Shortly after an American Airlines flight left Savannah, Georgia, it turned back due to chaos caused by a passenger who thought a Satanic spirit had entered the cabin.
The man’s sister, who was travelling with him, later told authorities he told her the spirit wanted to prevent them from reaching Haiti, their eventual destination.
To protect himself, the man, Delange Augustin, swallowed rosary beads to fend off the spirit.
Then, when one of the flight staff members approached him, he reared back in his seat, raised his legs and kicked that person in the chest.
The pilots overheard the commotion, turned the flight around and headed back to the Savanah airport.
Augustin, 31, was later charged with “battery, willful obstruction of law enforcement officers and criminal damage to property,” according to the booking record for Georgia’s Chatham County Jail.
Once the Miami-bound plane was redirected back to Savannah airport, Augustin seemed to calm down. However, another commotion ensued upon landing, when he attacked a flight attendant preparing to open the door. Before the door was opened, Augustin took off his seatbelt and “stormed the front” according to an excerpt from the arrest warrant printed in the New York Post.
He cornered the attendant and threw several punches before other passengers intervened, pulled him to the ground and airport police boarded, then subdued him.
He was transported to hospital for examination and then taken to jail.
In the detention centre, Augustin’s sister told the authorities they had been traveling to Haiti to escape religious attacks.
She recounted that Augustin told her Satan’s disciples had followed them on to the plane and didn’t want them to make it.
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