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Mike was para-sympathic. This goes a way towards explaining his interest in all manner of occultism. Now days there doesn't seem to be occultism but back then if was pretty popular. Manly P Hall's "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" presents a summation the belief traditions in place back then. Mike was attracted to anything that was other worldly and it ranged from studies of the dark arts all the way to the Alan Watts.

Mike had several incidental ghost stories to tell. Mostly of events that occurred during his work as a projectionist. This makes a bit of sense because most of the places he worked weren't new buildings. It happened to him a lot, mostly it was harmless kind of stuff, he'd see or hear people that weren't there or the equipment would switch off or on when he left the projection room.

The one story he told, and he was a great story teller, had to do with his attempt to conjure up a demon. It seems he hung with four other alternative friends in high school and all of them were fascinated by the occult. I don't know exactly what they used for a grimoire, Mike never elaborated there, but back then there were all kinds of weird seance type books. So together the four did a ritual to summon up a demon.

They got one alright but it wasn't like in the movies. It was this dark energy shape about the size of two coffee cans, immovable in the center of the room. It let off a static humming noise and it wouldn't go away.

In the course of several months they did all kinds counter active rituals to dispel this thing. Stubbornly it stayed with each of the four boys where ever they went. No one else noticed it but them. It didn't do anything, it just wouldn't go away.

Who knows what they did to get rid of it but at last they at least could go home and not have it follow them. They thought that was the end to it but after that whenever the four of them were together alone the thing reappeared.

I'm sure this has the bones of something that really did happen to Mike, but who knows what. Later on I asked him about this story and he didn't know what I was talking about.