Speaker 1: Welcome to the special Halloween episode of Unexplained with Me
Speaker 1: Richard McClain Smith. From the cab stepped a tall old man,
Speaker 1: black raincoat and hat and a battered valise. He paid
Speaker 1: the driver, then turned and stood motionless, staring at the house.
Speaker 1: The cab pulled away and rounded the corner of thirty
Speaker 1: sixty Street. Kinderman quickly pulled out to follow. As he
Speaker 1: turned the corner, he noticed that the tall old man
Speaker 1: hadn't moved, but was standing under the treat light glow
Speaker 1: in the midst like a melancholy traveler frozen in time,
Speaker 1: and so marks the arrival of the eponymous exorcist in
Speaker 1: William Peter Blattie's Extraordinary novel, first published in nineteen seventy one.
Speaker 1: The scene was later immortalized as the poster of the
Speaker 1: film adaptation, released on December twenty sixth, nineteen seventy three.
Speaker 1: It is for many the most iconic horror film of
Speaker 1: all time. From William Friedkin's masterful direction, to Blattie's profound
Speaker 1: and personal script to the intensely evocative use of Mike
Speaker 1: Oldfield's tubular bells, it is a cinematic masterpiece. It is
Speaker 1: also regularly described as the scariest film of all time
Speaker 1: that on first screening had audience members fainting and vomiting
Speaker 1: in the aisles, with many reduced to tears by the
Speaker 1: sheer terror of it all. Ambulances and paramedics were regularly
Speaker 1: dispatched to attend to the hapless viewers. But what many
Speaker 1: people don't know is that Blattie's Nightmarish book was in
Speaker 1: fact based on a real life exorcism. This is that story.
Speaker 1: The town of Cottage City in Maryland, stretching from the
Speaker 1: Fort Lincoln Funeral Home to the banks of the Anacostia River,
Speaker 1: is today home to a small but proud, working class
Speaker 1: community of roughly twelve hundred inhabitants. Back in the early
Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds, alongside what is now Colmar Manor, the area
Speaker 1: was the place to settle irreconcilable differences. Between eighteen oh
Speaker 1: eight and eighteen sixty eight, roughly fifty affairs of honor
Speaker 1: were fatally concluded on the surrounding land, later named the
Speaker 1: Bladensburg Julian Grounds. As such, the small waterway that borders
Speaker 1: the area, formerly known as Blood Run, was later named
Speaker 1: Duling Creek. On twenty fourth of August eighteen fourteen, the
Speaker 1: area played host to the Battle of Bladensburg, a bitterly
Speaker 1: fought skirmish in the War of eighteen twelve, which resulted
Speaker 1: in the eventual capture and burning of Washington, d c
Speaker 1: By the attacking British forces. That evening, as distant flames
Speaker 1: leaped into the late summer sky, the Blood of the
Speaker 1: Dead washed into Duling Creek never had its former name
Speaker 1: of Blood Run been more apt. In eighteen seventy a
Speaker 1: group of developers attempted to establish a township on the
Speaker 1: site of Duling Creek, but it wasn't until nineteen o
Speaker 1: four that the semblance of a community began to appear. Finally,
Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty four, the town of Cottage City was
Speaker 1: formerly incorporated. Two years later, roughly eight hundred miles away
Speaker 1: in Saint Louis, Missouri, a happy young couple were getting married.
Speaker 1: Twenty five year old machinist Edwin Hunkeler and twenty three
Speaker 1: year old Adele Coppage had been introduced a few years
Speaker 1: previously by O'Dell's brother James. Eight years later, the couple
Speaker 1: were overjoyed when O'Dell fell pregnant shortly before their ninth
Speaker 1: wedding anniversary on June the first, nineteen thirty five. The
Speaker 1: couple had a young boy who they named Ronnie. In
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty nine, the young family, along with O'Dell's mother, Anna,
Speaker 1: took the eight hundred mile journey to Cottage City and
Speaker 1: eventually settled down in a modest sized suburban bungalow on
Speaker 1: fortieth Avenue. For the young Ronnie, it was to prove
Speaker 1: a difficult transition. By nineteen forty eight, the thirteen year
Speaker 1: old Ronnie was, by all accounts, a shy and reserved
Speaker 1: child who struggled to make friends and seemed only to
Speaker 1: perk up whenever his Aunt Matilda came to visit. From
Speaker 1: an early age, Ronnie had developed an intensely close relationship
Speaker 1: with his aunt, whom he affectionately called Aunt Tillie, who
Speaker 1: in return doated on her nephew. Tillie considered herself somewhat
Speaker 1: of a spiritualist and loved nothing more than to share
Speaker 1: her fascination with her favorite nephew. Ronnie was fascinated with
Speaker 1: her stories, but in particular a strange board that she
Speaker 1: would often talk about, a device that enabled her to
Speaker 1: speak to the dead. One day, Tillie brought one such
Speaker 1: artifact as a gift for Ronnie. It was the first
Speaker 1: time he had ever seen a weija board. Over the
Speaker 1: next few days, Aunt Tillie instructed Ronnie on how to
Speaker 1: use the board as together they attempted to communicate with
Speaker 1: the spirits. For a young boy brought up in a
Speaker 1: strict religious household, belief in the afterlife would have been absolute.
Speaker 1: As such, it would never have occurred to him that
Speaker 1: there wouldn't be somebody out there to answer their calls, or,
Speaker 1: more pertinently, since he trusted his aunt, that there would
Speaker 1: be anything to fear in the process. But on January
Speaker 1: the fifteenth, nineteen forty nine, all that was about to change.
Speaker 1: On Saturdays, Ronnie's parents would gather with friends to play Canaster.
Speaker 1: On the night of the fifteenth, with Edwin and O'Dell
Speaker 1: out for the evening, it was left to Anna to
Speaker 1: look after her grandson and something it seemed was stirring.
Speaker 1: At some point in the evening, Ronnie and his grandmother
Speaker 1: became aware of a dripping noise with no source to
Speaker 1: be found. Then, a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on
Speaker 1: the wall began to shake, almost as if something had
Speaker 1: thumped it from behind, and then the scratching Anne it
Speaker 1: was coming from under Anna's bed. Edwin and Adele arrived
Speaker 1: home to find Anna and Ronnie in some distress. Edwin
Speaker 1: wasted no time in identifying the noise as nothing more
Speaker 1: than a rodent infestation, and an exterminator was duly called,
Speaker 1: But despite treating the entire house, the scratching did not stop.
Speaker 1: For a full ten days, the peculiar noises persisted, and then,
Speaker 1: as abruptly as it had begun, they stopped, or at
Speaker 1: least it appeared so to Edwin, O'Dell and Anna, but
Speaker 1: Ronnie was still hearing them. The following day, tragedy struck
Speaker 1: the family. Ronnie's favorite aunt, Tillie, suffered from multiple sclerosis.
Speaker 1: Although no longer classified as a fatal disease, for Tillie,
Speaker 1: life saving advances in the treatment of the illness were
Speaker 1: still many years away. In the early hours of January
Speaker 1: the twenty sixth, Matilda Hendricks passed away in Saint Louis
Speaker 1: at the age of fifty four. For Ronnie, the devastation
Speaker 1: was immeasurable. Meanwhile, back at home, things are about to
Speaker 1: take an even stranger turn. Are you always taking care
Speaker 1: of your family. Do you often take care of others
Speaker 1: and not yourself. Now it's time to take care of yourself,
Speaker 1: to make time for you. You deserve it. Teledoc gives
Speaker 1: you access to a licensed therapist to help you get
Speaker 1: back to feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again.
Speaker 1: With teledoc, you can speak to a licensed therapist by
Speaker 1: phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven days a
Speaker 1: week from seven am to nine pm local time. If
Speaker 1: you feel overwhelmed sometimes, maybe you feel stressed or anxious,
Speaker 1: depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a
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Speaker 1: to get started. That's t e l a d oc
Speaker 1: dot com slash unexplained podcast. Although Ronnie had continued to
Speaker 1: hear the noises, it wasn't until the twenty eighth, two
Speaker 1: days after Tillie's death, that the family began to hear
Speaker 1: them again too, only this time they had moved from
Speaker 1: Anna's room and followed Ronnie into his. On the night
Speaker 1: of February the second, O'Dell and Anna, who were suspicious
Speaker 1: of Ronnie's involvement, lay with him on his bed in
Speaker 1: the dark. Moments later, the sound of footsteps could be
Speaker 1: heard coming straight towards them. The footsteps continued to run
Speaker 1: up and down the length of the bed until O'Dell
Speaker 1: called out, Aunt Tillie, is that you? But there was
Speaker 1: no reply. She asked again if you were there? Tilly
Speaker 1: knock three times in an instant. Waves of air struck
Speaker 1: them all, as if somebody had been walking past, and
Speaker 1: then the sound of three distant knocks came up from
Speaker 1: the floor. Suddenly, the mattress began to shake violently, and
Speaker 1: the edges of the bed sheets stood up stiff. When
Speaker 1: Adele touched them, they dropped down again limp, as there
Speaker 1: had been before. Perhaps there was some comfort to be
Speaker 1: found in Aunt Tillie's apparent communication, but Adele couldn't shake
Speaker 1: the sense that something far more terrifying was at play.
Speaker 1: Not knowing where to turn, the family consulted local Lutheran
Speaker 1: minister forty two year old Myles Schultz. Scholtz, the pastor
Speaker 1: of Saint Stephen's Evangelical Church, arranged for Ronnie to spend
Speaker 1: the night with him in the hope that he might
Speaker 1: get to the bottom of the unlikely claims. What followed
Speaker 1: was a night of unremitting disturbance. Scholtz watched a gasp
Speaker 1: as Ronnie's bed vibrated through the evening, and hideous scratching
Speaker 1: sounds were heard coming from the walls. Unable to identify
Speaker 1: the problem, the following day, Scholtz had Ronnie assessed at
Speaker 1: the Mental Hygiene Clinic of the University of Maryland. A
Speaker 1: physician and psychologist were consulted, but neither could find anything
Speaker 1: wrong with the boy. In the days that followed, the
Speaker 1: disturbances intensified as items were thrown across the home in
Speaker 1: the vicinity of Ronnie, including a table laden with milk
Speaker 1: and food that was tossed upside down, and then a
Speaker 1: terrifying twist. On the night of Saturday, February the twenty sixth,
Speaker 1: a horrific scream brought Adele running to her son's bedroom.
Speaker 1: On the bed, Ronnie writhed in agony, Adele lifted up
Speaker 1: his night shirt to reveal scratch marks across his body.
Speaker 1: It became clear to Adele that whatever this was, it
Speaker 1: was nothing to do with Aunt Tillie. Increasingly desperate, the
Speaker 1: family turned, at Schultze's insistence, to the Catholic Church. A father,
Speaker 1: Edward Albert Hughes, priests of Saint James's parish at nearby
Speaker 1: Mount Rainier, was consulted. Hughes sent O'Dell home with a
Speaker 1: set of blessed candles, a bottle of holy water, and
Speaker 1: a strict set of instructions. Back at home, Adele immediately
Speaker 1: began sprinkling the water throughout the house. As soon as
Speaker 1: she placed the bottle on the shelf, it flew across
Speaker 1: the room. Later, attempts to light the blessed candles were
Speaker 1: quickly abandoned when a comb was thrown across the room,
Speaker 1: extinguishing the flames. Reports of what happened over the next
Speaker 1: few days tend to vary wildly, but at some point
Speaker 1: it appears the strange scratches on Ronnie's body started to
Speaker 1: form words. At this point, O'Dell made the dramatic decision
Speaker 1: to move the family back to Saint Louis In the
Speaker 1: hope of some respite. But if she was hoping they
Speaker 1: could outrun whatever was haunting them, she was greatly mistaken. Nonetheless,
Speaker 1: Ronnie was promptly pulled from his class at Bladensburg Elementary School,
Speaker 1: and on March the third, nineteen forty nine, the family
Speaker 1: made the trip back to Missouri to stay at the
Speaker 1: home of Leonard and Doris Hunkeler, Edwin's brother and sister
Speaker 1: in law. Almost immediately, the disturbances began again, witnessed this
Speaker 1: time by six different relatives. A cousin of Ronnie's who
Speaker 1: attended Saint Louis University, brought the case to the attention
Speaker 1: of her tutor, Father Raymond J. Bishop Bishop, a Roman
Speaker 1: Catholic priest, was deeply disturbed by her account. On Wednesday,
Speaker 1: March ninth, Father Bishop arrived at the Hunkoler home in
Speaker 1: the Belnour neighborhood of Saint Louis. After being introduced to Ronnie,
Speaker 1: he quickly and quietly went about his business while a
Speaker 1: distraught Odell and five other relatives watched on. From his bag,
Speaker 1: he removed a vial of holy water and a second
Speaker 1: class relic of Saint Margaret Mary. Father Bishop pinned the
Speaker 1: relic to the corner of Ronnie's bed and watched in
Speaker 1: horror as immediately the bed began to move. When he
Speaker 1: sprinkled the holy water of Saint Ignatius over the boy
Speaker 1: in the shape of a cross, the movement ceased abruptly,
Speaker 1: but when Father Bishop left the room, the movement began again.
Speaker 1: Ronnie cried out and doubled over in pain. His mother,
Speaker 1: who had not left the room, pulled up his shirt,
Speaker 1: revealing red zig zag scratches underneath, as if a claw
Speaker 1: had been dragged across his chest. Father Bishop relayed his
Speaker 1: thoughts to his colleague and pastor of the College Church
Speaker 1: in Saint Louis, Father William Bowden. Over the next few days,
Speaker 1: Bowden too witnessed the extraordinary phenomena for himself, including the
Speaker 1: scratching of a cross on to Ronnie's arm. A few
Speaker 1: days later, he sat the family down. The devil has
Speaker 1: hold of your son, he said, and so On the
Speaker 1: evening of March sixteenth, Father William Bowden and Father Raymond Bishop,
Speaker 1: accompanied by a mister Walter Halloran, stepped from the dark
Speaker 1: of the street into Leonard and Doris's home to begin
Speaker 1: the exorcism of Ronnie Hunkuler. At ten thirty p m.
Speaker 1: Father Bowden put on the vestments, first his surplice, followed
Speaker 1: by the draping of his purple silk stole around his neck.
Speaker 1: He removed a vile blessed water from his case and
Speaker 1: a selection of holy relics. Shortly after, Bowden entered Ronnie's
Speaker 1: bedroom and, standing over him, made the Act of contrition.
Speaker 1: Then Father, Bishop Walter Halloran, Odell Leonard, and Doris were
Speaker 1: called in to prepare for the exorcism. Together they knelt
Speaker 1: around the bed and recited the acts of faith, hope,
Speaker 1: love and contrition. When they were complete, and began to
Speaker 1: recite the Rituale Romanum. At the utterance of the first word,
Speaker 1: Ronnie began to Writhe Then three large parallel bars were
Speaker 1: scratched across his stomach. At any mention of the name
Speaker 1: of the Lord or his blessed Mother and Saint Michael.
Speaker 1: Scratches appeared on Ronnie's legs, thighs, stomach, back, chest, face
Speaker 1: and throat, with at least one scratch drawing blood. Bowden
Speaker 1: demanded the evil spirit identify itself Again, came the scratches,
Speaker 1: and the witnesses gasped the word hell was written across
Speaker 1: the boy's chest. Soon after, Ronnie seemed to drift into
Speaker 1: a quiet sleep. Then, as Bishop and Bowden began the
Speaker 1: prayers to Saint Michael, something changed. A strange smile stretched
Speaker 1: across Ronnie's face. He began to stir from sleep, before
Speaker 1: breaking into an eerie laughter. In a sudden fit, he
Speaker 1: sat bolt upright and began pummeling the headboard with his fists,
Speaker 1: then swung his arms wildly in the air. Holy water
Speaker 1: was sprinkled across his body, and immediately he stopped as
Speaker 1: if suddenly awakening. Asked where he had been, Ronnie explained,
Speaker 1: I was fighting a huge red devil. He was slimy
Speaker 1: and very powerful. I was above a fiery hot pit
Speaker 1: about two hundred feet deep, and he was stopping me
Speaker 1: from getting through an iron gate, while all around stood
Speaker 1: other smaller devils. The prayers continued, which seemed only to
Speaker 1: provoke Ronnie back into a tantrum as he wrestled with
Speaker 1: his apparent demonic foe. At midnight, the movement became so
Speaker 1: violent that two men were required to hold Ronnie down,
Speaker 1: who ride with uncommon force and spat at his tormentors.
Speaker 1: At the peak of each outburst, the holy water would
Speaker 1: again be sprinkled, calming the boy momentarily before the gyrations returned,
Speaker 1: before finally moderating around five am. At seven thirty am
Speaker 1: in the morning of March the seven, Ronnie finally managed
Speaker 1: to sleep. The first day of the exorcism was finished,
Speaker 1: but it was far from over. In the days that followed,
Speaker 1: Ronnie continued to lash out, violently, spitting and cursing at
Speaker 1: the priests and anyone else who came near, imploring them
Speaker 1: to go to Hell and be damned, his voice alternating
Speaker 1: from childlike to guttural growls. He snapped his teeth as
Speaker 1: they held him down. On occasions, he would harm and
Speaker 1: sing in a broken and peculiarly high voice, all the
Speaker 1: while his family watched in desperation, utterly convinced the devil
Speaker 1: had their son in his grip. The next few weeks
Speaker 1: saw Ronnie moved from a number of different locations as
Speaker 1: the priests continued their work. He was moved first to
Speaker 1: the rectory at Saint Francis Saviour's Church, which seemed only
Speaker 1: to increase the intensity of the apparent possession. In one incident,
Speaker 1: Ronnie lashed out at Halloran, breaking his nose. At times
Speaker 1: he was being restrained by four grown men. It was
Speaker 1: then decided he would be moved to the Alexian Brother's
Speaker 1: Hospital in Saint Louis, where Ronnie was placed in a
Speaker 1: psychiatric ward. On Thursday in March thirty first, having been
Speaker 1: briefly returned to the rectory, Ronnie began to talk Father Bishop.
Speaker 1: He said, all people that mangle with me will die
Speaker 1: a terrible death. The priests agreed converting Ronnie to Catholicism
Speaker 1: would help his chances. The next day, as he was
Speaker 1: being driven to the church by his uncle, Ronnie complained
Speaker 1: that his feet were becoming hot. He turned to Leonard,
Speaker 1: you think you can drive me out with holy communion?
Speaker 1: Ronnie then laughed, grabbing the steering wheel with both hands
Speaker 1: as Leonard wrestled to keep the car under control, before
Speaker 1: finally bringing it to a standstill up the side of
Speaker 1: the curb. The baptism was eventually co had, but by
Speaker 1: now the strain un Ronnie's aunt and uncle had become unbearable,
Speaker 1: and the priests arranged for Ronnie to return to Cottage City. However,
Speaker 1: unable to find anywhere willing to take him, the priests
Speaker 1: had Ronnie brought back to the Alexian Brother's hospital for
Speaker 1: ten more days. Father Bowden, Bishop and mister Halloran continued
Speaker 1: the exorcism to no avail, but then something changed. At
Speaker 1: ten forty five pm on the evening of Monday, April eighteenth,
Speaker 1: Ronnie fell once more into a seizure, but as he
Speaker 1: writhed on the bed, suddenly his body stilled, and from
Speaker 1: his mouth, with a strange calm, he uttered the words Satan, Satan,
Speaker 1: I am Saint Michael, and I command you Satan and
Speaker 1: the other evil spirits to leave the body in the
Speaker 1: name of Dominus immediately now. And then came the most
Speaker 1: violent contortions of the entire exorcism. The brothers struggled to
Speaker 1: hold Ronnie down as he continued to thrash and writhe,
Speaker 1: until suddenly Ronnie stopped moving and opened his eyes. He's gone,
Speaker 1: he said. Ronnie later claimed in that moment to have
Speaker 1: been taken to the mouth of a fiery cave, in
Speaker 1: front of which stood the devil. There was a brilliant
Speaker 1: white light, and in that light stood a beautiful man
Speaker 1: holding a fiery sword. It was Saint Michael. He pointed
Speaker 1: to the devil and then at the cave, he spoke
Speaker 1: only one word to Ronnie Dominus, at which point the
Speaker 1: devil ran back into the flames and was vanquished for good.
Speaker 1: After ninety four days, the disturbances had ceased once and
Speaker 1: for all. All elements of Unexplained and are produced by
Speaker 1: me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show
Speaker 1: on iTunes, and feel free to get in touch with
Speaker 1: any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on
Speaker 1: the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own
Speaker 1: you'd like to share. You can reach us online at
Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast dot com or on Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Now.
Speaker 1: It's time to take care of yourself. To make time
Speaker 1: for you, teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist
Speaker 1: to help you get back to feeling your best. Speak
Speaker 1: to a licensed therapist by phone or video anytime between
Speaker 1: seven a m. To nine pm local time, seven days
Speaker 1: a week. Teledoc Therapy is available through most insurance or employers.
Speaker 1: Download the app or visit teledoc dot com forward slash
Speaker 1: Unexplained Podcast today to get started. That's t e la
Speaker 1: d oc dot com Slash Unexplained Podcast