No Grade
So, this was a much highly hyped Halloween special. Exorcism LIVE at the "Exorcist House".
"The Exorcist" is a popular horror movie that defined not only the horror genre, but also brought to light a very real phenomenon. Demonic Possession and the Roman Catholic Rite of Exorcism. The ultimate fight between good and evil.
Of course the movie does a lot of exaggerating... but the battle is very real, sometimes very violent and dangerous. A lot of supernatural phenomenon will occur during an exorcism (levitation, unnatural voices coming from the possessed, things moving on their own, unnatural strength of the possessed).
Besides the fact it brings actual demonic possessions to light... it's based on a REAL case.
Roland Doe AKA the Haunted Boy, was the inspiration for the movie. He was the inspiration for Linda Blair's character Regan. It is said the author of the book "The Exorcist" that proceeded the movie, spoke to the priest who performed the exorcisms of Roland Doe, and to protect Roland Doe (who went on to lead a normal life when free from the evil), they changed the boy to a girl and of course changed some of the story.
Now, If you want to know more about Roland Doe, I would highly highly recommend "The Haunted Boy" by the Booth Brothers.
It is a chilling and accurate look at the actual case, and of the places that were effected by the case. The house, the church, the hospital. They speak to those who know the case and do investigations.
You can get the DVD from their website SpookedTV.com
You can also get it for instant download or on DVD from Amazon.com
I Highly recommend this documentary if you're looking for the truth about the Exorcism of Ronald Doe.
Christopher Saint Booth also has a book out called "the Exorcist Diary" which speaks of the actual diary found about the real case of the exorcism of Roland Doe. (Thanks to Christopher Booth who has promised to hold a copy for me until Pay Day.)
Anyway
Okay - now that I've gone through all of that, lets get to The Exorcism Live.
This show mainly features Chip Coffey - a psychic medium most famous for his shows "Paranormal State" and "Psychic kids", the crew of Ghost Asylum and Bishop James Long.
It was misconstrued that this was sanctioned by the Catholic Church. It was not by the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, the Roman Catholic church admonished this event as playing with evil for entertainment.
Bishop Long is from a group called the "Old Catholic Church", which is not related to the Roman Catholic church. The Old Catholic church separated from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, including papal authority. They are not in union with the Holy Sea.
So that was a media misrepresentation.
There were many issues with this particular production. For one... the commercial time was ridiculous. It was a 2 hour show... but the commercial cut that time in half, so it felt extremely rushed. You just don't rush an alleged exorcism. This should have been a limited commercial event. Charge the clients more for the ad space. They would have paid because with limited space had it been limited commercials, they'd have wanted to be one of the few that got on... so money would still be made.
Another problem with the Exorcism of that particular house... they got a LOT of the history wrong. For example: They believe the boy became possessed after using the Ouija Board and participating in seances at that house. The seances did NOT happen at that house as claimed. There were a few other inconsistencies they obviously did not fact check.
Then we had the investigation itself. I've never had Destination America until yesterday. just purchased the tier it was on for my cable program. So I'm not familiar with Ghost Asylum. All I know, they talked waaaaaayyyyyy too much. In fact, at one point, they even claim they heard a disembodied voice telling them to "shush". I joked that it was my psychic energy reaching out to them through the television.
They talked so much I couldn't understand how they kept hearing things. They'd talk among themselves, they would ask question, then immediately ask another or talk to each other without giving a spirit time to reply... yet amazingly they kept hearing things.
Another issue I had was the fact that in the dining room, their K-IIs and Mels kept going off immediately in the same place every time. I didn't see them do baseline readings of the home before hand (unless it was done off camera) so I'm a little surprised and disappointed they didn't think of looking at the lighting fixture above them to see if it were natural EMF from the wiring of the fixture.
Another thing that bothered me was the use of a Ouija board and Seance at the location where they claim demons are inhabiting. Um... did you even read the history of this case??? it's believed that the Ouija and Seances CAUSED the possession, and you're bringing that crap there??
The main exorcism of Roland Doe happened at a Church and Hospital. In fact, the demon was expelled at the now destroyed hospital... while there was an exorcism in that house of Roland, he was not rid of the demons there. The demons followed him until he was rid of them at the hospital after the final exorcism. In fact, at that hospital, once it was demolished, the concrete part of what what became a parking lot, under where the room of Roland use to be, cracked and no repairs have been successful to that area.
I can't remember if that was properly explained.
That said, the actual exorcism - well, that seemed called in to be honest. Chip Coffey walked around with a Crucifix, and Bishop Long repeating the Our Father and Hail Mary over and over, occasionally expelling evil spirits in the name of Jesus Christ and sprinkling Holy Water.
now, I've participated in house cleansings to rid evil spirits, and not only do they last much longer than this lasted (in fact, a real cleansing of a home would have probably taken about the whole special)... they were much more involved.
Briefly: (this is not all that is involved) there are special prayers said in each room - each corner of the room is blessed with holy water, the room is anointed with holy oil above the door and on the windows, the evil spirit is compelled to leave the room for a special room in the home. (in the last cleansing I assisted in, the exorcist, a Roman Catholic Priest, admonished the spirit to the basement.)
This was repeated in every room of the house. Bathrooms, bedrooms, hallways, entry ways, attics, living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens. Then he wound go to the room in which he has forced the spirit or spirits (in my last case, the basement) and perform the final right of exorcism to expel the spirit/spirits back to hell... and free the spirits who died in God's grace to where they belong. (Purgatory for further purification, or straight to Heaven.)
Windows, cabinets, and even the outside of the home is blessed and cleansed. During a Roman Catholic Rite, the priests have placed Medals of St. Benedict in entryways, over windows, as protection against evil spirits reentering. (St. Benedict is the patron Saint of exorcists.)
The last time I was involved in a cleansing, we prayed a divine mercy chaplet once the Rite was completed. Sometimes the Rite needs to be performed more than once, sometimes if it is a lesser Demon on the demonic hierarchy, once is sufficient.
It is a long process (sometimes dictated by the size of the house and the seriousness of the infestation) that often leaves a priest quite spent by the end. I only participated in the prayers of cleansing, and after I was exhausted. The effects can be long lasting too.
I am not familiar with the Rite of exorcism of the Old Catholic Church... but from the Booth Brothers Documentary... I would assume it's not much different from the Roman Catholic ritual, especially, as Long claims in the documentary "Haunted Boy", he actually studied to become a Roman Catholic priest and studied the Rite of exorcism. In fact, Long mentions the process on "the Haunted Boy"
So how this came about... I have no clue... bit it was merely a blessing of a home - It wasn't even a blessing, because again, they did not appear to enter each room, as is normal even with a regular blessing. I don't believe they entered the attic during the "exorcism" part. This was Live, so it wasn't as if it was edited to fit into the allotted time slot where parts are cut out (minus what went on during commercials. Even with commercials though, it was awfully short for a cleansing.)
It was nowhere near involved enough to be an actual cleansing of evil spirits. Not the type used in an actual case of demonic hauntings. It just felt all for show.
And, nothing really happened except what I'd call "Personal experiences" because significant happened for the audience to see. Some believe they saw or heard things... but I didn't see anything personally that could be explained as supernatural, or if it were... that it was demonic in nature.
Although, I keep saying, they were playing with fire. Doing something like this, so publicly, going as far as to do seances using a Ouija board... wouldn't be surprised if an evil spirit took that as a challenge.
Oh speaking of that... they kept talking about the flickering candle during the seance... CANDLE FLAMES AREN'T STATIONARY. They FLICKER. No they don't always all flicker the same. Sometimes one reacts more dramatically than others for various reasons. That is NOT evidence.
That said
I felt it was quite a dangerous stunt. Basically a "mock exorcism" for entertainment purposes because it's Halloween... a seance using a Ouija board in the house where a possessed boy (possessed after participating in seances using Ouija boards mind you) lived...
it's a recipe for trouble. The biggest reason the Roman Catholic Church admonished this event was because - they're playing with fire at the expense of those that own that house, and reside in that neighborhood.
I was not impressed. From citing wrong historical facts, to a sloppy, rushed investigation, to a quick blessing of the home...
Meh.
Again - get "Haunted Boy" on DVD or Instant Download - Buy a copy of "The Exorcist Diary" and get a real feel for the real story. Unlike this debacle... The Booth Brothers won't let you down.
Speaking of... I was shocked that they brought Christoper Saint Booth all the way there - only to talk to him for not even 3 minutes on air. And considering the Booth Brothers did all the research about this case for the book and documentary of theirs... why they didn't consult them about the facts so they wouldn't have so many glaring errors, is beyond me.
It reminds me of my "Strangest Weather on Earth" disaster. They filmed me for 2 hours in the freezing cold, to use 10 seconds of footage... and then went on to just destroy the truth about the Paulding Lights.
Bah,
Anyway.
That's it.
If you want to, feel free to watch it anyway if it ever replays.
I didn't grade this because I just didn't feel it added anything to the paranormal community, to the case of Roland Doe and to explaining the Rite of exorcism.
