Ep. 159
Exorcism Of
Annaliese Michel
Do you believe in the devil? Demons? Do you think the devil or demons can possess your body? Does that shit creep you out and keep you up at night? Well, if it does… you're gonna love today's episode! If you've ever seen the exorcism of Emily Rose, you'll at least know this story. The movie was based on the subject of today's episode. It's gonna get kinda crazy today as we discuss the exorcism of Annaliese Michel!
Some of you may already be familiar with this story, as it's been discussed on other podcasts and continues to be a pretty famous story in the world of exorcisms, demons, and possessions.
Annaliese Michel was born on September 21, 1952, in Leiblfing, Bavaria, West Germany. She was born into a very religious Roman Catholic family. She attended Mass twice weekly with her family and was described as "a vibrant, pretty girl on her way to becoming a gorgeous woman. She had shining black hair, an open, honest face, and a stunning smile." Four years before Anneliese was born, her mother, Anna Michel, gave birth to an illegitimate daughter. This was a source of shame for the Catholic family. After she married and gave birth to Anneliese, she apparently harbored feelings of guilt about her first daughter. Unfortunately, Anneliese's older sister died at the age of eight, but Anneliese reportedly felt like she needed to repent for her mother's sin. She supposedly spent much of her time doing penance for her mother, her sinful youth, and evil priests. Sounds like a great childhood.
All the crazy shit began in 1968, around the time of her sixteenth birthday when Anneliese had the first of several seizures. She lost consciousness during school and was found by her classmate to be in a trance-like state. Later that night, Anneliese woke up claiming she felt something was pressing down on her. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe or speak, and lost control of her bladder. Although the experience frightened her greatly, when it didn't happen again, she just forgot about it. Then, on August 24, 1969, Anneliese suffered another seizure. When examined by neurologist Dr. Siegfried Luthy, her EEG showed "a normal, physiological alpha-type brain activity." Dr. Luthy later explained to investigators, "I judged from the description I was given that this was probably a case of cerebral seizures of the nocturnal type, with the symptoms of a grand mal epilepsy."
Tonic-Clonic seizures, formerly known as grand mal seizures, comprise two stages: a tonic phase and a clonic phase. According to John Hopkins Medicine, episodes may begin with a simple or complex partial attack known as an aura, during which persons may experience sensations such as unusual smells, vertigo, nausea, or anxiety. Or my everyday life. During the tonic phase, persons may lose consciousness and experience bodily and respiratory paralysis as the muscles involuntarily contract. Finally, during the clonic phase, the person's face, arms, and legs spasm and jerk uncontrollably and rapidly. When the body relaxes, the bladder may also release. Got all that? I knew you would, you intelligent bastards.
Anneliese's symptoms certainly fit the criteria of a Tonic-Clonic seizure, and there's good reason to believe on at least one occasion, she also experienced aura. One day while praying to the rosary, she related smelling a sweetness "wafting about her like the fragrance of violets" and a euphoric feeling that lasted into the next day. She was found by other girls to be in a trance-like state with her hands rigidly outstretched "like you had a cramp or something. Like when my cat stretches her claws," and her pupils dilated, "I thought they were blue. Now they are all black."
After her third seizure, Anneliese began experiencing one of the longest-lasting side effects, continuously filling her with fratzen, which is German for "grimacing faces." Another EEG showed "an irregular alpha pattern with some theta and delta waves, but nothing pathological." By 1973, her friends and family reported her behavior had changed—she was irritable and withdrawn, prone to lashing out in anger. Again, my everyday life.
Anneliese fell into a deep and prolonged depression. This depression was severe enough that she contemplated suicide and would later describe it as "This is no longer a depression, this is a condition"; she claimed "someone else is manipulating me" and that "My will is not my own." She mentioned to her psychiatrist that she "could not love sufficiently" that she felt "castrated, ice-cold" and told her boyfriend, "I can't feel any love at all. I am all numb, sort of. I can't feel emotions like that."
Anneliese stopped associating with her usual group of friends and became drawn to a group of students considered to be religious zealots. That is not a good sign. One of her childhood friends noted, "After her illness, Anneliese was changed. She was quiet and withdrew from her friends. I also noted that she kept wanting to carry on mostly religious conversations." For her part, Anneliese became convinced of her damnation and began warning others of the world's imminent end. She believed she had personal visions and communed with the Virgin Mary and became particularly drawn to the life of Barbara Weigand, a Catholic mystic and "prophetess." She also claimed to experience visions of the Virgin Mary.
In addition to the visual hallucinations, Anneliese also claimed to begin experiencing olfactory hallucinations known as phantosmia: "She started smelling a horrid stench not perceived by others." The nature of this nasty smell changed over time. However, it was later related, "[Anneliese] exuded a stench like Frau Hein had never smelled before, like fecal matter or something burning. Everyone in the bus could smell it." This would seem to indicate that the source of the stench was, in fact, Anneliese herself.
Further evidence supports this from a visit from Father Roth to the Michel household: "Herr Michel received me and took me immediately to the living room. It was filled with a horrible stench, of something burning, and of dung, that penetrated everything. Herr Michel expressly called my attention to it and told me that Anneliese had been in the room just before. In the other rooms of the Michel home and on the outside I could detect no trace."
The pungent smell was not, however, present all the time. During the criminal investigation in October 1976, Father Hagiber recalled his first meeting with Anneliese and mentioned nothing of an odor. Father Herrmann, who met with Anneliese about ten times from 1973 to 1975, stated, "From her parents I heard that on occasion she evidenced disrespect toward sacred objects and there was a stench of dung or of something burning in the room where she was. However, these symptoms never occurred in my apartment". Likewise, none of Anneliese's doctors, classmates, or teachers ever complained of a foul odor emanating from or percolating around her. Her boyfriend was utterly unaware of her problem with the smell until she mentioned how it plagued her. Based on what Anneliese revealed to her psychiatrist, we know she was intimate with her boyfriend. One might expect he would've noticed something that smelled like burning doo doo.
By 1973, she had depression and began hallucinating while praying and complained about hearing voices telling her that she was "damned" and would "rot in hell ."Michel's treatment in a psychiatric hospital did not improve her health, and her depression worsened. Long-term treatment did not help either, and she grew increasingly frustrated with the medical intervention, taking pharmacological drugs for five years. In addition, Michel became intolerant of Christian sacred places and objects, such as the crucifix."
In one instance, her family organized a trip to San Damiano to pray for God to intervene. Annaliese said standing on the shrine's soil made her feet burn, and she refused to drink water from its holy spring. As a result, she could not even walk past sacred icons. The priest accompanying them stated:
"She [Michel] approached it [the shrine] with the greatest hesitation, then said that the soil burned like fire and she simply could not stand it… She also noted that she could no longer look at medals or pictures of saints; they sparkled so immensely that she could not stand it."
Annaliese was put on several medications, but none seemed to help the situation throughout the early 70s. Finally, between the results of her pilgrimage and her increasingly strange behavior, her parents decided to put their faith in the Church. Oh... and an exorcism. Her behavior had deteriorated to the point where she would at times growl, swear, and blaspheme for no god damn reason (see what I did there?) and even urinate on the floor and lick it up.
Then, in the spring of 1973, Anneliese began to hear a knocking sound in her room. Dr. Vogt could not find anything wrong with her hearing, so he referred her to a specialist. However, her mother, Anna, began to believe something supernatural was occurring because she and her other daughters could soon hear the same sound, like rapping or thumping in the wardrobe, then above the ceiling and below the floor. In addition, Anneliese was now seeing overtly demonic faces with horns, telling her she would be damned for eternity. Her father, Josef, dismissed these weird-ass happenings as products of hysteria. However, he was disturbed by his wife's account of Anneliese staring at a statue of the Virgin with a malicious expression. Her eyes were black and dilated. Her hands contorted like an animal's paws.
On September 3, Anneliese revisited Dr. Lüthy and finally told him of the hideous faces she had been seeing. She also confided that the devil was inside her and that a judgment of fire would come upon everyone. Dr. Lüthy recalled, "She could not get her mind off these things. She had no power of decision, and everything was empty in her." Momma Anna claimed that Dr. Lüthy advised them to see a Jesuit about the demonic faces, but the doctor intensely denied that he had said that shit. It is possible that the doctor made a tongue-in-cheek comment, which he later forgot since Frau Michel was adamant that she had gotten the idea of calling a Jesuit from the doctor. She had never before heard that Jesuits were specialists at exorcisms.
Either way, Dr. Lüthy did not think much of the visions since he prescribed only Aolept (periciazine) drops, a medium-intensity anti-psychotic drug for neurosis in children. That shit is mainly sold in Canada, Italy, Russia, and Australia, and you can't even get it in the states. In his words, "It could not be stated with certainty at the time that there was the beginning of a psychotic symptomatology."
Despite continued treatment with Dilantin and periciazine, Anneliese's visions did not go away, and the drugs only seemed to make her tired and depressed. The Michels believed that the images were a particular problem from the seizures and now followed Dr. Lüthy's offhand suggestion to see a priest about them. They first sought Father Habiger, pastor of the Mother of God parish in Aschaffenburg, who examined Anneliese and found only an ordinary, shy girl with no signs of possession. He recommended that she see a physician. The end.
NOPE!
The family was able to contact an elderly Jesuit, Father Adolf Rodewyk in Frankfurt, about Anneliese's case. Father Rodewyk was an expert on possession, having published a book on the subject. Still, he could not travel to Klingenberg and recommended the retired Father Herrmann of the Mother of God parish in Aschaffenburg. You got that, right? Two priests, one Church. Gross.
Father Herrmann met with Anneliese ten times in his home and found her a nice, deeply religious girl. He recommended that she see a neurologist, but she protested that she had already seen Dr. Lüthy, who could not help her. Nevertheless, father Herrmann did not observe any sacrilegious behavior by Anneliese; she calmly prayed the rosary with him many times without any demons popping out and burning their poop.
In September 1973, Father Herrmann visited Father Ernst Alt of the St. Agatha parish in Aschaffenburg. Father Alt had already heard about Anneliese's case from Thea Hein and had long had a deep interest in the paranormal, having conducted studies of extrasensory perception (ESP). This was not unusual at the time, as even nonreligious researchers took ESP seriously in the 1970s. Still, Father Alt also believed himself to have telepathy, precognition, and even dowsing powers. Evidently, he was a big believer in the paranormal, as well.
Fr. Alt offered Mass on behalf of the troubled girl he had yet to meet, and while preparing for the consecration, he had another incredible sensation.
"All of a sudden, something hit me in the back, the air turned cold, and at the same time, there was an intense stench as though something was burning. I had to lean against the altar. With great effort and only by dint of considerable concentration was I able to speak the rest of the text. I felt deeply distressed as if a negative force were surrounding me, which, however, aside from vexing me, could inflict no real harm."
Mmmhmmm
After Mass, Father Alt calmly related this experience to another priest. That night, he was unable to sleep, even with the aid of a sleeping pill. He smelled a variety of stenches, alternating from dung to sewage to something burning. Additionally, he heard a thumping sound in his wardrobe. Finally, after praying to Padre Pio repeatedly, he suddenly smelled an intense fragrance of violets. At that time, he noticed that his "field of vision had been very much narrowed," and his "color perception was reduced," but now his eyesight was restored. The following day, he spoke of his experience to his fellow priests, and suddenly they could all smell a burning stench throughout the parish house, though the windows were open.
On July 30, 1975, Peter(boyfriend) visited Anneliese in Klingenberg. They went for a walk, limited by Anneliese's constant exhaustion and sluggish, stiff-limbed gait. However, when Peter suggested they head back home, she was suddenly able to move normally, even gingerly, and she exclaimed happily that she was entirely herself again.
The following day they returned to Würzburg, where Anneliese registered for the fall semester. While grocery shopping, however, her face and legs tensed up, yet she did not behave aggressively. When she returned to her room, she stood stiff in front of a crucifix, glaring at it with hatred. Peter later stated:
"Her face was totally distorted; she growled like an animal and gritted her teeth so loudly that I was afraid that all her teeth would fall out. I started praying for her in thought, without giving any indication at all of what I was doing. Immediately she ordered me with clenched teeth to stop…"
Peter had not been a churchgoing Catholic before meeting Anneliese, much less devout. Nevertheless, he had started going to Mass again for her sake, and now he was squarely facing evidence of the supernatural. For an hour, the recently lucid Anneliese stood transfixed in one spot, strangely bending her upper body away from the crucifix even as her arms reached toward it. She later explained, "I wanted to take the cross in my hand, but against my will I was pushed back, so I couldn't reach it."
It appeared that more than one consciousness was living in Anneliese's body.
After this episode, Peter said, "fuck this shit," and has never been heard from since. I'm kidding. He returned Anneliese to Klingenberg, where her condition worsened. At this point, her parents were directly petitioning Bishop Stangl for an exorcism. Father. Alt, "the psychic priest," also wanted to talk to the Bishop, who was on vacation, and finally managed to obtain oral permission to say only the short German form of the exorcism rite. On August 3, the Sunday after Anneliese's return, Father Alt recited the cliffs notes version of the exorcism. Father Roth noted Annaliese's signs of possession were not as strong as when he had last visited her, but she whimpered and moaned throughout the exorcism and at one point pleaded, "Stop! It's burning." When asked where, she said, "In my back, in my arms." At another point, she said, "I am free," suggesting she was free of demons, but then she continued to whimper and moan. The priests were in the house for a total of two hours.
Although Father Alt believed Anneliese benefited from his subpar exorcism, her behavior became alarmingly worse throughout August. She was now plagued by insomnia, unable to sleep for more than an hour or two. She would rush through the house, bucking up and down the stairs like a goat. She exhibited compulsive behaviors, repeatedly kneeling and standing in rapid succession until her knees swelled. She sometimes prayed continually from dawn to dusk: "My Jesus, forgiveness and mercy, forgiveness and mercy…." She would constantly scream, except when she would tremble and fall onto the ground, completely rigid. This immobile state could last for days, so her sister would have to try to feed and wash her.
Only after the exorcism ritual did Anneliese begin to exhibit apparently insane behavior, which, of course, coincides with classic demonic behavior. Witnesses attested that she displayed almost superhuman strength and would repeatedly kneel and rise at crazy speeds. She felt heat throughout her body and would tear off her clothes to cool herself. She put insects in her mouth, urinated on the floor, and you guessed it, licked it up, and repeatedly tried to strike her family members and destroy sacred objects.
Anneliese saw clouds of flies and small shadowy creatures that, eventually, her family could see. She had visions of the deceased, and stigmata marks appeared on her. These marks were distinct from her other injuries, yet it has long been known that stigmata can be induced by suggestion in emotionally sensitive people, at least in a mild form.
Stigmata, in Christianity, are the appearance of bodily wounds, scars, and pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, such as the hands, wrists, and feet. Stigmata are exclusively associated with Roman Catholicism.
The local parish priest recommended that Anneliese be taken to see a psychiatrist, the Michels had already had their fill of psychiatrists, and there was no way Anneliese, now a 22-year-old adult, could be persuaded to go to a psychiatric clinic. So they contacted Father Rodewyk in Frankfurt again, and the old priest finally came to see the girl himself.
Father Rodewyk saw Anneliese lying on the floor in an apparent hypnotic trance, oblivious to those around her. She was led to the sofa by her parents, and the priest asked, "What is your name?" The response was, "Judas," uttered in a deeper, altered voice. After a while, her muscles were uncramped, and she could speak as herself with calmness and lucidity. This clear manifestation of a dual personality persuaded Father Rodewyk that this was a case of possession.
It seems strange that a man's name, Judas, should be given to a demon, yet father Rodewyk claimed that the name Judas was often provided by other possession victims. It is not that the demon was actually the Judas of the Gospels, but rather the name represents the role or function of the demon. A Judas demon attempts to force its victim to imitate the apostle in the betrayal of his Lord, often by preventing victims from swallowing during Holy Communion to steal the host. Anneliese did, in fact, feel resistance to consuming the host, so she allowed it to dissolve in her mouth. She also displayed a compulsion to kiss people while wearing a hostile expression on her face, reminiscent of the "Judas kiss." Father Rodewyk thought these behaviors confirmed his position that she was possessed by a Judas demon.
Shortly after father Rodewyk's visit, Anneliese became well again, without any demonic manifestations. She could eat meals regularly again; previously, she explained, she "was not allowed to." So yeah, she was being starved because of her "possession."
Meanwhile, based on father Rodewyk and Alt's reports, the Bishop finally granted permission on September 16, 1975, to conduct the complete rite of exorcism. This permission was given to father Arnold Renz, superior of a Salvatorian monastery and pastor of a parish near Klingenberg. He was said to be a pious, intelligent, kind, and trustworthy man. His charismatic personality won Anneliese's respect and friendship in the moments when she wasn't drinking her own urine.
Father Renz's account of his first visit on September 24, 1975, found Anneliese to be quite normal on that first day, with "nothing that would have indicated any possession." Nevertheless, he performed the standard rite of exorcism because he had been requested to do so by his fellow priests and the family, including the perfectly aware and lucid Annaliese herself. The ritual involves a fixed sequence of prescribed prayers, followed by direct questioning of the demons, and culminates in direct commands for them to get the fuck out!
In the course of the ritual, Anneliese's behavior changed. Calm, cool, and collected at first, her body began to shake violently, and she screamed and squirmed as she was held down by three men to prevent her from biting or kicking others. Sprinkling her with holy water elicited screams, and she occasionally demanded the priest stop doing this. But with many "fuck you's and suck my dicks" involved. The whole session lasted five and a half hours. At the end of it, a very awake and functioning Anneliese said they should have continued because she felt that the exorcism was just pissing off the demons. She fully recalled everything that happened, but her words and deeds hadn't come from her.
In Anneliese's case, she retained the memory of what occurred when the others took over her body, but it is unclear to what extent she knew what they thought. As for herself, she felt her own personality suppressed in what she called a "hole," while she helplessly watched what the other entities did to her body and said with her mouth. This would seem to be an authentic, and therefore rare, case of split personality since she did not simply alter her behavior, but rather her actual self co-existed with these other personalities. It would seem, then, that there was more than one mental subject or person in Anneliese's body. Like a weird, less fun mental apartment building.
We may learn something about the nature of these other personas from the recordings of the exorcism sessions. They emit hideous screams, growls, and moans and speak in a deep, hoarse voice, uttering curses and mocking the exorcist. But, on the other hand, they seem to understand Latin, though a traditionalist Catholic girl might be expected to know some Latin. Especially when they come from a family as devout as hers. Every now and then, they give evidence of understanding more advanced phrases, like when Father Renz says, "Ut discedas ab hac famula Dei Anneliese," meaning, "May you depart from this handmaid of God Anneliese,." Annaliese's reply, "No, no, she belongs to me…."
Would you like to hear some of these recordings? Fuck yes, you would. So here ya go... but do me a favor. Turn those lights off... let's get REALLY creepy.
(PLAY RECORDING)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3aI8kpHxDM
Renz tested the linguistic ability of the demonic-speaking person by questioning it in Chinese. The demon would not oblige this obvious search for proof of its nature and later said, "If you want to ask something, ask it in German," but followed with a taunt, "But I do too understand it." Finally, however, the demon responded to a Dutch question, "Is there anything in your family that has any relation to the case and should not become public?" The answer: "There is nothing like that."
Ok, the demon speaks dutch, german, and Latin but not Chinese. Got it.
As another test, Father Renz filled five bottles with water, some with tap water and others with holy water. Though the bottles were unmarked, the "demons" somehow knew to scream only when the holy water was used.
A common form of engagement with the demons was to recite prayers or Biblical readings to test their response. They hated any invocation of St. Michael the Archangel and seemed to fear the Blessed Virgin Mary. They dreaded any mention of guardian angels and screamed in horror during the Litany of the Five Sacred Wounds, a fact possibly related to the appearance of stigmata. The demons claimed that they had oppressed Anneliese while she was studying for her exams, but only with heavenly permission, and that she passed her exams anyway only because the Lady willed it. Some Biblical passages left no impression on these malevolent entities, as they apparently did not recognize themselves as referenced. Mentioning the beast in Revelation 13 left them unmoved, as did the Gospel story of casting out a mute demon.
Direct questioning of the demons is a must by the Roman rite. This involves asking the names of the demons and how long they intend to keep their asses in their host. By learning the name and identity of a demon, the exorcist hopes to gain a sort of leverage or power over it. He uses this name in the formulas urging it to leave. This questioning gave up several characters, and as each name was revealed, the demon was forced to manifest its personality. We have already mentioned Judas, but there were others. There was Cain, Hitler, and Pastor Fleischmann. Again, these are names of men, not of demons. Cain said very little, while Hitler only offered some muffled 'Heils.' Judas said of Hitler, "He, he only has a big mouth but nothing to say," which could mean he was stripped of all power.
The Pastor Fleischmann character was based on an obscure medieval priest in distant Ettleben, where father Alt was now pastor. According to the parish records, this Fleischmann was a womanizer, drunkard, and brute who had beaten a man and a woman nearly to death. When father Alt visited the Michels in the fall of 1975, he mentioned to the family that a previous pastor of his parish had killed a man. At that moment, Anneliese gave a terrible scream, though they were not performing an exorcism at the time. Several weeks later, he visited Anneliese, accompanied by her boyfriend Peter, and asked her why she was frightened by the name Fleischmann, upon which she screamed again. Her face alternated between smiles and hideous contortions. She immediately apologized, "Please, don't take it too hard; I can't help it." That evening, while Fr. Renz performed the rite of exorcism, a demon identified itself as Fleischmann and gave many biographical details that Fr. Alt never mentioned in Anneliese's presence. Fr. Alt confirmed that the archivist in Würzburg had always possessed the medieval Ettleben parish records while she was in college there, so there was no way Anneliese could have seen them.
By October 4th-6th, two weeks after Fr. Renz had begun the exorcisms (performed every two days or so), the demonic personalities weakened and spoke less frequently. They rarely responded with the usual ferocity toward the ritual, yet they never left. This lethargic behavior by the alter egos, apparently bored by the exorcism yet sticking around, is atypical of possession cases, suggesting perhaps some other factor prevented these personalities from manifesting themselves. On October 7, Dr. Kehler issued another Tegretol prescription for Anneliese, and that same evening the demons returned in full force, even uttering a hoarse scream and high-pitched laugh simultaneously. This reinforces the suspicion that the prescription drugs may have been having an effect, though it is unclear whether they enhanced or suppressed demonic manifestations.
Still, a taped conversation between Fr. Renz and a doped-up Anneliese that evening makes clear that she was coherent most of the time and was even studying for her exams. Her mother and sister Barbara insisted she had no more physical problems, except for the jerking motion during the exorcisms. She did not try to attack people anymore, and though her appetite was weak, Anneliese insisted that the demons were not preventing her from eating. However, she slept on the floor; otherwise, the demons would force her to sit in bed. Her torments were now purely psychological, she stated, "with that frightful anxiety, with a mood of annihilation." She said she has had this feeling since the tenth grade, and it is now weakening her memory and her concentration. She felt sick if she tried to go to Church, and her mysterious tormentor caused her pain when the sign of the cross was made over her during the exorcism. When asked where he was, she replied, "That differs. Usually, he is all around, but sometimes either back there or down low."
On October 13, a strange new development occurred. Anneliese began receiving messages from the Virgin Mary. At first, she and her family were skeptical of this, which she wrote down in a diary, suspecting a demonic trick. Yet the demons cursed the writings, attributing them to the Virgin by indicating a religious portrait.
Upon learning of Anneliese's written messages, Father Renz thought of Barbara Weigand, a seer from Schippach who was respected by the Michels and had a similar practice of writing heavenly messages. Renz offered Anneliese a copy of Weigand's writings, and immediately her notes from the Virgin encouraged her to complete the mission of the deceased woman. That woman's sufferings inspired Anneliese to perceive meaning in her own torments, and on October 29, she wrote that Barbara Weigand told her she must suffer a great deal.
Regarding these visions, Anneliese said, "I don't hear voices, exactly. I am only given to understand." Though she depicts the visitations with visual imagery, she writes, "I see nothing." Thus these inspirations cannot be adequately attributed to auditory or visual hallucinations, the ordinary signs of schizophrenia. Instead, they were purely spiritual or intellectual in nature.
By October 16, Anneliese received messages from the Blessed Virgin that she would "become entirely free in October," a Marian month. However, she was also told that a terrible judgment was coming, and even the demons attested to this, saying it would be "worse than the last two" (presumably the world wars), and would take place in Europe. So now the demons were predicting a new world war. Jeesh.
Anneliese was also repeatedly visited by the spirit of Father Roth's nephew, who died at the beginning of the month. He told her he was in Heaven and there to encourage her in her tribulations.
She also recorded messages supposedly from Christ, though she repeatedly expressed doubts and fears that these messages might be tricks by the devil. In one message, she was told, "You will become a great saint," and was forced to cry to prove that she heard correctly. In another, the "Savior" tells her: "You are going to get married, Anneliese… In this one way you are not going to be like Barbara Weigand. But you are going to be like her in every other way, in suffering and in sacrifice…."
In the last week of October, Anneliese continued to receive mesages from "the Savior," urging her to bear her suffering patiently for the salvation of other souls. The presence of the Blessed Virgin was also apparent, as the demons claimed during the October 29 exorcism that she ordered them to leave by Friday, October 31. This is confirmed in Anneliese's diary entry on the 29th.
Accordingly, everyone expected that the demons would be driven out on October 31. That morning, Dr. Kehler wrote another Tegretol prescription. Father Renz then conducted an exceptionally long exorcism, preserving four and a half hours of it on audio tape. Some notable points were:
Early in the session, Anneliese shrieks in her own voice, saying, "We are not leaving."
Later, she uses a low growling demonic voice to taunt the priest and resist him.
The demons, which now include Cain, Judas, Lucifer, Nero, and Fleischmann, try to stall for time, saying they have the "Lady's" permission to stay and that they will not leave until ten o'clock, one after the other.
Then there's a message from the Virgin: "She is happy about all of you. Because you kept on praying. You are to continue as much as you can." When everyone there began to pray, they were forced to stop because of an especially horrific, nausea-inducing bout of screaming.
At ten o'clock, each demon departed (though with shit ton of verbal resistance and screaming), saying "Hail Mary full of grace," as commanded by the priest upon exiting. The human personages admit their crimes in life, and Lucifer is the last to depart.
With all the demons gone by 10:40 pm, everyone sings the Te Deum in German to celebrate.
The success of the exorcism is short-lived, however. As the priest and family start to sing a Marian hymn, a demonic growl and scream interrupt them, saying, "I have not gone out yet." This demon will not give his name, saying he had not revealed his presence before. Father Renz continues trying to cast him out for three more hours, but the fucker refused to go.
Despite the persistence of this less talkative "demon," Anneliese was able to return to school a week later, cram for an examination, and pass with a good grade. Most of the time, however, she seemed apathetic, according to her classmates, though she was attentive and pleasant to them.
Anneliese continued to receive communications from "the Savior," strongly encouraging her to be patient, to pray for herself and others, to keep a humble silence, to trust in His grace with steadfastness, to struggle against temptation and not to judge others. "I will give you my grace. You will be true unto death."
On a November 9 exorcism session, the demon identifies himself as Judas, saying that he and four others returned shortly after being expelled, with the Lady's permission. For the rest of the year, Anneliese continued leading a double life and renewed her Tegretol prescriptions. She rarely demonstrated demonic behavior outside of exorcism sessions at her family's home. She continued her studies at Würzburg, with most of her school companions utterly unaware of her state of "possession." On one occasion in January, however, Anneliese's face contorted, and she struck her boyfriend, Peter. She returned to normal after he threw holy water on her, at her request.
The exorcism sessions in January were shorter (around two hours), as the demon was more subdued and just bored participating. In a tape-recorded session on February 1, Anneliese told Father Renz that she had recently begun to experience compulsions, so she was no longer permitted to eat or to cover herself from the cold. She felt that her prayers were unheard and that her suffering for the sake of others was far more difficult than she expected. She also felt the need to bang her head against the wall, strip, and go to bed. Sometimes the voices were verbal, like a sweet voice telling her that she must always wear the same pair of shoes.
On March 3, Anneliese had an episode of stiffness when trying to visit home, so she stayed in Würzburg. She was unresponsive to yet, another exorcism. However, she soon recovered, started eating more food, resumed her studies, and was examined by the school's general practitioner Dr. Wolfert on the 9th. She told him about her epileptic history but not about her possession. He thought she appeared exhausted yet "psychologically normal," and he renewed her Tegretol prescription.
In early April, while visiting home, Anneliese begged Thea Hein to promise to tell her if anyone thought of sending her to a physician. She also warned that there would soon be a powerful burning stench, and immediately they both smelled an unbearable stench in the car that endured for ten minutes after opening the windows.
On the night of April 13, the Tuesday before Easter, Anneliese felt the urge to stay kneeling in the school's chapel until the next morning. The following day, however, she could discuss her thesis with her advisor, exhibiting sound critical thinking when talking about relevant literature.
On the night of April 15 (Holy Thursday), Anneliese felt a terror and a great weight pushing down on her while kneeling in the Church to pray. She believed she was experiencing "the death agony of the Savior," and felt the pains of the stigmata. At the end of the Good Friday service the following day, Anneliese remained standing rigidly for hours, unable to move. The next day, her sister Roswitha came to nurse her as she lay in bed. Anneliese would become rigid again whenever someone tried to get her out of bed and dress to go home to Klingenberg.
By the last week of April, Anneliese had again started refusing to eat. Some friends suggested calling a physician, but she wouldn't do it. None of them were aware of the possession or exorcisms except Anna Lippert, who called Father Renz and Father Alt on April 30, after Anneliese had started screaming loudly. On the morning of May 1, she was her usual self again, casually chatting with Roswitha and Peter over breakfast. When Father Alt arrived that day, Anneliese asked him if she could work on her thesis at the parish house in Ettleben, so he would be on hand to perform an exorcism if needed. On the way to Ettleben, she told Peter that she had told Father Alt that her suffering would be over in July.
That afternoon, Anneliese urged Peter to let her see the renovated Church. Once inside, her face stiffened, and she became emotionless. When Peter tried to move her, she felt too heavy. Just like on April 15, a short prayer was enough to snap her out of it, but she returned to her state when she was brought to bed. In the early days of May, she got worse, refusing to eat, sleep, or even lie in her bed. Roswitha and a local elderly woman were soon summoned to help care for Anneliese while the parish housekeeper prepared meals. Roswitha injured her foot a week later, so the Michels brought Anneliese home to Klingenberg on May 10.
In Klingenberg, Anneliese's condition continued to worsen. She raged, screamed, struggled violently (requiring at least two men to hold her down), struck, and bit herself. Father Renz repeatedly visited to recite the exorcism rite, but no demons responded. During some sessions, she would exhibit compulsive behaviors, such as constantly kneeling and rising hundreds of times. Finally, on May 20, she could stay coherent for five hours, dictating a four-page outline of her thesis. Other than those moments, she was incapable of ordinary conversation.
The only physician to see Anneliese in this weakened state was Dr. Richard Roth, a friend of Father Alt who visited on May 30. Dr. Roth would later testify that he showed up out of scientific curiosity, not as a physician. On June 2, Father Renz reported to the Bishop that Anneliese's left cheek was severely swollen and had bruises around her eyes from her self-inflicted blows. Dr. Roth denied seeing any of these injuries. However, his testimony was inconsistent and implausible on several points, and he was likely trying to exonerate himself from a charge of criminal negligence.
According to the other witnesses in the house (the Michels, Peter, and the priests), Dr. Roth did see Anneliese from the front, remarking on her stigmata wounds, and afterward promised to Fr. Alt that he would come in case of a medical emergency. He suggested treatments for her bruises but considered her general condition untreatable by a physician, allegedly saying, "There are no injections against the devil." We must say that Dr. Roth was a reasonably respected physician, published in medical journals, and had no prior attachment to belief in exorcism. However, his new experience with exorcism led him to start going to Church.
On June 8, the last time Fr. Alt saw Anneliese, she had a sunken face from malnourishment. However, she drank fruit juices and milk, according to her parents, and on one occasion drank nearly two liters. When they tried to force-feed her, she would spit out the food or firmly press her lips. In addition, she chipped her teeth from biting the wall, repeatedly bit herself, and struck at others.
Meanwhile, the exorcisms were consistently unsuccessful in getting demons to speak. Instead of intelligible words, Anneliese repeatedly made mechanically unnatural-sounding voices taped on June 7. Fr. Renz later believed to be a "penance possession," where the possessed endures suffering in reparation of someone else's sins. Yet, he admitted he could not understand the meaning of the penance.
By June 18, Anneliese's injuries had healed, except for an open sore on her knee and nosebleeds from rubbing. Nevertheless, she still compulsively knelt and rose dozens of times until exhausted. She screamed and raged in bed, even as her mother attempted impromptu exorcism prayers. She still had many cognitive periods when she could converse normally with her family and Peter. She told them she expected all would be over by July and repeatedly told them not to call a doctor. On the last such occasion, on June 30, she told Roswitha that a physician could not help her and feared being sent to the state mental institution at Lohr, where she did not belong.
On June 27, Anneliese had a fever, but it subsided after cold compresses were applied. She refused to have a physician visit, although her father did call Dr. Roth to write another note extending her leave from school. Before the exorcism on June 30, her temperature was measured at 38.9oC (102.0oF). During one exorcism rite, she insisted on repeatedly kneeling, though her family cushioned her movements, placing a pillow on the floor. Her last words to Fr. Renz were, "Please, absolution," requesting the absolution part of the rite, which he then gave. With the rite completed, Peter and Fr. Renz left, while her parents remained with Anneliese. Anna Michel went to bed a short while afterward. Anneliese then started screaming and throwing herself around. Her father was still in the room, and as it was midnight, he told her that he commanded the demons to leave in the father's name since it was now July and they had to leave, so she could recover. After that, she turned quietly on her right side and went to sleep.
The following morning, at seven o'clock, Mr. Michel looked into Anneliese's room and saw her apparently sleeping, so he headed out to work. An hour later, his wife called and told him that Anneliese was dead.
Damn…. What an ordeal. The previous information was taken from an exceptional article(albeit a little biased at times) from arcane knowledge.org
The autopsy report declared the cause of death "advanced emaciation" due to severe malnutrition and dehydration. When asked why medical intervention had not been sought, Father Alt stated that he never considered the woman dangerously ill and that if he had, he would've immediately called for medical assistance.
Like a bitch, Father Renz said, "The exorcism ritual expressly states that the clergymen should not burden themselves with medical matters." In this, Father Renz was correct, as the rite of exorcism they were using at the time, the 1614 "De exorcizandis obsessis a daemonio" from the Rituale Romanum, said nothing about the priest's responsibilities for the physical well-being of the possessed. Instead, it suggested, "The exorcist should guard against giving or recommending any medicine to the patient, but should leave this care to physicians." In the case of Anneliese Michel, there were no physicians. One would expect that good judgment (if not pity) would have motivated the priests to act. Father Renz testified that he had written to the Bishop before Annaliese's death that her condition was deteriorating but had received no response. Bishop Stengl explained that neither he nor Father Rodewyk had any direct contact with Anneliese or her parents during the nine months of exorcisms and were unaware that she was not receiving medical treatment.
Author and cultural anthropologist Felicitas Goodman argued, "There is sufficient evidence to support the contention that Anneliese was indeed not sick, that she was not an epileptic, that what looked to the uninformed like symptoms of a disease were actually manifestations of a religious experience". These mystical or religious experiences are known as altered states of consciousness (ASC), periods of wakefulness that are pretty different from normal. Some have disagreed with Goodman's claim saying there was sufficient evidence that Anneliese did not have temporal lobe epilepsy. Goodman's argument seems predicated on the fact that multiple EEGs, in addition to the autopsy report after her death, failed to indicate anything abnormal with Anneliese's temporal lobe: she had no anatomical defects, tumors, or scarring. However, this is not unusual. In roughly one in four cases of temporal lobe epilepsy, the cause remains unknown. Many factors may cause temporal lobe epilepsy, including infections such as encephalitis or meningitis, malformations of the blood vessels in the brain, or genetic mutations.
Additionally, there is reason to believe that Anneliese may not have taken her medication as prescribed. This is something Goodman contradicts herself on, stating that "Anneliese continued taking the drugs conscientiously." "Roswitha remembers that Anneliese often took less than the three tablets per day (of Tegretol) when her prescription was beginning to run out, and then made up for it as soon as it was renewed by taking more than the prescribed dosage." If this were true, the question of why despite the anticonvulsants and the mood stabilizers, Anneliese's behavior and mental state continued to decline, and she continued to have seizures, becomes less mysterious.
The following is a description of the trial that followed from a 1978 Washington Post article:
When she died, Anneliese weighed 68 pounds. The autopsy report said that her death was caused by the malnutrition and dehydration that resulted from almost a year of semi-starvation during the rites.
The state prosecutor, after an investigation, said the women's death could have been prevented even one week before she died. Instead, he charged all four defendants with negligent homicide for failing to call a medical doctor.
A series of doctors who have testified at the trial have all told the court that the woman died of a combination of epilepsy, mental disorders and an extremely religious environment which, in the words of Professor Hans Sattes of Wuertzburg University, added up to "a spiritual sickness and heavy psychic disturbance.
Both priests have told the court they remain convinced that the woman was possessed and that her death finally freed her. The parents also remain confident that she was possessed, but not that she was released. The parents ordered their daughter's body exhumed from her grave after they said a nun told them she had a vision that their daughter's body was still intact, proof of the possession.
The exhumation, which authorities said showed normal body decay, was attended by hundreds of curious spectators, and the trial also drew intense interest.
Throughout the trial, Anneliese's father, 60-year-old Josef Michel, sat impassively, his stocky frame tilted close to a unique amplifier to help him hear. His wife, Anna, 57, took notes steadily, pausing only to moan, "Oh, dear God," when some doctor alleged that her daughter was possessed of a mental disorder rather than the devil.
The priests were defended by church-paid lawyers. The parents were defended by one of Germany's top lawyers, Erich Schmidt-Leichner, who has also defended numerous persons in Nazi war crimes trials.
Schmidt-Leichner has claimed that exorcism is legal and that the German constitution protects citizens in the free exercise of their religious beliefs.
The accused were convicted of "negligent homicide" and were given suspended prison sentences in April 1978 and were "ordered to share the costs of the proceedings." The sentences have been described as "stiffer" than requested by the prosecutor, who had asked that the priests only be fined and that the parents be found guilty but not punished. The Church approving such an old-fashioned exorcism rite drew public and media attention. According to John M. Duffey, the case was a misidentification of mental illness.
One more little fun fact: On June 6, 2013, a fire broke out in the house where Anneliese Michel lived, and although the local police said it was a case of arson, some locals attributed it to the exorcism case!!!
Movies about possession
https://www.ranker.com/list/best-demonic-posession-movies/ranker-horror
