maximus otter
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‘The Exorcist’ is 50 years old, and its origin story is still haunting
The boy launched into a violent scream and curses in Latin — a language he had never learned — every time the Catholic priest in front of him tried to cast the devil out.
The ancient ritual of exorcism had to be performed at least 20 to 30 times before the job was done, The Washington Post reported in 1949, citing “Catholic sources.” A priest spent two months completing “perhaps one of the most remarkable experiences of its kind in recent religious history.”
The front page of The Washington Post on Aug. 20, 1949. In the upper left, a story by Bill Brinkley headlined, "Priest Frees Mt. Rainier Boy Reported Held in Devil's Grip" © The Washington Post, via ProQuest/TWP
The story is said to have inspired William Peter Blatty, then a student of English literature at Georgetown University, to pen “The Exorcist,” which he later adapted into an Oscar-winning screenplay.
Fifty years after the movie first captivated audiences, a reboot hit theaters. As Halloween approaches and audiences seek out the classic horror film, its origin story — describing a teenage boy possessed by the devil and set free by the Catholic Church — remains intriguing.
After learning the story of the teenage boy, Blatty connected with a priest who claimed to have exorcised the demon from the Mount Rainier boy, The Post reported. The Jesuit priest, William F. Bowdern, was from St. Louis and had shock-white hair, Blatty learned.
Bowdern had kept a diary during the months-long exorcism and he assured Blatty that what he witnessed was “the real thing.”
Before the exorcism, it was said that the bed in which the boy was sleeping would suddenly move across the room, fruit from on top of the refrigerator would be tossed around, and strange scratching sounds came from the walls of his home.
Although Blatty had been inspired by the story and followed up with at least one of the priests involved, he told The Post that the novel “came entirely out of my head.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/t...ts-origin-story-is-still-haunting/ar-AA1iyF8Y
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