In August 1949, ‘The Washington Post’ran at least two stories about a 14-year-old boy’s exorcism in Maryland. In one, the newspaper reported, “The boy broke into a violent tantrum of screaming, cursing and voicing of Latin phrases—a language he had never studied.” The story inspired author William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel ‘The Exorcist’, the basis for the 1973 film in which a young Linda Blair projectile-vomits pea soup.