Nelia Petit, a psychic, medium, and paranormal investigator, has been the target of psychic attacks many times in the course of her work and has helped people escape supernatural oppression. Petit has a spirit guide who shields her from the worst aspects of the attacks, but she is still vulnerable.

She has seen horrible visions of her dogs and even her mother lying slaughtered in her home. Petit usually ignores such things but also finds that anger is a helpful response. It seems to drive the entity and its negative influence away.

Once she even heard an entity whisper, “I think I'll go for a little ride, I'll be back.” She resisted the urge to pick up the phone and call her husband, John. She didn't want the entity to know that it had successfully pushed her buttons with its implied threat.

Petit has been plagued by a shadowy figure who lingers outside her door. She claims that after weeks of harassment, she decided to go into a trance to confront the entity. Petit grappled with the figure and dragged him toward the light, where someone helped her by pulling the entity through and into the light. Because the transition has to be voluntary, this being was able to escape and has returned to continue harassing her.

In her experience, Petit believes that psychics are vulnerable to attack and can even be physically hurt when they attract the attention of entities on the other side, both good and bad.

All psychics agree that allowing yourself to be intimidated is the worst possible response, as fear opens a point of vulnerability that can be further exploited. Once the primal emotion of fear is triggered, the entity has a handle it can use to do further damage.

As in other areas of paranormal investigation, rule out the natural explanations before jumping to the conclusion that you are under attack. A tummy ache or a creepy feeling aren't necessarily paranormal. Warning signs of a psychic attack include:

• Tiredness and fatigue. In this frequent form of psychic attack, energy is drained from the victim. He may even have a strange sense of detachment, as if the things that are happening around him are unreal. Feeling drained and exhausted without good reason is an indication that something strange may be going on, and a psychic attack may be occurring.

• Physical ailments. Headache, stomach ailments, and unexplained pains may be symptoms of psychic attack. If a person, place, or thing consistently causes a negative physical reaction, consider the possibility that a supernatural situation may be the cause.

• Persistent or recurring bad dreams. If you have never been prone to nightmares and suddenly you dream of being hunted or oppressed, you might be experiencing psychic attacks in your dreams.

• Physical sensations. Strange physical sensations in the solar plexus may be a sign that someone or something is interfering with your energy field. The warning signs start as a tightening in the abdomen. Shaking or trembling, coldness in the extremities, and an unbearably anxious feeling of panic may also be signs of psychic attack.

Largely unknown to the public before the premiere of the 1973 film The Exorcist, possession cases have been around for millennia. Although there are many recorded instances of benevolent possession, most of the cases that require treatment by an exorcist are of an extremely harmful and alarming nature. There is a rumor that cases of possession are on the rise globally in the new millennium. Some psychologists attribute this to the stress of modern life and drug use; others point to increased diagnoses of disassociative disorders.

It seems inevitable that many so-called cases of demonic possession are in actuality merely graphic examples of autosuggestion or hysteria. This is where today's ghost hunters must exhibit their expertise. If someone is behaving very oddly, it must first be determined if it is a case of possession or mental illness. Only after all the logical explanations are dismissed can the occasional valid case of possession be identified.

Demons

In demonic situations, horrific damage may have been inflicted by the entities. In these cases of possession, the psychological trauma can be extremely devastating to the victims, their families, and the exorcists involved. Fortunately, the victim often experiences amnesia regarding the most horrific aspects of the incident. The rest of the trauma associated with the case may then gradually fade away over time.

Ghouls

Ghouls are entities that do damage of a different sort. They induce feelings of icy coldness, disorientation, and despair. These attacks eat away at the confidence of their victims until they are so demoralized and frightened that they plunge into a state of deep depression.

Although ghosts may be seen, ghouls never manifest, except as a horrible feeling of evil and despair. This entity's influence has been known to drive people to thoughts of suicide. Oddly, the ghoul seems best able to cast its ghastly influence during warm and muggy weather and seems anchored to specific locations, lingering like a bad smell. The area of its influence can be so clearly defined that one can step in and out of its range within a few steps.