Exorcisms have been a thing for a very long time.
First officially given guidelines in the early 17th century, these demon-removing rituals
have been used by Catholic folks since way before then.
At some point, way too many people were performing unofficial exorcisms, prompting the Church
to step up and set some ground rules.
Probably for the best.
Since then, the Church has been authorizing exorcisms to rid afflicted individuals of
the demons that have infested their bodies.
This has become quite a popular topic to write scary stories about, which in turn led to
a lot of movies being made about exorcisms.
Some of this exorcism media has been based on real exorcisms.
Now keep in mind that a lot of skeptics believe, with good reason, that a lot of demonic possession
is just misinterpreted mental illness.
So a “real” exorcism is kind of up for debate.
Still, there’s some scary stuff that goes on when people believe there are demons afoot,
so we’ll list off a grand procession of actual, recorded exorcisms.
Hello horror heads, and welcome back to the scariest channel on YouTube: Top5ScaryVideos.
I’m your horror host, Keegan Hughes, and today we’re going to be taking a look at
the Top 5 Scary Exorcisms That Really Happened.
Before we dive deep into these waters, make sure you give this video a big thumbs up,
and subscribe for more flushing and fleeing.
Perfect, let’s get started.
NUMBER FIVE: THE EXORCISM OF ROLAND DOE This is a famous one.
Even if you haven’t heard of Roland himself, you’ve heard of the works he’s inspired.
We’ve all heard of William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning movie The Exorcist, right?
Well, that was based on a book of the same title written by William Peter Blatty, which
in turn was inspired by claims surrounding the exorcism of Roland Doe.
It took a while, but this story made it into the homes of horror fans around the world.
Back in the 1940’s, priests of the Roman Catholic Church caught wind of a victim of
demonic possession.
The victim was a 14-year-old boy, under the pseudonym of Roland Doe.
Some say that the alias Robbie Mannheim was used as well.
Either way, he underwent a series of exorcisms performed by different priests.
First, a Lutherian pastor, who claimed that he saw furniture moving around by itself.
After witnessing this, he recommended the boy’s parents reach out to a Catholic priest.
Thus began a procession of priests coming through and attempting to remove demons from
poor Roland.
During these exorcisms, many strange things happened.
Roland managed to snag a bedspring and use it as a weapon, slashing the attending priest.
Another pair of priests claimed to see a shaking bed and flying objects, along with the boy
speaking in a demonic voice, and avoiding sacred objects with all of his might.
The final exorcism saw Roland break the nose of one of the priests trying to assist him.
Thankfully, after this incident, Roland went on to live a normal and largely undemonic
life.
After all of the hubbub, plenty of skeptics and other interested parties investigated
the exorcism.
Much of the recorded information that people refer to when discussing this series of events
turned out to be hearsay, and there really is little evidence to prove that any of it
happened.
In fact, it does seem like Roland suffered from some sort of mental illness, and writers
thought that it was a great story to exploit.
Still, the treatment this boy received thanks to shaky claims of demonic possession is scary
enough.
NUMBER FOUR: THE EXORCISM OF MICHAEL TAYLOR The year was 1974.
Family man Michael Taylor lived with his wife and five kids in Ossett, an English market
town near Wakefield.
Most folks knew him as a relatively easy going man, although he did suffer from depression
linked to a back injury sustained years before.
The townsfolk were particularly religious, but the Taylors were not.
This led a friend of the family to attempt to ease his pain through spirituality.
She brought him to a church group, and he became part of the religious community.
Leading this group was a 21-year-old pastor by the name of Marie Robinson.
As Michael spent more time with the Fellowship, his wife, Christine, grew suspicious.
Michael and Marie started spending lots of time together, engaging in activities like
staying up all night and making the sign of the cross at each other to ward off evil.
In fact, Michael’s personality changed entirely.
He adopted very strange beliefs, and was bad-tempered around the house.
Christine decided she’d had enough.
She called him out in front of a large gathering of people, causing him to lash out.
All in attendance claim that something came over him, as he screamed in tongues and flailed
around.
Eventually, he was restrained by a group of people, and everyone decided it would be best
if an exorcism was performed.
Two ministers were brought to Ossett to go through with it, and it ended up lasting overnight.
Michael screamed and flailed and scratched and bit the whole time, prompting the ministers
to tie him to the floor.
They claimed that 40 demons had possessed Michael, and they weren’t going to leave
easily.
In fact, the priests succumbed to exhaustion at 8AM the next morning.
They told Michael and Christine to head home and rest up for the final part of the exorcism,
which in hindsight was a bad call.
Now whether or not demons actually infested Michael can never be proven, but what he did
next definitely can be.
A couple hours after being sent home, Michael was found covered in blood.
He had killed Christine, as well as their pet dog.
The entire living room was covered in blood, and Christine’s face had been ripped off.
Michael had succumbed to something terrible, and murdered his wife after his exorcism.
Something tells me the Church’s intervention might not have helped poor Mike.
It definitely didn’t help Christine.
NUMBER THREE: THE EXORCISM OF TERRANCE COTTRELL This one is just terrible.
In 2003, a young boy named Terrance Cottrell was brought to a church by his mother.
There was to be a prayer service for the young lad at the strip-mall-based place of worship.
Terrance had autism, which his mother had decided was caused by evil spirits.
The prayer service was intended to drive these spirits out of Terrance’s body, and cure
him of his condition.
But it wasn’t just prayer that these folks employed.
Members of the congregation were to sit on Terrance’s limbs in order to ensure he stayed
still, while the pastor, Ray Hemphill, sat on his chest and whispered to the demons.
This went on for hours, as Terrance struggled.
Eventually, he gave in, and suffocated.
In the investigation that followed, it was discovered that Ray Hemphill had never received
any formal religious training, and was actually ordained by his brother.
He was not qualified to be performing an exorcism, nor was he really ready to be leading services.
What bothers me the most is how blindly the folks at the church followed his lead, allowing
him to literally suffocate an eight-year-old boy.
No charges were laid against the other people involved in this terrible ritual, and they
all cited their Fifth amendment right to refuse to testify in order to protect themselves.
My goodness.
NUMBER TWO: THE EXORCISM OF THE AMMONS FAMILY Most exorcisms involve one person possessed
by multiple demons, right?
Well, what about a whole family possessed by demons?
Apparently this did indeed happen in Indianapolis.
In 2011, Latoya Ammons and her children moved into a rental house, along with Latoya’s
mother.
Soon after they settled in, they noticed that an unnatural amount of blackflies were swarming
their porch.
If that doesn’t seem too weird to you, keep in mind that this was in December.
They did their best to get rid of these pesky insects, but they just kept coming back.
They would hear footsteps throughout the house late at night, and would often find doors
swung open that they knew they left closed.
One night, a dark figure was seen pacing in the living room, leaving wet bootprints behind.
Things only got weirder from there.
Late one night, following the funeral of a loved one, one of Ammons’ children levitated
above her bed for all to see.
After seeking help from a team of clairvoyants, the demonic possession got even worse.
The children would don evil smiles, and their eyes would bulge as they discussed satanic
things and conversed with people who weren’t there.
After one particularly bad incident ended up sending two of her boys to the hospital,
medical staff witnessed the nine-year-old son walk backwards up a wall.
All of this craziness led to the Department of Child Services getting involved, and the
children were taken into custody.
This prompted Ammons to take more decisive action.
She brought in a priest, who sought official permission to perform an exorcism.
Bishop Dale Melczek was reluctant, but Reverend Michael Maginot sought help from other priests
who had performed exorcisms.
Eventually the house was cleansed of demonic presence, but not before Ammons was put through
hell.
This story does have a happy ending, though, as six months after her children were taken
into DCS custody, Latoya was able to welcome them back home.
Honestly, this is an interesting read!
Check out the whole story in the description.
NUMBER ONE: ANNELIESE MICHEL We started with the basis for an Exorcism
movie, and we’ll end with the basis for an Exorcism movie.
Anneliese’s story was eventually turned into The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Originally, it was a tale from Germany.
When Anneliese was 16, she was diagnosed with psychosis caused by temporal lobe epilepsy.
However, being a devout churchgoer, she and her family were convinced that she was possessed
by a demon.
They did try to help her condition using medications, but after five years with no improvement they
were desperate for results.
The family appealed to the Catholic Church, which reluctantly sent two priests to attempt
to exorcise the young woman.
When the exorcisms began, the parent’s stopped consulting doctors.
These events in conjunction with each other led to the untimely death of Anneliese.
Sixty-seven exorcism sessions were performed, during which Anneliese refused food and water.
She succumbed to malnourishment and dehydration.
Her parents, as well as the priests, we found guilty of negligent homicide for their actions.
OUTRO My word.
What’s scarier, demons or people?
Hard to tell after hearing all those stories.
So what did you think?
Were there any real possessions on this list?
Or were people just being misdiagnosed?
What’s the scariest real exorcism you’ve ever heard of?
Make sure you let me know down in the comments.
Speaking of comments, let’s take a look at some of your more airborne ones from the
Top 5 Scary Monster Horror Movies that Changed All the Rules:
Brian Baker says “Those Harryhausen films still look great today.
Loved the homage in Army of Darkness, too!”
You got that right, Brian!
You have to hope someone will resurrect the style in a feature sometime soon.
Han Dan says “When you said monster lovers, my mind instantly went to Monster Musume”
Have you been talking with the guy who constantly requests Monster Girl Encyclopedia videos
on LBQ?
OOO MMM says ‘Japanese reviewers SKEWERED it, not SEWERED it, I think!”
Nah, I meant to say sewered.
Maybe it’s a regional thing.
Kinda like throwing someone under the bus.
SA Inja Woof says “Thank you for mentioning the devastating effect Jaws had on the shark
populations worldwide.
Unfortunately, movies still have very negative effects towards animals.
Every time a new movie with pets of some kind comes out, the market explodes with that type
of pet.
We vets then see the usually unfortunate consequences.
101 Dalmatians was one of the worst.
Dalmatians are not an easy breed of dog for the majority of owners.
Then we have those that take on wildlife as pets, where it's allowed.
I’ll just say, it shouldn’t be allowed.”
Yeah, folks tend to be impulsive when they shouldn’t be.
Do your research before getting a pet!
And that’s all the time we have for today!
Before I sit down on this big cartoonish painted X on the ground, make sure to give this video
a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more devilish details.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.