POLTERGEIST BEGINNINGS

The Exorcist was loosely based on true events that were reported in Washington, DC newspapers in 1949. The story began in Maryland on the evening of January 15, 1949, when 14-year-old "John Hoffman" and his grandmother heard strange scratching and dripping noises in their house. No explanation could be found for the noises, which stopped after ten days, only to be replaced by mysterious footsteps and drumbeats. After John's Aunt Dorothy suddenly died, the poltergeist-like phenomena increased - with John's mattress shaking violently, food flying through the air and furniture falling over. John and his parents tried to communicate with the poltergeist, which at the time claimed to be the spirit of Aunt Dorothy
TALKING SKIN

Then, in late February, livid red marks emerged on John's skin, taking the shape of actual words. After neither physicians nor psychiatrists could find anything wrong with John, his parents, although Lutheran, consulted a Roman Catholic priest. His recommendations of prayers and holy water only seemed to aggravate John's condition. John's mother took him to St. Louis, hoping things would calm down. But the manifestations intensified. "Father Lawrence," a Jesuit priest, came to visit John in St. Louis, saying prayers over him and pinning two crucifixes under his pillow. After he left, one crucifix propelled itself across the room and the other moved to the foot of the bed as the bed shook violently.
BEGIN THE EXORCISM

On March 16, the Archbishop of St. Louis gave Father Lawrence permission to begin the formal rite of exorcism. During the first night of the ritual, marks appeared on John's skin 30 times -- including the word "Hell" and a portrait of a Satanic visage. The 45-minute ritual was performed several times a night over the next week. John's responses became increasingly rabid, including screaming torrents of profanity and foreign words, violent seizures and uncontrolled urinating. With the parents' permission, John was converted to Catholicism. But his responses to the rituals only became worse. The disturbances suddenly stopped on March 26. Father Lawrence believed John's possession was ov
"I AM ALWAYS IN HIM"

However, they began again on March 31, with John's behavior during the rituals getting even more violent. "I am always in him," the demon said through John's lips. After more days of no progress, Father Lawrence read about an 1870 case of possession that provided a key to exorcising the demon. On the night of April 18, he forced John to wear a chain of religious medals and hold a crucifix in his hand during the exorcism ritual. When Father Lawrence commanded the demon to declare itself, John exploded in a violent spasm of amazing strength, needing five men to hold him down. At 11 p.m., John suddenly interrupted the ritual by shouting, "Satan! I am St. Michael. I command you, Satan, to leave his body now!" After then enduring the most violent spasms yet, John uttered, "He is gone" and suddenly returned to normal, breaking into a smile.
AFTERMATH

John grew up to live a normal, happy life, with no recollection of his "possession." William Peter Blatty, then a student at Georgetown University, read about John's story in the newspapers. The story stuck with him and 20 years later he fictionalized it to create "The Exorcist
ANCIENT ORIGINS

Although recorded belief in demonic possession only dates back as far as 500 BC Egypt, earlier civilizations believed in evil spirits. The Judeo-Christian legend of Satan, a powerful evil being independent of God, probably began around 583 BC, influenced by Babylonians who ruled the Hebrew people. Christianity furthered possession and exorcism as preeminent beliefs in the civilized world. The Bible carries many tales of Jesus driving devils out of various mortals. He then passed on the power and right of exorcism to his disciples.
SATAN VS. THE CHURCH

Satan assumed a more prominent place in daily life when Christianity became the official religion of Rome. He and his minions were believed able to possess human beings and sometimes even assume human form themselves to carry out their evil purposes. During the Middle Ages, public exorcisms proved to be popular crowd-pleasers and were often accompanied by severe torture. Victims, many of whom were only guilty of being non-Christians or mentally ill, were often branded as witches or sorcerers, to justify the Church's actions
POSSESSION OR NOT?

As early as 1583, the Church recognized that some forms of mental illness could cause a person to seem possessed. In fact, the "Roman Ritual," shown in The Exorcist and first published in 1614, cautions its users to make sure the case cannot be explained by normal psychological means. Modern psychological and medical discoveries, such as Tourette's Syndrome, have given the Church more ammunition to scientifically explain most cases of possession. The "Roman Ritual" is now rarely used - and only in those cases where no other explanations can be found.
THE ROMAN RITUAL

The Litany Psalm 54 Adjuration (calling on God's help) Gospel readings Preparatory prayer

First exorcism

Prayer for success

Second exorcism (commands to the evil spirit)

Another prayer for success

Third and Final exorcism (similar to second exorcism)

Final prayer.

By Church law, no priest can perform a formal exorcism until he is fully persuaded of the individual's possession and receives the Church's blessing. Signs of "true possession" include speaking in foreign tongues, ability to predict the future or displaying powers beyond the person's age or natural condition. Before beginning an exorcism, a priest usually investigates past cases to help guard him against tricks the demon might try to play. The "Roman Ritual" begins with the priest going to confession and Mass and dressing in surplice. The priest starts the actual procedure by making the sign of the cross over the subject, himself and any bystanders, then sprinkles holy water around the room
Next, he recites the Litany of the Saints and a selection of psalms, prayers and invocations from the Gospel, interspersing "Hail Marys" and the "Athanasian Creed." There are also several formal addresses made directly to the demon, ordering the demon to leave the subject's body with the words "the power of Christ compels you!" Throughout the Ritual, the priest frequently makes the sign of the cross and tries to draw the subject into the Ritual.
The demon is not considered exorcised until it tells the priest its name and its purpose. Once the demon leaves the subject, the subject is warned to guard themselves carefully and abstain from sin, to keep the demon from returning

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HELP, what to do now!? This guide will tell you step by step how to download and install a screensaver, it will help you install anything you download from AM screensavers since all of our downloads follow the same rules. So let's say you want to download the "666 exorcist aquarium" Screensaver, ok? Now move your pointer to the "download button", your pointer will change into a little hand, something like the picture to the right.Win9x/2k/ME/NT/XP

Click on the button to go to our download page, once that page is fully loaded you will be presented with a popup screen, again look at the picture below.

The screen informs you what you have just chosen to do, i.e. download a file from AM screensavers, now it's time to choose what you want to do with that file. The default selection is to "Save this file to disk", now that's what we want to do so you don't have to change this setting. Just click on "OK" to tell your computer this is what you really want.

Another screen will pop up, asking you where to put the file on your computer, it looks like the picture below.
For your own convenience it's best to have one directory on your PC dedicated to internet downloads, this way you can always find files you've downloaded. This is important because we have to locate the file to be able to install it later. I have a folder called "Download" dedicated to what I download from the internet, the name says it all and I will never forget where I have my screensavers stored.

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Because I have just installed the "666 exorcist aquarium" Screensaver the screen looks like the one above, depending on what screensaver you just installed this screen will differ.
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