In 2005, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” terrified audiences with its depiction of the fatal exorcism of a 19-year-old girl who may never have been possessed by the devil at all. But as chilling as the movie’s central story was, it wasn’t invented by some Hollywood screenwriter. In fact, it was based on the horrifying true story of a series of exorcisms that took place in Germany in the 1970s.
It was then that the parents of a young woman named Anneliese Michel sought help from the Catholic Church because they believed she was possessed by demons. Whenever she prayed, she heard taunting voices. Meanwhile, she was overcome with strange, sudden, and repeated compulsions to do things like tear off her clothes, bark like a dog, and eat spiders.
Before long, her highly religious parents brought in two priests who attempted to wrest the so-called demons from her body. They subjected her to 67 exorcisms, some of which lasted as long as four hours. In tapes of these sessions, Michel can be heard screaming in guttural, unearthly tones as the priests chant and try to use holy water to “cure” her. After ten months, these exorcisms left Anneliese Michel dead at the age of just 23.
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