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‘Exorcism: Live!’ TV Special Could Expose Participants To ‘Hidden Satanic Attack,’ According To Archdiocese

By Treva Bowdoin
Published on: 13:08 PST, Oct 30, 2015

Exorcism: Live! participants better watch their backs. According to the Archdiocese of St. Louis, anyone who is taking part in the TV special is trivializing an ancient Roman Catholic rite, and performing a mock exorcism can have serious consequences — Satan might come after you for doing your best impression of Max von Sydow and Jason Miller.

Exorcism: Live! is Destination America’s new twist on the haunted house specials that air around Halloween. TV series like Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters have both filmed live Halloween specials in creepy locations, but the Exorcism: Live! crew isn’t just going to wander around a derelict building while they film mysterious, moth-like orbs and record EVPs that only they can decipher. Instead, they’re going to do some real ghostbusting by attempting to evict the ethereal beings that allegedly inhabit the Bel-Nor, Missouri, home that inspired The Exorcist movie.

According to Discovery News, the Exorcism: Live! title is a bit misleading — the cast of the TV special isn’t going to save a girl from evil spirits that make her puke pea soup and shout obscenities. What they’ll be doing is more along the lines of what clairvoyant Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein) did in the movie Poltergeist — they’re going to try to cleanse an entire house of its evil spirits. Bishop James Long of the Old Catholic Church will be in charge of doing the exorcising, and he’ll be joined by a dozen ghost hunters and a “demonologist” or two.

According to a report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Archdiocese of St. Louis thinks that Exorcism: Live! is a terrible idea, and it has issued a statement letting viewers know that the live exorcism is an unauthorized one — the archbishop of St. Louis did not give Bishop James Long permission to conduct the house cleansing, and anyone taking part in the exorcism is not doing so under the Vatican’s authority.

“No exorcism can take place without the authority of the local Roman Catholic ordinary,” said auxiliary bishop emeritus Robert Hermann. “Any purported exorcism by spiritualists, paranormal investigators, mediums, or non-Catholic clerics for the purposes of entertainment trivializes this ancient rite of the Roman Catholic Church and the very real danger of evil.”

Hermann ended his statement with a chilling warning for the Exorcism: Live! participants. Apparently, Satan really hates it when people don’t take their exorcising seriously, so you better be backed by the Vatican if you’re going to go to war with his demonic underlings.

“Any attempt to use the solemn Rite of Exorcism as entertainment exposes all participators to the danger of future hidden satanic attack,” Hermann said.

“We cannot play games with Satan and expect to win.”

In other words, the Exorcism: Live! camera crews might want to follow any participants around for a few weeks after the actual exorcism takes place — the real action won’t happen until they’ve annoyed the Prince of Darkness by failing to execute a proper exorcism.

According to Destination America, the bishop conducting the live exorcism has plenty of experience dealing with demonic entities. Bishop James Long has performed “27 documented Solemn Rite of Exorcisms” on possessed people, and he has even more experience when it comes to cleansing haunted houses — he’s done “hundreds of Minor Rite of Exorcisms on demonic entities who have infested a home or building.”

The Exorcism: Live! crew also includes a Ouija board expert who will help conduct a séance, the Tennessee Wraith Chasers paranormal investigation team, and former Ghost Adventures crew member Nick Groff. However, the large group of phantom fanatics might not find any spirits to chase. According to Discovery News, tales of the haunting of “The Exorcist House” in Bel-Nor are greatly exaggerated. A real exorcism supposedly took place there in 1949 when priests attempted to rid 14-year-old “Roland Doe” of the demons that were making him behave strangely. There was no projectile vomiting or levitating like there was in The Exorcist movie, and many other legends surrounding the exorcism have also been debunked. However, there are obviously plenty of ghost hunters out there who want to believe that Roland Doe’s demons are still hanging around the Bel-Nor, Missouri, home waiting for human bodies to possess.

Destination America sensationalizes the exorcism story on its website. It claims that Roland Doe’s possession story started in his Maryland home. A family member gave him a Spirit Board to play with, and strange things began happening after he tried to contact the spirit world — the Jesus picture on his wall started shaking, and unexplained scratch marks appeared on his body. He went to stay with relatives in Bel-Nor, and this is where his exorcism allegedly took place.

Do you think the Exorcism: Live! crew should be worried about getting attacked by Satan’s minions in the near future if they manage to survive tonight’s Halloween TV special?

[Image via Destination America]

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