#1974: Dennis McManus

Father Dennis McManus is a New York-based exorcist who may (it is rather unclear) be officially supported by the Archdiocese of New York, despite being the kind of rambling, lunatic madman usually associated with all-caps websites with striking color schemes and font choices. Apparently McManus is sufficiently respected to travel around and talk about his delusions – he was, for instance, invited by Michael Pfeifer to Texas in 2011 to talk to a group of hundreds of local priests from across west Texas concerning the problems of diabolic possession in the state, in an event well-covered by (relatively) mainstream media. He is apparently also a Visiting Associate Professor at Georgetown University. Here is a story (from a credulous source) about McManus visiting a psychiatric ward to “help” a patient who was obviously demonically possessed, partially because she told him “secrets” she couldn’t possibly have known about doctors having affairs and suchlike (no evidence that McManus actually verified those “secrets”) – she also had “supernatural” strength (could topple furniture) and expressed a “revulsion” to sacred symbols, which couldn’t possibly have been a reaction to a fundamentalist madman coming in and trying to perform an exorcism on her.

McManus is particularly concerned with warning children about fascinations with the occult, including Ouija boards, that can bring you in touch with demons, and it is worth thinking for a moment about how abysmally insane it is that a grown man like McManus actually believes that Ouija boards work (“whatever moves something by itself is no friend,” says McManus solemnly). He also claims that groups may slowly and subtly drag youths into covens; apparently such covens consist of usually 12 affluent and powerful people dedicated to a particular demon in exchange for power and influence – apparently some of his colleagues keep track of them and claim that they are becoming more numerous, even more numerous than all of the missions, parishes and some other Catholic ministries combined. And McManus is sure the same is true of New York. “People say, ‘That’s the movies.’ No, that’s New York,” McManus says. No. It’s the movies.

Apparently he also has the power to clean houses of ghosts – which is easier than demons, obviously.

Diagnosis: We’re sure McManus wants to help. He does not help. McManus is, in addition to being a delusional maniac, a horrible, disgusting human being.