Topics: News, US News, Film and TV
Films often love to be able to say their horror movie is based on real-events but in the case of Anneliese Michel, the truth of her story is worse than the film it inspired.
Real life stories can often be more tragic than films could ever depict and this is certainly true regarding the story of German-born Annelise Michel who was raised in a strict Catholic family.
Her life went on to inspire the film, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and it dived into the difficulties of her life.
The 2005 film was a box office success and followed a defense counsel (Laura Linney) representing a parish priest (Tom Wilkinson), who is accused of negligent homicide after he performed an exorcism on 19-year-old student Emily Rose.
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Michel’s story is considerably worse than the story depicted however.
Michel was pressured to live a very religious life and suffered through a total of 67 ‘exorcisms’ during her life. She and her three sisters endured a life of austerity, they had no friends and the girls spent most of their time inside praying.
And at the age of 16, Anneliese’s life started to take a drastic turn, falling into trances and wetting the bed.
She also experienced inexplicable blackouts - something that really stumped doctors.
Some of her nearest and dearest found the trances as disturbing - but this was only the beginning for Michel's problems.
These problems continued for a while and it wasn't until 1970 when doctors actually discovered something medically wrong with her.
Michel was hospitalized with a case of tuberculosis, which is a bacterial infection spread through tiny droplets of water from an infected person, such as coughs or sneezes.
As she recovered, Michel claimed the voices inside her head had begun to escalate but no one could quite understand why.
By 1973, epileptic seizures also surfaced, with terrifying hallucinations and the presence of ‘devil faces’ had become a regular occurrence.
Michel began believing that she was possessed by the devil, with witnesses also claiming she would lick urine from the floor and strip off her clothes.
As a result, the clergymen believed they had no choice but to perform 67 exorcisms on the young woman.
The first of many rituals was performed in September 1975, with the first exorcism revealing at least six demons inhabiting Michel's body.
They restrained her for hours, but to no avail.
Michel eventually stopped eating and her body began to shutdown. She was also had bruises and sores all over her body.
In July 1976, she died of malnutrition and dehydration. After her death, her parents and the priests were convicted with negligent homicide but were given suspended prison sentences.
Michel's story is usually attributed to mental illness which went improperly treated.
