tonight on "nightline," the exorcist. we'll give you a rare glimpse into a form of catholic exorcism. on a search to answer the ultimate question, does the devil exist? mouthing off. he's america's top earning comedian and he delivers every punch line without opening his mouth. tonight, jeff dun hall is seriously funny. and, snow way. just as the northeast dusts off another pounding from above, wiping out all kinds of winter records and burying dreams of a winter reprieve, we have the weather, by the numbers. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city,

this is "nightline," january 27th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm bill weir. the idea of the devil, evil incarna incarnate, has symbolic force. and the character of lucifer inhabits our greatest literature. but what about the devil not as a symbol, but as a willful being? a fallen angel in christian belief that cannot only affect human events but enter human bodies? tonight, we go inside the controversial and extraordinary right of exorcise with my co-anchor terry moran for our series "faith matters." >> it burns! >> reporter: in hollywood, exorcisms are full of spooky special effects and terrifying images. as in most famously, the film, "the exorcist." >> i demand you to depart from this servant of god. >> can you hear me?

>> reporter: or, there's the battle with the devil in the movie "the exorcism of emily rose." >> demons exist whether you believe in them or not. >> reporter: but exorcism is more, much more, than just fodder for horror flicks. it is one of the most dramatic, profoundly moving and profoundly controversial of all religious practices. >> believe! >> no! >> leave now, i command you. >> reporter: and in real life, this rare footage shows what actually happens in an exorcism. >> don't let her go. >> stop! stop it! get her off me! >> i would do things that i wouldn't necessarily do, but so intense that it was like i was almost a puppet. >> reporter: becky parker is her name. she was possessed by demons, she formally believes.

and she has been saved, she affirms, by the love of god through the rite of exorcism. >> i'm happy because i found god. i found how to win the spiritual battle i was in. >> tell me your name in the name of jesus christ. >> reporter: a spiritual battle. that's what the experience of exorcism feels like to those who go through it. >> speak the truth. speak the truth. >> reporter: and those who perform it. >> i do it because i think it's an incredibly profound opportunity to help in the teaming ministry, that this is fundamentally about. and in a ministry where people are suffering tremendously. >> reporter: father gary thomas is an exorcist, though he did not perform becky parker's exorcism. that priest preferred to remain

anonymous. he was trained in rome, and he's been the official exorcist of the diocese of san jose, california. father, is the devil real? >> i do believe the del is real. i've had occurrences and experiences in my life where i believe i've seen the devil. i've seen demons. but you don't see satan in the same way that you and i are looking at each other. >> reporter: there's plenty of evil in the world. god know that, you might say. plenty of cruelty, mayhem and murder. but the devil? >> satan is a pure spirit. he's an angel who fell. certainly, when i've been involved in the ministry of exorcism, and at times, prayed with people who have had a demonic attachment, i have seen satan. >> i have never met a psychiatrist that came to the conclusion that the person was possessed by a demon. >> reporter: daryl ray speaks

for the other side, the secular take on these matters, as a psychologist and atheist who thinks exorcism is not just a fantasy, but a dangerous one. >> we're diagnosing diseases now with brain scans that we couldn't diagnose even two and three years ago. what will happen in four or five years? the brain is incredibly complicated. the fact that some priest using 12th century technology can cure somebody is absurd. >> reporter: faith versus doubt. that's the age-old conflict that exorcism crystallizes. and it's the conflict at the heart of the latest hollywood take on the subject, "the rite." >> the interesting thing about skeptics, atheists, is that, they're always looking for proof, certainty. question is, what on earth would we do if we found it? >> reporter: anthony hopkins plays an exorcist, colin 0 donahue, a young seminarn full

of skepticism at the rite. >> that's not the devil. it's just a very, very sick girl. she doesn't need a priest. she needs a shrink. >> reporter: the seminarn's character is loosely based on father gary thomas and his experience training as an exorcist. how do you know that someone is possessed by a demon, rather than just someone who is under tremendous psychological strain? >> there are specific signs. for example, if a person has an aversion to walking into a church. and not being able to view a crucifix or an image of christ. another sign could be, if a person possesses a competency in a language that they otherwise couldn't speak. they can take on a serpentine look and quail up in a very serpentine body language manner. and i've seen that happen. >> i was shaking, i was

screaming, i was, different langua languages. >> reporter: becky parker says she was possessed by as many as eight demons over many, many years. >> i know what they look like. i know how big they are, i know where they are in my body. >> reporter: you feel they're still there? >> no. they're gone. >> reporter: she's triumphed over a tough life. she says she was a victim of ape abuse as a child, turned to decades of drug abuse. worked as a prostitute. dabbled in the occult. then she met barbara, who was making a movie about exorcism for a catholic movie house. abc news has licensed her footage. >> becky was part of a landscape crew that i had never seen her before, never met her, she had never been to my house. she came to my door, knocked on the door, said, could i use your bathroom, i said, sure. >> i was working on the yard and i was sober, clean, and just

doing what i could. >> and when she stepped out, her eyes went dark, her face distorted and she started snarling at me and she said, in this very strange voice, you don't know what you're messing with, we hate you. >> i wasn't even thinking. and then i ended up on the floor, right here and contorting and screaming. >> reporter: it was the turning point of becky's life. barbara put her in contact with a local catholic priest who said the prayers of deliverance over her while barbara's cameras rolled. >> speak, i command you in the name of jesus. >> reporter: what was it like to have the priest pray the prayers of deliverance over you? >> i hated him, like, i wanted to hurt him. it took everything from me not to -- i just wanted to kick him and spit on him and hurt him and get away from him.

>> reporter: in that process, do you remember feeling that there were demons being exxpelled? do you remember feeling liberated? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: you remember that? >> yeah. >> reporter: what was it like? >> the first time it happened was the most intense. my body totally collapsed, i never felt that type of relaxation. >> are you there, becky? what's my name? >> reporter: and so, she was delivered. becky is drug free, married and writing a book on her journey now. some would say she was saved from the devil. others say she was mentally broken and the priest put her life at risk. >> people who are in that kind of condition are often times potentially suicidal and if they're not getting the proper treatment, they could kill themselves. >> reporter: the catholic church requires outside medical and psychological examinations before exorcisms are approved by

local bishops. still, skepticism abounds. father, you know there are going to be plenty of people watching this who are going to look at you, listen to you and said you're a charlatan. how do you answer someone who says that? >> do believe there's a satan is an act of faith in the same way to say i can believe in god or i have a personal relationship with god is a leap of faith. in the same way, when an atheist says, i really firmly cannot believe that god exists, that's also a leap of faith to believe in the denial of god. >> reporter: demons. satan. and the very real suffering in so many human lives. exorcisms have been part of human religion since time inmemorial. and today in this modern world, the rite is making a comeback. >> terry moran with tonight's "faith matters." when we come back, he slays audiences without even moving his lapips.

we go backstage with jeff d dunham, america's most successful coradian.ngs, on the gecko: caller steve, go right ahad. steve: yeah, um, i just got a !free rate quote on geico.com, saved a ton, and it only took me 5 minutes and 12 seconds! steve: i was wondering, is that some srt of record? gecko: that's a good question. et's have a look. curtis: mmmm, not quite. someone's got you beat by 8 seconds. gecko: still, i mean, that's... that'squite fast! steve: well, what if i told you only used one hand? anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. and i was a pack-a-day smoker for 25 years. i do remember sitting down with my boys, and i'm like, "oh, promise mommy you'll never ever pick up a cigarette." i had to quit. ♪ my doctor gave me a prescription for chantix, a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system.

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quick. maim the most successful comedian working today? some might guess chris rock or jerry seinfeld. i'm talking the guy that fills the most arenas and sells the most concert halls and makes the most money telling jokes by

himself. the answer is jeff dunham. it could be argued that he's not by himself. for john berman, that's seriously funny. >> you guys ready for the little people in the boxes? >> jeff dunham has spent a lifetime playing with dolls. >> i think i know a black irish guy. >> who's that? obama. >> he liked to pal around with an old guy, a terrorist and a ha jalapeño on a stick. he's a comedian that tells his best jokes with his mouth closed. also, he's making a for chub. >> notice i had hair in the nose and ears. >> are you anatomically correct? >> no. i'm politically correct. i have no balls. >> this ventriloquist was number one on the "forbes" magazine list of top-earning comedians bringing in for man $22 million last year.

$30 million the year before that. more than names you might know like dane cook, jerry seinfeld and sarah silverman. his new book "all by myself" was a "new york times" bestseller. and while you might not have been looking, dunham has been selling out arena after arena touring nearly nonstop for the last three and a half years. >> what cities are on this trip? >> i can't remember. this was one of the long ones. this was seven shows in eight days. >> it's an unheard of level of success for a ventriloquist, kind of the ugly wooden stepchild in the comedy world. >> shut the hell up! >> are ventriloquists cool? >> no, of course not. are you kidding me? sometimes i look at a photo of myself and i'm sitting there with dolls on my lap. it's like, what? then i think, no, these are my tools. these are my instrument 123450s you keep telling yourself that? >> they are. this is my guitar and drum set.

>> dunham has been doing this since he was 8 years old. at 48 he's never had a real job in his life if you call this a real job but he knows the craft down to its core, making and repairing his own dummies often in his tour bus. >> what's the most important tool? >> the most to maintain dummies are glue. >> he did pretty well for years, appearances on late night, sold-out comedy clubs and a few successful specials on comedy central but it wasn't enough. >> i look at guys like foxworthy and larry the cable guy and seinfeld and i'm like, how did they go to ethat point? >> the answer, search for dunham on youtube and you'll find videos that have been seen hundreds of millions of times. >> if it wasn't for the internet i wouldn't be where i am now. >> the internet and an unlikely sidekick. a dead terrorist named ahmed that he invented after september

11th. >> wait, new york? >> that's where we are. >> are they pissed? >> he hadn't found osama bin laden and that was the guy -- the guy was becoming a joke and i thought, we're still looking for him and i thought, i know where he is. he's been in my suitcase with my other little guys. he's dead but he's still hiding. >> silence! i kill you. >> i pulled him out of the case and he started yelling "i kill you" and i knew i had written the right terrible. >> how do you spell your name? >> a-c- -- slim. >> and the place went bananas. >> you're telling me a story and you can't help yourself but he's looking at you the whole time? >> i have to, otherwise -- how do you do that? >> i don't know. it's all habit. >> he's looking at you and the camera and you can't stop it. >> john, maybe i'm not well.

>> dunham's comedy, while lucrative isn't always critically acclaimed. >> come on, walter, at your age how do you keep things fresh in the bedroom? >> febreeze. >> he's not a thinking-man's comment by any means. >> i realized not long ago that what people criticize and what they don't like about my act is what everybody else loves. >> his characters from ahmed to walter to peanut, all tell jokes that include racial, if not racist humor. >> how come there's a no all-white holidays? >> what? >> merry kau caucasia. >> i had this dummy and i can get away with saying things that no mere mortal could say because these are characters. >> we have people of asian descent here this evening. >> oh, so sorry. >> when people criticize me for being racist or whatever and i

say, wait a second. i have a character. but the difference is that, you know, this is you. >> this thing is attached to your hand. >> it is me but it's a play on stage. it's a sitcom. i'm carrying on a conversation. >> how you doing, milwaukee? >> his success is often attributed to red state middle-america popularity but dunham says his biggest sales are in the northeast. either way he'll perform for whoever will watch. >> can you survive without talking to walter or -- >> i -- >> you don't know? >> it's not the dummies i fall in love with it's the audiences. it's too much fun. i am not doing it for the money. the money is great but i was doing this for 20 years, sure at the top of my game but making a tiny percentage of what i'm doing now and i still loved it. >> say good night, ahmed. >> i kill you. >> john berman for "nightline" in new york. >> what does he do if they lose his luggage.

>> i guess that's why he rides the bus. coming up next, what weighs tens of millions of tons and costs that much for cities to get rid of. we break down the month in snow by the numbers. i have what science calls the "nightly stuffy nose thing": i can't breathe... so i can't sleep... and the next day i pay for it. i tried decongestants... i tossed & turned... i even vaporized! and then i fought back: with new drug-free breathe right advanced. these nasal strips instantly opened my nose, like a breath of fresh air. i was breathing and sleeping better! [ female announcer ] exercise your right to breathe right... get two free strips at breatheright.com. hey, it's your right to breathe right!

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during cold and flu season. that's why lysol created a healthy way to wash hands and developed healthy habits programs for schools with a pediatrician. for healthy tips and more visit lysol.com/missionforhealth. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> you know how convicts deprived of hope sometimes tally the days of their sentence on the warms of their cell? well, tonight, we're keeping a grim tally of our own, and it has to do with the snow that mother nature has dumped on the greater northeastern united

states. here is john donvan with a relentless jan by the numbers. >> reporter: snow by the numbers. well, we could have sent an intern out to count snowflakes for you but anticipating an awkward call from his mother, we offer these instead. 1/11. >> we have now had the snowiest januarys in new york city's history. >> reporter: 1,000. the number of times you could fill the empire state building with all the snow that's fallen on the city this season. 21 million tons. that's the amount of snow that's fallen on boston so far this winter. 37 million, that's the amount that's fallen on philadelphia. $38 million, that's what new york had in its budget for know removal. $0 million, that's what new york has left in that budget now, and it's still on january. 3 1/2. the number of feet of snow on the roof it took to collapse this warehouse in massachusetts. number of hours it took these

two guys trapped inside their car to be freed, they don't want to count. >> i was in some trouble and didn't know if i was going to make it. >> reporter: 66. the number of years that hartford, connecticut's previous snowfall record stood before it was smashed by this season's 57 inches. thrice, that means three times, which is how to describe the hour that president obama spent in heavy traffic between the airport and the white house last night. three times longer than he usually has to. but at least when he got home, the lights were on, because 300,000 plus, that's the number of homes in the d.c. area that lost power last night when it was hit by thunder snow, which sounds like this -- >> wow! that is crazy. >> reporter: 700. that's new jersey's tally for car accidents in the past 48 hours. 2,853. the number of flights canceled due to weather on wednesday. 24,867, that's the number of flikts canceled for that reason

for the past month. and finally, 30 to 1. the number's advantage these kids had against our camera man who stopped to film this snowball fight. and that better not be our intern in that. >> 51 days until spring. thanks to john donvan. when we come back, protests in the arab world. but first, here's what's coming up next with jimmy kimmel. >> jimmy: on the show tonight, ryan seacrest is here. from "the fighter," melissa leo. music from cage the elephant and "this week in unnecessary censorship." "jimmy kimmel live" is next. 43q lysol believes kids shouldn't miss school

during cold and flu season. that's why lysol created a healthy way to wash hands and developed healthy habits programs for schools with a pediatrician. for healthy tips and more visit lysol.com/missionforhealth.

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