Priest From Famous Exorcism Passes

HalloranI missed this when it came out earlier this month, but . . .

The last surviving priest in the famous 1949 exorcism that sparked the idea for the novel The Exorcist has passed on at the age of 83.

Then a 27-year old Jesuit, Fr. Walter Halloran participated in the exorcism of a 14-year old Lutheran boy in a psychiatric institute in St. Louis. Fr. Halloran held down the boy to control his violent behavior while the expercism was performed. The boy was so violent that he broke Fr. Halloran’s nose.

The boy, known by the pseudonym "Doublas Deen," later went on to live a normal life, according to Fr. Halloran.

The incident became the basis of the much-fictionalized 1971 novel The Exorcist and the movies that followed.

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Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

8 thoughts on “Priest From Famous Exorcism Passes”

  3. Hmmm . . .
    Sorry, Jimmy. I must’ve seen this posted on someone else’s blog.
    Hmmm . . .

  4. I do think this is a very interesting example of pre-Vatican II ecumenism, as this was done on a Protestant child of Protestant parents.
    The boy converted during the course of the exorcmism. His parents converted shortly afterward.
    A good illustration about how God brings greater good from evil.

  5. Is “expercism” a typo? Sounds like a real word related to an exercise in expelling and excision of an expert by an expert.

  6. I work at the nursing home facility that Fr. Halloran passed at in March 2005. The reality of it all is so close to home it’s scarey. It has now become an obsession for me to find the diaries and the whole truth to the St. Louis exorcism case. Had I known of his famous past before he died, I would have been sure to attempt an interview.

  7. I knew Fr. Halloran.
    I saw him as a really regular type of guy. No pretensions. No “spectacularism” about him at all. Straightforward. Ordinary. Quiet. No noticeably “pietism” or anything. You’d never know he had any connection to such events.

  8. stumbled across this site and the piece on my uncle walt. interesting that eric has this stunning and sobering experience in his life — though second to the evil he saw as a paratrooper earning two bronze stars in Viet Nam — summarized by pre-vatican II ecumenism, whatever that is. Never heard of you eric. funny you are so familiar with uncle walts life. he would be amused by your insight.

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