Anneliese stopped eating and would stay under their table barking like a dog. In 1976, Anneliese died at age 23 and weighing in at 68 lbs. Her cause of death was listed as dehydration and malnutrition. Because of the situations, The death of Anneliese Michel went to court. The court found the priests involved and her parents guilty of manslaughter and negligence. They were sentenced to six months of prison time and three years of probation.
Nobody knows for sure if Anneliese suffered from possession by the demons she said were inside her or if it was a mental disorder. Many professionals today believe Anneliese may have suffered from schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder. This story may sound familiar because it was also adapted into a movie called Exorcism of Emily Rose.
I contemplated on the direction of this blog. It is such an exquisite topic and so many ways to take it. So, I chose two popular cases to bring into the light. I cannot say for certain what drew me to this dark topic but I have always found it fascinating and a little terrifying. Maybe it spawned from my Catholic roots or maybe it made its mark on the countless number of possession movies I have encountered over my years. Nonetheless demonic possessions are scary and have permanently made this a topic of interest for me.
First off, a demonic possession is simply someone being controlled by an evil or demonic entity. Possessions have been around for as long as the existence of humans. Signs of possible possessions first include pupil dilation, voice changes, language changes, violent outbursts, self infliction, and cravings of raw meats. The only one that can confront and perform and exorcism on the victim is a Catholic priest or bishop. The priest will recite the Prayer of St. Michael. He is the guardian to the gates of Heaven and is the one who banished Satan from Heaven.
Case 1. Anneliese Michel
Anneliese was born in Germany in 1952. She seemed to be a typical teenage girl with hopes and dreams of the future. She was fairly intelligent and maintained a semi serious relationship with her boyfriend. Her mother often commented on how happy Anneliese was. When she was a senior in high school Anneliese began hearing voices and having convulsions. She was diagnosed with epilepsy. As time passed, Anneliese was growing worse.She would often complain of seeing devilish faces throughout the day. A woman told Anneliese she was possessed by demons stating that she smelled horrible and was avoiding walking in front of certain religious photos.
After a long grueling few years of no medical help, her parents turned to the Catholic church. Anneliese told her parents and the priest that she was possessed by Judas, Hitler, Cain, and Lucifer. Her symptoms were getting worse; She would urinate/defecate on the floor and often lick it up, she would eat various bugs that she found, bit a dead birds head off, having violent sexual acts, and yelling in an unrecognizable language. By this time Anneliese had everyone believing she was indeed possessed by something truly evil. In 1975, Anneliese consented to allow The two priests would perform 67 exorcisms on her.
Anneliese stopped eating and would stay under their table barking like a dog. In 1976, Anneliese died at age 23 and weighing in at 68 lbs. Her cause of death was listed as dehydration and malnutrition. Because of the situations, The death of Anneliese Michel went to court. The court found the priests involved and her parents guilty of manslaughter and negligence. They were sentenced to six months of prison time and three years of probation.
Nobody knows for sure if Anneliese suffered from possesion by the demons she said were inside her or if it was a mental disorder. Many professionals today believe Anneliese may have suffered from schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder. This story may sound familiar because it was also adapted into a movie calledExorcism of Emily Rose.
Case 2: Roland Doe
This case could be argued as the most popular exorcism of all time. A true story of a 13 year old boy has never had his identity released, he is simply known as Roland or R. He resided in a little Maryland town with his family in 1949. After the death of his aunt, R became infatuated with the use of Ouija Boards. Sometimes when you open the portal to other dimensions one can only guess what will take that bait. And sometimes it is something far worse then any nightmare you could ever dream up. At first the family was convinced these stranger happenings was the spirit of the aunt trying to make contact with them. Thinking it was harmless, they ignored the screams, echoes, wall bangings, and photos of Jesus falling. Things took a drastic turn when this spirit was turned its attention to R. His mother witnessed R's bed raise up off the floor and shake uncontrollably with R in it. This sparked an ignition of freely moving furniture throughout the house. This dark entity was getting bold, no longer were these unexplained acts reserved for only the family. The family had over an old friend one evening, Dr. Kagey. While he was at the house he witnessed R being thrown from a chair to the other side of the room in one swift move.
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