Hey ghosts and witches! It’s that time of year again, when the leaves start to fall, you’ve got a warm drink in your hand, and all the Halloween movies are playing – Fall. Over the next two weeks, to commemorate the best time of the year, a.k.a Halloween, I will be doing two spooky-specials – about movies, true stories, and various legends.
Today’s special will focus on exorcisms. One particular exorcism is so scary that the Hollywood production had to make a milder version of the real story. I am referring to the exorcism of Anneliese Michel (Hollywood production was the Exorcism of Emily Rose).
Anneliese started experiencing seizures very early on during her teens, which were then followed by demonic hallucinations, hearing voices, and suicidal ideation. Anneliese came from a religious family and when her behavior started to fluctuate (refusing to walk past a picture of Jesus, drinking holy water, etc) a priest intervened.
Was it time for an exorcism? Not quite!
The priest needed to collect evidence, but after things got progressively worse the evidence was undisputable – Anneliese was possessed. Then began a series of exorcisms which ended with Anneliese succumbing to malnutrition, disease, and eventually her death.
It was believed that seven demons possessed her, and she underwent 67 exorcisms. The priests who performed her exorcism were imprisoned for six months due to negligent homicide. Some even say that Anneliese may have been schizophrenic, or even copied The Exorcist which was released that year. The exorcisms did in fact cause her bodily harm and caused her to experience further emotional trauma. Additionally, with each exorcism the priest reinforced this idea of “demonic possession,” so it is quite possible that she began to believe that she was possessed. She may have just needed mental health facilities to alleviate emotional trauma, or other medical attention (she began to starve herself and only weighed 68 pounds at the time of death).
Demonic possession, tragedy, or both? We may never know; however, you can check out some of the audio tapes from the exorcism-sessions:
http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/emilyrose.php
Viewer discretion is advised – these are not for the faint of heart. Also, be advised by listening to these you may be opening the door for demonic activity.
Until next week, ghosts and witches! P.S. remember to eat ALL of that Halloween candy, and make time for those Halloween movies.