A woman and three children who claimed to be possessed by demons. A 9-year-old boy walking backward up a wall in the presence of a family case manager and hospital nurse.

Gary police Capt. Charles Austin said it was the strangest story he had ever heard.

The Story of Latoya Ammons

Demons, spirit possession, haunted houses...This isn't the typical purview of the Department of Child Services. But when Indiana mother Latoya Ammons reported that she and her three children had been possessed by demons, local authorities stepped in to investigate. What they found was actually quite surprising.

Over the course of investigations that included police questioning, hospital visits and psychiatric evaluations, several authorities confirmed there was something unusual about the Ammons' case.

"Twenty years, and I've never heard anything like that in my life. I was scared myself when I walked into the room."

These are the words of Dr. Geoffrey Onyeukwu, the family physician who evaluated Ammons and her three children. He spoke with the Indianapolis Star about his "bizarre" encounters with the Ammons.

The family came in complaining of 'demon possession,' which they said involved hearing voices, seeing wet footprints in their house where no one had walked and even levitation at one point.

Ammons consulted with local churches and clairvoyants, saying she had poured olive oil on her children's hands and feet at the recommendation of one church.

In most cases, a doctor would likely diagnose this as "hallucinations" and "delusions," and that's exactly what Onyeukwu did, at first.

According to a Department of Child Services report, however, medical staff at the physician's office said they witnessed one of the children being lifted and thrown against the wall without anyone touching him.

The report also includes many accounts from both mother and children stating they had been attacked by ghosts and visited by spirits in the night. Ammons' two sons exhibited violent behavior, as well, that involved "growling," choking one another and head-butting their grandmother. The report noted that the boys had acted out violently in public, "but especially with the mother present."

Nonetheless, the case reached its tipping point when, according to hospital personnel that apparently witnessed the act, one of the sons "walked up the wall backwards" and "flipped over and landed on his feet." The children were thereafter removed from their mother's care.

The family eventually moved (and the children were returned to their mother), and the owner of the supposedly 'possessed' house reported no other tenants had complained.

Today, experienced physicians, paramedics, nurses, social workers and clergy linked to the case of Latoya Ammons speak of being ‘attacked’ by demons, profoundly shaken and left with little choice but to believe that ‘something’ possessed the 32-year-old mother-of-three and the rented home in which she, her children and her mother, lived from November 2011 until May 2012.

Police Capt. Charles Austin, a 36-year veteran of the Gary Police Department, said he initially thought Indianapolis resident Latoya Ammons and her family concocted an elaborate tale as a way to make money. But after several visits to their home and interviews with witnesses, Austin said simply, "I am a believer."

The full story can be found in the link below.