The Exorcist: Discover the true and disturbing story behind the movie and novel

"Oh Priest of Christ, you know that I am the Devil..."

Story originally filed: August 5, 2005

On its release in 1973, the The Exorcist movie caused extreme reactions. People either loved it or hated it. Ironically, the Catholic Church praised The Exorcist as "deeply spiritual," while some sections of the press slammed it as "sickening, gruesome and hateful." Audience response to this powerful story of demonic possession was no less extreme. Within weeks of the first public screening, stories were circulating of people fainting, vomiting and having heart attacks, as well as miscarriages. Yet the mainly black audiences in Harlem were reported to have enjoyed the film so much, they made a party of it, drinking beers, passing joints, and yelling along with the dialogue.

The movie's story centers around actress Chris MacNeil's 12-year-old daughter Regan (played by Linda Blair), who becomes possessed by a demonic entity. During the possession, the previously innocent and good-natured Regan indulges in all manner of shocking behavior, including masturbating with a crucifix, yelling obscenities, and vomiting over the Catholic priest who comes to exorcise her. Paranormal events also occur. In one scene, Regan levitates high above her bed and on other occasions furniture and ornaments move of their own volition.

Strange affliction

The movie was based on the 1972 novel The Exorcist by American writer William Peter Blatty. Although a work of fiction, the inspiration for the book came from a real-life case of apparent demonic possession. In William Blatty On The Exorcist: From Novel To Film (1974), Blatty recalls how in 1949 - as a twenty-year-old student at Georgetown University, Washington DC - he heard about a youth from nearby Mount Rainier, Maryland, who had become the victim of demonic possession, and had been cured by a priest. The story was covered by the Washington Post, but details were scant. However, it was later established as fact that a 14-year-old boy, referred to as Robbie Mannheim or John Hoffman (his real identity is still protected), had an unusual affliction, which had been exacerbated by the death of his aunt Harriet, a self-professed medium, whom he was very close to.

Robbie, an only child, shared his aunt's passion for spiritualism, learning from her how to contact the dead using a Quija board. Whether this accounted for the difficult-to-explain disturbances - such as untraceable dripping - which occurred in the Mannheim home prior to Harriet's death is hard to say. But one thing is certain, shortly after her death on January 26, 1949, the disturbances increased dramatically. Strange scratching noises started coming from the walls of the Mannheim's house and also from within the boy's mattress. Assuming it was rodents, exterminators were called in, but nothing was found, leaving the Mannheims puzzled.

Sinister happenings

Things then took a sinister turn. Not only did the noises become more frequent, but during the night Robbie would be woken by the violent shaking of his bed, often to find the furniture rearranged around the room. Fearing their property was haunted, the family fled the house and waited for the activity to subside. It soon became clear that the phenomena was not centered on the house, but on Robbie himself; at school, for example, his desk moved around the classroom as if it were on wheels.

Robbie's health also appeared to deteriorate. He began to complain of internal pains and would lapse into blackouts. During the blackouts, the psychokinetic phenomena became particularly intense; amongst other things, fruit and ornaments would fly around the house. Later, Robbie started to babble incoherently while he was unconscious; he also became violent and eventually had to be put under restraint. Doctors could not offer a diagnosis. A physics professor, having witnessed Robbie's bedside table levitate, could only say: "There is much we have yet to discover concerning the nature of electromagnetism."

Concluding that Robbie was possessed, in all probability by Aunt Harriet, the family tried ordering the entity to leave. It didn't. What's more, it soon began to look as if several personalities were now lurking within Robbie's troubled psyche. In desperation, the family contacted their Lutheran minister, the Reverend Schulze. He didn't believe in demonic possession. But when Robbie stayed overnight at his house and he witnessed Robbie's bed shaking and a heavy armchair moving of its own volition, Shulze told the Mannheims, "You have to see a Catholic priest. The Catholics know about things like this."

Know that I am the Devil

The Mannheims followed this advice and soon after were visited by Father E. Albert Hughes. On seeing the priest, Robbie immediately became vicious and obscene. Interestingly, when Hughes heard Robbie's "incoherent babble", he recognized it as Latin, a language the boy had never studied. At one point, Robbie stated in Latin: "O Sacerdos Christi, tu scis me esse diabolim" (Oh Priest of Christ, you know that I am the Devil). By February 27, Robbie had been admitted to the Jesuit-run Georgetown University Hospital and the 29-year-old Hughes, having obtained official sanction from the Catholic Church, set about exorcising the boy.

He failed. On March 4, after five nights, the exorcism - performed according to the dictates of the "Rituale Romanum" liturgy of 1614 - came to an abrupt end when Robbie worked a bedspring free and sliced Hughes down the length of his arm. The wound, requiring 100 stitches, permanently disabled the priest, leaving him unable to perform Mass unaided again. Perhaps because the exorcism was a failure, Hughes involvement with the case was not revealed publicly and the Catholic church decreed that all records concerning the exorcism be sealed. Hughes himself refused for years to talk about the exorcism, even to colleagues. Towards the end of his life, however, he talked through the events with his curate, Father Frank Bober. "Speaking in tongues, levitation, puking, he said all that was valid," recalls Bober. "There are some things that you just can't explain medically, because the boy supposedly not only spoke Latin but ancient Aramaic and ancient Hebrew - I mean, languages you don't just pick up."

Divine intervention After the failure of Hughes's exorcism, the Mannheim family went to stay with relatives in St.Louis, where another priest was consulted - the 52-year-old, and more worldly, William Bowdern. He had Robbie placed in a secure ward at the Alexian Brothers Hospital and assisted by fellow priests Raymond Bishop and Walter Halloran, Bowdern set about exorcising the boy. Despite their best efforts, Robbie's condition became even more inexplicable, with blotched "writing" manifesting on his skin, starting with the word "Hell" and going on to more complex messages.

After gaining permission from his archbishop, Bowdern began a further exorcism and was subjected to a barrage of projectile vomiting, flung excreta, and obscene taunting. Even worse, the young Father Halloran, an athlete, suffered a broken nose while trying to hold Robbie down. The ritual continued for four weeks. Then finally, on the night of April 18, Saint Michael apparently entered into Robbie. "Satan! I am Saint Michael," announced Robbie/Saint Michael. "And I command you, Satan, and the other evil spirits, to leave this body in the name of Dominus. Immediately! Now! Now! Now!" At this, Robbie's symptoms abruptly vanished. To be certain this was not more devilish trickery, Bowdern asked for a sign to confirm the success of the exorcism and a sound like a gunshot echoed through the corridors of the hospital. Robbie was duly dispatched home.

Although Bowdern's participation in the exorcism was never officially acknowledged, William Peter Blatty contacted him in the mid-sixties when he was considering writing a non-fiction book about the case. "He was eager to help (with the project) but then the Archbishop wouldn't give him permission because of the family," says Blatty. "They were aghast at the thought of this ever being released - which, of course, inflamed my belief in the phenomenon because these were not wacky, over-credulous priests. Something peculiar had happened and they did not want the world to know."

Blatty, by then a successful Hollywood comedy writer, decided to fictionalize the case instead, protecting the identity of the boy, by making his central character a 12-year-old girl. The novel The Exorcist became a world-wide best-seller and Blatty later became the producer and ultimately Oscar-winning screenwriter of the film.

Forgotten diary

The story did not end there. In 1978, when a wing of the Alexian Brothers Hospital was to be demolished, workmen prized open the door to a fifth-floor room in the wing for the seriously disturbed. It had not been occupied in the 29 years since the exorcism, having induced spasms of fear in several people. In the drawer of the bedside table, a faded diary was found, containing a record of what happened in 1949. This was given to Father Halloran, by then the only surviving priest from the exorcism conducted there. In 1988, he gave an interview to the Lincoln Star, Nebraska, finally revealing all.

Washington-based author, Thomas B Allen, saw the story and decided to follow up the case. After locating Halloran (by then ailing in a retirement home), he pieced together his book, Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism, the definitive study of the case. "He (Halloran) felt that he had actually fought with the Devil," says Allen, "and he wanted subsequent exorcists to have something to go on."

Snippets

Was The Exorcist movie cursed?

Rumor has it that a curse surrounded the making of The Exorcist movie. Nine people died during production, most notably Jack MacGowran, who died shortly after he had completed his scenes as Burke Dennings. To add to this, the son of actor Jason Miller (who played Father Karras) was struck by a speeding motorbike on the beach; and Ellen Burstyn (who played Regan's mother) had her back injured as she was yanked across the floor by wires during the crucifix masturbation scene. Meanwhile, the set of The Exorcist burned down during production, delaying the film for 6 weeks.

"All those rumours of a curse were total nonsense," insists William Peter Blatty, the author of The Exorcist novel. "Billy Friedkin (the director) had fallen vastly behind schedule, and he gave an interview to Newsweek magazine blaming it all on devils. The next thing, reports about all these troubling occurrences started circulating. But for God's sake, if you shoot something for a year, people are going to get hurt, people are going to die... these things just happen."

Can possession be positive?

While the Christian religion regards spirit possession as an inherently evil phenomenon, other religions see it as a form of divine inspiration. In the Brazilian Macumba, a spiritist religion related to Voodoo, devotees regularly become possessed by their gods during trance. This is seen as a healthy and positive event. During the 1970s Maria Jose, a Macumban priestess, explained to French writer Serge Bramly that it is "a great honor to receive a god. I think that once the trance is over the mediums think only of their luck in having lent their bodies to the gods."

Devotees of Macumba also see possession as being beneficial to the community as a whole. "The mediums lend their bodies to the gods in order for them to become incarnate; so that they can be with us, speak to us, answer our questions, give us strength," continued Maria Jose. "It's a kind of exchange. We give life to the gods, and they in return agree to help us."

Plot of The Exorcist movie

Well-known actress Chris MacNeil (played by Ellen Burstyn) seeks medical help when her 12-year-old daughter, Regan (Linda Blair), exhibits strange behavior. Doctors perform many tests but find no physical or psychological problem. Chris, an atheist, rejects doctors' suggestions that she take religious counsel. But when Regan begins moving furniture around the house by telekinesis and becomes so violent that she has to be tied to the bed, Chris seeks the help of Father Karras (Jason Miller). During his visits, Karras is confronted by a gross-looking Regan, who utters profanity in a deep voice and has convulsions. She can also open drawers without touching them and speaks English backwards.

The priest believes Regan is possessed and recommends an exorcism. Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow) is contacted and arrives in the middle of a foggy night. Karras and Merrin enter Regan's room to battle the demon. During the exorcism ceremony, Merrin dies of heart failure. The demon is finally defeated. however, when Karras commands the demon to leave the girl's body and enter his own. At which point, he hurls himself to his death through Regan's bedroom window. His sacrifice is her salvation.

Interview with the author of The Exorcist novel

William Peter Blatty is the author of the best-selling novel The Exorcist (1972), which was inspired by a real-life case of possession that occurred in 1949. Jimmy Lee Shreeve (AKA Doktor Snake) asked him whether he personally believes in spirits?

WILLIAM BLATTY: From religious faith, from the universal phenomenon of so-called "possession", and from direct and irrefutable evidence - personal experiences - I feel absolutely certain of the existence of spirits, souls, and the afterlife. Carl Jung doubtless had it right: the "other side" is here, beside us, a universe unseen because, like the blades of a propeller, it exists at a much higher frequency than ours.

JIMMY LEE SHREEVE: In recent years, the Catholic Church has tried to play down the role of exorcism in favor of a more psychological approach. What is your opinion on this?

WILLIAM BLATTY: The recent updating of the ritual of exorcism has been widely misunderstood - at least in the U.S. press - misreported in its "new" recognition of psychiatric disorders as the cause of reported possessions. In a warning to would-be exorcists the Acts of the Synod of Rheims stated, in part, that most usually people who thought themselves to be possessed "are more in need of a doctor than of a priest." That warning was issued in the year 1583.

JIMMY LEE SHREEVE: To what degree are you a Catholic? And Why? I ask this because wavering faith is one of the major themes in The Exorcist novel and film.

WILLIAM BLATTY: I am a "relaxed" but practicing Catholic. Without faith I have nothing, I am nothing. Without faith we have no hope of changing human nature, which message I believe was at the heart of Christ's message to suffering humanity. Without faith life would have to be perceived as a well-told but very cruel and pointless joke.

JIMMY LEE SHREEVE: Some commentators dismissed The Exorcist movie as being very negative - particularly the ending - despite the fact that you and the film's director made every effort to make it clear that the film was offering a positive message. How would you describe the essential message of both the novel and the film?

WILLIAM BLATTY: The message was that evil's strongest temptation was that we give in to despair; that we come to believe we are fundamentally vile and bestial creatures, so much more apes than angels that even if there were a God, He could not possibly love us. This was the Jesuit Karras's problem, which at the last was overcome by "the problem of goodness" - how, if we are no more than fundamental particles of matter, that ought always to be blindly seeking selfish ends, can there be love such as that shown by Karras when he offers up his life to save that of a girl whom he's never really ever met.