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# Stranger Than Fiction
24 years ago a US television network aired an actual exorcism...
Uncomfortable viewing.
The below video contains images and themes that some may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
TODAY BEING HALLOWEEN, scary movies are likely to be to the fore.
You’ll probably see the Exorcist around – the story of a young girl being inhabited by a particularly nasty satanic spirit and the priests who unite to save her is one for the ages.
But surely such rituals in reality are a relic of the past? Not so it would seem.
24 years ago, ABC television in the US aired footage of an actual exorcism, and it’s quite disturbing (and tonight, there’s even going to be the first ever live exorcism broadcast on television).
The episode of ABC’s 20/20 (with veteran news anchor Barbara Walters) attracted 29 million viewers when it was first broadcast in April 1991.
The process itself involved the casting out of a spirit inhabiting a 16-year-old girl (identified only as ‘Gina’). The spirit itself was named Minga.
The filming of the six-hour process was done with the full consent of the Catholic Church and the clergy involved – two priests who had plenty of experience of the strange ritual.
The show itself is played very straight, albeit O Fortuna (the Old Spice music to you and me) is used over establishing shots which seems a little unnecessary.
You can see the full episode below. Be warned it’s not for the faint-hearted.
Read: Why do we derive so much pleasure from scaring ourselves half-to-death?
Read: Halloween event advertises ‘asylum’ attraction ‘filled with the crazy’
