The Smurl Family Haunting: A Case of Demonic Infestation?

A double-block duplex in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, became the center of one of the most closely watched paranormal investigations of the late twentieth century. Starting in 1974, the Smurl family went through a frightening increase in strange events that defied normal explanations and attracted the interest of well-known demonologists and spiritual leaders.

Most household disturbances can be explained by stress or building problems, but what happened in this small coal-town home pointed to something more: an aggressive, intelligent force acting with intent. The case is still important for those studying how religion, paranormal ideas, and environmental factors can overlap.

Key Takeaways

What Is the Smurl Family Haunting?

The events in the infamous haunting of the Smurl family case are officially called a demonic infestation, which quickly turned into an aggressive poltergeist outbreak. Unlike typical hauntings that repeat like a movie and ignore people, the main force in the Chase Street home was interactive, reactive, and hostile. It focused on certain family members and changed its behavior in response on their emotions and religious practices.

The haunting happened in clear, growing stages. At first, there were classic signs of a poltergeist: bad smells like rotting flesh, phantom footsteps on the stairs, and strange mechanical problems. As things got worse, the force showed it could physically affect the house and even reality itself. It caused sudden cold spots, knocked over heavy furniture, and created frightening visual effects.

Paranormal researchers noticed that the force often became more aggressive during spiritual cleansings and prayers, which is a common sign of a negative, non-human presence. What makes the case stand out is how long it lasted and how many people—neighbors, journalists, and independent investigators—witnessed the events themselves.

The Smurl Family Haunting History

To understand the West Pittston case, you need to look at both the history of the house at 328–330 Chase Street and the background of the family who lived there. Unlike the usual haunted, abandoned house story, the Smurl duplex was a regular suburban home in a close-knit, working-class neighborhood by the Susquehanna River.

The Structure: 328–330 Chase Street

The house was built as a typical Pennsylvania double-block duplex, meaning it was a semi-detached building for two families, separated by a central wall.

• 328 Chase Street: The left side of the structure.
• 330 Chase Street: The right side of the structure.

Before 1973, the house had a normal history with no major accidents, crimes, or links to the occult. But its location in the Susquehanna River Valley became important. In June 1972, Hurricane Agnes hit northeast Pennsylvania, bringing 10 to 18 inches of rain in three days and causing the river to rise to a record 41 feet.

West Pittston was hit by severe flooding. The duplex on Chase Street was covered by several feet of dirty river water. The flood caused serious damage, including rotting wood, electrical problems, warped framing, and thick layers of silt in the basement. The house stayed damaged and partly neglected until it was put up for sale during the area’s recovery.

The Family Profile and Social Dynamic

In August 1973, after losing their previous home in Wilkes-Barre to the flood, the family used all their savings to buy the duplex at Chase Street. They arranged the move by generation:

• The Right Side (330 Chase Street): Occupied by Jack and Janet Smurl, along with their four daughters: Dawn, Heather, and twins Carin and Shannon.
• The Left Side (328 Chase Street): Occupied by Jack’s parents, John and Mary Smurl.

The household maintained a highly visible, respectable, and conventional profile within the local community. The Smurl family was devout Roman Catholics, regularly attending mass and participating in parish activities.

Jack Smurl was very involved in the local community. He worked for 30 years at the Topps Chewing Gum factory in Scranton, eventually becoming a supervisor. He was also a long-time member of the Lions Club, which gave him a respected place among local business owners and community leaders.

Janet Smurl took care of the home and managed her daughters’ education. John and Mary Smurl were retired and provided both financial and family support to everyone living together.

The Renovation

When the family moved in during 1973, they began a major, years-long project to repair the damage from the 1972 flood. Jack and his father did most of the hard work themselves, removing ruined walls, replacing damaged plumbing, cleaning silt from the basement, and remodeling the kitchen and bedrooms.

Parapsychology studies say that this kind of major, local disruption to a house can trigger strange events. The hard work of tearing out old materials, combined with the stress of recovering from a disaster, made the atmosphere in the home very tense.

The first odd events started around the same time as the renovations. At first, the family thought these were just construction problems, like a strange stain that kept coming through new wallpaper and paint in the master bedroom, or sudden electrical issues that ended with a new TV catching fire.

My research into local police records showed that the 328–330 Chase Street duplex had some minor structural complaints even before the Smurls moved in. Past tenants sometimes reported strange mechanical noises, pipe vibrations, and odd shifts in the building, which utility workers attributed to underground coal mining and settling.

Smurl Family Sightings

Over fourteen years, the case accumulated a large body of reported paranormal events. Early on, these were rare, but between 1985 and 1987, things got much worse. During this time, the family reported hundreds of incidents, moving from odd sounds to frightening physical experiences.

The 1985 Shadow Entity

By 1985, the strange events had become more than just noises. Dawn and Heather Smurl began seeing a large, shapeless cloud of black smoke or shadow that often appeared in their bedroom. I believe the force used the strong emotions of the teenage girls to become visible.

When these things happened, the room would get so cold that the girls could see their breath. One night, the shadow hovered over their beds, pulled off their blankets, and lifted them a few inches above the mattresses, which was important because it showed the force could now move physical objects, making the situation much more serious.

The 1986 Warren Investigation

In May 1986, the family reached out to well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. During their first visit, both said they felt a strong, negative presence right away. While the Warrens and a journalist from the Scranton Times sat in the living room, the force seemed to react to their presence.

The group heard deep groans and scratching sounds that seemed to come from within the walls. Lorraine Warren, using her abilities as a medium, said the presence was a strong demonic force that had taken hold in the house.

During their visit, a heavy oak dresser in the master bedroom tipped forward several inches and then slammed back against the wall on its own. From my investigation, it seems the force was trying to scare people away, which is common in serious poltergeist cases.

The August 1986 Exorcism

Desperate for relief, the family sought spiritual intervention from Father Robert McKenna, a traditionalist Roman Catholic priest. On August 19, 1986, Father McKenna conducted the first of several traditional Latin exorcisms inside the Chase Street duplex.

Instead of calming things down, the religious rituals caused the force to react violently. Witnesses said that as soon as holy water was used and Latin prayers started, the house shook. Loud, steady thumping came through the floors, and a strong smell like burning sulfur filled the halls.

Most surprisingly, a cold wind suddenly blew through the closed living room, knocking papers off tables. After the priest left, the force’s attacks on Jack and Janet Smurl got much worse, showing it was both intelligent and angry about religious authority.

Theories

Water Contamination and Neurotoxicity

From an analytical standpoint, one must consider environmental health factors that mimic paranormal activity. The 1972 flooding of the Susquehanna River caused widespread disruption to local infrastructure, potentially introducing hazardous materials into the soil and foundation of the Chase Street home.

The theory suggests that severe water contamination—specifically the buildup of heavy metals—like lead or mercury, or toxic mold strains such as Stachybotrys chartarum within the damp walls—could have caused chronic neurotoxicity in the inhabitants.

Being exposed to toxic mold or dirty water pipes can cause serious mental effects, like vivid hallucinations, sleep paralysis, strong anxiety, and changes in how people sense things. The bad smells the family noticed could have come from toxic gases or black mold hidden in the house’s walls and insulation.

Sewer Gas and Carbon Monoxide Infiltration

Another theory is that sewer gas or carbon monoxide leaked into the house. Because the duplex was old and had a lot of repairs, a broken heat exchanger or sewer line could have let dangerous gases into the living areas.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is well known for causing symptoms that seem like a haunting: unexplained fear, hearing things, feeling watched, and feeling sick. Also, a steady leak of sewer gas with hydrogen sulfide could explain the family’s reports of a strong smell like rotten eggs or decaying flesh.

Infrasound and Structural Resonance

Feelings of fear, strange vibrations, and odd noises can sometimes be explained by infrasound. Infrasound is low-frequency sound below what people can hear, usually under 20 Hz. It can come from things like nearby factories, river traffic, strong winds in valleys, or old pipes vibrating in the walls.

If a building’s natural frequency matches these low sound waves, it can cause strange effects, like making people see gray shadows out of the corner of their eye. It can also trigger a strong fear response in the body, leading to panic, chills, and fast breathing—feelings that someone might mistake for a haunting.

Group Psychogenic Illness and Tectonic Stress

This theory proposes that the haunting was an instance of mass hysteria or group psychogenic illness, amplified by localized tectonic stress. The state of Pennsylvania features numerous ancient fault lines and extensive subterranean coal mining networks.

Tectonic strain theories say that shifting ground or collapsing mine shafts can create strong electric currents when pressure is put on certain rocks. These underground changes can cause magnetic fields at the surface.

Studies show that being exposed to these changing magnetic fields can affect the brain, especially the temporal lobes, and may lead to intense spiritual feelings, paranoia, or vivid dreams.

The Contagion Effect and Psychological Priming

The contagion effect theory suggests the Smurl family went through a shared psychological loop. Jack and Janet Smurl were very religious Catholics who strongly believed in spiritual battles, demons, and divine help. According to this theory, a simple event—like a rodent problem or plumbing issue—was seen as something supernatural because of their beliefs.

After the parents spoke openly about their fears of a demon, the children started to see every creak, cold draft, or bad dream as a supernatural attack. The heavy media attention and visits from famous paranormal investigators made these beliefs even stronger, trapping the family in a shared mindset.

The 1986 CSICOP Audiotape

During the height of the public interest in 1986, the family submitted several audio recordings to investigators, claiming they contained definitive evidence of anomalous auditory activity, including rhythmic wall-poundings, unexplainable structural scrapings, and deep, guttural groans.

Researchers from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) carefully analyzed these tapes. Experts analyzed the audio frequencies to identify the exact patterns in the strange sounds.

The technical breakdown revealed that the rhythmic thumping and banging happened at low-frequency intervals that closely matched the natural resonant frequencies of older, wooden-framed double-block homes.

What’s more, spectral analysis of the alleged “demonic voices” demonstrated that the pitch, formant frequencies, and vocal chord modulation fell entirely within normal human biological ranges.

Researchers found that the sounds on the tapes lacked the distinctive echoes or patterns that would suggest something supernatural. The evidence showed the recordings were likely a mix of normal building noises, plumbing vibrations, and regular human voices picked up by sensitive microphones.

The Wilkes-Barre Psychological Evaluation

To make sure the family wasn’t making things up or suffering from serious mental illness, they went through several independent psychological tests with licensed professionals in Wilkes-Barre. These included standard tests, personality checks, and in-depth interviews. The results were complicated and didn’t fit simple explanations.

The reports showed that the family did not have any mental disorders, past hallucinations, or signs of making things up together. The tests confirmed they were truly suffering, with high stress levels, lack of sleep, and serious anxiety.

Since the psychological tests showed the family was honest and not making things up, the records suggested they were going through a real crisis, which prompted researchers to look more closely at environmental, brain-related, or external stressors, since the family truly believed they were under attack.

Genuine Demonic Infestation and Oppression

Some experts in theology and parapsychology believe this was a real case of a non-human, demonic infestation. Supporters of this idea point to the organized, intelligent attacks, the fact that regular psychological help didn’t work, and the strong negative reactions to religious symbols and exorcisms.

In demonology, an infestation means a force attaches itself to a place or people and slowly breaks down their mental and spiritual strength through oppression. The goal is to break up the family and destabilize everyone, which matches the serious physical and emotional problems the Smurls had before they left the house.

The Smurl Family Haunting vs Other Paranormal Cases

The Conjuring: Last Rites vs. the Real Smurl Family Haunting

Movies in the Conjuring series often change the real timeline, people, and main events of paranormal cases to fit a typical Hollywood story structure.

The Conjuring: Last Rites uses the real location and names from Chase Street, but a close look shows the movie is very different from the real records from 1974 to 1989. The differences include what triggered the events, the force involved, the timeline, and how the crisis ended.

In the movie, the haunting is linked to a specific object—an occult mirror that targets the Warrens’ daughter, Judy. It sets up a personal conflict between the demon and the investigators. The real records do not mention anything like this.

In real life, the family went through a slow, decades-long series of strange events that began in January 1974—13 years before the Warrens visited. The real cause was ongoing damage from the 1972 flood and the stress of constant home repairs, not a cursed object or anything from a museum.

To keep the movie exciting, Hollywood compresses fourteen years of on-and-off drama into a few months of intense action, altering the entire psychological story. In the film, the family faces sudden, obvious horrors, such as a dramatic axe-wielding ghost.

But the real story was much more subtle and exhausting. For more than 10 years, the family dealt with ongoing, low-level problems, including tapping on the walls, stains on the wallpaper, phantom footsteps, and electrical issues. The movie also alters the layout of the house and leaves out the fact that Jack’s parents lived next door and often saw or experienced the strange events too.

The biggest difference is how the story ends. In the movie, Ed and Lorraine Warren are shown as the main heroes who fight and defeat the demon in a dramatic final battle, then retire. The real records show that this ending is not what actually happened.

The real-world Warrens were heavily involved in documenting the case and generating the following media coverage, but they lacked the ecclesiastical authority to resolve it. Three separate attempts at exorcism failed to quiet the home.

The true baseline stabilization of the property took place later in 1986 through the persistent, low-key intervention of a local priest, Reverend Joseph Adonizio, who used intense, localized prayer sessions rather than theatrical ritual combat.

Even after these sessions, the haunting was never completely eradicated; Janet Smurl noted that phantom knocking and moving shadows persisted until the family permanently vacated the Chase Street duplex in 1988.

My Takeaway

After carefully reviewing the historical records, building details, and environmental background of the West Pittston case, I have developed a viewpoint that goes beyond just calling it a hoax or blaming a literal demon.

The evidence suggests that a rare mix of unusual geology and environmental factors led to a strong, shared haunting experience. The Chase Street duplex was in an area hit hard by the 1972 flood and surrounded by deep, abandoned coal mines.

I believe that movement in the old mines, along with river silt decay and the house settling, created ongoing infrasound and changing electromagnetic fields in the home. These environmental stresses affected a family that was both profoundly religious and under a lot of pressure.

The family did not make up the story on purpose. Instead, their minds turned real physical symptoms—like nausea, chills, confusion, and brief hallucinations—into the religious idea of spiritual warfare they were familiar with.

When outside investigators arrived and confirmed their experiences, it set off a strong psychological cycle that turned normal environmental effects into a famous paranormal event.

Sources

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