Sunday Screams

We first noticed the behavior during the summer when our baby was 10 months. He cried every Sunday when we took him to the church nursery. He didn’t calm down until we removed him.

My wife and I didn’t know what to make of this. He was fine at home with baby sitters, why then did he fuss and scream with the volunteers in the church nursery. We thought he would grow out of it by his first birthday which was September 22.

The first Sunday after his birthday he was fine at home but when we arrived at church he began crying and carrying on as usual. The next Sunday he sat quietly in his car seat. As we pulled into the church driveway I looked in the read view mirror. Tom stiffened, started to shake and then let out a blood curling scream.

Tom’s great grandfather had died the previous March and I thought of the story grandmother told of how he would go into a tirade whenever the conversation was about God or the church. When his mother had died he was adamant that no minister come to the house for the funeral. In fact, grandmother stressed, he vowed he would go after the minister with a gun.

“We all believed him, she said, adding these chilling words, “We thought he was demon possessed.”

I called my friend Randy and told him what was going on with Tom and about my grandfather. That Friday Randy’s Uncle Bill, who was an elder of our church and his wife Shirley came to our house.

They prayed over Tom’s crib and laid hands on him. Shirley said she had a vision of the spirits leaving. I can’t say I saw or felt anything.

Two days later we drove to church. Tom was quiet. As we entered the driveway my eyes were glued on the interior mirror. Tom remained calm in his car seat. We dropped him at the nursery and went to church. No one interrupted the service to tell us Tom was crying uncontrollably. When I went to pick him up he was playing on the floor.

The nursery worker saw me and said, “What happened to Tom today, he is a different baby.”

I can’t explain it but we had no more problems with Tom after that. When Rachael was expecting our second son we had Bill and Shirley back to pray and lay hands on her stomach. Matt never exhibited the strange behavior Tom did and both boys since have attended church school and are active in youth groups.


Steve Ferguson
Sarasota