Yeah, it's easy to say the evil spirits are metaphorical. And maybe they are. Many years ago I read an autobiography from a man who had a very bad gambling addiction. One of his anecdotes was when he would take a girlfriend with him to the casino. And in every case, they broke up with him after they saw how horrible he was while gambling. One of his ex's even told him he was demon possessed, after she saw what a monster he changed into on the game table.

It's an excellent metaphor.

But what if it's more than that?