The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel: Possession, Illness, or Fatal Religious Failure?
About this episode
This episode examines the controversial case of Anneliese Michel, exploring the intersection of possession, medical issues, and religious failure.
In 1976, twenty-three-year-old Anneliese Michel died in her parents’ home in Klingenberg am Main, Bavaria, after nearly ten months of Catholic exorcisms authorized by Bishop Josef Stangl of Würzburg. By the time of her death, she weighed approximately sixty-eight pounds. Medical findings identified malnutrition and dehydration as the immediate physical causes. Michel’s case became one of the best-known exorcism cases of the twentieth century because it left behind more than legend. Her medical history included seizures, neurological treatment, psychiatric care, depression, hallucinations, and increasingly severe religious fears. Her family and two priests, Father Ernst Alt and Father Arnold Renz, came to believe these symptoms reflected demonic possession. Around sixty-seven formal rites were performed, and portions were recorded on cassette tapes. The tapes document intense rituals, altered voices, prayers, cries, and claims that several entities spoke through Michel. They also document a situation in which spiritual interpretation increasingly displaced medical intervention as her body declined. In 1978, Michel’s parents and the two priests were convicted of negligent homicide…
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