The exorcism of Anneliese Michel isn’t just one of the most disturbing cases in modern history, it’s one that continues to raise difficult questions about the collision of faith, medicine, and personal belief. In 1970s Germany, a young woman who was diagnosed with epilepsy became the subject of 67 sanctioned exorcisms … Needless to say, she didn’t survive them.
The debate over what really happened — demonic possession or untreated mental illness — has never fully gone away. And maybe it never will.
A Quiet Life, a Violent Shift
Anneliese Michel grew up in a small Bavarian town, part of a deeply religious Catholic family. Her life took a sharp turn in her teenage years, however, when she began experiencing seizures. Doctors diagnosed her with temporal lobe epilepsy, a condition which is known to cause vivid hallucinations, intense emotions, and, in some cases, a kind of religious intensity.
But her symptoms went beyond what doctors — or her community — seemed able to explain. Over time, her behavior grew increasingly erratic. She began hearing voices, became aggressive, and reportedly saw demonic faces. Desperate for answers, her parents turned away from medicine and toward the Church. They were convinced something darker was at play.
Exorcism as Treatment
By 1975, Anneliese had stopped responding to medication. At least, that’s how it appeared. Her family and two priests, Father Ernst Alt and Father Arnold Renz, believed she was possessed. Over ten months, they conducted 67 exorcisms, some lasting hours. She was subjected to prayers, physical restraint, and long periods without food.
She became emaciated, bruised, and withdrawn. Audio recordings from the sessions, which are still available online, reveal her screaming for hours, her voice distorted and raw. By mid-1976, she weighed just 68 pounds.
Annaliese died in her home on July 1 from malnutrition and dehydration.
What the Courts Decided
The fallout was immediate. Her parents and the priests were charged with negligent homicide. During the 1978 trial, arguments bounced between science and faith. The prosecution pointed to epilepsy and psychosis. The defense insisted that possession was real, and that Anneliese had asked for the exorcisms herself.
In the end, the priests received suspended prison sentences. The parents were spared punishment. The court acknowledged that everyone involved believed they were helping her.
But belief didn’t save her. And the medical system, by then pushed aside, never had the chance to …
Legacy or Cautionary Tale?
In the years since, Anneliese Michel’s story has been fictionalized, analyzed, and mythologized. Films like The Exorcism of Emily Rose were loosely based on her case, further blurring the line between fact and fiction. Religious groups saw her as a martyr. Skeptics saw a system failure.
And somewhere in the middle is the truth of a young woman who suffered, perhaps from a treatable illness, perhaps from something we still don’t fully understand, and died because no one could agree on how to help her.
Her story endures because it forces a confrontation. Between science and superstition. Between care and conviction. Between the idea of evil, and the more mundane, more tragic reality of being misunderstood.
