The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel

 

What Is Exorcism?

Evicting demons, jinns, or other nefarious spiritual beings from a person or place that is thought to be possessed is a religious or spiritual practice. Depending on the exorcist's spiritual beliefs, this might be accomplished by making the entity swear an oath, carrying out a complex ritual, or just ordering it to leave in the name of a higher power. The custom is age-old and a tenet of numerous cultures and religions.

Who Is Annaliese Michel? What Happened to Her in the Late ’70S?

German woman Anna Elisabeth "Anneliese" Michel, who lived from September 21, 1952, to July 1, 1976, underwent 67 Catholic exorcism rites in the year before she passed away. She was malnourished to death, and her parents and the priest were found guilty of negligent homicide as a result (a criminal charge brought against a person who, through criminal negligence allows another person to die). She had a history of unsuccessful psychiatric treatment and a diagnosis of epileptic psychosis (temporal lobe epilepsy).

In the 1960s, Anneliese Michel raised a devout Catholic in Bavaria, West Germany, where she regularly attended Mass. When Anneliese was sixteen years old, she abruptly passed out at school and started pacing the halls in a daze. Anneliese claimed not to remember what happened, but her loved ones reported that she was in a trance-like state.

Anneliese Michel had a similar experience the following year, waking up in a trance and wetting her bed. Her body experienced a series of convulsions as well, causing her to shake violently.

But the disturbing part was what came after.

Anneliese Michel’s Original Diagnosis

Following her second seizure, Anneliese saw a neurologist, who identified her condition as temporal lobe epilepsy, which can result in visual and auditory hallucinations, memory loss, and seizures.

But the medications she was given didn't work, and as the year went on, her condition started to get worse. Even though she continued to take her medication, Anneliese started to feel as though she was being controlled by a demon and that there had to be another way to deal with her condition.

Everywhere she went, she started to perceive the devil's face, and she claimed to hear demons speaking in her ears. She reasoned that the devil must be in possession of her when she overheard demons telling her that she was "damned" and would "rot in hell" while she was praying.

The Strange Behaviour Of The Girl “Possessed By A Demon”

Anneliese asked the clergy for help with her demonic possession, but they all turned her down, saying she should get medical attention and that they needed a bishop's approval in any case.

At this point, Anneliese's hallucinations were out of control.

Because she believed she was possessed, she tore off her clothes, did 400 squats a day against her will, knelt under a table, and barked for two days. She also ate spiders, coal, and the head of a dead bird, and licked her urine off the floor.

She eventually found a priest named Ernst Alt who accepted her possession with the help of her mother. He stated that "she didn't look like an epileptic" in later court documents.

I want to suffer for others, but this is so cruel, Anneliese once said to Alt. She also said, "I am nothing, everything about me is vanity, what should I do, I have to improve, you pray for me."

The local bishop, Bishop Josef Stangl, eventually granted Alt's request and gave local priest Arnold Renz permission to perform an exorcism, but he insisted that it be carried out in complete secrecy.

How Did Anneliese Michel Die?

Hitler yelled, "People are as stupid as pigs," as the demons fought. They think everything is done after death. Hitler, according to Judas, was just a "big mouth" with "no real say" in Hell.

During these sessions, Anneliese frequently brought up the idea of "dying to atone for the wayward youth of the day and the apostate priests of the modern church."

She prayed on her knees so frequently that she fractured them and tore the tendons out of them.

Throughout these ten months, Anneliese was frequently restrained to allow the priests to conduct exorcism ceremonies. On July 1st, 1976, she eventually stopped eating and died of dehydration and malnutrition. She was only 23 years old.

Conclusion

Following her death, Anneliese's story received a lot of attention in Germany due to the allegations of negligent homicide made against her parents and the two priests who carried out the exorcism. They appeared in court and even played a recording of the exorcism to defend their actions. Following their conviction for negligent manslaughter, the two priests received a six-month prison sentence (later suspended) and three years of probation. German law held that the parents should not have been punished because they had "suffered enough."

Written by Anjali Raghuwanshi