Fabia Shahzadi
In 1973, William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel, The Exorcist, was adapted into one of the most successful movies of all time. It told the story of a young girl’s soul being possessed by a demon, and it was actually inspired by a real-life incident. In 1949, a 13-year-old boy from Cottage City, Maryland was supposedly possessed by a demon and subject to an exorcism.
To keep his identity protected, he has been publicly referred to as “Roland Doe”. After the death of his spiritualist aunt, Roland reportedly became obsessed with using an Ouija board to contact her. What followed were strange noises and unexplained supernatural activities in the family’s house. The family’s Lutheran minister feared that Roland might be possessed, so two Catholic priests–Father Raymond J. Bishop and Father William J. Bowdern, were brought in to perform an exorcism on him at Georgetown University Hospital.
The exorcisms were performed 30 times in the course of several weeks. Roland reportedly exhibited violent behavior and often spoke Latin in a demonic voice while words like “evil” and “hell” mysteriously appeared on his body. After the exorcism was complete, the family experienced no more problems and Roland grew up to live a normal life.
Debates exist about whether Roland was actually possessed or if a lot of these stories have been fabricated and the boy was merely experiencing psychological problems. Since his true identity is still a secret after all these years, the full truth may never be known.