Anneliese Michel was subjected to numerous exorcisms in the 1970s. Her story has inspired me to write books and make many horror films. What was the possession of Anneliese Michel like? Did the exorcisms help chase the demons out of her? Why was the possession of Michel the most outrageous at the time? Check out what the demonic possession of Anneliese Michel really looked like.
Anneliese Michel - a possession that terrified all of Germany
Anneliese Michel's dark past. Epilepsy, depression, and anxiety
Anneliese Michel was born on September 21, 1952. She grew up in the German town of Leiblfing and came from a very religious family. Her parents were involved in the activities of religious communities that bordered on heresy - for example, they rejected the Second Vatican Council. Anneliese was one of the four daughters of the Michel family. She was the only one who was often sick but was not troublesome for her parents. She did not complain about her health and went to school with joy. She studied well and her friends liked her very much. However, they did not know how much Anneliese's parents influence their daughter's life. As staunch religious fanatics, they taught her many of the practices by which Anneliese was to atone for all her sins. For example, they made her fall asleep on the hard, cool floor, so that she would be cleansed of her sins.
In 1969, Anneliese began to feel worse and worse. She fell into strange anxiety states which seemed to be very disturbing to the girl's parents. Soon after, Anneliese began to suffer from regular seizures of epilepsy, which was confirmed by neuroscientists. The girl was increasingly running away from her peers, falling into depression. Over time, Anneliese completely isolated herself from the outside world and stopped her pedagogical studies. She felt that she could no longer deal with her own person. In the evenings, Michel felt a strange force that prevented her from breathing. At night, she woke up screaming loudly for help.
Anneliese Michel's even stranger behavior. Was it demonic possession?
Anneliese often complained to her parents that something was making noise in her room. The frightened ones sent her to an ENT specialist. They were convinced that their daughter had hearing problems. However, the doctor did not detect any auditory disturbances. Soon after, the Anneliese family also began to hear strange noises in the house - knocking from wardrobes, scratching walls, hitting ceilings. Frightened, they began to pray regularly in front of the holy figurines. Every time they did so, Anneliese's face twisted in a strange grimace. Her eyes took on a dark, frightening color. The girl felt worse and worse. She complained that she was surrounded by dark apparitions everywhere. She began to fear for her own life.
The parents wanted to take their daughter to the Psychiatric Clinic in Wurzburg, but Anneliese refused treatment. Parents kept praying and even invited clergymen to their homes to support them in their prayers. Anneliese became increasingly depressed and had several suicide attempts. She was accompanied by daily hallucinations and hallucinations. The girl's mother pleaded with a local priest to perform an exorcism but was refused twice. Anneliese felt worse and worse. She would often go under the table and pretend to be a dog. She ate spiders and flies, bit off the heads of dead birds, cursed in the presence of priests, and kept screaming horribly. Doctors searched unsuccessfully for the causes of the girl's strange behavior.
Anneliese's aggression increased day by day. When the clergymen came to Michel's house, the girl destroyed the crosses and rosaries they had brought. She poured out the holy water, spit out the host, and laughed in everyone's face. She often put her head in the toilet bowl, scratched the walls, ran up and downstairs, and suffered from insomnia. Parents tried to console their exhausted daughter, saying that they would surely find a good doctor. And this one will heal her eventually.
Are the Anneliese possessed by demons? The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel
Exorcisms, terrifying tapes, and stigmas
In 1975, Anneliese's mother decided to ask the clergy for help for the third time. She wanted the exorcists to investigate her daughter's case. Anneliese's parents believed that performing an exorcism would be the last resort for their beloved child. This time it worked. In September of the same year, the bishop of Wurzburg (Josef Stangl) finally gave his consent to exorcism. He handed over the dismissal to priest Arnold Renz. He also forbade anyone to tell about the exorcisms that were to take place at Michel's house. Father Renz was accompanied by the parish priest Ernst Alt.
Upon arriving at the Michels' apartment, the clergy knew immediately that they were dealing with possession. What were the exorcisms really? With a solemn prayer during which the clergy ordered the evil spirits to leave the body of Anneliese - in the name of Jesus Christ. The prayers lasted for hours without rest. However, the clergy managed to reveal the names of the demons who inhabited Anneliese's body. Six names fell from the girl's lips - Nero, Lucifer, Kain, Judasz, Fleischmann, and Hitler. After the first exorcism session, Michel stopped eating and was in danger of starvation. In the meantime, the course of the exorcism was recorded on a tape recorder, thanks to which it was possible to carefully analyze the recordings later. In total, 51 tapes with recordings of exorcisms were collected.
In subsequent sessions, the exorcists forced the demons to leave the girl's body. They referred to words from the Holy Scriptures, still invoking the holy names. Anneliese was screaming and was already exhausted by it all. She answered the clergy's constantly asked questions, but not with her voice at all. Anneliese fell on her knees many times during the exorcisms, which she seriously injured herself. There were also non-healing wounds on her feet and hands, which the exorcists considered stigmata. The clergy performed exorcisms for 10 months - once or twice a week. One session lasted about 4 hours.
The last exorcisms of Anneliese Michel and the death of Anneliese Michel
The last exorcism was performed by the clergy on June 30, 1976. Anneliese was then absolved by Father Renz. She then went to her bed and fell asleep. Anneliese's death came a day later - on July 1, 1976. The girl died in a dream. After an autopsy, Anneliese found that starvation and dehydration may have been the cause of death. Anneliese Michel weighed only 30 kilograms on the day of her death. She also damaged her knee joints by constantly kneeling. Numerous wounds and scars, considered by exorcists as stigmas, were also noticed on her body.
The criminal trial for Anneliese's death lasted many months. Ultimately, it was established that starvation was the cause of death. Experts did not believe in Anneliese's possession, maintaining that the girl simply suffered from epilepsy. Their behavior was attributed to Anneliese's upbringing in a family of religious fanatics. Has the criminal trial ended without being found guilty? Well no. The parents of the girls as well as the clergy were blamed for the manslaughter of Anneliese. The court sentenced everyone to six months' imprisonment, suspended for three years.
What was the Anneliese Michel story really like?
The story of Anneliese Michel's possession and exorcism has inspired him to write numerous books, but also make many horror films. A lot of literary and film works have been created on the basis of the events of the 1970s. One of the most popular is Scott Derrickson's horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005). The director chose the story of Anneliese Michel's possession, creating a terrifying and suspenseful horror film. The problem of possession is also discussed, for example, in the entire series of Presence, the heroes of which are famous researchers of paranormal phenomena (Ed and Lorraine Warren). The story of allegedly haunted by demons Anneliese Michel was most accurately described by Professor Felicitas D. Goodman. It was Felicitas D. Goodman's book that was the main source of inspiration for the filming of the aforementioned Exorcisms by Emily Rose.
After a dozen or so years, it turned out that some matters had not been mentioned. During the criminal trial, no one paid attention to the fact that Anneliese had been subjected to numerous EEG tests to check her brain function. For several years, a girl was given anti-epilepsy drugs that had devastating side effects on her body. Scientists to this day are betting that the high concentration of preparations and many years of poisoning the body with them led to the death of Anneliese Michel. Was it true then that Anneliese was possessed by demons? Or maybe she was captivated by something else entirely - a family of staunch religious fanatics, years of drug use, and depression? We will probably never find out again.
Click here for another article about Anneliese on this blog
Bibliography:
Goodman Felicitas D.: The Exorcisms of Anneliese Michel. A true story, Replika Publishing House, Warsaw 2020
Gabriele Amorth: Exorcists and Psychiatrists, Publishing House Edycja Saint Paul, Częstochowa 1999
Rev. Aleksander Posacki SJ: Exorcisms, Possession, Demons, POLWEN Publishing House, Warsaw 2005
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