After the
Movie
Media interest peaked after the movie’s release and
subsequent success. The most fascinating and in-depth article ever to
appear on the subject appeared in the January 1975 edition of
Fate magazine. In a feature titled “The Truth Behind The
Exorcist,” author Steve Erdmann reveals never-before-known information
regarding the facts behind the story.
Erdmann begins his account
by providing the readers with basic background information. The
14-year-old Mount Rainier boy, referred to in the aforementioned “diary”
as “Roland Doe,” became possessed by an “invisible entity” after he and
his “Aunt Tillie” began experimenting with an Ouija Board in January
1949. He was treated at D.C.’s Georgetown University Hospital before
having the demon successfully exorcised by Jesuit priests at St. Louis
University. Erdmann’s article is highly significant because in it he
tells of a “diary” kept by one of the priests involved in the exorcism
(which first came to light in the book William Peter Blatty On The
Exorcist From Novel To Film). The article includes extensive quotes
from that document to illustrate Erdmann’s story.
Erdmann also
explains that during the fall of 1949 an unnamed Georgetown University
student, whose father was a psychiatrist at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in
Washington, D.C. and may have been involved in the case, told Georgetown
faculty member Father Eugene B. Gallagher, S.J., of the existence of the
mysterious diary. Father Gallagher obtained from the psychiatrist a
16-page diary-like document written as a guide for future exorcisms.
William Peter Blatty, according to Erdmann, was a student of
Gallagher’s at the time and repeatedly asked his teacher for a copy of
the diary. In the spring of 1950 Father Gallagher loaned the diary to
then-Georgetown University dean Father Brian McGrath, S.J. When Father
Gallagher attempted to retrieve the diary, he was told by Father
McGrath’s secretary that only nine carbon pages remained. Erdmann
wonders whether or not the diary had somehow found its way into Blatty’s
hands.
The bulk of the article consists of reprints from the
diary and details given by Father Gallagher, who was relating
information supplied to him by Father O’Hara of Marquette University—an
actual eyewitness and participant in the exorcism rite administered on
Roland Doe. The following information is paraphrased from these
sources.
Titled “Case Study by Jesuit Priests,” the diary begins
by supplying background information on “Roland Doe” (born 6-1-35), son
of “Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Doe” (obvious pseudonyms). It states that the
family lives in a middle-class Washington suburban
development.
January 15, 1949—A dripping noise was heard in his
grandmother’s bedroom by the boy and his grandmother. A picture of
Christ on the wall shook and scratching noises were heard under the
floor boards. From that night on scratching was heard every night from 7
p.m. until midnight. This continued for ten consecutive days. After
three days of silence, the boy heard nighttime “squeaking shoes” on his
bed that continued for six consecutive nights. (Note that the article
and presumably the diary makes no mention as to which family members
actually witnessed or were present when these events
transpired.)
January 26, 1949—“Aunt Tillie,” who had a deep
interest in spiritualism and had introduced Roland to the Ouija Board,
died of multiple sclerosis at the age of 54. Mrs. Doe suspected there
may have been some connection between her death and the seemingly
strange events that continued to take place. At one point during the
manifestations Mrs. Doe asked, “If you are Tillie, knock three times.”
Waves of air began striking the grandmother, Mrs. Doe, and Roland and
three knocks were heard on the floor. Mrs. Doe again queried, “If you
are Tillie, tell me positively by knocking four times.” Four knocks were
heard, followed by claw scratchings on Roland’s mattress. (At various
points throughout this ordeal Mrs. Doe would attempt to verbally
communicate with Aunt Tillie, apparently alternating her beliefs that
the problems with her son were either the work of the devil or their
departed relative.)
February 17, 1949—On this night a local
Lutheran minister named Reverend Shultz [sic] arranged to have the boy
spend the night at his parsonage. Roland arrived at 9:20 p.m. and stayed
until 9:20 a.m. the next morning. The Reverend reportedly heard
scratching noises, and witnessed the following: bed vibrations; a chair
in which Roland sat tipping over; and the movement of a pallet of
blankets upon which Roland sat.
February 26, 1949—Beginning on
this night scratches or markings appeared on the boy’s body for four
consecutive nights. After the fourth night words began to appear and
seemed to be scratched on by claws. (The diary indicates that at this
point only Mrs. Doe was present when the markings occurred.) Erdmann
mentions that Father Albert Hughes of St. James Catholic Church in Mount
Rainier was consulted. Hughes suggested the family use blessed candles,
holy water, and special prayers. (Erdmann’s source for this information
is not given.)
The chronology now becomes confusing. Between the
diary writer (with information supplied by Mrs. Doe) and Erdmann’s
unnamed sources a number of details are alleged. Mrs. Doe claims that
she was using the blessed candles when a comb flew across the room and
extinguished them. At different times fruit flew across the room, a
kitchen table turned over, milk and food moved off a table, a coat and
its hanger flew across the room, a Bible landed at Roland’s feet, and a
rocker in which Roland sat spun around. Roland was removed from school
because his desk moved around on the schoolroom floor.
The diary
is quoted as saying that at one point Mrs. Doe took a bottle of holy
water and sprinkled it throughout the house. When she placed the bottle
on a shelf it flew across the room on its own but did not break. One
night she held a lighted candle alongside Roland and the whole bed, Mrs.
Doe, and Roland all began moving back and forth in unison. Attempts were
made to baptize Roland Doe—it is said he responded with rage—and a
three-and-a-half day stay at Georgetown University Hospital is
mentioned. The events continued when the boy was taken to Normandy,
Missouri, during the first week of March 1949. Various relatives in
Missouri were said to have witnessed the skin brandings.
March 9,
1949—Father Raymond J. Bishop, S.J., of St. Louis University was called
in (for the first time) and witnessed the scratching of the boy’s body
and the motion of the mattress.
March 11, 1949—Father Bowdern
(described as being pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church) arrived on the
scene. After Roland retired at 11 p.m., Father Bowdern read the Novena
prayer of St. Francis Xavier, blessed the boy with a relic (a piece of
bone from the forearm of St. Francis Xavier), and fixed a
relic-encrusted crucifix under the boy’s pillow. The relatives left and
Father Bowdern and Father Bishop departed. Soon afterward, a loud noise
was heard in Roland’s room and five relatives rushed to the scene. They
reportedly found that a large book case had moved about, a bench had
been turned over, and the crucifix had been moved to the edge of the
bed. The shaking of Roland’s mattress came to a halt only after the
relatives yelled, “Aunt Tillie, stop!”
March 16, 1949—Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter
gave Father Bowdern permission to begin the formal rite of exorcism.
That night, accompanied by Father Bishop and a Jesuit scholastic (later
revealed to be Walter Halloran), Father Bowdern began reciting the
ritual prayers of exorcism.
Throughout March and into April,
Roland was confusingly moved back and forth between the home of his aunt
in Normandy, Missouri, a nearby rectory, and Alexian Brothers Hospital
in South St. Louis. The rite was an ongoing process. Instructions in the
ritual command the exorcist 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. In the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, depart and vanish from this creature of God….”
Erdmann tells of markings appearing on Roland’s body as these
proceedings continued and of the boy’s usual bad habits: outbursts
featuring excessive cursing, vomiting, urinating and the use of Latin
phrases. Erdmann also mentions that on one occasion Roland got his hand
on a bedspring, broke it, and jabbed it into a priest’s arm. (He
mentions he is not sure if this event took place in his Maryland home or
during the exorcism ritual.) Another time during a round of prayers
after Roland had been instructed into the Catholic faith and had
received his first holy communion, a six-inch portrait of the devil with
its hands held above its head, webs stretching from its hands, and horns
protruding from its head appeared in deep red on the boy’s calf. (It is
not stated who actually witnessed this.) Later, Roland was transported
back to Maryland for a short-lived visit and on one of the train rides
he became maniacal, striking Father Bowdern in the testicles and
yelling, “That’s a nutcracker for you, isn’t it?”
April 18,
1949—As the nighttime ritual continued, Father Bowdern forced Roland to
wear a chain of medals and hold a crucifix in his hands. Roland’s
demeanor changed and he calmly asked questions about the meanings of
certain Latin prayers. Bowdern continued the ritual, demanding to know
who the demon was and when he would depart. Roland responded with a
tantrum and screamed that he was one of the fallen angels. Bowdern kept
reciting until 11:00 p.m. when Roland interrupted. In a new masculine
voice Roland said, “Satan! Satan! I am St. Michael! I command you,
Satan, and the other evil spirits to leave this body, in the name of
Dominus, immediately! Now! Now! Now!” Roland had one last spasm before
falling quiet. “He is gone,” Roland pronounced, later telling Bowdern he
had had a vision of St. Michael holding a flaming sword. Twelve days
later he left Missouri and returned to Maryland.
Two of the more
influential articles to appear on this subject (at least as far as local
lore goes) can be found within the pages of The Prince George’s
Sentinel, a weekly published in Hyattsville, Maryland. Both
articles were hastily written by novice writers who apparently weren’t
too concerned with factual content and wrote down anything that was told
to them. Both pieces should be approached with caution as some valuable
information is present, though obscured at times by nagging
inaccuracies.
The first, “The Exorcist: The real incident
involved a Mt. Rainier priest in 1949,” was written by Spencer Gordon,
and appeared in the February 4, 1981 edition. The article reveals for
the first time that Father E. Albert Hughes of St. James Church in Mount
Rainier was the priest who conducted the mysterious, much-rumored first
exorcism attempt on the boy at Georgetown University Hospital. This
great revelation was made when Hughes engaged in a two-hour talk over
dinner on the night of Wednesday, October 8, 1980, with his
then-assistant pastor, Father Frank Bober. It marked the first and only
time Hughes ever spoke with Bober (who would go on to become a key
figure in this case for his high-profile media presence) about the
incident. The article states, “He mentioned few details but as they rose
from the table, they planned to resume their discussion the next week.”
However, as Gordon points out, the second discussion never took place as
Hughes died of a heart attack on October 12, 1980.
The article
tells that after psychiatrists failed to help the boy at Georgetown
University Hospital, Father Hughes was called in to perform the
exorcism. At one point the boy ripped out a bedspring and slashed the
priest’s arm (this incident was first referred to by Rev. John J. Nicola
in The Evening Star and the Washington Daily News
article by Gwen Dobson of November 3, 1972). Gordon states that the
incident allegedly had a traumatic effect on Father Hughes and that the
event had been “shrouded in mystery.” He also states that Father Hughes
went into a long seclusion after the aborted rite of exorcism. In this
article the alleged site of the family’s home is revealed for the first
time. Displayed is a photo of an empty field on a street corner,
highlighted with the caption, “Vacant lot on Bunker Hill Road in Mt.
Rainier, exorcism site.” Gordon concludes his work by writing, “The only
physical remains of the exorcism in Mt. Rainier are the steps and wall
surrounding the house where the boy lived. The house burned down years
ago and the lot is vacant.” Gordon does not reveal the full address of
the site and does not reveal who told him that that particular vacant
lot was the site. (It is noteworthy that Father Bober is not credited in
this article as the source of that information.)
Understandably,
the article kicked off a local furor as the teen population made this
location the area’s number one twilight attraction.
The second
Sentinel article, “Exorcism: Demonic possession still haunts Mt. Rainier
residents,” was authored by Brenda Caggiano and appeared in the October
28, 1983 edition, just in time for the Halloween season. This rambling
article includes rough interviews conducted with local residents and
tavern occupants, none of whom knew the possessed boy’s name. The
article did, however, name the address of 3210 Bunker Hill Road—the
vacant lot where the family’s alleged house once stood. This article
also shows a picture of the lot (with the caption “Where it happened?”)
and includes a reference to Father Bober, who “acknowledged that a boy
with demonic possession lived in the vicinity of the vacant lot at 33rd
Street and Bunker Hill Road….”
The last of the significant
newspaper articles that treated this event was also the most widely
read, appearing in The Washington Post of May 6, 1985. In an
article titled “Youth’s Bizarre Symptoms Led to 1949 Exorcism,” author
Arthur S. Brisbane provided a quick overview of the whole story, with a
special emphasis on Father Hughes’s role in the local exorcism attempt.
The article identifies the location of the boy’s home as 3210 Bunker
Hill Road in Mount Rainier, citing The Prince George’s Sentinel
article of February 4, 1981 as its source. The real significance of
this article lies in the quotes attributed to Father Frank Bober.
Discussing where the boy lived, Bober tells the reporter, “Father Hughes
never told me the exact spot (of the residence) but people who were
familiar with the case who are still living in Mt. Rainier identified
it.” Curiously, Bober does not identify the people who identified that
location. I would discover the reason later in my investigation: no such
individuals existed.
The
’90s Resurgence
The
recent release of two Exorcist-related projects and the 25th
anniversary of the film this year have rejuvenated public interest in
this case. The first to appear was the book Possessed: The True
Story Of An Exorcism which was authored by Thomas B. Allen. Two
editions appeared, a hardback published by Doubleday in July 1993 and a
more accessible paperback version issued by Bantam in April 1994. The
second item is a video titled In The Grip Of Evil, which was
produced in 1997 by Henninger Media Development Inc. of Arlington,
Virginia, in conjunction with the Discovery Channel. Thomas B.
Allen also served as story consultant and writer for this
video.
Possessed is the only book to focus entirely on
the exorcism of the possessed boy (who Allen refers to as “Robbie”) and
is essentially based on two sources: the 26-page diary (Steve Erdmann
claims the diary was 16 pages long in his January 1975 Fate
article) that Allen reveals was kept by Father Raymond Bishop; and
interviews with Father Walter H. Halloran, a then-Jesuit scholastic who
assisted in the St. Louis exorcism and is one of the few eyewitnesses
still alive who is willing to discuss his experiences. The author puts
great stock in the belief that the family always resided at 3210 Bunker
Hill Road in Mount Rainier and includes sketchy information about Father
Hughes and the first exorcism performed on the boy at Georgetown
University Hospital. Heavy emphasis is placed on the St. Louis exorcism,
where we learn that 52-year-old Father William S. Bowdern, pastor of St.
Francis Xavier Church in St. Louis conducted the final rite, assisted by
43-year-old Father Raymond Bishop, director of the St. Louis University
Department of Education. Much of the material mirrors what Steve Erdmann
printed in his January 1975 Fate article.
However, the
book suffers many shortcomings: the possessed boy’s identity is not
revealed; the schools he attended are not mentioned; no interviews are
conducted with any of the boy’s childhood friends or classmates; no
interviews are conducted with any friends or neighbors of the boy’s
family (once again raising suspicion as to the dubious Mount Rainier
location); and the possessed boy himself is not interviewed.
The
50-minute video In The Grip Of Evil simply reflects the
material Thomas Allen presented in his book Possessed. It
combines theatrical reenactments with Unsolved Mysteries-styled
cameo commentaries by a host of characters including Allen himself,
Father Walter Halloran and Father Frank Bober. Curiously, Allen opens
the video explaining that the family was from Mount Rainier (which I
felt from the beginning was a critical error), though clips shown in two
different parts of the video depicting the boy’s home reveal a
still-intact house that is clearly not at the famed corner of 33rd
Street and Bunker Hill Road in Mount Rainier. Where is this house?
Locating that house and determining the name of the family that once
lived there would be my next investigative objective.
Debunking the Myth
of 3210 Bunker Hill Road, Mount Rainier
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