Last night Katy and I had the chance to watch “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” together. If this movie was not based on a true story, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much. I’m not really into scary movies, although I will watch them from time to time. I don’t think this movie is as frightening as I thought it was going to be. This movie had a law and order feel to it since the bulk of the movie took place in a courtroom. After watching the movie I couldn’t sleep so I did some research on Emily Rose and the real case. I have also searched all over the internet for audio files of the taped exorcisms. The closest thing I have found is a recording on eBay for $6.99 and I didn’t think it was worth it.

The story is based on a german girl by the name of Anneliese Michel born in 1952. While growing up, her family was largely into the Catholic Church. Because of this she became a strict Catholic as well living a fairly happy life, and had no known medical problems until she turned 16. At this time she started to experience seizures and was diagnosed as epileptic. She was in the hospital (Psychiatric Clinic in Wrzburg) for two years at which time she began to see demonic faces during her daily prayers. When she was 18 she returned back to the University of Wurzburg where she studied Elementry Education until she was 21. Her seizures worsened and she felt that medical treatment was not helping at all. Not being able to associate her seizures with anything else she concluded that she was possessed. In the Summer of 1973 she was not getting any better. Anneliese’s parents are now convinced that she is possessed and they turn to the Catholic Church for help. Since the criteria is very specific for being considered possessed via the Catholic Church, it was extremely hard to find a priest that would perform an exorcism. After being turned down by several catholic priests Father Ernst Alt diagnosed Anneliese and got the infestatio approved. By 1975 the the exorcism was finally approved by the Catholic Church and Pastor Arnold Renz was appointed to do the exorcism. With the help of Father Ernst Alt, Pastor Renz carried out the exorcisms. Eleven months before she died all medical treatment had ceased. The family carried out the the one hour exorcisms secretly in Anneliese’s bedroom. Forty of these exorcisms were recorded where she presented six different demons. During her last exorcisms, Anneliese talked about wanting to die in order to save the souls of others. She stopped eating, rejected all medical help, and relied solely upon the priests to deliver her from the demons she believed were attacking her.
She eventually ruptured her knees from falling on them constantly. She died at the age of 23 after contracting pneumonia and starving herself. She claimed she could not eat because the demons would not let her. The autopsy report said that her death was caused by the malnutrition and dehydration that resulted from almost a year of semi-starvation during the rites. After he death Pastor Ernst Alt and Father Arnold Renz as well as the parent were charged with negligent homicide for failing to call a medical doctor. Ultimately, the accused were found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence and were sentenced to 6 months probation. It was a far lighter sentence than anticipated. It should, however, be pointed out that the prosecutor only asked that the priests be fined and that the parents be found guilty but not punished because they had already suffered enough.

Russian Exorcism Audio (.wma file)
Russian Exorcism Video (.wmv file)
Wikipedia
Transcripts of Audio Tapes (German)