As we all know, there’s no better place to find haunted and cursed items than a thrift store. Maybe eBay.
A man named McDonald couldn’t pass up the strange VHS tape he found at a Colorado Thrift store last year. In large letters on the side, the tape read “Exorcism of ‘Linda’ 1/7/97.” Linda in quotes, of course. On the back, he found a conveniently large yet cryptic description of the tape’s contents, complete with what looked to be a coffee mug stain.
It was all too strange, so he uploaded photos on July 8, 2019 to a Facebook group dedicated to unusual purchases called Weird Second Hand Finds That Just Need To Be Shared.
“First post,” he wrote, “Found at thrift store in Colorado. No one has had the guts to watch it yet…”
The two images he shared sparked all sorts of speculation. The description didn’t answer too many questions, either:
“It starts with the broadcast straight through afterwards without break. The last 25 minutes on this tape is the last part of the exorcism that day, and the camera is attended, with a closer variation of shots. This tape was taken mostly as an experiment, to catch anything sudden or unusual that the other cameras may not have gotten. Although I don’t think anything was missed by the other cameras, such shots as when Linda kneels in front of Bob probably looked more descriptive from this camera angle.”
McDonald promised to digitally convert the VHS tape and even set up a watch party in the following days. However, he later returned with a couple video clips and a text update.
“Bob is Bob Larson,” he wrote, “A[n] evangelist and national personality from Colo. He syndicated exorcism so privacy should be no issue. Currently being converted.”
“Look at me demon! You have no right to be there!”
The two brief clips featured televangelist and “exorcist” Bob Larson performing an alleged exorcism on a woman named Linda.
At this point, the video lost most of its mystery. While the VHS tape was certainly an unexpected and intriguing discovery, the ending turned out a bit underwhelming. And yet, since I’d never personally heard of Bob Larson (that I remember), this short Facebook vignette did lead me down a mildly entertaining rabbit hole.
Larson has been regularly updating his YouTube channel with alleged exorcisms. For example, you have this one of a South American woman allegedly possessed by ancient Viking demons (“Show me your hammer, Thor,” Larson demands at one point). But the video I’m most impressed with is the exorcism of a woman named Brenda. Particularly the moment at 2:16.
Those are the terrifying, guttural sounds of a demonic entity, no doubt about it. “The curse is broken…oo…urrrrrr.”
