The Catholic priest believed to have inspired The Exorcist died after speaking with a "possessed" child, a former CIA agent has claimed. This "revelation" comes via Robert Marrow, who the Daily Mailreports was a close friend to Malachi Martin.
Marrow, Hostage to the Devil producer Rachel Lysaght told RTE Radio 1's Ryan Tubridy this week, recalled the alleged incident during filming for the forthcoming documentary in harrowing detail. During an exorcism call in Connecticut in 1999, Marrow said a supposedly "possessed" four-year-old girl approached Martin with the following greeting:
"So you're Malachi Martin, and you think you can help her?"
Following the 1999 encounter, which the former agent described to Lysaght as the "most disturbing" thing he'd ever witnessed, Martin fell and suffered head trauma. Martin, who told a pal the traumatic injuries were the result of an "invisible force" pushing him to the ground, died at the age of 78 later that year.
Hostage to the Devil is slated to hit Netflix this weekend. The documentary, co-written by Lysaght and director Marty Stalker, examines the alleged existence of "the devil" by taking a close look at Martin's life. "He is known by many names across the world and across the centuries," the film's synopsis says of this "devil" individual. "You may have your own name for him."
Sadly, William Peter Blatty—author of the original 1971 novel The Exorcist—died Thursday at the age of 89. Blatty died at a Maryland hospital from a form of blood cancer, the Associated Press reported. After his novel was published in 1971, the New York Times best-seller was quickly adapted into the oft-emulated film of the same just two years later.
