After watching Netflix’s The Deliverance for the third time, I am quite certain that there wasn’t any demon involved at all. Instead, it was the story of a traumatized mother imagining things around her, and the allegedly haunted house just made things scarier. Maybe the house reminded Ebony Jackson of her mother Alberta’s old house, where she was sexually assaulted by one of her mother’s boyfriends. Furthermore, Ebony, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, had been physically assaulting and cussing at her children from the very beginning of the film. It only implied that her mental condition was deteriorating due to economic pressure. In the absence of the father, Ebony wasn’t actually taking care of the kids, but she didn’t want to accept the truth. And the story of the real-life Ebony Jackson, Latoya Ammons, was no different.
In 2009, before Latoya had moved into the house in Gary, Indiana, the Department of Child Services reported educational neglect as the Ammons children (Andrew, Airion, and Armani) often skipped school. And the same situation continued when they moved into the haunted house in November 2011. When things didn’t improve any further, the DCS issued a notice, warning Latoya that she might lose custody of the kids forever if she failed to provide basic amenities to her kids. The father, Andrew Smith, on the other hand, remained absent from his kids’ lives, the reasons for which weren’t revealed in any of the reports. To run the house, Latoya’s mother, Rosa Campbell, used to work in a local nursing home while Latoya’s employment status remains unknown. She had studied Cosmetology and had a keen interest in the field. At this point of time, it became quite obvious that Latoya (or any mother, for that matter) wouldn’t want to part ways with her kids, and therefore, she needed a solution to save them from going into the system at any cost. Hence, it could be theorized that Latoya might have cooked up the “Demon Theory” only to save her kids. Furthermore, the three kids and their grandmother, Rosa, became a part of the ruse and started performing for the authorities when they visited the house for inspection.
It was true that the Ammons family, due to their economic condition, was struggling to pay the rent, along with other things. And they needed an excuse to avoid the payment. It might be possible that Latoya and Rosa designed the entire thing so that they could lessen their financial burden. I mean, gods and demons can help you in mysterious ways, right? You might have noticed in The Deliverance that Ebony’s youngest kid, Andre, was the most affected by the demon in the house. A similar thing happened in real life as well, where it was revealed that Latoya’s youngest, Armani Lasean, showed signs of demonic possession. Though it is quite funny that he was never exorcized. The local priest, Father Maginot, had performed three exorcisms on the Ammons family, after which the situation “mysteriously” improved, and they finally moved to a new place in Indianapolis in 2012 (which is where I assume they still continue to reside). Father Maginot had performed multiple exorcisms on Latoya Ammons, but she was never really possessed or showed any such signs in the first place. Doesn’t it all sound suspicious to you?
Zak Bagans, the paranormal investigator who had later purchased the house, even claimed to witness strange occurrences on the property. However, looking at his poor acting chops, one would be compelled to take whatever he said with a grain of salt. Hence, it might not be wrong to suggest that there was no demon, ghost, or spirit (or whatever you want to call it). A few psychologists even conducted tests on the Ammons children but couldn’t find any signs of paranormal possession. They believe the children might be suffering from some kind of mental trauma and had been acting possessed to validate their mother’s claims. Whenever they were questioned about something they didn’t wish to answer, they would start acting strange.
In 2014, Latoya gave a plethora of interviews to major American publications in order to “push” her narrative in the media and sell her “demon story” so that someone who believed it could make a film on the subject. I guess, in the end, it was Lee Daniels who fell for it and blessed us with The Deliverance. Latoya might have been trying to encash the opportunity as she believed she would be able to get away with all the lies, but never in their wildest dream could they have imagined it would eventually turn into international news. Things took a drastic turn when her interview published in “The Indianapolis Star” had gone viral, and Latoya faced some backlash after which she had led a pretty private life. Currently, she isn’t active on any social media platforms, but as per the credits of The Deliverance, Latoya has served as the Associate Producer of Lee Daniels’ film.
And since we’re getting into it all, it might be worth mentioning that the purpose of Lee Daniels making this story into a film is certain. The set up was perfect to bring God in as the ultimate savior. Neither the psychological nor the political aspects of what the Ammons family went through became a part of the conversation. The Ammons family, haunted by demons or not, was failed by the system that was supposed to protect them. If the state hadn’t pushed Latoya so far that she had to concoct a demonic tale to make do, maybe none of this would’ve happened in the first place. Latoya, as a Black woman, a mother of three, and a poverty-stricken person who kept falling into drugs and alcohol to keep herself soothed against the horrors of her reality, needed actual help. And when no help arrived, she did what she thought was her only option to sustain herself and her family.
Latoya had lost custody of the kids for a brief moment of time, but she eventually got it back six months after they had moved into the new house. The incident, however, had left a deep scar from which, I suppose, the children never really recovered. As per an obituary posted on Quincy J. Webster Funeral Chapel website, Latoya’s youngest son, Armani, died at a tender age and took his last breath on October 8, 2021. He was just 17 years old. The family hasn’t made any official statement concerning the real cause of Armani’s death. One can only hope that the rest of the Ammons family received the much-needed help and have been able to move past the things that happened to them.
