The family claimed to see an old, gnarled woman with black eyes standing in the corner of the basement. They also saw a tall, man-shaped beast with matted hair that smelled of decay. The house had become a spiritual war zone. By 1986, the Smurls were desperate. They called in the Warrens, who brought a team of priests, psychics, and parapsychologists. Using electromagnetic field meters and thermal cameras (cutting edge at the time), the team recorded massive fluctuations in the basement. Lorraine Warren claimed she saw a "portal" in the foundation—a spot where the soil itself felt corrupted.
For the Smurls, Pennsylvania Avenue was just the address. Hell was the passenger. the smurl family
Initially, the entity behaved like a bored teenager. Pictures flew off walls. Bedsheets were ripped off sleeping bodies. Dishes stacked themselves into precarious towers in the middle of the night. Jack tried to rationalize it—settling foundation, faulty wiring, pranksters. But then the shadows started moving. Dark, human-shaped silhouettes would dart from room to room, seen only in the periphery. The family claimed to see an old, gnarled
The family began sleeping in the same room. The television would turn on to static at 3:00 AM—the "Devil’s Hour." Janet developed scratches on her arms, three parallel lines, the classic calling card of a malevolent force. By 1986, the Smurls were desperate
Whether you believe in demons or not, the Smurl family story forces a terrifying question: What happens when the haunting isn't the house? What happens when you take it with you?
This is where the Smurl case diverges from typical poltergeist lore. Janet claimed she was attacked physically and sexually by an invisible entity. She reported being pinned to the bed by a crushing weight, unable to scream. According to the Warrens, this was not a ghost. It was a demonic presence—specifically, a low-level demon posing as a deceased relative to gain trust.
This is the story of 1754 Pennsylvania Avenue. Jack and Janet Smurl moved into the duplex in 1973. It was a modest home, but it was theirs. For the first 12 years, life was normal. The only oddity was the basement—a dark, damp pit that gave visitors an unexplained sense of dread. But the Smurls weren't the type to believe in boogeymen.