What happened
In early 1949, in a family home in Cottage City, Maryland, shortly after the death of a spiritualist aunt who had taught the only child to use a Ouija board, scratching and knocking were reportedly heard, and furniture and objects moved near the boy – later called “Roland Doe” or “Robbie”. The family’s Lutheran pastor had the boy stay overnight at his home and claimed to have seen an armchair tilt by itself. The family turned to the Catholic Church. When scratches spelling the word “LOUIS” appeared on the boy’s body, they travelled to relatives in St. Louis. There the Jesuits William Bowdern, Raymond Bishop and Walter Halloran performed exorcisms for several weeks, first at the relatives’ house and then at the Alexian Brothers Hospital. Father Bishop kept a detailed diary. In April 1949 the exorcists concluded that the boy was free.
Witnesses
The boy’s family, Pastor Luther Miles Schulze, the Jesuits William Bowdern, Raymond Bishop and Walter Halloran, hospital staff; Father Bishop kept the exorcism diary.
Explanations and hypotheses
In August 1949 The Washington Post reported the case, and Georgetown University student William Peter Blatty later based his novel “The Exorcist” (1971) on it; the film followed in 1973. Researchers such as Mark Opsasnick showed that many elements of the legend – for instance the boy attacking a priest at Georgetown hospital – are unconfirmed, and acquaintances remembered him as a prankster. Father Halloran himself said he could not state that it was a possession. The boy, who lived to old age, was only identified publicly in 2021.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.
Sources
- Mark Opsasnick, The Haunted Boy: The Inspiration for The Exorcist (Strange Magazine, 1999)
- Thomas B. Allen, Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism (Doubleday, 1993)
- Saint Louis University, Universitas – Exorcism Exposé (2014)
- The Guardian – Boy whose case inspired The Exorcist is named by US magazine (2021)
More: Wikipedia (en)