American Hauntings: The True Stories behind Hollywood's Scariest Movies—from The Exorcist to The Conjuring: The True Stories behind Hollywood’s Scariest Movies—from The Exorcist to The Conjuring

by Robert Bartholomew

  In the diary, the possessed boy is identified only as “R,” to protect his privacy. In his book, Allen refers to him as “Robbie,” which is a pseudonym. Robbie was born in 1935, into a struggling family in Cottage City, Maryland, near Washington, D.C. A single child, he was raised as an Evangelical Lutheran. Evangelicals emphasize the teachings of the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the New Testament—the biblical scriptures that Christians believe were written after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Robbie shared the house with his parents and maternal grandmother.12 He also had a beloved aunt in St. Louis who often visited. She was a devoted spiritualist, believing that spirits of the dead exist in another plane of reality and can be contacted through psychic mediums. She introduced him to the Ouija board, and the two would use it to contact what they believed were spirits of the dead from “the other side.” Ouija boards are also referred to as “spirit talking boards”; they have many numbers and letters printed on the surface and the words “yes” and “no.” Players place their fingertips on a small heart-shaped piece of wood (known as a planchette), which they move about in response to questions they have supposedly asked the spirits, thus spelling out a response. His aunt explained how, even without a Ouija board, “spirits could try to get through to this world by rapping on walls.”13 This was a well-known phenomenon among spiritualists of the time, who would try to develop a code by asking questions and counting the number of raps.14

  The Possession Begins

  It was a Saturday evening in the dead of winter 1949 when strange things began to happen. It was January 15. Thirteen-year-old Robbie was at home with his grandmother when she heard a mysterious dripping sound, and a painting of Christ appeared to shake. Over the next eleven days, the house was plagued by peculiar rapping and scratching sounds, which were attributed to rodents. On January 26, the family received devastating news: Robbie’s aunt had died in St. Louis. Emotionally shattered, Robbie began to withdraw and obsess over the Ouija board, experimenting with it for hours a day. He may have been trying to contact his aunt.15 Over the next several days, Robbie said he heard a mysterious squeaking like that made by shoes, as if someone were walking by his bed. Six nights later, his mother and grandmothers lay next to Robbie in bed in an effort to comfort him, when they all heard the squeaking. His mother called out to the dead aunt, “Is that you?” She asked the spirit aloud to knock three times if it was the aunt. Father Bishop’s diary records that the trio felt “waves of air” on their skin and heard distinct knocks followed by “claw scratchings on the mattress.” One possibility is that the squeaking was caused by the contracting bedsprings, because the sound “was heard only at night when the boy went to bed.” As his mother and grandmother continued to lie with Robbie on his bed, Father Bishop wrote, they “heard something coming toward them similar to the rhythm of marching feet and the beat of drums.” The sound appeared to “travel the length of the mattress and back again” repeatedly. A similar effect could have been created by tapping one’s toes against the footboard of the bed.16 Had Robbie caused the noises—or was his aunt trying to communicate from the afterlife?

  Over the next four nights, strange markings appeared on Robbie’s body. They would soon take the form of bloody messages scratched into his skin. Whenever the scratching noises were ignored, the mattress would shake. In one instance, it shook so violently that a bedspread was pulled loose.17 Over the ensuing days and weeks, the disturbances intensified. They shared one common feature: Robbie was always nearby, whether they happened at home or in school. For instance, Father Bishop writes that fruit, such as a pear and an orange, flew across the room. “Milk and food were thrown off the table and stove. The bread-board was thrown on to the floor. Outside the kitchen a coat on its hanger flew across the room; a comb flew violently through the air and extinguished blessed candles; a Bible was thrown directly at the feet of R, but did not injure him in any way.” When Robbie’s desk at school mysteriously slid across the floor, he reportedly decided not to attend, to avoid further embarrassment. It also provided a convenient excuse to get out of school, which he loathed.18

  Robbie began acting strangely and was unruly. His parents consulted a physician, a psychiatrist, and a psychologist. The doctor found Robbie to be in good health, with the exception of being “high-strung.” The psychiatrist gave him a clean bill of health, declaring that he appeared to be “normal.” The opinions of the psychologist were not recorded. His parents also sought the views of a spiritualist and of Lutheran clergy.19 The Reverend Luther Schulze of the nearby St. Stephen’s Evangelical Lutheran Church made several visits to the home to counsel the family on how best to help Robbie. They told him that they feared he was possessed by an evil ghost. His mother wondered if the “ghost” was his recently deceased aunt. While at the house, the Reverend Schulze reported seeing moving furniture and flying crockery. Robbie’s parents grew increasingly alarmed and noted that his personality was changing. He appeared sad and withdrawn, and one night, apparently in his sleep, they heard him cursing. Starting in early February, the boy seemed tormented by nightmares, thrashing about in his sleep for hours at a time.20

  Thinking that a change of scenery might help Robbie’s deteriorating condition, the Reverend Schulze got his parents to agree to let him stay overnight with him and his wife. At about midnight, Schulze reported, he was awakened by a strange vibrating sound. Checking on Robbie, he found that the boy’s bed was shaking “like one of those motel vibrator beds, but much faster.” He said that as the bed vibrated, Robbie was awake and lying “perfectly still.” Other disturbances broke out: a chair Robbie was sitting in began to move and eventually tipped over. At about 3:00 AM, the boy appeared to move across the floor while covered with blankets. At times he seemed to be in a trance.21 Eventually Schulze suggested that the parents consult a Catholic priest, saying that they had more experience with such matters.22 Robbie was examined twice more by a psychiatrist but failed to show for a third appointment, his parents opting for the services of a priest to exorcise him. While the decision to seek an exorcist may seem like an extreme measure so early in the case, psychiatrist Elizabeth Bowman believes that it may relate to a series of press reports about the deplorable conditions of Maryland mental hospitals. This was a huge scandal at the time, with conditions so poor that a headline in the Baltimore Sun proclaimed them a “Maryland Shame” and described the story as “The Worst Story Ever Told by the Sun Papers.”23 Mental illness was a huge stigma at the time.24 Given Reverend Schulze’s recommendation and the family’s religious beliefs, they decided to heed his advice, and they sought out Father E. Albert Hughes of St. James Catholic Church in nearby Mount Rainier.

  Father Hughes was summoned to perform the exorcism, but with the boy’s condition steadily worsening, he was admitted to a Georgetown hospital between late February and early March, as it was a Jesuit facility and seemed better equipped to deal with his condition on a spiritual level.25 Father Hughes continued his preparation to exorcise Robbie. As the boy called out in a strange language, mysterious scratches began to appear on his chest. The attending nuns also struggled without success to “keep the bed still.” As Father Hughes began his exorcism, Robbie, who was restrained to a bed, managed to free one of his hands. Snapping off a steel bedspring, he used it as a weapon, ripping into the priest’s flesh, slashing his arm from his shoulder to his wrist. It required over one hundred stiches to close. Deeply affected by the attack and reeling from the trauma, Father Hughes withdrew from the case, feeling that he was dealing with a power beyond his capacity.26

  Upon returning home from the hospital, the family discussed the possibility of making a temporary move to St. Louis to be with relatives. Shortly after, Robbie’s mother heard screams from the bathroom. Rushing in, she found him with the letters LOUIS scratched across his ribs, oozing blood. When she asked him if it referred to St. Louis, he soon found and revealed the word YES scratched into another part of his trunk. When the question arose as to when to go, the w
ord SATURDAY was found scratched into his hip. As to how long they should stay, 3 WEEKS soon appeared on his chest.27 The likelihood that Robbie had produced the scratches was dismissed on the grounds that his mother “was keeping him under close supervision.”28 However, Robbie easily could have made the letters earlier and revealed them when he deemed the time was appropriate. According to Father Bishop’s diary, “The markings could not have been done by the boy for the added reason that on one occasion there was writing on his back.”29 This view seems naive; such feats are well within the realm of possibility by a determined youth—with or without a wall mirror. This was the only time when the scratched messages appeared on a difficult-to-reach part of Robbie’s body.

  After the family boarded a train and arrived in Missouri, the strange happenings followed. In St. Louis, there were more poltergeist outbreaks, whereupon Father Bishop was drawn to the case. There the priest would meet the boy and write his now-famous diary. When he placed a bottle of holy water in Robbie’s bedroom while the boy was supposedly asleep, it soon went flying across the room. Another time, the entrance to Robbie’s room was mysteriously blocked by a fifty-pound bookcase. Furniture also inexplicably tumbled over. Despite these occurrences, both Father Bishop and Father Bowdern were unconvinced that something supernatural was taking place. They believed that Robbie could have produced each of the disturbances in St. Louis.30 Bowdern eventually changed his mind and was instructed by Archbishop Joseph Ritter to perform an exorcism on the boy, accompanied by Father Bishop and Jesuit graduate student Walter Halloran.

  Father Bowdern went to the boy’s room and began the formidable task of exorcising him. Soon, eerie scratches were observed on Robbie’s body. The word HELL in capital letters appeared across his chest “in such a way that R [Robbie] could look down upon his chest and read the letters plainly.” Father Bishop’s diary also noted that “a picture of the devil” appeared on the boy’s leg, leading him to speculate that “the exorcism prayers had stirred up the devil.” The boy then appeared to fall asleep, only to awaken and start “punching the pillow with more than ordinary force.”31 With his only weapons being faith in God and an ancient ritual that had been used many times in the history of the Church, Father Bowdern felt certain that he was in an epic struggle against Satan. On Thursday, March 17, the boy became violent and began to thrash about wildly, spitting in the faces of the priests and even at his own mother. He even urinated. Walter Halloran noted that the boy would say things like “I got you a good one there” and “How do you like that?” Later Robbie claimed to have no recollection of spitting.32 At one point Robbie exhibited such strength that two men were needed to hold him down. Robbie “shouted threats of violence” and at times struck out at the men who were trying to help him. The diary reports, “He used a strong arm whenever he could free himself, and his blows were beyond the ordinary strength of the boy.”33

  As the exorcism continued on and off in the coming days, the boy would occasionally scream in a “diabolical, high-pitched voice.” Other times he would strike out with closed fists at those around him. One blow landed on Halloran’s nose, breaking it. At times, the scene appeared to be surreal, as Robbie would sit up and begin to sing songs such as “The Old Rugged Cross,” “The Blue Danube” and “Swanee.” He would weep, curse, and bite his caretakers. At times his antics put the attending priests on an emotional roller coaster. At one point, on March 18, he appeared to free himself of the Devil, calling out, “He’s going, he’s going” and “There he goes.” His body went limp. He appeared to be normal and said that he had seen a vision of a black-robed figure walking away from him in a black cloud.34 However, there was little respite for the priests; before long, he began to cry out, “He’s coming back! He’s coming back!” Soon after, the priests were again trying to drive the Devil from Robbie. At times it appeared that Satan was speaking and writing through him. In one instance, he wrote, “In 10 days I will give a sign on his chest . . . he will have to have it covered to show my power.” Another time he wrote, “Dead bishop.”35 On April 1, the boy was taken to the rectory and baptized.

  The priests were convinced that they were in a desperate struggle to save Robbie’s corrupted soul. Despite the gravity of the situation, in hindsight, some of Robbie’s actions bordered on comical. For instance, as the priests tried desperately to exorcise the boy through the remainder of March, random scratches and words continued to appear on his body. When there was a discussion of Robbie attending school once the ordeal was over, he grimaced, opened his shirt, and revealed two words clearly scratched onto his chest: NO SCHOOL. Apparently Satan has an aversion to education.36 If there was any question that Robbie was responsible for the origin of the letters that mysteriously appeared on his body, it was seemingly answered on one occasion, when Jesuit priest William Van Roo watched him scratch out words on his chest. It is unclear whether he realized he was being observed: “Robbie’s right hand began moving on his chest. Van Roo looked down. Blood. He had not noticed the length of Robbie’s fingernails. With one of those fingernails Robbie was scratching two bloody words on his chest in large capital letters: HELL and CHRIST.”37 During an earlier incident, priests looked on in amazement as they reported seeing “a new scratch slowly moving down his leg.”38 While this may seem mysterious, Robbie could have made a quick scratch just before the priests looked at his leg. He had let out a yelp just before noticing the scratch appear, which suddenly drew their attention to his leg. What they witnessed may have been the immediate aftereffect of the scratch as the skin responded to the injury. Joe Nickell has produced similar scratches while experimenting on his own body.

  On April 4, the family returned home to Maryland due to Robbie’s father’s need to work and because of the strain that the family’s presence had placed on relatives in St. Louis. Within five days, the boy’s condition worsened, and he was sent back to St. Louis, where he was admitted to a hospital operated by an order of monks. Due to his violent past, he was strapped onto a bed in a high-security room with iron bars across the window. During the day, he was well enough to receive religious education classes and go on short outings; at night the exorcism continued. There were several attempts to give him Holy Communion, but each time he spit out the blessed wafer of bread. Robbie said that the Devil would not allow it.39

  The ordeal finally ended on April 18, when Robbie proclaimed, “He’s gone!” He said he had seen a vision of “a very beautiful man wearing a white robe and holding a fiery sword.” The figure, presumably Jesus, took the sword and drove the Devil into a pit. Two years later, on August 15, 1951, Father Bishop recorded that the boy and his parents had visited the brothers who had cared for him; he observed, “R, now 16, is a fine young man.” He also wrote that Robbie’s parents were now Catholics, “having received their first Holy Communion on Christmas Day, 1950.”40

  Seeking Answers

  The case of Robbie appears to involve superstition masking a troubled boy’s problems, prompting him to engage in elaborate role-playing. Bishop Ritter was curious about the case and appointed a Jesuit philosophy professor to determine the nature of the boy’s disturbances. He concluded that Robbie had not been demonically possessed,41 as nothing was beyond the abilities of a teenager to produce: moving furniture, flying objects, tantrums, or even his “trance state.” It is also clear that the boy was writing the letters on his body, as witnessed by one of the Jesuits. These factors point to role-playing and trickery. In 1999, the case took an unexpected turn when Maryland historian Mark Opsasnick conducted an investigation into Robbie’s early life, interviewing over one hundred people, including former neighbors and classmates. The more he looked into the case, the more his suspicions were aroused. For instance, both the book Possessed and the documentary on the case, In the Grip of Evil, claimed that the family’s home was in Mount Rainier, Maryland, when clearly it was not: they lived in nearby Cottage City. This discrepancy titillated his interest, prompting him to delve deeper, reasoning that if such basic informa
tion was flawed, what else might be untrue? He told the Washington Post that the boy had been a clever trickster who relished pulling pranks to frighten children and even his own mother.42 In his final report on the case in 2000, he disclosed that some of Robbie’s childhood pranks closely resembled the poltergeist activities that centered on him. For instance, his childhood best friend describes the following incident that took place during the 1948–49 school year: “We were in eighth grade . . . and we were in class together at Bladensburg Junior High. He was sitting in a chair and it was one of those deals with one arm attached 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 . . . he . . . yelled ‘I’m not doing it’ and they took him out of class.”43

  In the Grip of Evil shows one of the priests commenting on Robbie’s uncanny ability to spit on the faces of the clergymen with remarkable accuracy from several feet away. He seems to imply that it was of supernatural origin. Yet one of the boy’s schoolmates and neighbors said that parts of the documentary were exaggerated, especially Robbie’s spitting, as Robbie and his close friend had a habit of spitting in an unusual way. He said they had the ability to “spit with great accuracy up to ten feet. It was a common thing. They’d keep their mouths closed and raise their lips and spit through their teeth and they somehow developed a way to do that. I saw them do that all the time.”44