The haunting began subtly in 1973 after the Smurls—Jack, Janet, their daughters, and Jack’s parents—moved into a Chase Street duplex following displacement by Hurricane Agnes. Initial reports were minor: tools vanishing, strange stains appearing on carpets, and the foul odor of rotting flesh. However, by the mid-1980s, the claims escalated into violent physical and sexual assaults. Janet reported being yanked from her bed and hearing disembodied voices mocking her in her basement. The Role of the Warrens
The movie was based on the Smurl Family from a small town in Pennsylvania. * There was a claim from the family that from 1974 unti... ladycultblog Show all Beyond the Headlines: The Terrifying Ordeal of Janet Smurl In the annals of paranormal history, few cases are as bone-chilling or as controversial as the haunting of the Smurl family. At the heart of this storm was Janet Smurl , a wife and mother whose life in a quiet Pennsylvania duplex turned into a documented nightmare that lasted over a decade. The Nightmare on Chase Street The trouble began shortly after Jack and Janet Smurl moved into their West Pittston home in 1974. What started as minor "nuisances"—unexplained stenches, leaking pipes that defied repair, and tools that disappeared only to reappear later—gradually escalated into a violent campaign of terror. Janet Smurl reported horrifying physical and psychological assaults. She described being: Physically thrown across rooms by invisible forces. Assaulted sexually by a demonic entity, an ordeal her husband Jack also claimed to have suffered. Targeted by shadow figures and loud, rhythmic banging that echoed through the house. The Warrens and the Vatican Desperate for help, Janet contacted famed paranormal investigators janet smurl