horror images

- [man in gray] so we're about to discuss a case of demonic possession so chilling and controversial that it actually became the movie the exorcism of emily rose. what follows is the truestory that inspired that, the exorcism of anneliese michel. - ooh. - it's one of the few actualcases of demonic possession that went to court.

- alright, wait didthey like sue the demon? - you'll find out.- okay. - [man in gray] born in1952 in the small town of klingenberg, in bavariagermany, anneliese michel was raised as a strictcatholic and was described as very bright and likable. in september 1968, whenanneliese was 16 years old, she experienced her firstepisode of losing consciousness. and later that night,she felt as if something

was pressing down on herchest, pinning her to her bed. 11 months later in august1969, a similar event occurred and her mother took annelieseto their family doctor, dr. vogt and a neurologist, dr. luthy who examined her and evenran an eeg, a brain scan, but found nothing wrong. they hypothesized thatit could possibly be a form of seizure. over the next three years,anneliese would have

two more similar episodesand was prescribed two medications, ananticonvulsant medication and an anti-seizuremedication called dilantin. on both occasions, an eegwould come back normal with some minor irregularpatterns, but nothing that would definitivelyexplain her symptoms. - [man in red] what year was this? - [man in gray] this was in 1969. - [man in red] okay i'mfine with that so far,

that sounds real. - okay. - spiders on me, sorryif i blew it on you. - [man in gray] it was in spring 1973 that things took a turn for the stranger. anneliese began to hearknocking sounds in her bedroom. sounds her sisters would hear as well. but even more alarming,anneliese also reported hearing a voice damning her to hell.

her mother was furtherrattled when she witnessed anneliese furiously staring at a statue of the virgin mary with, quote,"eyes turned black, jet black. "and her hands seemed to turninto thick paws with claws." - [man in red] those are somechunky paws on her daughter. uh oh! - [man in gray] you knowwhat, let's move on, let's not get caught up on the bear hands. you know what i shouldn'thave even said that part.

- [man in red] yeah we can'tmove past her having paws. - [man in gray] i know, iknew you weren't going to like that, i'm just gonna move past. - [man in red] she hadlike kitty cat paws. - [man in gray] in september1973, in a neurological visit with dr. luthy,anneliese described horrific visions of demon facesthat were tormenting her, and stated that she felt thatthe devil was inside her. she also reported smellingsomething that had the

aroma of burnt feces, astench that many around her reported smelling at later times. - [man in red] why doall these people know what burnt feces smells like? - [man in gray] well i can imagine it just smells like feces with a little smokier. - [man in red] like shit on fire. fuck, fuck is that a bee? - see what you get?

this is what you get. oh fuck! (laughing) around this time,anneliese's mother described these strange occurrences to dr. luthy, who according to mrs. michel, advised them to consult a jesuit,a claim that dr. luthy would later deny. - [man in red] yeah that's a bad doctor.

- [man in grey] yeah, if he said that. - [men in red] don't go see a jesuit. - [man in gray] that is fucked up, right. - [man in red] yeah. - [man in gray] whetheror not that's true, the family definitelysearched for a priest, and eventually found apriest named father alt. in november 1973, anneliese metwith a freudian psychiatrist who diagnosed her as a neuroticwith possible epilepsy.

and another neurologistfound she had quote, "epileptic patterns" andtook her off dilantin and put her on tegretol,a much stronger drug. in july 1975, anneliese'sextremely odd behavior worsened. she barely slept andprayed fervently all night. she ate spiders and fliesand even licked her own urine up from the floor. she destroyed rosaries,crucifixes, and holy pictures on the walls.

anneliese also exhibitedstrength that was quote, "close to superhuman,"throwing her sister, quote, "as if she were a ragdoll." and incredibly was observedeffortlessly squeezing an apple with one hand into, quote, "fragments exploded throughout the room." - [ man in red] i bet icould squeeze an apple until it exploded. - [man in gray] i bet you amillion dollars you couldn't.

- here we go. i mean, this is germany,this is before preservatives. - you hear that in the distance? it's the excuse train coming. - wait for it. you're full of shit, ryan. - [man in gray] now youget to see two hands. - she definitely used two hands. - [man in gray] it said one hand.

(straining) but still, that's notlike an amazing metric. - [man in gray] a priestnamed father rodewyk, a man considered an experton exorcisms by his peers reported that he was convincedthat anneliese was possessed and after deliberation withthe bishop, an exorcism on anneliese was formally approved. it was to be carried out bya priest named father renz. on september 24, 1975, the firstexorcism rite was performed

father renz allowed someof the exorcism sessions to be recorded and 42 audiorecordings of the exorcisms were made in total. i'm going to play someclips from those recordings. but fair warning, theserecordings are perhaps the most disturbing piecesof audio i've ever heard. (speaking in german) - [man in red] you know, she's screaming. she's giving it 110%.

- [man in gray] i mean,do you think that sounds like it came out of a girl, like? - [man in red] yes, it sounds like a girl doing a funny voice. uh? - [man in gray] your unrelentingskepticism is exhausting. it drains me of all happiness and energy and i hope you know that. (speaking german)

- [man in red] that's all, we're all here! it's all, i ran out of evilpeople to think of, uh. the blonde man from diehard is also in here. skeletor from masters of the universe. heath ledger's joker! not jack nicholson, he was too cartoonish! - [man in gray] you had your fun, you ass? - [man in red] yeah, i've had my fun. - [man in gray] okay.

anneliese also named fleishmannas one of her demons. and provided accurate detailsof the real fleischmann who was a priest in the1500s that was kicked out of the church for bad behavior. these details came as anicy shock to father alt who claims anneliese would haveno way of knowing fleishmann - [man in red] that is the onlything that is strange to me. all of the other stuff is justthings that a person could do - [man in gray] to learn moreabout demonic possession,

we sat down with father garythomas, a vatican-approved exorcist who explains to usdifferent signs of possession, all of these, anneliese had. - one would be an aversionto the sacred, so a person walks in this church andcan't look at a crucifix, and their eyes are, you onlysee the whites of their eyes. another would be knowledgeof hidden things, where the demon will begin totell you things about yourself that the person themselfwould have no way of knowing.

another would be possessinga kind of inordinate physical strength theydon't normally possess. then the last sign is a sortof epileptic-like seizures on a person's face and themovement of their arms and legs in a way where they lose complete control. - [man in gray] by may,anneliese became even worse. banging her head againstthe wall and biting herself and others to the point whereher family had to tie her up to prevent her from hurting herself.

but most dangerously,anneliese refused to eat, she described it as, quote,"not being permitted to eat." despite being quite frail,likely weighing under 80 pounds, she exhibited great strength when people tried to restrain her. - [man in red] yeah, i justfeel bad for her at this point. - [man in gray] yeah,i do feel bad for her. - [man in red] she's definitely tortured. - [man in gray] by june,anneliese's entire face

was sunk in, she alsorefused a doctor visit even though she had a very high fever. on june 30, anneliesehad another exorcism, only saying "please, absolution." the next morning, herfamily went to her room and found her dead. despite seeking medicalattention early on, anneliese refused to submit tomedical attention in the end, as she and her familyultimately placed all faith

of recovery into the exorcisms. she died of starvation at theage of 23 after 67 exorcisms. weighing only 68 poundsat the time of her death. - [man in red] do you thinkthat just made her, like, buy into it more? if people startedexorcising me on the reg... - [man in gray] exorcising you on the reg? - [man in red] yeah, imight eventually be like, i guess i'm demons!

- [man in gray] i would agreewith that frame of mind, but anneliese's beliefthat she was possessed predates all the exorcisms or the priests or any of that stuff. after her death, anneliese'sparents and the two priests were accused of negligent homicide. and the case wen to trial in 1978. what follows are thetwo sides of that case. first, let's review theposition of the defense.

the defense presented eyewitness testimony and formally submitted the recordings as evidence of possession,and idea that the court never seemed to take seriously. from a non-religiousstandpoint, the defense argued that anneliese was permitted to deny medical treatment,as was her lawful right. for what it's worth,medical treatment might have included tranquilizingher, force-feeding her,

and electroshock therapy, quote, "all presumably against her will." family friend thea heinrecalled in her testimony that in 1976, a few monthsbefore anneliese's death, anneliese reportedly quote"begged on her knees" for hein to not suggestmedical attention to anybody. also worth noting isthe fact that father alt actually looked for medicalhelp towards the end. and on may 30, his friend dr. richard roth

visited anneliese outof what he claims was scientific curiosity,and not as a physician. - [man in red] hetechnically was just like, "look, i'm not here as a doctor, "i just wanna see someof this crazy shit." - [man in gray] i know,who fucking says that? - [man in red] "i want to seethis girl eat some spiders!" - [man in gray] that'slike something you say when you go to the zoo, not when you go see

someone that's tied up. - [man in red] yeah, thatis a bad man right there. - [man in gray] in his visit, dr. roth claims anneliese had no external injuries, although father renz noticedshe had several bruises, a swollen cheek, and black eyes. an interesting contradiction,to say the least. dr. roth also denied sayingquote, "there are no injections "against the devil."

end quote. - shady. - shady as fuck, yeah. curiously, in spite of all the supposed epileptic attacks, an autopsy revealed anneliese had a healthybrain with no damage that could have caused epileptic seizures. quote, "not even on a microscopic level." what say you to that?

- [man in red] i mean, youknow, oh look i'm not a what's a brain scientist? what do you call those? - [man in gray] a neurologist? - [man in red] yeah, there wego, sorry it's been a long day i'm not a neurologist,i don't know what the... - [man in gray] it'sfunny that you said that because the neurologistsaid the exact same thing. - [man in red] he said"i'm not a neurologist?"

- [man in gray] probably,it sounds like it. he might has well have. yeah fuck, i don'tknow, go visit a jesuit. - [man in red] yeah- [man in gray] jesus christ. - [man in red] just get yourshit stink out of my office. - [man in gray] and evenmore curious was the court's seeming nonconsiderationof facts such as her pupils being unusually dilated,and the absence of ulcers on her body, which arefrequently found on victims

of starvation. - [man in red] okay, alright. - [man in gray] any quotes on that? - [man in red] i mean, you know. - [man in gray] this isgreat, the tables have turned in my opinion. now let's review theposition of the prosecution. the prosecution arguedthat anneliese had epilepsy and psychosis and that theparents and two priests

were liable for failingto act to save her life. the defense tore downnotions of possession, they questioned thecredibility of father alt, with the conclusion fromtwo experts that father alt exhibited signs of schizophrenia. - [man in red] whoa whoa whoa! - [man in gray] yeah, that's weird. - [man in red] that's weird. - [man in gray] he wasn'tthe guy that was doing

the exorcisms, but he wasthe guy that initially helped annaliese in the beginning. the prosecution alsoargued that the medications given successfully suppressedthe epilepsy-like seizures. and argued that thatsuppression morphed into, quote, "a delusional psychosisassociated with epilepsy." they argued that anneliese'spsychosis was exacerbated by the exorcisms which onlyplayed into her fantasy. to piggyback on that, annelieseoften went through phases

between exorcisms whereshe behaved normally. even though she wouldbehave a possessed person during exorcisms, it'sunclear if the epilepsy-like seizures were stoppedby medication or if they actually stopped on their own. but anneliese's psychoticvisions predate the alleged medical suppression. - [man in red] weird, sorry sorry. - [man in gray] weird,basically they're saying that

the psychosis was broughton by the suppression of the drugs, but thepsychosis predates the drugs. exactly. in the end, the court ruledin favor of the prosecution. sentencing the four defendantsto six months in prison, with suspension forthree years, and payment for all court costs. the court ruled thatanneliese was unable to make decisions for herself andshould have been forced

to submit to medical care. professor felicitas d.goodman, an author of a book on the case notes the theoriesthat anneliese was epileptic were presented as, quote,"a statement of undisputable fact, not conjecture, asin fact, they had been." how do you tell thedifference between possession and mental health? - sometimes both aregoing along side by side. you have to determinewhat is the root cause

of the suffering of this individual. you start out with a discernment. and the discernment involves myself and a whole team of people. i have a medical doctor,a clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist, infact a formal exorcism only happens as the last resort. - given the evidence that we've seen, in all the strangeoccurrences, and the voices,

i think there's sufficientevidence to not conclusively rule out that she was possessed,beyond a reasonable doubt. - sure. - so you acknowledge? - i acknowledge there's alot of factors in this case. i personally thinkthere's something going on with mental health, and i also think that 67 exorcisms probably don'tleave your mind in a good spot. - i could see both sides.

i can see how it would be mental health, i can see how it would be possession, i lean towards possession. that being said, she shouldhave gone to the hospital. - yeah, get that girl to a hospital. - she's possessed ornot, fucking force her to go to a hospital andlet the doctors be like "holy shit, the shit's floating around." - psa, if your kid's eating spiders.

- don't take them to an exorcist. or take them to an exorcistbut do it at the hospital. - no, don't take them to, takethem straight to the hospital - you can do both, that's whati'm saying, you can do both. you can have it happen at the hospital. - okay fine, yeah. - [man in gray] regardlessof the court ruling, many have debated what actuallyled to anneliese's death. was it a case of mentalillness, possibly epilepsy,

or was this a legitimatecase of demonic possession? whatever the real reason maybe, the case of anneliese michel is a tragedy andwill always remain unsolved. (eerie music) - looks like we're done here. - no we're not, i'm going to crush this. i'm gonna get somejuice out of this thing. - i don't know what's makingme happier, the fact that you can't get it, or thestruggle in your face

as you see your case slippingthrough your fingers. - this is not my caseslipping through my fingers. - like grains of sand, just falling.