Unreal Death - Possession Or Self Inflicted?

So. I wanted to save this story for later. The reason being, I was contemplating whether I should write it or not. Not that I did not want answers for my questions, but out of mere respect for my deceased friend. Nevertheless, since I have mentioned this story in one of my comments in my previous story, I would like to give a detailed account of this incident to seek more answers.

This incident has been by far the most scariest experience I have had in my life. This is a case of a suicide (as per the records) in Wichita, Kansas in the year 1997. My friend Al died in her bed with a fracture to her skull and ankle after she struggled for 1 year with illness (multiple medical conditions). The case was closed by saying that the fractures were self inflicted wounds and she succumbed to it however, her family and the neighborhood believed that it was a case of possession/attachment.

As teens, we used have a mild attraction towards people we like. Maybe hormonal changes, maybe physical attraction or just mere fondness to be around the person. I think what I had with Al was all the three together. I loved her company, wanted to be for her and I did everything to grab her attention to be on the good books of Al. Yes, Al was my high school crush. I think the feeling was mutual. But we never expressed it to each other.

We were friends since the 2nd grade and spent most evenings together either playing in the garden as kids or watching movies together in her room as teens. My mom and her parents were good friends and that paved way for us to be even more close. Al's mom was a kindergarten teacher and dad was an investment banker. They were on the higher class of the society and was a respected family in the neighborhood. Al was their only child and they were a very close group. I have never seen them miss dinner time together or her parents argue in front of Al. You could say that they were a happy bunch of people. The little introduction about the family is very important.

When we were seniors in high school, as we always do, Al and myself were walking back home after our school. One such evening, out of nowhere, Al told me that she is scared about entering one of her rooms in their house. Yes, this was random. We have never talked about scary stuffs before. Al, as far as I know, is a strong girl. She sounded not alright. I just told her to tell her parents, and she said "I did, but they don't feel anything like that. It's just me". And I changed the mood to avoid her getting scared and we started talking about the sports day in our school. Al was part of the volleyball team and she was very enthusiastic when it comes to sports. She started talking about the upcoming games and we forgot about the scary conversation we had.

We meet everyday after school and walk back together. Her conversation about the scary room became too frequent to be ignored. And for some reason, I felt the intensity of her getting scared is increasing everyday. So, I asked her if she wanted to talk to my mum about it. She immediately said she would love to talk to my mum about it. So, we went home and I took my mom separately and gave her a gist of what's going on. My mum told me that she is not a trained person to find these things, but told me that she will have a discussion with Al and then with her parents.

As per Al: She heard someone knock on her door. When she went near the door, she heard someone speak and that did not sound like her mother or father. So, she refrained from opening the door. The knock slowly turned a bit violent. She got scared and called out for her mom (they sleep on the room just opposite to Al's). After a few seconds she heard her mom from outside and opened the door. Her mom and dad were there but behind them, she saw something. Something dark but just disappeared when Al asked her parents to turn back and see. She started seeing the dark figure outside the room next to hers. Every night, she said she could hear someone from the next room. She told her parents about it, but they were just trying to pacify Al and convincing her into saying that there is nothing at home. In fact, to prove Al wrong, her parents slept in the bedroom where Al saw the dark figure and they were totally alright the next morning. So this has got Al, really worked up and scared.

My mum, after listening to Al said that these are quite common for girls of her age to experience some unexplained things around them and not to worry. Though the answer was not convincing, Al felt a bit lighter and thanked us and left. My mum, on the other hand looked worried and told me later that, looks like Al needs help. I'll talk to her parents and see if they know about it. The following weekend, my mum met Al's mom and took her for a walk. My mum then slowly explained how Al felt very unsafe inside the apartment and how she needs help. Al's mom believed that she is getting scared unnecessarily and there is nothing wrong in the apartment. But however, Al's mom suggested that they will seek guidance soon.

Al on the contrary never was the same again. She was constantly getting scared, stopped going for the volleyball practice, her conversation about the apartment grew more in intensity. She used to stay back in the garden in front of the house and waited until her mom came back from school and would never stay in house alone. This went on for a couple of months and I was getting a bit worried for Al. One night, around 11 in the night, we heard Al scream in her apartment. The voice was so loud that people in the nearby buildings came out of their apartment with their guns thinking that there was an intruder. Al kept screaming and the noise just did not reduce. One of the neighbors called the cops and they came and checked on Al's house. Her parents seemed worried and Al did not stop screaming. An ambulance soon followed the cops and Al was sedated before she was taken to the county hospital.

So, after this, I am unsure what happened at the hospital. Her parents barely came home and they spent most time at the hospital. We were not allowed to meet Al. After one month, Al came back from the hospital. Al never came out of her apartment and her mom quit her job to stay with Al and take care of her. Al was never the same again. She was often heard screaming followed by silence. My mum invited everyone in the neighborhood for a Pre-Christmas get-together. Al's family was invited and her mom and dad brought Al to the party. Nobody asked what happened to Al and all of us were having a good time. Before the meal, we told our prayers and was about to start eating when Al screamed and ripped the Christmas tree. Her parents took her back home and her dad came back to apologize for the mess she created. He said Al is ill and they are trying to get all the help they can to cure her.

After a couple of weeks, it was Al's birthday. We went to her house with some gifts to meet Al and her parents. The moment we entered Al's house, my mum said you go talk to Al, I want to talk to her parents. My mum looked a bit restless. She sounded very worried. So, I went to Al's room and gave the gifts to her and started talking to her. Al sounded very very dull and told that she constantly keeps hearing someone speak in her ears. She said she is able to see things and unable to differentiate between the living and the dead. I did not know what to say, but I comforted Al and left the room. The moment I left the room, I felt Al needed more help. My mum was waiting for me near the main door. On our way back to our apartment, she said I should not be going to the apartment without her knowledge. I asked her why, She said, Al is very ill and it wouldn't be nice from our end to disturb her.

After a month of screaming and silence, she died in her bed. Al's mom was the most shaken of all and she cried out loud on the day of her cremation that Al is in safe hands now. Cops did their rounds of interrogation at the neighborhood and to Al's parents. The doctors confirmed that the wounds were self inflicted. We were told that Al was kept in the hospital for a month because she showed signs of inflicting wounds to herself. She was sent back home only when the doctors felt she was safe to go back. The case was closed saying that there was not enough evidence of 'possession' and this is more of self inflicted wounds and points towards suicide.

Very recently did my mum tell me that, she was possessed. Al was trying to fight the possession herself initially and was put under immense stress and trauma because of that. When my mum and myself entered the house on her birthday, My mum said she felt a strong negative force in the apartment. She went and spoke to Al's mother and she said that "Al says that she has been seeing things that nobody in the house can see". I think the family never took spiritual help as well, but maybe the opinion would have changed if they had taken spiritual help.

To answer a few questions that Rook had asked earlier in the comment.

Al's parents were very open and as far as I know, they offered the best possible medical help that Al could get during the late 1990s. They took Al to the hospital the very first day, they felt it was severe. I think until the first occurrence of Al screaming, they never had an idea on the severity of the issue. I assume that they felt, Al was getting scared unnecessarily. In fact, after the first few times Al complained of being scared, and after my mum spoke to Al's mom, her parents slept in the same room as Al's just to make her feel comfortable.

In my opinion, Possession/negative attachment can sometimes be fatal. IF the above case was about possession, may be Al was pushed to an extent where she just did not have an option than to inflict those wounds on her.

I totally understand and agree that there is a high possibility for this to be a medical condition as well. Given the fact that Al was hospitalized and had an history of inflicting wounds to herself before her death, the probability is much higher. But nevertheless, it is my intuition that Al could have seriously been troubled by something that we did not notice/see.