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| The infamous "Exorcist" house |
Is the "Exorcist house", in St. Louis, Missouri, as it has come to be called; possessed, or haunted now? Does it still have ghosts or demons, lingering behind? It does, according to residents and visitors. A neighbor says she believes but doesn't plan to move, but sleeps with holy water by her bed. This is a place, that a little real life boy, was possessed and inspired a movie. After a long time of trial and error, the boy was said to be exorcised successfully on March 16, 1949. Some say at the house, some say at Alexian Brother's Hospital. He actually had several exorcisms at both places. "The Exorcist" movie (in which the boy was a girl, and certain things were changed, or "drastically altered," so they claim, for privacy", was based upon the following possession and exorcism.) It's understandable trying to keep it quiet. Who would want to say this happened to them? The Catholic Church won't even own up to performing exorcisms. It's a time of denial, especially now a days. Locals still claim that the story is true. Also, his name was changed to Roland Doe for privacy reasons. They were hounded by the press. By the way, during my research, I encountered a saying I wanted to pass on because of the infinite wisdom of it: "Seek professional help if you might be possessed, immediately!" Now! Run! Until your speed is reduced drastically when you develop your "zombie walk, which seems comparable to the "exorcist walk." When they actually walk. They prefer crawling on the ceiling and spinning their heads usually. So, a brisk walk should do the work.
Zombies weren't exactly ridiculous to think of during this time because there was an evil house, with a demon, possessing people, stirring up everything. They tried Ouija board. Great idea when you are already having some sort of demonic problems! Haven't you ever watched a demonic, scary, B rated movie with an Ouija board in it? Seriously? It doesn't usually go well. If you are confused, you would probably not last very long in a zombie outbreak (totally hypothetical) When asked about possession, people say that it is "Satan, with his demon's "at work". That sounds creepy. Poor "Roland," a 13 year old boy, trying to understand what was happening to him as he felt like he couldn't control his own body and was possessed, doing or saying horrible things to loved ones. Meanwhile they tried to save you, so that you soul would go to heaven even if the demon inside of you overtook and killed you. To feel so out of control, so torn apart, in tiny pieces that swirl down the bathroom shower drain, as you stand, wondering what could be left that I was still standing? Hadn't I blown away? Then I'm together and running somewhere, from someone, with a stranger, and nothing is clear, everything is foggy and I'm confused and lost. Then I wake up panting. Just a dream. It felt real. Enough awful ones could make you a bit mad. Or even too much missed sleep would drag you down to the depths of of a hellishly torturous, decent sleep, that only borderlines on "real," "satisfying" or "wonderful" sleep. When you want dreams, endless dreams,and to just sleep...only to face your demons....
Do they ghosts or demons stay simply because they are fond of the place? Researchers say it could be a number of reasons, so let your imagination go wild! Researchers also believe that some deaths are more likely to result in hauntings, especially those that are so sudden and traumatic that the ghost does not realize he or she is dead. They are thought to have no sense of passing time. A century to us, may just be seconds to them. Or does a minute to us convert to hours there? Will we ever know? And how? Just wondering. Some ghosts are stuck repeating everyday chains of events they are doomed to repeat for eternity if they are never freed and given resolution, or freedom from the torture of being stuck in a much more horrible version of "Groundhog Day," the movie, repeating the same day, over and over. With no power over it.
"Roland," started telling his parents he was seeing and hearing strange things. At first, they wrote it off, as him just having a healthy imagination like most children. Then he claimed to still hear scratching noises, dripping sounds, like the sound of water. His parents were doubtful, until it escalated beyond a simple "child's imagination," to things they couldn't explain or deny. Roland started to get strange marks and welts on his body after the death of his aunt, probably unrelated unless she was a demon. But, it's all open for interpretation and a bit of imagination, due to empty spots in this instance. Maybe in real life, she had abused Robbie and wanted to continue to do so? His aunt has previously introduced him to the Ouija board. Never a great idea in my opinion as previously stated. Things got worse. His bed started to lift and shake, and objects would move across the room and furniture would move as well. Other objects in the house would move or get broken. His parents could no longer deny or ignore what was going on. They were terrified for the well being of their son.
Roland was living in Maryland, in the suburbs of Washington, DC, where a Catholic priest, Father Raymond Bishop, finally believed the boy was possessed according to strict Catholic guidelines for "possession." These guidelines include: superhuman strength, aversion to holy water, and the ability to speak in unknown languages. Other potential signs of demonic possession include, spitting, cursing and "excessive masturbation." That could be your average college student. But, back to the case at hand.. pardon the accidental pun that I have no intention of deleting now. After the word "Louis" appeared on his body, the family took Robbie to St. Louis, MO. They had family there and lived in the house with relatives until the final exorcism was performed. That is when the exorcisms began. During this time, he was eventually moved to St. Louis University, when they couldn't help, he was moved to the Alexian Brother's Hospital. Both locations, especially Alexian Brother's hospital are said to be haunted.
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| St. Louis University rectory |
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| Alexian Brothers Hospital |
Roland was too much to handle in St. Louis University rectory. He received some exorcisms there but wasn't better. All of the children were afraid of him, and the staff. Then, not knowing what else to do, they transferred him to the old Alexian Brothers Hospital. That is said to be the more haunted of the two hospitals. They say that the exorcism of 13 year old Roland was successful; however, when Robbie left, Alexian Brothers Hospital's permanently locked the room that Roland had stayed in. Although the Alexian Brothers kept is secret, hospital workers involved in the case, shared info about the things they heard and saw during the several week hellish ordeal or Roland's possession and exorcism. Noticeably, cold air somehow came from the closed room, even around the door, even though the rest of the hospital was warm. People didn't like to pass by "the room." There were electrical problems plaguing surrounding rooms. After a while, the entire section of the hospital where the exorcism took place was closed. Alexian Brothers Hospital was demolished after a new hospital was build close by. Do old ghosts of patients who had passed away, or the demonic spirits or essence of them still linger?
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| Old Alexian Brothers Hospital |
For the exorcism, Robbie had to be held by 3 men, he claimed the devil was inside him. Even while the foundation of the blessed Sacrament was explained to him, his body was badly scratched and branded. Some accounts say the word "HELLO" was printed on his chest and thigh. They tried to give him Holy Communion at midnight one evening, and "Satan" would have no part in it. Surprise, surprise. He reacted by hurting and scratching Roland even more, in protest to the Holy Communion. Holy water caused him to scream and thrash. So far, the exorcism was a failure, with one priest was even getting slashed with a random bed spring during the multiple exorcisms to attempt to save Roland and send the Devil back to hell. None of them had faced such a thing before.
The Catholic priests tried to exorcise Roland's demon for months, even after moving him to the St. Louis rectory, better equipped for "such things"while Roland's, young body, struggled to hang on, as the possession continued to wreck his small body from the inside out. His physical health wasn't good, from all of the stress on his body. An image of the devil's face also supposedly appeared on Roland's leg. How did they know what exactly the image was, I wonder? Perhaps it looked demonic or evil, so they decided to call it the Devil, or they were pushed beyond the brink of physical and mental exhaustion from the attempted exorcisms. Then after, the St. Louis University rectory couldn't handle him, he was moved to the Alexian Brother's Hospital psych department. The possession finally came to an end when during the final session, the young boy unexpectedly cried out, "Satan! I am Saint Michael! I command you to leave this body now!" After that, his body went into a violent spasm, a final attempt of the demon's to stay. He lost the battle and the boy said, out of breath, "He is gone!"
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| Saint Michael |
Father Bishop is said to have recorded all of the details of the exorcism in a diary. Roland continued correspondence with Father Bishop. He left St. Louis with his parents 12 days later and returned to Maryland. He wrote to father Bishop in May 1949 and told him he was happy and had a new dog. Robbie was finally a normal, American boy of his time. Regardless of what you believe, something happened in 1949. Something unusual and unexplainable by science. He was a victim of an unexplainable horror. He is said to have noted that the boy became a find young man. He had married, raised children and maintained a long and productive career with the United States government before retiring. Reportedly after retiring, he and his wife moved to the suburbs of Maryland. He has been able to maintain a low profile and has never spoken publicly about the case. I don't blame him for not wanting to bring up such a horrific ordeal.
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| Roland's bed in St. Louis,MO house where was exorcised |
Claims of strange events were allegedly reported by subsequential owners and visitors to the house.They have heard voices claiming to be the Devil or Diablo. There have been software malfunctions, some felt like someone was around them, a dark heaviness, and the noise of banging. It was put up for sale in 2005 when St. Louis' Riverfront Times ran a long article about the crazy, dark, history of the house. Due to it's notoriety, it was definitely going to attract massive attention. Ghost Adventures actually visited the house for their 100th show episode this year, 2013, they said it is one of the their most eeriest filmings. Other ghost hunters have gone as well. All have picked up EVPs, and other supernatural encounters. Unless you schedule ahead of time, I don't believe you can just go visit according to the information I've seen. It might change seasonally. It is said that the owner of the St. Louis house where Roland stayed for some of the exorcisms is a very nice guy, and very private. So it would probably be pretty hard to get a tour. But it is such a creepy story. To think that such things even have the minute possibility of happening, is truly scary.
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| "Ghost Adventures" visiting Exorcism house |
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| stairway at "exorcist" house |
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