Destination America is taking the reality television genre to a place it's never been before, by airing an exorcism live on TV, with "Exorcism: Live!" in October. Exorcism: Live! will debut on October 30, aka the night before Halloween.
The live event will take place at "the original Exorcist House" in the suburbs of St. Louis where exorcisms were performed on Roland Doe. The made-for-TV events marks the 66th anniversary of one of them. The live event will take place at the original Exorcist House in the suburbs of St. Louis where the infamous ritual was performed on Roland Doe in 1949, and which inspired the film "The Exorcist."
The network says the program is right in its wheelhouse because it is dedicated to "all-American entertainment." Exorcism: Live! will feature the cable network's cast of its series Ghost Asylum, better known as the Tennessee Wraith Chasers, as well as Chip Coffey who bills himself as a psychic medium.
The network promises they will explore each crevice of this home from the attic to the basement, to find whatever or whomever, using "state of the art technology to do daytime and nighttime investigations" to document as much evidence as they can of these demonic entities on live TV.
The network did not explain how it's going to air live daytime investigations at 9 PM ET. The network did say it would host a live Twitter chat with select tweets appearing live on air.
"As we step into one of the most haunted and well-known spirit destinations in America, 'Exorcism: Live!" will show exactly what is inside this infamous, highly dangerous and possessed home." said Marc Etkind, general manager of Destination America, in a statement.
"By actually exorcising this iconic house live, Destination America will do what it does best - bringing never before seen experiences to television." This is not the first time an exorcism has been seen on TV.
In '91, ABC's 20/20 televised 26 minutes of what was reported to be a six-hour exorcism of a teenaged Florida girl, Barbara Walters wondered, "Is the Devil real?" The segment's producer was quoted boasting "People had exorcism parties all over the place,"but also defending the segment, journalistically, saying America is "absolutely fascinated with the idea that tangible evidence of the devil might be on television."
