The Exorcist Series: Debunking the Bunker Belief

The Twisted Truth Podcast explores various types of trauma and exposes the layers of invisible and ignored trauma experienced by everyday people. The second episode focuses on debunking the belief surrounding the location of a young boy's exorcism. The podcast delves into the history of Prince George's County, Maryland, and highlights its growth and development. It also mentions the incorrect address given to protect the boy's privacy and the confusion surrounding the true story behind the horror movie "The Exorcist." The podcast emphasizes the need for truth and understanding in addressing the generational cycle of trauma. Welcome to the Twisted Truth Podcast, Horrors from the Murder Capital of the United States and Beyond, brought to you by MC Lovey Moore. This podcast contains references to trauma triggers of all kinds, generational trauma, systemic trauma, medical and health trauma, intentional and accidental trauma, environmental trauma, social trauma, natural disaster trauma, spiritual trauma, even compassion trauma, to name a few. These twisted truths include graphic violence, soul-crushing injustice, supreme oppression, and insurmountable grief. It identifies and exposes layers of invisible and ignored trauma. The Twisted Truths podcast exemplifies everyday people surviving every damn day, memento mori, fully expecting deathly experiences. People waking up with wonder and often dread. Is today the day? Is this how it ends? Will I be pleading, dear God, no, not like this. I'm not going down like this. Or will it be flat acceptance? Well, this really could be it for me. If you think these stories are about you, they aren't. You're so vain. I speak in booby-trapped, synesthetic riddles and third definitions. But if there's one similar story, there are probably a hundred behind it, dressed in sheep's clothing. The generations living in the DMV grapple with a spirographic four-way relational Venn diagram of environmental exposure to major cataclysmic experiences that grapple in torrents and recover in a mirage of eddies. This podcast affords only small stolen stares of exposed layers viewed through a keyhole. Season one, episode two of the Twisted Truth podcast, debunking the bunker belief. I am MC Lovey Moore and today I'll be starting from the ground up unearthing the roots that supported and sustained regenerational cycles of trauma in the life of a young boy, now deceased, a hometown, and a nation. In order to respect the privacy of the young boy, I'm going to focus primarily on the environmental and other external contributors to this madness. I'm going to dispel as many myths as I can manage. As a reminder, or as an introduction for those who are hearing about this story for the first time, The Exorcist is a horror movie released in 1973. It tells the story of a young girl who's possessed by a demon and the efforts of two priests to exorcise the demon from her body. The film is widely considered one of the scariest movies of all time. Its use of suspense, special effects, and religious justification have made it a classic of the horror genre. It's based on the true story of a 14 year old boy who lived in Prince George's County, Maryland. At the time he was known as Robbie Manheim or Roland Doe. The exorcism team gave multiple aliases and even a wrong home address to protect his true identity. They didn't give a fake address though. They gave an actual home address somewhere else in the vicinity, close enough to be believable and believable enough to inspire generations of mischief towards some poor unsuspecting homeowner. Literally, people looking, loitering, littering, and looting this property because of its reputation as being the home of the exorcism. Now this wrong address was three miles from my house. And that's a pretty fast bike ride. If you want to arrive unscathed, you do it fast, especially when you're packing a picnic for a few hours of midnight fun with friends at a haunted lot. And on the way home, you're generally faster. So now 50 years later, there's a sequel scheduled to be released. And the generational cycle rolls on. There are families living in these terrifying stigmatized spaces. This won't be solved with rehabilitation, demolition, reconstruction, or Hollywood endings. Even fire hasn't raised the injustice. It will take the truth. Now, there was a lot of misinformation flying around at about that time. There was a lot of confusion about where things took place and with whom they took place. And there were attempts to cover up the location and protect the boy's privacy. Some information was leaked about the home address of the boy who was being exorcised and it turned out to be the wrong address. There were multiple places that he reportedly received exorcism services, or the right of exorcism. Now, although the movie was about a little girl, it was based on a true story of a little boy. And this little boy lived in Prince George's County, Maryland. But the movie took place in Washington, DC, in Georgetown. And there's actually there's a very famous set of stairs in Georgetown that was the scene of one of the acts in the movie where somebody falls down the stairs. And as kids growing up, we always used to scare the bejesus out of ourselves, just scare ourselves trying to go up and down the stairs and doing it without getting possessed or thrown by some unseen force. Basically, this kid lived in a place called Cottage City, Maryland, which is right over the DC line in Prince George's County, Maryland. About a mile away was another address that was given for the boy in Bunker Hill. And that turned out to be the incorrect address. And it turns out also that that was intended to protect the boy's privacy and prevent people from finding out where the boy really lived. There were parts of the true story that occurred in Georgetown. There were parts of the true story that occurred in Prince George's County, Maryland. And there were also parts of the story that occurred in St. Louis, Missouri. So despite the fact that the Bunker Hill address was not actually involved, there were several other addresses that were. What I've done is taken the home address of the victim and I have done a regression analysis on the land and how it was used prior to him living there. And to do that, I'm going to go way, way back. Way back before the town was even established. Way back before there were even people. So settle in for a while. I'm going to set the stage. I'm going to give you an idea for the context. I hope to give you a better perspective of Prince George's County, Maryland. No matter how highly you think of Prince George's County, Maryland, I hope that I can improve your perspective. Prince George's County, Maryland, or PG County, or PG, or the hood, is a county in Maryland established in 1696. It's one of the original counties in Maryland and was named after Prince George of Denmark, who was the husband of Queen Anne of England. It's got a rich history and has had significant roles in the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement. It's also had a tremendous amount of growth and development in the recent decades and it's become one of the largest and most diverse counties in the state of Maryland. Welcome back to the Twisted Truth Podcast. And hold on to your sentence structures because I'm going to be reading from the book, Natural and Industrial Resources and Advantages of Maryland, being a complete description of all the counties of the state and the city of Baltimore, together with an accurate statement of their soil, climate, antiquities, raw and manufactured products, agricultural and horticultural products, textile fabrics, elementary products, manufacturing industries, minerals and ores, mines and mining, native woods, means of transportation, price of land, cheap living, ready markets, excellent homes, and the material and social advantages and unequaled opportunities Maryland possesses for those seeking homes and for capitalists who wish to invest in industries that are sure to pay big dividends. By J. Thomas Scharf, A.M. L.L.D., Commissioner of the Land Office of Maryland, author, History of Maryland, etc., etc., published in Annapolis by C.H. Bachman Company, State Printers in 1892. Now I'm going to skip ahead a few chapters. I'm going to refer to page 140 on Prince George's County. That's where our story begins. Prince George's is one of the leading counties of the state. Its area is 480 square miles. According to the census of 1890, the population was 26,080, divided as follows. Whites, 14,832. Colored, 11,245. Its proximity to the nation's capital, which it joins on the south, and to one of the largest seaports on the Atlantic Coast, its manufacturing industries, its picturesque scenery, its undulating surface, its numerous and abundant springs of clear cold water, its running streams, tributary to its two grand historic boundary rivers, make it one of the favorite spots in Maryland. Then add to this its ores and furnaces, its fisheries and oyster beds, its commercial facilities, by its numerous railroads and rivers, its educational institutions, and its prominence as a tobacco-growing country, and anyone can see how blessed it is. Its people are hospitable, and its lands are cheap enough to make it a most desirable location for the investment of money and for persons desiring a home, and it offers special inducements to people who wish to live in a place which affords such unusual advantages. Prince George's County is bounded on the north by Howard and on the east by Anne Arundel and Calvert counties, from which three counties it is separated by the Patuxent River, on the south by the Charles, and on the west by the Potomac River, and the District of Columbia and Montgomery County. Its soil is varied, mostly of loam and sand mixed with clay, with underlying strata of marl and cemented sand resembling sandstone. Now I'm going to pause here and take a little tangent because, to be perfectly honest, I didn't know what a marl was. It's spelled M-A-R-L-E. It's included in the Prince George's County resources among iron, marls, and shell marls, and I had never heard of a marl before, and so I looked it up, come to find out it's got plenty of definitions, and they're all different, and some of them are opposite from each other. So here we go from, and I looked this up, I just did a Google search, and I checked the first list, you know, in order, in order which they appeared, not ads, but just organic listings, and this is what I came up with. It was marls, the Wiktionary definitions in English. A marl means both countable and uncountable. In Bourgogne, it means blackbird. In Eastern Verende, it means girl, and if you don't know Eastern Verende, it caused me to go on another tangent because it's not spelled with a V, it's spelled with an A, and I had no idea how to say it until I looked it up, and also I had no idea what it meant. And the Eastern Averende are an Aboriginal tribe in Australia, and their definition of marls is girl, and not necessarily from that same culture, but as a name, marl means both sea of bitterness and beloved. In Middle English, it means IPA, and of course I assumed that was beer, but it's not. It's called, it's short for the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is extremely important in terms of universally designed language. Anyway, the Middle English definition of marl is a mixed earthy substance consisting of carbonate of lime, clay, and possibly sand in variable proportions and accordingly designated as calcareous, clayey, or sandy. The Old French definition is a mixed earthy substance. There's a textile context in which a marl is a visual classification that appears as a texture with contrasting light and dark strands, and the Urban Dictionary has a definition that just don't go there, just don't, just skip it, and you know, like block it. And then after all of that, I looked into the IPA language and discovered that this whole time the pronunciation is actually mal and not marl, the r is silent. So that was a nice little English lesson, and I'm even more confused now more than ever. And now back to our regularly scheduled program. The people are warm-hearted and genial, and many of them are descendants of the Lord Baltimore Party that settled in Southern Maryland. The principal industry of the county is tobacco raising, which is grown in large quantities in the forest just above Upper Marlboro and in the tobacco belt in the lower part of the county. Near the borders of the District of Columbia and on the railroad, the large tobacco plantations have been divided up into small truck farms. The other staples are wheat, corn, rye, and grapes. Owing to the decrease in prices of tobacco, many of the farmers have given up tobacco growing and are trying fruit grazing and dairy farming, in which their efforts have met with great success. There has been a considerable boom in real estate for some time. That part of the county around Washington, by persons desiring suburban residences, and since the projected railway from the Chesapeake to Washington has started, quite a flurry has been felt in the real estate market in regard to land. This railroad, if built, will add materially to the value of land in the lower part of the county which it traverses and will open up a portion of the county which is somewhat backward, owing to the lack of railroad facilities. It is a great scheme and should meet with the approbation of every citizen of the county. By actual count, nearly 300 houses were erected from Washington to and including Laurel on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in two years, ending in July 1891. That's a record which goes far to establish the prediction made in that time, ending in July 1891. That's a record which goes far to establish the prediction made that, in time, there will be a continuous city connecting the two cities of Baltimore and Washington. Much has been said recently about Scandinavian immigration to Maryland and we are pleased to note that these people find our state offers many inducements. A party of them who have resided in Michigan for the past few years recently removed to Prince George's County and purchased land near Laurel, only 18 miles from Washington. We were favored with a call from them lately and one of the gentlemen remarked, we are pleased with our new home and have purchased improved farms and will soon be established. I can recommend this country to my people and expect many of my old neighbors will follow me to Maryland. The tax rate is gradually decreasing owing to the improvements being erected on the lands. The tax rate is now only 80 cents on the $100, a decrease of 10% since 1888, although the county was at a heavy expense for repairing bridges and roads destroyed by the storms during the year 1891. The lands are cheap in the lower part of the county, averaging from $85 to $20 per acre. Those in the upper part are much higher, owing to the close proximity to the national capital. They can be bought from $20 to $100 per acre. The county is traversed by three railroads, the Baltimore and Potomac, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Washington City and Point Lookout Railroad. This last has not been completed, but hands are at work upon it now, under charge of its president. It runs from Brandywine to Mechanicsville. The school facilities are as good as those of any county in the state. Prince George's has in its limits the Maryland Agricultural College, an academy at Upper Marlboro, under the charge of two efficient teachers, and the public school system throughout the county is considered to be equal to that of any others in the state. While agricultural is the chief pursuit, the county also has something of a reputation as a manufacturing district. It has a large smelting furnace at Muirkirk, and one of the largest hosiery establishments in the United States is conducted by Mr. Henry W. Claggett at the House of Reformation at Cheltenham by the labor of the inmates of that institution. He recently made one of the largest shipments of hose that has ever been made in the United States. During the summer, there are a great many canning factories in operation throughout the county. The Maryland Agricultural College at College Park on the Baltimore Anaheim Railroad is located in this county, and is now one of the best and most successful institutions in the state. The farm is a model one, and the college has a full core of ten professors, besides special instructors and lecturers, and is prepared to give thorough instructions in all those branches of learning related to agriculture. Every department is in charge of a competent specialist, secured by a fair salary, and supplied with the latest and best appliances to facilitate instruction. Within a year, several thousand dollars have been expended for models and apparatus of the most approved patterns. The last report of the college shows that the institution is gaining in number of students, and in many ways is substantially improved and better prepared than ever before to do well the work for which it was established. Historic Towns. Upper Marlboro, the county seat is a beautiful little village of about 800 inhabitants, 15 miles from Washington, by the Marlboro Turnpike. Marlboro Turnpike. Marlboro Turnpike. This town is the oldest in the county. It has two newspapers, both ably edited, three schools, and four churches. Laurel, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, midway between Baltimore and Washington, is the largest town in the county, and contains 1,984 inhabitants, an increase of 778 since the census of 1880, or 64.51%. Laurel also has several factories, which give employment to many laborers at remunerative prices, a bank, two newspapers, four churches, and three schools. It is an incorporated city and is governed by a mayor and a city council. The old historic town of Bladensburg, known the country over as a once famous place for duels, is a short distance from the District of Columbia on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It has several good schools and churches and is governed by three commissioners. It also contains two large flowering mills, whose reputation for the quality of the flour and cornmeal produced is well established. Its population is about a thousand. The next on the list is Hyattsville, which has been built up in the last ten years from a few scattering farmhouses to one of the most beautiful little villages in the country. According to the census of 1890, it has a population of 1,509 inhabitants, an increase of 1,221 since the census of 1880, 423.96%. This increase is greater than any city or town in the state since the census of 1880. It is well supplied with schools and churches. This town is only a short distance from Bladensburg and has railroad connections with both Baltimore and Washington. The dairyman can find no better location for the success of his line of business than is afforded by the lands adjacent to the B&O in the neighborhood of Baltimore and Washington. These lands are fertile, well watered, will furnish the best of pastures, and produce large crops of all necessary foods for cattle. A particularly strong point also in their favor is the extremely low prices at which these can be purchased, as the owners have placed them on the market at from $12 to $20 per acre and will make the terms such as any energetic, pushing man would have no difficulty in meeting. All of these lands are within an hour's ride of either Baltimore or Washington and are bound to increase largely in value in the next few years. The markets of these cities are the best in the country and the good dairyman will receive as high prices for the product as he could get in any other city in the Union. Nottingham is a summer village on the Potomac. Piscataway is a little antiquated town a few miles from the Potomac. It is one of the oldest towns in the county. The facilities in Prince George's County for manufacturing purposes are equal to those of any other county in the state and industries are on the increase as the many canneries that have been started of late will attest. The communication with the outside world, both by rail and water, are easy and at all times accessible as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad runs through the upper and the Baltimore and Potomac through the lower part, while the balance of the county is drained by the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers. No portion of the state offers better inducements for a class of thrifty immigrants. The soil is kind, the climate good, and nearly every product known to this section of our country can be grown with profit, especially in this case with fruits and vegetables. There is now a growing tendency towards the extensive cultivation of the peach and with the fact in view, many large nurseries have been started. The time is probably near or at hand when this county is destined to rival her Eastern Shore sisters in the growth of this delicious and profitable fruit. The soil is well adapted to the peach and wherever tried, this fruit has succeeded well. The great want is an honest, industrious immigration. St. Mary's has good steamboat communication with Baltimore, Norfolk, Washington, and other points, but is deficient in railroad facilities. The roadbeds are made, but rails have only been laid to Mechanicsville in the upper part of the county, to which point a train runs daily from Brandywine in Prince George's County, a station on the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. Tide marshes in Maryland. The United States Department of Agriculture, in May 1889, issued an interesting report on the tide marshes of the United States, collated and prepared by D.M. Nesbitt of Prince George's County, Maryland. By direction of the United States Commissioner of Agriculture, the report was prepared from an agricultural standpoint. The following comprises that portion of the report, treating of the tide marshes of the state of Maryland. The riparian laws of the state are few, and they only reflect or reiterate the general principles of common law riparian rights. The decision of our courts have, on this subject, been confined to rights between neighbors, and to the navigation and extent of ownership of watercourses and rivers between opposite counties, or citizens of those counties. There are many large tidal marshes in the state, the reclamation of which would be very beneficial to the public health, and add millions to the general wealth. I know of, and can learn of, no individual or association largely, or in any way, engaged in reclaiming or owning considerable tracts of reclaimed land. Thousands of the most fertile acres could, with little comparative expense, be brought into the highest state of productive cultivation. Many persons own and pay taxes on tidal marshes, which, in their present condition, are rather nuisances than sources of profit, but if reclaimed, would be far more valuable than the adjoining cultivated upland. This is a matter which opens a wide field for investigation, and is suggestive of great wealth, now hidden and useless. In Prince George's County, the marshes are formed in the bends of our rivers, and sometimes contain 1,000 acres each. They are owned usually by those owning the lands bordering on them. They are covered by wild oats and other marsh grasses in the summer, which fatten cattle very fast. When a farm adjacent to the marshes is sold, the marshland is generally given in. No marshes have been reclaimed. A feature of the many railroads leading out of Baltimore is the incentive they give for suburban residences. All of them pass through a delightful country adjacent to the city, which is rapidly being settled by those who have the means to enjoy the pleasures of the country and the benefits of city life. The Pope's Creek branch of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad extends down through Prince George's and Charles Land, running into St. Mary's County. Among the proposed railroads may be mentioned the Drum Point, running into Calvert County and through Intermediate Territory, the Baltimore and Cumberland Railroad, an Ellicott City extension of the Catonsville Short Line, the Belt Railroad connecting the Baltimore and Ohio at Camden Station in Baltimore, with Maryland Central at the city boundary, and thence on to Philadelphia and New York, and the Western Maryland Railroad extension through the heart of the city by an elevated road over Jones Falls to the old President Street Depot, and thence on to Tidewater and Steelton, and the extension of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railroad from Cumberland to Baltimore. And with a tongue-twister like that sentence, I think we ought to call it a day. Check back for more historical infotainment on the Exorcist and PG County. Thank you for tuning in to the Twisted Truth Podcast. We'll be peeling back another layer of Prince George's pride. Next week we're going to find out more about what's in the air and the water, and how that might have contributed to the exorcism of a 14-year-old boy.