CBS 6 Rewind: The Berkshires' own Amityville Horror

Lee, MA (WRGB) — No spinning heads or pea soup, but unearthly growls, vicious threats and dancing stuffed bears turning a modest home in the Berkshires into its own version of the Amityville Horror.

"I walked into the room. My wife was in a state of shock. It was on the bed? It was on the bed. She had a crucifix in one hand and a bottle of holy water in the other," Lui Passetto claims he screamed and he felt something leave the room. "That's when the bed--two feet off the ground--lowered back to the floor."

Passetto and his wife Dale swore the home their family had lived in for decades in Lee, MA had been overtaken by a demon.

Dale said, "It was a little taller than my husband. It was black. It looked like it was hooded. And it was sort of hunched over and it had very very large feet tremendous feet."

She said it shouted dirty vicious words at her in a deep raspy voice. And the ugliness did not stop there. Dale says she was attacked in the middle of the night by an inhuman being that clawed her stomach, her back and her breast--leaving her with a hot burning sensation. At other times he appeared as a gentle, small boy dressed in white.

When a stuffed animal morphed into an animated nightmare in their child's room, it chased the Passettos moved out. That's when demonologists who had investigated the Amityville Horror arrived.

The Warrens scheduled an exorcist to rid the Passetto home of its evil squatters, but something happened. Demonologist Ed Warren explained, "The priest who was to perform the exorcism--the exorcist became violently ill--this man is usually in good health i have to say some terrible things happened to that priest."

Warren says the priest was in recovery from what he was sure was an attack by the devil.

Eventually a pair of Roman Catholic priests were called in for an exorcism, but accounts suggest they merely blessed the house.

We're told the floor vibrated, the basement filled with smoke, and when it was over the house smelled like roses. But did it work? There are conflicting reports. The Passettos did move back in but then apparently had more supernatural manifestations the next summer. They left the area 20 years ago.

Liz bishop has the story of a young couple from the Berkshires who had a “devil” of a time dealing with an unwanted visitor. They told CBS 6 43 years ago that the home that had been in their family for years had been possessed by a demon!

“It was taller than my husband. It was black. It looked like it was hooded.”

It’s been 51 years since America was scared out of its wits by the movie the exorcist. But it “was” only a movie, right? Demonic possession isn't real, is it?

no spinning heads or pea soup. this was no movie. Rewind to lee Massachusetts,1981.

Lui Passetto claims he screamed and he felt something leave the room and the bed lowered back to the floor.

he and his wife Dale swore the home that had been in the family for decades had been overtaken by a demon.

“cases of possession are very rare,” Matthew Schmalz, director of religious studies at Holy Cross College says the church often equates demons with souls in purgatory.

“You can make the argument that someone in purgatory still attached to this life that controls the living,” he says. “Was it tortured soul or demon?”

“It was a little taller than my husband. it was black. it looked like it was hooded. and it was sort of hunched over and it had very, very large feet. Tremendous feet.”

She said it shouted dirty vicious words at her in a deep raspy voice and attacked her in the middle of the night.

at other times appearing as a small boy dressed in white.

The official explanation is a corrupted angel who has renounced God and has decided to go against him.

When this stuffed animal morphed into an animated nightmare in their child’s room, the Passettos moved out. That’s when demonologists who investigated the Amityville horror came in and scheduled an exorcism to rid the Passetto home of its evil squatters.

“The exorcist became violently ill--this man is usually in good health i have to say some terrible things happened to that priest."

Ed and Lorraine Warren were sure it was an attack by the devil.

“I don’t blame you for being skeptical.I think it is hard for people in the lay world to understand.”

Liz Question: “Do you think this was all in their head? I would make that argument and many exorcists would”

Accounts say when a priest and a minister eventually blessed the house, the floor vibrated, the basement filled with smoke, and when it was over, the house smelled like roses.

But did it work? There are conflicting reports. The Passettos did move back in, but then apparently had more supernatural manifestations the next summer and left the area 20 years ago.