Episode 132: The Deadly Exorcism of Anneliese Michel

In the quiet town of Klingenberg, Bavaria, a young woman named Anneliese Michel became the center of one of the most disturbing and controversial true crime stories in modern history. Her case, now infamous around the world, continues to raise difficult questions about the intersection of faith, mental health, and responsibility.

Born in 1952 to a devout Roman Catholic family, Anneliese was a quiet, deeply religious girl who lived a life marked by devotion and discipline. But by the age of sixteen, she began experiencing frightening symptoms: seizures, hallucinations, and feelings of overwhelming dread. Diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy and later depression, Anneliese received medical and psychiatric treatment for years. Yet despite the interventions of doctors, her condition only worsened.

She began to speak of demonic visions, hearing voices damning her to hell. Her aversion to religious objects and sacred spaces grew so intense that even priests began to wonder if something beyond illness was at work. In 1975, with the blessing of Bishop Josef Stangl, two priests—Ernst Alt and Arnold Renz—were granted permission to perform the Rite of Exorcism, a centuries-old Catholic ritual rarely used in modern times.

Over the next ten months, Anneliese endured 67 exorcism sessions, each lasting hours. She screamed, growled, claimed to be possessed by six demons—including Lucifer, Hitler, and Judas Iscariot—and suffered horrifying physical and mental deterioration. Her health declined rapidly. By the time of her death in July 1976, Anneliese weighed just 68 pounds, her knees shattered from constant genuflection, her body broken and exhausted. She was only 23 years old.

What followed was a criminal trial that riveted West Germany. Anneliese’s parents and the two priests were charged with negligent homicide. Medical experts testified that she had died from malnutrition and dehydration, that her symptoms were signs of untreated mental illness—not possession. The court agreed. All four were found guilty, though the sentences were suspended.

In the years since, Anneliese Michel’s story has taken on a mythic quality. Her grave became a pilgrimage site. Her life inspired books, documentaries, and the 2005 horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose. But beyond the headlines and sensationalism lies a young woman whose suffering was tragically misunderstood—and ultimately, fatal.

Her case led to changes in how the Catholic Church approached exorcism. It also forced a reckoning in Germany and beyond about the limits of belief and the dangers of ignoring medical science.

Nearly fifty years later, the legacy of Anneliese Michel endures—not as a tale of supernatural victory, but as a stark reminder of what happens when faith blinds us to the real human being in front of us.