The Exorcism of Roland Doe | Ep. 70

Welcome to Believing the Bizarre. This week, we cover the true story that inspired the terrifying film, The Exorcist.

No, we don’t talk about children walking downstairs like spiders or spinning heads, but that doesn’t mean the “reportedly” true facts aren’t chilling. A 14-year-old boy, with the pseudonym Roland Doe, tried to contact his late aunt with a Ouija board, and all hell breaks loose.

Multiple Pastors take on the fight for Roland Doe’s life as his surroundings and well-being begin crumbling around him. Find out our thoughts, and more, by listening today!

Can Ouija boards lead to possessions? Is it possible for a single person to be possessed by ten or more demons?

What’s up Bizarros? This week we dive into the Exorcism of Roland Doe.

Roland Doe (name changed due to the possessed being a minor) is the case that inspired the seminal movie The Exorcist.

In 1949 Roland and his family lived in Cottage City, Maryland, a small little community not far from Washington D.C.

Roland was a quiet and somewhat withdrawn kid compared to his peers. 

He spent a lot of time with his Aunt Harriet. Who was deceased.

Aunt Harriet is the one who taught Roland how to use the Ouija board, and he would use it to contact her, unsuccessfully, or so they thought.

It was clear that Roland made contact with someone, but it wasn’t his late Aunt. Strange occurrences began happening in the Doe household.

Strange dripping sounds would wake the family in the middle of the night, but there was never a source they could find to attribute to the dripping. 

Then the scratching sounds began. Thinking it might be rats or another critter, Roland’s father hired an exterminator, but they didn’t find anything.

No rodents, no broken or leaking pipes. It was odd that there was no source to the sounds the family was hearing, but this is when things began to escalate.

Roland had thought that maybe it was his Aunt that was trying to contact him, so to test the theory, Roland and his mom asked if it was Aunt Harriet to knock three times.

Sure enough, within just a few seconds, they heard three knocks beneath them in the house.

Completely beside herself, and wanting to eliminate all chances of coincidence, Roland’s mother then asked Aunt Harriet to knock four times.

Again, they heard four knocks beneath them.

Now – had that been where things ended, they probably would truly believe they contacted Roland’s Aunt, but, unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse.

Roland’s bed began shaking, objects began levitating, and furniture started moving, while the scratching sounds continued.

An armchair with Roland sitting in it – lifted off the ground and tossed Roland out of it. All while family members watched in disbelief.

At one point, their portrait of Jesus Christ began shaking violently and banging against the wall.

Understandably, the family was kept on edge. But, through the craziness of it all, they did notice one small detail. 

These strange experiences only happened when Roland was nearby.

Soon Roland would begin showing signs that something wasn’t right. He would howl and scream and use voices that didn’t belong to him.

But the paranormal occurrences weren’t just at home. It followed him to school. Desks would reportedly slide across the room.

After it became apparent that these weren’t fleeting instances, the Does reached out to their Pastor, Luther Miles Shulze.

Pastor Shulze invited Roland and his mother to spend the night at his home to see if he would witness anything the parents detailed.

And he did.

Roland’s mother slept in a separate room while Pastor Shulze and Roland slept in twin beds.

Pastor Shulze claimed that he heard scratching sounds coming from inside the walls and witnessed Roland’s bed start shaking.

Shulze recommended Roland move over to an armchair instead, and then the bed’s shaking stopped.

In what he described as a trance-like state, Roland curled up into a ball on the chair, which then shifted to one side on its own and pushed Roland out of it.

The night ended with Roland having scratch marks on his face from repeatedly being shoved into the springs under the bed by an unknown force.

Pastor Schulze told the Doe’s that they should contact a catholic priest who was familiar with exorcisms.

The exorcisms would last 6 WEEKS!

The first person that attempted to exorcise the demons out of Roland was a Priest named Edward Hughes. 

He conducted his exorcism at Georgetown University Hospital near Washington D.C., however, the exorcism was never completed.

He claimed the first time he ever met the boy the air instantly went bitingly cold.

They had Roland strapped to his bed at the Georgetown University Hospital as Father Hughes began the ritual.

Not long after Father Hughes began his prayers, the boy slipped one of his hands out of the restraints, broke a bedspring from under the mattress, and used it to slash the priest’s arm, resulting in the exorcism ritual being halted.

He pierced Father Hughes’s arm from his left shoulder all the way down to his wrist, which ended up needing over 100 stitches.

Father Hughes also claimed the devil’s face appeared in the leg of Roland.

With this exorcism attempt failing, Roland’s health started deteriorating with more and more scratches appearing on his body as his demeanor became more cold and detached.

Fearing for their son’s safety the Does moved out of Maryland to St. Louis in hopes that this would help cure him, but it didn’t.

The scratching, bed shaking, and terrifying behavior continued.

It was then that Roland’s family reached out to the St. Louis University professor and Priest, Raymond Bishop.

Father Bishop was skeptical but decided to pay the home and Roland a visit to see what was going on.

They said a few prayers, walked around blessing the house with Holy Water and made sure to spread a little extra Holy water on Roland’s bed.

They even pinned a small, religious symbol to Roland’s pillow.

Shortly after Roland went to sleep that night, they heard the bed violently shaking along with angry shrieks.

When they rushed upstairs to see what was happening, Roland was in the center of his bed, still as a statue, while his bed continued shaking.

Father Bishop quickly sprinkled more Holy Water to the bed, which caused the shaking to temporarily stop, but soon after Roland’s shrieks and guttural cries began again.

Roland lifted his shirt and he immediately developed crisscrossing scratches on his chest, which they claimed appeared as if something inside him was desperately trying to get out.

Seeing this Father Bishop reached out to his colleague Father Bowdern for help.

Seeing how the past exorcisms caused harm to religious leaders performing the exorcism as well as Roland, they went to extreme measures to ensure safety.

In reality, they strapped him to a bed in a hospital.

He was thrashing, vomiting, and spitting. Red welts started appearing on his chest as prayers were read.

It’s claimed that his strength was so unnatural for a young boy that sometimes it took 6 or more men to hold him down.

When Father Bowdern asked for the demon’s name, four letters appeared on Roland’s stomach.

H E L L

During the exorcism, Roland would enter a trance-like state and start making sounds in a guttural voice. Sometimes he spoke perfect Latin, which Roland was completely uneducated in.

He even struck Father Halloran and broke his nose.

Falling deeper into possession, he would grin and laugh diabolically at the priests. He would commonly urinate all over himself.

It was believed by the Priests that Roland was possessed by 10 or more demons.

On the final day of the exorcism, Ronald awoke with seizures. Those that witnessed the exorcism claim by this point the boy was so distorted and changed that he didn’t even look like the same person.

He contorted during the prayers so badly that at one point his shoulder was touching his feet.

At one point during his prayers, Father Bowdern noticed that the room felt different. Quieter, and almost calm.

Then, instead of guttural screeches or terrible taunts, a new voice emerged from Roland’s throat that was deep and boomed throughout the room.

It said, “Satan. Satan. I am St. Michael. I command you to leave the body in the name of dominus. Immediately. Now.”

Roland’s body contorted violently for a few moments. Then he was still.

The priest all held their breath. Waiting for what would happen next.

Then, in his own voice, Roland merely stated, “He’s gone.” He then spoke of the vision he had of St. Michael vanquishing Satan on a battlefield.

With the exorcism over, and the demons gone Roland was able to live a normal life.

While many say that Roland was a troubled child and acting out for attention, and in an effort to prove that evil does exist and to create fear among the masses, the Priests went along with it.

What do you think Bizarros? Would a child go through all of this for attention? Would Priests continue the charade for 6 weeks just to go along with it?  

Or

Was Roland possessed by the king of Hell and his minions?