Walter Halloran

Over the course of the following months, Roland and his family would be moved from one location to another, including back to Maryland.

And the priests would also end up roping in both another priest by the name of William Van Roo and Reverend Bodarn's personal driver, Walter Halloran, for added muscle to deal with the now incredibly physically strong 14-year-old boy.

According to his own later retelling of the events, Walter Halloran had been under the impression that he was simply driving Bodern and Bishop to a party when Bishop turned to him and said, You're getting out of the car too.

You might need to hold this child down while I exercise him.

On March 16th, the Archbishop of St. Louis gave formal permission that the exorcism would happen.

That night, Bodern needed a driver, so he grabbed a young Jesuit who was still in training, a history student named Walter Halloran.

Halloran later remembered Bodern telling him in the car, almost casually, that he was going to be doing an exorcism, and that he wanted Halloran to hold the boy down just in case it came to that.

They got to the house around a quarter after ten that night, and it did come to that.

The right moved around the city, a stay at the Alexian Brothers Hospital, a Catholic hospital that the Jesuits trusted to keep quiet.

Back to the house in Belnor, then the boy and his father moved right into the rectory at the college church on the university campus.

While he was there, the boy hit Walter Halloran and broke his nose.

On April 1st, 1949, this Lutheran boy was baptized Catholic.

Father Raymond Bishop would document the events of the exorcism.

And Walter Halloran, a seminarian, stood by as a witness.

The Church eventually authorized an exorcism, with repeated sessions occurring over several weeks.

The priests prayed over the boy and attempted to drive out what they believed was an evil spirit.