Exorcism anyone?

Salon is running a story about the spooky subject of exorcism just in time for Halloween. What's interesting is the mention of 'the exorcism' at the heart of the novel The Exorcist that would later become a movie.

The exorcism was performed in St. Louis at a nearby catholic hospital on a young boy from Utah who would leave with no recollection and live out the rest of his life in relative peace. My Parents used to have Jesuits over for dinner pretty frequently and one of them was a Jesuit still in training when the exorcism was performed. He wouldn't ever talk about it much but for a cynical man it was surprising to sense the conviction when he firmly believed that the child was, indeed, possessed.

Of course, one of the annual Halloween rituals at St. Louis University, a Jesuit University in St. Louis and home to most of the exorcists, was a drunken tromp up to 'the room' in the old gothic Xavier Hall to scare the crap out of freshmen. Good for a giggle but the room was creepy just the same. The power of suggestion is an amazing thing to witness.