Raymond J. Bishop

American priest and academic (1906–1978)

Raymond J. Bishop (January 15, 1906 – February 19, 1978) was a Catholic priest who was one of the several involved in the case of exorcising a boy in Maryland, who allegedly was possessed after using a ouija board. The case inspired author William Peter Blatty to write his 1971 novel The Exorcist.^[1]

Life

In 1949, Father Bishop taught at St. Louis University, where one of his female students asked for help concerning her 13-year-old cousin (for reasons of anonymity referred to by the pseudonym Robbie Mannheim), who she said had been experiencing supernatural attacks after playing with a ouija board, and who had gone through one unsuccessful exorcism. Bishop contacted his close friend, Father William S. Bowdern, and they performed another exorcism on the boy.^[2]^[3]

In the 1950s, Bishop was sent to Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, where he taught for more than 20 years. He died on February 19, 1978, in Nebraska.^[4]

References

^ Bishop, Raymond J.; Saint Booth, Christopher (2015). The Exorcist Diary: The True Story. Spooked TV Publications. ISBN 978-0692536698.
^ Taylor, Troy (2006). The Devil Came to St. Louis: The True Story of the 1949 Exorcism. Whitechapel Productions Press. ISBN 9781892523464.
^ LaChance, Steven A. (2017). Confrontation with Evil: An In-Depth Review of the 1949 Possession that Inspired The Exorcist. Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN 9780738751924.
^ {{|url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/201989136:60525?tid=&pid=&queryId=4ca87346db4a6df197b6b9ea813b5d6a&_phsrc=KRO114&_phstart=successSource%7Ctitle=Rev Fr Raimundus J. Bishop|}}