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Speaker 1: Welcome to the special Halloween episode of Unexplained with Me

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Speaker 1: Richard McClain Smith. From the cab stepped a tall old man,

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Speaker 1: black raincoat and hat and a battered valise. He paid

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Speaker 1: the driver, then turned and stood motionless, staring at the house.

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Speaker 1: The cab pulled away and rounded the corner of thirty

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Speaker 1: sixty Street. Kinderman quickly pulled out to follow. As he

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Speaker 1: turned the corner, he noticed that the tall old man

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Speaker 1: hadn't moved, but was standing under the treat light glow

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Speaker 1: in the midst like a melancholy traveler frozen in time,

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Speaker 1: and so marks the arrival of the eponymous exorcist in

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Speaker 1: William Peter Blattie's Extraordinary novel, first published in nineteen seventy one.

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Speaker 1: The scene was later immortalized as the poster of the

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Speaker 1: film adaptation, released on December twenty sixth, nineteen seventy three.

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Speaker 1: It is for many the most iconic horror film of

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Speaker 1: all time. From William Friedkin's masterful direction, to Blattie's profound

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Speaker 1: and personal script to the intensely evocative use of Mike

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Speaker 1: Oldfield's tubular bells, it is a cinematic masterpiece. It is

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Speaker 1: also regularly described as the scariest film of all time

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Speaker 1: that on first screening had audience members fainting and vomiting

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Speaker 1: in the aisles, with many reduced to tears by the

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Speaker 1: sheer terror of it all. Ambulances and paramedics were regularly

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Speaker 1: dispatched to attend to the hapless viewers. But what many

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Speaker 1: people don't know is that Blattie's Nightmarish book was in

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Speaker 1: fact based on a real life exorcism. This is that story.

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Speaker 1: The town of Cottage City in Maryland, stretching from the

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Speaker 1: Fort Lincoln Funeral Home to the banks of the Anacostia River,

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Speaker 1: is today home to a small but proud, working class

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Speaker 1: community of roughly twelve hundred inhabitants. Back in the early

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Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds, alongside what is now Colmar Manor, the area

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Speaker 1: was the place to settle irreconcilable differences. Between eighteen oh

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Speaker 1: eight and eighteen sixty eight, roughly fifty affairs of honor

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Speaker 1: were fatally concluded on the surrounding land, later named the

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Speaker 1: Bladensburg Julian Grounds. As such, the small waterway that borders

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Speaker 1: the area, formerly known as Blood Run, was later named

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Speaker 1: Duling Creek. On twenty fourth of August eighteen fourteen, the

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Speaker 1: area played host to the Battle of Bladensburg, a bitterly

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Speaker 1: fought skirmish in the War of eighteen twelve, which resulted

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Speaker 1: in the eventual capture and burning of Washington, d c

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Speaker 1: By the attacking British forces. That evening, as distant flames

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Speaker 1: leaped into the late summer sky, the Blood of the

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Speaker 1: Dead washed into Duling Creek never had its former name

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Speaker 1: of Blood Run been more apt. In eighteen seventy a

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Speaker 1: group of developers attempted to establish a township on the

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Speaker 1: site of Duling Creek, but it wasn't until nineteen o

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Speaker 1: four that the semblance of a community began to appear. Finally,

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Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty four, the town of Cottage City was

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Speaker 1: formerly incorporated. Two years later, roughly eight hundred miles away

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Speaker 1: in Saint Louis, Missouri, a happy young couple were getting married.

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Speaker 1: Twenty five year old machinist Edwin Hunkeler and twenty three

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Speaker 1: year old Adele Coppage had been introduced a few years

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Speaker 1: previously by O'Dell's brother James. Eight years later, the couple

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Speaker 1: were overjoyed when O'Dell fell pregnant shortly before their ninth

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Speaker 1: wedding anniversary on June the first, nineteen thirty five. The

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Speaker 1: couple had a young boy who they named Ronnie. In

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Speaker 1: nineteen thirty nine, the young family, along with O'Dell's mother, Anna,

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Speaker 1: took the eight hundred mile journey to Cottage City and

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Speaker 1: eventually settled down in a modest sized suburban bungalow on

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Speaker 1: fortieth Avenue. For the young Ronnie, it was to prove

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Speaker 1: a difficult transition. By nineteen forty eight, the thirteen year

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Speaker 1: old Ronnie was, by all accounts, a shy and reserved

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Speaker 1: child who struggled to make friends and seemed only to

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Speaker 1: perk up whenever his Aunt Matilda came to visit. From

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Speaker 1: an early age, Ronnie had developed an intensely close relationship

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Speaker 1: with his aunt, whom he affectionately called Aunt Tillie, who

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Speaker 1: in return doated on her nephew. Tillie considered herself somewhat

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Speaker 1: of a spiritualist and loved nothing more than to share

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Speaker 1: her fascination with her favorite nephew. Ronnie was fascinated with

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Speaker 1: her stories, but in particular a strange board that she

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Speaker 1: would often talk about, a device that enabled her to

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Speaker 1: speak to the dead. One day, Tillie brought one such

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Speaker 1: artifact as a gift for Ronnie. It was the first

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Speaker 1: time he had ever seen a weija board. Over the

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Speaker 1: next few days, Aunt Tillie instructed Ronnie on how to

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Speaker 1: use the board as together they attempted to communicate with

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Speaker 1: the spirits. For a young boy brought up in a

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Speaker 1: strict religious household, belief in the afterlife would have been absolute.

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Speaker 1: As such, it would never have occurred to him that

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Speaker 1: there wouldn't be somebody out there to answer their calls, or,

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Speaker 1: more pertinently, since he trusted his aunt, that there would

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Speaker 1: be anything to fear in the process. But on January

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Speaker 1: the fifteenth, nineteen forty nine, all that was about to change.

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Speaker 1: On Saturdays, Ronnie's parents would gather with friends to play Canaster.

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Speaker 1: On the night of the fifteenth, with Edwin and O'Dell

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Speaker 1: out for the evening, it was left to Anna to

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Speaker 1: look after her grandson and something it seemed was stirring.

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Speaker 1: At some point in the evening, Ronnie and his grandmother

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Speaker 1: became aware of a dripping noise with no source to

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Speaker 1: be found. Then, a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on

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Speaker 1: the wall began to shake, almost as if something had

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Speaker 1: thumped it from behind, and then the scratching Anne it

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Speaker 1: was coming from under Anna's bed. Edwin and Adele arrived

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Speaker 1: home to find Anna and Ronnie in some distress. Edwin

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Speaker 1: wasted no time in identifying the noise as nothing more

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Speaker 1: than a rodent infestation, and an exterminator was duly called,

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Speaker 1: But despite treating the entire house, the scratching did not stop.

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Speaker 1: For a full ten days, the peculiar noises persisted, and then,

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Speaker 1: as abruptly as it had begun, they stopped, or at

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Speaker 1: least it appeared so to Edwin, O'Dell and Anna, but

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Speaker 1: Ronnie was still hearing them. The following day, tragedy struck

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Speaker 1: the family. Ronnie's favorite aunt, Tillie, suffered from multiple sclerosis.

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Speaker 1: Although no longer classified as a fatal disease, for Tillie,

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Speaker 1: life saving advances in the treatment of the illness were

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Speaker 1: still many years away. In the early hours of January

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Speaker 1: the twenty sixth, Matilda Hendricks passed away in Saint Louis

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Speaker 1: at the age of fifty four. For Ronnie, the devastation

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Speaker 1: was immeasurable. Meanwhile, back at home, things are about to

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Speaker 1: take an even stranger turn. Are you always taking care

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Speaker 1: of your family. Do you often take care of others

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Speaker 1: and not yourself. Now it's time to take care of yourself,

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Speaker 1: to make time for you. You deserve it. Teledoc gives

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Speaker 1: you access to a licensed therapist to help you get

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Speaker 1: back to feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again.

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Speaker 1: With teledoc, you can speak to a licensed therapist by

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Speaker 1: phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven days a

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Speaker 1: week from seven am to nine pm local time. If

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Speaker 1: you feel overwhelmed sometimes, maybe you feel stressed or anxious,

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Speaker 1: depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a

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Speaker 1: personal or family issue, teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed

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Speaker 1: to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy

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Speaker 1: to change counselors if needed. For free teledoc therapy is

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Speaker 1: available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or

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Speaker 1: visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained podcast to day

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Speaker 1: to get started. That's t e l a d oc

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Speaker 1: dot com slash unexplained podcast. Although Ronnie had continued to

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Speaker 1: hear the noises, it wasn't until the twenty eighth, two

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Speaker 1: days after Tillie's death, that the family began to hear

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Speaker 1: them again too, only this time they had moved from

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Speaker 1: Anna's room and followed Ronnie into his. On the night

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Speaker 1: of February the second, O'Dell and Anna, who were suspicious

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Speaker 1: of Ronnie's involvement, lay with him on his bed in

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Speaker 1: the dark. Moments later, the sound of footsteps could be

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Speaker 1: heard coming straight towards them. The footsteps continued to run

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Speaker 1: up and down the length of the bed until O'Dell

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Speaker 1: called out, Aunt Tillie, is that you? But there was

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Speaker 1: no reply. She asked again if you were there? Tilly

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Speaker 1: knock three times in an instant. Waves of air struck

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Speaker 1: them all, as if somebody had been walking past, and

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Speaker 1: then the sound of three distant knocks came up from

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Speaker 1: the floor. Suddenly, the mattress began to shake violently, and

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Speaker 1: the edges of the bed sheets stood up stiff. When

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Speaker 1: Adele touched them, they dropped down again limp, as there

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Speaker 1: had been before. Perhaps there was some comfort to be

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Speaker 1: found in Aunt Tillie's apparent communication, but Adele couldn't shake

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Speaker 1: the sense that something far more terrifying was at play.

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Speaker 1: Not knowing where to turn, the family consulted local Lutheran

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Speaker 1: minister forty two year old Myles Schultz. Scholtz, the pastor

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Speaker 1: of Saint Stephen's Evangelical Church, arranged for Ronnie to spend

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Speaker 1: the night with him in the hope that he might

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Speaker 1: get to the bottom of the unlikely claims. What followed

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Speaker 1: was a night of unremitting disturbance. Scholtz watched a gasp

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Speaker 1: as Ronnie's bed vibrated through the evening, and hideous scratching

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Speaker 1: sounds were heard coming from the walls. Unable to identify

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Speaker 1: the problem, the following day, Scholtz had Ronnie assessed at

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Speaker 1: the Mental Hygiene Clinic of the University of Maryland. A

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Speaker 1: physician and psychologist were consulted, but neither could find anything

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Speaker 1: wrong with the boy. In the days that followed, the

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Speaker 1: disturbances intensified as items were thrown across the home in

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Speaker 1: the vicinity of Ronnie, including a table laden with milk

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Speaker 1: and food that was tossed upside down, and then a

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Speaker 1: terrifying twist. On the night of Saturday, February the twenty sixth,

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Speaker 1: a horrific scream brought Adele running to her son's bedroom.

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Speaker 1: On the bed, Ronnie writhed in agony, Adele lifted up

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Speaker 1: his night shirt to reveal scratch marks across his body.

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Speaker 1: It became clear to Adele that whatever this was, it

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Speaker 1: was nothing to do with Aunt Tillie. Increasingly desperate, the

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Speaker 1: family turned, at Schultze's insistence, to the Catholic Church. A father,

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Speaker 1: Edward Albert Hughes, priests of Saint James's parish at nearby

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Speaker 1: Mount Rainier, was consulted. Hughes sent O'Dell home with a

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Speaker 1: set of blessed candles, a bottle of holy water, and

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Speaker 1: a strict set of instructions. Back at home, Adele immediately

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Speaker 1: began sprinkling the water throughout the house. As soon as

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Speaker 1: she placed the bottle on the shelf, it flew across

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Speaker 1: the room. Later, attempts to light the blessed candles were

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Speaker 1: quickly abandoned when a comb was thrown across the room,

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Speaker 1: extinguishing the flames. Reports of what happened over the next

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Speaker 1: few days tend to vary wildly, but at some point

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Speaker 1: it appears the strange scratches on Ronnie's body started to

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Speaker 1: form words. At this point, O'Dell made the dramatic decision

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Speaker 1: to move the family back to Saint Louis In the

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Speaker 1: hope of some respite. But if she was hoping they

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Speaker 1: could outrun whatever was haunting them, she was greatly mistaken. Nonetheless,

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Speaker 1: Ronnie was promptly pulled from his class at Bladensburg Elementary School,

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Speaker 1: and on March the third, nineteen forty nine, the family

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Speaker 1: made the trip back to Missouri to stay at the

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Speaker 1: home of Leonard and Doris Hunkeler, Edwin's brother and sister

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Speaker 1: in law. Almost immediately, the disturbances began again, witnessed this

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Speaker 1: time by six different relatives. A cousin of Ronnie's who

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Speaker 1: attended Saint Louis University, brought the case to the attention

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Speaker 1: of her tutor, Father Raymond J. Bishop Bishop, a Roman

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Speaker 1: Catholic priest, was deeply disturbed by her account. On Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: March ninth, Father Bishop arrived at the Hunkoler home in

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Speaker 1: the Belnour neighborhood of Saint Louis. After being introduced to Ronnie,

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Speaker 1: he quickly and quietly went about his business while a

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Speaker 1: distraught Odell and five other relatives watched on. From his bag,

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Speaker 1: he removed a vial of holy water and a second

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Speaker 1: class relic of Saint Margaret Mary. Father Bishop pinned the

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Speaker 1: relic to the corner of Ronnie's bed and watched in

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Speaker 1: horror as immediately the bed began to move. When he

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Speaker 1: sprinkled the holy water of Saint Ignatius over the boy

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Speaker 1: in the shape of a cross, the movement ceased abruptly,

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Speaker 1: but when Father Bishop left the room, the movement began again.

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Speaker 1: Ronnie cried out and doubled over in pain. His mother,

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Speaker 1: who had not left the room, pulled up his shirt,

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Speaker 1: revealing red zig zag scratches underneath, as if a claw

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Speaker 1: had been dragged across his chest. Father Bishop relayed his

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Speaker 1: thoughts to his colleague and pastor of the College Church

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Speaker 1: in Saint Louis, Father William Bowden. Over the next few days,

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Speaker 1: Bowden too witnessed the extraordinary phenomena for himself, including the

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Speaker 1: scratching of a cross on to Ronnie's arm. A few

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Speaker 1: days later, he sat the family down. The devil has

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Speaker 1: hold of your son, he said, and so On the

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Speaker 1: evening of March sixteenth, Father William Bowden and Father Raymond Bishop,

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Speaker 1: accompanied by a mister Walter Halloran, stepped from the dark

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Speaker 1: of the street into Leonard and Doris's home to begin

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Speaker 1: the exorcism of Ronnie Hunkuler. At ten thirty p m.

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Speaker 1: Father Bowden put on the vestments, first his surplice, followed

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Speaker 1: by the draping of his purple silk stole around his neck.

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Speaker 1: He removed a vile blessed water from his case and

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Speaker 1: a selection of holy relics. Shortly after, Bowden entered Ronnie's

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Speaker 1: bedroom and, standing over him, made the Act of contrition.

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Speaker 1: Then Father, Bishop Walter Halloran, Odell Leonard, and Doris were

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Speaker 1: called in to prepare for the exorcism. Together they knelt

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Speaker 1: around the bed and recited the acts of faith, hope,

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Speaker 1: love and contrition. When they were complete, and began to

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Speaker 1: recite the Rituale Romanum. At the utterance of the first word,

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Speaker 1: Ronnie began to Writhe Then three large parallel bars were

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Speaker 1: scratched across his stomach. At any mention of the name

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Speaker 1: of the Lord or his blessed Mother and Saint Michael.

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Speaker 1: Scratches appeared on Ronnie's legs, thighs, stomach, back, chest, face

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Speaker 1: and throat, with at least one scratch drawing blood. Bowden

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Speaker 1: demanded the evil spirit identify itself Again, came the scratches,

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Speaker 1: and the witnesses gasped the word hell was written across

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Speaker 1: the boy's chest. Soon after, Ronnie seemed to drift into

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Speaker 1: a quiet sleep. Then, as Bishop and Bowden began the

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Speaker 1: prayers to Saint Michael, something changed. A strange smile stretched

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Speaker 1: across Ronnie's face. He began to stir from sleep, before

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Speaker 1: breaking into an eerie laughter. In a sudden fit, he

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Speaker 1: sat bolt upright and began pummeling the headboard with his fists,

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Speaker 1: then swung his arms wildly in the air. Holy water

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Speaker 1: was sprinkled across his body, and immediately he stopped as

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Speaker 1: if suddenly awakening. Asked where he had been, Ronnie explained,

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Speaker 1: I was fighting a huge red devil. He was slimy

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Speaker 1: and very powerful. I was above a fiery hot pit

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Speaker 1: about two hundred feet deep, and he was stopping me

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Speaker 1: from getting through an iron gate, while all around stood

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Speaker 1: other smaller devils. The prayers continued, which seemed only to

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Speaker 1: provoke Ronnie back into a tantrum as he wrestled with

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Speaker 1: his apparent demonic foe. At midnight, the movement became so

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Speaker 1: violent that two men were required to hold Ronnie down,

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Speaker 1: who ride with uncommon force and spat at his tormentors.

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Speaker 1: At the peak of each outburst, the holy water would

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Speaker 1: again be sprinkled, calming the boy momentarily before the gyrations returned,

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Speaker 1: before finally moderating around five am. At seven thirty am

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Speaker 1: in the morning of March the seven, Ronnie finally managed

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Speaker 1: to sleep. The first day of the exorcism was finished,

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Speaker 1: but it was far from over. In the days that followed,

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Speaker 1: Ronnie continued to lash out, violently, spitting and cursing at

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Speaker 1: the priests and anyone else who came near, imploring them

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Speaker 1: to go to Hell and be damned, his voice alternating

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Speaker 1: from childlike to guttural growls. He snapped his teeth as

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Speaker 1: they held him down. On occasions, he would harm and

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Speaker 1: sing in a broken and peculiarly high voice, all the

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Speaker 1: while his family watched in desperation, utterly convinced the devil

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Speaker 1: had their son in his grip. The next few weeks

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Speaker 1: saw Ronnie moved from a number of different locations as

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Speaker 1: the priests continued their work. He was moved first to

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Speaker 1: the rectory at Saint Francis Saviour's Church, which seemed only

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Speaker 1: to increase the intensity of the apparent possession. In one incident,

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Speaker 1: Ronnie lashed out at Halloran, breaking his nose. At times

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Speaker 1: he was being restrained by four grown men. It was

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Speaker 1: then decided he would be moved to the Alexian Brother's

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Speaker 1: Hospital in Saint Louis, where Ronnie was placed in a

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Speaker 1: psychiatric ward. On Thursday in March thirty first, having been

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Speaker 1: briefly returned to the rectory, Ronnie began to talk Father Bishop.

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Speaker 1: He said, all people that mangle with me will die

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Speaker 1: a terrible death. The priests agreed converting Ronnie to Catholicism

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Speaker 1: would help his chances. The next day, as he was

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Speaker 1: being driven to the church by his uncle, Ronnie complained

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Speaker 1: that his feet were becoming hot. He turned to Leonard,

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Speaker 1: you think you can drive me out with holy communion?

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Speaker 1: Ronnie then laughed, grabbing the steering wheel with both hands

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Speaker 1: as Leonard wrestled to keep the car under control, before

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Speaker 1: finally bringing it to a standstill up the side of

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Speaker 1: the curb. The baptism was eventually co had, but by

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Speaker 1: now the strain un Ronnie's aunt and uncle had become unbearable,

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Speaker 1: and the priests arranged for Ronnie to return to Cottage City. However,

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Speaker 1: unable to find anywhere willing to take him, the priests

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Speaker 1: had Ronnie brought back to the Alexian Brother's hospital for

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Speaker 1: ten more days. Father Bowden, Bishop and mister Halloran continued

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Speaker 1: the exorcism to no avail, but then something changed. At

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Speaker 1: ten forty five pm on the evening of Monday, April eighteenth,

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Speaker 1: Ronnie fell once more into a seizure, but as he

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Speaker 1: writhed on the bed, suddenly his body stilled, and from

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Speaker 1: his mouth, with a strange calm, he uttered the words Satan, Satan,

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Speaker 1: I am Saint Michael, and I command you Satan and

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Speaker 1: the other evil spirits to leave the body in the

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Speaker 1: name of Dominus immediately now. And then came the most

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Speaker 1: violent contortions of the entire exorcism. The brothers struggled to

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Speaker 1: hold Ronnie down as he continued to thrash and writhe,

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Speaker 1: until suddenly Ronnie stopped moving and opened his eyes. He's gone,

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Speaker 1: he said. Ronnie later claimed in that moment to have

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Speaker 1: been taken to the mouth of a fiery cave, in

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Speaker 1: front of which stood the devil. There was a brilliant

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Speaker 1: white light, and in that light stood a beautiful man

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Speaker 1: holding a fiery sword. It was Saint Michael. He pointed

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Speaker 1: to the devil and then at the cave, he spoke

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Speaker 1: only one word to Ronnie Dominus, at which point the

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Speaker 1: devil ran back into the flames and was vanquished for good.

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Speaker 1: After ninety four days, the disturbances had ceased once and

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Speaker 1: for all. All elements of Unexplained and are produced by

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Speaker 1: me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show

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Speaker 1: on iTunes, and feel free to get in touch with

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Speaker 1: the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own

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Speaker 1: you'd like to share. You can reach us online at

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Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast dot com or on Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Now.

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Speaker 1: It's time to take care of yourself. To make time

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Speaker 1: for you, teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist

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Speaker 1: to help you get back to feeling your best. Speak

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Speaker 1: to a licensed therapist by phone or video anytime between

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