The famous movie ‘Exorcism of Emily Rose’ is not a fictional story. It is based on real life story of a real incident that took place. This was inspired by a tragic life story of Anneliese Michel. In the movie the character was renamed by Emily Rose. She was born to Bavarian parents in 1952. She also had a brother and sister.
Before giving birth to her, her mother had given birth to a daughter Martha who died at the age of 6. After death of daughter Martha something prompted mother to put pressure on Anneliese who was so young, particularly when it came to prayers and religious devotion.
In school Anneliese was one of the bright student who used to perform good in studies and used to excel in language studies. In spite of that she was under constant watch of her parents. Her family used to attend mass twice a week.
According to the Doctors, the young girl developed neurosis related to religious iconography. This was due to the constant pressure which she was going through, as a punishment as a young girl.
Anneliese began to develop symptoms of Epilepsy and social stigma at the young age of 16
One day during 1968 when she woke up she was experiencing a heaviness feeling and had wet the bed but after few hours she was fine. Her family thought she was fine, it was just as a normal incident. But the very next year she developed the same symptoms and was hospitalized and was referred to neurologist.
She was not diagnosed anything at that time but soon after she was again hospitalized as per the diagnosis of Tuberculosis. Later when she developed the same symptoms, she said she used to see colors, hear voices and also experienced euphoria while saying a rosary.
Later she became obsessed with the idea that Devil was inside her
Her condition was worsening day by day. She used to experience hallucinations while praying and she thought she was damned.
Her behavior worsened when she started licking her own urine
She was said that she used to eat coals, lick her own urine, ripped her clothes off and has eaten bugs. This led their family to consult priest but they denied and asked them to continue their medical treatment.
Eventually Church granted Anneliese an Exorcism which was to be done in absolute secrecy.
These priests have already claimed earlier that medical treatment along will not work out alone. But still she stopped taking medical treatment and again started focusing on religious interventions.
Exorcism took over 10 months and the young girl went under 67 different one – hour sessions. Audio recordings of the incidents were made. In those audios clearly it was evident how her voice used to distort. She used to make growl and make unique utterances at the name of religious rituals.
She supported the Exorcism in the beginning but later became weaker day by day.
In exorcism Fathers Arnold Renz and Ernst Alt found out that there were 6 demons inside her. Those demons were possessing her. This abuse took a toll on her body and she died in 1976. Her autopsy revealed she weighed 70 pounds. She also had bruises, fractured teeth, black eyes and was also suffering from malnutrition and dehydration.
After her death Father Alt and her mother claimed that they had seen stigmata on her body. Stigmata are the wounds endured by Jesus Christ prior to his death.
After the death, Father Alt and Renz and her parents were put on trial for negligent homicide. Priests maintained that they freed Anneliese from the demons. Both the parties were guilty and were sentenced to jail.
