We’re less than two months away from the much-anticipated release of the latest installment of The Conjuring franchise. In the ever-expanding Conjuring universe, it’s refreshing to return to the cases of Ed and Lorraine Warren. As the crux of the franchise, I’ve always found their stories the most compelling and jump-scare worthy. No offense to Annabelle and The Nun, but they just don’t compare. Ever since the clapping game moment from the very first film, the tales of the Warrens are just more compelling, and more terrifying, than the variations.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It will be released on June 4th. It follows one of the duo’s most high-profile and controversial cases: that of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who murdered his landlord and entered a plea of not guilty by virtue of demonic possession, marking the first time this defense was used in the U.S.
Though we haven’t seen the movie yet, we can only assume that the truth is scarier than the celluloid.
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Possession and The Murder of Alan Bono
The bizarre story begins not with Johnson, but with 11-year-old David Glatzel of Brookfield, Connecticut. In July of 1980, David’s mom Debbie was awoken by her son’s terrified screams. She rushed to his bedside, where David told her he had seen a “man with big black eyes, a thin face with animal features and jagged teeth, pointed ears, horns, and hoofs.”[1] The entity had told him to “beware.” Debbie and her fiancé, Arne Cheyenne Johnson, believed David was making up stories. The obvious explanation: he wanted to get out of chores.
The manifestations only increased for David: seeing the beast in different forms, day and night, and leveling threats against the family. David became withdrawn and threw uncharacteristic fits. Then there were the noises coming from the attic with no clear origin. It made Debbie uneasy. As David’s home life grew darker, the adults could not ignore the possibility of a demon lurking over the home. Debbie believed that the house was evil, and they would need to find a way to either get the beast out or get out themselves.
The family contacted St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in town. Priests came, performed blessings on the house, and prayed over David, hoping to cleanse the presence which continued to manifest with its ominous messages. After two weeks of continued blessings, one of the priests from St. Joseph’s contacted demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren and asked them to investigate [2].
As soon as they arrived, the Warrens witnessed a myriad of paranormal phenomena, all centering around David. David exhibited strange behavior, escalating to violent fits and shouting obscenities. Lorraine could sense dark figures haunting the boy, appearing as dark mist surrounding him, and believed several demons were after the boy’s soul. She found red marks and bruises over David’s body after his frenzies and told Debbie they were caused by the demons. For the Warrens, it was clear that David was possessed. They noted that an old well on the property may be the home of the demonic entities and a catalyst of the phenomena.
All the while, Arne Cheyenne Johnson kept concerned watch over the boy. Engaged to David’s mother, Arne had moved into the home with his soon-to-be bride and stepson. He was eager to help stop David’s suffering in any way he could. Meanwhile, David’s situation continued to worsen. He experienced strangulation attempts by invisible hands, and unseen forces would flop him around “like a rag doll.”[3] The Warrens became concerned that full possession was on the horizon.
The Warrens, Debbie, Arne, and several priests oversaw three “lesser” exorcisms of David, in which they claimed David levitated, recited passages from the Bible and Paradise Lost in Latin, and demonstrated precognition, specifically regarding potential murder. The Warrens contacted Brookfield police to warn them that the situation was growing dangerous. After the exorcisms only seemed to slow the possession and not stop it, the couple’s only recourse was to leave their home. They rented an apartment from Debbie’s boss, Alan Bono, which was close to Bono’s kennel where Debbie worked as a dog groomer.
At only 19 years old, perhaps not quite mature enough to understand the best way to help, Johnson goaded the beast during one of the exorcisms, challenging it to enter him – taking a “pick on someone your own size” approach to the ritual. After his challenge, there was a noted personality change in Johnson. He told his soon-to-be wife that he, too, had seen David’s beast.
A few days later, Arne got into a car accident in which he claimed the demon had tried to possess him, though he remained unharmed. Shortly thereafter, Johnson returned to the home and went directly to the old well where the demon purportedly lived. Despite Ed and Lorraines’ warnings not to confront the beast, he locked eyes with the demon in the well..and it entered him completely.
While David’s condition calmed at the new apartment, Arne’s began to worsen. He would go into trances in which he growled like the dogs Debbie groomed. He howled at nothing only to have no memory of it later. He became aggressive and hallucinated horrifying scenarios in which he was covered in blood. His attendance at work became erratic, often calling out sick to go with Debbie to her work. He would spend time with Alan Bono and the relationship was, by all accounts, friendly.
On February 16, 1981, Arne joined Debbie at work with his sister, Wanda, and Debbie’s 9-year-old cousin, Mary. Alan Bono took the four of them out to lunch, during which time Bono drank excessively. They returned to Bono’s apartment, where he became agitated with Debbie and the girl’s growing desire to leave after an invitation to stay for dinner. Bono grabbed young Mary by the hand and wouldn’t let her go. At this point, the dormant demon inside Arne took over.
According to Wanda, who tried to separate the two men, Arne became beastial, growling and hissing at Bono before pulling a pocket knife. He stabbed the man over twenty times, deep in the chest and slicing into him from gut-to-heart. This would prove to be the fatal blow. Arne calmly walked out of the apartment and then ran away into the surrounding forest, leaving the women behind. Debbie chased after Arne, leaving Wanda and Mary with the dying Bono and a knife that, in some of Wanda’s reports, maintained an unnatural glow after Arne left…
It was the first murder in Brookfield, Connecticut, in 193 years.
The “Demon Murder Trial”
Arne was found 3km away by local police covered in blood. Almost immediately after booking, the Warrens stepped in. Reporting to police and local media outlets, Ed and Lorraine championed Arne’s innocence by reason of demonic possession. They enlisted the help of priests of St. Joseph’s to corroborate the story. The testimony was so convincing that defense attorney Martin Minnella decided to bring the story to the courtroom. It would be the first time in U.S. history that the defense of “not guilty by reason of demonic possession” was entered into a court of law.
Minnella had done his research. He looked into two British court cases in which the pleas were accepted. In the case of Michael Taylor, Taylor was acquitted by reason of insanity (which was, ironically, the name of one of the demons supposedly still possessing him)[4]. However, Judge Robert Callahan wouldn’t have it. Minnella was rebuked outright by the Superior Court Judge on two occasions, stating the assertions could not be proven scientifically or objectively by evidence [5].
Minnella was flabbergasted, and told the judge, “We are not interested in what you believe, your honor. We have the right to present our case and let the jury decide the weight to give it.”
Judge Callahan retorted, “There is no such defense, period.”[6]
Once barred, media attention on the court case waned. In October of 1981, the jury deliberated for three days before finding Arne Cheyenne Johnson guilty of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
Johnson served only five years before being released on good behavior. During his time in prison, Arne earned his high school diploma, took several college-level courses, and married Debbie Glatzel. According to Hans Fjelman, chief of parole for state corrections, Arne was “an exemplary inmate. His mental condition was carefully examined. They found no negative factors.”[7]
Which begs the question…did the devil make Arne Cheyenne Johnson, a man with no criminal record before or since, brutally stab Alan Bono over 20 times in his own apartment? Or was it a crime of passion? And if so, where does that leave young David – who may be the true victim of demonic possession but was sadly overlooked because of his stepfather’s impulsive crime?
As Martin Minnella said, when the defense was thrown out of court, we will turn to the institution that “will ensure there is a fair trial – the media.”[8] And perhaps, with the release of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, a new audience will seek answers and give the Devil his due, one and for all.
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