Sears Parking Lot Exorcism

     It seems kind of weird to have two Sears parking lot stories, and yet I do! The first one I posted in February about my parents leaving us kids in the car in the Sears parking lot while they shopped. The other Sears parking lot story is about another Sears location a decade later. In my college years, 1971 to '75, Sears was a bustling department store on the block right next to the main campus of Canisius, on Main Street in Buffalo. The block on the other side of Sears had two properties that the college had recently acquired. On one corner was built a brand new athletic center, and on the other corner, an old building was refurbished into science classrooms, offices, and labs. Chemistry and physics remained in their own building on the main campus, but biology classes were all at the new facility. So, walking through the Sears parking lot to get to and from classes was something that became a part of life for a biology major like me and lots of my classmates.

      I only remember shopping inside the Sears a handful of times – no extra money to spend on extras, but the parking lot, ah the parking lot with its two- story ramp, became the stuff of lore. Was it safe to walk through after dark? Was it safe in the daytime?

      Freshman year, the tales began. There was the couple who had been dating for a short time when one night they had a spat in the biology building. The guy made the girl walk through the Sears parking lot in the dark so she could get back to her own car at the main campus. He followed, in his vehicle, at a distance to make sure she was okay – but still, he made her walk!

      After the first winter storm freshman year, the sidewalks around the lot were icy. I was walking by myself when I recognized a classmate and waved recklessly. I slipped and fell right on my butt. I got up quickly and tried to hide behind a post inside the ramp, but the classmate, laughing heartily, was not fooled by my evasive maneuvers, caught up to me, and asked sincerely if I was all right.

     I can recall walking with friends through the parking lot, and I can remember being cold or tired or not wanting to walk that far. I can remember approaching the lot and emerging from it, but I can't remember the inside of the parking ramp except in some dreams I have from time to time.

     And speaking of dreams brings to mind symbolism and a particular Sears parking lot story featuring one of the two teachers I had at Canisius College who were what I would call devoted followers of Freud. This particular teacher led the class called Psychology of Psychoanalysis, an elective philosophy course. The curriculum was mostly about Freud – we had to read Have You Ever Made a Mistake and Interpretation of Dreams among many others - I learned the phrase Freudian slip and realized that contrary to Groucho Marx, this course believed that a cigar is never a cigar. The teacher, who I will call Father R, S.J. was probably in his fifties when I was at Canisius. He was excitable about his material, and he had a lot of nervous movements. We had several imitations of him, most of which are too difficult to put into words – but one was to lick a finger, stick it in your ear and then respond as if an electric shock had just gone off in the ear – that was Father R.

      But Father R was also, I guess, priestly. He believed in exorcism, and he carried out exorcisms when the need arose! Now that is the kind of person you don't meet every day! And to think I just took him for granted at the time!

      My class with Father R was fall semester senior year in the mornings. One of my good friends, Trix, took the class the same semester, but in the evenings. One night Trix dared Father R to exorcise the demon in her, and he called her bluff – proceeding with the exorcism! Then she called his bluff by acting as if an agitated demon really were inside – Father R started to sweat and prayed harder and harder!

      Well, as you might have guessed by now, Father R, late one evening, encountered a distressed woman in the Sears parking lot. She was not from Canisius but a complete stranger – perhaps mentally unstable. Father R helped her with an on-the-spot exorcism! And then he told us all about it in class.

      We were stunned – the Sears parking lot was scary enough without knowing Father R sometimes walked through. Offering exorcisms.

      The Sears store has been closed now for many years. And eventually Canisius bought the property. The building is going to be refurbished into....a new science center with classrooms, offices, and labs. The parking lot with ramp will be, yeah, used for much needed parking. Most of the students at Canisius are commuters.

      The new parking ramp will have ice from time to time, and there will be students coming and going and waving. The lot will be well lit and have a security detail.

      And that is kind of sad. Father R sweating and chanting over a stranger, in the Sears parking lot, exorcising the demons, is something the world will never witness again.

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