I had trouble sleeping last night because of demonic nightmares. I woke up absolutely terrified, babbling prayers that I wouldn’t fall aback asleep. I called Candyce in California, but I only got her voicemail. I cautiously walked in the other room and watched EWTN for a half hour. I would only get back in bed with my Bible by my pillow and my rosary wrapped around my hand.

I know why I had these nightmares. Yesterday I was driving and listened to an NPR special about evil and monsters, and they interviewed author Anne Rice for her perspective. When I lived in New Orleans, I met Anne Rice and spent a lot of time at her house. So I turned up the radio and listened intently as the highway thumped beneath me.

Anne talked about her book, “Interview With a Vampire”, and the insight it gave her on evil. Much of the book was autobiographical, and she named the bits and pieces. She explained when in college she left, “the rich traditions of the Catholic Church for fashionable atheism in college, and the struggle that came after.” This is no surprise, because her house is more like a Catholic church than a house of horrors. I ate dinner with her son as a life-size statue of St. Anthony stood peacefully in the corner.

Although I spent time with her family over my months in the neighborhood, she never spoke much. So to hear her private side was intriguing. In New Orleans she is royalty, and millions of readers around the world treat her the same way. But that admiration doesn’t shield her from the painful realities of life. She talked about losing her baby daughter to sickness, and the helplessness that plagued her since.

They played clips from the horror movies over the past forty years. One of the clips was from “The Exorcist.” I’ve refused to see that movie, but my Scottish friend Fr. Neil told me that they used the recording of an actual exorcism for the voice of the demon. That movie terrified an entire generation.

Evil is not a character in books and movies, but a reality of every day. You can pretend evil does not exist, but that doesn’t change the fact that it does. My mom’s friend had a nightmare that he had gone to hell. He’s an educated, successful man who’s spent most of his life being educated and successful. Between accomplishments and wealth, you can feel invincible in life. But one dream made him look at his life, who he is, and who is not. Weeks after his nightmare, he was afraid to go to sleep at night to face evil again.

I’ve been praying hard today that I won’t enter into that nightmare again. I feel better after writing about all of this.