When Barry Austin first bought the mower, it purred like a kitten.

“It worked perfectly up until this year. That’s when the demons got it,” he said.

And once the demons got into it, he said there was no going back.

“It just went ballistic,” he said.

He says the motor starts sputtering, and then it cuts out.

“Then when you get on the hill side there it gets worse, and the longer you mow with it the worse it gets,” he said.

It was enough to finally push him to post an ad on Craigslist. The ad is titled “Push mower – possessed – $45.” The ad claims it will “continue to act evil until it starts to run out of gas.”

His son Adam says he cracked up when he saw the ad — not realizing it was his own dad who posted it.

“Every time I’ve used it, I felt uneasy, like if something bad were about to happen,” Adam said.

He claims it has a demon. But when he’s mowing — does it ever projectile vomit? Does the head spin around? Has he seen it levitate?

“I levitated it a couple of times down that hill,” Barry said.

Bill Snelson at Deal’s Small Engine says there are other likely causes.

“Valve adjustments, periodic maintenance, changing the fuel out and putting 100 percent fuel in. Filtering the system a little better,” Snelson said.

And with such a bizarre sales pitch, it wasn’t long until someone took the bait.

“They came back to my office and said you need to read this ad. And when I read it, i cracked up. So after I read it, i said ‘i’ll buy it,'” John Dunn said.

And is he worried about the demons?

“I’ve got several good friends who are pastors, so we’ll run it by them if it gets that bad,” he said.

The ads ask for $45 or “$25 and a fifth of good bourbon.” Dunn bought it for $45 — which Barry donated to help the East Tennessee tornado victims.