Possession, the Supernatural, Skepticism, and Believability in Two Recent Paranormal Documentaries

The Unbinding tells the story of Dana and Greg’s investigation into claims that a wooden effigy found in the Catskill Mountains, adorned with nails in its eyes and a noose around its neck, is causing supernatural disturbances.

What they hypothesize as a result of their research is that the carving is possessed by an ancient Slavic goddess named Mokosh and that the nails and the noose were added by someone hoping to trap and bind this entity.

Dana and Greg begin to refer to the effigy as The Crone, in reference to the parallels between what they observe and the behavioral tendencies of the archetypal spirit of the same name.

From there, they embark on a ritual in which they attempt to unbind her, freeing the spirit troubled spirit inside.

What’s most striking about this documentary is Dana and Greg themselves, and the director’s decision to invest time into fleshing them out as individuals is what makes the film pay off.

While some reviews argue this results in The Unbinding being a slow burn that lacks action, I’d argue it is the single thing that establishes trust with the viewer.

In fact, the lack of “action” just might be the film’s biggest strength. Dana and Greg exhaust all efforts attempting to write off the anomalies that occur in the Crone’s presence, explaining that what individuals perceive as hauntings are often feelings we project onto objects. Egregores, in short, if you’re familiar with the term. 

At no point do Dana and Greg try to provoke the entity inside the object, and once they realize that their experiences are more than just coincidence, their only goal is to help whatever is trapped inside. 

Now let's take a look at Demon House (2018) and consider the impact of viewing these two documentaries back to back.

Demon House follows renowned paranormal investigator Zak Bagans as he investigates the Ammons House in Gary, Indiana—one of the most widely documented demonic possessions in recent years.

The case received so much attention because Latoya Ammons’ reports of her children’s strange behavior resulted in the Department of Child Services becoming involved.

Zak Bagans buys the house and interviews both the family that fled as well as previous residents, DCS case workers, and local law enforcement who responded to various calls made from the house.

And ultimately, he decides he must lock himself inside to engage with the demon, an experience that allegedly results in permanent damage to his vision.

Demon House comes with a big warning statement at the start of the film, alleging that “demons can attach themselves to you through other people, objects, and electronic devices.”

Which, from the start, sets the tone for the documentary.

Admittedly, there are equal attempts to debunk the claims as there are in The Unbinding. In this case, I’d argue there are even more interviews with individuals who claim to have encountered anomalies and even outright aggression within the house.

However, Zak and his team lack the sincerity of Dana and Greg, something that only becomes more apparent when you learn about all the money at stake. 

During the documentary, we learn that the Ammons family sold the rights to their story, which very recently debuted as The Deliverance (2024) on Netflix. (The movie that produced the clip you keep seeing with Glenn Close on TikTok and Reels. Yes, that one).

With a movie deal looming, it’s easy to understand why Bagans would buy the house and want to get involved, and likewise, why the locals would want to speak up, too.

Ultimately, Bagans decides to tear down the house for the sake of safety. However, his interest and investment hardly seem genuine. 

Which isn’t to say it makes it any less true. Demon House scared me, but it scared me in a way any horror movie would.

It didn’t feel real. The most real thing about it is how the occurrences are blamed on a single, Black mother, who nobody believes, and the authorities become involved. 

The Unbinding on the other hand made me think. There were parts of it, surely, that I doubted, including Dana’s experience using the Estes Method to communicate with the entity locked inside the effigy, a process requiring her to be blindfolded with noise-canceling headphones plugged into a radio-surfing device called a Spirit Box.

I wondered if those headphones were truly noise-proof, if there was truly no way Dana heard questions asked of the ghost by the others involved in the ritual. 

But the end of the documentary is what got me. The Unbinding concludes with musings from each of the Newkirks that stuck with me.

Dana discusses good and evil and why we perceive supernatural experiences to be scary. She talks about how scary things in life are essential and meant to transform us and how scary shouldn’t always equate to evil or bad. She makes it clear that her intention in this documentary and her work is not to generate fear.

It’s the antithesis of Bagans’ approach and a total one-eighty from the disclaimer at the beginning of his film. Dana’s summation reinforced how I felt about her, which is that she was genuine, which is that she was someone I could trust.

Greg’s final remarks are the ones that, admittedly, made me check under the bed before I turned out my lights. Greg’s remarks had everything to do with the power of telling stories.

Mokosh, after all, is ancient Slavic Folklore, folklore both he and Dana make a point to explain at length.

As a writer, I revere story, and I fully believe it to have transformative power and energy.

What Greg suggests is that spirits, archetypes, entities, gods, and goddesses are stories, and when stories are told enough times and believed by enough people, they generate that same power.

They generate that same energy. What if supernatural occurrences are the result of these centuries-old accumulations of energy based on the power of stories? 

Is the collective repetition of a story enough to make it real?

Well, after watching The Unbinding, I just might think so.