Posted by In 1980 in Brookfield, Connecticut, the family of 12-year-old David Glatzel turned to the demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, convinced he was possessed. On 16 February 1981 Arne Cheyenne Johnson, his sister’s boyfriend, stabbed their landlord Alan Bono to death. At the trial the defence argued demonic possession, but Arne was convicted of manslaughter and served 5 years.
Often, when someone wants to get away with it in court, the insanity card is played. Arne Cheyenne Johnson’s attorney decided to use the one of demonic possession. His client had stabbed a man, killing him, but he had a good reason to do so: he was possessed by Satan. This is the story of the possession of David Glatzel and Arne Cheyenne Johnson.
Possession of David Glatzel
David was 12 years old when, in the summer of 1980, in Brookfield, Connecticut, he helped his sister Debbie and her boyfriend Arne fix up the house they had just rented.
But the boy soon realized he did not feel at ease and began to see a mysterious old man who terrified him.
The sister thought he was just looking for excuses not to help her, but David was really scared. The old man told him that if the family would move to that apartment, they would be hurt.
The elderly man then appeared to David in the guise of a demonic beast that spoke in Latin and threatened to steal his soul.
The family decided to ignore the warnings and David moved into the new house. They heard strange noises coming from the attic, but David remained the only one to see the strange man.
Things got worse when David began to act strangely, but especially when on his body appeared inexplicable scratches and bruises. The family then decided to call a priest.
The priest blessed the house, but David continued to have strange visions, even in daylight. He began to growl, and to speak with a demonic voice, and once the family witnessed him being attacked by invisible hands which caused scratches and bruises on his body.
At this point the Glatzel family decided to turn to demonologists’ couple Ed and Lorraine Warren, who concluded that David is possessed. According to Lorraine, a black mist materialised next to the boy.
The Exorcism
The Warrens decided to perform lesser exorcisms on David. They will make a total of three exorcisms, during which the boy levitated and showed signs of clairvoyance, predicting the killing Arne would commit. In October 1980 the Warrens even warned the Brookfield police that the situation was becoming dangerous.
During one of the exorcisms Arne is also present and told the demon to enter his own body.
A few days after the exorcism, the demon took possession of Arne’s body while he was driving, causing him to crash into a tree. Fortunately he didn’t get hurt, and decided to return to the house where David was examining a well.
Here’s when he saw a demon and, according to him, this is the time when he had been possessed permanently.
David’s condition worsened, and Debbie and Arne decide to move to another house.
They found an apartment close to Debbie’s workplace, but she noticed that Arne was acting weird, and just like her brother he enters into a trance, has hallucinations, growls, but when it comes back to himself does not remember anything.
The murder
On 16 February 1981, during a party, Arne had an argument with their landlord, Alan Bono, who was visibly drunk.
The discussion became more violent and Arne started to growl. Debbie tried to get between him and his boss, but Arne pulled out a switchblade from his pocket and killed the man.
Arne is stopped and the Warrens inform the police that the boy was possessed. Also during the trial his attorney would support this thesis, but the judge rejected it, ruling that such a defence could never be proven in a court of law. It was the first known trial in the United States in which the defence tried to prove the defendant’s innocence on the grounds of demonic possession. On 24 November 1981 Arne was convicted of first-degree manslaughter.
Despite the sentence from 10 to 20 years, Arne will serve only 5.
The story was told in the book The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle, and in 2021 it became a film in the Conjuring series, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. In 2023 Netflix also devoted a documentary to it, The Devil on Trial.
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