A priest had to perform between 20 and 30 interventions of the ancient rite of exorcism to be freed from the demon that possessed it, the case was published in 1949 in the Washington Post.
50 years ago the premiere of the film “The Exorcist”, considered the best horror film to date, now we tell you the story in which it was inspired.
In August 1949 the media received information of a shocking case that had remained hidden, but it was announced on August 20 this year in a Washington Post publication where it revealed that a 14-year-old had been subjected to an exorcism process on several occasions and the result had been successful.
“For what is perhaps one of the most outstanding experiences of its kind in recent religious history, a 14-year-old mountaineer from Mount Rainier has been handed over to the possession of the devil by a priest, Catholic sources reported yesterday,” said the cover article.
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The publication claimed that 20 to 30 interventions were needed to be freed from the devil: “Only after 20 to 30 interventions of the ancient rite of exorcism, here in St. Louis, the demon was finally expelled from the young man “.
According to the chronicle, the religious in charge was the chronicler Bill Brinkley and it was he who accompanied the young man for several months.
“At all stages except the last three, the teenager erupted in an attack of screams, insults and shouts of phrases in Latin, which he did not know, when the priest reached the culmination of the ritual, to say ‘ in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I cast out the devil from you, ‘”the text described.
The ecclesiastical authorities hid the identity of the young man to protect him, the case became known under the pseudonym of Roland Doe and over time the surprising and unusual story became known.
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In the chronicles they narrated that the young person began to give samples of strange behaviors from the death of a woman of his family who was dedicated to the spiritualism. Among other things, she heard noises at all hours in the house, walked around it at night and had various attacks, which included screaming and crying.
The young man’s family began contacting different medical experts, but none gave a specific diagnosis of what was happening.
According to the Washington Post article, the young man was first taken to Georgetown University Hospital and another to St. Louis, both Jesuit institutions.
“Finally, both hospitals, as reported by the priest in charge of the intervention, stated that they were not able to cure the child by natural means,” according to the article.
The exorcism was carried out “by a Jesuit priest of about 50 years who was engaged in the work through prayers.”
The publication describes, “In a show of his total devotion to his mission, the priest personally witnessed various manifestations of the young man while he slept.”
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The priest practically lived in the young man’s house because he was with him during the day and night. He also accompanied her to hospitals to assess what was the best time to start new rite sessions. According to the publication, during the ritual sessions, the teenager’s reactions were similar: he even insulted and spoke in Latin, in addition to being irritable.
The story had a happy ending because after the last session the young man did not have another strange episode again. The case became famous all over the world and now has versions of all kinds.
William Peter Blatty and the film
“A priest frees a young man from the clutches of the devil” was the headline of the Washington Post 71 years ago and what caught the attention of William Peter Blatty, who was a college student in Georgetown, in the American capital.
Photo of Warner Bros.
No one expected the headline of one of the country’s most important newspapers to be the kick-off for a story that would come to light two decades later.
For years history obsessed Blatty about to get soaked in the subject looking for information in the archives, church records, interviewing priests, all he knew enough about religion and especially Catholicism for his studies at the Jesuit university.
As he explained in various interviews years later, over the course of several months he read “all the books on possession that had been published in English since 1940.”
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However, he found it difficult to reconstruct the case as it had happened. Then he opted for fiction. In fact, he changed some details about the newspaper news he had read in his youth and wrote about a girl who was subjected to an exorcism.
In 1971, the novel “The Exorcist” would hit bookstores, selling 13 million copies in the United States alone and remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for 57 consecutive weeks.
Two years later, and starring actress Linda Blair, he adapted the novel for the film version of one of the most memorable horror stories of all time.
Few knew then that these scenes that made everyone tremble from the screen had taken place in real life.