On 28 April 1689 Jollie took up the case of Richard Dugdale, the alleged ‘demoniack’ of Surey, near Clitheroe. He maintained that Dugdale's was ‘as real a possession as any in the gospels.’ With the aid of over twelve nonconforming divines, including Richard Frankland and Oliver Heywood, he tried exorcism by prayer and fasting. The young man's recovery was slow. In a tract of 1697 Jollie ascribed his cure to the prayers of the nonconformists. Zachary Taylor (died 1703), vicar of Ormskirk, son of an ejected minister of the same name, wrote two tracts (1697–9) to expose the ‘popery’ and ‘knavery’ of this business. John Carrington (died 1701), presbyterian minister at Lancaster, who had taken part in the exorcism, came forward in its defence; Frankland and Heywood were significantly silent.
