The Demon of Brownsville Road

History is full of supposedly haunted houses such as the Winchester Mystery House, the Amityville Horror House, and that one in Disneyland where those grim ghosts won't stop grinning. While many of these haunted houses are famous, few boast the evidence of paranormal activity like an unassuming home nestled snugly in northern Indiana. It's the story of a family who moved into a strange home and dealt with months of frightening and mysterious occurrences, including strange sounds, disembodied footprints, and demonic possessions. Many experts had visited the home and were left scratching their heads as to how to explain the unexplainable. Inexplicable? Anyway, today, we're investigating the Demon House of Indiana. The Ammons family, consisting of LaToya Ammons, her mom Rosa Campbell, and her three young children, moved into a rental home on a dark and stormy night in the long-ago year of 2011. The home on Carolina Street in Gary, Indiana was quiet and unassuming. The family settled there in November but began to notice strange phenomena after about a month of getting comfy. Despite Indiana winters dropping anywhere from freezing to far, far below freezing, black flies began swarming the home's screened-in front porch. No matter how many of the flies the family vanquished, more would show up shortly thereafter. The thing about flies is they live for the summer, and not like surfers. Most species of flies spend their winters underground in some form of pupal stage. They've got no business building snowmen or swarming unsuspecting ice skaters because they can't survive in the cold unless Burlington Coat Factory start selling billions of tiny jackets. But unseasonable flies on the screen door were the least of the Ammons' family worries. Latoya and Rosa began hearing noises throughout the house at all hours of the night, and a locked door between the kitchen and the basement would creak itself open while everyone was asleep. It all came to a head one evening when Campbell told investigators she woke up to see the shadow of a man pacing around her living room. Thinking it had to be a dream, she went to where he was. There was no man to be seen, but there were wet boot prints on the floor. If there ever were supernatural entities manipulating life for the Ammon family, they really kicked things up a notch on the morning of March 10, 2012. Ammon's 12-year-old daughter was having a sleepover with a friend. When 2 a.m. rolled around, Ammon's went to check on them. Campbell was called to the room where both women witnessed the unconscious 12-year-old sleeping above the covers, five feet above the covers. With no explanation, and therefore no way to get her down, the women began praying until the 12-year-old woke up. She had no recollection of the events and was probably pretty confused as to what the commotion was about. The Ammons family reached out to law enforcement for help, but the claims were so outrageous the authorities treated them with extreme skepticism. Oh, you too? Weird. In fact, the Indiana Department of Child Services, seeing the children's emotional distress and fearing some form of abuse was at hand, temporarily removed LaToya Ammons' children from the house. They suspected that the young children were introduced to a psychological delusion from the mother that was being reinforced by other relatives. But when case manager Valerie Washington did her due diligence and investigated the family, she found Ammons and the children healthy and of sound mind. Evidence showed that Latoya was neither hurting her children nor losing her grasp on reality. They were just the victims of unexplainable circumstances. Gary and Hammond Police Departments eventually returned to the home with Rosa Campbell and a representative from the Department of Child Services in the hopes of gaining their trust firsthand. And the demons were all too happy to help out. According to the police captain, once the officers entered the home, all their equipment began malfunctioning. Their audio recorder picked up a voice speaking to them, while all photos taken were adorned with weird white and green shapes resembling faces and figures. Then, something seemed to follow Gary Police Captain Charles Austin home, tampering with his car and garage door. And with no way to cuff this mysterious mischief maker, Austin was unable to make any arrests. Desperate for help, the Ammons family turned to the church to rid them of this meddlesome haunting, so church officials instructed them to clean their home from top to bottom with bleach and ammonia. When that was done, they used oil to draw crosses on every door and window in the house. If it didn't get rid of the demons, at least it would smell great. An altar was also built in the basement, where the family would recite scripture every night before bed to fight off the bad vibes. Around April 20, 2012, a hospital chaplain heard of the Ammons family's plight and was actually familiar with the symptoms. He called up his friend, Reverend Michael Maginot of Maryville, Indiana, and asked if he would perform an exorcism on Ammon's 9-year-old son. Once natural causes of the phenomenon were ruled out, Maginot concluded that the Carolina Street home was absolutely lousy with demons. This determination came after witnessing lights flickering on and off by themselves, window blinds moving without any draft, and the wet boot prints from an earlier encounter with a spectral being. Maginot blessed the home with holy water whilst reading from the Bible and offered one piece of advice to the family before finishing up, leave. Desperate for answers and running out of options, LaToya Ammons decided it was time to get otherworldly. She reached out to two clairvoyants who claimed her house was allegedly host to more than 200 demons actively possessing the area. That's like a plumber telling you there are 40 pairs of socks stuck in your pipes. Their advice was even less pleasant. Move out yesterday. But money was tight, and the Ammons family couldn't afford the price of packing up and shipping off. Instead, they burnt sage and sulfur throughout the house and built their own religious artifacts to pray away the demons. And it seemed to work. Things were blissfully quiet in the small home on Carolina Street for about three days. Then the demons came roaring back. Maybe someone should ask them to move out. Despite their efforts in quelling the hostile demons with altars and sage, the demonic activity only got stronger. And what's worse, Ammon's three kids began to physically manifest signs of demonic possession. Bulging eyes, evil smiles, deep guttural voices, the kids had it all. Latoya's middle child began describing what it was like to die, while her youngest son started speaking to a spirit only he could see. Latoya herself, while sometimes feeling weak and lightheaded, never experienced any of this, but claims it was due to her being born protected. Eventually, the spirits possessing the home decided no more Mr. Nice Demons and started physically attacking the children. Latoya's youngest was thrown from the bathroom by an invisible force. Additionally, her daughter received a nasty cut when a headboard inexplicably slammed into her. The child later revealed she felt an invisible presence trying to throttle her, telling her she would die soon. The Ammons family wasn't even safe leaving the home because the force that was haunting them seemed to follow them everywhere. One trip to a physician on April 19, 2012 turned especially ominous. Several witnesses viewed the family's haunting firsthand. Ammons' sons began cursing the doctor in deep voices. One child was even lifted and thrown into the wall without anyone in the room touching him. Anyone living, that is. The boys passed out, only to wake in the hospital, where the paranormal activity worsened. The youngest started growling and attacked his brother, while the older glided backward around the room like a spider on the walls, floor, and ceiling before backflipping over his grandmother, all while holding her hand. After spending several months in the horror house, the Ammons family were finally able to evacuate and moved more than 150 miles away to Indianapolis. Eventually, the nightmares and feelings of being constantly watched by a malevolent force dissipated. But the house found itself back in the spotlight in 2014 when Zach Bagans of Ghost Adventures purchased the home. He then began making a documentary about the home's storied history. Apparently, the entities inside were not fans of Ghost Adventures and refused to play along with the documentary crew. Bagans became extremely sick and many crew members started leaving the production, allegedly due to a series of strange phenomena. Bagans finished the documentary, released in 2018 as Demon House, warning the audience that the film is cursed and to view at your own risk. However, the movie is readily available on streaming, so it's probably safe to watch. Bagans then had the house torn down, a move which irked Reverend Maginot quite a bit. According to him, tearing the home down without cleansing it only allowed the evil presence there to escape to who knows where. Maybe even someplace in your town.