In 2018 the Vatican held a training course for priests to be trained as exorcists after
a global explosion in demand for exorcisms.
The International Association of Exorcists, which represents more than 200 Catholic, Anglican,
and Orthodox priests, have called the growing number of demon possessions a “pastoral
emergency”.
Friar Cesare Truqui has commented, “...today we are at a stage crucial in history: many
Christians no longer believe in the devil's existence, few exorcists are appointed and
there are no more young priests willing to learn the doctrine and practice of liberation
of souls.”
For his part, Pope Francis has spoken cautiously about exorcism, and while he has placed a
premium on mental health care, he has also said that genuine spiritual disturbances must
be referred to exorcists.
So what exactly is going on in our world, are we under demonic attack?
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're taking a look
at some real life exorcisms.
It's a strange conundrum we find ourselves in.
Globally the number of people who adhere to strict religious standards is on the decline,
and faith in science and mental health care has largely replaced faith in the divine.
Yet even with our modern mental health care and centuries of debunking possessions as
simply mental illness, cases of demonic possession seem to be on the rise.
You've probably heard that famous quote by now, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled
was convincing the world he didn't exist.
Have we all been fooled into complacency by Satan?
Are we in mortal spiritual peril because of our lack of faith?
We can't answer that question for you, but we can explore some of the most shocking exorcisms
in recent history.
Anneliese Michel (use photo: https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/78/590x/secondary/Anneliese-Michel-1043015.jpg)
In 2005 the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose was widely regarded as the new The Exorcist.
A terrifying film, the movie portrayed an exorcism that was loosely based on the real
life exorcism of a German girl named Anneliese Michel.
Michel grew up a devout Catholic and attended mass biweekly, and for all intents and purposes
appeared to be a normal teenage girl.
Then when she was sixteen she suffered a severe convulsion that struck from out of the blue,
and doctors were quick to diagnose her with temporal lobe epilepsy.
A few years later she suffered another seizure while staying at a psychiatric hospital and
was prescribed anticonvulsant drugs for the first time.
The drugs unfortunately did nothing to alleviate the problem, and soon Michel began describing
“devil faces” that she would see throughout her day.
She was then prescribed another drug, Aolept, which was used in the treatment of psychosis
and schizophrenia, and was meant to curb these delusions.
However by 1973 Michel was suffering from deep depression and began hallucinating while
she prayed, as well as hearing voices telling her that she was “damned” and would “rot
in hell”.
Despite more treatment at a psychiatric hospital over the course of five years, her health
did not improve and her depression deepened.
Then suddenly Michel started exhibiting an intolerance of Christian sacred objects and
places, refusing to walk past crucifixes or to drink from a holy Christian spring.
When taken to a holy shrine she complained that the ground burned her feet and she was
unable to physically approach the shrine itself.
When she looked at the people praying in front of it she described seeing them gnashing their
teeth angrily or in agony.
Soon after she claimed to no longer be able to look at the pictures of saints, for they
sparkled so brilliantly that they blinded and hurt her.
Michel's desperate family appealed to the church for an exorcism, but the church declined
over and over again, instead encouraging the family to continue psychiatric treatment.
Michel worsened during this period, becoming physically weak and displaying heightened
aggression.
She would also regularly hurt herself, eat insects, and drink her own urine.
In 1973 she was prescribed more antipsychotic drugs and mood stabilizers, though they did
nothing to improve her health.
In 1975 the church granted permission for priest Arnold Renz to perform the exorcism,
although only under the strictest secrecy.
The last thing the church wanted was a media circus around the poor girl's house.
On September 24th, Renz performed the first session, and would ultimately perform 70 exorcism
sessions on the stricken girl over the next ten months.
Claiming that she was possessed with several demons, including Judas, Nero, Hitler, Cain,
Lucifer, and others, Michel would try to weaken the evil spirit's hold on her through self-flagellation,
often beating herself so hard that she had to be helped when standing.
On July 1st, 1976, and after ten long months of failed exorcisms, Anneliese Michel passed
away.
She weighed just 68 pounds and an autopsy confirmed that she had died of malnutrition
and dehydration.
The priests involved were put on trial for manslaughter, and during the course of the
trial 47 tapes recorded during the exorcisms were played for the jury.
In the tapes Michel is heard to be vomiting, growling and snarling like an animal, and
at times what sounds like two distinct voices can be heard arguing with each other.
If you do a youtube search right now you can find some of the tapes for yourself, if you
dare listen.
The priests involved would end up getting six months of prison time, which was later
suspended, and three years of probation.
After the trial Michel's parents asked the court for permission to exhume the body so
that they could rebury their daughter in a proper coffin and with a proper ceremony,
claiming that the original burial had been rushed.
When Michel's body was exhumed several people claimed that the body had not deteriorated
as expected, though medical professionals who examined the remains said that decomposition
had proceeded normally.
Still, one nun claimed to have had a vision of Michel's unblemished body, and to this
day her burial site remains a place of pilgrimage for many devout believers.
Roland Doe
In 1973 the film The Exorcist shocked and terrified audiences around the world, yet
just like our previous exorcism served as the basis for a future film, so too was The
Exorcist based on a real life event that happened decades before.
The case would be so disturbing for all involved that to this day the identity of the victim
remains unknown, and goes only by the monicker, Roland Doe.
In 1940 a 14 year old Doe was distraught over the death of his favorite aunt who was herself
a spiritualist.
Before dying she had taught Doe how to use a talking board- or a ouija board as we know
them today- and after her passing, young Doe tried to use the board to contact her in the
great beyond.
Doe however contacted something else, something far darker and more sinister.
Soon after making contact with the demonic entity, strange things began happening around
the house.
The family heard the sound of marching feet around them, objects were levitated or flung
across the room, furniture was violently pushed over, and religious iconography shook from
their hooks on the walls.
Not content to torment Doe at home though, the entity even followed him to school where
witnesses claim that his desk was pushed across the floor.
With the demonic activity taking a toll on the young boy, Doe was taken to doctors and
psychologists, though none could pinpoint anything specifically wrong with the child,
and they certainly had no explanation for the supernatural occurrences.
Frustrated, Doe's parents approached their Lutheran pastor, who invited the boy to stay
at his home for the night in order to observe him.
During the course of the night the pastor claimed to have heard scratching and clawing
sounds coming from the walls, and even saw a heavy armchair get knocked over completely
on its own.
The very next morning, he advised Doe's parents to immediately contact a Catholic priest.
Edward Hughes conducted the first exorcism on the boy at Georgetown University Hospital,
which ended in disaster.
In the middle of Hughes' prayers, the enraged child slipped free of his restraints and tore
a bedspring from the mattress, using the sharp metal wire to slash the priest's arm.
Hughes very quickly referred the family to William S. Bowden, an associate of College
Church in St. Louis.
Bowden and another priest also chose to observe Doe before deciding if an exorcism was proper
or not, and while under observation Doe's bed began to violently shake as objects moved
on their own.
Doe also began to speak in a guttural voice and displayed an extreme aversion to religious
objects.
Taking their findings to the archbishop, the archbishop gave his permission for the rite
of exorcism to be performed again.
Doe's exorcisms went on for weeks, and during one exorcism with three witnesses, wounds
appeared all over Doe's body.
Some of the cuts and lacerations were said to resemble words, or even demonic faces,
and would quickly heal.
Doe also became supernaturally strong, far stronger than a 14 year old boy should be,
and at one point Roland violently attacked one of the priests, breaking his nose.
Doe was also witnessed to speak in perfect latin, despite having no schooling in the
language, and some of these events were witnessed by up to 48 people.
Roland Doe survived his exorcisms, which appeared to have been a major success.
The child's anonymity has been strictly preserved to this day, though the only surviving priest
who took part in the exorcists assured people in the 1970s that Roland had grown up to be
a perfectly healthy and successful man, with no recollection of the events surrounding
his exorcism.
Unfortunately not much hard evidence exists of Doe's exorcism, aside from the journal
of one of the now-dead priests, and the strict anonymity clause that Doe's family requested
has for decades prevented anyone from discovering his true identity.
Yet while skeptics consider the event to be false, there is still the question of why
at least two devout religious men would go to the lengths of creating such a tall tale,
one who spoke about it until his death and another who refused to speak of it and only
documented it in his personal diary, discovered after his death?
Surely if the exorcism had been nothing more than a fictional story, a priest wouldn't
have gone through the trouble of including it in his diaries, which were never meant
to be made public?
Yet many skeptics doubt that Roland Doe was anything more than a particularly wily young
teenager, and an investigation into the exorcism has revealed facts that throw into question
the veracity of the account as alleged by the priests who are said to have performed
the ritual.
Was it all a hoax perpetrated by a disturbed teenager wanting nothing more than attention?
If so, the hoax fooled at least one of the priests who would write about it in his personal
journals Or was it a real example of demonic possession?
Do demons exist, lurking in the shadows and waiting to attack?
We’ll let you mull the case over tonight in your bed all alone in the dark and decide
for yourself.
Are exorcisms real, or is demonic possession just a psychological condition?
If it's all in the mind then why did Anneliese Michel not respond at all to various rounds
of antipsychotics?
How was the emaciated and starved girl able to sometimes overpower the grown men trying
to hold her down, and why would such devastating mental illness strike so suddenly out of the
blue?
Some have theorized that a tumor had grown in Anneliese Michel's brain, which pressed
onto parts of the brain and helped explain the extreme behavior- yet two medical examinations
of the body discovered no such tumor.
Then there's the case of Roland Doe, which admittedly is rife with possibility that it
was nothing more than a hoax.
Yet we still have to ask ourselves why would two priests invent the fictional event yet
seek no public benefit from it, and why would one of the two priests never speak about it
his whole life and only record the event in his private journals?
Is the Devil real?
Are we really in mortal spiritual danger?
Want to hear about more terrifying exorcisms?
Tell us in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other video You vs Anabelle - Could You Defeat Her!
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.