Carla Moran

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Carlotta Moran is the name of a fictional character and allegedly also of a real life person, who became famous after the 1981 horror movie, "The Entity". There has been wide speculation as to whether a Carlotta Moran actually existed or not since the movie came out; many who have seen the movie believe that, due to the way that Moran suffered in "The Entity", the name Carlotta Moran may have been used to protect the name of a real person who experienced what was shown in the movie. (A re-make of this movie is currently being filmed in Japan, scheduled for release in 2006). Other possible names are Carlotta Moran or Doris Bither.

Should Carlotta Moran be real, she would have been born in 1939. In 1974, her house in California was supposedly attacked by a number of ghosts or unseen creatures; about twelve different ghosts would have visited her with an average of about three per visit, apparently with one more powerful being as their leader among the unseen creatures. Moran, a mother of four, was allegedly raped by the ghosts or unseen beings.

Thinking that she suffered a mental illness, she looked for professional help, and she met doctors Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor. They visited her home and took some Polaroid photos of Moran's room. When the paranormal figures were in the room (as reported by Moran), Taff and Gaynor would attempt to photograph them; they claim that these photos did not develop properly, as though they had not been exposed. When Moran said the figures had left, they would take photos of the same area, which supposedly developed normally.

Although the doctors did not have the chance to photograph every phenomenon they witnessed, they agreed in description on the sighting of floating "ball of light" seen in one room. One of the doctors supposedly witnessed a dark shadowy figure that disappeared. The same apparition was reportedly witnessed by Moran's eldest son.

Those who believe Moran is a real person believe that, after feeling the presence of Drs. Taff and Gaynor, the ghosts minimized their visits to Moran. Moran relocated to Texas, but she would allegedly still be visited, and sexually assaulted by them from time to time.

The last news heard of Moran was that she had been diagnosed with cancer; she may have since died.

[edit] Controversy

In 1978, author Frank De Felitta published a novel titled "The Entity", inspired by the Carlotta Moran story. Three years later, a movie version (by director Sidney J. Furie) was released, and even as it received bad reviews from some movie critics, "The Entity" later on became a cult classic. Taff and Gaynor served as technical advisors on the film.

The actions of "The Entity" depicted in the film and described in the book mirror those of the stories of unseen, yet apparently physical paranormal forces or beings such as poltergeists and demons. The depicted events are also very similar to the Smurl haunting, with a shadowy man-like apparition being witnessed and the sexual assault upon the victim(s).

It should, however, be pointed out that beside the controversial nature of the discipline of parapsychology itself, it does not appear that any detailed report of the case was ever made available by the investigators, Taff and Gaynor, in any "serious" journal of parapsychology or other publication (contrary to what they themselves claimed on various occasions). All the accounts they offered appeared in the sensationalist press (notably "Omni" magazine) and other doubtful media, and they looked much more like tricks to advertise the movie (in the making of which, as has been said, the two parapsychologists were involved) than like serious scientific reporting. It therefore seems more plausible to rank the so-called "real-life Entity case" along with other phoney poltergeist reports that achieved fame, such as the Amityville Horror.

During the years after the movie, various women have come out on television, claiming to be Carlotta Moran. The last person to come out in television giving herself that identity, as of 2004, was an elderly woman who, in 2001, told news reporters that she had cancer.

Footnote: Dr Barry Taff, in a live interview with George Noory on Coast to Coast Am 11/17/06, verified that Carlotta Moran had died in July 25, 2006 from multiple myeloma thus ending research in the attacks,

For the full show please visit: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2006/11/17.html

Footnote #2: Dr Barry Taff, in a live interview with Todd Bates on Haunted Voices radio on 3/22/07, said that Carlotta Moran is a pseudonym and that he has no knowledge as to her current situation, or whether or not she has passed. Clearly there is a conflict of information.