After hearing and reading various accounts during his studies at Georgetown of the Roleand Doe case, the real story of the boy who was actually (allegedly) possessed in 1949, and then exorcised by two Jesuit priests from Georgetown, William Peter Blatty decided to write an actual true crime style account (ala Truman Capote's In Cold Blood) of the incident. But when he reached out to the Georgetown administrators and the Jesuit priests about this, they actively lied about the event, and were very closed-mouth and evasive about it, to throw Blatty off. Blatty believes they were embarrassed about it, and that the Catholic Church has actively been downplaying it's use of exorcism as a response to crisis in the parish. (This is where the "Exorcism has been a dirty little secret the Catholic Church has kept hidden in the closet over the years" line came from; it was a reflection of Blatty's real experiences!) Blatty then decided to write a full out pulp fiction style approach to the subject; a horror story as opposed to a true-life account; so that fiction could convey the heart of the matter where a real life account could not. Hence, the names were changed, the time period the events took place in were changed, the gender of the possessed child was changed. The only thing that was left intact from the real incident of the Roeland Doe case was that a child was possessed, the said child engaged in swearing, violence and antisocial activity, 2 Jesuit priests were involved in the Exorcism, and it did happen in Georgetown. That was all true. The rest of the story is all embellished. According to William Friedkin, Roeland Doe, the original child who was actually possessed, survived the ordeal and went on to live a happy life, and is successful; he does some undisclosed work for the government. (Ironically he was not affected by the legendary Exorcist curse!) He was even alive when the fictional horror story that was based on his experience was published to great acclaim and success, and became one of the most acclaimed horror movies in the history of cinema. But instead of trying to cash in on his experiences, Doe has opted to put the experience behind him, and has kept a low profile.

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