The Science of Monsters

In 1973, audiences lined up in droves to see The Exorcist. Footage from that era shows people excited to enter the movie theater, akin to Black Friday shoppers, with smiles on their faces. The footage of audiences exiting tells a different story; people look noticeably freaked out. Some even reportedly fainted or vomited during the movie. Whether you saw the iconic movie in the theater when it first came out or years later, it certainly leaves a lasting impression. The Exorcist was based on a novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, which came to life after Blatty read an article about a fourteen-year-old boy who was possessed by demons. The article stated that a priest performed an exorcism and the boy was able to go on with his life. The idea stuck with Blatty and the novel (1971) was written after years of research. He was able to talk to the priest who performed the exorcism and changed some details in order to protect the boy’s anonymity.

The exorcism of Robbie Doe, or Roland, has been investigated and refuted by some but the facts remain. In 1949, a boy was hospitalized and more than one priest performed the exorcism ritual on him. The story begins with the family of the boy reporting strange happenings in their home: objects flying around the boy, his bed shaking, and scratching noises in the walls. Their local pastor put them in touch with a priest who claimed to have witnessed the same phenomenon when around the boy. On August 19th, 1949, The Evening Star in Washington, D.C., featured the article “ Priest Freed Boy of Possession by Devil, Church Sources Say.”¹ The article opens by saying, “A Catholic priest has successfully freed a fourteen-year-old Mount Rainier, Maryland, boy of reported possession by the devil here early this year, it was disclosed today.” The article also states that the boy was studied at both Georgetown University Hospital and St. Louis University.

What really happened to Robbie Doe? According to the book Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism,² author Thomas B. Allen says “the consensus of today’s experts” is that “Robbie was just a deeply disturbed boy, nothing supernatural about him.” Another writer, Mark Opsasnick, states “Roland Doe was simply a spoiled, disturbed bully who threw deliberate tantrums to get attention or to get out of school.”³ Religious experts insist that true demonic possession cannot be explained by psychiatry. Whether this case was true or not, it certainly inspired The Exorcist novel and film, which sparked a large public interest in exorcisms and Catholicism.

Are there other documented examples of exorcisms? The exorcism of Anneliese Michel is another well-known case which served as the basis for the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005). When Anneliese was sixteen years old she suffered a seizure and was later diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy, a chronic condition. The seizures associated with this disorder can cause hallucinations, amnesia, and unprovoked fear or anxiety. She was later diagnosed with depression and spent years being treated with medication. After several years, Anneliese developed an aversion to religious objects and claimed to hear voices. She showed aggressive traits, harmed herself, and ate insects while hospitalized. She and her family became convinced that she was possessed by a demon and appealed to the Catholic Church to have an exorcism performed on her. In 1975, permission was granted and exorcism sessions were conducted by two priests over the course of ten months. In 1976, Anneliese died of malnutrition and dehydration. Her autopsy found that she weighed only sixty-eight pounds and had pneumonia at the time of her death. The priests and her parents were all found guilty of negligent homicide, a charge brought against those who knowingly allow someone else to die when it could have been prevented, and were sentenced to six months in jail.

There are other, more recent examples of exorcisms gone wrong. In 2003, an autistic eight-year-old boy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was killed during an exorcism by church members who blamed a demonic possession for his disability. In 2005, a young nun in Romania died at the hands of a priest during an exorcism after being bound to a cross, gagged, and left for days without food or water in an effort to expel demons. In 2010, a fourteen-year-old boy in London, England, was beaten and drowned to death by relatives trying to exorcise an evil spirit from him.