The story of a young woman who believed she was possessed was so chilling it was made into a Hollywood movie.
At only 16-years-old, Anneliese Michel's short life began to descend into chaos when she experienced blackouts and full-body paralysis. This was followed by terrifying visions of demonic faces, which continued to haunt her until her death at 23.
With her condition stumping medical professionals, she turned to the church for help where she underwent 67 exorcisms in 18 months. Despite trying to live a normal life, Anneliese was plagued by her 'possession', which saw her speak in tongues, attack family members with incredible strength, drink her own urine, eat spiders and bark like a dog.
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Her life went onto become the inspiration behind three films, including The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Born in 1952 to a devout Catholic family in Bavaria, West Germany, Annaliese had an unremarkable upbringing, where she would attend mass every week.
Her mother described her as a quiet, happy and intelligent girl who loved life. Unfortunately, all that changed when shortly after she turned 16-years-old when Anneliese experienced a seizure.
The paralysis only lasted a short while and then she regained feeling, and as time passed forgot about the incident. But almost a year later, in August 1969, she suffered from another blackout incident followed by paralysis.
This time her parents took her to the doctors, and she was diagnosed her with temporal lobe epilepsy.
But, despite taking her epilepsy medication, things didn't improve. In addition to the blackouts, Annaliese began to hear voices and have visions of demonic faces on the walls of her home.
She also reported smelling foul odours similar to those of burning faeces. In 1973, Anneliese enrolled at university and had even met a boyfriend, named Peter.
Despite the fact that she was still very sick, continuing to hear voices and see faces, she strived to live a normal life.
But she continued to decline. She began to hear knocking sounds on her bedroom walls throughout the night when no one else was around.
She claimed demons whispered into her ear that she would rot in hell anytime she prayed. Anneliese began to believe she was being possessed by the devil himself.
She reached out to her local Catholic church, and Father Ernst Alt believed that she was suffering from demonic possession and urged the local bishop to allow an exorcism.
Father Arnold Renz, who was qualified to perform exorcisms, was called in to carry out a test and was shocked by what he saw.
This frail girl appeared to be thrown from a standing position to the floor by some unseen force.
Detailed notes were taken as Anneliese spoke in tongues, tore at her clothing and attempted to attack those in the room with more force than was natural for a girl her size.
Though the exorcisms were to happen in secret, everything would be well documented and recorded on audio cassette tape. Anneliese herself asked that the tapes eventually be made public so that there would be proof that the devil was real.
During the first exorcism, in a deep, guttural voice, she would claim to be possessed by Lucifer, Judas and Cain, among others.
Ultimately, a total of 67 exorcisms were conducted, with 42 of them being documented on tape. However, Anneliese showed no signs of improvement, with her parents having ceased all contact with doctors at her request.
She died at the age of 23 from starvation, weighing only around 66lbs at the time of her death.
While the church believed this to be a tragic result of demonic possession and failed exorcism, the courts charged both the priests involved and Anneliese’s parents with negligent homicide.
All four were found guilty and ordered to serve a 6-month suspended prison sentence.
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