THE EXORCIST - TRUE STORY BEHIND THE FILM
PART ONE
In 1971, one of the most popular horror stories of all time was written. And in 1973, the film, 'The Exorcist' was aired for the first time on the big screen. A film based on the true paranormal events and exorcism of a boy named, Roland Doe.
The writer, William Peter Blatty became inspired to write this book after he discovered diaries of the exorcism, written by the Jesuit Priests - during and after Rev. William S. Bowdern's repeated attempts to exorcise 13-year-old Roland Doe.
In 1949, William Blatty was an English major student at Georgetown University, when he began reading the newspaper articles about the exorcism of Roland Doe. He later approached his lecturer, Rev. Thomas Bermingham informing him of the story. The Reverend then went on to conduct further investigations and discovered that the diaries of Roland Doe had in fact been chronicled by the Jesuit Priests.
It was unfortunate for Blatty, but he was unable to get permission (at that time) to read the diaries, therefore, he had to turn to lengthy newspaper investigations, which resulted in some amazing discoveries:
In January 1949, Roland Doe and his dysfunctional family began experiencing strange occurrences in their home. The location is still undecided for many reasons - one being:
Years later, Blatty contacted Father Bowdern during the making of the film, 'The Exorcist'. Blatty asked if he should visit the Doe family, but the Father became insistent that the family’s location remain secret to protect the boy. However, I can say, it was either Maryland, USA, or Mount Rainer, USA.
Wherever the true place is, it is known that the family's troubles began with minor disturbances, such as scratching sounds heard in various locations of their home (usually coming from the ceiling or the walls). This led the family to suspect rodent infestation. However, after contacting a rodent extermination firm, who carried out a full investigation, they concluded that the house was free of infestation.
It was not long after this when the cause of these disruptions began taking on a more dramatic and sinister role and Roland Doe was to become the unfortunate victim of this relentless phenomenon.
When Roland was in bed, he began experiencing violent bed shaking episodes and sheets being dragged off. These incidents increased and could often be heard and witnessed by the family.
As Roland's family became convinced these attacks were genuine, they also started to link Roland's fascination with the Ouija board as the cause. Roland began to dabble with this 'game' thanks to his Aunt Tillie, who introduced him to it before she died on January 26th, 1949 - eleven days before the start of the paranormal activity.
Although Roland's mother suspected Aunt Tillie was the cause of the haunting, the family had to act soon as concern grew for Roland's welfare.
Roland was baptized a Lutheran after birth, therefore the family called in the help of two Lutheran ministers - one being Rev. Luther Schultze and the other is unknown. Accompanying them was a Rabbi, who was only there because of his knowledge in this type of suspected phenomena.
While Roland was being assessed (all this was written in the Jesuit diaries), all of a sudden Roland began ranting in a language he had no previous knowledge of.
The two Lutheran ministers had no clue what Roland was saying, however, the Rabbi understood every word...Roland was speaking the rabbi's native tongue of Hebrew fluently!
41 Jesuit priests signed to say Rowland Doe's possession was genuine at the end...
Read the rest of this fascinating story The Exorcist - True Story Behind The Film in 'World Mysteries and True Ghost Tales' bestselling Paperback/kindle available from:
World Mysteries & True Ghost Tales Kindle
Paperback and kindle available from Amazon. (NB: You don't need a kindle to read a kindle book, just download a free kindle PC app in seconds from Amazon):
Available on: Amazon.com
Or Amazon.co.uk
Back to home page click on this
Scroll down to comment:
By, J Reynolds (aka, eyepriestess) (Copyright 2009, World Mysteries And True Ghost Tales).