Exorcist

This phenomenal bestseller inspired the classic motion picture by the same name. The Exorcist was inspired by a 1949 case of demonic possession and exorcism that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University. The Exorcist tells the story of Regan MacNeil, an eleven year old girl who becomes possessed by a demon. The novel is set in Georgetown near Georgetown University in Washington D.C., and Regan is the daughter of a prosperous, recently divorced actress. As her condition worsens and she performs more and more horrifying acts, her mother is forced to call upon Father Damnien Karras, a Jesuit priest studying at Georgetown, for help to rid Regan of the demon in her body. Blatty develops a sub-plot around Karras' effort to plan the exorcism and his struggle with the death of his neglected mother. Father Merrin, another priest who had performed an exorcism earlier, also arrives at the MacNeil house to aid in the task. As the two priests perform the exorcism for hours, the manifestation of the devil confronts them with their innermost fears, and brings them to the brink of insanity.