The Exorcism of Roland Doe | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos my name is Ash I'm Elena and this is more [Music] bad you sounded like you were hosting a
show like Delila oh my God thank you hey hey out there everybody out there you single
ladies this is Ash this one goes out to all my Queens I don't know oh my Queens then I just started
sounding like Trixie and Kio when they're like doing a bit I like it may I please have bread
bread um what's going on I'm in a silly goofy funny LOL mood me too yeah I'm feeling it good feeling it we got some
Mini cadberry cream eggs in this I just ate two of them I ate no I ate two oh you're just trying to one up me with
cadberry egg I took a third one out but I have not yet ingested it yeah maybe you should chill out um they're tiny
they're baby no you can do what you want um this is kind of a Hot Topic cream cadberry eggs how do you guys feel about
them my husband thinks they're the most disgusting things my husband also thinks
that anytime I have them in the house he gags and oh that's EX one of us will eat one he will visibly
gag Drew just says a little like like with his nose see my girls love them yeah my girls are correct it shouldn't
be that hot of a topic No it should not but it is want to know what you guys think if you don't like them you're just
wrong whoa she said it I didn't I said it me I'm here to I'm here to tell you that your opinion matters but Ash she's
telling you're going to validate them in these streets no that's wrong validating
it's wrong if you don't like them what are the there's another option is it car yeah the caramel so I like caramel but I
don't like those ones I'm okay with them but it's not my yeah it's not my preference yeah I don't really [ __ ]
with them you I either man but I was going to tell you guys something I thought of it this morning I
was like getting my coffee ready and I was like I'll say that on the show later I'll say that on the show I'll I'll say
that on the Pod what was it and then we had such a whirlwind of a morning and now I just have boats and hose stuck in
my head so it's true cuz we got a couple of strep strep throat cases in my house um CU kids get
sick calm down um I always get one person that's like why are your kids sick kids are always
sick like yep kids are sick said no parent and also it's not just kid it is also John who has strep throat kid John
so that child and John are the are kind of sticking together and so they started
calling themselves strep Brothers but then it made boats and hoes get stuck in my head it did so that's a
whole thing yeah but yeah it's good that we're in a silly mood today because we're talking about something like
moderately silly yeah I mean anytime we can take it in a place of exorcism or paranormal it's um it's a different vibe
yeah I would say it is a different vibe we can come in in a different angle yeah
a silly goofy angle silly goofy It's Kind it's kind of a wonky angle yeah yes the best way it's like curved yeah I
like that all right well let's talk about the exorcism hello wow I don't know what
happened I need an exorcism hello all right we're going to talk about The Exorcism of one Roland doe so as long as
the public has known about The Exorcist supposedly true Origins the character at
the center of the story has always been known as Roland doe or sometimes Robbie manaheim I think Manheim Manheim Manheim
both are obviously pseudonyms to protect his actual identity but in December 2021
the skeptical Inquirer a magazine devoted to scientific skepticism revealed the identity of Roland
doe can you believe that it's crazy yeah well they reason that he had passed away
a year earlier so there was like not really any need for anonymity anymore I suppose I guess the identity of Roland
Joe has been uncovered by an independent journalist two decades earlier it had been but the reporter actually opted not
to publish the name for legal reasons probably smat so people knew who he was for a little bit but it was it was kept
on the deal wow that's shocking I know it's well it was a different time I was going to say that would never happen now
well exactly because in the year of our L 2021 it got it got leaked it got leaked
yeah so in 1999 though taking it back a little bit a journalist named Mark o opik I believe was writing an article on
The Possession for strange magazine which I prefer when he interviewed father Albert Hughes one of the priests
involved in the case damn that must have been gnarly oh my God can you imagine that'd be crazy let's sit with that for
a second yeah every like let let's paint a picture you get to sit down with the with Father Albert Hughes who was
involved in the original case that inspired the exorcism that's a [ __ ] Exorcist I mean what did you say I said
the exorcism who inspired the exorcism the exorcism that was in the exorcism not a exorcism the exorcism like that's
a big moment yeah just a weird moment I would assume top 10 in your life for sure well according to Hughes the boy
who was exercised was from Cottage City Maryland and he quote went on to graduate from G Gonzaga high and turned
out fine any time I say Gonzaga High I just want to say gorgona and you do that for a reason and you don't even know
what the reason is tell me what it is uh John loves March Madness and he usually
has me do a fake bracket with him and I don't know anything about college basketball I like regular like higher
basketball whatever NBA but like what is that called Big Boy basketball Big Boy basketball but I don't know anything
about college basketball so I just pick based on what I think is a cool name and
Gonzaga reminded me of gorg and so now I I only call Gonzaga gorgona W you probably you might have heard it in
subconsciously it's possible and we're also just family it's true that proved it cuz he'll and he'll even do it now
he's like oh Gorgonzola mov on to the next um round wow yeah look at us so connected Gonzaga G gorola say gor well
with those facts and a few obtained a few other facts obtained from his research OBS hasnic was able to
determine the years that the boy was in high school and after tracking down a copy of the 1954 Gorgonzola Gonzaga High
School yearbook he narrowed the pool of potential boys to a very small number and after cross-checking list with the
known attendees of St James Church where Albert Hughes was priest he was left with just one name Ronald hunkler Ronald
hunkler Ronald hunkler that's a cool name it is I like it hunkler hunkler yeah the story of the Roland Joe and The
Exorcist have been told and retold like a million gajillion times since the supposed possession occurred that it's
become very very difficult if not almost impossible to tell all the facts from fictions those are my favorite kind of
paranormal stories they're the best I don't I don't want clear facts and fic frankly it's most paranormal stories but
then the popularity of the movie that came out made the already Sensational story even more sens Sensational with
obviously aspects played up to promote the supernatural details of the story so facts about Ronald and his life before
and after the exorcism are sparse and a little difficult to verify but here's what we do know Ronald Edwin hunkler was
born June 1st 1935 hey we that that is my wedding anniversary and the day that one Marilyn Monroe passed away it's true
I didn't mean to do that um yes it was in Cottage City Maryland that he was born to Edwin and Odell hunkler isn't
Odell a cool name it is a cool name I also love the name Edwin I do too I think that's a really cute name that was
Ronald's middle name and his father's name love it so his father Edwin worked for the federal government and Odell his
mother was a homemaker Edwin was very fortunate in that he had a stable job during the peak of their Great
Depression but the pay was relatively low and the family definitely struggled financially a lot of the time and this
struggle became even greater a few years after Ronald's birth when Odell's mother
moved into their house which obviously put in you know kind of an additional strain yeah more mths to feed more
resources being used for sure sitting about one mile outside the Northeast border of Washington DC cottage city was
and still is a pretty suburban area populated mostly by government employees like Edwin hunkler was according to
Alvin Ki one of Ronald's childhood friends Ronald quote had friends but he was in a sense a little bit of a loner
he was somewhat sedentary somewhat quiet as his parents were in his younger years
Ronald did have a best friend for the purposes of this story we're going to call him John love that name we don't
really you do I do that's crazy we don't really know like if his name was John or
not so we're just going to call him that John John according to John's brother JC
these two paired up and were virtually Inseparable they were loners who found each other and they caused a lot of
Mischief there was a close relationship there a very close relationship good for
them yeah loners causing Mischief let's go what's better kind of like what we do
but we're not really loners no sort of I don't know according to JC when the stories about a possessed boy began
making their way around town he immediately thought of Roland and John uh Ronald and John that's that sucks
that they used essentially the same name no it does and let me tell you it [ __ ]
me up the entire time I was reading about this and writing about it so Ronald if I say the wrong name I'm going
to do my best to say Ronald the entire time cuz that is his name but if I [ __ ]
up just like laugh with me okay yeah because no matter what that's the whatever name is used is a name that he
was referred to as yeah Ronald or Roland yeah I'm doing my best to say Ronald so
like imagine trying to save someone's identity and use essentially the same name you literally just switch three
letters like that's fake come on and if you have dyslexia the [ __ ] yeah it's true that's not cool no but JC said you
had these two Mischief Makers that had a strong tendency to take advantage of people who were weaker than themselves
that's not good were a pair of connivers and they had their act down they were trying to outdo each other so he's like
possessed boy got something to do with the two of them yeah now if JC remembered Ronald as a mischievous
Troublemaker John who was actually his friend himself described Ronald in a lot more of extreme terms oh according to
John Ronald's home life was anything but typical for a boy in the 1940s he said Ronald was quote smothered by his
obsessively religious mother and grandmother who had deep interest in spiritualis and Ouija boards shunned by
his classmates at school prone to traumas and even violent outbursts and exhibited cruel and at times even
sadistic Behavior toward other children and even animals oh yeah so there's a lot going on with his
pathology and when it came to his father's influence on Ronald both JC and John remembered Edwin hunkler as a man
who was physically present in the home but emotionally absent anywhere else at the time which was kind of common to say
of the time that's not shocking yeah but I think when you have all those other things at play it's going to add to it
it was never good no nobody came out of that in a great way unscathed yeah JC said of the supposed Paranormal Activity
I think he could see what was going on which is why he's never mentioned talking about Edwin interesting yeah now
since the story broke in the papers and especially since the release of the book
and then the movie John really tried to distance himself from Ronald and avoid any association with the legend which I
can understand yeah in an interview in 1999 he said I've never said his name in front of anyone not even my wife whoa
yeah damn in fact while nearly everyone remembered Jon and Ronald as Inseparable
best friends even his own brother Jon himself wouldn't have actually described it in such intimate terms he said we
were Playmates and classmates people ask what he was like back then and I can tell you that he was never what you
would call a normal child he was an only child and kind of spoiled and he was a mean
bastard he was a mean bastard I think it sounds like John just kind of put up with him for a while and then even he
was like [ __ ] off I feel like everyone has at least had like some interaction with a person like that as they were
growing up where you were just like you're kind of a dumb [ __ ] like why am I hanging out with you it's like a
friend you just like do yeah yeah I feel like that's just one of those it's like
then you move to like a new school like you move up a grade you kind of like Branch out a little more and you're like
why the [ __ ] was I friends with that you kind of FL apart yeah for sure so I don't feel bad if you were friends with
an [ __ ] think of exactly who I used to hang out with that was kind of yeah that I look back and I'm like why did I
put myself through that yeah she was an [ __ ] well as an illustration of Ronald's Ronald's typical Behavior John
remembered a story about a stray dog in the neighborhood that it's okay okay that seemed to take a liking to Ronald
and vice versa that they actually liked each other but apparently he said this dog was mean and nobody ever knew who
owned it it just came out of nowhere no dog is mean he was a little mean he's not mean he does mean to he was treated
badly I bet yeah probably no dog comes out mean you're right and they all go to heaven yeah well and this is John's
words he said well Ronald basically adopted that dog that dog really was his best friend not me one time he called me
up and told me to come over and I never really trusted him because he was sneaky
and a real mean little bastard I was going over there and he was looking out from the basement window and when I got
to his house I heard the back porch door slam and I knew right away what he'd done he'd done this sort of thing many
times before to different kids I started running like hell because he'd sick that
dog on me when I got when I got home he called me up and he was laughing like hell that's the kind of person he
was I mean that's pretty funny it's a little silly but also that's [ __ ] up it is a dog could have ate his face off
that's like super 1940s Behavior though I feel I think I've seen that in like several movies I think I've seen that I
feel like that's very like I'm just born yeah I'm going to stick my bean dog on 100% but it's supposed to be his best
friend that's the [ __ ] you do your best friend though yeah you know John John didn't like it I don't know I feel like
we're in the Northeast maybe we just I know that's actually this kind of I'm like that's just roasting somebody you
love yeah you know yeah no that's honestly so true I remember one time I had play date with somebody who I
thought was like my best friend and it was like the middle of winter and we were playing outside and they just
locked me outside yeah that's just you know that's just somebody you love we were still besties after of course you
were cuz that's love that's what that is New England is wild we're different we are but John John didn't like that so
people who knew Ronald as a child paint a picture of a pretty lonely boy overall
it sounds like also you know with pretty bad social skills since he's sick and his dog on people yeah that is pretty
rough and you know obviously this is a great example of it a tendency to behave in Cruel if not outright sadistic ways
which is scary cuz while we can laugh a little bit that is a [ __ ] up thing to do it is a [ __ ] up thing to do
especially knowing that the dog is mean well that's the thing I don't all I'm hearing is that the dog was mean it's
like I don't know what that means yeah well it's it's not only mean to like the friend it's mean to the dog you should
put the dog in that position that's the thing cuz I mean again things were different in the 1940s now you do that
that dog so muches touches that person you're going to have to put that dog down and that's your fault exactly and
that's [ __ ] up because that dog's just doing what they think is going to make you happy exactly and that's all dogs
want to do exactly but the cruel and sadistic stuff is like a different because again we're talking about like
roast your friends roast the people you yeah like these do silly things yeah cruel and sadistic is like a totally
different yeah don't do that and again people said that he was like mean to other animals and as soon as you said
that I got a red flag that's more like what we're talking about unfortunately like I said like there's limited
information so we don't have specific examples like what those cruel and statistic things are but we know that
they happened or people said they did at least but there was at least one person
in Ronald's life who he really truly bonded with and somebody who he was willing to let his guard down around and
it was his father's sister Matilda who was his aunt Tilly as he called that's really cute I know they had a really
cute relationship I think in the stories the documentaries and the movies that have been made since the original event
there's always a great deal made about Aunt Tilly and especially her role as the person who introduced Ronald to the
occult but oh damn a Tilly she might have but again there's a lot more fiction surrounding aspects of the story
than facts so we don't know but what is true is that Aunt Tilly lived in St Louis and she visited her brother and
his family a lot and during her visit she always made time for Ronald's they really like to hang out together that's
some good Aunt [ __ ] it is author Thomas Allen wrote Aunt Tilly seems to have treated Ronald more like a special
friend than as a nephew oh that reads a little creepy I just want to be clear she like it it's not creepy it's not
creepy it was just a cute relationship it's like she she paid she she might have seen too that he was a little off
off and like he was a little like socially strange and like a little bit of loner and so she was like I'm going
to just you know I'm going to make sure that I pay attention to him and I think she even saw that her brother probably
wasn't super present in her nephew's life and like he was struggling at school the adults around him didn't pay
a lot of attention to him other than his mom like smothering him yeah which is not the attention that you want no so
she was like let me just like be a normal person in your life but I feel like you hear special friend and that
atically reads creepy like we're we're in a place now in the world where special friend with an adult is no no
go so he just wanted to be you know thank you for clearing up on Tilly's name yeah I had to that's my girl yeah
so given his inability to form bonds with children his own age and the fact that he you know treated his peers
pretty shittily most of Ronald effect most of Ronald's time was spent with the adults in his life and like I was just
saying most of them typically just ignored him or treated him like a nuisance so in that case it makes sense
why he was drawn so much to somebody like his aunt Tilly yeah she was said to be outgoing outspoken and pretty
eccentric in an era where most people were conservative and respectable and you know buttoned up so she probably
sees a little bit of something in them you know what I mean like she's a little different so she's like I think you just
need to be like steered in the right direction yeah we got to celebrate our differences yeah so like Ronald's mother
and grandmother Tilly was also interested in spiritualism and she introduced Ronald to the Ouija board
which they used together to try to contact the spirit world I'm kind of obsessed with all of this I'm also
pretty obsessed with like I do also love that the mom and grandmother are super into spiritualist in the board I'm like
wow it's funny too cuz the mom was like super religious but she also had an interest in that side of things yeah
that's very interesting yeah nobody really knows how much Ronald believed in his aunt's ability to talk to the dead
through the Ouija board or if he really bought into any of the beliefs but according to Thomas Allen his interest
in the board was at least strong enough for him to engage with it even when Tilly wasn't visiting so he was he was
using that Ouija board so he was into it and it wasn't just the spirit board that
Tilly believed in she was also Al a firm believer in spirit wrapping which is the
belief that Spirits can communicate with the living by like knocking on walls floors any heart this some people think
it's debunked I don't I feel like it's a hard one to debunk like fully yeah I agree you know and like we've he we've
heard weird topping in this room before and we've never found the source like you can debunk certain instances of it
for sure but not overall a blanket debunk doesn't feel right here thank you you're welcome so considering everything
that was going on it would definitely be fair to say that Ronald was struggling emotionally before his possession and
that he didn't have a lot of relationships where he felt supported yeah and throughout a lot of the 20th
century expectations of gender were rigid when it came to boys and young men and especially boys and young men asking
for help when it comes to like emotional problems that would have been super unusual and that's why they just acted
out exactly that's exactly my point here so let's kind of get into it now as far
as anybody can tell Ronald hunkler's paranormal experience began in early January
1949 about 5 months into his e8th grade year his behavior was starting to become
a problem at school and his bullying Behavior wasn't giving him any friends and things finally came to aead that
winter when one day just in the middle of class A supposedly paranormal experience made him the center of
everybody's attention oo his friend John remembered he was sitting in a chair and
it was one of those deals with one arm attached and and it looked like he was shaking the desk the desk was shaking
and vibrating extremely fast and I remember the teacher yelling at him to stop it and I remember he kind of yelled
I'm not doing it and they took him out of class and that was the last I ever saw of him at school holy [ __ ] yeah now
what yeah in later tellings of the story particularly the version told in Thomas
Allen's book possession the event in the classroom was a genuine Poltergeist phenomenon where the desk was moving
free of human hands like he wasn't n't doing it at all but John who was in that class said nah the desk certainly did
not move around the room like that book said it was just shaking all right I mean either way yeah two two versions of
that story regardless of what was causing the commotion the disruption with the desk was the last straw for the
teachers and the administrators at the high school and Ronald was asked to not return so I there was definitely there
was definitely stuff leading up to this yeah there had to be a lot of [ __ ] leading up I think probably the bullying
yeah was like a bigger thingal and then like he definitely sounds like he was disruptive a lot yeah if you're being a
bully to everyone and treating everyone like [ __ ] sorry I just almost yawned while I was saying that not because this
is boring just because sleep it's tired uh but I said it's tired it's tired see it's tired over there it this this is
tired but yeah the like if you're bullying people you're being disruptive you're being like sadistic to people
like the fact that they use the word sadistic quite often means he's doing some [ __ ] and also it was a lot easier
to throw people out of school it's true and it's like if they're telling him to stop and he's like I'm not doing it and
he just keeps doing what get my it's like of course but what sucks is that if it like was legitimate then he just got
kicked out because of a ghost yeah like that's kind of [ __ ] you know yeah thanks a lot spur thanks a lot spir well
interestingly when the incident was reported to the priest months later it was reported that Ronald quote did not
continue his attendance out of embarrassment so there's two stories there now the next major event came a
few days later on January 15th Ronald and his grandmother were at home in his grandmother's room and they started
hearing a dripping noise followed by scratching sounds coming from within the walls in the ceiling I'd be like [ __ ] we
have M until without warning a framed picture of Jesus Christ began shaking quote as I
had to say it a framed picture of Jesus Jus Christ that's a big deal Jesus Christ himself
Jesus Christ Jesus jwa chist it started shaking quote as if the wall back of it had been
bumped so I'm just picturing I can't help it maybe that's a black of sleep I haven't had a lot of sleep I'm picturing
a diamond in the wall saying and I'm picturing him just booty bump in the wall and like he knows Jesus Christ in
the photo boom yeah Jesus Christ is in that photo like he knows yeah like he's just like dancing to his own beep behind
the wall and he's just booty bumping the wall every now and then I like the image
that conjures a big booty demon big booty demon little way he shake it a Bodacious demon in the wall it's going
to be like bump Mario's nickname for Brion or for Brien on Tik Tok yes it's so true well that happened
big booty demon or mice knocking pictures of big booty mice of Jesus Christ Off the
Wall I don't know why would you say it it's like so intense because I did it on purpose because it's so important it is
in the week or so following the scratching and the dripping sounds the inexplicable noise noises became a
nightly event in the hunkler house usually from like 700 p.m. to midnight yeah that's when he's getting his RAV on
that demon that first you pregame then you rage then he's really into it yeah he's he he starts like a little bit
slowly he takes a couple shots at the pregame but once he gets that feeling it's it's over it's over the night going
song comes on and that's it he says let's go girl he says let's go hunkler fam now it's unclear what type of
activity was experienced during these events for the humans but most accounts mention Ronald's reports of hearing
squeaking shoes on his bed for six nights in a row whoa so now the demon has some new sneakers that he's breaking
in on Ronald's bed some new Nike High Tops now it's worth noting that none of the accounts mention which of the family
members heard these sounds but after about a week of Ronald's complaints The Sounds did finally become audible to the
other members of the family aside from just Ronald but the noise was quote only heard at night when the boy went to bed
yeah cuz that's when you go that's when you go crazy yeah that's your time that I mean if a demon is going to start
partying it's definitely going to be when the youngest kid goes to bed of course duh yeah that's how demon tree
Works absolutely it does read the handbook read a book exactly thank you by the end of the week though Ronald's
mother and grandmother had accepted Ronald's claims as fact and they too started having paranormal experiences
good for them and good for them that was a crazy reaction let's go girls he said hell
yeah Nana one instance both women were laying down on Ronald's bed and they quote heard
something coming toward them similar to the rhythm of marching feet in the beat of drums this is all adding up and that
seemed to travel the length of the mattress and back again yes conga line all I can think of is the like the new
Gaga song Abracadabra it's like I love it and he's just like voking oh my God the demon I love it voguing
and throwing pictures of Jesus [Laughter] Christ now the next significant event came about a week later on January 26
when Aunt Tilly died no Aunt Tilly died from complications of Multiple Sclerosis
at age 54 oh she's young I know oh an MS that's tough yeah that's awful poor Tilly I know now given the special
relationship that Ronald had with his aunt til's death had to have been a devastating event for not him of course
and the entire family oh hell yeah now believing that Tilly's death might have had something to do with the events
happening in the house Ronald's mother held a seance with the Ouija board a few nights later in an attempt to contact
Tilly spirit I that sounds awesome I'm obsessed like that's awesome yeah she's just like let's Seance about it I think
it's rad like what a cool mom and I think the grandma probably went too cuz she was into spiritualistic [ __ ] I would
have loved to grow up in this house yeah that's pretty cool now according to her
testimony provided to father Raymond Bishop Odell called out to the spirit and asked if you are Aunt Tilly knock
three times supposedly Ronald's grandmother said she could feel waves of air rushing over her face and head and
then all three participants heard a faint knock three times and Odell called out if you are Tilly tell me positively
by knocking four times at which point she heard four distinct knocks followed by a quote claw scratching on Ronald's
mat on Roland's mattress Ronald's mattress you can keep that all in because he has 47 names that's scary I
don't like the claw well the other thing is you could ask a spirit who they are and you could say are you on Tilly and
they could say yeah [ __ ] yeah of course I am yeah it me that's the thing like you think a demon's going to be like ah
[ __ ] no caught me that's not my name it's me be I can only answer to my name like no they lie you're just him a cloak
I don't think that he's like totally opposed to lying no definitely not yeah so I don't think it's on I just wanted
to make that clear but after the Seance the story starts to get a little hazy and a little inconsistent according to
marnik Odell began quote alternating her beliefs that the problems with her son either were the work of the devil or
their departed relative she like couldn't make her mind up uh both of those sound like uh bad choices a
stretch Yeah so basically she thought that either the house was being haunted by the spirit of a Tilly or that some
sort of demonic entity had attached itself to Ronald and he was now harassing the family but Odell couldn't
quite set on which of the two she believed oh the devil I mean there's a lot going on so it's either the devil or
Aunt Tilly or Aunt Tilly and now we need Jesus Christ you need Jesus Christ to intervene you need your lord and savior
now whatever the case this is the point where according to skeptic Joe nickel quote the case which began as a seeming
Poltergeist outbreak soon Advanced to one of alleged spirit communication to one of supposed diabolic possession oh
which I love I am obsessed with the word diab diabolical yeah I describe many things as diabolical and now my kids
have started to call things diabolical I haven't heard that yet and I I can't wait for the moment that iidea we were
playing Mario Kart last night and one of them said that um Daisy is diabolical Daisy is diabolical that's I love when
they use things perfect they didn't I was like agreed is she like the village girl uh no she's the redhead princess oh
[ __ ] Daisy but they saw her a statue of her dancing with Mario and they were very angry for p Princess Peach oh I
don't like Princess Peach either yeah I don't mind her I she makes me really mad
at Mario party I just wanted to say that time to put that out the village girl is
diab the villagers are wild I don't like them no anyway back to the story yeah in
the early days of the phenomenon the hunkers reported experiences that would become common in later claims of
poltergeist activity including an instance where a parent and orange quote flew across the room where Ronald was
standing eat your fruit eat your fruit he said have a smoothie food and beverages were knocked from tables and
counters other objects seemed to fly off the shelves and even a bobble was hurled
from a shelf and fell right at Ronald's feet read the Bible Read It and Weep not
willing to rule out the possibility that her son was possessed of course Odell reached out to Reverend Luther Schultz
the minister and the family at the family's Lutheran Church she detailed what had been happening in the home and
explained that she was very worried that Ronald was quote the victim of an evil ghost and wondered if it could be on
Tilly an evil ghost I'm like that's not fair just because you don't like your sister-in-law doesn't make her evil no
and it I don't know evil ghosts don't feel real like a thing yeah no it's either a demon or ghost yeah or just a
regular ghost it's a ghost yeah agreed well in order to help guide the family Reverend sches determined he needed to
see the phenomenon for himself and so he arranged for Ronald to spend the night at his home don't love that Ronald
arrived at the parsonage a little after 9:30 : p.m. uh excuse me a little before
9:30 p.m. on the evening of February 17th and he stayed until a little after 9:00 a.m. the next morning according to
the Reverend that evening he heard scratching noises at various points throughout the night and witnessed uh
quote bed vibrations a chair in which uh Roland Ronald Roland Ronald sat tipping
over and the movement the movement of a pallet of blank it's the Rolland Ronald that's
[ __ ] up and the movement of a pallet of blankets upon which Roland sat a pallet of blankets is he like princess
in the pee yes put him on a bunch of blankets yes obviously sitting there and it moved
demonic the devil oh all right he's just staying at your house while that all happens yeah I don't like that well a
little over a week after Ronald spent the night at the reverend's home the phenomenon in the hunkler house
escalated and became more physical beginning on the night of February 26th and occurring four nights in a row he
complained to his parents that something had attacked him in the night and showed
them scratch marks all over his body that seemed to have been made by claws dang like the noises and the other
various phenomena father Bishop's diary indicates that the only other person to have seen the marks on Ronald's body at
the time were his mother okay but like they're there yeah so for more than a month the hunkler family had been
experiencing this crazy [ __ ] in their home you know it wasn't exactly dangerous but it was disruptive
especially for 13-year-old Ronald at time damn who you know was the focus of the activity that's very
um unfortun pues so it's very puberty s but there are studies that that happens I know
we've seen it different cases remember that one that we did a couple months ago that was the teen one that made me think
of then that one was like [ __ ] crazy like I I believe that one puber is wow puberty for so many reasons but it is
interesting that Poltergeist activity can kind of you know M kick to that well and you know it's causing a lot of
issues for him he got kicked out of school it removed a lot of I mean he didn't have like a lot of social support
but what social support he did have at school was now gone yeah outside of the home but fortunately Odell hunkler did
get the assistance that she was hoping for from the church but that assistance added even more people to the story
whose version of events would further complicate and already convoluted story making it even more difficult to tell
fact from fiction let's go which to some people is like wamp wamp to me that's like awesome no add more [ __ ] to this
give me more give me more crazy [ __ ] so the events that comprised the first month of Ronald's Supernatural
experience were based a lot on Odell and Ronald's reports to Father Bishop with some additional statements from one or
two other Witnesses they were pretty benign to a point until the introduction of those claw marks on Ronald's body
that obviously indicated that the problem was getting a lot worse and for Odell who had previously been un sure
about the origin of her son's problem it was now very clear that he was the victim of an evil entity an evil demon
an evil onion taken a back now in late February Odell consulted with Father Albert Hughes the priest at St James
Catholic Church in nearby mount rer a different priest now so father Albert Hughes explained that he knew very
little about demonic possession and even less about exorcism but he suggested that the family used blessed candles
holy water and prayer to bless the home that sounds nice it does I don't know why I went Southern but I just want to
you have to with this kind of stuff you just do in the days that followed Odell did as Hugh suggested she sprinkled holy
water around the house she prayed constantly but very little seemed to change at one point she actually even
tried to baptize Ronald placing candles around his bed and saying prayers and according to the diary account the
flames on the candles around the bed quote All Began moving back and forth in unison and Ronald he responded with rage
oh that's upsetting because when you first said that all I can think of was the Flames just being
like all just dancing together and Abracadabra still play it's always AB but then Roland is Roland Ronald is like
he's pissed that's that's upsetting that actually hurt I'm going to take a sip my
kids actually love the new Lady Gaga song as they should yeah all of them love it I love that for them now father
Bishop's diary indicates that this Behavior resulted in uh Ronald actually being admitted for three day stay at
University Hospital though there aren't really additional details about that hospitalization or the outcome they said
you got ghosts in your blood but like that's him like whatever he did like in response to being baptized landed him a
three-day Hospital stun sounds intense super duper sounds like it was more than just being like ra yes yeah but that's
all I thought that I could do I don't want to reenact anything and end up in the hospital myself and we've got you
know we've got flames in here yeah lighting [ __ ] up fire I have a job to do yeah so after Ronald's discharge from
the hospital the family took a trip to visit relatives in Missouri where according to Bishop other members of the
family also witnessed the markings on Ronald's skin it's here that father Raymond Bishop becomes involved for the
first time really he was a member of the clergy at St Louis University St Louis St Louis and the director of the
school's Department of Education in later years most of the information that informed both the legends about Ronald's
story and actually the story of The Exorcist would come from this man's diary I love that it's awesome something
about that is so spooky and cool it's like heavy metal yeah it really is like I did a rock on she did she was like
heavy metal heavy metal just all of you not regular metal no heavy that's why I the heavy variety that's why I like
really thrust my hands when I did it cuz if I if it was just metal I'd be like metal like just a
little but it's heavy metal metal so you have to thrust your hand thank you now anyways according to Thomas Allen one of
Roland's Ronald's extended family members referred to as Elizabeth was a student at St Louis University and after
becoming concerned about Ronald's condition she approached Raymond Bishop for advice like Albert Hughes the other
father and virtually all clergy at the time Bishop knew very little about possession or the right of exorcism
himself but he still agreed to meet with the family to see what he could do to help he lives to serve yeah I mean go
read up on exorcisms that's pretty much what he did that's what you can do he acknowledged that before he gave the
family his thoughts on the situation he needed time to quote think about what possession was and how it could be
proved I love that he's kind of like approaching it scientifically he is cuz he's like I need to think on this I got
to let me give me some time to think let me just quickly come up with a definition of possession first and then
I will discover how to fix it I'll work on it I like that so father Bishop met with the hungler family for the first
time on March 9th where he claimed to have witnessed the scratching on Ronald's body body and actually saw the
boy's mattress move at the time he kept his suspicions of any danger to himself but later he would admit that he quote
had sensed from the beginning that Robbie was threatened with possession he's like I wasn't going to tell these
people but but I thought [ __ ] was going to go down he said I had an inkling I wasn't going to give them a heads up but
what am I to do yeah so at the time he told the hunkers that he needed to consult with some other Jesuit priests
and that he would get back to them ASAP yeah hopefully Robbie doesn't get like super duper POS possed in the meantime
yeah you just kind of cuz right now it's just like a little threat of it like it
was like on the precipice of possession yeah you know it wasn't quite there possession is in the air yes you know
yes I feel like that might be like a good name for a movie possession in the air yeah I like it I like that maybe a
band name we'll we'll Workshop we're possession in the air I kind of like that yeah hello Wisconsin so it's not
completely clear who Bishop spoke with and what he told them at all um you know unclear things but as Mark up sasik
points out this vagueness and ambiguity would become one of the Hallmarks of Father Bishop's reporting which is a
little problematic when you consider the fact that the bulk of the information about the exorcism did come from his
reports yeah problematic and fun pretty awesome abasic wrote Bishop does not always make it clear who actually
witnessed the events being described he often fails to mention when the priests are in the room when they're absent and
when the information comes secondhand from the boy's mother the possibility of fraudulent activity is neither
considered nor investigated what he needed was a good editor you know just an Editor to be like you're
not really giving us enough uh texture in these descriptions can you can you kind of like who else is in the room
that's the thing it's like like when they go back on Bravo shows and they like the editors give you the time
stamps of the events that happened important he needed something like that so regardless of how things played out
behind the scenes though two days later on March 11th Bishop father Bishop returned to the family this time in the
company of another key witness in this story father Willi in bowar so many fathers lots of fathers daddies
everywhere yeah around that's inappropriate to say s horrifying leave it in F around 11:00
p.m. at night Ronald went to bed at 11 p.m. at night I don't know I'm just feel silly 11:00 p.m. at night at night
that's actually one of my biggest book I even know shocked you said maybe I'm almost possessed maybe around 11:00 p.m.
in the evening Ronald went to bed at which point the three men gathered around his bedside and B I hate it you
know they had to wait until he was sleeping B read the naena which is the Catholic devotional prayer it also could
be the Novena I didn't look it up and reportedly blessed the boy with a quote piece of bone from the forearm of St
Francis Xavier and fixed A Relic en crusted crucifix under the boy's pillow before leaving the room this is the most
metal [ __ ] I've ever heard why do you have a bone from the forearm of St Francis Xavier
Boop just like Boop him with the boat did he say that that's okay for you to have I don't know about that he's not
here to say that's what they just assum they're Assuming he's fine with it they say about assuming you know what though
so far he hasn't made a fuss so they're not maybe this is his fuss maybe this right here is his fuss
this is how he fusses the fact that they just Bess they quote unquote blessed him
with a piece of bone from the forearm of Mr St Francis Xavier I don't know and put a relic encrusted
crucifix under his pillow yeah you can't [ __ ] make this up no you literally can't real like you can't make that up
well a short time later while the priests were sitting in the living room with the family they heard a loud crash
come from Ronald's room Ronald Roland's room and ran in to see what happened in the bedroom they found that a large
bookcase had slid across the room a bench had been flipped over and the crucifix that father B had put under the
pillow appeared to be moved to the edge of the bed oh B also claimed that he witnessed the bed shaking when they
entered the room and it only came to a stop when Odell shouted Aunt Tilly stop Here's my thought though I think there's
two things at play here I think there's a Damon who's trying who's like pushing over bookshelves and [ __ ] and trying to
pull that Relic out I think on until he shaking the bed to wake him up to help like get out of the room maybe so that
that's my view of this I think Aunt Tilly is trying to let him know that shit's a foot I like to believe that
Aunt Tilly just passed on yeah if that's a if they're shaking the bed and she yells on till he stop and the bed
shaking stops then that she was trying to wake him up I agree she was the one doing it I like it yeah well the scene
witnessed in Ronald's bedroom that night was enough to convince the priest that something had in fact possessed the boy
after a few nights spent weighing their options the two men took their concerns to Archbishop Joseph Ritter and not to
be confused with John Ritter no this is Joseph Ritter the I know rip and on March 16th B was given permission to
perform the right of exorcism he got permission from the arch dasis which usually doesn't happen Arch dasis is
pretty stingy with their permission giving they don't just hand it out interesting that they don't just hand it
out but they gave it to a man who like wasn't super familiar with exorcisms yeah they were like you'll figure it out
they were confident in his abilities yeah he I mean he said he was coming up with a definition so and it seems as
though he did that night bishop and Bower returned to the house this time in the company of Bow's assistant father
Walter hollerin who becomes a bigger player later on and started what would ultimately be an almost month-long
process of attempting to exercise whatever evil entity had possessed Ronald hungler now if you've ever seen
an exorcism yeah picture that happening for a month no that's insane I don't have
the stamina a lot of times they last like a couple hours or like a couple days and even that is horrifying
a month a month almost a month yeah uh for reasons that remain unclear throughout the process Ronald would be
moved back and forth multiple times between his aunt's home in a local rectory and um a lexian Brother's
Hospital in St Louis huh so he was like hospitalized during this now after introducing the family to Father holl
howerin father Bodin wasted no time getting to work you cannot waste time when you're exercising no it's time yeah
on the treadmill or in a religious way yeah so in Ronald bedroom bow started talking with Ronald Roland to quote
examine his conscious and make an act of contrition before starting the right then joined by the two other priests and
several family members the group gathered around Ronald's bed and started praying according to Father uh as they
prayed the mattress began to lift slightly off the bed and then lower back down but he insisted that the family
ignore the theatrics and continue praying ain't no way I could ignore those theatri I could not pray through
that no way no for hours the three priests recite the right in Latin while the family continued their prayer and
finally the first cycle of the right had ended and father Baler concluded by shouting precipio Tibi which is I
command thee love it I don't know if I said it really well but I did my best priest yelling in Latin is one of the
scariest things ever yeah I don't even like like you really shouldn't read the Latin I should not read the Latin you
see what I did there I set that up but when he yelled that Ronald screamed in what sounded like terrible pain oh no
and his father bow was concerned as far as he was concerned Ronald's scream was evidence that he was indeed possessed
and that the right was actually working hell yeah so the priest continued aggressively reciting that right of
exorcism as Ronald just wed around uncomfortably on the bed yeah in his wild thrashing he quickly kicked the
blankets away uncovering his body and with his pajama top unbuttoned the participants in the room watched as
three red long welts appeared on his chest as if something was attempting to cut its way out of him from the inside
damn yeah later father Bishop would describe the welts as quote marks raised up above the surface of the skin similar
to an engraving ooh and father B he paid no attention to the welts he just carried on with his right oh yeah as
more and more welts started appearing on Ronald's body the more they recited the
more Ronald appeared to be in like immense pain and soon the welts and scratches started producing faint lines
of blood all over Ronald's legs his stomach and his back holy [ __ ] yeah the the longer the ritual dragged on the
more and more pain Ronald seemed to experience at one point one of the relatives in the room claimed that they
saw the image of the devil the devil the Devil Himself appear on Ronald's thigh they saw it in his journal Bishop
wrote The Arms were held above his head and seemed to be webbed giving the Hideous appearance of a
bat okay at other times in the evening bats are awesome he's not saying they're not the Hideous appearance well he
actually is it is rude you should think about his words yeah at other times in the evening though participants reported
seeing words appear in the scratches on Ronald's body people saw the words hell go and a large x on his thigh okay and
that was before the days of Twitter turning to X so I don't know what that meant exactly now after hours of the
Latin ritual the group finally broke for the night cuz everybody was really tired
yeah and Ronald appeared to fall into a deep sleep but through the night while still conscious he would periodically
slam his fists into the headboard above him or into his pillow and the next morning when father bodar asked what he
was dreaming about Ronald said he had been fighting a huge Red Devil it felt slimy and was extremely powerful and
Dave said that sounds like puberty he said how else would you describe puberty if not slimy and
extremely powerful and I said Dave that's a great Point you're right I said I don't have
an argument for you sir in the days and weeks that followed both the exorcism and Ronald's Behavior grew more and more
aggressive and offensive o in one diary entry father bowder reports from 12 midnight on it was necessary to hold R
during his fights with the spirit two men were necessary to pin him down on the bed R shouted threats of violence at
them but vulgar language was not used oh that's good AR spit at his opponents many times he used a strong arm whenever
he could free himself and his blows were beyond the ordinary strength of a boy so
he I like I they were like he was violent but he was never vulgar he was never vulgar it's important to know it's
important to not but he was also swole he was packing a punch swoll Beyond his ears yeah exactly now at
times Ronald would also speak in a quote diabolical high pitched voice which like
love it what is a diabolical high pitched voice can you try it can you please try it so like we're talking like
a demon high voice diabolical high pitched it's got to be like do it I'm trying to like think about she's getting
ready she cuz you have to like get in a snarly way I think it's got to be like that kind of
I don't like it you got to like show teeth when you do ite doesn't like it either Mikey shook his head I mean it's
diabolical I'm just picturing like I'll get you my pretty that's diabolical and high
pitched yeah you know thanks I don't know we weren't there we weren't there and unfortunately they don't have voice
notes from back then they unfortunately he also was said to be swinging his fists at the priests and other adults in
the room he also supposedly broke father hen's nose [ __ ] I know and then at other
times he would sit up normally in bed and just sing sweetly oh that's nice said sit up and just go
afri oh that's great he would also sad cry off and on oh but then immediately his attitude would change and he'd start
swearing he did eventually start swearing and being vulgar and he would also make masturbation gestures in order
to embarrass the other people in the room keep it together that's diabolical it truly is other times he would spout
Latin words and phrases to the surprise of his parents who swore that Ronald did
not know Latin and had never been exposed to that language before if I know one thing about my kid it's that he
doesn't know Latin that's the thing at times though he was said to be more lucid and appeared to be on the men so
his parents started wondering maybe if it was time to return to Maryland and send him back to school yeah that sounds
like a great idea cuz no but there were like little like weekl long periods where he would be completely fine yeah
so they'd be like all right like I guess we 13 we got to give you to school you got to learn and [ __ ] this will just be
a silly time we think about later where you were possessed for a little while honestly what's funny is like that's
ultimately what ends up happening this man lives a long life funny story that we look back on but unfortunately and
this is so crazy as soon as Ronald caught on to their conversations he would become possessed again wow in one
instance when the subject of his returning to school came up he started thrashing around on the bed and tore
open his pajama top and it revealed that the words no school were scratched on his
chest this demon does not [ __ ] with the the heavy learning he said schools out
for I wish it said that instead that song wasn't a thing yet I don't think no so as the days wore on
Ronald became more abusive to anyone and everyone who entered the room he would swear at them he would attempt and
sometimes succeed to make himself vomit oh that would piss me off he would piss on himself and otherwise be assaultive
yeah in one instance he managed to break one of the bed springs from the mattress
and jam it into father bow Bow's arm oh uh drawing blood obviously another time when the family traveled back to Cottage
City for a visit accompanied by father bow Ronald became physically violent on the train he was said to have punched
bow in the testicles and screamed that's a nutcracker for you isn't it which is lowkey just teenage boy
[ __ ] that is L I'm like babe he wasn't possessed that's just a 13-year-old boy
he just doesn't have another 13-year-old boy to do it to so he does it to the priest that's
been sitting by his bed every night thinking of him punching a priest in the p and saying that's a nutcracker for you
isn't it is love isn't it I love I love that part of it that's a nutcracker for you isn't
it father can you confirm that's a nutcracker father can you confirm that I just
cracked your nuts D's Nuts it is literally if this kid had friends if he hadn't been pulled out of
school and all that [ __ ] oh he was Nutcracker in people when he was cracking everybody he's 13 years old and
he'd be doing it and being like that's a nutcracker for you huh and then they was
doing that that's why he got kicked out of scho but instead he's got like an older priest that HS out all the time
that's his friend he's like of course that's what we do oh isn't it so funny oh damn imagine being on that train I
would I would have taken on my phone my little bit 1943 wouldn't have stopped me just getting that for Tik
Tok well for some reason after all that craziness on April 4th the hungers decided it was time to go back to
Maryland so that Edwin could go to work and Ronald Roland could go back to school and nut crack or someone else
then after 5 days in Maryland Ronald started acting out again so he got sent back to Missouri and admitted to a
hospital where he was observed for psychiatric symptoms feeling like they'd left too soon Edwin and and Odell also
returned to Missouri to support their son those are good parents right there yeah the exorcism finally came to an end
on the evening of April 18th the priest had spent most of the afternoon and evening reciting the right of exorcism
over the boy who now was draped in several religious medals and holding a crucifix in his hand my God God it's it
creates imery yeah it constructs a visual yeah throughout the day his demeanor had swung back and forth from
calm and pleasant to mean and violent but by the evening he did seem to have calmed down and his father B recited the
Latin phrases over the bed demanding to know the identity of the demon that possessed the boy Ronald Roland's
demeanor changed again and he started thrashing about the bed claiming he was a fallen angel oh like the devil like
like Lucifer Morning Star yeah finally around 11: p.m. a quote new masculine voice emerged from Ronald who said Satan
Satan I am St Michael I command you Satan and the other evil spirits to leave this body in the name of Dominus
immediately now now now that's my best masculine voice like is literally like his beat
rest than sh broke [Applause] me Satan sat in the name of Dominus immediately immediately all junior girls report to
the gymnasium immedi immediately oh my God I haven't laughed this hard in years oh [ __ ] I love a paranormal story D
they're so good they're so fun well after that male voice emerged that was a clip by the way oh man it was it was
audio they got it from 1940 whatever uh like 19 yeah whatever that was funny after that Ronald Roland's body spasmed
one final time he fell backward on the bed and then in his normal 13-year-old voice he said he is
gone he said peed out y'all y'all he left he said Peace up hey town so later the ultimate Irish
goodai he didn't feel like staying any longer he didn't say bye but he just left so later Ronald would tell father
bod in that final moment of possession he had a vision of St Michael holding a flaming
sword Heavy Metal the hunkler family stayed in Missouri with the family for 12 more days just to be sure that Satan
was actually gone before finally returning home to Maryland during this time father checked
in with them regularly but as far as anybody could tell the possessing demon had left Ronald's body for good for him
by all accounts the phenomenon never occurred again once the hunkers went back to Cottage uh City Ronald was
enrolled at gorgonzilla high school and he went on to college where he studied chemical engineering and went on to work
as a scientist for NASA okay Ronald period okay the [ __ ] ucker who inspired the story
of The Exorcist became a scientist for NASA that blew my mind that's the funnest fact that is the funnest fact
the funnest of all facts the funnest fact thank you for agreeing that's really cool in a letter dated August
19th 1951 father Bishop wrote of his visit to the hunkler's house he said R now 16 is a fine young man his father
and mother also became Catholic having received their First Holy Communion on Christmas Day 1950 damn praise be I mean
I guess if anything's going to turn you Catholic it's an exorcism possession yeah well the diary of the account
written by father Bishop like I said became something of a legend at Georgetown University though few have
actually seen it I see it well few have so good luck yeah no one seems to be able to settle on how long the document
actually is some people say it's 16 pages and others say 26 okay but presumably this is how it came to the
attention of the Washington Post and other Washington area papers in late 1949 where it gained some brief traction
before mostly Fading Into Obscurity since none of the reporters seem to be able to track down any of the
participants to verify any kind of story other sources alleged that father Luther
miles the family's local priest was the source to leak to the press and that's when the story like really came
out while some of the press reports minimized the supposed demonic possession which is [ __ ] lame others
chose to play it up or just tell it as it was for all it was worth citing the various ungodly messages that appeared
on Ronald's body like no school like no school that's ungodly and the various examples of unknown telekinetic Force
like when the picture of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ was booty bumped off the wall exactly yeah if it wasn't for
William Peter Batty's 1971 novel in the movie that followed two years later it's
pretty likely that nobody actually would have ever heard of Roland do or Ronald hunkler it's true but the timing was
just right Americans were taking a particular interest in the occult at the time so the story was thrust back into
the spotlight and it kind of took on a life of itself now it's important to be clear that even
bat's novel was heavily influenced by Ronald's story even though it was it's actually just one of several influential
stories and events that also included the Lun possessions and The louvier Possession both were 17th century witch
trials that I think you would probably be pretty interested in covering so write that down beond I'm writing it
down right now and there were different archaeolog archaeological excavations that occurred throughout the early to
mid 19th centur across Africa in the Middle East that also inspired his story so with so many different versions of
the story floating around in the cultural Zeitgeist the question remains what exactly did happen to Ronald
hunkler in 1949 was he possessed by a demonic presence or was there something even more complicated going on who knows
now at this point it's probably impossible to say with certainty what exactly happened to Ronald but if there
was an authority on the subject it would probably be investigative journalist marsnik more than just the individual
responsible for discovering Roland Do's real identity he also devoted a ton of time to the story he conducted
interviews with more than a hundred people who actually knew the hungler family personally and the other figures
in the story all in an attempt to verify the details of what has become one of America's most iconic scary stories in
his interviews with Ronald's childhood friends and peers revealed that far from being an ordinary Shy Boy Ronald hunkler
was a very lonely somewhat troubled kid who was struggling yeah his father never
actually believed that his son was possessed reportedly was emotionally unavailable so he really comes up in the
story at all and the women in his life on the other hand were hugely influential almost to his detriment
especially like his mom I think using their love of spiritualism as maybe the only means of bonding with him and when
it came to Children his own age it seems like his behavior and you know flaws kept them at an arms length yeah but OBS
hasnic didn't just speak to Ronald's friends and family also tracked down anybody who was directly involved with
the case or familiar enough with those who were and of the three priests at the center of the exorcism Story Only father
uh howerin was alive when OBS hasnic began his investigation at the time howerin actually reluctantly agreed to
an interview but he ended up revealing a lot about the case and its Legacy oh damn when asked whether or not he would
go on record as saying he believed that Ronald was truly possessed he declined oh he said no I can't can't go on record
I never made an absolute statement about these things because I didn't feel I was
qualified I hadn't studied the phenomena and that sort of thing huh according to
him Ronald never spoke in a voice other than his own oh he never demonstrated Supernatural strength or abilities oh
and when asked about Ronald's supposed extraordinary strength howerin said I don't know I never even thought very
much about it it certainly wasn't Mike Tyson hitting me in the nose or something like
that and as for Ronald speaking Latin language that he supposedly didn't know and had only occasionally heard father
clarified I think he mimicked us oh so he's a nonbeliever okay you know I mean all valid all valid but the rest of his
interview with Father H howerin unfolded in a similar thread he recall Ronald spitting and swearing a lot he didn't
have any recollection of Ronald's vomiting or urinating oh and as far as the multiple reports of the bed moving
he acknowledged that they did but he said it was on rollers like any bed at the time so there was really no way of
knowing if it was moving like how it was from him moving or if it was okay yeah OBS asik's investigation obviously
provides a lot of clarifying information around what did and didn't happen during
The Exorcism of Ronald hunkler but it also provides some insight as to why there are so many gaps in the story and
how it managed to get out to the public yeah for sure and when it comes to the earlier part of the story where Bishop
claims to have been involved with the family in Ronald's hospitalization as well as his own attempted exorcism OBS
hasnic was unable to to find any information on Bishop's claims so we don't know his Research indicates that
Bishop didn't get involved until March and that the vast majority of the information he collected was from
secondhand sources okay abasik pointed out no mention is made whatsoever of the alleged first exorcism attempted by
father Hughes at Georgetown University hospital and nothing is written of the boy's father's feelings or level of
involvement or the possible presence of psychosomatic illness within the boy interesting very interesting if markup
snik and other Skeptics are correct and Ronald hunkler was never really possessed then what actually did happen
obaz says personally I do not believe Robo was possessed and instead he's come to his own conclusion based on
everything he learned about the case and the people involved he said there's simply too much evidence that indicates
that as a boy he had serious emotional problems stemming from his home life there's not one shred of Hard Evidence
to support the notion of demonic possession the facts show that he was a spoiled and Disturbed only child with a
very overprotected mother and a non-responsive father to me his behavior was indicative of an outcast youth who
desperately wanted out of uh Bladensburg Junior High School at any cost he wanted
attention and he wanted to leave the area and go to St Louis throwing Tantrums was the answer he began to play
his concocted game for his efforts he got a collection of priests who had no previous exorcism experience who doed
over him as he lay strapped to a bed his response was that of any normal child he
reacted with rage he wanted out without delving into the dyn dynamic of psychosomatic illness there's no
question there was something wrong with Rob do prior to January 1949 something that modern era Psychiatry might have
best addressed Rob do was not just another normal teenage boy my favorite part of that is that he got a collection
of priests as his PR like as his he said he was upset and he got a collection of
collection of priests yeah like that's just the most horrifying thing I can imagine that's not the prize that I
personally want like you oh you want to play this game here's a collection of priests that's going to sit by your bed
at night do you feel as though you won did you win did you win Ronald that's a that's a real lose lose it is well
whether he was possessed or not Ronald hunkler's 1949 claims of possession did help to fuel America's imaginations and
of course America's interest in the Supernatural and of course as one of the primary influences on The Exorcist his
story is everywhere it's like part of American Supernatural lore and while we may never know if it was real or not it
seems at this point really doesn't matter no it really doesn't it's a fun [ __ ] story the story is [ __ ] a
blast all the way through I think it's great yeah I like that story I love that story and I love that he became a NASA
scientist so like he got it worked out all and he came out the other end personally good for him I think he was
possessed I think you know let's go girls yeah and I think I my story is that he was possessed and until he
helped him out that's I like that thank you thank you Jesus Christ Jesus Jesus Christ um so yeah if you want to keep
listening we hope you do we hope you keep listening we hope you keep it weird but not so weird as getting a prize of
three priests of a colle un you want that a collection of priests you can have it if you want it if you want it
keep it that if you want that you get it and that if you don't you don't you don't
bye bye [Music] [Music]

In the winter of 1973, director William Friedkin released his iconic horror classic The Exorcist, a film that has shocked and terrified audiences for more than fifty years. Based on William Peter Blatty’s novel of the same name, The Exorcist tells the story of a young girl who becomes possessed by a demonic entity, and the two Catholic priests who attempt to exorcise the demon. Even more terrifying than the content of the film, however, was the fact that The Exorcist was supposedly based on a true story.

William Peter Blatty had always stated The Exorcist was based on a supposedly true story he’d heard while at Georgetown University. According to Blatty, a Maryland boy, known as “Roland Doe,” had become possessed by a demonic entity and, among other things, underwent a negative personality change and began exhibiting impossible abilities including an ability to speak Latin. It was only through the dedication of one Jesuit priest that the boy was eventually freed of his possession and went on to live a normal life.

Since the release of both the novel and the film in the 1970s, a great deal more has been learned about “Roland Doe” and the supposedly true story that inspired The Exorcist, raising many questions about the veracity of the original claims. Who was “Roland Doe,” and was he truly possessed by a demon, or just the intense emotions of an adolescent boy?

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References

Allen, Thomas. 1993. Possessed: The True Story of the Most Famous Exorcism of Modern Time. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Associated Press. 1949. "'Evil spirit' cast out of 14-yearf-old." The Bee (Danville, Virginia), August 10: 8.

McGuire, John M. 2005. "Priest was last of three who did 1949 exorcism." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 3: A1.

News and Observer. 1964. "Tar Heel develops space ceramics." News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), September 3: 27.

Nickell, Joe. 2001. "Exorcism!: Driving Out the Nonsense." Skeptical Inquirer 20-24.

Opsasnick, Mark. 1999. "The haunted boy of Cottage City, the cold hard facts behind the story that Inspired The Exorcist." Strange Magazine.

Young, Maya. 2010. Boy whose case inspired The Exorcist is named by US magazine. December 20. Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/20/the-exorcist-boy-named-magazine.

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Brief Summary

The episode covers the exorcism of Ronald Hunkler, detailing his possession, family dynamics, and life post-exorcism as a NASA scientist.

Key points

The Identity of Roland Doe Revealed. The true identity of Roland Doe, the boy behind The Exorcist, was revealed in 2021.
Childhood of Ronald Hunkler. Ronald's upbringing was marked by a strict religious environment and social struggles.
Aunt Tilly's Special Bond. Ronald had a unique relationship with his Aunt Tilly, who treated him like a special friend.
Ronald's Struggles. Ronald faced bullying and emotional struggles leading up to his paranormal experiences.
Aunt Tilly's Death. The death of Ronald's Aunt Tilly deeply affected the family and sparked paranormal events.
Claw Marks. Ronald showed scratch marks on his body, indicating the escalation of paranormal activity.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

That's a big moment!

Reflecting on meeting Father Albert Hughes.

5:19WatchApr 10, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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