Film & TV
When Ghost Adventures host Zak Bagans learned of the distressed Ammons family who had fled their Gary, Indiana home after being terrorized by over 200 demons, he moved in to purchase the property and launch an investigation.
But the sinister force lurking within the "Demon House" proved too much—even for Bagans. Two years after purchasing the home in 2014 and investigating its activity, Bagans had the house demolished. “I destroyed the house because I do not want anyone to ever live there again,” he said, as reported by Dread Central. "I saw too many things, and there was something inside the house that affected everyone. The police, clergy, children, my production crew. Everyone."
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Luckily, Bagans documented the investigation he and his team conducted before tearing down the Gary household. That documentary, Demon House, hits video on demand Friday, March 16th. It chronicles the saga of the Ammons family and Bagans’ own experience investigating the property’s paranormal activity.
While filming, Bagans reportedly became so ill “he couldn’t leave his room for eight days,” according to IndyStar. Crewmembers walked off the set while others were hospitalized. “The film is cursed,” Bagans warns in the trailer. “View at your own risk.”
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Latoya Ammons moved into the Gary, Indiana residence on Carolina Street with her three children in November 2011. They were greeted by a swarm of black flies that would not leave the screened-in front porch, despite the family’s repeated attempts to eliminate the pests. Family members heard heavy footsteps thumping up the basement steps and saw shadowy figures move through the living room. Then, in the dead of night on March 10th, 2012, Ammons’ mother witnessed her 12-year-old granddaughter levitating above her bed, unconscious.
It was merely the beginning in a series of escalating otherworldly encounters.
Latoya’s children became violent, and violence seemed to plague them. During a visit from the family physician, a visit later documented in an official report filed by the Department of Child Services, one of Ammons’ two sons lifted up and was thrown against the wall with “nobody touching him.” Later, the children were taken to the hospital where multiple witnesses, including an on staff nurse, witnessed Latoya’s 9-year-old son crawl backwards up the wall and flip over his grandmother, landing on his feet. “There’s no way he could have done that,” the nurse told Indystar.
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Ammons sought help from psychics to local churches. Two clairvoyants told her the house was filled with “more that 200 demons.” She was instructed to place crucifixes throughout her home and to make the sign of the cross in oil on each of her children’s foreheads. During this time, DCS determined the children were in danger, and Ammons lost her custodial rights. Clergy members orchestrated "intense blessings" of the home and reportedly conducted a number of exorcisms on Ammons herself. Meanwhile, officials ranging from DCS caseworkers to police officers inspected the house on Carolina Street. Many left with their own chilling encounters, from capturing strange sounds and spectral figures on audio and film to psychic pain and witnessing an oily substance ooze from the blinds in the bedroom.
Eventually the children were returned to their mother’s care, but Ammons had had enough of the Demon House. She and her family vacated the premises permanently in 2014. Bagans, having heard of the house’s extreme reputation from the likes of the original IndyStar article and segments on Fox News, purchased it that same year for $35,000. At the time, he told Indystar, “Something was inside that house that had the ability to do things that I have never seen before—things that others carrying the highest forms of credibility couldn’t explain either. There was something there that was very dark yet highly intelligent and powerful.”
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In February 2016 came the news that Bagans had the house demolished. Nevertheless, he had completed his documentary.
Demon House is available now on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, and a variety of other VOD platforms. Reverend Michael Maginot, who worked with Ammons to cleanse the house, appears in the documentary, as does the DCS case manager, and several police officers who responded to the family’s distress. As for Latoya Ammons, she did not participate in the documentary. Perhaps the thought of returning to the Demon House, if only in interviews, was simply too much to bear.
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