More Than You Need To Know - Anneliese Michel

READER BEWARE: Contents of a Graphic and Frightening Nature are Found Below

With my recent viewing of The Exorcist, I wondered if such a thing could actually occur. Yes, I know it's in the Bible...but you just don't hear a lot about demon possession. Well, through the miracle of the Internet and Youtube...I actually found something. Sure, I dismissed the video as something fabricated by some bored teenager, but I couldn't shake that the video had 16,955,565 hits. So I Googled Anneliese Michel, and I couldn't deny it anymore. Everything I saw and heard in the video actually happened. Was she really possessed, or was she just psychotic? Who knows? Either way, an exorcism actually did occur. The case of Anneliese Michel actually inspired two movies. I'm sure you've heard of The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Anneliese Michel was a very devout Catholic girl that took the burdens of other sinners upon her back and tried to make reparations by sleeping on the floor. At the age of 16, Anneliese started to experience convulsions, and she had an epileptic attack in 1969. It wasn't too long after this that Anneliese could no longer pray without experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices that told her that she was damned. Her behavior increasingly became more odd as time passed. She started to lick her urine off of the floor. She ate spiders and coal off of the floor. She bit the head off of a bird. She got underneath the kitchen table and barked like a dog for two days. She even tore off her clothes.

At the age of 23 (1975), a elderly woman was shocked to find that Anneliese could not walk past the idol of Jesus Christ. She wouldn't even drink blessed water. The elderly woman instantly suspected demonic possession, and an exorcist in a nearby town agreed. With the proper approval, the exorcist was allowed to perform the rite of exorcism (after two failed requests).

Psychiatric treatments could not help Anneliese, and the doctors did not know how to get rid of the "demons" inside of her. Anneliese claimed that the demons inside of her were Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Cain, Hitler, and Fleischmann (as well as some others). So all efforts to "save" Anneliese went into exorcism overseen by Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst Alt. 67 exorcism sessions were held over a 10 month period, and a session could last up to 4 hours.

During these 10 months, Anneliese refused to eat and allowed her weight to drop to 68pounds. She also ruptured the ligaments in her knees from doing 600 genuflections (falling on one or both knees as an act of reverence). Eventually in 1976, Anneliese died in her sleep from malnutrition and dehydration. The parents and exorcists were held accountable for her death, and went to prison for six months.

There is information about Anneliese and her alleged possession all over the Internet. But FYI...don't waste your time on Wikipedia. I just summed everything that it had to say.

So what do you believe?


Here are some released recordings of Anneliese's "demon voices" during her exorcisms:

Well...there was a video here. But due to an order from the highest authority (yes I still have a censor AKA my mother)...I removed it. However, I will still provide the link to the video on YouTube. If you are faint of heart, and are uneasy about viewing such things please just don't watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4n9vK0_mdk

Photos courtesy of Google