A 1949 Washington Post article about Roland Doe caught the attention of young William Blatty, who was then just a student at Georgetown University. His 1971 novel The Exorcist, and William Friedkin’s film adaptation, shined a spotlight on the case. Several nonfiction books have since been written on the subject, including the 1993 book Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism, by Thomas B. Allen and the 2006 book The Real Story Behind the Exorcist, by Mark Opsasnick. The events also inspired the 2000 film Possessed, based on Thomas Allen’s book, which is said to hew closer to the Roland Doe story than The Exorcist did.

Many of these researchers have come to the conclusion that the whole thing was an elaborate hoax, and have pointed out various logical and historical inconsistencies in the “official” version of events. Allen went so far as to say that “the consensus of today’s experts” was that Roland Doe was simply “a deeply disturbed boy, nothing supernatural about him.” Opsasnick, who claimed to have tracked down neighbors and childhood acquaintances of Roland Doe, said that he “had been a very clever trickster, who had pulled pranks to frighten his mother and fool children in the neighborhood.”

While we may never know the complete facts of the alleged possession and exorcism of Roland Doe, thanks to the success of The Exorcist, the case has left an indelible mark on our imaginations, and on our notion of what a possession—and an exorcism—looks like.

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