Raymond J. Bishop

Raymond J. Bishop (January 15, 1906 – February 19, 1978) was a Catholic priest who was one of the several involved in the case of exorcising a boy in Maryland, who allegedly was possessed after using a ouija board. The case inspired author William Peter Blatty to write his 1971 novel The Exorcist.^[1]

In 1949, Father Bishop taught at Saint Louis University, where one of his female students asked for help concerning her 13-year-old cousin (for reasons of anonymity referred to by the pseudonym Robbie Mannheim), who she said had been experiencing supernatural attacks after playing with a ouija board, and who had gone through one unsuccessful exorcism. Bishop contacted his close friend, Father William S. Bowdern, and they performed another exorcism on the boy.^[2][3]

In the 1950s, Bishop was sent to Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, where he taught for more than 20 years. He died on February 19, 1978, in Nebraska.^[4]