“It has been several days,” Simpson says, “and the house has been quiet.” Then they spread “blessed salt” throughout the house, including on the roof and in the garage, which would “seal the house symbolically, keeping the spirit from returning.” The news broadcast ends with the suggestion that the exorcism was successful. The exorcism itself includes showing the spirit that it has no reflection in a mirror, as well as offering it communion. “It’s important to me,” DeLouise says-or the spirit says through him. The spirits then begin to speak through DeLouise, with Simpson explaining that, “He claims the spirit used his vocal cords.” Unfortunately, the audio quality of the recording makes it difficult to make out just what exactly DeLouise (or the spirit) might be saying in the scratchy and distorted version of the televised segment that remains, but we’re assured that the spirit is that of an old woman, concerned about a number or combination. “He described it as a total relaxation of his mind and body which, he says, allows him to communicate with spirits.” After he entered his trance state, Simpson describes feeling a strong gust of wind from one of the open windows that “blew the curtains and rattled the Venetian blinds.” “Reverand DeLouise is a medium,” Simpson says matter-of-factly, before explaining a trance state to the audience. The family and the news crew were all asked to wear crucifixes “for protection” during the exorcism. “That is a ceremony designed to rid something of evil spirits,” Carole Simpson says in the clip. In an indication of how new the concept still was to the public imagination, the NBC segment defines the term “exorcism” for its audience. Perhaps this is because, for the Beckers, the subject of the supernatural was not something they treated lightly, at least not after moving into the house they had recently purchased. The segment that follows is a relatively brief but straight-faced affair, with none of the skepticism or light joking that one might expect from a news broadcast about a “haunted” house. Indeed, at the beginning of the clip, a host can be heard saying of the supernatural that “most people treat the subject lightly.” As part of the segment, the reporters filmed an exorcism that was attempted in the home and broadcast it, making it the first-ever example of a televised exorcism, a thing that, at that time, most people had probably never even heard of. Two years before, NBC had televised a short, six-minute clip documenting the supposed haunting of a Chicago family, Edwin and Marsha Becker. It wasn’t the first time that viewers had been riveted by seeing an exorcism on screen, though. It became one of the highest-grossing R-rated movies of all time, with audiences standing in long lines in the December cold outside movie theaters waiting for their chance to be terrified by the film. On December 26, 1973, moviegoers were introduced to William Friedkin’s adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel The Exorcist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |