Grandfather performed countless exorcisms and helped people get rid of unwanted spirits who were possessing them. Occasionally, a very brave and mean spirit would taunt Grandpa, saying things like "I'm not afraid of you!" and "You won't be able to do anything to me!", but within minutes would be crying and begging for mercy. During exorcisms, Dad and his siblings were usually told to stay away from Grandpa's working area, for safety measures. This story is one memory that my dad recalls vividly, however, because he assisted and watched the entire ceremony.
The victim was a girl in her mid-twenties. She was a successful college student. When a spirit started haunting and possessing her, she dropped out of school and began acting extremely "crazy". She was mentally incapacitated. She would often have conversations with herself and attempted to sing while crying. This carried on for an entire year before her family took her to get help from my grandfather. In the western world, she would probably be sent to a psychiatric ward, with no cure in sight.
"Big Sister, why are you so sad?" Dad asked her.
"I'm not sad. I'm feeling very happy!" she replied through her sobs, wails, and singing.
Before the ceremony, Dad was instructed to cut pieces of paper into thin strips and paste them end to end to create a long tape. Grandpa wrote prayers on the tape and blessed it.
It was decided that one of my grandfather's apprentices would open the ceremony. This man was very well known in the town as a talented detective. He wished to learn from Grandpa so he can help his community in more ways. He began the ceremony through chanting, prayers, and calling upon gods and goddesses. He marched around doing the shaman dance and chanting. It was obvious that this required extreme focus and energy, as he started sweating profusely.
One end of the blessed tape was placed into the mouth of the girl. Then, the tape began winding itself into the girl's mouth! It was moving slow, like a stuck VHS tape. Dad jumped up in shock. He peered around to check if Grandpa or the apprentice has some sort of remote or machinery that was making the tape do that. How could this be? I made that tape! I cut that paper and glued it with my own hands! There was nothing special about it. What are these guys up to?! Are they messing with me? What is this trickery?! Dad thought.
"FASTER!" Grandpa demanded impatiently, stomping his foot on the ground and slapping a hand on the table. He mouthed some prayers. Suddenly the tape started rolling itself into the girl's mouth at a steady, smooth pace, like a cassette tape winding inside a cassette player.
Then Dad heard the girl speak. But it was not her voice. It was the voice of the spirit possessing her. Clearly, a man's voice.
"Please, pháp thây*, please, have mercy. Please let me stay. I love this girl. I want to be with her!" said the man's voice.
"This is not possible! It is the divine law of the universe that spirit and human shall not be together!" Grandpa explained.
"No, I will not leave!" the spirit said angrily. He started acting up, causing the girl's body to wail and contort.
"If you do not leave on your own, then I will send in my generals to end you! If that doesn't work, I will summon Thiên Lôi **, he will strike you and send you to the 18th level of hell!" Grandpa shouted.
"I don't want to leave. You can't make me!" the spirit growled ragingly.
Suddenly, the spirit cried out in excruciating pain.
"That was just a taste of what my generals can do. Do you want me to summon Thiên Lôi now?!" Grandpa threatened.
"No, no! Stop! Please, spare me!" the spirit begged.
After the spirit agreed to leave on his own, a separation ceremony was performed where the girl's belongings were split in half, even clothes were cut directly in half. Half of her items were to placed in a basket that would be returned to the water, where the spirit probably came from. The girl made a full recovery and returned to college as her usual self.
"Dad, if there are so many spirits down in the water, how come you don't just go out there and do a spell to get rid of all of them at once? It is so sad what happened to that girl! If I were you, I'd go there and kill them all now!" Dad said.
"Oh my god, that would be too evil! There are many spirits who are harmless and kind. It would not be a compassionate thing to do," Grandpa explained.
Grandpa warned to be very careful of clothing lost in water bodies, because spirits can track down that person and attach themselves. This was a big issue back then, because people used to wash clothes in the rivers and streams, and sometimes clothing articles would get picked up by the current. The same goes for hang drying clothes, one should never leave clothes outside overnight. The spirit world is more active at night, and spirits can attach to clothing items left outside, eventually possessing the owner of the clothes.
Dad wants so badly to be skeptical and be able explain what happened with science, but he knows that what he saw cannot be physically explained or proven. To this day, he is very adamant about Grandpa's headings, never letting us leave clothes out overnight.
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* Shaman, sorcerer, or wizard
** God of Thunder
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