Folie à Deux and Incantation

Folie à deux, french for "madness of two," is a condition where two or more people share the same delusions. The phenomenon usually occurs between people who are very close to one another, like tight-knit families or siblings. The Taiwanese movie Incantation is supposedly inspired by a family, the Wu family, who experienced folie à deux. They believed they were all possessed by different deities and they began acting in really strange and dangerous ways to free themselves from the possessions. This culminated in the family being put on trial for domestic abuse after one of the adult children died from starvation (her autopsy revealed that the only thing she had in her stomach was feces, because the family was feeding their feces to one another). Since there weren't a lot of sources about the Wu family in English, we also talk about two other cases of folie à deux in order to gain a better understanding of how the condition affects families.

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Works Cited

“Based on a True Story, the Case in the Horror Film Incantation Is Still a Mystery to This Day.” Indonesia Posts English, indonesia.postsen.com/live-style/95267/Based-on-a-true-story-the-case-in-the-horror-film-Incantation-is-still-a-mystery-to-this-day.html.

“Daughter Riana Tromp Speaks out about That Bizarre Family Road Trip.” Marie Claire, 16 May 2017, www.marieclaire.com.au/tromp-daughter-of-bizarre-family-road-trip-speaks-out. Accessed 3 Aug. 2023.

Dziemianowicz, joe. ““It Looked like a Mummy”: Idaho Man Lived with Decomposing Remains of His Wife and Daughter for Years.” Oxygen Official Site, 18 Sept. 2021, www.oxygen.com/accident-suicide-or-murder/crime-news/david-kaneko-lived-in-idaho-with-familys-mummified-bodies. Accessed 3 Aug. 2023.

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“Idaho Man Who Lived with Mummified Bodies of Wife, Daughter Denied Request to Clear Name.” Associated Press, 20 Mar. 2015, www.foxnews.com/us/idaho-man-who-lived-with-mummified-bodies-of-wife-daughter-denied-request-to-clear-name. Accessed 3 Aug. 2023.

Illustrious-bed5587. "The real life gruesome story that inspired Taiwan film incantation (2022) (trigger warning)." Reddit, 07/22/2023, https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/156mp2l/the_real_life_gruesome_story_that_inspired_taiwan/

Jepsen, Belinda. “In 2016, the Tromp Family Fled Their Home and Drove 800km North. We Still Don’t Know Why.” Mamamia, Mamamia, 17 July 2019, www.mamamia.com.au/tromp-family/.

“Man Who Let Wife, Daughter Die Sentenced | the Spokesman-Review.” Www.spokesman.com, www.spokesman.com/stories/2007/aug/22/man-who-let-wife-daughter-die-sentenced/. Accessed 3 Aug. 2023.

Rodriguez, Matt. “The Bizarre Tromp Family Road Trip.” Medium, 7 Oct. 2021, medium.com/@matt1199/the-bizarre-tromp-family-road-trip-8268896e0c27. Accessed 3 Aug. 2023.

“Tromp Family: The Mystery of a Tech-Free Road Trip Gone Wrong.” BBC News, 7 Sept. 2016, www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-37293494.

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