One of the scariest films in Hollywood history, "The Exorcist," is based on a real life tale. The St. Louis house where 12 priests supposedly rescued Roland Doe 66 years ago from demonic possession still stands -- and it's waiting for you.
But what happened to that evil presence? Where did it go when it left that poor boy's body? Could it still be in that creepy house?
OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! It's still in the house! Get out of the house!
But no! They're not getting out of the house. Destination America's "Ghost Asylum" team will descend on that hellhole of a home on Oct. 30 for TV's first live exorcism, to cleanse the home of whatever it is that inspired William Peter Blatty's 1971 best-selling novel and 1973 Academy Award-winning movie.
Maybe it's a demonic spirit. Maybe it's just our own crippling superstitions. Maybe it's just termites. Whatever it really is, the "Ghost Asylum" team came over to HuffPost to sit down with us as they prepared to meet the ultimate evil.
"The house itself is going to be a totally different process. What we're doing in the show is going through 'The Exorcist' house and doing a rite of exorcism," producer/creator Jodi Tovay said. "When somebody is possessed, you see physical manifestations of it, and it's the same with the house. The house, we believe, is a living, breathing thing, and we're going to see something, too, when we actually exorcise the house -- if we're successful."
Joining the "Ghost Asylum" team in the camera-filled St. Louis house, is Bishop James Long, the presiding archbishop of the United States Old Catholic Church, who has performed 27 documented Solemn Rite of Exorcisms on individuals claiming possession by demonic forces.
Also on hand to de-demonize the house is paranormal investigator Chip Coffey, who believes his psychic abilities will allow him to directly connect with the house and those entities that may dwell within it.
"I've learned that demons' whole reason for existing is that they want to bring down human beings -- they want to destroy us, to unravel us," Coffey told HuffPost. "I know -- as a psychic and a medium -- if you set out a dysfunction buffet for negative energies, they're going to come and eat.
"This is the biggest thing I've ever worked on in this kind of genre, and even for me, I've stopped and asked myself, 'What the hell are you doing here?' This is really some serious, serious stuff."
If there are demons in this house, and if the team shows up with a variety of prayers, holy water and whatever other tools are used to rid a home of such annoyances, it will be interesting to see if the so-called demons have their own agenda and won't leave without a fight.
