The Exorcist House

A private residence in the St. Louis suburb of Bel-Nor where in 1949 a teenage boy underwent an exorcism that inspired William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel and the 1973 film The Exorcist. One of the most famous haunting cases in American history.

In the quiet suburb of Bel-Nor, just outside St. Louis, stands an unassuming two-story brick house on a residential cul-de-sac that inspired the most famous horror film ever made. In early 1949, a thirteen-year-old boy known by the pseudonym Roland Doe -- later identified as Ronald Edwin Hunkeler -- began experiencing terrifying phenomena after the death of his Aunt Harriet in St. Louis. Harriet, a spiritualist, had introduced the boy to the Ouija board, and after her passing, he reportedly attempted to contact her spirit. What followed would become the most documented exorcism case in American history.

The disturbances began at the family's home in Cottage City, Maryland, where scratching and tapping noises echoed from the walls, furniture shifted without explanation, and household items slid or flew through the air in Roland's presence. The family first consulted their Lutheran pastor, Reverend Luther Miles Schulze, who observed the phenomena firsthand but could offer no explanation. In February 1949, mysterious welts spelling the word "LOUIS" appeared on Roland's body. His mother interpreted this as a directive, and the family relocated to the home of relatives in Bel-Nor.

At the Bel-Nor house, the activity intensified dramatically. Roland's cousin contacted a professor at Saint Louis University, who in turn spoke with Father William S. Bowdern, an associate of the College Church. Together with Father Raymond Bishop, they visited the home and allegedly witnessed a shaking bed, objects flying across the room, and the boy speaking in a guttural voice while exhibiting a violent aversion to anything sacred. Father Walter Halloran, a young Jesuit scholastic, assisted in the subsequent exorcism sessions and later confirmed witnessing the boy's bed shaking and objects moving.

The exorcism proceedings moved to Alexian Brothers Hospital in St. Louis, where over several weeks, witnesses reported that the boy's body convulsed violently, Latin phrases were uttered despite his having no training in the language, and physical marks resembling words and symbols appeared on his skin. The case concluded when Roland reportedly experienced a vision of Saint Michael the Archangel, after which the disturbances ceased entirely. He went on to live a normal, quiet life, marrying and working for NASA, his identity remaining secret until after his death on May 10, 2020.

William Peter Blatty, a Georgetown University student who read about the case in a 1949 Washington Post article, used the events as the foundation for his 1971 novel The Exorcist, which became the landmark 1973 film. The Bel-Nor house remains a private residence, but its connection to the case has made it one of the most significant paranormal locations in American history. Whether one believes in demonic possession or views the case through a medical lens, the events that transpired in this modest Missouri home continue to captivate researchers and believers alike more than seventy-five years later.