Got Demons? Don't call 911

Ellis Henican

Newsday
Oct. 29, 2001 01:01:44


Read more ghastly tales at azcentral's Halloween guide.
NEW YORK - "There are three stages of diabolical possession," Ralph
Sarchie was saying, and here's a man who ought to know.


"Infestation, oppression and actual possession of a human being by
the devil. My partner and I, we've had very good success with many of
these cases."

No one has done a survey, but Sarchie is probably the only New York
police sergeant who is also an honest-to-God demonologist - facing
down the forces of evil beyond misdemeanors and felonies.

When he isn't chasing ground-level criminals through the gritty
streets of the Bronx, he pursues an even more elusive foe: evil
spirits, unexplained apparitions, run-of-the-mill ghosts and full-
fledged diabolical seizers of innocent human souls. Twenty times
already, Sarchie has assisted a bishop in formal exorcisms. And the
calls for help don't stop.

"I'm a cop who has an extra calling in life," he said. He walks a
supernatural beat.

Obviously, there is no shortage of evil out there. The World Trade
Center, anthrax - they may be the most dramatic examples. But bad
acts abound, large and small. Even the president speaks today,
without a hint of irony, about "the evildoers" who spread terrorism.

Times have never been busier for the volunteer demonologist-cop.

Now 39, Sarchie was raised Catholic - though not an especially devout
one - in Queen of Peace Parish in Flushing. He spent most of his life
in Queens, finally moving with his wife and two young daughters to
Long Island. After 18 years in the New York Police Department, he is
working as a sergeant now in the Bronx. He has a book just out from
St. Martin's Press, co-authored by Lisa Collier Cool: "Beware the
Night: A New York City Cop Investigates the Supernatural."

No, they don't teach this stuff at the Police Academy.

A vacant house, where pounding noises filled the hallways and the
first hint of trouble came from a loudly squealing cat. Another house
in Yonkers on an especially eerie Halloween. Werewolves, satanic
stalkers, assorted dabblers of the damned - Sarchie and his
netherworldly partner, Joe Forrester (day-job: polygraph examiner,
Queens Legal Aid) confront them all.

"We're extremely serious about this," Sarchie said. "It's like
reporting to a 911 call. We handle these cases in a cop-like manner.
Joe is a terrific interviewer. I use the skills I've learned as a
cop. Look at the scene. Assess the situation. Question the witnesses.
Decide what needs to be done - and then do it."

They look for outward spiritual energy. For floating dark spots. For
unexplained noises. For any of thousands of forms the devil has been
known to take. "Sometimes you're in a darkened room," he said. "It
can be as simple as the doorknobs start to rattle."

Sarchie's spiritual arsenal, he said, is well stocked.

Besides holy water and blessed incense, there's almost always a
Prayer of Binding - just before the devil is cast out. Often, he'll
say the Prayer of Pope Leo XIII, a kind of lay-person's exorcism.

And for those really tough cases, "I have a relic of the true cross,"
Sarchie said. "That's a very powerful force against the devil."

The sergeant-demonologist said he's taken some casual ribbing around
the stationhouse for his off-duty interest, but no grief from
headquarters. "It is my religious belief," he said. "The Police
Department doesn't interfere with people's religious beliefs."

His wife, Jen, and daughters Christina and Daniella, he said, have
been supportive, even though the devil's evil hand has at times
invaded the Sarchie home. "My wife and my girls - the devil knows
that's a point of vulnerability for me," he said.

His interest in the spiritual underworld didn't pop up overnight. It
grew gradually.

As a kid, Sarchie liked to scarf down horror paperbacks. He rarely
missed "Creature Feature" or "Thriller Theater" on Saturday night
TV. "I was an altar boy, but I was more interested in baseball than
in religion," he said.

After finishing John Jay College and signing on with the old Housing
Police, his old interest in the supernatural reasserted itself. He
rediscovered the rosary. He read what he could. He sought out experts
like the paranormal researchers Ed and Lorraine Warren and Father
Malachi Martin. He introduced himself to Bishop Robert McKenna, a so-
called traditionalist bishop in Connecticut who broke away from the
Roman Catholic Church over the liberalism of Vatican II.

People began coming to him for help.

But it's not all spinning heads and flying plates, he said. In fact,
most of his devil-fighting is downright unsensational.

"If you want sensationalism," Sarchie said, "go to the video store
and rent a copy of 'The Exorcist.' That's not what we're trying to do.

"Frankly, I don't want to see anything. No religious provocation. I
just want the evil spirits to be gone. I want to bind them and make
them leave. I'm not looking for drama. I don't care about getting
proof for the skeptics. You'll never convince them anyway. If you
don't believe me, fine.

"But the devil's busy, and I've got work to do."

[there is a yahoo group dedicated to Sarchie at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bewarethenight/ hosted by yours truly!
~Ron~]

(from:
http://www.azcentral.com/rep/calendar/articles/1029demonologist.html )