Episode 2: The Real Exorcist

Precision and Instinct is a true crime debate show. Every episode, Eli argues the hard evidence. Simone argues the pattern. Neither one wins — you decide.

Episode Notes

January 1949, just outside Washington, D.C. A thirteen-year-old boy starts exhibiting behavior no one in his family can explain — scratching in the walls, furniture moving on its own, welts spelling out words on his skin. A Lutheran pastor witnesses it first. Then two Jesuit priests at Saint Louis University get involved, and over the following weeks perform what's become one of the most famous exorcisms in American history — the real case that inspired the novel and film.

Eli says there's not a single neutral witness in the entire record. Simone says you don't get this many independent, credible people convergi ...