Jack Smurl May 2026

Here is the chilling account of the Smurl Haunting. It started small. In 1984, Jack and Janet Smurl began hearing strange noises. At first, it was easy to rationalize: settling wood, creaking pipes, or a stray animal under the porch. But soon, the sounds evolved into scratching. Long, deliberate fingernails dragging across the inside of their bedroom walls.

However, supporters argue that gas leaks don't scratch you. Coal mines don't throw you out of bed. And pipes don't whisper your darkest secrets in a dead language. Jack Smurl passed away in 2018. Until his death, he never recanted his story. He lived in that house for decades after the haunting, a testament to his stubborn grit. He often said that the entity fed on fear, and he refused to give it the satisfaction of moving out. jack smurl

Then the smells arrived. A foul, sulfurous stench that would waft through specific rooms and then vanish as quickly as it came. Here is the chilling account of the Smurl Haunting

Jack Smurl, a man of immense courage (or stubbornness), reportedly stood in the hallway one night and yelled, "If you want someone, come after me! Leave the women and children alone!" At first, it was easy to rationalize: settling

For two years in the mid-1980s, a quiet street in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, became a war zone. It wasn't a war of nations, but of faith versus flesh. At the center of it all was Jack Smurl, his wife Janet, their children, and his elderly parents who lived in the adjoining half of their duplex.

Finally, they called the Catholic Church. The Church, hesitant to validate a demonic presence, suggested they reach out to the Warrens.

According to the Warrens, the entity was eventually driven out of the home and "pushed" into the nearby Susquehanna River. The activity subsided, though Jack reported low-level harassment continued for years afterward. Naturally, not everyone believes the Smurl story. Skeptics point out that the family sold the rights to their story to a TV movie ( The Haunted , 1991) and that the Warrens had a financial incentive to sensationalize claims.