exorcism of Roland Doe

And over time, that literature has kinda just seeped into culture and given rise to this folklore and these cautionary tales about opening doors to demons in your home when you use Ouija boards.

And probably the most famous example of this was the exorcism of a young boy named Roland Doe.

That wasn't his real name.

That was the name they used to keep his identity protected.

Totally.

For decades, the boy was known in the literature under pseudonyms, um, like Roland Doe or Robbie Mannheim.

To protect his identity, right?

Exactly.

Attending priests recorded claims that the boy went into trances, spoke in guttural sounds, reacted violently to sacred religious objects, and experienced scratching or red marks on his skin.

The boy was given the name Roland Doe, and author William Peter Blatty heard about the real-life events while he was a student at Georgetown University and later used them as the inspiration for his 1971 novel, which I have not read.

Maybe I should.

I don't know.

name wasn't released at first.

No, it was given the name Roland Doe.

Roland Doe, correct.

Which sounds like Rolando.

Which you

Have you? That was one of those that I was thinking about covering in here, but a lot of these kind of run together.

Roland Doe is going to be the exception.

Roland Hunkler, I should say.

That's going to be the exception, but a lot of these come out of that kind of satanic panic, like, oh, no, someone went crazy because the demons influenced them to murder.

But what he contacts isn't what he expected, and the experiences that follow not only terrified a family, but by proxy, thousands of people all over the world.

This is the terrifying story of the exorcism of Roland Doe and the demons that plagued him.

Shit.

Wait, I have to do more stuff? I thought this was a bonus.

I thought I was just chillin'.

Our story begins in 1949 in a small town known as Cottage City, Maryland.

A boy who we will call Roland Doe is mourning the death of his beloved Aunt Millie.

Now, her passing was very sudden, and the two had been extremely close.

In the United States, there were priests of the Catholic Church that performed a series of exorcisms on an anonymous boy.

And the boy went by the pseudonym Roland Doe or Robbie Manaheim.

He was apparently a 14-year-old boy that was a victim of alleged demonic possession.

And the events of the demonic possession and the exorcism was recorded by the attending priest.

So this was from, y'all probably heard of this one.

This one's the exorcism of Roland Doe.

This was in 1949, and what happened was, um, a 13-year-old boy from Maryland, um, began experiencing some scratching noises, levitating objects, and severe behavioral outbursts following the death of his aunt, right? So it, his family, like, they were just desperate, so they sought the help of the Catholic priests, and they initiated the formal exorcisms.

During an early session at Georgetown University Hospital, the boy managed to slip one of his hands out of the physical restraints, broke the sharp ob- sorry, sharp metal bed spring from underneath the mattress, and slashed his priest arm wide open.