A Boy Walked Backward up a Wall — and a Nurse Wrote It Down

The flies kept coming back. It was December in Gary, Indiana, and Rosa Campbell couldn’t understand why large black flies were gathering around the screened porch of her family’s rented house. She killed them whenever she could, but more appeared.

Rosa had moved into the house on Carolina Street with her daughter, Latoya Ammons, and Latoya’s three children in November 2011. Before long, the flies were the least frightening thing happening there.

Someone Was Walking Upstairs

At night, Latoya and Rosa began hearing footsteps coming up from the basement. They could hear the basement door opening, even though nobody was downstairs.

Rosa later described waking up and seeing the shadow of a man pacing through the living room. When she got up to investigate, she found large, wet bootprints on the floor.

The family became increasingly frightened. In March 2012, Latoya and Rosa said they witnessed something far worse while several friends were visiting.

Latoya’s 12-year-old daughter was reportedly floating unconscious above her bed. The adults gathered around the girl and began praying, and Rosa said she eventually descended onto the mattress. When she woke up, she had no memory of what had happened.

The visitors were so frightened that they refused to return to the house.

The Family Asked for Help

Latoya and Rosa contacted churches and eventually spoke with two people who claimed to have psychic abilities. They told the women the house was infested with more than 200 demons and advised them to move.

But moving wasn’t easy for a family with very little money. Instead, Latoya made a small altar in the basement and tried prayers and other religious rituals.

The children began behaving in ways their mother had never seen before. According to Latoya, their voices changed, their eyes sometimes rolled backward, and they became violent without warning.

On April 19, she took her children to family doctor Geoffrey Onyeukwu. During the appointment, both boys reportedly began screaming and behaving so violently that the office called 911.

Police and ambulances arrived, and the boys were taken to Methodist Hospital in Gary. Staff members struggled to calm them down, while someone contacted Indiana’s Department of Child Services over concerns about the children’s safety. That’s how case manager Valerie Washington became involved.

The Boy Walked Up the Wall

Washington was interviewing the family at the hospital when Latoya’s younger son began growling and threatening his older brother. The situation became increasingly frightening, so Washington and registered nurse Willie Lee Walker brought the boys into a separate examination room with their grandmother.

Rosa held onto her nine-year-old grandson’s hands and began praying. According to Washington’s official report, the boy suddenly developed an unusual grin and began moving backward toward the wall.

He continued up the wall until he reached the ceiling, flipped over his grandmother and landed on his feet. Washington reported that he never let go of Rosa’s hand during the entire movement.

Walker witnessed the same incident. He later told The Indianapolis Star that the boy had gone up the wall and flipped over his grandmother, and he couldn’t understand how it was physically possible.

The case manager and nurse were terrified. Both hurried out of the room and told a doctor what they had seen.

The doctor wanted the boy to repeat what he’d done, but the child said he couldn’t. According to Washington’s report, he didn’t even remember doing it.

When police later questioned Washington, they asked whether the boy might simply have run up the wall like an acrobat. She insisted that wasn’t what she had witnessed. She described him gliding backward across the floor, up the wall and onto the ceiling.

Her account became part of the official Department of Child Services investigation.

The Police Captain Changed His Mind

The children were temporarily removed from Latoya’s care while officials investigated their welfare. Meanwhile, Reverend Michael Maginot, a Catholic priest, agreed to visit the house.

Maginot arrived on April 22 and spent hours speaking with the women. During his visit, he said he saw a bathroom light flickering, kitchen blinds swinging without an apparent breeze, and wet footprints on the living room floor.

He blessed the house and advised the women to leave. Within days, police officers began investigating the property themselves.

Gary Police Captain Charles Austin initially suspected the family had invented the story to make money. He had spent 36 years in law enforcement and wasn’t easily frightened.

But his visits to Carolina Street changed his opinion. According to police records, an audio recorder suddenly began running out of power despite having fresh batteries. Another recording appeared to contain an unfamiliar voice, while photographs taken inside the house showed strange shapes.

Austin told The Indianapolis Star that he had become a believer. He was so unsettled by the property that he refused to remain inside after dark.

Something Kept Appearing on the Blinds

On May 10, officers returned with Maginot and another child-services worker, Samantha Ilic. They searched the basement, where Latoya believed the disturbances had begun.

A police officer dug beneath the stairs, finding several small personal objects buried in the dirt. The group also noticed an unusual liquid appearing inside the house.

Upstairs, officers found an oily substance dripping from the blinds in a bedroom. They wiped it away with paper towels and shut the room for approximately 25 minutes, making sure nobody entered.

When they opened the door again, the substance had returned. The officers documented the incident, and Maginot became convinced that the family was dealing with a demonic presence. He wrote to Bishop Dale Melczek requesting permission to perform an exorcism.

The Priest Returned for the Exorcisms

Maginot began with a smaller religious ritual while awaiting permission for a formal exorcism. Two police officers and Samantha Ilic attended, and Ilic later described feeling as though someone was standing close behind her throughout the prayers.

Eventually, Maginot received permission to proceed. In June 2012, he performed three major exorcisms on Latoya at his church in Merrillville, Indiana.

Latoya described terrible pain during the rituals, while Maginot said she shook violently as he prayed. He conducted the first two exorcisms in English and the final one in Latin.

By this time, Latoya and Rosa had moved to Indianapolis. They said the frightening experiences gradually stopped, and Latoya continued working to regain custody of her children.

The case became nationally famous in 2014 when reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski published an investigation based on interviews and hundreds of pages of official records. Paranormal investigator Zak Bagans later bought the Carolina Street house and filmed a documentary about it.

In November 2012, Latoya had finally been reunited with all three children.

Four years later, the house on Carolina Street was torn down.