There's no doubt that The Exorcist is the most terrifying movie ever made. It's not blood and guts horror that makes this film crawl under your skin, but instead it's the fact that most people brought up with some sense of religion can relate to this movie through rumors, stories, and passages from the Bible. We see it as something that could happen, and rightly so, since the movie was based on an actual occurrence.
The movie presents a tale of possession in the District of Columbia where a young girl falls victim to a demonic entity.
This entity changes the girl's persona, levitates objects, spews forth explicitives (not to mention pea soup), and even causes the death of several individuals.
After the failure of psychiatrists and medical doctors, Regan - the young girl in question - is finally brought to the attention of the Catholic Church; and after several tests, an exorcism is performed.
Looking much like a mini-apocalypse, the exorcism lasts for was seems like twenty minutes before Father Damien entices the demon into his own body and throws himself from the window, killing himself and destroying the demon as well.
How much of this elaborate story is true?
William Peter Blatty was a twenty year old English major at Georgetown University when he came across what would become the ultimate inspiration for his masterpiece. An article in the Washington Post on August 20th 1949 told of a fourteen year old boy freed from possession by a Catholic priest.
The boy in question is often said to be thirteen or fourteen years old, and he is usually referred to as either "Roland Doe" or "John Hoffman", but neither of these are his correct name.
It seems that most of the information for the exorcism came from a mysterious diary kept by one of the attending priests that remains a peculiar artifact even to this day. Some of the entries (variously published in Fate Magazine and Thomas Allen's Possessed) appear below:
January 15th, 1949:
Dripping noises were heard in Doe's grandmother's bedroom by Doe and his grandmother. A picture of Jesus on the wall began shaking and scratching noises were heard under the floor. From that night on, these scratching noises were heard every night from seven until midnight. This continued for ten days. After three days of silence, the boy heard footsteps that continued for six consecutive nights.
January 26th, 1949:
Doe's Aunt Dorothy, who had a deep interest in spirituality and had introduced Doe to the Ouija Board, died at the age of 54. Mrs. Doe suspected there may have been some connection between her death and the strange events that continued to take place. The spirit, in question, even began to identity itself as the Aunt.
February 26th, 1949:
Scratches and markings began appearing on Doe's body for four consecutive nights. After the fourth night, words began to appear and seemed to be scratched in by claws. A Catholic priest was consulted, and he said to sprinkle holy water throughout the house. This only seemed to aggravate the spirit though.
March 11th, 1949:
Father Bowdern arrived on the scene. After Doe retired at eleven in the evening, Bowdern read the Novena prayer of St. Francis Xavier, blessed the boy with a relic - a piece of bone from the arm of St. Francis Xavier - and put a crucifix under the boy's pillow. The relatives left and Bowdern soon departed. Afterwards, a loud noise was heard in Doe's room and many of his relatives rushed to the scene. They reportedly found that a large book case had moved, a bench had been turned over, and the crucifix had been moved to the edge of the bed.
March 16th, 1949:
Arch-Bishop Ritter gave Bowdern permission to begin the formal rite of exorcism. That night, accompanied by Father Bishop and Father Halloran, Bowdern began reciting the ritual prayers of exorcism.
Throughout March and into April, Doe was moved back and forth between the home of his Aunt in Missouri, a close-by church, and a hospital in St. Louis.
The exorcism rite was an ongoing process. Instructions in the ritual tell the priest to "pronounce the exorcism in a commanding and authoritative voice." The Roman Ritual of Christian Exorcism reads: "I cast thee out, thou unclean spirit, along with the least encroachment of the wicked enemy and every phantom and diabolical legion..."
After initial failures in which one priest was jammed in the arm with a bed spring, and a portrait of a devil appeared on Doe's calf, Bowdern decided to research some exorcism cases and came to the conclusion that he would wear religious talismans and hold a crucifix while the rites were performed.
During what would be the final exorcism, Doe erupted crying something to the sort of, "Satan! I am Saint Michael! I command you to leave this body now!" The boy spasmed violently before uttering, "He is gone." The boy later claimed to have seen a vision of Saint Michael expelling the demon.
Though largely accepted as a true story, the case of the exorcism has turned into a bit of an urban legend. The family involved was kept secret for the most part, so nobody has ever verified the story with first hand accounts. In addition, nobody can seem to pinpoint the exact location of the possession. Some say Mount Rainer, Maryland, and others say Cotton City, Maryland.
The fascination with possession cases stems from our own fear and terror regarding such a possibility. Maybe that makes us more ready to belief a few twisted facts and urban myths than we would normally believe. Then again, maybe it's all true. Because even though Blatty was motivated to make a few bucks off the matter, the boy in question has never stepped forward. If the stories were false, why wouldn't he just come forward and cash in on the matter like everyone else? The only thing that could be holding him back are bad memories of true events.
But until somebody steps forward, I guess we'll never know either way.