The Terrifying True Story Behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose – Anneliese Michel’s Real Case

 The True Horror Behind Emily Rose: The Real Exorcism of Anneliese Michel

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

You must have heard the name of this movie. Today, let’s talk a little about the story behind it.

The character shown in this movie was actually based on a real girl named Anneliese Michel, who was born on September 21, 1952, in West Germany. Her first illness appeared at the age of 16, which was Epilepsy. This disease involves symptoms like foaming at the mouth, seizures, and fainting.

After some time, she was diagnosed with additional conditions like Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) and Psychosis. These illnesses cause hallucinations—seeing things that don’t exist, hearing voices, smelling foul odors, talking to oneself, experiencing fear, anger, self-harm, and behaving as though possessed by some demonic force.

From a medical perspective, all of these were psychological illnesses.

But Anneliese and her parents believed that something paranormal was happening to her. Her condition worsened day by day—she started speaking in a deep, masculine voice, her face would turn black and become terrifying in appearance. She even began eating insects.

One day, Anneliese claimed that six demons were inside her, and she named them:

Lucifer, Cain, Judas, Nero, Hitler, and Valentine

After falling ill at 16, she began urinating uncontrollably, which was strange for a young girl. She often felt a presence around her and seemed scared all the time.

When the demons inside her manifested, they would each introduce themselves, and her voice changed with every name. She would bang her head against the walls until it bled. She had so much strength that she could overpower three to four people at once.

When she was given holy water, she screamed that it was burning her from the inside. It's said that her eyes would turn pitch black. She stopped eating because the demons inside her would threaten, "If you eat, we will burn you."

Now the question arises:

What kind of mental illness was this?

When she was possessed, she would scream in different languages—Latin, Greek, Hebrew—which she had never learned. She would speak fluently in these languages.

Often, multiple voices would come from her at the same time, as if several people were speaking at once. When the demons took over, she would curse everyone. Doors and objects in the room would move or fall on their own.

Anneliese went through unimaginable suffering. She kept repeating:

“Let me die, I want to die now.”

When the demons took over, her voice changed with each one. She would scream:

"I am Lucifer! This girl is mine! You cannot take her! We are from hell!"

And her voice would become entirely masculine.

Her parents sought permission from the Church. After obtaining permission from the Church, Father Renz and Father Alt began performing exorcism rituals on her. Over the course of ten months, between 1975 and 1976, they carried out a total of 67 sessions.

These sessions were held in her room, during which she would:

Speak in a deep male voice

Appear as if multiple people were speaking through her

Scream things like: "We are from hell! I am Lucifer!"

Call out the names of the six demons

Hurt herself, eat flies and insects, drink her own urine

Become impossible to control

The exorcism continued for ten months.

She would say to her mother:

"Mom, let me die. Everything is over."

She had become just skin and bones. Her final words were:

“Mom, I’m scared.”

And finally, she died on June 30, 1976, at 6:45 AM.

After her death, German law classified the case as “manslaughter.”

Following the trial, both her parents and the priests received a punishment of six months in suspended jail time and were placed on probation for three years.

The court stated:

“This was a case of mental illness, not demonic possession.”

The causes of death were reported as:

Severe Dehydration

Malnutrition

Extreme Exhaustion

At the time of death, she weighed only 30 kilograms, and had been sick since she was 16. She died at the age of 23.

Her statements like

"We are from hell. I have six demons inside me,"

her masculine voice, seeing shadows, hearing multiple voices, eating insects, drinking urine, speaking in unknown languages—

Could all of this really be explained by just a mental illness?

Is it medically possible for the brain to do all this on its own?

When I first watched this movie, I became curious to know more about Anneliese. I read about her, and that is the story I’m sharing with you today.

Anneliese Michel’s terrifying case continues to spark debates between science and spirituality. Was it truly a psychological disorder, or a horrifying encounter with demonic possession? Her story inspired countless documentaries and horror films, including The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, this real-life exorcism remains one of the most chilling and controversial cases in history—raising questions that science still struggles to answer.

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Thank you.

Syeda Shehzana Haider