Anna, who was possessed by a demon. The real story of emily rose

It happened in 1949 in Georgetown, a 13-year-old boy “played” a seance. In those years, summoning spirits was a very fashionable activity among adults and children. Soon the “souls” got in touch - the boy heard strange knocking, scratching... In a word, the game was a great success! However, at night, when the child was put to bed, a crash was heard around the icon hanging in his room, then creaks, sighs, and heavy steps were heard. This went on for several days and nights. The parents decided that this was the spirit of a recently deceased relative who was very attached to the child during his lifetime.

However, the “spirit” behaved too strangely for the loving uncle: the child’s clothes began to disappear, and then suddenly appear in the most unexpected places. The chair in which the boy was sitting suddenly turned over. At school, notebooks and textbooks of classmates were flying through the air! Finally, the parents were asked to take the boy out of school and hire him private teachers. But first, show it to the doctors.

The doctors listened to the story of the young patient’s parents, did tests and declared the child absolutely healthy. However, when the boy’s voice suddenly changed - from a child’s voice to a low, rough, hoarse one - the parents were seriously worried.

The priests gave the boy a “diagnosis”: possession by the devil. The ritual of exorcism (expelling the devil) lasted 10 weeks. All this time during the sessions, the child demonstrated unprecedented strength, easily throwing aside the priest's assistants holding him. He moved his head strangely, like a snake, and spat straight into the eyes of those around him. Once during the ceremony he managed to escape from the hands of the servants. He rushed to the priest, snatched the ritual book and... destroyed it! It was destroyed, not torn: before the eyes of astonished eyewitnesses, the book turned into a cloud of confetti! After ten weeks, the child forgot that, while trying to escape, he broke the hands of two assistant priests, that he threw himself at my own mother... He became a devout Catholic and lived a righteous life.

The Roman Catholic Church believes that demons, having taken possession of a person, can manifest themselves in two ways: either by knocking, unpleasant smell, the movement of objects is an “intrusion” into our existence, or the changed behavior of a person who “suddenly begins to shout obscenities, his body convulses.” This state is called obsession.

In 1850, a woman appeared in France, around whom strange knocks and cracks were always heard, foam sometimes came out of her mouth, the unfortunate woman convulsed and shouted obscenities. And having come to a more or less calm state, she suddenly began to speak Latin... There, in France, fifteen years later, two brothers lived who suffered from obsession. In addition to the traditional “set” of oddities - convulsions, shouting blasphemy and other things, they could also predict the future and make objects fly through the air.

In 1928, in Iowa (USA), the story of a woman who suffered from obsession since the age of 14 was very popular. Her illness was that she experienced a physical aversion to the church and objects of religious worship. The woman was already over 30 years old when she decided to undergo the rite of exile evil spirits. At the very first ritual words, some unknown force tore her from the hands of the church servants, carried her through the air and seemed to stick her to the wall high above the church door. There was nothing to hold on to the wall, but with great difficulty they managed to separate the possessed woman from the wall and return her to the hands of the servants. This went on for 23 days. All this time, knocking, grinding, and wild howls were heard in the church building, horrifying the parishioners. Then the unclean spirit left the woman’s body and the walls of the temple, but after a while it returned and tried to do its dirty deeds again. The second rite of exorcism went much easier and the demon left his “object” now forever.

The Canadian newspaper The Sun in 1991 described the ritual of exorcising a spirit from a 15-year-old Indian girl. A young and not very experienced priest, Guntano Vigliotta, took it upon himself to exorcise the demon from the poor thing. He was warned that it was dangerous to perform an exorcism alone. However, Vigliotta did not heed the advice. The session in the house of the possessed woman lasted two hours. Suddenly the girl’s mother, who was watching what was happening from another room, heard strange screams. Then everything went silent. After some time, the mother entered the room where the ceremony was being held and saw a terrifying picture: the priest’s body was literally torn into pieces, and the possessed girl was unconscious. Having come to her senses, she remembered the voice that sounded in her brain during the ritual: “My name is the Devourer! Kill the priest!

In October 1991, a report was broadcast on one of the US television channels about the exorcism of a demon from a 16-year-old American girl, Gina. That day, about 40 percent of the country's viewers gathered around the TV sets. Bishop Keith Silamons authorized such a display and accompanied it with the words: “The devil really exists. He is strong and has been active on the planet throughout all centuries.”

Peter Johnson, a 50-year-old government employee, was a model citizen. He lived a quiet life in South East England. He worked hard, loved to garden and adored his wife Joan. There was nothing unusual in his life. But then Askinra came - a “demon” that ate into his soul and took control of Peter’s life. “It was like there was something foreign living inside my body,” Peter says. “It entered my body, my brain.” Peter first felt the presence of Askinra during sleep. In his nightmare, a dark, forbidden entity entered Peter's body and took control of him. At first the old man ignored the recurring nightmares, but eventually they began to pour into him. daily life. Acute headaches made his life unbearable. Uncontrollable dizziness and attacks of narcolepsy overwhelmed him without warning. This was enough to break the man, but soon hallucinations also came. "I thought I was going crazy," Peter says.

Around this time, his wife began to notice changes in his behavior. Peter's feelings and emotions changed as spring weather- from ecstatic lust to feelings of deep despair. His physical condition was also similar—bouts of vomiting, sudden diarrhea, and temperature fluctuations. My joints ached with unbearable pain.

Peter was hospitalized several times, but, as it turned out, he did not suffer from any known illness. He was eventually placed under the care of Dr Alan Sanderson, a renowned consultant psychiatrist with an interest in esotericism. Dr. Sanderson was familiar with similar cases - Peter's soul was possessed by evil spirit. He was obsessed.

"It's more natural and common than people think," says Sanderson, a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. “If you have used a board to summon spirits or asked spirits to come to this side of life, one of them may take possession of your soul.”

Many consider exorcism to be a relic of the Middle Ages that has no relevance to the 21st century. “Demon possession has no serious basis! This is a figment of the imagination of idiots and storytellers!” - many can subscribe to these words. But, oddly enough, exorcism is attracting more and more trust from the medical profession and remains part of the religious mainstream.

Not long ago, the Vatican University announced that they are now offering special courses on the practical aspects of exorcising evil spirits. The British Channel 4 filmed a real exorcism ritual. More than a hundred American medical schools have introduced courses in spiritual medicine. Increasingly, psychiatrists are referring their patients to private exorcists.

“I don’t doubt for a minute that the spirit world is real,” says Dr. Sanderson. “I believe that there are many types of spiritual entities that can penetrate us. Most often, the souls of dead people are found - they did not get to “heaven” and are looking for peace in the world of the living.”

For most people, exorcism will always be associated with the famous Hollywood movie. But the story of Father Damien Karras's duel with the devil is based on real events that occurred in 1949 in St. Louis, Missouri. True, the actual rite of exorcism was performed on a 14-year-old boy, and not on a girl, but it was no less terrible.

The story began with 14-year-old Richard and his aunt summoning spirits. Soon after this his aunt died at mysterious circumstances. A few days later, strange events began to occur around the boy himself. Tables and chairs moved around the room on their own, photographs fell from the walls, and someone’s footsteps could be heard in the attic of the house. But even stranger things were happening to Richard himself: an inscription appeared on his chest, as if carved into his flesh, and strange signs appeared on his arms and legs. A Catholic priest was called to perform the exorcism.

At first, Father William Bowden tried to exorcise the demon with a few simple prayers, but he soon realized that he was faced with a serious opponent. Every time Richard tried to say a prayer to renounce Satan, terrible force took over his body, not allowing him to say a word. During the exorcism, Richard was filled with a terrible force - three adult men helped the priest hold the boy. Day after day, the priest battled the demon inside Richard, who constantly teased Bowden and spat at his assistants. One day the boy grabbed Father Bowden’s hand and said, “I am the devil myself.”

After 28 days of fighting, an exhausted Father Bowden tried to exorcise Richard again. But this time everything was different. When Richard tried to say “Our Father,” some force took possession of his body and helped him finish the prayer. Richard was released. The boy later said that Archangel Michael himself intervened to help him say the prayer. He also saw a vision in which the saint fought with Satan at the exit from the burning cave.

Peter Johnson's obsession was no less strange. Askinra's presence was only discovered when Dr. Sanderson hypnotized the old man. Under hypnosis, Askinra temporarily gained complete control over Peter's body and used his voice to communicate. The demon stated that it came from "dark flames" and its main purpose was to "cause pain." Askinra also expressed his intention - “I will only be free when I destroy HIM.”

Dr. Sanderson decided that the demon must be released. It was “released” that Sanderson did not perceive the words “expulsion” and “exorcism”. He sought to negotiate with the spirits, to convince them to leave the illegally acquired body peacefully. This is less traumatic for all parties involved and also gives the spirit a chance to find peace and tranquility.

Sanderson managed to convince Askinra to leave Peter's body. As soon as the demon left the body, he began to describe typical dying visions - a glowing white path, places of “mountains and light.” After this, Askinra could no longer influence Peter in any way. Before leaving our reality, the demon said: “I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Come and see me in my new place..."

The small Bavarian town of Klingeberg became a place of mass religious worship. Thousands are eager to visit the burial site of Anneliese Michel, who tragically died at the age of 23. Her mysterious story repeated in the script for The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which references the real-life trial of a priest whose actions led to the death of a young girl.

From birth, Anneliese's life was filled with fear. Her family was religious: her father wanted to become a priest, but fate decreed otherwise, but three aunts were nuns. Michelle's family, like any other, had its own secret. In 1948, Anneliese's mother gave birth to a daughter, Martha, although she was not married. This was considered a shame to such an extent that even on the wedding day the bride did not take off her black veil. Four years later, Anneliese was born. The mother actively encouraged the girls to serve God, with which she tried to compensate for the sin of birth. At the age of eight, Martha died from complications after having a kidney tumor removed. The impressionable and kind Anneliese felt the need for atonement even more acutely.

More and more often, the girl noticed traces of sins around her, trying to get rid of them. While the children of the 60s were trying to expand the boundaries of freedom, Anneliese slept on the stone floor, trying to atone for the sins of the drug addicts who slept on the floor of the station building. At the age of 16, terrible attacks appeared - Annelise convulsed like an epileptic, and the medications prescribed by doctors did not have the desired effect. Loss of consciousness and depression became the girl’s constant companions. The parents decided that it was all about the demons that attacked Annelise during prayers. Every day this conviction gained strength.

Doctors diagnosed advanced epilepsy, and the girl herself complained of devilish hallucinations that began with prayer. In 1973, Anneliese began to experience depression, during which she seriously considered suicide. The voices that the girl heard spoke about the futility of her actions. Then Anneliese turned to the local priest with a request to perform a ritual of exorcism, but he refused her twice. The reason was that the girl’s condition was not similar to when demons take over. That is, there was no supernatural abilities, barking, talking in unknown languages, and so on.

Her health deteriorated every day, but despite this, Anneliese performed 600 bows every day, kneeling. This ultimately led to serious ligament injury. knee joints. Then other strange things began. She crawled under the table and barked and howled from there for several days, ate spiders, pieces of coal and even the head of a dead bird.

A few years later, Anneliese, already driven to despair, began to beg the priest to perform the ritual, but he always refused. Only when she began to attack her parents, destroy the image of Christ and tear down crucifixes, did the priests come to her home. Having started the sessions, which were given the go-ahead, Anneliese completely stopped taking medications. Doctors later diagnosed him with schizophrenia, which is treatable. According to rumors, the girl could be impressed by the film “The Exorcist” from director William Fradkin. But, regardless of what caused the disease, the belief that hallucinations are real only intensified.

The ceremony was performed by Father Arnold Renz and Pstor Ernst Alt. For nine months, the priests conducted 1-2 four-hour sessions per week. According to them, the priests identified several demons, including Judas Iscariot, Lucifer, Cain and Adolf Hitler, and they spoke German with an Austrian intonation.

Forty-two hours were recorded on tape, but experts say it is incredibly difficult to listen to. Inhuman roars alternate with curses and dialogues of demons about the horrors of hell. Anneliese herself rushed about so much during the sessions that she had to be tied, and sometimes chained, to a chair.

In the spring of 1976, the girl developed pneumonia as a result of exhaustion of the body. On July 1, without regaining consciousness, Anneliese died. The parents buried the girl next to Martha behind the cemetery, where a place was reserved for illegitimate children and suicides. Even after death, Anneliese did not get rid of the sinfulness with which she stubbornly struggled all her life. It is impossible to prove the veracity of one of the versions, because the treatment did not bring the desired results, and the girl took medication for 6 years. It is quite possible that she simply lost faith in the effectiveness of the treatment.

Despite the fact that the girl’s parents claimed that satanic forces were to blame, justice still took place. At the hearing, 42 hours of recordings of howls and dialogue that were heard from Anneliese's room were analyzed. But the sentence was quite lenient. The parents, as well as two priests, were found guilty and sentenced to 6 months probation.

After Anneliese's death, religious madness did not end. In 1998, an East German nun told Michelle's family that she had had a vision. Based on her words, the girl’s body did not decompose in the grave, which means it is at the mercy of dark forces. Anna and Joseph obtained the exhumation and, in the presence of the mayor and a huge crowd, opened the coffin. The mayor, who looked into the coffin first, warned the parents that the sight of the girl’s remains would interfere with preserving the image of their daughter. But they nevertheless looked in and calmed down only when they saw a terrible-looking skeleton.

Anneliese's mother lives in the same house and to this day has not recovered from these events. Joseph died and the other three daughters left. Anna Michel is over 80 years old today and she herself bears the burden of these memories. From her bedroom windows you can see the cemetery and her daughter’s grave with a wooden cross.

One of the well-documented cases of possession in the 20th century. The peculiarity of the case of Anna Ekland is that the victim was possessed by both diabolical and demonic entities. Ekland was born in Midwest around 1882. She was raised a devout and devout Catholic. For the first time, symptoms of obsession—aversion to religious objects, reluctance to attend church, and constant sexual obsessions—appeared at the age of fourteen. Ekland became completely obsessed in 1908. Her torment is described in the book “Get Out, Satan!” by the Rev. Karl Vogl, published in German and translated into English by the Rev. Celestina Kärsner.

The book reveals that Anna's obsession was caused by her aunt, Mina, who was believed to be a witch. She bewitched the herbs that Ekland ate. Father Theophilius Risinger, a native of Bavaria, was a Capuchin monk of the Brotherhood of St. Anthony in Marathon, Wisconsin, successfully exorcised demons from Anna on June 18, 1912. However, Ekland again fell victim to the devil after her father cursed her, wishing for a demon to possess her daughter. In 1928, when Anna was 46 years old, Father Theophilius again tried to perform an exorcism. Looking for a place where Ekland would not be known, Father Theophilus turned to his friend, Father F. Joseph Steiger, parish priest in Earling, Iowa. With great reluctance, Father Steiger agreed that the exorcism should be carried out in a nearby convent Franciscan sisters.

Ekland arrived in Earling on August 17, 1928. Trouble began immediately. Sensing that someone had sprinkled holy water on her dinner, the possessed woman threw a tantrum, purring like a cat and refusing to eat until the unconsecrated food was brought to her. After that, the demons that possessed her always felt when one of the nuns tried to bless food or drink and began to complain. Ancient ritual began early the next morning. Father Theophilus invited several strong nuns to hold Ekland on a mattress placed on an iron bed.

The possessed woman was tied tightly so that she would not tear off her clothes. When the exorcism began, Ekland pursed her lips and lost consciousness. This condition was accompanied by unusual levitation. The woman quickly got out of bed and hung on the wall above the door like a cat. It took a lot of effort for those present to pull her down. Despite the fact that all this time Anna was unconscious and did not open her mouth, she moaned, howled, and also made animal sounds as if of unearthly origin. The screams attracted the attention of the townspeople, who gathered in the monastery, thereby destroying Father Theophilus's hope of keeping the exorcism a secret.

The exorcism was carried out for twenty-three days, in three sessions: from August 18 to 26, from September 13 to 20 and from December 15 to 23. During this time, Ekland was physically on the verge of death. She didn't eat anything, just drank a little milk or water. Nevertheless, she vomited a monstrous amount of foul-smelling waste, reminiscent of tobacco leaves. Besides, she was spitting. Anna's face was incredibly distorted and disfigured. The head swelled and elongated, the eyes bulged from their sockets, the lips swollen, reportedly to the thickness of the palm. The stomach swelled so much that it almost burst, then retracted, becoming so hard and heavy that the iron bed sagged under Ekland’s weight. In addition to physical changes, Anna understood languages that she did not know before, felt disgust for sacred words and objects of worship, and also discovered the ability to clairvoyance, revealing the secrets of the childhood sins of the participants in the exorcism.

The nuns and Father Steiger were so frightened and worried that they could not stay in Ekland's room throughout the ritual, but worked in shifts. Father Steiger, teased by the devil for agreeing to perform an exorcism in his parish, was especially frightened and, apparently, suffered from this in car accident, predicted and to some extent orchestrated by the devil. Only Father Theophilus, confident in his strength, remained firm.

Ekland was possessed by hordes of lesser demons and vengeful spirits, which are described as a "swarm of mosquitoes." But the main tormentors were the demon Beelzebub, Judas Iscariot and the spirits of Anna's father - Jacob and his mistress, as well as Aunt Ekland - Mina. Beelzebub was the first to reveal his presence. He engaged in a sarcastic theological conversation with Father Theophilus and confirmed that when Anna was fourteen, she had been possessed by demons thanks to Jacob's curse. Father Theophilus tried to contact Jacob, but was answered by a spirit calling himself Judas Iscariot. He admitted that he had to drive Anna to suicide so that her soul would go to hell. Eventually Jacob spoke up too. He said that he cursed his daughter because she did not give in to him sexual harassment and called on the devil to tempt Anna's chastity with all possible ways. Jacob took Aunt Ekland, Mina, as his mistress while he was still married and repeatedly tried to seduce his daughter. Whether Anna's virginity remained intact even at forty-six years old or whether her father forced her into incest is unknown. Throughout this ordeal Ekland was pious.

Anticipating his triumph, Father Theophilus continued to conjure the demons, demanding that they leave Anna. At the end of December 1928, they began to give in and were already moaning, rather than screaming, in response to his actions. Father Theophilus demanded that they return to the underworld, and as a sign that they were leaving, each had to say his name. The demons agreed. On December 23, 1928, at about nine in the evening, Anna suddenly jerked and sat up in bed. It seemed like she was going to rise to the ceiling. Father Steiger called the nuns to lay the woman on the bed when Father Theophilus blessed her and proclaimed: “Come out, fiends of hell! Be gone, Satan, lion of the kingdom of Judah! Anna collapsed back onto the bed. Then came the terrible scream: “Beelzebub, Judah, Jacob, Mina,” followed by “Hell, hell, hell!”, repeated many times until the sounds died away in the distance. Ekland opened her eyes and smiled. Tears of joy flowed from her eyes. She exclaimed: “Oh my God! Glory to Jesus Christ!” The demons left behind a stench. When the window was opened, the smell disappeared.

The mysterious story of Anneliese is the basis for several feature films. It happened more than 35 years ago and still does not cease to arouse interest among people. The main question that everyone who learns about Anneliese Michel- what really happened to the girl - was she truly possessed or was her death the result of a serious illness. Almost 40 years later, no one has been able to answer this question with certainty. The life of this girl attracted the attention of society and the media in 1976, when Anneliese was already 24 years old. At this time, fellow citizens were closely following the news of the unusual and high-profile trial of a group of Catholic clergy who were accused of causing the death of Anneliese Michel.

Youth Anneliese Michel ("Emily Rose")

The girl was born in 1952 in a small Bavarian village into a Catholic family. A. Fürg and J. Michel, parents Anneliese, were devout Catholics, overly conservative, and in many ways orthodox. The Michel family did not accept the Second Vatican Council and celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Fatima every month on the 13th. Among the role models in the family, neighbor B. Weigand was often cited, who walked 5 hours on foot to the Capuchin church to receive wafers there. The girl regularly attended church services 2-3 times a week, said rosaries and made constant attempts to do more than was necessary (for example, she slept on the floor cold winter). In 1968, the first case of an “attack” occurred: a girl bit own language due to spasm. After 12 months, attacks began at night, during which the body Anneliese lost its flexibility, a strange feeling of heaviness appeared in the chest area, she lost the ability to speak - Anneliese was not able to independently ask for help from either her parents or her sisters. After the first “attack,” the girl began to feel empty and exhausted for the first time; she could not find the strength to attend classes at school. The attacks alternated with periods of calm and the girl rarely spent time playing tennis.

The beginning and the end "Emily Rose"

In 1969 Anneliese woke up at night due to breathing complications, her whole body was also paralyzed and she could not move. The family doctor, G. Vogt, referred the girl for examination to a psychiatrist. On August 27, 1969, the girl had an electroencephalogram and her brain Anneliese did not find any changes. Very soon the girl was diagnosed with tuberculosis and pleurisy and at the beginning of 1970 she was admitted to a hospital in the city of Aschaffenburg. On February 28, the girl was transported to Mittelberg. On the night of June 3, the attack began again. A new electroencephalogram again showed nothing that aroused the doctors' suspicion, but Dr. V. Haller recommended treatment with medication. He did not reverse his decision even after receiving the third and fourth electroencephalograms, which showed the same result. In Mittelberg, the girl began to see faces for the first time demons. In the spring Michel I began to hear some knocking. Dr. Vogt, having examined Anneliese and not finding anything suspicious, sent Anneliese to the otologist, who also found nothing, but the knocking that she heard Anneliese, her sisters also began to hear.

Herself Anneliese admitted that she first began to think she was possessed at the age of 13. One of the first to be surrounded Anneliese The one who realized that something mysterious was happening to the girl was a woman named Thea Hein. She accompanied Anneliese during a pilgrimage to the city of San Damiano in Italy. Even then, Hein noted to herself that the girl walked around one of the images of Jesus Christ and did not want to drink water from the sacred source of Lourdes. 4 years of therapy, which included the use of anticonvulsants like Tegretal and Centropil, essentially nothing was able to Anneliese haven't changed. On September 16, 1975, Stangl, after consultations with A. Rodewick (Jesuit), on the basis of the first paragraph of Chapter 1151 of the Code of Canon Law, sent Alt and the Salvatorian A. Renz to the girl to perform exorcism ritual.

Its main part at that time was the Roman Ritual, which was developed back in 1614 and which was later expanded in 1954. The girl said she was being manipulated 6 demons, who were represented by Lucifer, Cain, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Fleischmann and another unknown name. V. Fleishman served as a Franconian priest in 1552-1575, later he was demoted and accused of living with a woman and a passion for wine. In addition, Feishman was charged with murder.

From September 24, 1975 to June 30, 1976, more than 65 rituals were performed on the girl, 1-2 times a week. 42 of them were videotaped and viewed later in the courtroom. The 1st ritual lasted more than 5 hours. At a time when the clergy touched Anneliese, she screamed: “Take your paws away, they burn like fire!” Her attacks were so strong that the girl was held by three people at the same time, sometimes she had to be tied with a chain. It’s mysterious, but the rest of the time between attacks Anneliese was of normal mind and did not complain of illness, attended school and church, and later passed exams at the Würzburg Academy.

On 05/30/1976, Dr. R. Roth attended one of the rituals, at which he answered the clergyman Alt, who asked him for help: “There is no medicine against the devil.” On June 30 of the same year, a girl who was seriously experiencing pneumonia, before going to bed, said: “Mom, stay in the room, I’m afraid.” They were like that last words Anneliese. The next morning, the girl’s mother Anna saw her daughter dead on the bed, her weight at that moment was only 31 kg.

Consequences - exorcism or murder?

04/21/1978 court of the city of Aschaffenburg (she studied in this city Anneliese), began proceedings in this case, among the defendants are parents Anneliese and two clergymen. For unclear reasons, the girl's parents were not allowed to attend the exhumation, and Renz later stated that he was not even allowed into the morgue. It is noteworthy that the head of the Episcopal Conference, Cardinal J. Heffner, who had previously said that the girl was not possessed, also admitted on April 28, 1978 that he believes in the existence devil. Several researchers in their own works, including special attention causes an active supporter of obsession Anneliese Protestant F. Goodman (book " Anneliese Michel and her demons"), harshly criticized the entire trial.

Upon completion of a thorough investigation, the prosecuting party stated that the death Anneliese happened prematurely and that she could live, according to minimal calculations, another week. Among the accused were: the girl’s parents, Pastor E. Alt and Father A. Renz. The trial started on March 30, 1978 and caused a serious public outcry. A large team of lawyers, paid for by the church, stood up to defend the clergy. The defense argued that exorcism is the same guaranteed right of citizens, protected by the constitution, as the right to religious beliefs. At the end of the trial, the defendants were convicted and given a suspended sentence of 6 months in prison.

Nowadays Last refuge Anneliese, her grave in the city of Klingenberg, is today visited by Catholic societies. Some of them are convinced that after such a long, multi-year battle, Anneliese’s soul won victory over the devil. In 1999, Cardinal M. Estevez showed the media in the Vatican for the first time in 385 years new version Roman Ritual, which the clergy worked on for more than 10 years. In 2005, a film directed by S. Derrickson was released on cinema screens, based on the story Anneliese Michel. The film was called " The Six Demons of Emily Rose" In 2006, another feature film by German director Hans-Christian Schmid, “Requiem,” was released, which was also dedicated Anneliese.

They say that a 23-year-old student from Klingenberg, Anneliese Michel, was possessed by six demons who did not want to let her go. Over nine months, Anneliese went through 67 expulsion rituals. When this did not help, the girl chose to starve herself to death. In 1976, she forced herself to give up food, thinking that hunger would help her get rid of the devil. When she died, she weighed only 31 kilograms. “Mom,” she said just before the end, “I’m afraid.” A few years ago, a film based on events in the life of Anneliese Michel was released. According to Hollywood tradition, the film's action "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" takes place in modern America. However, the exile procedure itself is not shown in the film, and everything is built around the prosecution to which the ritual participants are subjected after the death of the heroine.

Anneliese's parents Anna and Joseph Michel also stood trial on charges of murdering their daughter, as did two priests who performed the exorcism. The parents were found guilty of manslaughter for allowing their daughter to starve to death and given a suspended six-month prison sentence and three years' probation.

Anneliese's mother still lives in that same house. She never fully recovered from those terrible events. Her husband died in 1999 and her three other daughters moved away. Anna Michelle, now in her 80s, bears the burden of memories alone. She has developed cataracts, which make her eyes appear frozen under a film. From the bedroom window you can see the cemetery where Anneliese is buried. On the grave there is a wooden cross with the name of the deceased and the inscription “Rest in the Lord.”

“Of course I miss Anneliese. She was my daughter. I see her grave and often visit her to lay flowers,” says Anna Michel.

A deeply religious woman, she insists that the exorcism was justified.

“I know we did the right thing because I saw the sign of Christ on her hands,” she says. “She had stigmata. There was a signal from the Lord that we must go to exorcise the devil. She died to save our lost souls, to cleanse them from sin. Anneliese was a kind, loving and obedient girl. But when the devil possessed her, it was something supernatural that defied explanation.

Anneliese was born in 1952. Her mother encouraged her to passionately serve God. When other children of the 60s were trying to find the limits of their freedom, Anneliese spent her nights on the stone floor to atone for the sins of the drug addicts she saw sleeping on the floor of the railway station building. In 1968, she began having convulsions and seizures and was diagnosed with advanced epilepsy. She complained that she experienced diabolical hallucinations during prayers. Obviously, due to excessive religiosity, the visions took the form of demons. In 1973, Anneliese became severely depressed and seriously considered suicide. The voices that the girl heard said that she was doomed. Then Anneliese began to ask the local priest to rid her of the possessed demon, but he twice refused.

Anneliese's condition gradually worsened. Every day she performed 600 bows on her knees, which eventually led to injury to the ligaments of the knee joints. She crawled under the table and barked like a dog for two days, ate spiders, pieces of coal, bit off the head of a dead bird, licked her own urine from the floor, and the neighbors heard her howl through the walls.

In 1975, the Bishop of Würzburg agreed to the girl's third request to perform an exorcism ritual. Anneliese refused the help of doctors from Würzburg psychiatric clinic. Later, based on all the symptoms, doctors recognized her as having schizophrenia, which is treatable.

The exorcism was performed by Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst Alt according to the Roman breviary of 1614. They conducted one or two four-hour sessions per week for nine months. The priests identified several demons, including Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Cain and Adolf Hitler, all of whom spoke German with an Austrian intonation.

Forty-two hours of these sessions were recorded on tape, and experts say it is very difficult to listen to. Inhuman growling alternates with guttural gurgling, obscene curses and dialogues of the demons themselves about the horrors of hell. Anneliese thrashed about so much during these sessions that she was tied and even chained to a chair.

In the spring of 1976, the girl developed pneumonia due to extreme exhaustion of her body. On July 1, being in a feverish delirium, she died. Her parents buried her behind the cemetery - usually illegitimate children and suicides were buried there.

In 1984, because of the incident with the Michel family, German priests turned to Rome with a request to reconsider the rite of exorcism. Although their recommendations were rejected, in 1999 the Vatican published a revised version of the ritual for the first time since the 17th century, which the Vatican now requires priests to have medical training to perform.

“I would never have performed this ritual,” admits Father Dieter Feineis, priest of the Church of St. Pancras in Klingenberg. “But both Anna Michel and her husband were absolutely sure that they were doing the right thing. The Church says in this regard that there are cases when the devil possesses a person, but in Germany no one commits exile anymore."

The story of Anneliese Michel is more often called "the world's first documented case of exorcism." In fact, the girl’s “strange behavior” is explained quite simply: against the background of general religious insanity, epilepsy and schizophrenia, Annelise’s visions and hallucinations took on the images of demons, the devil, etc.

Some people think that Annelise might have been influenced by William Fradkin’s film “The Exorcist,” which was released in 1973. But whatever the cause of her illness, the ritual of exorcism most likely only made Anneliese fully believe in her own hallucinations.

a-theism.com
Elizabeth Day. “God told us to exorcise my daughter's demons. I don't regret her death” The Sunday Telegraph, November 26, 2005

Biography

Real name: Anna-Elizabeth Michel. Born on September 21, 1952 in the Bavarian commune of Leibling. Father Josef was a devout carpenter, and mother Anna was an office worker. Anneliese had older sister Martha, who died at age 8 from cancer. She was an illegitimate child, and her mother was ashamed of her sin. The family was very religious, and the daughter was raised in strictness and devotion to the Catholic canons. The girl grew up weak and sickly, but this did not stop her from studying well and studying music. In addition to her, there were three more children in the family - younger sisters Anneliese - Gertrude, Barbara and Roswitha.

First symptoms

In 1968, the first spasm occurred, as a result of which Anneliese Michel. Then this did not arouse any suspicion, but a year later the real torment began. The girl woke up in the middle of the night and could not move her limbs. An incomprehensible weight was squeezing her chest. The family doctor ordered an examination, which revealed no abnormalities in the brain, but showed that the patient had temporal lobe epilepsy. Then another diagnosis was made - tuberculosis.

In 1970, she first talks about seeing the face of the Devil. Pills and treatment for schizophrenia did not produce any results. Anneliese's condition between attacks was completely normal, which allowed her to graduate from university. But in 1975, the moment came when the family could no longer turn a blind eye to the girl’s strange behavior. She could no longer control herself during attacks and did crazy things.

Obsession

Several years before these events, the family had already turned to the clergy with a request to perform an exorcism on Annelise. But then their request was rejected - permission from the bishop and evidence were required. Now there were more than enough of them - the girl spoke several languages, ate spiders and even licked urine from the floor. However, she refused to respond to given name and called herself Hitler, Lucifer, or Judas. During the attacks, the demons even talked to each other, which was recorded on tape. The voices in which Anneliese spoke were in no way reminiscent of human ones, and the content of her conversations suggested that she was telling things that she could not know about.

Requests for help

After medicine was forced to admit defeat, the girl realized that she was doomed. Also in 1975, she writes a letter to priest Ernst Alt. In it she asks to pray for her, because no one can help her. After the council of Bishop Joseph Stangl with the Jesuits, it was decided to give permission to conduct secret rites. Alt and Wilhelm Renz went to the sufferer's house.

Exorcism of Anneliese Michel

On September 24, the priests performed the first ceremony. It is unknown whether this brought relief to the possessed girl, but from that moment on she stopped taking medications. A difficult period begins - for 10 whole months, a German woman tormented by demons was subjected to two exorcism rituals every week, which lasted 4 hours each. During this time, she reacted strongly to the touches of the priests and revealed the names of all six demons possessing her body and soul. She refuses food and water, which leads to rapid exhaustion of the body.

Photos of Anneliese Michel confirm her poor physical condition. Her entire body was covered in bruises and unhealed wounds. She was tied to the bed with chains and held by three people during the rituals, since at these moments incredible strength awoke in her. Weighing 30 kg and feeling poorly, she demonstrated superhuman strength. In June 1976, pneumonia struck the weakened body. The girl could no longer move independently - her tendons were torn from constant kneeling. On July 1, 1976, in the early morning, she died.

Court

Her parents and two priests were to answer for Anneliese’s death. The process itself was recognized as one of the most controversial in history. judicial practice in Germany. During the autopsy, it was discovered that she died from exhaustion, and it was incredibly difficult to prove the guilt of the priests, because she herself made the decision to refuse food. With this she wanted to atone for the guilt of all young people who deviated from the canons and lost interest in religion.

The investigation lasted two years. The tapes were shown and the recordings were played at the trial. But this did not save the accused from punishment. It was established that there were no demons, and the girl had an advanced form of psychiatric illness. Parents and priests contributed to the development of the disease and were found guilty. All of them received 6 months of suspended imprisonment. Probation was 3 years.

There are still ongoing debates about what actually happened to Annelise, and whether it was possible to save the girl from death. Despite the fact that modern medicine has already made a clear diagnosis, there are a considerable number of people who are not ready to admit the fact of the disease. Six demons and the painful death of a German woman found many responses in feature films and books.

Anna-Elisabeth Michel (German Anna Elisabeth Michel, better known as Anneliese Michel, German Anneliese Michel [ˈanəˌliːzə ˈmɪçl̩]; September 21, 1952, Leiblfing, Bavaria, Germany - July 1, 1976, Klingenberg am Main, ibid.) - a German woman who died after a series of exorcisms were performed on her. At the age of 17, Michel suffered her first seizure, after which she was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. Despite the treatment, the girl's condition worsened and she began to show symptoms mental disorder. Michel and her family decided that she was possessed and turned to a Catholic priest with a request to exorcise the demons. The rituals continued for 10 months. In July 1976, Michele died from exhaustion and dehydration caused by her prolonged refusal to consume food and water.

Biography, history and facts

The story of this girl, which became the basis of two feature films, took place more than thirty years ago, but continues to arouse interest today. The main question that everyone who is familiar with this drama asks is what really happened to Anneliese - was she really possessed or was her death the result of a serious illness. It is unlikely that we will answer this question now, but this does not prevent us from hearing true story short life Anneliese Michel from Germany.

The events in question became the subject of attention in 1976. The public has been closely following the unprecedented trial of two Catholic priests, who were accused of the death of a young woman, Anneliese Michel.

She was born in 1952 in a small Bavarian village into a Catholic family. Her name is a combination of two names, Anna and Elizabeth. Anneliese's parents, Anna Fürg and Joseph Michel, were practicing Catholics, very conservative, if not orthodox. They rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Fatima on the 13th of every month, and neighbor Barbara Weigand, who walked five hours to the Capuchin church to receive the wafer, was considered a model in the Michel family.

Anneliese regularly attended mass several times a week, said rosaries, and even tried to do more than was prescribed, such as sleeping on the floor in the middle of winter. In 1968, the first attack occurred: Anneliese bit her tongue due to a spasm. A year later, night seizures began, during which the girl’s body lost flexibility, a feeling of heaviness appeared in her chest, loss of the ability to speak - the girl could not call her parents or any of her three sisters. After the first attack, Anneliese felt so exhausted and empty that she could not find the strength to go to school. The attacks were followed by periods of calm and Anneliese even sometimes managed to play tennis.

In 1969, the girl woke up at night due to difficulty breathing and numbness in her body. Family doctor Gerhard Vogt advised me to see a psychiatrist. On August 27, 1969, Anneliese's electroencephalogram did not reveal any changes in the brain. However, later the girl was struck down by pleurisy and tuberculosis. At the beginning of February 1970, she was admitted to a hospital in Aschaffenburg. On the 28th Anneliese was transferred to Mittelberg. On the night of June 3 of the same year, another attack began. A new EEG again did not reveal anything suspicious, but Dr. Wolfgang von Haller recommended drug treatment. The decision was not reversed even when the same result was shown by the third and fourth EEGs taken on August 11, 1970 and June 4, 1973. In Mittelberg, Anneliese began to see demonic faces during the rosary. In the spring, Anneliese began to hear a knocking sound. Vogt, having examined the girl and found nothing, sent the girl to an otologist, but he also found nothing, and the girl’s sisters also began to hear the knock.

According to Anneliese herself, it began to seem to her that she was possessed from the age of 13. The first person to realize that something was wrong with Anneliese was Thea Hein, who accompanied her during a pilgrimage to San Damiano, Italy. She noticed that Anneliese walked away from the image of Christ and refused to drink water from the sacred Lourdes spring.

Four years of treatment yielded nothing, and in the summer of 1973, Anneliese’s parents turned to several priests, but they were explained that until all signs of possession were proven, an exorcism could not be performed. The following year, Pastor Ernst Alt, after observing Anneliese for some time, requested permission from Bishop Joseph Stangl of Würzburg to perform an exorcism, but was refused. At this time, Anneliese's behavior changed: she refused to eat, began breaking crucifixes and images of Christ in the house, tearing off her clothes, screaming for hours, biting family members, injuring herself, eating spiders, flies and coal. One day Anneliese climbed under the table in the kitchen and barked like a dog for two days. Thea, who arrived, called on the demons to leave the girl three times in the name of the Trinity, and only then Anneliese came out from under the table as if nothing had happened.

On September 16, 1975, Stangl, in consultation with the Jesuit Adolf Rodewick, appointed Alt and the Salvatorian Arnold Renz to perform the exorcism. Its basis then was the so-called Roman Ritual (“Rituale Romanum”), developed back in 1614 and expanded in 1954.

Anneliese indicated that she was commanded by six demons who called themselves Lucifer, Cain, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Fleischmann and Hitler. Valentin Fleishman was a Franconian priest in 1552-1575, later he was demoted, accused of cohabitation with a woman and addiction to wine. Fleishman also committed murder in his parish house.

From September 24, 1975 to June 30, 1976, approximately 70 rites were performed on Anneliese, one or two weekly, 42 were recorded on tape and played later in court. The first ceremony lasted 5 hours. When the priests touched Anneliese, she shouted: “Take your paw away, it burns like fire!” The attacks were so severe that the girl was held by three people or tied with a chain. However, between attacks she felt fine, went to school and church and passed exams at the Würzburg Pedagogical Academy.

On May 30, 1976, after attending one of the rituals, Dr. Richard Roth allegedly retorted to Father Alt in response to a request for help: “There is no injection against the devil.” On June 30 of the same year, Annelise, feverish from pneumonia, went to bed and said: “Mom, stay, I’m afraid.” These were her last words. The next day, around 8 a.m., Anna pronounced her daughter dead. It turned out that at the time of her death, Anneliese weighed only 31 kg.

On April 21, 1978, the district court of Aschaffenburg, where she studied at Anneliese, sent the girl’s parents and both priests to the dock. It is not clear why the parents were not allowed to exhume, and Renz later said that he was not even allowed into the morgue. It is also interesting that the head of the German episcopal conference, which stated that Anneliese was not possessed, Cardinal Joseph Heffner admitted on April 28, 1978 that he believes in the existence of demons. However, in 1974, a study by the Freiburg Institute for Marginal Psychology showed that only 66% of Catholic theologians in Germany believed in the existence of the devil.

A number of experts in their individual books, among whom the Protestant F. Goodman, who defended Anneliese’s obsession, stands out (“Anneliese Michel and Her Demons”), criticized the trial. In 1976, a German press agency revealed that of the 22 German Catholic dioceses, only 3 practiced exorcism, all of which were in Bavaria - Würzburg, Augsburg and Passau.

After an investigation, the state prosecutor stated that Anneliese's death was premature and the girl could have lived at least another week. Four defendants went to the dock: Anneliese's parents, Pastor Ernst Alt and Father Arnold Renz.

The trial began on March 30, 1978, and aroused great interest. The priests were defended by a team of lawyers paid for by the church. The defense insisted that exorcism is an inalienable right of citizens, protected by the constitution, like the right to religious belief.

Ultimately, the defendants were convicted and sentenced to 6 months of suspended imprisonment.

Anneliese's grave in Klingenberg is visited by groups of Catholics. Some of them believe that after many years of struggle, Anneliese's soul defeated the demons. In 1999, Cardinal Medina Estevez, for the first time in 385 years, presented to journalists at the Vatican a new version of the Roman Ritual, which had been in the works for more than 10 years.

In 2005, a film was released directed by Scott Derrickson, based on the story of Anneliese Michel, The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

The Six Demons of Emily Rose

This story formed the basis of the plot of the film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.” The film, directed by Scott Derrickson, was released in the fall of 2005 and became his most notable film. The literary source of the film, in turn, was the documentary book by anthropologist Felicitas Goodman, “The Exorcism of Anneliese Michael.” By the way, , at the end of 2006 the film was recognized as best film horror films and has been awarded the Saturn Award, presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The story of Anneliese Michel raises many questions to this day. Some continue to believe that the girl, by all indications, was possessed by a legion of demons, and others that she suffered from a mental illness, which was influenced by the religiosity of the family. But in any case, this is a warning to everyone who is used to taking things lightly that are not worth joking with. After all, the devil does not always have to come when called in order to conclude a contract on the soul - we carry the most terrible demons within ourselves...