Diabolical Possession and the Case Behind The Exorcist

Reexamining the purported 1949 exorcism of a 13-year old boy in Mount Ranier, Maryland—the most famous and widely documented case in history—the author explores the subject of demonic possession in the light of science. Eyewitness accounts, unpublished photos and never before published documents from the archives of the Rhine Research Foundation provide fresh perspective on the events that inspired the novel, and later the film, The Exorcist.

Sergio A. Rueda, Ph.D., is the director of the Institute of Medicine and Advanced Behavioral Technologies at Hospital Poliplaza Médica in México. He is also a trained biblical scholar, with specializations in Hebrew and Greek languages as well as biblical exegesis, archeology and theology.

Sergio A. Rueda

Foreword by Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 265
Bibliographic Info: 10 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7384-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3251-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Foreword by Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. 1
Preface 4
Introduction 8
1. In Search of Carl Jung’s Mysterious Knife 11
2. The Exorcist Still Turns Heads in the ­Twenty-First Century 16
3. The Exorcist and the 1949 Mount Rainier Exorcism Case 20
4. Overview of the 1949 Mount Rainier Exorcism 27
5. Demonic Possession: Some Concepts and the First Exorcism of Ronald 36
6. The Jesuit Report: The Exorcism of Ronald 41
7. Jesuits in Action: The Masters of Exorcism 49
8. Case Study of an Exorcism: Part II 59
9. The Angel of Deliverance: I Command You, Satan, to Leave This Body 65
10. Science in Search of the Truth: Assessment of the Mount Rainier Exorcism 69
11. The Art of Trickery: The Fraud and Deception Hypothesis 74
12. The “Occam’s Razor Principle” and the Natural Scientific Hypothesis (Especially Psychological) 89
13. Psychic Detectives: The Parapsychological Hypothesis 96
14. The Devil in Disguise: The Diabolical Possession Agency Hypothesis 116
15. The Final Questions 142
16. Conclusion 151
Appendix A: The Letters Between the Rev. Luther Miles Schulze and Dr. J.B. Rhine 161
Appendix B: Interview with the Rev. Luther Miles Schulze and Ruth Schulze 170
Appendix C: Interview with Ida Mae, the Leader of the Circle of Prayers 190
Appendix D: In the Grip of What? Interviews with Experts on Demonic Possession 195
Appendix E: The Documents That Unveil the Mystery of Ronald’s Exorcism 241
Chapter Notes 244
Sources 249
Index 253