With the home video rerelease of this horror blockbuster, people have found a renewed interest in the chilling story of possession
and evil. From its original distribution in 1976 to today's sale of the DVD, The Exorcist has been one of the stables of modern film
horror. Projectile pea soup and twisting heads are now a part of common culture throughout the world and it all leads to true events
that - apparently - actually took place several decades ago.
How true the book and movie versions are when compared to the actual known accounts puts the works in the solid realm of fiction.
Many of the major, and minor, details were changed when the story was published to make the tale more exciting and heart pumping.
Although nobody questions the possibility of possession, some of the more fantastic elements were fabricated.
The real account centered around Douglas Deen and began around 1949 in a rural area of Washington DC. The 14 year old boy and his
family noticed strange noises coming from the walls and ceiling of his room. The suspect was thought to be mice, so an exterminator
was called in but the services were unable to stop the weird sounds.
Soon the occurrences became violent. Furniture began to move, pictures jumped from their spots on the walls, and the boy's bed began
to lurch and shake through the night. The Deen family soon sought help from their neighbors. Although these persons at first tried to ignore
the disturbances, one night in the house was able to change their minds.
With little else to do, the family called the minister of their local church, Reverend Winston, and asked for his assistance.
Spending February 18, 1949, with the young boy, the Reverend found the happenings all too real. He witnessed the shaking of the bed,
strange scratches in the walls and the movement of furniture. Afterwards, Douglas was given full physical and psychological tests but
they revealed nothing out of the ordinary.
With no other solutions, the family called a Roman Catholic priest to exorcise the demons from the home. The priest performed the
ceremony thirty times and stayed with the Deens for over two months. During this time, the boy would scream in strange voices and
shake violently. Finally, later that spring, the family and priest felt the exorcisms had worked and the demons had been driven away.
The movie's projectile vomit, neck-cracking head rotation, and levitation never happened and were added to heighten the suspense
and evil of the story. Also missing is the direct link to Satan and the apparent evil overtones. Without these, the case appears to
be a fairly standard poltergeist case. Much like similar cases, the events revolved around the young boy and stopped once he directly
confronted them. Although fantastic, the movie was just that
- a movie.
How true the book and movie versions are when compared to the actual known accounts puts the works in the solid realm of fiction.
Many of the major, and minor, details were changed when the story was published to make the tale more exciting and heart pumping.
Although nobody questions the possibility of possession, some of the more fantastic elements were fabricated.