The Dark Sacrament
4/5
The Dark Sacrament is substantially an account of 10 modern day (within the last 20 or so years) demonic possessions and exorcisms in Ireland. To round out the case studies, Kiely and McKenna provide a few chapters of the theology surrounding exorcism (from various religious traditions, primarily Roman Catholicism and Anglican) and an excellent bibliography. The accounts of the possessions are creepy as hell and presented in a fairly straightforward manner. The authors do not appear to be concretely trying to convince or convert and are more or less unbiased, though certainly not committed to presenting the skeptic's case. Yet, their purpose did not seem to be argue conclusively for the existence of evil or possession or what have you, so hassling them over that would be wholly unfair. Hostage to the Devil , which they cite often, is much more clearly that kind of text – so if what you are looking for is to be convinced that demonic possession is real, then go to Martin. However, if you, like me, are just looking for rollickin' Exorcist fun, then you can't fault Kiely and McKenna since they do provide that in an articulate way. Compared to other non-fiction books featuring demons, say those by the Warrens (like the overly sensational The Demonologist), The Dark Sacrament is pretty refreshing. I was looking for a scary book and I would say that some of these stories are very scary if you take them as truth – most notably the case of the kid who discovers an evil Ouija board, gets possessed, and then is not sure he actually wants to be relieved of his demon. There is another story, also involving a Ouija board (I am thinking that maybe a lot of these accounts had Ouija boards?) and a Mom who invites a smelly Frenchie up in her crib which was pretty disconcerting. If you are interested in demonic possession, either as a voyeur or a believer, then I would recommend The Dark Sacrament. When I want some guaranteed late night spookies, I am pretty sure I will pick this book up again.
