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The new Netflix exorcism film The Deliverance is based on a real life horror story.
Director Lee Daniels, who is best known for his work on Precious and The Butler, took inspiration from the 2014 Indianapolis Star article “The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons.”
The story, which was written by journalist Marisa Kwiatkowski, chronicled the experiences of Latoya Ammons and her family who claimed they were haunted by a demonic presence and swarms of unkillable black flies after moving into a rental house in Gary, Indiana in 2011.
Their home would become known as the “Demon House.”
In a recent interview, Daniels claimed that strange occurrences also happened on set during filming, including sudden illnesses and the death of his dog.
Here’s the true story behind The Deliverance.
Who is Latoya Ammons?
Latoya Ammons is a single mother of three. In November 2011, when the children were aged seven, nine and 12, the family moved into a rental house in Gary, Indiana along with Ammons’s mother Rosa Campbell.
Before long, the family said they were troubled by a series of seemingly supernatural incidents. Despite the cold temperature swarms of black flies would infest their porch, even after attempts to kill them. The family said they regularly heard unexplained footsteps in the basement, and one night Campbell says she saw a shadowy figure of a man pacing back and forth in the living room.
That was just the start. Ammons also claimed that she saw her 12-year-old daughter levitating above her bed one night, and that all three children were possessed by demons who contorted their faces and deepened their voices. Both the seven and nine-year-old boys were hospitalized, at which point the nine-year-old walked backward up a wall to the ceiling. This terrifying claim was allegedly corroborated by a nurse and a representative of the Indiana Department of Child Services.
The following day, the Department of Child Services took all three children into their custody even though they didn’t have a court order.
All of these events are reproduced in The Deliverance as reported by Ammons, although some small changes are made to the story. The location of the house is moved to Pittsburgh, while the grandmother is played by a white actor, Glenn Close, despite Campbell being Black.
What happened to the family?
Hospital staff examined Ammons and her children but couldn’t find any medical explanation for their actions while apparently “possessed.” A psychiatrist described Ammons as being of “sound mind.”
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Ammons eventually sought the help of a priest from Merrillville, the Reverend Michael Maginot. In The Deliverance, this role is taken on by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who plays the Reverend Bernice James. Maginot, and James in the film, are referred to as “deliverance ministers,” which means their job is to cleanse a person or place of evil spirits, rather than the most well-known exorcist who focuses on demonic possession.
In November 2012, six months after her children had been taken away by the Department of Child Services, Ammons regained custody of them and the family moved to Indianapolis. She told the Indianapolis Star that they now live “without fear.”
What happened to the Demon House?
After the IndianapolisStar article was published, the paranormal investigator Zak Bagans bought the house for $35,000.
He filmed a feature-length documentary about the events there called Demon House, and then had the building demolished in 2016.
