Realistic Demonic Possession
Let's say that one day scientists discover proof of demonic possession when scanning the minds of patients with unexplained mental illness.
My goal is to write a realistic scenario using current-day medical knowledge to immerse the readers in the story, making it seem like such a thing as demonic possession might be possible when examined by doctors and scientists. For example, something like alien hand syndrome where the body is controlled without the will of the person who it belongs to.
The question: How might scientists and doctors explain and discover a demonic possession if it had to follow the laws of the universe I.e physics, thermodynamics etc.
- For the purposes of the story, it is to be assumed that any supernatural forces are bound by the laws of the universe.
- By "scanning" I mean examining the patient's brain with MRI and CT scanning machines or other medical means of observing the structure, chemistry, and patterns of the brain.
Edit: it has come to my attention that supernatural is not the best word to use, so since this would be explaining a supernatural event, the means by which this possession take place are grounded in the the known laws of the universe that we have discovered up to this point, as such a realistic pseudo scientific answer is basically what I would be looking for
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/140374. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1 answer
Follow the lead of many many Science Fiction movies, TV shows, and books that create aliens or fantasy creatures as real beings and give them the ability to "possess" human beings and control their minds or bodies.
"These very real beings are what humans thought were demons" is a pretty common trope. Look at the TV series Babylon 5 where the two higher level races turn out to be "angels" and "demons" (though not quite in the ways the viewer thinks). When these beings reveal themselves, each person sees a culturally appropriate version (humans see traditional angels, for example).
So many shows have beings who take over a human's mind (either shared with them or a complete takeover) that I couldn't even list them all.
Go ahead, create your alien or fantasy creature and give it all the properties you want. Make sure it's been on Earth for at least 10,000 years and that it is often referred to as a demon.
That is what the doctors will discover.
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