Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: By demons Date: Sun, 8 Nov 92 15:50:37 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD By demons possessed? \SH Son attempts father's crime \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT SPRINGFIELD, Mass. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Maurice Theriault claimed he was possessed by demons that drove him to repeat the crime of his father, who murdered his mother and committed suicide. The claims strained credibility, yet Theriault came close to fulfilling them last week. Whether from a tormented mind or tortured soul, he chased his wife into the street, wounded her, then took his own life, as his father did 10 years before. "I can't say it's totally unexpected, because this man was either seriously disturbed or possessed - take your pick," said Michael Lasalandra, a journalist who co-wrote a 1990 book about Theriault called "Satan's Harvest." "I don't think he was a con man. I think he sincerely believed he was possessed," he said. And many who knew Theriault agreed. Roman Catholic priests on two occasions performed special blessings on Theriault. A bishop from the Traditional Roman Catholic Church, a breakaway sect, carried out exorcisms on him eight years ago and earlier this year. "The church believed that the devil had taken over," said Homer Boyer, the Roman Catholic priest who retired in 1990 from Theriault's parish of St. Paul's Church in Warren, about 20 miles east of Springfield. His sister, Danna Daviau of Springfield, disagrees. "Maurice was not possessed; Maurice was an actor," she said. She said he was obsessed with the occult. Few aspects of Theriault's life seem beyond debate, except that he was very troubled. Theriault, who grew up in rural Maine, was the oldest of 15 children in a French-Canadian family. He remembered his father as a malevolent figure who pulled him from school in the third grade and sometimes abused him. Theriault eventually moved to Warren. He farmed vegetables and sold them at a stand. People called him "Frenchy." He married his most recent wife, Nancy, in 1984. They had no children of their own but seven from previous marriages. The couple moved to Whately, about 20 miles north of Springfield. Friends and acquaintances describe Theriault variously as "a devout Catholic," "an ordinary Joe" and "the kindest, gentlest man you'd ever want to meet." Yet family, work and church apparently could not chase away the horror of the secret - the 1982 murder-suicide of Theriault's parents, Maxime and Emela, in Choctaw, Okla. On Tuesday night, it haunted him for the last time. Theriault, who was 56 and separated from his wife in October, returned home with a 12-gauge shotgun, said state police Sgt. Leonard Von Flatern. His wife was away. He cut the telephone line and waited. When she came back, he chased her into the street and shot her in the arm. He dragged her back inside and put the shotgun to his head. Mr. Lasalandra, a former reporter for the Boston Herald who works for the Palm Beach Post in Florida, said he has viewed a videotape of Theriault's exorcism. "I saw things that were very hard to explain," he said. He said the tape shows Theriault bleeding from the eyes, his face distorted and flat, with cracks in his forehead. But his sister said she once saw Theriault put blood under his eyelid and cut crosses into his skins with a nail. She said he spoke a version of French and pig Latin to make people think he was speaking Latin backwards. Robert Baker, a retired psychology professor who has written on purported cases of possession, said people often hide guilt behind claims of demons: "In other words, you're not responsible for your ideas and actions; someone else is." Theriault apparently had plenty of reasons to feel guilty and depressed. He pleaded guilty to child rape in 1976 and served five years' probation. In 1985, he was again charged with rape, but the charge was dropped when Theriault confessed and blamed his demons. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM