The story of a German woman possessed by demons. Photos of the girl whose story was used to make a horror movie have been published, and they are much scarier

Anna Elisabeth Michel, better known as Anneliese, died at the hands of an exorcist on July 1, 1976. She was only 23 years old.

Anneliese was born into the family of Joseph and Anna Michel, deeply religious and very religious Catholics. Joseph's three sisters were nuns, and he himself was predicted to become a clergyman, but he chose to become a carpenter. Anna had illegitimate daughter named Martha, who died of cancer as a child. Nevertheless, Anneliese’s mother was so ashamed of her illegitimate daughter that even own wedding was wearing a black veil.

Little Anneliese was brought up in strictness, despite the fact that the girl was a weak and sickly child. However, Anneliese herself gladly accepted such an upbringing: while other teenagers rebelled, she regularly attended mass twice a week and regularly prayed for her lost peers. The girl's problems began only in 1968, when Anneliese was already 16 years old.

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One day, Anneliese bit her tongue because of a strange spasm that suddenly seized her body. A year later, such attacks became regular: the girl suddenly lost the ability to simply move, felt a heaviness in her chest, she began to have problems with speech and articulation - sometimes she could not even call someone close to her for help. The parents immediately sent their daughter to the hospital, where she was given an electroencephalogram. The examination did not reveal any changes in Annelise’s brain, but doctors nevertheless diagnosed temporal lobe epilepsy, and in February 1970 the girl was hospitalized in a clinic with a diagnosis of tuberculosis. There, in the hospital, a serious seizure occurred. Doctors tried to treat it with anticonvulsants, but for some reason they didn’t work. Anneliese herself claimed that she saw “the face of the devil” in front of her. Doctors prescribed the girl a drug used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other mental disorders. But it didn’t work either: the girl fell into depression, during prayers she began to hallucinate, and she also heard voices that promised her that she would “rot in hell.”

Annelise was transferred to a psychiatric ward, but the treatment did not help her. Then the girl decided that she was possessed by the devil. After leaving the hospital, the girl made a pilgrimage to San Giorgio Piacentino with family friend Thea Hein. Hein confirmed Anneliese’s fears about possession: Anneliese refused to touch the crucifix or drink water from the holy spring, and therefore Hein convinced the girl that there really was “a devil inside her.” Returning home, Anneliese told her family about this. Together they began to look for a priest who would perform the exorcism.

Several priests refused this to the Michel family, explaining that such a rite, firstly, requires the permission of the bishop, and secondly, complete confidence in the possession of the patient. Anneliese between attacks mental disorder She led a completely normal life as an ordinary girl, adjusted for her increased religiosity. But her condition steadily worsened.

At some point, Anneliese's episodes of frustration became truly frightening: she tore her clothes, ate insects, urinated on the floor and licked urine, and once bit off the head of a bird. In a fit, the girl suddenly began to speak in different languages and call herself Lucifer, Cain, Judas, Nero, Adolf Hitler and other names. Periodically, the “demons” inside her began to swear among themselves - in different voices. Doctors prescribed Anneliese another drug, but it didn’t help either. The investigators of this case later concluded that the dosage was insufficient for such a serious disorder. The psychiatry of that time, in principle, could not cure Anneliese, but it could help her: the disorder could be controlled. But Anneliese refused treatment, and her family did not insist on it. Instead, they began looking for an exorcist.

A priest named Ernst Alt was the first to respond to Anneliese's request to free her from possession. He wrote to the girl that she did not look like someone with epilepsy and he would try to find a way to rid her of obsession. In September 1975, Bishop Joseph Stangl allowed Alt and another priest, Wilhelm Renz, to perform the ceremony. On September 24 this happened for the first time. After the first ceremony, Annelise stopped taking medications and visiting doctors. She completely trusted the exorcism.

Over 10 months, priests performed 67 rites of exorcism. Once or twice a week, Annelise had another ritual, some of which lasted up to 4 hours. 42 rituals were captured on camera, and then these recordings were used as evidence in court.

On the morning of July 1, 1976, Anneliese was found dead in bed. When Alt was informed about this, he told her parents: “Annelise’s soul, cleansed of satanic power, rushed to the throne of the Most High.”

At the time of her death, Anneliese weighed about 30 kilograms and was 166 centimeters tall. Her whole body was covered in bruises and unhealed wounds, ligaments were torn, and joints were disfigured from constant kneeling. Anneliese could no longer move independently, but nevertheless, even the night before her death, she was tied to the bed. This had to be done so that the girl would not hurt herself. An autopsy showed that Anneliese was terribly emaciated and sick with pneumonia, which, in all likelihood, killed her.

Formally, Anneliese did not die from an exorcism ritual. But it was the rituals that brought her to this state, coupled with the lack of drug therapy necessary for a mental disorder.

The trial in this case began 2 years later, in 1978. Alt, Renz and Michele's parents were charged with criminal omission resulting in death by negligence. All the accused were found guilty. They were given a suspended sentence of six months' imprisonment probationary period at 3 years old.

Alexandra Koshimbetova

This scary tale happened quite recently, in 2011. Residents of the Voronezh region, spouses Elena Antonova and Sergei Koshimbetov, killed their own 26-year-old daughter Alexandra while performing a ritual of “exorcism.”

Alexandra's mother Elena suffered from a mental disorder and was very religious. She repeatedly informed those around her that she was “sent to earth by God for a special mission.” At some point, it seemed to her that her daughter was possessed by the devil. At the same time, the woman believed that the devil came to her daughter in the form of a husband, and now Alexandra is in love with the “evil spirit.” Alexandra’s father Sergei immediately believed his wife.

From the testimony of Sergei Koshimbetov: “I put it down. They gave me a glass of water. She kicked it all out with her hands. Lena says: why can’t you cope with her? Just pour some water, she will calm down.” From the testimony of Elena Antonova: “I began to bite her stomach, then he told me: grab her navel. I grabbed my belly button and held it, I shouldn’t have let it go.”

Sergei and Elena forced their daughter to “drink” about five liters of water. The mother, who continued to torture her daughter all this time, tore out part of her daughter’s intestines with her bare hands. And even after this, the parents did not calm down: they continued to beat Alexandra and jump on her wounded body. As a result, the girl died from multiple rib fractures and massive internal bleeding.

"Freed from evil spirits“The parents put the body in their own bed. Moreover, in addition to them, Alexandra’s grandmother and their youngest thirteen-year-old daughter were in the apartment. The wife's grandmother and granddaughter were told that everything was in perfect order and the girl will rise again in three days. Only then did the grandmother decide to call the police. Before that, she said, she was afraid to intervene, because both her youngest granddaughter and herself could become victims of crazy spouses.

Elena Antonova came to court with a Bible and immediately began preaching. The woman declared that she was God's chosen one and tried to find evidence of this in the Bible. The woman denied her guilt and stated that she did absolutely the right thing. Her husband shared the same view. In their opinion, they did not kill their daughter, but simply freed her from possession. The parents assured everyone that Alexandra would soon be resurrected.

The examination found both spouses insane. The diagnosis is a severe form of schizophrenia. Both were sentenced to compulsory treatment.

Marika Irina Kornich

In 2005, the abbot of a Romanian Orthodox monastery, 31-year-old priest Daniel Petru Corogeanu, killed his mentally ill parishioner. The priest did not admit his guilt at the trial and did not appear repentant.

23-year-old Marika Irina Kornich grew up in an orphanage and entered a monastery just three months before her death. The girl suffered from schizophrenia, and therefore the priest considered her possessed by the devil. To save the unfortunate “victim of evil spirits,” the priest decided to perform an exorcism. To do this, he chained her to a cross, gagged her so that she would not “call on the devil with her screams,” and locked her in the basement for three days without food, drink or light. At the end of the third day, some nun could not stand it and called the police. Doctors who arrived at the monastery, accompanied by police, found the girl already dead. The young novice died from dehydration and suffocation.

The church condemned the priest's actions and removed him from his post as rector. Father Daniel was arrested only a month after the girl’s death. When asked by investigators whether he suspected that the novice might not be possessed, but suffering from a mental disorder, the priest replied: “The devil cannot be driven out of a person with the help of pills.”

The priest and nuns who helped him perform the exorcism answered questions from investigators for 11 hours. The court found everyone guilty of murder with aggravating circumstances. Daniel Corogeanu was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Janet Moses

22-year-old Janet from New Zealand died during a traditional Maori ritual performed by her family. Relatives, convinced that Janet was possessed by the devil, decided to hold the "ceremony" at her grandparents' house. In total, about 30 people took part in the ceremony. For several hours, the relatives brutally tortured the girl, in particular, they tried to suck out Janet's eyes, believing that this would save her from the curse. Another girl, 14-year-old relative Janet, was injured during the ritual. But, fortunately, she survived. And Janet died after they started pouring water down her throat in order to “drive out the devil.” The girl choked.

Nine members of the Moses family appeared in court. They all insisted that they did not want to kill the girl, but, on the contrary, tried to save her.

Unnamed victim

The last known victim of exorcists died about six months ago, in February 2017. Nicaraguan pastor Juan Gregorio Rocha Romero, along with three accomplices, burned a 25-year-old woman alive, declaring her possessed by the devil. When doctors and police arrived at the crime scene, the unfortunate woman was still alive. Doctors diagnosed burns to 80% of the body. Despite the efforts of doctors, the girl died.

The pastor was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Three of his accomplices, including one woman, were each sentenced to the same term.

ANNELISE MICHEL. GREAT MARTYR

The story of this girl, which became the basis of two feature films, took place forty years ago, but continues to arouse interest today. The main question asked by everyone who is familiar with this drama is: what really happened to Anneliese Michel - was she really possessed or was her death the result of serious illness. 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, her weight was only 31 kilograms. “Mom,” she said just before the end, “I’m afraid.” It is unlikely that we will now answer the question: was she really possessed, or was it just a figment of her imagination? But that doesn't stop us from hearing true story short life Anneliese Michel from Germany.

The events in question became the subject of attention in 1976. The public was closely watching the unprecedented trial of two Catholic priests, who were accused of the death of a young girl, Anneliese Michel.

Anna-Elisabeth Michel was born in 1952 in the small Bavarian village of Leibling in Bavaria - Germany, 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 And , if not orthodox. Anneliese's mother Anna graduated from a women's gymnasium and a trade school. She worked in her father's office, where she met Josef. They married in 1950. By this time, Anna already had a daughter, Martha, born in 1948. She died in 1956 from kidney cancer and was buried outside the family crypt. Subsequently, Anneliese considered the birth of an illegitimate child to be her mother’s sin and constantly performed repentance for her. 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 attended mass several times a week, said rosaries, and even tried to do more than was prescribed, such as sleeping on the bare floor in the middle of winter in an attempt to atone for the sins of drug addicts and wayward priests. Anneliese's childhood was happy, although she grew up as a weak and sickly child. Anneliese loved to play at her father's sawmill, took piano lessons andaccordion, studied well and dreamed of becoming a primary school teacher. In addition to Martha, she had three more sisters: Gertrud (born 1954), Barbara (born 1956), and Rosvita (born 1957). In 1959, Anneliese entered primary school in Klingenberg, then in the sixth grade she moved to the Karl Theodor Dahlberg Gymnasium in Aschaffenburg. In 1968, a generally harmless incident occurred: Anneliese bit her tongue due to a spasm. A year later, night attacks began, during which the girl’s body lost flexibility, a feeling of heaviness appeared on her chest, and due to dysarthria - loss of the ability to speak, she was unable to call either her parents or any of her three sisters. After the first attack, Annelise felt so exhausted and empty that she could not find the strength to go to school. However, this did not happen again for some time and Anneliese even played tennis sometimes.

In 1969, the girl woke up at night due to difficulty breathing and paralysis of her arms and whole body. Family doctor Gerhard Vogt advised me to see a psychiatrist. On August 27, 1969, Anneliese's electroencephalogram (EEG) showed no changes in her brain. True, the girl was later struck down by pleurisy and tuberculosis, and in early February 1970 she was admitted to a hospital in Aschaffenburg. On August 28, 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, however, Dr. Wolfgang von Haller recommended drug treatment. In June 1970, Michel suffered a third seizure in the hospital where she was at that time. She was prescribed anticonvulsants, including phenytoin, which did not bring the desired result. (Phenytoin is an antiepileptic medicine from the group of hydantoin derivatives, has an anticonvulsant effect without a pronounced hypnotic effect, and is also used as an antiarrhythmic agent and muscle relaxant). Then she began to claim that sometimes “the face of the Devil” appears before her. That same month, she was prescribed Aolept, which is similar in composition to aminazine and is used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other mental disorders. Despite this, she continued to be depressed. The decision was not reversed even when the third and fourth EEGs, taken on August 11, 1970 and June 4, 1973, showed the same result. In the spring, Annelise began to hear some knocking. Vogt, having examined the girl and not finding anything, sent the girl to an otologist, but he did not reveal anything, and the girl’s sisters began to hear the knocking that was heard above or below the witness. In 1973, she began hallucinating while praying, hearing voices telling her that she was cursed and would “rot in hell.”

According to Annelise herself, it began to seem to her that she was possessed from the age of 13. Treatment of Anneliese Michel in psychiatric hospital it didn’t help, and she increasingly doubted the effectiveness of medicine. Being a devout Catholic, she assumed that she had become

victim of obsession. The first, or at least one of the first, to realize that something was wrong with Anneliese was Thea Hein, a family friend who accompanied the girl on a pilgrimage to the Italian San Giorgio Piacentino. There, Hein came to the conclusion that Anneliese was possessed because she could not touch the crucifix and refused to drink water from the holy spring of Lourdes. Four years of treatment, which included taking anticonvulsants such as Centropil and Tegretal, yielded nothing. By the way, on November 15, 1972, at a general audience dedicated to the spiritual struggle of the Church with the devil, Pope Paul VI noted: “...the presence of the Evil One is sometimes very obvious. We can assume that his atrocity is where ... a lie becomes strong and hypocritical in the guise of obvious truth (...) It is easy to ask ... the question “what means, what measure should we use against the actions of the devil?”, but in practice everything is more complicated.” In the summer of 1973, Anneliese's parents turned to several priests, but they were told that until all signs of possession were proven. infestatio ), exorcism cannot be performed.

During the period between attacks, Anneliese Michel showed no signs of mental illness and led a normal life. She graduated from the University of Würzburg in 1973. She was later described by classmates as: "closed and extremely religious." In November 1975, she successfully passed the exams to obtain Missio canonica – special permission to perform educational functions on behalf of the church. The first priest to respond to Anneliese's requests was Ernst Alt. In 1974, Pastor Ernst Alt, after observing Anneliese for some time, requested permission from Bishop Joseph Stangl of Würzburg to perform an exorcism, but was refused. He said that the girl did not look like she was suffering from epilepsy and believed that she was in fact possessed.

Anneliese Michel hoped for his help. In a letter to him in 1975, she wrote: “ I am nobody, everything is in vain, what should I do, I must get better, pray for me " Anneliese's condition deteriorated more and more: she refused to eat, began to break the crucifix and images of Christ in the house, tear off her clothes, scream for hours, bite family members, lick her own urine from the floor, mutilate herself, eat spiders, flies and coal, every day until She knelt 400 times an hour, causing her knees to turn blue. One day Annelise crawled under the kitchen table 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 Annelise came out from under the table as if nothing had happened. However, this turned out to be temporary and Anneliese was later found above the Main, ready to throw herself into the water due to repeated calls from demons to commit suicide.

On September 16, 1975, Bishop Joseph Stangl, in consultation with the Jesuit Adolf Rodewick, based on the 1st paragraph of the 1151st chapter of the Code of Canon Law, appointed Alt and the Salvatorian Arnold Renz to perform the exorcism, but ordered that the rites be kept secret. Its basis then was the so-called Roman ritual (“ Rituale Romanum "), developed back in 1614 and expanded in 1954.

The first ceremony was performed on September 24, 1975 at 16:00 and lasted 5 hours. When the priests touched Anneliese, she screamed: “ Take your paw off, it burns like fire" After this, Anneliese stopped taking medical supplies and completely trusted the exorcism. The attacks were so severe that Anneliese was either held by three people or tied with a chain, she said different languages. Anneliese indicated that she was commanded by six demons who called themselves Lucifer, Cain, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Fleischmann and Hitler. Valentin Fleishman was a Franxon 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. According to reports from those around Anneliese Michel, sometimes the demons even argued with each other, and it seemed that she spoke in two different voices. In November 1973, she was prescribed carbamazepine.

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: “Mutter bleib da, ich habe Angst ” (“Mom, stay, I'm afraid "). These were hers last words. On July 1, 1976, at the age of 23, Anna was pronounced dead at about 8 a.m. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was dehydration and malnutrition, from which the girl suffered during months-long cycles of exorcism. Another hypothesis has been proposed that death was caused by a side effect of the drug carbamazepine, which she had been taking for several years. Annelise's exact diagnosis was never established. Although psychiatry of that time was not able to cure the girl, it controlled the disease to some extent. Anneliese died after refusing treatment. Catholic priest and paranormal investigator John Duffy published a book about Anneliese in 2011. He wrote that based on the available evidence, it was safe to say that Anneliese was not possessed. Jesuit priest and psychiatrist Ulrich Niemann said the following about the incident: “As a doctor, I say that there is no such thing as “obsession.” In my opinion, these patients are mentally ill. I pray for them, but that alone won't help. You have to work with them as a psychiatrist. But at the same time, when the patient comes from of Eastern Europe and believes that he is possessed by the devil, it would be a mistake to ignore his belief system.”

However, some researchers were of the opinion that Anneliese was in fact possessed. This point of view was defended by the anthropologist and Protestant F. Goodman, who published the book “Annelise Michel and Her Demons” about Anneliese Michel. There she criticized trial.

When Alt was informed of Anneliese’s death, he told her parents: “ Annelise's soul, cleansed of satanic power, rushed to the throne of the Almighty" An autopsy showed that Anneliese's death was not directly caused by an exorcism. At some point, she decided that her death was inevitable, and voluntarily refused food and drink. At the time of her death, Anneliese weighed only 31 kilograms.

On April 21, 1978, the district court of Aschaffenburg, where Anneliese studied at the gymnasium, put on trial the girl’s parents and two priests who performed the exorcism - Father Ernst Alt and Priest Arnold Renz. Later, the parents were not allowed to attend the exhumation, and Renz later said that he was not even allowed into the morgue. The head of the German episcopal conference, which stated that Anneliese was not possessed, Cardinal Joseph Höffner admitted on April 28, 1978 that he believed in the existence of demons. However, in 1974, a study by the Freiburg Institute for Marginal Psychology showed that only 66 percent of Catholic theologians in Germany believed in the existence of the devil.

According to Judge Eimar Bolender, who presided over Anneliese's case, her death could have been prevented by treatment even 10 days before the incident.

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.

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 presented to journalists at the Vatican for the first time in 385 years new version A Roman ritual, work on which took more than 10 years.

The story of Anneliese Michel formed the basis of many works of art, including the famous horror film "The Six Demons of Emily Rose".

Gabriel Amorth, a traditionalist, speaks in contrast to the modernizing branch of the church: “Jesus wanted us to practice exorcism, he even encouraged us to do it. Holy Gospel from Mark, chapter 16, verse 17: “Those who believe in My name will cast out demons.” It is enough for a person to have faith in Christ to have the power to cast out demons in His name.”

Peter Hein “The whole thing lasted an hour and a half. I remember when we finished, Father Arnold said: “Enough. Now let’s take a break so that Anneliese can rest a little,” and at that very moment she suddenly shouted:"Relax?! I have no peace! It will never end!”. I was so cold that I got goosebumps all over my body.”.

Two years after the girl’s death, a German nun said that she had an amazing dream; she said that Anneliese Michel’s corpse was still in perfect condition, which means she really died for the sins of the world. The parents, who wanted to make sure that their daughter did not die in vain, asked for an exhumation. This terrible event aroused great interest among both believers and skeptics. The crowd was hungry for a miracle. But the case did not attract the attention of official circles.

Thea Hein speaks: “A lot of people gathered - men, women. They all longed to see the corpse, but they were all forbidden to go there. Then they announced an order prohibiting anyone from approaching the body. We talked and decided that they would probably let the priest in, but for some reason he was also forbidden to enter. They didn’t let anyone in, even our priest was refused.” .

The parents never saw their daughter's body. The police said that the corpse had decomposed and should not be seen by anyone.

Later, Joseph Michel, Anneliese’s father, showed lawyer Karl Stenger a photograph in which one can see the hand of the devil, which, in his opinion, indicates the role of the devil’s participation in Anneliese’s case.

Priest Gabriel Amorth says: “Even in those days there was a shortage of exorcisms in Germany, and the bishops and priests were responsible for this, because they never believed in anything like that. But anyone who does not believe in the devil and possession does not believe in the Word of God.”.

Thirty years ago Anna recalled her daughter this way: “Our daughter, even as a child... she was very pious, we raised her that way, because of her illness she was very close to God and often said: “The Lord will always come first in my life”. Yes, always."

The victory of Archangel Michael over the devil confirmed that the girl was trapped in a long battle between Good and Evil. One day, the Virgin Mary appeared to her and explained that her illness came from God with a higher purpose - to atone for the sins of all lost souls on Earth. Believing in these Divine instructions, Anneliese stopped taking medications and allowed the disease to develop.

The priests decided that this was a rare case of possession for atonement. Anneliese spoke with the voices of devils, but devils sent by God, who thus showed his anger towards the Vatican Council and the objectionable liberalization of the church. If they could prove this, it would be a triumph for them and a serious setback for the Roman modernizers.

From the audio recording of the exorcism ritual: Annelise says - “That hole down there is real!”

Anneliese: “I won’t tell!”

In the periods between rituals she spoke normally. The recordings were distributed all over the world. Anneliese's suffering became strong evidence of the damage caused by the Vatican Reforms to Germany and the Church. Father Renz promoted this idea.

Speaks priest Arnold Renz when demonstrating a sound recording: “Lucifer, Judas, occasionally Nero appear, even Hitler appeared several times.”.

Question from behind the scenes: “Hitler belongs to demons? Is this a demon in the flesh?

Arnold Renz: “Yes. Hitler said he imagined himself shouting “Salvation, salvation, salvation.” He didn't say anything else. Other demons said about him that he makes a lot of noise, but has nothing interesting to say.”

Arnold Renz: “It happened on October 31, 1975. The six demons who gave themselves names came out, this whole process took the six demons about forty minutes. They became defensive and began to stutter, especially when they said “Hail Mary, full of grace.” They managed: “R...ra...Hail Mary...”, these words were given to them with great difficulty. But then six demons came out of her, and for a short time she was freed.”

Peter Hein , witness to the exorcism ritual: “We were all so happy that we started, that we started singing praise to the Lord, but in the last quatrain it started (growls) , Anneliese started screaming again." .

Thea Hein: “The devil beat her very badly. Anneliese had wonderful teeth, but he knocked them all out. The devil took her head and slammed it against the wall until her face was swollen." .

Then the devil forbade her to drink and eat.

Thea Hein: “Annelise was no longer allowed to eat what she wanted, because when she was hungry, she was forbidden to eat. That’s what the devil told her: “Don’t eat, starve!” And she didn’t eat and fainted from hunger.” .

On July 1, Anneliese Michel died. Exhaustion and malnutrition played a role. She was only 23 years old. The exorcists perceived this as a holy death, atonement for mistakes modern church. The girl's soul was saved.

March 1978. Anneliese's parents, as well as Father Renz and Father Alt, were accused of neglect and assisting suicide. Why did they refuse to let doctors see the dying girl?

Anetta Orlova, psychologist(man): “The parents openly stated that the involvement of doctors, especially a psychiatrist, would have led to Annelise being sent to a psychiatric hospital, and then she would certainly have lost the opportunity to become a teacher. This was one of the reasons for their ban on medical intervention." .

Anneliese's fate shocked the whole world and the church. Two years after her death, German bishops established a commission on the issue of exorcism. They sent an urgent request to the Vatican to change the ritual. The bishops did not expect that it would be abolished altogether, but they understood that such cases harm the modern church. In 1999, almost 400 years after its creation, a new Roman ritual was issued: demonic possession was recommended to be treated in a modern way - the church was instructed to seek help from psychiatrists. But the conservatives did not give up. Don Gabriel Amorth, a veteran of many Vatican battles, never changed his opinion about exorcism. He believes that the church is now back with him.

Gabriel Amorth, priest: “The Pope performed two exorcisms, which subsequently became widely known in public circles. I think he wanted to appoint new exorcists and encouraged priests to take this path.".

Pope John Paul II adhered to traditional views of Catholic dogmas and life. When he was a parish priest in Poland, he performed two exorcisms. People like Don Amorth believe that he understands the reality of evil and the danger of ignoring its manifestations.

Gabriel Amorth: “This is not my statement, but that of Pope John Paul II. When I told him that I would be meeting with bishops who do not believe in the devil, he responded sharply : “He who does not believe in the devil does not believe in the Word of God”».

The parents built a tomb for their daughter in Klingenberg, the city where she spent her short life. Perhaps her death truly was a sacrifice for the benefit of others. After her death, no Catholic in Germany was subjected to the horrors she experienced. No one else died in such agony.

Despite the fact that we have discovered almost all the secrets human body and even set their sights on space flights, world religions continue to affirm the existence of gods and spirits. In particular, demonic possession is still considered a very real danger that awaits every God-fearing person.

Even in the Christian Bible, cases of exorcism are mentioned more than 30 times, including several cases where Jesus Christ cast out demons from martyrs.

Here are a few real stories, which were confirmed not only by priests, but also by doctors,

Anna-Elisabeth Michel (Anneliese Michel)

The girl suffered from epileptic seizures and her condition worsened every day. In a psychiatric hospital, Annelise was secretly visited by two priests who decided to perform an exorcism. 70 rituals

consecutively exhausted the unfortunate woman to death. The priests and parents were charged with manslaughter, and the film “The 6 Demons of Emily Rose” was made based on Anneliese’s story.

Roland Doe/Robbie Mannheim

This boy's story was so scary that Catholic Church classified his name: in the archives, Robbie Mannheim was known as Roland Doe.

He became possessed after a seance when he tried to contact his deceased aunt, who was herself a spiritualist. Soon after this, in their family home started to happen unexplained phenomena and strange noises are observed.

The family's Lutheran mentor determined that Roland was possessed and sent two priests, Father Raymond Bishop and Father William Bouder, to perform the exorcism at Georgetown University Hospital. The ritual was performed 30 times over several weeks. It is stated that at this time Roland was very aggressive, speaking Latin in a demonic voice, and the words "evil" and "hell" were sometimes manifested in his body. After these rituals, everything returned to normal, and Roland continued to live a normal life. Many argued over whether he was actually possessed, or whether it was all fiction, and the boy simply had mental problems. Since after these events no one calls him by his real name, the truth will never be known.

Anna Eklund

By the time she was only 14 years old, a girl named Anna Eklund from Erling, Iowa, began to show the first signs of demonic possession. The girl was raised by her parents as a devout Catholic, but this did not stop demons from entering her body. Anna could not stand religious artifacts, became very depraved and spoke out loud about things that were indecent to even think about at that time; she could not enter the church.

In 1912, Anna underwent an exorcism ritual, which ended quite successfully, but in 1928 she again had to turn to the church for help; the girl claimed that demons had again taken over her body. Anna was placed in a monastery, where she was constantly monitored by several nuns. Eklund's condition began to rapidly deteriorate. The following case is described: when the nuns blessed the food before entering her room, Anna felt it, hissed at the nuns and threw the plates of food on the floor. Conversely, she devoured unblessed food like a hungry wolf.

Witnesses claimed that the girl could speak several foreign languages, whom she did not know until the moment of possession, defied gravity, levitating around the room. She vomited on the priests who were trying to approach her, Anna’s eyes rolled out of their sockets, the sufferer’s body became so bloated and heavy that the metal bed sagged under the possessed woman.

The priests performed three full exorcisms on Anna Eklund, and twenty-three days after the first ritual began, she was finally declared freed from demons!

Arne Johnson

Known as the “Demon Murder Case,” Arne Johnson's case is the first trial in U.S. history in which the defense attempted to prove the defendant's innocence due to demonic possession...

In 1981, Arne Johnson murdered his employer, Alan Borough, in Connecticut. Johnson's lawyers argued that his crime was not caused by the defendant's malice, but by a demon that had possessed Arne's body since childhood. Well-known demonologists in certain circles, Ed and Lorraine Warren, even came to the court hearing for consultation (by the way, it was about them and the Perron family that the 2013 Hollywood horror film “The Conjuring” was filmed), who claimed that Johnson’s body was actually controlled by an evil spirit.

But the judge ultimately decided that demonic possession was not a justification for first-degree murder and sentenced Arne Johnson to 20 years in prison.

Julia

In 2008, Dr. Richard E. Gallagher, a renowned psychiatrist and professor of clinical psychiatry at New York medical college, documented interesting and unique case a patient nicknamed "Julia", whom he believed to be truly demonically possessed. This is a rare case when a scientist and psychiatrist acknowledges the possibility of demonic possession, which ordinary doctors consider either fraud or a manifestation of mental illness.

Dr. Gallagher personally observed how Julia levitated in the air, rising above her bed, speaking in many languages, some of which are ancient and have long been forgotten. She talked about the past and future of the psychiatrist's acquaintances, whom she simply could not know.

Here are some excerpts from the psychiatrist’s notes: “Periodically, in our presence, Julia falls into a kind of trance state, and this is accompanied by unusual phenomena. From her mouth pour out an obscene stream of curses and threats, ridicule and phrases like: “Leave her alone, you idiot!”, “She’s ours.” At the same time, the tone of the voice is noticeably different from Julia’s real voice.”

Clara Hermana Celje

In 1906, Clara Hermana Cele was a Christian student at St. Michael's Mission in KwaZulu Natal. South Africa. For unknown reasons, the demon possessed this young, sixteen-year-old student. Klara Cele began to understand and could speak fluently in several languages, she became clairvoyant and read the thoughts of people around her.

The nuns watching Clara more than once claimed that she levitated, rising from the bed into the air to a height of several meters, making monstrous animal sounds that human voice just can't reproduce it. Eventually two priests were called to perform the exorcism. Cele attempted to strangle one of them with his own stole, and more than 170 people witnessed the levitation of the possessed student as the priests read the Holy Scriptures. The ritual was carried out for two days, after which evil spirits left Clara's exhausted body.

Anneliese Michel (September 21, 1952 - July 1, 1976). She is known for the fact that the films “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” and “Requiem” were based on her life. She suffered from nervous diseases from the age of 16 until her death in 1976, the cause of which (at least indirectly) is considered to be an exorcism ritual. Her parents and two priests who performed the ritual were later charged with manslaughter. The expulsion was carried out by Pastor Arnold Renz under the ideological leadership of Bishop Joseph Stangl. The ritual ended with the girl's death.

“Annelisa’s soul, cleansed of satanic power,” said the pastor to the grief-stricken parents of the deceased, “has ascended to the throne of the Most High...”

Some people believe that she was actually possessed by the devil.

In 1969 The doctor diagnosed seventeen-year-old German Anneliese Michel with epilepsy, although the electroencephalogram showed nothing. It was only after Anneliese's death in 1976 that a number of oddities came to light, and then thanks to an equally strange trial. Despite the fact that the autopsy also showed no signs of epilepsy in the brain and death from dehydration and exhaustion, the culprits continued to be two priests and Anneliese's parents, who were not allowed to be exhumed. What made Anneliese destroy sacred relics, turn her head left and right with the speed of changing frames, and eat spiders, flies and coal?

Anneliese Michel was born on September 21, 1952. in the Bavarian Leiblfing, but was brought up in Klingenberg am Main of the same land, which was then also part of the Federal Republic of Germany. The girl's name was a combination of two names - Anna and Elizabeth (Lisa). Conservative parents Anna Fürg and Joseph Michel were a colorful exception in Germany, but commonplace in the Catholic bastion of Bavaria. They rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, held 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 a wafer, was a model in the Michel family. Anneliese 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 A generally harmless incident occurred: Annelise bit her tongue due to a spasm. A year later, incomprehensible nocturnal attacks began, during which the girl’s body lost flexibility, a feeling of heaviness appeared on her chest, and due to dysarthria - loss of the ability to speak - she was unable to call either her parents or any of her three sisters. After the first attack, Annelise felt so exhausted that she could not find the strength to go to school. However, this did not happen again for some time and Anneliese even played tennis sometimes.

In 1969 the girl woke up at night due to difficulty breathing and paralysis of her arms and whole body. The family doctor advised me to see a psychiatrist. On August 27, 1969, Anneliese's electroencephalogram did not reveal any changes in the brain. 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 canceled even when the third and fourth EEGs, taken on August 11, 1970 and June 4, 1973, showed the same result. In Mittelberg, Anneliese began to see demonic faces during the rosary. In the spring, Annelise began to hear some knocking. Vogt, having examined the girl and not finding anything, sent the girl to an otologist, but he also did not reveal anything, and the girl’s sisters began to hear the knocking that was heard above or below the witness.

Summer 1973 Anneliese's parents turned to several priests, but they were told that until all signs of possession were proven, an exorcism could not be carried out. 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 and doing up to 400 squats a day (or 600 bows on her knees, which, in the end, led to ligament injury knee joints). And one day Annelise 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 did she come out from under the table as if nothing had happened.

However, this turned out to be temporary and Anneliese was later found above the Main, ready to throw herself into the water due to repeated calls from demons to commit suicide. Every day Anneliese Michel suffered more and more from her illness. She insulted her relatives, fought, bit, growled and wheezed, slept only on the floor, did not eat regular food (according to her, Satan forbade her to do this), but ate spiders and flies, destroyed icons and crosses that were in her room.

September 16, 1975 Stangl, in consultation with the Jesuit Adolf Rodewick, based on the 1st paragraph of the 1151st chapter of the Code of Canon Law, appointed Alta 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 (a 16th century monk who fell under the rule of Satan) and Hitler, all of whom spoke German with an Austrian intonation. 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 About 70 rites were performed over Anneliese, one or two weekly. The first ceremony took place at 16:00 and lasted 5 hours. When the priests touched Anneliese, she shouted: “Take your paw away, it burns like fire!” The attacks were so severe that Annelise was either held by three people or tied up with a chain.

June 30, 1976 Annelise, feverish from pneumonia, went to bed and said: “Mom, stay, I’m afraid.” These were her last words. On July 1, 1976, at the age of 23, Anna was pronounced dead at about 8 a.m. Her parents buried her behind the cemetery - usually illegitimate children and suicides were buried there. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was dehydration and malnutrition, from which the girl suffered during months-long cycles of exorcism.

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 Anneliese studied at the gymnasium, put the girl’s parents and both priests in 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 Höffner, admitted on April 28, 1978 that he believes in the existence of demons.

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; the Vatican now requires priests to have a medical education to perform the ritual.

“I would never perform 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.

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 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.

The story of this girl, which became the basis of two feature films, occurred 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 the true story of the short life of Anneliese Michel from Germany.

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

Youth

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.

Beginning and the end

According to the girl herself, it began to seem to her that she was possessed at the age of 13. The first, or at least one of the first, who realized that something was wrong with Anneliese was Thea Hein, who accompanied the girl during a pilgrimage to the Italian San Damiano. She noticed that Anneliese walked away from some image of Christ and refused to drink water from the sacred Lourdes spring. Four years of treatment, which included taking anticonvulsants such as Centropil and Tegretal, yielded nothing. By the way, on November 15, 1972, at a general audience dedicated to the spiritual struggle of the Church with the devil, Pope Paul VI noted: “... the presence of the Evil One is sometimes very obvious. We can assume that his crime is where... lies becomes strong and hypocritical in the guise of obvious truth (...) It is easy to ask... the question "what remedy, what measure should we use against the actions of the devil?"

On September 16, 1975, Stangl, in consultation with the Jesuit Adolf Rodewick, based on the 1st paragraph of the 1151st chapter of the Code of Canon Law, 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 ( controversial point). 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 listened to later in court. The first ceremony took place at 16:00 and lasted 5 hours. When the priests touched Anneliese, she shouted: “Take your paw away, it burns like fire!” The attacks were so severe that Annelise was either held by three people or tied up with a chain. However, between the attacks the girl 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” (“Mutter bleib da, ich habe Angst”). 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.

Consequences

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.

In our time

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

In 2006, the film “Requiem” by German director Hans-Christian Schmid was released, also dedicated to Anneliese.