Exorcism has inspired some of horror's most enduring films, but the cases behind them involve real families, real deaths, and real courtrooms. Some of these stories are backed by newspaper archives and trial transcripts; others rest almost entirely on the word of witnesses and clergy. We've tried to note where each case falls on that spectrum, because these events touched real lives and, in more than one case, ended them.
1. The Exorcism of Roland Doe (1949)
The case that inspired William Peter Blatty's novel The Exorcist began in Cottage City, Maryland, with a boy publicly known for decades only by the pseudonym “Roland Doe” (also referred to as “Robbie Mannheim” in some accounts). According to reports, including a contemporaneous Washington Post article, disturbances began after the boy used a Ouija board following the death of an aunt who had introduced him to it. Catholic priests performed a series of exorcism rites over several weeks in St. Louis. In 2021, researchers with the Skeptical Inquirer identified the boy's real name as Ronald Edwin Hunkeler, who went on to live a private, unremarkable adult life and reportedly never wanted to discuss the events publicly.
2. Anneliese Michel (1973–1976)
Anneliese Michel was a German woman diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy and psychotic depression as a teenager. When years of psychiatric treatment failed to help her, her devoutly Catholic family sought approval for an exorcism, which Bishop Josef Stangl granted in 1975. Over about ten months, priests performed 67 exorcism sessions, during which Michel's parents — acting on her wishes — stopped her medical treatment and medication entirely. She died on July 1, 1976, weighing roughly 68 pounds, from malnutrition and dehydration. Her parents and the two priests involved were convicted of negligent homicide in 1978. The case inspired both The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) and the German film Requiem (2006).
3. The Enfield Poltergeist (1977–1979)
Single mother Peggy Hodgson called police to her council house on Green Street in Enfield, London, in August 1977, reporting furniture moving on its own. Over the following eighteen months, more than 30 witnesses — neighbors, journalists, and paranormal researchers including Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair of the Society for Psychical Research — reported phenomena centered on Hodgson's daughters, 11-year-old Janet and 13-year-old Margaret, including furniture movement, thrown objects, and claims the girls levitated. Ed and Lorraine Warren visited for roughly a single day in 1978, a minor role that later films exaggerated considerably. Some SPR investigators, including Anita Gregory, found evidence the girls faked at least some incidents for journalists, and the case remains formally unresolved — genuine poltergeist activity to some, an elaborate hoax by bored children to others.
4. Arne Cheyenne Johnson — “The Devil Made Me Do It” (1981)
Before he became known for killing his landlord Alan Bono in Brookfield, Connecticut, Arne Cheyenne Johnson had reportedly witnessed the earlier “exorcism” of his future brother-in-law, 11-year-old David Glatzel, which the Warrens were involved in. Johnson later claimed he had challenged a demon to leave Glatzel's body and enter his own. After killing Bono, Johnson's attorney attempted an insanity defense built around demonic possession — the only time this defense has been used in a U.S. murder trial. Judge Robert Callahan rejected the possession argument outright; Johnson was convicted of manslaughter, not murder, and served about five years. The 2023 Netflix documentary The Devil on Trial revisits the case in detail, including skepticism from journalists who covered the original trial.
5. The Smurl Haunting (1974–1989)
Jack and Janet Smurl of West Pittston, Pennsylvania, said their family endured a fifteen-year ordeal in their home, beginning with foul odors and disembodied noises and escalating to claims of physical and sexual assault by an entity family members described as demonic. Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated starting in 1986 and concluded multiple spirits, overseen by a powerful demon, were present. Skeptic Paul Kurtz of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal publicly called the case a hoax after his own investigation found inconsistencies. The Smurls' account became a 1986 book and a 1991 TV movie, and loosely inspired The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025).
6. The Watseka Wonder (1877–1879)
One of the older cases in the “possession” literature, this Illinois case involved 14-year-old Lurancy Vennum, who was said to be possessed by the spirit of a local girl, Mary Roff, who had died twelve years earlier. Under the supervision of a local physician, Vennum apparently took on Mary's memories and personality for months while living with the Roff family, who insisted she recalled details of Mary's life she couldn't have otherwise known. It predates the term “exorcism” as commonly used today, but it's frequently cited in possession literature as an early documented case investigated by contemporary doctors rather than clergy.
7. The Ammons Family “Demon House” Case (2011–2012)
Latoya Ammons and her three children, living in Gary, Indiana, reported disturbing phenomena that escalated to claims of physical assaults and, in one widely reported incident, a child allegedly walking backward up a wall in front of a caseworker from Indiana's Department of Child Services. The case drew attention because it involved documented DCS records and statements from a police officer and hospital staff who reported witnessing unexplained events, rather than resting solely on the family's testimony. Zak Bagans later purchased and demolished the house, documenting his investigation in Demon House (2018).
8. The Lupo Family / “The Haunting in Connecticut” Case (1986–1987)
The Snedeker family (their name was changed to “Lupo” for the film) rented a former funeral home in Southington, Connecticut, while their son was undergoing cancer treatment nearby. The family reported disturbing apparitions and physical sensations they connected to the building's past as an embalming facility, and the Warrens were again called in to investigate. Skeptics, including several family members' own later statements and outside investigators, have raised significant doubts about the extent of the claims, noting inconsistencies between different tellings of the story over the years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: Is possession recognized by the Catholic Church as something doctors can't explain?
The Catholic Church does maintain a formal rite of exorcism and requires priests to rule out psychiatric and medical causes first, which is itself an acknowledgment that most cases referred for exorcism turn out to have non-supernatural explanations. In cases like Anneliese Michel's, medical experts have argued the underlying condition was a treatable neurological and psychiatric illness rather than possession.
Q2: Did the Warrens investigate most of the cases on this list?
Ed and Lorraine Warren were connected to several of these cases — Enfield, the Smurl haunting, the Glatzel/Johnson case, and the Snedeker case — but their actual on-the-ground involvement varied widely, from a single day (Enfield) to months of investigation (the Smurls). Their accounts have also been disputed by other investigators and family members over the years, so it's worth treating their versions as one perspective among several rather than a settled record.
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