08/14/2026
The Exorcist
St Louis Exorcism
The St Louis exorcism took place in 1949 and is the inspiration behind the movie, The Exorcist.
In this case, the possessed was a 13 year old boy who lived with his mother (a Lutheran) and his father (a lapsed catholic) in Maryland. The activity started in 1949 when the family started to hear scratching sounds in the walls. The family called in an exterminator, thinking they had a rat problem, but the exterminator could find no signs of anything.
The activity got worse and furniture started moving and dishes were frequently broken. Shortly after this activity started, the boy started to become the focus and was frequently attacked in bed. His bed would shake violently and his bed clothes would be ripped off.
The family assumed that it was the spirit of the boy’s aunt Tilly who had recently passed away and who had been very close to the child. They even suspected that the child had used an Ouija board to communicate with his aunt.
With the activity increasing, his parents became worried that perhaps an evil entity and not his aunt was behind the haunting. They went and consulted with Lutheran minister, Luther Schulze. Schulze tried to rid the boy of the possession but with no joy. In one experiment, Schulze had the child and his mother over to spend the night at his house to see if the activity continued.
Not only did the bed the child was in move around, but when Schulze moved him to a chair to sleep, this also started to violently shake. This proved that the entity was definitely linked to the child and not the property.
Schulze arranged for the child to go to Georgetown Medical Hospital for tests but while there, the child acted up and the words ‘go to St Louis’ appeared scratched into his skin.
The family went to St Louis to stay with relatives, but the activity only got worse and in the end an exorcism was granted.
The exorcism started at his relatives home, but after 5 days he was moved to the local hospital where the exorcism continued in secret. During the exorcism he coughed up blood, vomited, spat, urinated, swore, came up in painful blisters, received scratches all over his body and displayed super strength. When it was over, he had no recollection of the exorcism at all.
Eventually the boy was taken to be baptised as a catholic, although during the ceremony he vomited blood and screamed obscenities. After a few weeks, the child went back to normal and he lived a normal life, with no further signs of possession.
The bishop in charge of the exorcism recorded all the details in a diary, which was leaked to the press by Father Schulze. The diary contents were eventually made into a book, although a lot of fiction was added to the facts, and the book and film, The Exorcist was released.
