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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1975)
Possession or invention? Editor's note: This is the story of one woman who was willing to talk about her "exorcism." She said she got the idea a spirit nnscpccpfl hpr after cppino thi mrA. "TU. r- . K 7 r, . : 1 r "". c txorcisi. question: Dm her problem originate before or after the movie? By Nancy Stohs Karen is a 27-year-old', working Lincoln mother who under strict Lutheran parents. grew up She is also divorced, has suffered a nervous breakdown and two suicide attempts, has known a witch and clairvoyant, and believes that three weeks ago she was exorcised of a bad spirit. . v It wasn't your standard MGM exorcism, with flickering candles and her head turning 360 degrees. It wasn't performed in a church. The only religious figure present was an ex-nun who once knew a witch. But Karen believes it was real. "It's hard to describe," she said. "When it happened, it was like catching something in your throat and letting it fly out. I just felt relieved. It was finally gone, and I knew it." Psychic testing "Of course," she admitted, "I have a tendency to believe in a lot of things other people maybe wouldn't." If so, she appears to have good reason. She started teasing the psychic world, she said, at age 15, when she and her boyfriend experimented for kicks. "We'd try to receive each other's thoughts or play with candles. One time I felt him transmit his body to' where I was standing. "That was in the '60s, before people started talking about it, and at that point in my life it was scary, so I quit." Father dies When she was 19, her father died. "He's been ill, and I was prepared emotionally for his death," Karen said. "But then I started wondering whether he went to heaven or hell. It really bothered me. I couldn't get it off my mind. "Until one night when I was in bed, he visited me. It wasn't a clear image, but I knew it was him. He told me not to worry, that everything's OK." Two and a half years ago, Karen met her witch friend Georgia, and that's where she believes her trouble began. Problems start "She told me all about her family history, how her ancestors had been burned at the stake," Karen said. "She was dead serious. We started having sessions, lighting black candles and reading tarot cards." At this time Karen also was having problems and withdrew into deep depression, she said. She's been divorced recently, her boyfriend moved out on her, and she became "down on men in general." One day after a small misunderstanding Georgia started "acting funny," Kaien recalls. "She came at me in a fit of anger, screaming and yelling and accusing me of stupid things like having sex with a guy in front of my four-year-old daughter. I couldn't understand. She was malicious." "That was enough," Karen said. "I guess then I had a nervous breakdown." Her theory is Georgia cast a spell on her and caused it. The story after that is long and depressing, one of swallowing pills to kill herself and spending time in the Lincoln Regional Center. I4 like a dream" Karen talked freely - almost too freely - about it and the way she withdrew so totally from reality: "I think about these things, and know they happened, but yet . . . It's like I was in a dream, knowing I was alive and yet ... I remember walking down the street and not being aware of what street it was, or of trees or cars or anything. I became obsessed with death and dying." This, with some of her comments, makes one wonder-herself included where the psychological ends and the psychic begins. Last year she enrolled at UNL to study mental illness and psychology, but she said she's still convinced her problem wasn't all in her mind. Suicide attempted "It was like a control," she kept repeating, something she couldn't get rid of despite all the counseling help she was getting. After her second suicide attempt, she agreed under family pressure to committ herself to the Regional Center acute care ward. There she met a minister, she said, the first person to get through to her and bring Yet around to reality. Trie supposed exorcism three weeks ago was during a weekend group therapy session she and her boyfriend were taking. It was Saturday morning. "By this time I was pretty cleared off in my head " she said. "But I had this feeling inside of me of a struggle. . . My first desire was to withdraw. It's like it was crawling into my body. My head started pounding. "The group leader told me to go with my feelings, to do whatever I wanted to get it out. The whole process took about two hours ... I started feeling I hated this thing and I said I hate you," louder and louder . . . Then I was screaming and yelling, and it was suddenly over." 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Tubes, solid-state electronics, and Audio Research's own patented circuitry are combined in a unique manner to assure realization of the highest possible definition . . . year after year. The proof is in the listening. Only an actual demonstration fully reveals the new world of listening enjoyment that opens with Audio Research equipment. Discover what so many audio perfectionists have found; discover high definition . . . with Audio Research. Mr. William Johnson, president and founder of Audio Research Corporation will be at bur Omaha and Lincoln locations on the following days: OMAHA - Thurs. Jan. 30 3:00 8:00 p.m. LINCOLN - Fri. Jan. 31 - 3.00-8:00 p.m. We would like to invite you to stop by either location to meet and talk with Mr. Johnson about high definition music reproduction. n xCl page 9 Wednesday, January 29, 1975 daily nebraskan