anneliese michel

Anneliese experienced severe psychiatric disturbances from the age of 16 to her death at age 23. Although the faith-based treatment was performed at her own request, because hospitalization and intravenous feeding could have saved her life, both the priests who performed the exorcism and her parents were convicted of manslaughter. The Catholic Church, which had authorized the exorcism, reversed itself and declared it a case of mental illness; however, many people believe she was possessed by demons, and her gravesite is a destination for pilgrims to this day.

Psychiatric Treatment

The stay at the psychiatric hospital did not improve Anneliese’s health. Moreover, she began to suffer from depression. Having centered her life around devout Catholic faith, Anneliese began to attribute her condition to demonic possession. She grew increasingly frustrated with medical intervention as it did not affect what she perceived as her real problems. Long-term medical treatment proved unsuccessful; her condition, including her depression, worsened with time. Continuously haunted by demonic images, and increasingly intolerant of sacred places and objects, she came to feel certain that demons had possessed her.

It is important to note thata throughout the course of the religious rites Anneliese underwent, she took powerful psychotropic drugs prescribed to her by doctors. Below is the timetable of her medical treatment based on information from F. Goodman’s research.

After the third seizure in June 1970, during her stay at the psychiatric hospital, she was prescribed her first, unknown anticonvulsant. The medicine did not cure her of seizures; she also continued to see what she described as “devil faces” at different moments throughout the day. The medicine also causes brain cells to lose sodium; this might have been the cause of Anneliese's absenteeism. Around the same time, Anneliese became convinced that conventional medicine was of no help, as it did not make her better in the least. Growing increasingly adamant that her illness was of a spiritual kind, she asked the Church to perform exorcism on her. At that time, however, she was denied help of this kind. The same month she was prescribed another anticonvulsant, Aolept (periciazine), which raises the convulsion threshold of the nervous system.

November 1973 – Anneliese started her treatment with Tegretol (carbamazepine), which, according to Physicians Desk Reference, should not be prescribed to women of childbearing age due to its dangerous effect on red blood cells. Anneliese took this medicine frequently, until shortly before her death, when she was unable to swallow anything.

September 1975 – Anneliese was finally allowed exorcism by the Church; weekly exorcism sessions using the full Rituale Romanum, began.

July 1, 1976 – on the day that Anneliese had predicted as the day of her liberation, she died in her sleep. At midnight when, according to what she said, the demons had to leave her, she stopped raging. Exhausted but peaceful, she finally went to sleep and never woke up. According to Physicians Desk Reference, taking Tegretol may cause epileptic obnubilation, (a lowered level of consciousness with loss of ability to respond properly to external stimuli) with fever and hypoxemia (lack of oxygen in blood). Anneliese had all these symptoms, which gave rise to the theory that the cause of death was suffocation.

Trial and courtroom charges

After an investigation, the state prosecutor said Anneliese’s death could have been prevented even one week before she died. He charged all four defendants — Pastor Ernst Alt and Father Arnold Renz as well as the parents — with negligent homicide for failing to call a medical doctor.

The trial started on March 30, 1978 in the district court and drew intense interest. Before the court, the doctors claimed the woman was not possessed, although Dr. Richard Roth, who was asked for medical help by Father Alt, allegedly said after the exorcism he witnessed on May 30, 1976 that "there is no injection against the devil."

The priests were defended by church-paid lawyers. The parents' defense claimed that the exorcism was legal and that the German constitution protected citizens in the unrestricted exercise of their religious beliefs.

The defense played the tapes from different sessions, sometimes featuring the demons arguing, to prove that Anneliese was indeed possessed. Both priests presented deep conviction that she was possessed, and that she was finally freed by exorcisms just before she died.

Ultimately, the accused were found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence and were sentenced to six months probation. It was a far more severe sentence than most people anticipated. Also, it was higher than the demand of the prosecution, which had asked that the priests be fined and that the parents be found guilty but not punished.

Exhumation

Before the trials, the parents asked authorities for permission to exhume the remains of Anneliese. They did so as a result of a message received from a Carmelite nun from the district of Allgäu in southern Bavaria. The nun had told the parents that she had a vision that their daughter's body was still intact, and that was proof of the supernatural character of her case. The official reason given by her parents to authorities was that Anneliese had been buried in a great hurry in a cheap coffin. Almost two years after the burial, on February 25, 1978, her remains were moved into a new oak-coffin lined with tin.

The official reports, which have, to date, not been disputed by any authority, state that the body had shown consistent deterioration. Photos made during the exhumation were never released. Some speculate the exhumers moved Aneliese's body from one coffin to the other holding her by her legs and hands, which some speculate means the body couldn't have decayed much. The accused exorcists — Anneliese’s parents and the two priests — were discouraged from seeing the remnants of Anneliese. Also, Father Arnold Renz later claimed that he had even been prevented from entering the mortuary.

The six demons who possessed her were Lucifer , Cain, Nero, Judas, Fleischmann, who may have been the shamed 17th century priest Franken Fleischmann, and Hitler.

In the Emily Rose film, Hitler and Fleischmann are replaced with Belial and Legion, two demons who were mentioned to possess people at various points throughout the Bible.

Legacy

Bishop Josef Stangl, who approved the exorcism and was in contact a dozen times with the two priests through letters on the case, was also investigated by state authorities, but they decided not to indict him or ask him to appear at the trial due to his age and poor health. The bishop stated that his actions were all within the bounds of canon law.

The courtroom case, called the Klingenberg Case, became the basis of Scott Derrickson's 2005 movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose. The film significantly deviates from the real-world events (for example, the film is set in the United States and Anneliese was renamed Emily Rose and the court case was shown with a substantially different outcome). The German-language film Requiem (2006) by Hans-Christian Schmid holds a much truer account of the real-life events.

Today, Anneliese's grave in Klingenberg am Main, remains a place of pilgrimage for many Christians who consider Anneliese Michel a devout believer, who experienced extreme sufferings to deliver many people from Hell.

References

• Goodman, Felicitas D. (1988). How about Demons?: Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-32856-X.
• "Cries of a Woman Possessed; German Court Hears Tapes in Exorcism Death Trial" by Michael Getler, Washington Post (Friday April 21, 1978)^{citation needed]}
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose; Movie based upon this event.
• http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=8898
• Langue française : "La vérité sur l'exorcisme d'Anneliese Michel" par Felicitas D. Goodman. France 1994. http://pageperso.aol.fr/editionsdft/mapage/cinemaartsetculture.html