Et The Exorcist
IT SOUNDS like a scene from a horror movie – an exorcist chanting over the body of a young boy as the bed he lies in begins to vibrate and levitate.
But this is simply another day at work for ghostbusting psychic Ian Lawman.
Talking about this real-life version of The Exorcist, he says: “I was called into a former RAF base, where a five-year-old boy had starting seeing a figure nobody else could see.
“By the point I got there, the spirit had possessed the young boy. I was initially sceptical, but the bed started levitating and the boy was screaming and swearing, which was horrible to hear. The child also looked dark under his eyes and his skin was very pale.
“It was one of the scariest experiences I’ve ever had, but the reverend I was with told me to stay strong because the demon could have drawn on my weaknesses and possessed me.
“Luckily, we were able to deliver the entity out of the boy and he recovered well, but that experience has always stayed with me.”
Ian has spent almost 30 years helping rid homes, public spaces and people’s bodies of evil entities including ghosts and even demons. He first became com aware he had “the gift” aged five, when the he started seeing an imaginary friend, a “clown called Charlie who would get him wo up to mischief. chu
And his sixth sense grew as he me became older. Ian says: “If I was in the A car travelling somewhere with my gre family, we’d go past accident blackspots and I’d see spirits there.
“At the time, I thought they were living people at the side of the road with injuries, but I’d point them out to my family and they wouldn’t see anything.
“It wasn’t until I was 15 and my best friend Paul passed away and visited me on the evening he died that I became convinced life does exist after death.”
After leaving school, Ian worked as a ballet dancer before a severe knee injury cut his career short at just 25.
“While I was touring with the dance
mpany, I’d often do tarot readings for e crew and the cast,” recalls Ian. “I decided I would go into that line of rk, and started going to a spiritualist urch to try and hone my craft as a edium, and was ordained in the faith.” As his reputation as a psychic ew, Ian was contacted by parishes in his home town of Scunthorpe, Lincs, to help people who had spirits in their houses. This led Ian into the world of exorcism, which differs from his work as a medium.
He explains: “When you go into houses or buildings, you can sense what is
there and to an extent get rid of the entities by doing what we call ‘sending them into the light.’
“However, working as an exorcist is a bigger process. We use methods such as saying different prayers to see how the demon or entity responds to that.
“After that, we will use holy water to weaken the demon. Because demons don’t want to be connected with God, we use the power of faith to get rid of it.”
Ian is showcasing his spirit-busting skills in the third series of discovery+ show Help! My House Is Haunted after joining the programme’s team.
He is accompanied by ghost hunter Barri Ghai and paranormal researcher Jayne Harris to help families reclaim some of the UK’S most haunted homes from unwelcome spirits.
In episode one, the team meet Claire, a woman a demon has attached itself to after she moved house with her partner
Daniel. Claire says she feels “suffocated” by the unusual activity in her home.
It proved one of Ian’s toughest cases – not only had the entity been there for around two years, it was also the husband-murdering “king of demons”.
Ian, who previously starred in Ghost Chasers with investigators Paul Hobday and Chris Howley, says: “Claire had been possessed by Asmodeus – who is the king of demons known to kill husbands on their wedding night.
“Daniel had noticed she had become aggressive towards him, especially in the evenings, which fits with the story.
“There was a point where I was trying to get Claire to look at me by clicking my fingers but she kept looking away, because the demon was looking for somebody else to jump inside.
“It was a difficult case because it wasn’t only Claire and myself I needed to protect, but the crew members filming in the room too.”
According to Ian, the signs of a demon rather than a benevolent spirit include seeing dark figures, people having negative personality changes, getting violent and using bad language.
He once spent a week entombed in a coffin himself under two tonnes of earth at a haunted Dudley Castle, West Mids, to raise money for charity.
Ian says his work as an exorcist still gives him a “buzz”.
“Often, people don’t know where to turn and get laughed at or feel embarrassed,” he adds.
“Their loved ones always suffer too. My work is always very fulfilling and rewarding.”
Help! My House Is Haunted is available to stream exclusively on discovery+ from Friday.