’s insanity.
- I used to have vivid nightmares of demons creeping around outside my room. One of them was about a demon who was lit up staring with large white eyes into my bedroom at night. There was so much talk of spiritual warfare in our house and it was all very much believed so that demons seemed very real. They could come in on books, words, items, music, friends who weren’t as holy.
- There were only certain ways to get rid of demons, so I had many exorcisms performed. There were also inherited curses from ‘sins of the forefathers’ which could have demons attached.
- Demons could also plague you from sins committed by people who lived in the house before you or even on the ancient land it was built upon. Demons, demons everywhere ‘prowling like a raging lion waiting to devour us.’
- I knew people who believed in inherited family demons. Nowadays I call that generational trauma and epigenetics.
- There were unforgivable sins and suicide was one of them. I lived in fear that I’d accidentally kill myself and not go to heaven
- We lived in half-fear, half-anticipation of the End Times. Our particular group believed that we’d be living through the ‘great tribulation’, fighting antichrist soldiers, doing miracles, and even having energy beams coming from our fingers. There were children’s comics depicting all this and other stuff, very inappropriate for kids. At some point, I guess they decided this wasn’t enough so they came out with new ‘prophecies’ about how we were getting a ‘new weapon’ called ‘the keys of the kingdom.’ Prayer, praise, and all those ‘classic’ weapons were good and all, but we had the new stuff.
If any of these superstitions resonate with your past, you are not alone. Comment below with your own stories! Also, check out our private Facebook group for more conversations like these.
gracefulatheist.com 