The Exorcist: A True Story

The most horrifying movie ever made ‘The Exorcist (1973)’ which broke the box office records was inspired by a true story of a 13 year old boy who was believed to be possessed by a devil in 1949. His exorcism was recorded in a diary by the father who conducted his exorcism. About 26 people witnessed about the events which was said to be caused by the demonic forces. Till today people believe that Satan walks among us but the scientists says that the explanation does not lies in the supernatural. To this time the boy has never spoken publicly about his experience. But the family, neighbours and the church witnessed about the events. The name used for the boy to refer him is Robbie Mannheim in several books.

The events of the story took place in the Cottage city, Maryland. The boy was very much like an ordinary boy. He was quite, not very active but a little more studious. His family was like all the other casual families. But their lives were going to change in the summers of 1948. The boy’s aunt taught him how to play with an ouiji board. At first it seemed like harmless fun but then a few weeks later the aunt died unexpectedly of some natural cause. After a short period the family started to hear unusual sound of scratching and knocking. They blamed the mice for these events and called the pest control but nothing was found. Then they thought that the dead aunt is trying to contact them. The noises increased nights after nights. Then one day the boy’s mother discovered that his son’s bed was shaking violently. And then soon other furniture began to move of their own. It was reported that a person sitting on the chair was thrown to the floor. This was witnessed by the neighbours. Soon many marks and scratches appeared on his body and his behaviour at night was becoming worst. So the family contacted a local mental hygiene clinic for help. The psychiatrist was unable to find anything wrong in the boy. When no options were left, the family contacted the local church. The church adviced them to contact the catholic priest, father Albert Hughes. He died in 1980. Father Hughes met the boy in February 1949. When the boy looked at the father’s chair, it lifted up and hit him to the wall and made the father to think that with what he is dealing. The father asked him in Latin “what is your name?”. He replied “I am legions” indicating that there is more than one demon in him. All the ongoing events made father Hughes believe that the boy was possessed by not only one but many demons and the way to get rid of them was to perform an exorcism.

Almost all religion believes on the possession by the demons. But exorcism is mainly associated with the Christians (especially catholic Christians). The priest needs to conduct some specific prayers in Latin. This evokes the power of god against the demonic entities. But it was a great challenge for father Hughes who was going to perform an exorcism for the very first time on a 13 year old boy. The boy was admitted to a hospital in WashingtonD.C. The boy was shaking, screaming and spitting. So his wrist was tied. Father Hughes recited the prayers for 3 nights but there was no improvement. The boy became even more violent. The boy just broke the restrainer, put his hand under the bed, took a spring and cut the fathers hand right from the wrist to the elbow. This forced the father to stop the exorcism. The boy returned to his home. Same kind of events continued to happen. Scratching sound etc. Then one day a word ‘Louis’ appeared on his chest. Seeing it as a sign, the other family members living in the same city decided to move in there house. Soon they shifted to St. Louis. There also no mental doctor was able to give the explanation of the events. Seeing this, the family contacted father William Bowdern who died in 1983. Father Bowdern also concluded that the boy is possessed. One exorcism had failed and now it was his responsibility to free the boy from the demons. Father Bowdern recorded the events of exorcism performed in next 6 weeks. The pages of the diary were published for the first time by the author Thomas .B. Allen in his book “possessed”. Father Bowdern chose some other priest to help him. This time father conducted the prayer in every night for 3 weeks. But the boy grew even more violent. Father thought that it would not be safe for the family to live with the boy. So he shifted the boy to a hospital run by the catholic monks. The exorcism continued over there and one night he broke the nose of Halloran (he was a catholic priest who at the age of 26 helped father Bowdern in Robbie’s exorcism). The exorcism was now at an impasse. Seeking a solution, Bowdern again plunged into literature regarding possession. He learned of an 1870 case that took place in Wisconsin that seemed similar to Robbie’s plight and he devised a new strategy. On the night of, the ritual resumed. Bowdern forced Robbie to wear a chain of religious medals and to hold a crucifix in his hands. Suddenly, Robbie became strangely contrite and he began to ask questions about the meaning of certain Latin prayers. Bowdern ignored him though, refusing to engage the entity in conversation, and he instead demanded to know the name of the demon and when he would depart. The boy exploded in a rage. Five witnesses held him down while he screamed that he was a "fallen angel", but Bowdern continued on with the ritual. There are instructions in the ritual that 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….” He recited it incessantly for hours until the boy suddenly interrupted in a loud, masculine voice, identifying himself as "St. Michael the Archangel". The voice ordered the demon to depart. The boy’s body then went into violent contortions and spasms. Then, he fell quiet. A moment later, he sat up, and spoke in a normal voice. The devil had left his body. According to Christian beliefs, St. Michael is the archangel who holds the control over Satan. It is believed that St. Michael himself forced Satan to leave the boy’s body.

Few days later, the family returned to Maryland. The boy joined a new school. His troubling behaviour never came back. After leaving school, he worked for NASA. He chosed to keep his identity hidden but said that he doesn’t remember whatever happened to him.

This story was published in the newspapers. But in 1973 the whole story was again filled with life in the big screen when the movie ‘The Exorcist’ was released. The movie brought the power of demonic forces in front of the modern world. The movie was an adaptation of the best selling book of the author William Peter Blatty with the same title. Blatty was even asked to change the title of the movie as before this movie only a few people knew about exorcism. They said change the title, people wouldn’t be able to understand the meaning. The movie left people shocked.

But now science says something else. According to science, the roots of all religious experience does not comes from the god but from the most complex creation of the nature, the human brain. The brain generates all the behaviour whether normal or mysterious. There are several points in the human brain which generates the behaviour whether it be normal behaviour or even paranormal behaviour. Psychiatrists say that the primary experiences are psychological. People can hear voices, experience ritual phenomena etc. They believe this can also explain the boy’s condition. When his aunt died he was just 13 years old, the time when the human brain undergoes many serious changes and is extremely vulnerable to dramatic events. His aunt’s death might have pushed him into stress. The secretion of stress hormones could have triggered many brain seizures in his right temporal lobe, a highly creative area responsible for vision and emotions. The initiation of the exorcism could have worked as an final catalyst to the highly vulnerable boy. If you harass a person with full intension with same repetitions again and again with such a vulnerable brain, you can make the brain believe that all the things going on is true hence making the condition even worse. This might have happen because of exorcism in the boy as his condition was becoming even worse. As a result his muscles might have become more strong, electric discharges would be intense, change in voice etc. These intense electrical discharge would have triggered muscle spasm which can possibly give the explanation for the shaking of the bed. Later on he became normal because the brain was developing. When the structure of the brain changes, the function also changes. Science believes that the diary recorded the super human strengths. And to prove this, a device was developed named ‘the god helmet’. The helmet passes strong electromagnetic waves straight to the right temporal lobe of the brain and the aim is to trigger the sensation of the supernatural entity. It worked. 80% of the people reported that they have experienced godly or spiritual presence. In fact they believe on what they saw. But this does not explains the other phenomenon. Witnesses reported that many scratches appeared on his body. It might have caused due to priest’s hold trying to restrain him down to bed. Psychiatrists says that a mental phenomena called ‘Pareidolia’ involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant, common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the moon rabit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse, has also played a role. People relate everything happening in the surrounding with them. So in this case whenever something moved they thought that it is due to possession. Hence the boy saw that the things are moving which might have moved due to some other reasons.

The modern science has given the explanation of the 1949 exorcism but still the belief in demonic forces is booming. God knows what is true. Both science and religion are true on their places.