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!ReferencesAllen, 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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What inspired the story of The Exorcist?
If it wasn't for William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel and the movie that followed two years later, it's pretty likely that nobody actually would have ever heard of Roland Doe or Ronald Hunkler. It's true. But the timing was just right. Americans were taking a particular interest in the occult at the time, so the story was thrust back into the spotlight, and it kind of took on a life of its own.
Now, it's important to be clear that even Blatty's novel was heavily influenced by Ronald's story, even though it was. It's actually just one of several influential stories and events that also included the Lodun possessions and the Louvier's possession. Both were 17th century witch trials that I think you would probably be pretty interested in covering. So write that down, Biatch.
I'm writing it down right now. And there were different archaeological excavations that occurred throughout the early to mid-19th century across Africa and the Middle East that also inspired his story. So with so many different versions of the story floating around in the cultural zeitgeist, the question remains, what exactly did happen to Ronald Hunkler in 1949?
Was he possessed by a demonic presence or was there something even more complicated going on?
hmm who knows now at this point it's probably impossible to say with certainty what exactly happened to ronald but if there was an authority on the subject it would probably be investigative journalist markup sasnick more than just the individual responsible for discovering roland doe's real identity he also devoted a ton of time to the story he conducted interviews with more than a hundred people who actually knew the hunkler family personally
and the other figures in the story, all in an attempt to verify the details of what has become one of America's most iconic scary stories. And his interviews with Ronald's childhood friends and peers revealed that, far from being an ordinary shy boy, Ronald Hunkler was a very lonely, somewhat troubled kid who was struggling.
His father never actually believed that his son was possessed, reportedly, was emotionally unavailable, so he rarely comes up in the story at all. And the women in his life, on the other hand, were hugely influential, almost to his detriment, especially like his mom, I think, using their love of spiritualism as maybe the only means of bonding with him.
And when it came to children his own age, it seems like his behavior and, you know, flaws kept them at an arm's length. But Obsaznik didn't just speak to Ronald's friends and family. He also tracked down anybody who was directly involved with the case or familiar enough with those who were.
And of the three priests at the center of the exorcism story, only Father Halloran was alive when Obsaznik began his investigation. At the time, Halloran actually reluctantly agreed to an interview, but he ended up revealing a lot about the case and its legacy. Oh, damn. When asked whether or not he would go on record as saying he believed that Ronald was truly possessed, he declined. Oh.
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Chapter 2: Who was Roland Doe and what was revealed about his identity?
Do you feel as though you've won? Did you win? Did you win, Ronald? That's a real lose-lose. It is. Well, whether he was possessed or not, Ronald Hunkler's 1949 claims of possession did help to fuel America's imaginations and, of course, America's interest in the supernatural. And, of course, as one of the primary influences on The Exorcist, his story is everywhere.
It's like part of American supernatural lore. Yeah. And while we may never know if it was real or not, it seems at this point, it really doesn't matter. No, it really doesn't. It's a fun fucking story. The story is fucking a blast all the way through. I think it's great. Yeah. I like that story. I love that story.
And I love that he became a NASA scientist. So like he got, it worked out. Through it all. Yeah. And he came out the other end. Personally? Good for him. I think he was possessed. I think, you know, let's go, girls.
Yeah. And I think my story is that he was possessed and until he helped him out. I like that. Thank you. Thank you. Jesus Christ. Amen. Jesus Christ. So, yeah. If you want to keep listening, we hope you do. We hope you keep listening. We hope you. Keep it going. Weird, but not so weird as getting a prize of three priests. Unless you want that. A collection of priests. You can have it.
Bye.
you
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