Religion and epilepsy have had a complicated relationship throughout history, and by complicated we mean awful. For centuries, seizures were interpreted as demonic possession, divine punishment, or spiritual weakness, which is both historically fascinating and deeply unhelpful if you are a modern woman trying to get through a divorce without your mother-in-law calling CPS.
One epileptic woman reached her limit when the false allegations started including claims of snake-related demonic child mistreatment, and she responded the only way that made sense at the time. She lit some black candles, dug out a Halloween skeleton, grabbed a chalice of wine, and dialed her mother-in-law on FaceTime. What happened next was even better than she planned, mostly because her mother-in-law did all the heavy lifting herself.
Religion has often blamed epilepsy on possession or other wild supernatural origins
But one meddling mother-in-law took it too far when she blamed her daughter-in-law's epilepsy on satanism and even called CPS on her
To get back at her, the daughter-in-law staged a fake occult-like ceremony and video called her mother-in-law to see it all
The mother-in-law fell for it hook, line, and sinker, and started throwing wild accusations around over text, making herself look even more dillusional
With no visual proof, the daughter-in-law won the battle, and got her mother-in-law off her case once and for all
Experts warn against the exasperating psychological effects of having a meddling and toxic in-law who has their knife in for you
This unhinged mother-in-law wasn’t holding a fringe opinion by any means. It is a widespread misconception that continues to affect millions of people with the condition worldwide. A comprehensive meta-analysis published by the National Institutes of Health found that 35% of people with epilepsy globally report experiencing stigma, with 36% reporting direct discrimination most commonly in school or work settings.
In parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, seizures are still frequently attributed to supernatural forces including witchcraft, demonic possession, and divine punishment. In Western countries, the myths tend to be slightly less dramatic but no less harmful, ranging from false beliefs about contagion to exaggerated assumptions about cognitive limitations.
The Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 90s is the cultural backdrop against which her particular brand of hysteria makes the most sense. A widespread moral panic swept through communities across America and beyond, convincing otherwise ordinary people that devil worship, rituals, and occult activity were lurking behind every unusual behaviour.
Daycare centres were investigated, innocent people were imprisoned, and the cultural hangover from that era left a generation of hyper-religious people primed to see Satanism in places it absolutely did not exist. Black candles and Latin phrases were always going to work on someone operating from that framework.
Tricia Johnson LCSW reminds us that dealing with a toxic in-law causes chronic psychological distress, manifesting as heightened anxiety, erosion of self-esteem, and severe marital tension. The woman in this story was navigating a divorce, a custody battle, false CPS reports, and religious persecution simultaneously, which is A LOT.
The fake FaceTime ritual was not just petty revenge. It was a woman who had run out of conventional options, finding the one move that would make her bully do all the damage herself. Her evidence-free strategy is pure poetry, and the kind of revenge we line up for. She handed her a shovel, and the mother-in-law began to dig furiously.
People in the comments applauded her for her cunning trap, breathing a sigh of relief that the author never needs to deal with her witchy in-law again
