Is “The Exorcist” Based on a True Story? All About the Real Events That Inspired the Horror Film

The groundbreaking 1973 horror movie ‘The Exorcist’ was based on the real-life exorcism of Roland Doe

Hailed as one of the scariest movies ever made, groundbreaking in its cinematic achievements and its subject matter, The Exorcistis based on a true, harrowing story.

The Exorcist set standards in Hollywood for what truly terrifying movies could be. To this day, it’s one of only a small number of horror films nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, one of 10 total Oscar nominations the movie received.

The terrifying storyline — of a 12-year-old girl named Regan (Linda Blair) who becomes possessed by an ancient demon — comes from a book of the same title. The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty, was originally published in 1971.

Blatty based his novel (and the screenplay for the movie) on a real-life exorcism that happened in 1949 when a teenage boy known to the public as Roland Doe was allegedly possessed by an evil spirit.

Here's everything to know about the real events that inspired The Exorcist.

Who was Roland Doe?

When he was 14, a Maryland boy known in the press as Roland Doe began experiencing strange phenomena, like hearing scratching behind his bedroom walls. Doe’s family contacted their minister, Reverend Luther Schulze, for guidance, according to The Guardian.

Schulze contacted the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University in March 1949, writing that “chairs moved with [Doe] and one threw him out [of it.] His bed shook whenever he was in it.” Schulze added that “a picture of Christ on the wall shook” when Doe would come near.

The Does brought Roland to the Georgetown University Hospital, where they were unable to help him. Eventually, the family turned to the Catholic Church for an exorcism, believing it could free their son from his scary symptoms.

In his hometown and St. Louis, Mo., Doe underwent “between 20 and 30 performances of the ancient ritual of exorcism,” according to an Aug. 20, 1949, story in The Washington Post, which said that Doe had been “freed by a Catholic priest of possession by the devil” and called it “perhaps one of the most remarkable experiences of its kind in recent religious history.”

In some of the alleged instances, words would appear etched into Doe’s skin and his bed would allegedly slide across the floor or hit a wall while he was asleep, waking him up.

The story added, “The boy broke into a violent tantrum of screaming, cursing and voicing of Latin phrases-a language he had never studied-whenever the priest reached the climactic point of the ritual, ‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, I cast thee (the devil) out.’ ”

However, despite that article (which used only church representatives as sources), some question the veracity of the reports and how they were represented in the resulting book and film.

“The events happened over a few months in 1949, and they weren’t anything like the movie,” film critic Nat Segaloff told Vanity Fairin 2023, on the 50th anniversary of the movie’s release.

The author of The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear continued, “Definitely no projectile vomiting, levitation or head-spinning, but there may have been tipping chairs, shaking beds and words appearing etched on the boy’s body—possibly self-inflicted. Some people think he was faking it to get out of school and mimicking Latin prayers to make fun of the priest.”

What happened to Roland Doe?

After Doe’s exorcism at age 14, he disappeared back into a quiet life, owing to the anonymity granted by the fake name used in the press. After Doe died in 2020, at age 85, his identity was revealed publicly as Ronald Edwin Hunkeler.

As an adult, he became an engineer for NASA and helped with the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 and other space missions. According to Hunkeler’s companion, a 29-year-old woman who spoke to the New York Post on condition of anonymity, he never escaped the fear that he would be found out as the boy who inspired The Exorcist.

“On Halloween, we always left the house because he figured someone would come to his residence and know where he lived and never let him have peace,” she said. “He had a terrible life from worry, worry, worry.”

She also said that Hunkeler’s experience wasn’t necessarily demonic possession. “He said he wasn’t possessed, it was all concocted,” the companion added. “He said, ‘I was just a bad boy.' ”

Is Doe’s home haunted?

In 2015, the paranormal reality show Exorcism: Live! went to the St. Louis home Doe lived in while receiving treatment in 1949. Their goal was to investigate the home with psychic mediums and religious professionals, then “exorcise” any spirits lingering in the house.

“Our theory is that after Roland was exorcised, all the demonic activity went into the house in St. Louis and has remained there ever since,” producer Jodi Tovay told PEOPLE. “Other parts of St. Louis are haunted too. ... At one point Roland was taken to the local St. Louis hospital and was exorcised there as well."

She continued, alleging, "There were lots of outrageous stories from the hospital employees who worked there at the time, and when they tried to tear down the wing that Roland was in, the wrecking ball went out of control and hit another building!”

Was the original Exorcist movie cursed?

Once the movie was released, reactions from the public were intense. Many people had visceral reactions to seeing The Exorcist, with some accounts saying audience members fainted or vomited in the theater after seeing things like Regan’s head spinning on her neck. Blair, who played the possessed main character, reportedly faced backlash for playing the role.

During production, there were many unusual problems — leading to a reputation for The Exorcist being cursed. Before the cameras started rolling, a fire broke out on set, resulting in a six-week rebuilding delay. Actors Blair and Max Von Sydow also lost family members within a short span while filming the movie.

Other crew members suffered injuries, as did Blair and Ellen Burstyn, who played Regan's mother. Director William Friedkin eventually brought a priest to set to bless the production.

"We were plagued by strange and sinister things from the beginning,” Friedkin told Castle of Frankenstein in 1974. “It is simply the hardest thing I have ever done in my life."

Is TheExorcist: Believer based on true events?

According to Christopher Chacon, who consults on possession cases and their portrayals in movies, the possessions portrayed in the film's 2023 sequel, TheExorcist: Believer, are credible, and he told PEOPLE he'd seen evidence of them in real life.

“These are real phenomena,” Chacon said. “All the elements we put in TheExorcist: Believer are very authentic and [based on] these experiences that people have encountered.”

“I've seen it demonstrated and take place in real life,” he added. “Not only that, but we're able to scientifically assess it and analyze it. And even with state-of-the-art technology, you still have no answers because you're dealing with something that science can't measure in every way.”

Some things Chacon said he has witnessed: “objects flying around the room, magnetic fields that are fluctuating hugely, temperatures changing by 70 to 80 degrees ... There are cases where there's electrical arcing manifesting; if it hits you, it's like being zapped.”

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