I’m an exorcist. Two chilling demonic possessions taught me how the mind of the devil works… this is how I fought back

Published: 20:30 EDT, 9 October 2026 | Updated: 20:37 EDT, 9 October 2026

A Catholic priest who says he has spent 20 years casting demons back to hell has revealed two chilling encounters he claims exposed an evil targeting people where they are most vulnerable.

Father Carlos Martins, 51, a former atheist from Ontario, Canada, told the Daily Mail that he witnessed an exorcism while training for the priesthood and it convinced him the devil was real.

What he considers most fearsome, he said, is ‘the mind of the devil, the evil he’s capable of, the mind games he will play.’

One such case, he recalled, involved a devoted church volunteer whose bitter divorce was followed by disturbing events and a sinister rumbling inside her home.

Martins arrived expecting to exorcise the house, only to conclude that the problem centered on the woman herself.

The other involved a man in his 50s whose overwhelming fears had left him unable to hold a job or form friendships.

The priest traced the man’s torment to a childhood tragedy that had cast a shadow over decades of his life.

For Martins, both cases revealed how demons can exploit emotional wounds, turning a person’s anger and terror into a means of control.

Father Carlos Martins, 51, a former atheist from Ontario, Canada, told the Daily Mail that he witnessed an exorcism while training for the priesthood

Martins leads Treasures of the Church, a ministry in Detroit, Michigan, and also works in spiritual warfare and demonology.

While Martins claims to have performed many exorcisms, scientists have suggested that such individuals are only possessed by psychological disorders.

‘Some patients who were considered affected by demons and treated with neuroleptics subsequently experienced remission, suggesting strong support for a biochemical theory,’ Dr Amin Muhammad Gadit, then a professor of psychiatry at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, wrote in a 2007 study.

‘There may also be a possible explanatory role related to abnormal functioning of brain-stem structures in the region of the fourth ventricle, whether caused by genetic or environmental factors or a combination thereof.’

Other research has suggested the possession syndrome was a result of psychological factors like severe mental illness, trauma, mass hysteria, or cultural beliefs.

But these suggestions have not deterred Martins from his perceived fight against evil.

‘While virtually every human culture has stories of demons and demonic possession, many “scientifically minded” people dismiss the possibility of demonic activity,’ Martins said.

Martins said the demonic encounters described in Scripture have continued through the ages. He recalled witnessing an exorcism while training for the priesthood, an experience that convinced him the devil was real, although what he saw came as no surprise.

The priest said two chilling demonic possessions proved to him that the devil was real

He told the Daily Mail that he no longer fears the devil, something he attributes to the grace he received upon converting to Catholicism in 1996.

‘The work of the devil, the visible work, it just didn’t faze me,’ Martins said.

Martins described two cases that he believes show how the devil exploits human weaknesses to take control of people’s lives.

One involved Emma, a woman going through a painful divorce from her husband Robert, whose home became troubled by disturbing events and a terrible rumbling noise.

During her 22-year marriage, Emma had volunteered at her parish, helping feed the poor.

When her marriage collapsed, however, her interest in volunteering faded.

Friends rarely saw her, and she stopped returning their calls.

‘Emma was a shell of her former self. The only thing that gave her energy was plotting revenge,’ Martins said.

She repeatedly had her lawyers take Robert, a diesel-electric engineer, to court, intent on causing him as much pain and inconvenience as possible.

According to Martins, strange disturbances then began around the house: Picture frames fell, items disappeared, lights flickered and electronics switched on and off by themselves.

Most unsettling was a terrible humming noise. When Martins visited, Emma was initially pleasant.

But when he asked whether someone else had lived there, he said she screamed, ‘I hate him! May he rot in hell along with his mistress! We were married 22 years. I want Robert to suffer more than anyone has suffered before.’

Martins said he realized Emma was the problem.

‘That is the demons rubbing it in for you. It’s a kind of ironic cry of victory. It’s ironic because Robert has made a successful career producing this sound,’ he said.

Martins believed that by refusing to forgive Robert, Emma was defying God and allowing demons to enter.

During the exorcism, he said: ‘Emma, can you and I say a prayer together, asking Jesus to give you the strength to forgive Robert? Can we put this in Jesus’ hands and ask for his help?’ He noted that as he said this, the rumbling noise returned.

Emma agreed to pray and asked God for the grace to forgive.

From that night, the house barely had any disturbing noises, Martins claimed. Martins told her to start going to church, stop bringing lawsuits against her husband and sell the house and move on.

Within a year, she was healed and free of demonic harassment, he claimed.

The priest believes demons attach themselves to people by exploiting their wounds, particularly when they are ‘unhealthy, dysfunctional, injured or hurt.’

Martins said that encouraging one woman to go to church helped her healing from demons

Those wounds can arise from both trauma and sin, he explained.

He believes avoiding sin can protect people from demonic encounters, while childhood trauma and other emotional harm can leave them vulnerable.

Another case involved Tim, a man in his 50s whose overwhelming anxieties included a debilitating fear of death.

He was afraid of making friends and too anxious to hold a job, living with his elderly mother and relying on social assistance.

At nine years old, Tim had witnessed his friend Joey being run over by a car while they were playing in the street.

According to Martins, the trauma had distorted Tim’s view of reality, leaving him convinced that Joey’s death was his fault and believing that ‘Death is horrific. Nothing can stop it.’

Those ideas began to affect his religious outlook and his most fundamental beliefs.

Martins first met Tim at the hospital after Tim’s mother was injured in a fall.

After praying with Tim’s mother, Martins offered to pray with him, prompting her to cry out: ‘Yes, he needs it! He’s afraid of everything!’

Martins said that when he placed his hand on Tim’s head and asked the Lord to free him from the spirit of fear, Tim’s eyes flared with fury and he began coughing.

After the prayer, Martins said Tim told him his life was ‘completely different.’

Martins believed Tim’s emotional wound had allowed a demon to enter and control him by manipulating his trauma, and that prayer had freed him from that hold.

After an exorcism, Martins said Tim’s fear of cars, which had caused him to vomit continuously whenever he rode in one, disappeared.

‘Tim possessed freedom he had never previously known,’ Martins claimed.

‘While he still lacked some normal abilities, such as social skills, a by-product of living as a recluse most of his life, he was functional to a level unimaginable before his deliverance. He even obtained a part-time job.’