Latoya Ammons and her family claim to have experienced demonic possession that began when they moved into what became known as the "house of 200 demons" in 2011.
In 2011, Latoya Ammons, her mother, and her three children moved into a new rental home in Gary, Indiana. But just a few days later, they started to experience a number of bizarre and unsettling incidents.
After noticing an odd glut of black flies, the family started hearing footsteps, finding wet footprints, and catching glimpses of a shadowy man. Over the next seven months, the Ammons children also levitated over their beds, walked on the ceiling, and spoke in strange, deep voices.
The alleged hauntings — believed by some to be demonic possession — got so bad that Latoya Ammons underwent an exorcism, lost custody of her children, and moved away from the house. And though some doubt her story, both religious and government officials acknowledge that there was something strange about the “Demon House” of Gary, Indiana.
Latoya Ammons And Her Family Move Into The Gary, Indiana “Demon House”
In November 2011, Latoya Ammons, her mother Rosa Campbell, and her three kids — aged seven, nine, and 12 — moved into a rental home on 3860 Carolina Street in Gary, Indiana. But then things started getting weird.
The family started noticing huge black flies clinging to their screened-in porch despite the frigid temperatures. They tried to kill the flies but the bugs always came back.
Then, they started hearing footsteps.
On many late nights, both Latoya Ammons and Campbell reported hearing movement from the basement, as if someone was walking up the basement stairs and creeping into the kitchen. But there was no one there. And even once they locked the door connecting the basement and the kitchen, they continued hearing the ghostly steps.
Things took an even darker turn when Campbell woke one night and saw a shadowy figure pacing in the living room. Eerily, Campbell then found wet footprints where she thought she’d seen it.
Despite these disturbing events, Latoya Ammons and her family tried hard to adjust to life in their new home. But then things got even more frightening.
The Hauntings Inside The Demon House Get Worse
Four months after the family had moved into the rental home, they experienced an event that changed everything. On March 10, 2012, as Latoya Ammons and her family members gathered to mourn the loss of a loved one, they witnessed Ammons’ 12-year-old daughter levitating above her bed.
“I thought, ‘What’s going on?'” Campbell later told the Indianapolis Star. “‘Why is this happening?'”
The terrified group prayed until the girl finally descended. Latoya Ammons’ visiting family members then fled the house, and Campbell and Ammons resolved to finally seek out help.
But help was difficult to find.
Though most local churches didn’t take them seriously, one suggested that they might have spirits in the house, and recommended that they clean the property with bleach and ammonia and draw oil crosses on all the doors and windows. Two clairvoyants also told the family that the rental home had spirits — 200 spirits, to be exact — and suggested that they move.
Meanwhile, whatever dark energy possessed the home continued to terrorize the Ammons family, taking their fear to new heights.
The children began speaking in low voices, whispering statements like “it’s time to die,” and “I will kill you.” When they spoke, their eyes would bulge and their mouths would curl up into unnatural grins. At the same time, Latoya Ammons started feeling lightheaded and warm like she wasn’t in control of her body.
“You can tell it’s different, something supernatural,” she recounted to the Indianapolis Star.
Ammons claims that her youngest son often spoke to another boy that no one else could see and that supernatural forces threw him across the room. Her daughter also started hearing voices which told her that death was near and that she’d never see her family ever again.
The effect on the children led to them to miss a substantial amount of school. Soon, doctors and police started getting involved. But they weren’t prepared for what they’d find.
Government Agencies Witness The Paranormal Activity At The Ammons Home
On April 19, 2012, Latoya Ammons took her children to their family doctor, Geoffrey Onyeukwu, to examine them. Onyeukwu took note of the children’s “delusional” behavior, including their low voices and disturbing statements.
“Twenty years, and I’ve never heard anything like that in my life,” he said to the Indianapolis Star. “I was scared myself when I walked into the room.”
While with the doctor, the children continued to show signs of demonic possession. According to a report released from the Department of Child Safety (DCS), medical staff witnessed Latoya’s youngest son fly into the air and then against a wall without anyone touching him.
What’s more, the boy also reportedly walked up a wall and did a flip over his grandmother. A nurse and DCS case worker both witnessed these events and were so terrified that they ran out of the room.
Others, though, had their doubts about what was going on. Determined that the children were somehow in danger, DCS acted quickly to separate Latoya Ammons from her children. Ammons was heartbroken.
“We’d already been through so much and fought so hard for our lives,” she recalled to the Indianapolis Star . “It was obvious we were a team, and we were beating it — whatever we were fighting. We made it through together as a team, and they separated us.”
The Demons Terrorizing Latoya Ammons And Her Family Are Defeated
After the separation of Latoya Ammons and her children, the DCS invited the Hammond Police Department to the “Demon House” to do a walk-through of the home. While inside with Campbell, the police officers noted a number of bizarre incidents themselves.
According to their report, the two Hammond police officers experienced radio malfunctions, captured the presence of a white, smoky apparition, and seemed to record a ghostly voice saying “hey.” During a subsequent visit, they also noted a strange, oily substance dripping from the blinds.
At the same time, a local priest named Michael Maginot heard about the case and decided to investigate. After writing a request to a bishop to perform an exorcism on Latoya Ammons, Maginot performed a small exorcism in the presence of two police officers and a DCS case manager.
“We felt like someone was in the room with you, someone breathing down your neck,” the DCS case manager told the Indianapolis Star.
Reverend Maginot would perform a total of three exorcisms on Latoya Ammons. After the third exorcism — and after one of Maginot’s associates burned a piece of paper with the demon’s name on it — Ammons started feeling normal again.
She and Campbell moved back to Indianapolis, and Ammons regained custody of her three children in November 2012. They were happy to put memories of the “Demon House” behind them. It was later purchased by paranormal investigator Zak Bagans, who demolished it in 2016 but saved pieces of its basement for his Las Vegas Museum.
For Latoya Ammons and her family, there is no desire to ever revisit the “Demon House” or the land it once stood on.
“When you hear something like this,” she said to the Indianapolis Star, “don’t assume it’s not real because I’ve lived it. I know it’s real.”
After learning about the terrifying story of Latoya Ammons and the “Demon House” in Gary, Indiana, discover the story of Anneliese Michel, a young woman who died after receiving an exorcism. Then, discover 9 more chilling tales of demonic possession.