Pierre Franchi, accused of attempted murder.

Just too weird to be true, but unfortunately so. The headline said it all: Florida Man Attempts To Murder Demon Possessed Landlady. In Boynton Beach, a man attempted to kill a 66-year-old woman as a favor TO HER! As Pierre Franchi told it, his landlady was under the control of supernatural forces and he had to set her free - by killing her. He tried choking her with his hands and then set out to smother her with a pillow. Finally he hit her over the head with a hand-held mirror.  The woman reported hearing him say, during his killing frenzy, "I have to protect you. I have to kill the demons." He only backed off when the woman convinced the violent exorcist that she wasn't demon possessed.

The woman eventually escaped Franchi's three attempts at strangulation and another effort at bludgeoning. Franchi then made off in the woman's car only to be caught by police later that day. The French exchange student had once been hosted by the landlady 10 years ago. When Franchi showed up recently looking for a place to live she took him in. The ex-student reportedly ranted wildly and acted in bizarre ways. Because of the woman's self-described "motherly affection" for the man, she didn't report the strange behavior. Pity she didn't as it might have averted her brush with death.

Clever, isn't it, for a man under the obvious influence of demons to discredit the whole idea of demonic possession by trying to kill another human being and then claim his victim was the one demonized. You've got to give the devil credit for ingenuity. By God's grace the woman lived to tell her tale and hopefully put Pierre behind bars for a long time to contemplate the impulses of his own demons.