Anneliese Michel, a young woman, endured a terrible exorcism in 1973 that ended tragically. Experts and witnesses continue to be troubled by the occurrences of her exorcisms, nevertheless.
In the years before her exorcism, Anneliese Michel had had weird occurrences—she would see visions and hear voices.
The circumstances surrounding her ordeal served as the inspiration for the movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose. It is thought that Anneliese Michel was one of the most possessed people throughout history, and her tale is terrifying.
Let’s examine what happened before her exorcism and the horrifying specifics of the ritual.
Anneliese’s Early Life
The west German Bavarian village of Klingenberg is where Anneliese Michel was born in 1952. Her family was an ardent Catholic. In addition, three of her aunts were nuns, and her father aspired to become a priest.
Unfortunately, Michel’s mother thought her family was already suffering from a stigma they all needed to make amends for.
Anneliese lived in poverty with her three sisters. The girls spent most of their time indoors praying because they could not play with other kids.
Unfortunately, Anneliese experienced a lot of sickness as a child. She battled measles, mumps, and scarlet fever as a child. The young child was underweight, and she frequently had other illnesses.
Anneliese’s mother claimed in 2005 that having an unmarried child in 1948 caused immense dishonour to her family name.
On her wedding day, they forced her to wear black to symbolize her sin.
Then her mother worked hard to atone for those misdeeds and lived a life of utmost cleanliness.
This naturally put Anneliese under pressure to frequently atone for the faults of others while being forced to spend the night on the floor as a punishment for the drug addicts who did the same thing to them.
Despite her struggles, Anneliese suffered in silence. By the age of 16, she had been given a diagnosis with physical and mental disorders. Her family also participated in the family’s extracurricular activities and twice-weekly Mass.
The Beginning of Anneliese’s Possession
Anneliese’s life began to change drastically in 1968. She started having mysterious blackouts at age 16. During the early blackouts, Michel reportedly would enter a trance-like state and wander. Sadly, she would urinate on the bed in these “trances.”
These trances, according to her friends and relatives, were alarming. Sadly, Anneliese’s issues were only starting.
A year later, she experienced the same attack and re-wetted the bed. After that, it appeared that Anneliese still faced more challenges.
According to sources, her family took her to the doctor, but the appointment was pointless because the doctor could detect nothing wrong with her.
In 1970, Anneliese was admitted to the hospital with TB. Anneliese reported that while she was healing, she could hear strange noises and voices and felt euphoric.
The family decided to take her to a neurologist to find out what was wrong with her. She was identified as having temporal lobe epilepsy shortly after seeing the physician.
She might have convulsions, memory loss, and auditory and visual hallucinations.
In addition to her horrific past, she also struggled with despair and anxiety. She consequently began to perceive things that weren’t there and hear sounds that no one else could hear.
From Diagnosis to Deterioration
One may assume that Anneliese’s life would improve once she had the proper diagnosis, but that was not the case. Her epilepsy probably produced Geschwind syndrome, a condition marked by hyperreligiosity. Therefore her mental state continued to deteriorate.
To reduce her seizures, she was given Zentropil. However, the medication had no effect. In 1973, Anneliese enrolled at the University of Wurzburg and continued her studies. But she continued to sink deeper into sadness and felt “damned.”
Her predicament only worsened as she thought she was under the control of demons. She had tonsils removed, complained of a painful throat, and experienced vivid hallucinations of “demon faces” everywhere she turned.
Anneliese soon disliked religious symbols, stopped going to Mass, and refused to drink holy water or eat in front of a crucifix.
While Anneliese’s parents tried to assist their daughter, Anneliese’s behavior got worse. According to reports, she stripped naked, ate insects, and licked her pee off the floor.
Even after twice being turned down for an exorcism, Anneliese appealed for religious help, even though her family wished to seek additional medical care.
Exorcism of Anneliese Michel
In despair, her parents brought her to Ernest Alt, who declared that she was possessed and that “she did not appear like an epileptic.” Alt then asked the nearby Bishop Josef Stangl for assistance.
The ritual was carried out by Ernest Alt and Father Arnold Renz, a priest with experience performing exorcisms. The Catholic Church was hesitant to exorcise Anneliese Michel.
Only after acquiring strong proof of her custody and considerable persuasion did they finally agree.
Father Renz carried out the first of numerous rites on September 24, 1975. The initial exorcism indicated that at least six demons possessed Anneliese’s body.
She was battling for control within her body with six demons who could only be identified as Lucifer, Cain, Judas Iscariot, Adolf Hitler, Nero, and Fleischman (a disgraced priest).
They restrained her for a long time during these recorded sessions while the priests carried out the rites, but it was ineffective. Anneliese stopped eating, and her body slowly but surely started to deteriorate.
Anneliese was unrecognisable after the 67th exorcism. She was bedridden, bruised, and 68 pounds overweight. Additionally, Anneliese was underweight and dehydrated, and her hair had begun to come out.
She passed away in July 1976 from hunger and dehydration, but the exorcisms persisted.
Aftermath
The priests and Anneliese’s family considered her a martyr since they thought she had sacrificed herself for youthful crimes.
Sadly, the state of Bavaria did not share that opinion and accused all four of negligent homicide. All of the accused plead not guilty.
Despite Anneliese’s evidence that she was under the exorcisms’ possession the entire time and the audio recordings of the exorcisms, all four defendants were found guilty and given sentences of six months in prison and three months of probation. Autopsies, however, reveal that her brain exhibited no evidence of epileptic damage, even at the microscopic level.
Summing Up
Tragic events, mental illness, and fervent religious beliefs all plagued Anneliese Michel’s life. Sadly, she passed away near the end of her story. Nevertheless, her legacy endures as a warning about the lengths people would go to get rid of something they consider bad.
She blurs the lines between science and the paranormal in her story, making us realize that there are still mysteries in this world.
