Two Loyola co-eds were confronted with a series of bizarre happenings long before “The Exorcist” focused attention on the horrors of demonic influence. And, in 1968, a priest was called to perform a minor exorcism on an eighth floor suite in Buddig Hall.
The principals in these strange events were two 18-year-old freshmen, Marie Price Stevens and her roommate, Brenda (who asked that her last name be withheld). Witnesses to these events were Janet Jones and Dorothea Brennan, who occupied the adjoining room, 812.
The priest who met the girls and who later performed the ritual is Rev. Harold Cohen, Associate Director of Campus Ministry.
Janet Jones begins the story: “It was Brenda, Marie and I who first began playing with the Ouija board. Dorothea didn’t believe in it, and it refused to cooperate with her. It would spell out that it was an evil spirit, and three or four times, it asked us to put Marie on. When she got on, it said it wanted to possess her. And then we began to be afraid.”
Marie Stevens continues: “Then we communicated with a woman named Hazel. She said she was a Creole from New Orleans whose husband died in prison for a crime she committed. One day, while playing in Neil’s room (a student who lived in Biever Hall), Hazel came to us. Neil laughed at her once and she spelled ‘Cut stomach. Kill Neil.’ The next morning, Neil had stomach cramps in the cafeteria and collapsed on the way out. We rushed him to the hospital and were told he had acute appendicitis.”
“Finally, Hazel disappeared and ‘Satan’ appeared to us. We asked it to prove it was Satan, and it said it would appear in a blue flame over Brenda’s head. We turned out the lights, and Janet and I saw only the shape of Brenda’s head. On her face were blue features: blue eyes, nose, and mouth. Soon after, Dorothea called a priest. Fr. Cohen said the possibility existed that we were in contact with Satan. And if we were, he didn’t know what would happen.”
“Then at 2 a.m. several weeks later, Brenda and I were dozing off when we heard noises. The objects on the shelves above our beds were moving back and forth. Suddenly the big poster tacked to the right of the window flew at me with tremendous force. I turned on the lights and saw the poster lying on my bed. And the objects on the shelves were rearranged. In hysterics, I called Fr. Cohen at 3:30 in the morning. Later that morning, we took him to our room, and he performed an exorcism.”
