In the winter of 1973, director William Friedkin released his iconic horror classic The Exorcist, a film that has shocked and terrified audiences for more than fifty years. Based on William Peter Blatty’s novel of the same name, The Exorcist tells the story of a young girl who becomes possessed by a demonic entity, and the two Catholic priests who attempt to exorcise the demon. Even more terrifying than the content of the film, however, was the fact that The Exorcist was supposedly based on a true story.

William Peter Blatty had always stated The Exorcist was based on a supposedly true story he’d heard while at Georgetown University. According to Blatty, a Maryland boy, known as “Roland Doe,” had become possessed by a demonic entity and, among other things, underwent a negative personality change and began exhibiting impossible abilities including an ability to speak Latin. It was only through the dedication of one Jesuit priest that the boy was eventually freed of his possession and went on to live a normal life.

Since the release of both the novel and the film in the 1970s, a great deal more has been learned about “Roland Doe” and the supposedly true story that inspired The Exorcist, raising many questions about the veracity of the original claims. Who was “Roland Doe,” and was he truly possessed by a demon, or just the intense emotions of an adolescent boy?

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References

Allen, Thomas. 1993. Possessed: The True Story of the Most Famous Exorcism of Modern Time. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Associated Press. 1949. "'Evil spirit' cast out of 14-yearf-old." The Bee (Danville, Virginia), August 10: 8.

McGuire, John M. 2005. "Priest was last of three who did 1949 exorcism." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 3: A1.

News and Observer. 1964. "Tar Heel develops space ceramics." News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), September 3: 27.

Nickell, Joe. 2001. "Exorcism!: Driving Out the Nonsense." Skeptical Inquirer 20-24.

Opsasnick, Mark. 1999. "The haunted boy of Cottage City, the cold hard facts behind the story that Inspired The Exorcist." Strange Magazine.

Young, Maya. 2010. Boy whose case inspired The Exorcist is named by US magazine. December 20. Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/20/the-exorcist-boy-named-magazine.

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