The Michel possession case

 

I. Introduction

In 1968 Annaliese Michael, a 17 year old German girl began to experience hallucinations a began to hear voices that told her she was dammed to hell. According to her mother her eyes would turned jet black when ever she would look at any religious icons. she began doing exhibiting erratic behavior such as liking her own urine and eating spiders. eventually this case became one of the most famous demon possession cases in Germany, and then the world because sadly Anneliese died during her exorcism. The priest that did the exorcism was accused of murder. Doctors would later testify in her trial that Annaliease had epilepsy and was not possessed. In this episode we will focus on who annaliese was, how did this case develop and how it ended. 

Anneliese was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1952 to a very Catholic family. Her father was drafted into the Reich labor service and then into military service on the western and eastern fronts during World War II.  Although his mother wanted him to be a priest like his three uncles, after the war he had to go to a trade school in order to take over the family business when he was released from US custody in 1945. Perhaps due to his experiences during the war, he felt a strong connection to God and to certain religious mediums who foretold the end of the war. One such prophet was the "secrets of Fatima." The secrets of Fatima are the messages given to three shepherd children on July 13, 1917, on the hills of Cova Datria, near Fatima. According to the children, the virgin Mary appeared to them and gave them each a message to share with the world. In the first secret, the virgin Mary showed the children "a great sea of fire at the bottom of the world." They saw demons and the suffering of souls. They believed that they saw hell. The second secret was a message; she told them that she had shown them hell in the hopes that this would scare the sinners and that they would repent. According to the prophecy, if people did not repent, a second war would start, which would be worse than the first. 

Since this happened in 1917, many people, including Anneliese's father, believed that the prophesies had come true because World War I finished and then a second world war began where he had to fight and do horrible things. 

The veracity of these prophecies could be discussed further, but this episode is not about that. Suffice it to say that these experiences made him extremely religious and could have a direct effect on the outcome of this case. 

Anna Michael was Anneliese's mother, and as a young girl, she worked in her father's office. which is where they met and fell in love. In 1948, Anna had a child out of wedlick; women thought it was Joseph, but there were rumors that the child's father was actually a Catholic priest. Unfortunately, the child died of a kidney tumor in 1956 at the age of 8. Anna and Josef got married in 1950; they had three children apart from Anneliese.

The entire family was very religious, but Anneliese was more so. She went to Mass three times a week. She prayed rosaries regularly and occasionally slept on the floor to atone for other people's sins. At school, she was described as friendly and easygoing but also serious and controverted. She would often engage in philosophical debates with her classmates and use religious references to support her arguments. 

In September At 16 in 1968, she had her first seizure. The family thought it was a one-time thing, but when she had a second in August 1969, they decided to find medical help. After an EEG, doctors came back with a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. She started having seizures and blackouts where she would walk around in a trance-like state. She took medication, but it didn't help. Shortly after that, she became sick again and went into the hospital. She was diagnosed with psenia and tuberculosis. She stayed in a lung sanitarium for over six months, from March to August of 1970. Several epilepsy-like seizures were recorded during that time. It was at this time that she began to see the faces of patients change and morph into those of demons. She also began to hear voices. The voices told her she would go to hell for her sins and never find redemption.

When she came back from the sanitarium, she had to change schools due to the time she had missed, which resulted in depression. 

In 1973, she went to the university of education in Warzburg. In order to attend university, she moved into a Catholic seminary with a dormitory that was close to the school. It was here that she first began to hear three loud knocks coming from her closet every night. This is significant because if you have seen any possession horror movies, you would know that demons often knock three times as a way to scare and intimidate humans. The number three is often thought of as the devil's number; he uses it to mock the holy trinity, as in the son, the father, and the holy ghost. The knock will sometimes come at three, and three in the morning is known as the witching hour or the devil's hour because scary things can sometimes be seen at that time. Some who partake in dark magic will sometimes wait until three in the morning because they say that the magic is stronger at that time. 

 

By November of 1973, he was tired of all of it and went to seek help from the university psychologist. She told the psychologist that even though she was taking her medication, she had been suffering from almost daily seizures since 1997, which would come as a form of absence seizure. An absence seizure is when a person is having a seizure and it can be confirmed with an EEG, but to an outsider observing the event, it would look like the person is simply standing next to you like a statue; they cannot respond if you speak to them, and they sometimes will stand or fall in bizarre poses. Again, she was given medication, but nothing changed. 

Anneliese went on a religious pilgrimage during the summer of 1973. The leader of the pilgrimage sire of San Damiano said that "she was showing great aversions" to all objects used for religious worship. She was directed to see a priest. She saw a clergyman, but he saw no evidence of possession, and he urged Anneliese to seek medical help. The leader of the pilgrimage did not agree, and they contacted Father Adolf Rodewyk, who said he believed that she could be possessed based on the descriptions. Father Rodewyk was a Jesuit priest who had written two books on demonology, and in Catholic circles he was the undisputed expert on possession and expulsion. 

According to a Newport daily news article, Ernst Alt met aAnneliese Michel in the fall of 1973. He believed that Anneliese was in the obsession stage  of possession. According to father Gabriel Amorth, Chief exorcist of Rome there are four stages of possession. Infestation, this is the "haunted house" type of stuff. You hear footsteps in the house, voices, you may see appatittions, and even objects moving. Sometimes you lay smell something rotten or foul in the air. at this stage only property, objects or animals are affected.

 

The second stage is Oppression; supernatural activity steps up with physical attacks, sleep disturbances including regular nightmares, frequent and severe illnesses, major depression and or anxiety disorders, and a general feeling of being constantly watched or threatened. severe financial or employementproblems and relationship troubles. while these things happen in the normal course of life, all of them happening at once or in rapid succession could be a sign of demonic presence. 

The third stage is obsession, as the name implies, at this stage the afflicted person has a hard time breaking free from intrusive and disturbing thoughts, constantly revolving around demonic activity commandeering their life, and frequently with suicide. sleep becomes near impossible. 

 

The fourth stage is possession, contrary to popular belief, possession is not demons entering a person's body and taking over. A person's free will is never removed, only severely compromised. In possession a person is so physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually broken down by going through the other three stages that demonic spirits are able to seize control over that person's actions occasionally. 

Telltale signs of possession include superhuman strength, speaking in a language the victim doesn't know, inordinate aversion to holy objects, knowledge of events or facts the victim could not know and according to DIocese of San Jose Exorcist Gary Thomas; CHanges in facial features. 

 

Quote from Father Ernst Alt " Annelise told me - Fran Hein confirmed this- that was unable to enter the shrine" (this was during the holy pilgrimage) "she approached it with great hesitation, then said that the soil burned like fire and she simply could not stand it. she then walked around the shrine in a wide arc and tried to approach it from the back. She looked at the people who were kneeling in the area surrounding the little garden and it seemed to her that while praying they were gnashing their teeth. she got as far as the edge of the little garden, then she had to turn back. coming from the front again she had to avert her glance from the picture of Christ. she made it  several times to the garden, but could not get passed it. Also she noted that she could no longer look at ledals or pictures of saints; they sparkled so Immensly that she could not stand it" 

 

Both her family and her community became convinced that she was possessed. The family asked several priests to perform an exorcism but they said no. they recommended that Annaliese continue her medical treatment. 

In the catholic church a possession can only be done with official permission/ 

An exorcism is grante when the subject meets specific criteria and after a thorough evaluation by the church authorities, and is considered to be suffering from possession or infestatio in Latin. At this point Annelise only had some but not all the signs of possession. However, her condition continued to worsen over time, even though she followed the priests recommendations and continued to take her medical treatment. 

Her symptoms did not subside however, they became worse. Her health deteriorated, she became violent, hurt herself, drank her own urine and ate insects. Not only was she in antiseizure medication, but she was also taking mood stabilizers and antopsychotic medications. nothing worked. her "decease" progressed and she began growling, seeing demons in her room and throwing things. 

 

Father Ernst Alt, a priest, stated that Michel did not exhibit signs of epilepsy and believed she was possessed by demons. He requested permission from the local bishop for an exorcism. In a letter to Alt in 1975, Michel expressed her feelings of worthlessness and the desire to improve, asking for his prayers. She also mentioned her willingness to suffer for others. Bishop Josef Stangl granted permission for an exorcism to be conducted by Father Arnold Renz according to the Rituale Romanum, with strict confidentiality.

The first exorcism session took place on September 24th. During the sessions, Michel spoke about atoning for the rebellious youth and unfaithful priests of the modern church. At Michel's request, her parents stopped consulting doctors and relied solely on the exorcism rituals. Over a period of approximately ten months in 1975 and 1976, a total of 67 exorcism sessions, lasting up to four hours each and occurring once or twice a week, were performed. Towards the end of her life, Michel refused to eat.

 

Death:
Anneliese Michel passed away on July 1, 1976, at her home. The autopsy revealed that she died because she didn't eat or drink enough for almost a year during the exorcism rituals. She was very thin, had broken knees from kneeling too much, and had developed pneumonia.

Prosecution:
After an investigation, the state charged Anneliese's parents and priests Ernst Alt and Arnold Renz with causing her death due to negligence. The parents had a lawyer famous for defending people in important trials, and the priests had their legal fees paid by the church. The state suggested that the priests should pay a fine instead of going to jail, and they believed the parents had suffered enough and should not be punished.

Trial:
The trial started on March 30, 1978, and attracted a lot of attention. Doctors testified that Anneliese wasn't possessed by demons and that her strange behavior was caused by her strict religious upbringing and epilepsy. The defense argued that the exorcism was allowed by the law and protected by the German constitution, which guarantees religious freedom. They played recordings from the exorcism sessions, claiming they showed demons arguing and proved Anneliese's possession. The priests said she was freed from possession just before she died.

Exhumation and aftermath:
After the trial, Anneliese's family asked for permission to remove her body from the burial place because they felt it was done too quickly and poorly. After almost two years, her remains were put in a new coffin. People started visiting her grave as a place of pilgrimage. The number of officially approved exorcisms in Germany decreased after this case, even though Pope Benedict XVI supported using exorcisms more than his predecessor. In 2013, a fire destroyed the house where Anneliese lived, and some locals thought it was connected to the exorcism case.