Yesterday, every major news outlet had something to say about Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. Whether it was those advocating Mr. Jindal being groomed for running on the Republican ticket for Presidency in 2012, or more likely, the number of articles and commentary which compared him to a robot due to his stiff, emotionless banter after President Obama’s address to Congress, Jindal is arguably one of the most popular men in America today. What is far less popular about Jindal, however, is a true encounter he claims to have had with a “demon”, which he believes had possessed a female friend of his while they attended college together decades ago.

Raised in the Hindu tradition, Jindal later read the Bible, saying “I saw myself in many of the parables and felt as if the Bible had been written especially for me. After reading every book I could find on the historical accuracy of the Bible and Christianity, I was convinced that the Bible had remained unaltered throughout the centuries and that circumstances surrounding Christ’s death led to the conversions of thousands.” Slowly but surely, Jindal began to renounce the faith of his family, heading instead down a long, emotionally-trying conversion to Catholicism.

It was during his years in College at Brown University that Jindal stumbled into an encounter which ultimately led to his full conversion to Christianity, though under the most bizarre circumstances imaginable. The story involves a close friend of the future Louisiana governor, whom he refers to using the name “Susan.” Susan had begun to act strangely, and Jindal invited her to a Christian concert, from which he noticed her leaving early. After following her outside, he found her crying, a circumstance about which the governor shares the following:

“Since we had been very careful to avoid any form of physical contact in our friendship, I was not sure how to respond. My inaction and her sobs produced a very awkward situation.”

Apparently, the extent of the relationship Susan and Bobby shared was a bit too “intimate” to easily qualify as being a mere friendship, and the two had worked toward maintaining distance, both physically and otherwise. Regardless, Jindal was clearly troubled at his apparent inability to comfort his friend, having to rely on the help of another female to do so. Later, after walking Susan home, he learned that Susan had been diagnosed with skin cancer, and spent much of the rest of the evening consoling her by telling her “fairy tales”.

A short time later, after missing a dinner date with Jindal, Susan began to describe strange, horrific dreams she had been having, as well as sulfuric odors that would appear in her bedroom. The notion that foul “sulfur-smells” were appearing caused Jindal to suspect something satanic at the heart of the matter, which led him to invite Susan to a session where he asked if he and several friends could pray for her. Susan agreed to join Bobby and his friends, but upon entering the situation, Susan began to demonstrate many “classic” symptoms of demonic possession, including guttural sounds, screaming, profanity, and eerily speaking in the third person about herself; at one point, Jindal describes several of his friends holding her down when he heard his troubled friend growl at him “Bobby, you cannot even love Susan.” The circumstances began to worsen, as Susan began to insult each individual in the room, somehow revealing their most embarrassing, intimate secrets. This all frightened Jindal so badly that he describes having felt so nervous “he thought he could be having a stroke.”

Finally, things reached a head when Jindal and others began attempting to get preachers from various campus Christian groups to assist with what appeared to have evolved into a full-blown exorcism. Students were restraining Susan, shouting evangelical prayers at her and trying desperately to coax her into reading Bible verses. Finally, Susan relented, and after reading several scriptures aloud, she finally collapsed, and appearing dazed, claimed that she couldn’t remember anything that had transpired over the previous several hours. Remarkably, Jindal recounts that Susan’s skin cancer inexplicably disappeared after the incident.

Jindal’s alleged encounter with the Prince of Darkness is hardly your run-of-the-mill “college story”, and was suppressed as best as possible by those on his election staff during Jindal’s campaign for Governor of Louisiana. Still, with as many politicians today that describe interest in the unexplained; some even claiming to have witnessed UFOs and other phenomenon, is Bobby Jindal’s story really much different from Jimmy Carter, Dennis Kucinich or Ronald Reagan seeing UFOs; or if you want to go really far-back (and far out-there), Theodore Roosevelt claiming to have encountered a Bigfoot-like creature in 1892?

No matter what the circumstances were regarding what Jindal may have actually encountered, this story reminds us that we are all just people (even politicians), and that the strange can strike at virtually any moment. That being said, keep your holy water and crucifixes handy, especially next time you visit Louisiana; and in the meantime, you can get the word straight from the horse’s mouth by reading Jindal’s article on the experience here (however, you must pay a small fee to read the entire transcript).