The true story of the serial killer who inspired ‘Scream’… And the demon that possessed him

The main difference that ghost face compared to the rest of the icons of horror movies is that his identity is different every time. Everyone knows who is behind the hockey mask in the ‘Friday the 13th’ saga, behind the leathery face of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ or behind the expressionless face of ‘Halloween Night’. But the person hiding under the Ghostface mask could be anyone. He can be your best friend, your partner… Or even Danny Rolling, the serial killer who inspired the ‘Scream’ movies.

The story of the Gainsville Ripper, the murderer who inspired ‘Scream’

“The Gainesville Ripper” raped, mutilated and murdered five students in three days in the state of Florida in August 1990. Rolling camped in the woods near the University of Florida, from where he stalked his victims. He then entered their apartments without being detected and attacked them there. He had spent years sneaking into hundreds of houses without being detectedit was something of a fetish, but that summer he took it further.

Rolling murdered five teenagers in three days following the same modus operandi. He would chase his victims into their own rooms and stabbed them with a knife, then immobilized them with duct tape and raped them, and later mutilated them (his last victim was even decapitated) and placed the body in sexually provocative positions. Before leaving, he took a shower so quiet.

The students on campus panicked and paranoia made them start to mistrust each other and sleep in groups so as not to face the murderer alone. Finally, Danny Rolling was arrested for a robbery and, by comparing his DNA with that of the murderer, the police discovered that they had found the criminal. Rolling was also in search and capture for the attempted murder of his father, from whom he suffered abuse when he was littleand for the brutal murder of a family of three members in his hometown, Shreveport (Louisiana).

The Gainesville Ripper’s Connections to the ‘Scream’ Movies

What did Danny Rolling, the Gainesville Ripper, have to do with all the movies in the franchise, including ‘Scream 6’? If you’re wondering… No, Rolling was not wearing the Ghostface mask. But he did wear a ski mask to hide his identity.. He bound his victims with duct tape, stabbed them with a 4- to 6-inch knife, raped them, and placed their bodies in grotesque positions.

kevin williamson, the creator of the horror saga and writer of several installments of ‘Scream’, was watching a documentary about Rolling when he heard a noise. He went to the kitchen and discovered to his horror that the window was open. He spent the whole night searching the house without being able to sleep in case someone had broken into his home, thinking of all the times he had seen something similar in the horror movies he idolized so much. That was the germ of an 18-page booklet titled ‘Scary Movie’, which would later become a full script changing its name to ‘Scream‘.

The original draft served as an example for the first scene of the film directed by Wes Craven, the one in which Drew Barrymore picks up the phone and hears a distorted voice ask him: “What’s your favorite scary movie?”. An initial scene that has been repeated throughout the saga as one of his hallmarks.

The end of the Gainesville Ripper. Was he possessed?

Danny Rolling was tried and convicted as the Gainesville Ripper for the 8 murders he committed, confessing to his crimes and pleading guilty… With one “but.” He hadn’t actually killed those people, but rather had been forced by a demon, named Gemini, who possessed him.

The doctors did not rule out the possibility of a multiple personality, but they verified that Rolling perfectly distinguished between good and evil and that he was fully aware of his actions. However, the murderer defended his innocence by corresponding with the journalist Sondra London, with whom he even ended up marrying. From this relationship the documentary ‘The Making of a Serial Killer’ was born, where Rolling affirms that the possession took place while watching the (underrated) movie ‘The Exorcist III’.

He did not avail. Rolling remained on death row until 2005, when he was finally executed by means of lethal injection. But his story does not end there.

In 2022, the paranormal investigator (and rapper) Steve Shippy and the psychic medium cindy kaza premiered on Discover+ the “documentary” ‘Scream: The True Story‘, in which they state contact the spirit of Rolling through a lot of little devices with lights and beeps that are activated by supernatural presences. And not only that, but they travel to the house where Rolling grew up in Shreveport to discover that his ghost (or the demon that possessed him) is still attached to that place and is making life miserable for its new tenants by means of a freak poltergeistso they decide to make an exorcism with a demonologist.

You didn’t expect this, huh? Suddenly we’ve gone from ‘Scream’ to ‘Warren Files’. Will any of these alleged events address the next installment of the saga, ‘Scream 7’?