Anneliese Michel (September 21, 1952 – July 1, 1976) was a German woman who was believed to have been possessed by six or more demons and died while undergoing an exorcism. Her parents and the two priests performing the exorcism were charged. The events later became the basis for the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Early life

Born in Leiblfing, Bavaria. Anneliese Michel was raised in the small Bavarian town of Klingenberg am Main, where her father operated a sawmill. Her parents were strict Catholics and she grew into a deeply religious person.

Hospitalization

In 1968, Anneliese began suffering from seizures and was diagnosed as epileptic at the Psychiatric Clinic in Würzburg. She remained hospitalized for almost two years, and eventually began seeing demonic faces during her daily prayers. Suffering from major seizures, Anneliese returned to secondary school in the fall of 1970, was still able to go to the University of Würzburg in September 1973, where she studied Elementary Education.

In addition to the images that haunted her in the hospital, Anneliese began to hear voices. Coming from a strict Catholic background and lacking any other explanation, Anneliese began to attribute her condition to demonic possession. She grew increasingly frustrated with medical intervention as it did not seem to affect her core problems. When, after four years of medical treatment, her condition and mental depression worsened, she and her parents apparently became convinced that demons or the devil had possessed her.

Exorcism and death

By summer of 1973, Anneliese's family turned to the local church for cure, inquiring different priests if they would perform an exorcism on their daughter. They all refused because the Roman Ritual is very specific regarding the proof that is required to establish an Infestatio (possession). Some of the crucial elements include an aversion to religious objects, speaking in languages the person never learned, and evidence of supernatural powers.

The diagnosis that she was possessed was first made by a local parish priest, Father Ernst Alt, known as a specialist in exorcism, ultimately making the way for the exorcism request for Anneliese being eventually approved by Bishop Josef Stangl of Würzburg in 1975. Bishop Stangl appointed Pastor Arnold Renz to carry out the ancient formal rites

Eleven months before she died, all medical treatment of Anneliese stopped, and the rites of exorcism were carried out secretly in the bedroom of her parent's home during one-hour sessions. Through the course of these often taped sessions, Anneliese presented what she claimed were six separate demons possessing her, including Lucifer, Cain, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Legion, and Belial. She also claimed to be possessed by Hitler as well as a disgraced priest. During her last exorcisms, Anneliese talked about wanting to die in order to save the souls of others. She stopped eating, rejected all medical help, and relied solely upon the priests to deliver her from the demons she believed were attacking her.

Eventually, Anneliese's knees were destroyed through obsessive genuflection. She contracted pneumonia and died at age 23 from starvation (by the time of her death, she weighed only 31 kilograms or 68 lbs). The autopsy report said that her death was caused by the malnutrition and dehydration that resulted from almost a year of semi-starvation during the rites.

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 March 30, 1978 in the district court and drew intense interest. A series of doctors who testified at the trial all basically told the court that Anneliese died of a combination of epilepsy, mental disorders and an extreme religious environment which, in the words of Professor Hans Sattes of University of Würzburg, added up to "a spiritual sickness and heavy psychic disturbance."

Throughout the trial, it was reported, Anneliese's father, 60-year-old Josef Michel, was sitting impassively, tilting close to a special amplifier to help him hear. His wife, Anna Michel, was taking notes steadily, pausing only to moan, "Oh, dear God", when some doctor alleged that her daughter had a mental disorder rather than the devil. Father Arnold Renz presented a commanding figure in his priest's robes, his long grey hair swept straight back and no emotion was apparent in his face. Pastor Ernst Alt, who was wearing dark civilian clothes was the one most involved in the proceedings. He seemed to let no points go by that conceivably could be challenged.

The priests were defended by church-paid lawyers. The parents were defended by one of Germany's top lawyers, Erich

The defense played the tapes from different sessions, sometimes featuring the supposed demons arguing, to prove that Anneliese was indeed possessed. Both priests told the court they remained convinced that she was possessed, and that her death finally freed her. The parents also remained convinced that she was possessed, but not that she was freed.

The prosecution countered with an argument of Doctrinaire Induction, claiming the priests gave Anneliese the contents of her psychotic episodes. Added to the basic skepticism concerning an actual demonic possession was a recognition that the country had been thrown into a paranormal panic with the release of the movie The Exorcist two years earlier. The possibility of that influence affecting the perceptions of mentally ill patients was well documented.

Ultimately, the accused were found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence and were sentenced to 6 months probation. It was a far lighter sentence than anticipated. It should, however, be pointed out that the prosecutor only asked that the priests be fined and that the parents be found guilty but not punished because they had already suffered enough.

During the trial, the major lingering issues were related to the church itself. A not-guilty verdict could be seen as opening the gate to more exorcism attempts - and possibly unfortunate outcomes - in an area where a certain amount of superstition still lives. But for the most part, experienced observers believed the effect would be the opposite - that merely bringing charges of negligent homicide against priests and parents will provoke changes and more caution.

Exhumation

On February 25, 1978, only weeks before the trial, the parents ordered the remnants of Anneliese to be exhumed from her grave. The official reason provided by her parents was that Anneliese had been buried in a great hurry in a cheap coffin. Almost two years after the burial, her remnants were moved into a new coffin made of zinc.

However, among other circumstances preceding the exhumation was a statement by a Catholic nun from the district of Allgaeu 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 possession - the remnants of Anneliese had therefore not decayed after her death. The official result of the exhumation, however, showed that the remnants had decayed naturally.

The exhumation was attended by hundreds of curious spectators. The accused exorcists — Anneliese’s parents and the two priests — were, however, never allowed to witness the remnants of Anneliese. Father Arnold Renz later claimed that he had even been prevented from entering the mortuary.

Legacy

Although Anneliese's exorcism was sanctioned by Bishop Josef Stangl, a commission of the German Bishops' Conference later declared that Anneliese Michel was not possessed.

Bishop Stangl, who approved the exorcism and was in contact a dozen times with the two priests via 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. The bishop maintained that his actions were all within church law. Before the trial, however, Bishop Stangl said that he would henceforth only approve exorcism if the possessed person agreed to the presence of a doctor during the ancient ritual.

There has been some criticism that the district court was trying to protect the church hierarchy. The case also leads to fundamental questions of belief in supernatural events, which, ultimately, is behind the use of such ancient rites as the Rite of Exorcism contained in the Rituale Romanum. For example, a 1974 survey by the Freiburg Institute for Border-Line Psychology determined that 63 percent of Catholic theologians in Germany believe in the devil and in his personal existence. Those figures may even be slightly higher in Bavaria; the German press agency (D.P.A.) in 1976 surveyed bishops in 22 Catholic districts to find out if exorcism was still practised. Three said yes - Würzburg, Augsburg and Passau, all in Bavaria.

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). An upcoming German-language film called Requiem by Hans-Christian Schmid has been announced, and the individuals involved promised to stay truer to the real-life events.

Today, Anneliese's grave in Klingenberg am Main remains a place of pilgrimage for those who believe in the supernatural version of events.

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)

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