Accounts of the 14-year-old’s exorcism at a house in Missouri (pictured) in 1949 are based on diary extracts by Father Raymond Bishop, one of the Jesuit priests who performed the exorcism. One diary entry, dated 11 April 1949, reads: ‘At midnight, the Fathers planned to give (Roland) Holy Communion, but Satan would have no part of it. The word HELLO was printed on his chest and thigh.’ It was a front-page article in the Washington Post about the boy’s exorcism (top right) that caught the eye of young novelist William Blatty, who went on to pen The Exorcist in 1971. The film of the same name, starring Linda Blair (inset) as a possessed 12-year-old girl, hit the big screens two years later.

Please follow and like us: