Satan Possesses George Lukins
We end with another of The Devil’s less savoury interventions in world history, the possession of George Lukins, the Yatton Demoniac. George Lukins was a 44-year-old tailor from the village of Yatton in Somerset, and suffered from what he claimed to be possession by The Devil and six of his demonic assistants. He made strange animal noises, barked and howled like a dog, and had arguments with himself in different voices. He said that he had been fine until he performed in a play and felt ‘a divine slap’, after which The Devil entered him. Doctors failed to cure Lukins.
This had gone on for 18 years, and in 1778 a concerned traveller informed the Reverend Joseph Easterbrook of the case. Easterbrook contacted six other clergymen to perform the exorcism, one for The Devil and the other six demons possessing Lukins: ‘some time ago I had a letter requesting me to make one of the seven ministers to pray over George Lukins… the day before we were to meet, I went to see Lukins, and found such faith, that I could then encounter the seven devils which he said tormented him. I did not doubt but deliverance would come.’
It took an article in a newspaper to convince the other priests to help. During the much-publicised exorcism, Lukins barked like a dog, physically attacked the exorcists, and recited the Te Deum hymn backwards in praise of Satan. The Devil and his minions were eventually persuaded to leave Lukins, and he made a full recovery. Unfortunately, even in 1778 the exorcism was controversial. Lukins was reputed to be a talented mimic and ventriloquist, and others theorised that he was either mad or seriously ill. The pattern of the whole incident and its aftermath has characterised tales of exorcism ever since.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
Latham, Alison. The Oxford Dictionary of Musical Works. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Marsden, Simon. Phantoms of the Isles: Further Tales from the Haunted Realm. London: Boxtree, 1993.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. by John Leonard. London: Penguin, 2003.
Potts, Rolf. “Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in Rosedale, Mississippi”.
Wheatley, Dennis. The Devil and All his Works. London: Hutchinson, 1971.
