The real-life ordeal of Latoya Ammons and her family inside a haunted house is currently in production for Netflix. Casting calls for stand-ins and extras to appear in Demon House have been making the industry rounds.

Lee Daniels is helming the project and filming is reported to last through August.

This is a documented possession and haunting

Whether or not you believe in the Ammons’ case, is subjective. However, people involved including law enforcement, government workers, and hospital staff, have all gone on record to report what they witnessed in the Indiana home.

Ammons’ chilling story mirrors a lot of what Hollywood writers do to punch up a screenplay about supernatural phenomena. From swarms of black flies to levitation to animalistic disembodied voices assaulting visitors, this tale is so incredible that not even Tinsel Town scribes can keep up.

The family moved into their home in 2011. Immediately the front porch became infested with large black flies. This might not cause alarm for anyone living in the country, but it was the middle of winter and no matter how they tried to rid the porch of the swarms, they would always come back.

“This is not normal,” Ammons’ mother, Rosa Campbell, told IndyStar. “We killed them and killed them and killed them, but they kept coming back.”

Unnerving events at the Ammons’ home

Soon after the fly infestation, the family of four started hearing sounds coming from the basement of their single-story home. Doors were creaking open on their own. They reported hearing strange footfalls coming from the basement stairs and shadowy figures in their periphery. By 2012, Ammons said the family lived in fear.

One night the family was together grieving the loss of a friend. They heard the screams of Ammons’ 14-year-old daughter coming from a bedroom. When they went to investigate, Campbell said she saw the teenager levitating above the bed screaming for her mother.

Having had enough, Ammons reached out to her church to no avail. They suggested using olive oil to cleanse the family’s hands and feet.

A clairvoyant suggested that the home was host to at least 200 demons and to put an altar in the basement while reading scripture. They complied. But Ammon reports that her three children became possessed showing contorted grins, and speaking in deep voices. Her 7-year-old son would talk to an invisible person.

 Department of Child Services

With nowhere else to turn,  in 2012 Ammons visited her doctor, Geoffrey Onyeukwu, and explained what was going on. He dismissed it as a mental health concern and ordered an evaluation. But during the visit, one of her sons began cursing at Onyeukwu and according to staff was “lifted and thrown into the wall with nobody touching him.”

The Department of Child Services then intervened. Caseworker Valerie Washington was assigned to the family and called for them to have a physicals. They found nothing wrong. But something extraordinary happened.

According to Washington’s report, during the exam by registered nurse Willie Lee Walker, the 9-year-old did the impossible. “He walked up the wall, flipped over her and stood there,” Walker told The Star. “There’s no way he could’ve done that.”

Clergy and law enforcement

Rev. Michael Maginot was at the house doing a Bible study when suddenly lights started flickering and blinds started to move on their own. Maginot convinced the family to leave the house for a while. Since the children were still in state custody, they had to return for a DCS investigation. Case manager Walker and three police officers entered the home and experienced strange phenomena.

Fresh camera batteries would drain instantly, cameras malfunctioned and after listening to audio recordings strange voices could be heard. One photo that an officer managed to get apparently shows a ghostly female figure.

Further documented visits to the house by clergy and law enforcement would render similar phenomena including strange oil dripping that would disappear then reappear over the blinds.

Maginot performed three exorcisms on Ammons in June 2012 at his Merrillville church. This seemed to work and Ammons and her mother left the house for good. Her children were returned to hear shortly afterward.

Zak Bagans

Enter reality star and paranormal investigator Zak Bagans. He was so intrigued by the family’s plight that he bought the house. He filmed a documentary inside and then demolished it.

“I decided to destroy the house to prevent anyone else from ever living there again,” Bagans told iHorror in an exclusive interview. “It’s like when someone has to have an exorcism, and it takes multiple times for it to truly be successful. I believe this is part of the action needed to destroy the things that live in that house, but do I believe they are gone, now? Absolutely not.”

Lee Daniels’ adaptation of the Ammons’ ordeal

Demon House is currently being filmed in Pennsylvania. It stars singer Andra Day with a script written by Daniels himself. Some of Hollywood’s greatest actors are attached to the Netflix project like Glenn Close, Octavia Spenser, and Mo’Nique.

There is no word on if the movie will have a theatrical run or stream exclusively on Netflix. Filming is scheduled to go through August 2022.

A detailed account of Ammons’ story can be found HERE.