There Is Evil in the World

The true story that served as the basis of the book, The Exorcist, was as frightening as the book. It’s the real-life story of Ronald Hunkeler, who appears to have been possessed. There is no other known explanation.

The priests who were involved in the exorcism were sworn to secrecy, so William Blatty, who wrote the book, changed some details. For instance, the character became a girl who lived in Georgetown instead of St.Louis.

When Ronald Hunkeler was 13, strange, frightening events began to take place.

Troy Taylor, whose book The Devil Came to St. Louis tells a detailed account of Hunkeler’s story. He found it more intriguing than The Exorcist.

Ronald (Ronnie) Hunkeler was 13 years old on January 15, 1949, when he and his grandmother heard an unexplained dripping noise in the Hunkelers’ Cottage City, Maryland house. Those sounds later became scratching noises under the floorboards. At first, the Hunkelers assumed the sounds came from a rodent. But when an exterminator couldn’t find anything and the noise continued for 10 days, it was clear that something strange was happening.

Then Ronnie’s mattress started shaking. Scratches started appearing on his body. Other furniture started moving when the boy was around.

And so it continued, through 1949.

His mother wanted to take him away from all of it, and when scratches appeared on her son’s ribs spelling out “Louis,” she sent him to St. Louis to live with a relative.

It seems whatever possessed him followed him there.

Priests were called in, and they began an exorcism in earnest. After the exorcism, Ronnie Hunkeler never had a problem again and lived a stellar life. He went through college and ended up working for NASA, and patented the substance used on space vehicles that allows them to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. He continued to live in his hometown of Maryland until he died in 2020.

He had almost no memory of what happened to him.

There were at least fourteen witnesses, but none are alive, and much of the story is lost.

One of the priest’s dairies of the exorcism was hidden and lost, except for one. Here are notes of the conclusive exorcism:

Father Raymond J. Bisho documented it in his diary, using simply an “R” to protect Ronnie’s name. Many passages are shocking, including the following:

•  March 16: “The most distinctive markings on the body were the picture of the devil on R’s right leg and the word ‘HELL’ imprinted on R’s chest in such a way that R could look down upon his chest and read the letters plainly.”
• March 17: “R spit directly in the faces of his father and mother and his uncle. His eyes were shut tight, but he was able to aim well in that he was spitting during the tantrums, nor did he know he was fighting with those who held him.”
• March 19: “Violent shouting with fiendish laughter were a part of the phenomena. The shouting resembled the barking of a dog, and the snapping of R’s teeth was truly diabolical.”
• April 3: “One new feature of this evening was a kind of devilish prophecy concerning R’s little cousin [NAME REDACTED]. Shouting and singing in rhythm, R repeated over and over for about ten minutes, ‘You will die tonight. You will die tonight.’”
• April 7: “…at least twenty brands appeared on R’s body. …One set of such claw marks from thigh to ankle tearing off a scab near the ankle.”
• April 17 (Easter Sunday): “The (entity) showed his power again by saying that he would have R awaken and ask for a knife. He had threatened to kill those who molested him while in his seizure. When R came out of the spell, he asked for a knife so that he might cut an Easter egg.”

After weeks of harrowing terrors, the ordeal finally came to an end the day after Easter, on April 18. As Ronnie went in and out of his spells that day, he told the priests that he felt that he was in a tunnel and that every time he went into a spell, he saw more light at the end of the tunnel. During Ronnie’s final spell, he spoke in an unexpected and “commanding” voice, Bishop wrote.

“I am Saint Michael,” Ronnie said, “and I command you, Satan, and the other evil spirits to leave the body in the name of Dominus, immediately.”

Ronnie then broke into what Bishop described as “the most violent contortions of the entire period of exorcism.” After a few minutes, Ronnie snapped out of it and said, “He’s gone.”

Ronnie then explained what he saw. He said he saw a man in a white robe. This man held up a fiery sword with one hand and pointed down to a cave with the other. Ronnie said he saw the devil standing in the cave, and he saw flames and felt heat emanating from the cave. The figure in the robe smiled at Ronnie and said just one word: “Dominus,” the Latin word for Lord.

At this, the devil and a group of what Ronnie described as the devil’s helpers ran into the fiery cave and disappeared. The word “spite” appeared at the opening of the cave. Ronnie felt a tugging in his stomach as the devil ran. Then he felt a snapping in his stomach. He woke up from the experience feeling more relaxed than he’d felt since January.

Just like that, it was over.

The priests were sworn to secrecy, but they wanted the story out.

“They wanted that story to be told because they felt it was important for the world to know that there was evil in the world,” Taylor said. “I don’t think my plans are all that grandiose. I just like to get the story out that strange things do happen that aren’t easily explained.”