The Demon House in Gary, Indiana (Episode 5.7)

any ads heard during this episode that are not in our voice are placed by thirdparty agencies they should not be considered the opinion of or to be endorsed by who your Miss and legends welcome to another episode of The Who your Miss and legends podcast I'm Rebecca Wilhelm I'm Mary quickley and I'm hope Wilhelm join us as we dive into the spookier side of the hooer state so what comes to your mind when you think of Indiana do you think of corn do you think of basketball do you think of the Indianapolis 500 maybe you think of famous celebrities who are born in Indiana like John melan Camp or Michael Jackson but as the saying goes there's more than corn in Indiana 92 counties make up the Hooser state in this podcast we are going to discuss some Indiana folklore from each of these counties if you are into Tall Tales ghosts or spooky Legends this is a podcast you are not going to want to miss the legend we have for you today takes us back to Lake County in the city of Gary in November of 2011 Latoya Ammons along with her mother Rosa Campbell and her three children moved into a house located at 3860 Carolina Street in Gary Indiana immediately after arriving Paranormal Activity began to happen What followed was a series of events that would become one of the most documented and terrifying hauntings in Indiana history this case has captured the imagination of paranormal enthusiasts and Skeptics alike so turn down the lights relax and get comfy as we bring you the legend of the Demon House in Gary and Indiana [Music] [Music] ah [Music] hey listeners for today's episode it is just Mary that will be telling you the tale so Becky is out sick this week she's going to sit out but hopefully we'll be back for our next episode be sure to send her your well wishes in the comments below and let's get into it so first of all this case hits very close to home for Becky and I because we grew up not too far from Gary in fact our father was raised there and graduated from L Wallace High School in 1967 I remember this case hitting the news and being in newspapers and magazines across the country and when Zack beins got involved it was everywhere so let's tell the story it All Began in 2011 when Latoya Ammons and her three children moved into a rental home on Carolina Street in Gary Indiana from the moment the ammon's family stepped foot in the house they were plagued by strange occurrences the family moved in no November which is already very cold in Northwest Indiana so you can imagine their surprise to find their screened in porch swarming with large black flies that's very uncommon in this area for November and December the family killed the Flies over and over again they kept coming back the Paranormal Activities started small at first they dealt with your typical haunting activities like footsteps doors opening and closing on their own and cold spots that didn't make any sense friends and family would report hearing disembodied voices and seeing shadow figures lurking in the corners of the rooms and visitors to the home also reported feeling a sense of impending doom whenever they entered the home but soon these minor disturbances escalated into something far more Sinister things took a turn for the worse when Latoya's children began exhibiting signs of possession the they would speak in deep unnatural voices and their eyes would roll back in their heads the youngest child was even said to have levitated above his bed but the horrors didn't end there Latoya herself claimed to have been possessed by a dark force that controlled her actions at times she would growl and speak in tongues completely unaware of what she was doing the family sought help from doctors social workers and even their church but no one could provide an explanation to what was happening the situation became so dangerous that the Department of Child Services got involved they visited the home and like so many others they witnessed the strange events firsthand according to an article in the Indi star titled the exorcisms of Latoya Ammons after one visit a DCS worker reported that Latoya's 9-year-old son had a quote weird grin and walked backward up a wall to the ceiling he then flipped over Campbell his grandmother landing on his feet he never let go of his grandmother's hand end quote Father Michael majino a Catholic priest at St Steven martyr Parish in maraville was called by the Gary dicese to perform an exorcism on the house and the family father majino visited the home in April of 2012 according to the Indi Star article after a 4-Hour interview Mao said that he was quote convinced the family was being tormented by demons end quote he also believed that there were multiple ghosts in the house in the end father majino conducted three exorcisms on Latoya two in English and one in Latin he advised the family to leave the home because it was not safe Latoya and her mother fled the home with the children to temporarily stay with relatives but they were back only a few weeks later to meet with their DCS family case manager one Lake County police officer joined them which was usually customary so did two other officers one from Hammond and one from Gary who came along out of curiosity after hearing the rumors while in the house Police radios and audio recorders were malfunctioning the recorders which had new batteries installed at the start of the shift were both drained by the time they left the house they also found strange orbs shadowy Mists and Shadow People in the photos they took to document the condition of the home for the DCS report meaning this case and its hauntings have been documented by DCS the Gary dases and multiple police officers and police departments in the area there are tons of documentation and eyewitness reports to back up the family's claims the amon's family finally left Gary completely in 2012 and moved moved to Indianapolis after moving the events were said to have stopped I'll be back after a short break to discuss some skepticism behind the case and understand how Zack beans got involved I'm back now there was quite a bit of skepticism about the ammon's family case the first being that the landlord reported there were no problems in the home before or after Ammons and her family lived there also DCS did temporarily take custody of ammon's children from her due to quote irregular School attendance end quote in both 2009 and again in 2012 according to the Indi Star article AMS told them quote she could not send the kids to school because the spirits would make them sick or they would be up all night without sleep end quote the article goes on to state that clinical psychologist Stacy Wright evaluated ams's youngest son and said quote the boy tended to act possessed when he was challenged redirected or asked questions he didn't want to answer end quote so they believed the entire thing was a hoax and that the children were acting out scenarios based on the stories and beliefs of their mother amons and her children however continued to insist they were possessed Ammons was able to regain custody of her children in late 2012 so you might be wondering how Zack beIN got involved in this well after the family left the house reports of the Paranormal Activity spread across the local area and soon to surrounding cities paranormal investigators flocked to the home to do their own research investigators experienced many of the same things as the ammon's family reported and said that they felt overwhelmed as soon as they entered the home some investigators even became physically ill despite these experiences the house continued to draw attention eventually catching the eye of Zack bans the host of Ghost Adventures which was a very popular TV show at the time Zach purchased the house in 2014 for $35,000 and conducted his own investigations which he documented in the film demon house which came out in 2018 while filming the investigations beans stated it was so intense that I had to step out of the house multiple times to collect myself something Evil lurked Within those walls and it had no intention of leaving begans and his crew experienced many of the same phenomena as previous investigators unexplained noises mysterious shadows and physical attacks at one point in the documentary beins claimed my crew and I suffered from various illnesses and psychological breakdowns it was as if the house itself was draining the life out of us end quote in a shocking turn of events Zack beins decided to demolish the house in 2016 believing that it was too dangerous to leave standing he feared the house itself was a conduit for the evil forces within and that it could do harm to anyone who dared to enter as beans put it the house needed to be destroyed there was no way I could allow something so malevolent to remain standing end quot the story of the Demon House in Gary Indiana leaves us with more questions than answers was it truly a case of demonic possession or was it all an elaborate hoax that Ammon made up to prevent losing her children no one knows for sure but all of the eyewitness accounts believe that what they saw was real have you ever heard of the demon house and Gary is there something we missed we would love to hear about it please send us an email to whoer missing Legend gmail.com or reach out to us on social media we may use it in a later episode in the email let us know if you wish to remain anonymous [Music] [Music] ah [Music] to see our source material please visit our website who your Miss and legends.com please find us and follow us on Facebook Instagram Tik Tok and now Twitter who your Miss and legends is a quigly Productions podcast our theme song was written and recorded by wet blanket the song title is Taxidermy race car as always stay spooky