{{short description|Woman who died from malnutrition after attempted exorcisms}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Anneliese Michel | image = Anneliese Michel.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Anna Elisabeth Michel | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1952|9|21}} | birth_place = Leiblfing, Bavaria, West Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1976|7|1|1952|9|21}} | death_place = Klingenberg am Main, Bavaria, West Germany | death_cause = Malnutrition and dehydration<ref name="Time1976"/> {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes | death_cause = Homicide }} | resting_place = Klingenberg am Main, Bavaria, Germany | resting_place_coordinates = | known_for = Death as a result of attempted exorcism<ref name="Time1976"/> | footnotes = }}
'''Anna Elisabeth''' "'''Anneliese'''" '''Michel''' (21 September 1952 – 1 July 1976) <section begin=Modern criticism of the Catholic Church transclusion/>was a German woman who underwent 67 Catholic exorcism rites during the year before her death.<ref name="Young 2016">{{cite book |author-last=Young |author-first=Francis |year=2016 |chapter=The Return of Exorcism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nkgWDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA216 |title=A History of Exorcism in Catholic Christianity |location=Cham, Switzerland |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |series=Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic |pages=216–220 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-29112-3_8 |isbn=978-3-319-29112-3 |lccn=2016936406}}</ref> She died of malnutrition, for which her parents and the priest who performed the exorcism were convicted of negligent homicide.<ref name="Time1976"/> She was diagnosed with epileptic psychosis (temporal lobe epilepsy) and manic depression (bipolar disorder), and had a history of psychiatric treatment that proved ineffective.<ref name="Time1976">{{cite magazine |year=1976 |title=Religion: A Phenomenon of Fear |url=https://time.com/archive/6852095/religion-a-phenomenon-of-fear/ |url-status=live |location=New York |magazine=Time |publisher=Time Inc. |issn=0040-781X |oclc=1311479 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250509133029/https://time.com/archive/6852095/religion-a-phenomenon-of-fear/ |archive-date=9 May 2025 |access-date=9 May 2025}}</ref>
When Michel was 16, she experienced a seizure and was diagnosed with psychosis caused by temporal lobe epilepsy. Shortly thereafter, she was diagnosed with depression and was treated by a psychiatric hospital.<ref name="Time1976"/> By the time that she was 20, she had become intolerant of various religious objects and began to hear voices. Her condition worsened despite medication, and she became suicidal, also displaying other symptoms, for which she took medication as well. After taking psychiatric medications for five years failed to improve her symptoms, Michel and her family became convinced she was possessed by a demon.<ref name="Time1976"/><ref name="Young 2016"/><ref name="Goodman1988">{{cite book |author-last=Goodman |author-first=Felicitas D. |author-link=Felicitas Goodman |year=1988 |title=How about Demons?: Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World |location=Bloomington, Indiana |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=9780253014627 |page=15 |quote=When treatment by the family physician and various psychiatrists brought her no relief, the bishop of her diocese gave permission to two priests to carry out the ritual of exorcism.}}</ref><ref name="Ebert2013">{{cite book |last=Ebert |first=Roger |year=2013 |title=Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007 |location=Kansas City, Missouri |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |isbn=9780740792199 |page=907 |quote=It involved a German girl named Anneliese Michel, who was treated for seizures and given drugs over a period of five years before the Church finally authorized an exorcism; its investigation indicated she was possessed by, among others, Lucifer, Judas, Nero, Cain, and Hitler.}}</ref> As a result, her family appealed to the Catholic Church for an exorcism.<ref name="Time1976"/><ref name="Young 2016"/> While rejected at first, two priests got permission from the local bishop, Josef Stangl, to perform the exorcism in 1975.<ref name="Young 2016"/><ref name="Ebert2013"/><section end=Modern criticism of the Catholic Church transclusion/> The priests began performing exorcisms and the family stopped consulting doctors.<ref name="Time1976"/> Michel stopped eating food and died of malnourishment and dehydration after 67 exorcism sessions.<ref name="Forcen2016">{{cite book|last=Forcen|first=Fernando Espi|title=Monsters, Demons and Psychopaths: Psychiatry and Horror Film|date=14 October 2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|language=en|isbn=9781315353920|page=132|quote=After a few months, she stopped eating and died from malnourishment and dehydration.}}</ref> Michel's parents and the two Catholic priests were found guilty of negligent homicide and were sentenced to six months in jail (reduced to three years of probation), as well as a fine.
Several religious horror films are based on her story, including the 2005 film ''The Exorcism of Emily Rose'', the 2006 film ''Requiem'', and the 2011 film ''Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes''.
==Early life== Born Anna Elisabeth Michel<ref>{{cite book| first= Uwe| last= Wolff| year= 2006| title= Der Teufel ist in mir| trans-title= The Devil Is in Me| publisher= Heyne|location= Munich| page= 56|language=de|isbn= 3-453-60038-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first= Petra| last= Ney-Hellmuth| year= 2014| title= Der Fall Anneliese Michel| trans-title= The Case of Anneliese Michel| publisher= Königshausen & Neumann|location= Würzburg| page= 20|language=de|isbn= 978-3-8260-5230-9}}</ref> on 21 September 1952 in Leiblfing, Bavaria, West Germany, to a Roman Catholic family, Michel and her three sisters were raised by their parents, Joseph and Anna. She attended Mass twice a week. When she was 16, she experienced a severe convulsion and was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. In 1973, Michel attended the University of Würzburg. Her classmates later described her as "withdrawn and very religious".<ref name="Sicilia Informatio">{{cite web|title=Il Meglio Del Web. L'esorcismo di Anneliese Michel. Una storia terribile. Video. |url=http://archivio.siciliainformazioni.com/societa/il-meglio-del-web-lesorcismo-di-anneliese-michel-una-storia-terribile-video/ |publisher=Sicilia Informazioni |access-date=26 June 2013 |language=it |date=16 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110093324/http://archivio.siciliainformazioni.com/societa/il-meglio-del-web-lesorcismo-di-anneliese-michel-una-storia-terribile-video/ |archive-date=10 January 2014 }}</ref><ref name="Neuroscience2011">{{cite book|author=Society for Neuroscience|title=SfN 2010 - Nano, Theme H, Featured Lectures, Special Lectures, Symposia/Minisymposia, Workshops, Satellites, and Socials|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvDNN9z3PWgC&pg=PT6|year=2011|publisher=Coe-Truman Technologies|isbn=978-1-61330-001-5|page=6}}</ref><ref name="Taz"/>
==Psychiatric treatment== In June 1970, Michel had a third seizure at the psychiatric hospital where she had been staying. She was prescribed anti-convulsion drugs for the first time, including Dilantin, which did not alleviate the problem. She described seeing "devil faces" at various times of the day.<ref name="Sicilia Informatio" /> That same month, she was prescribed Aolept, which is similar to chlorpromazine and is used in the treatment of various psychotic conditions, including schizophrenia, disturbed behavior, and delusions.<ref name="Neuroscience2011"/> By 1973, she began experiencing depression, hallucinated while praying and complained about hearing voices telling her that she was "damned" and would "rot in hell."<ref name="Washington Post">{{cite news |author-last=Hansen |author-first=Eric T. |date=4 September 2005 |title=What in God's Name?! |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090200559.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=William Lewis |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=2269358 |access-date=9 May 2025}}</ref> Michel's treatment in a psychiatric hospital did not improve her health and her depression worsened. Long-term treatment did not help, either, and she grew increasingly frustrated with her medical care after having taken pharmacological drugs for five years.<ref name="Ebert2013"/> Michel became intolerant of Christian sacred places and objects, such as the crucifix.<ref name="Sicilia Informatio" />
Michel visited the unauthorized shrine of San Damiano in Piacenza,<ref name="Young 2016"/> with a family friend who regularly organized Christian pilgrimages to Italy.<ref name="Dégh2001">{{cite book|last=Dégh|first=Linda|title=Legend and Belief: Dialectics of a Folklore Genre|year=2001|publisher=Indiana University Press|language=en|isbn=9780253339294|page=20|quote=Michel's deeply devout, conservative Catholic community was convinced that she was possessed by the devil after they had seen her hostile reaction to holy communion during pilgrimage to patron saint San Damiano in Italy.}}</ref><ref name="cramer">Interviews in "Satan lebt – Die Rückkehr des Exorzismus", 2006, wdr, Documentary by Helge Cramer.</ref> Her escort in Piacenza was convinced that she was suffering from demonic possession because she was unable to walk past a crucifix and refused to drink the water of a Christian holy spring.<ref name="2005Goodman"/> {{blockquote|Anneliese told me—and Frau Hein confirmed this—that she was unable to enter the shrine. She approached it with the greatest hesitation, then said that the soil burned like fire and she simply could not stand it. She then walked around the shrine in a wide arc and tried to approach it from the back. She looked at the people who were kneeling in the area surrounding the little garden, and it seemed to her that while praying they were gnashing their teeth. She got as far as the edge of the little garden, then she had to turn back. Coming from the front again, she had to avert her glance from the picture of Christ [in the chapel of the house]. She made it several times to the garden, but could not get past it. She also noted that she could no longer look at medals or pictures of saints; they sparkled so immensely that she could not stand it.<ref name="2005Goodman">{{cite book|last=Goodman|first=Felicitas D.|title=The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel|date=1 November 2005|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|language=en|isbn=9781597524322|page=34}}</ref>|author=Father Ernst Alt}}
Michel's mother said that she saw stigmata on her daughter.<ref>{{cite web|title='God told us to exorcise her demons.' The real story behind Netflix's The Exorcism of Emily Rose.|url=https://www.mamamia.com.au/the-exorcism-of-emily-rose/|access-date=2023-10-04|website=www.mamamia.com.au|date=22 March 2020 }}</ref><ref name="telegraph">{{cite news |author-last=Day |author-first=Elizabeth |date=27 November 2005 |title='God told us to exorcise my daughter's demons. I don't regret her death' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1504158/God-told-us-to-exorcise-my-daughters-demons.-I-dont-regret-her-death.html |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |issn=0307-1235 |oclc=49632006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709013902/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1504158/God-told-us-to-exorcise-my-daughters-demons.-I-dont-regret-her-death.html |archive-date=9 July 2011 |access-date=4 October 2023}}</ref> Michel believed she could communicate with Mary, mother of Jesus.<ref>{{cite magazine |author-last=Sword |author-first=J. D. |date=30 July 2021 |title=Seized By the Spirit: Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and the Exorcism of Anneliese Michel |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/seized-by-the-spirit-temporal-lobe-epilepsy-and-the-exorcism-of-anneliese-michel/ |url-status=live |magazine=Skeptical Inquirer |location=Amherst, New York |publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry |issn=0194-6730 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730123254/https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/seized-by-the-spirit-temporal-lobe-epilepsy-and-the-exorcism-of-anneliese-michel/ |archive-date=30 July 2021 |access-date=4 October 2023}}</ref>
Michel's family and community became convinced that she was possessed and consulted several priests to request an exorcism.<ref name="Dégh2001"/><ref name="Washington Post"/> The priests declined, recommended the continuation of medical treatment and informed the family that exorcisms required the bishop's permission. In the Catholic Church, official approval for an exorcism is granted when the subject strictly meets the set criteria and is considered to be suffering from possession ({{lang|la|infestatio}}) and under demonic control. Intense dislike for religious objects and supernatural powers are some of the first indications.<ref name="Taz"/>
Michel worsened physically and displayed aggression, injured herself, drank her own urine and ate insects. In November 1973, Michel began treatment with Tegretol, an anti-seizure drug and mood stabilizer.<ref name="Neuroscience2011" /> She was prescribed antipsychotic drugs during the course of the religious rites and consumed them frequently until some time before her death.<ref name="hln" /> Despite taking these neuroleptic medications, Michel's symptoms worsened and she began "growling obscenities, screaming guttural curses, and raving wildly."<ref name="Time1976"/>
==Exorcism== [[File:Bischof josef Stangl Prozession zur Obernauer Kapalle 1.5.1959.jpg|thumb|Bishop Josef Stangl, who approved the exorcism, in a May 1959 photo]]
A family friend of the Michels requested the elderly Jesuit priest Adolf Rodewyk to visit Anneliese, but he declined due to his old age and put the family in contact with another Jesuit.<ref name="Young 2016"/> In September 1974, the local priest who had visited her, Father Ernst Alt, declared that Michel "didn't look like an epileptic" and that he did not observe her experiencing seizures.<ref name="cramer"/> However, between July and August 1975, Alt came to believe that she was suffering from demonic possession and urged Josef Stangl, the Bishop of Würzburg, to allow an exorcism.<ref name="Young 2016"/> In a letter to Alt in 1975, Michel wrote, "I am nothing; everything about me is vanity. What should I do? I have to improve. You pray for me" and also once told him, "I want to suffer for other people{{nbsp}}[...] but this is so cruel."<ref name="Taz"/> In August 1975, Stangl granted Father Alt the permission of performing the "small exorcism" upon Michel, i.e. Pope Leo XIII's Exorcism against Satan and the Apostate Angels, a rite which any priest could recite as it doesn't require episcopal approval.<ref name="Young 2016"/>
In September 1975, Father Rodewyk visited Anneliese with Alt and wrote a detailed report of her case to the Bishop Josef Stangl "unintelligible to third parties",<ref name="Young 2016"/> arguing in favor of a genuine demonic possession and urging Stangl to allow them to perform the major rite of exorcism.<ref name="Young 2016"/> Eventually, Stangl granted Salvatorian priest Arnold Renz permission to conduct an exorcism according to the Roman Ritual (Latin: ''Rituale Romanum''), but ordered total secrecy.<ref name="Young 2016"/><ref name="TWS">{{cite news |date=4 April 1978 |title=Priests convinced woman was possessed |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s1s_AAAAIBAJ&pg=1378,1341502 |work=The Windsor Star |location=Windsor, Ontario |publisher=Postmedia Network |issn=0839-2277 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421140731/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s1s_AAAAIBAJ&pg=1378,1341502 |archive-date=21 April 2022 |access-date=14 May 2011}}</ref>{{refn|"In Nov '73, exorcism expert Jesuit priest Adolf Rodewyk examined Michel and recommended exorcism, which Stangl authorized in Sept '75."<ref>Annelise Michel was supposedly possessed by Satan. Craig R. Whitney (8 August 1976, Aschaffenburg (W Ger)). ''The New York Times'', Page 10, Column 3 (103 words). Retrieved 11 May 2015.</ref>|group=note}} Renz performed the first session on 24 September. Michel began increasingly speaking about "dying to atone for the wayward youth of the day and the apostate priests of the modern church."<ref name="Washington Post"/> Her parents stopped consulting doctors at her request and relied solely on the exorcism rites.<ref name="Washington Post"/> A total of 67 exorcism sessions, one or two each week lasting up to four hours each, were performed over approximately ten months in 1975 and 1976.<ref name="Taz">{{cite web|title=Unreiner Geist, weiche!|url=https://taz.de/!766870/|publisher= Taz.de|access-date=15 May 2011|author=Paris, André|language=de|date=31 May 2003}}</ref> Toward the end of her life, Michel began to refuse food.<ref name="Washington Post"/>
==Death== <section begin=Modern criticism of the Catholic Church transclusion/> {{Infobox event | title = Killing of Anneliese Michel | date = {{start date and age|df=yes|1976|07|01}} | location = Klingenberg am Main, Bavaria, West Germany | coordinates = | type = Homicide by malnutrition and dehydration | organizers = *Joseph Michel *Anna Michel *Ernst Alt *Arnold Renz | motive = Attempted exorcism | verdict = Guilty | convictions = Negligent homicide | sentence = Three year suspended sentence }} On 1 July 1976, Michel died in her home. The autopsy report stated the cause of death as malnutrition and dehydration resulting from almost a year in a state of near starvation while the rites of exorcism were performed.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=6 September 1976 |title=A Phenomenon of Fear |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C918327%2C00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123200801/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918327,00.html |archive-date=23 January 2009 |access-date=25 April 2010 |magazine=TIME }}</ref> She weighed {{convert|30|kg|lb}}, suffered broken knees from continuous genuflections, was unable to move without assistance and was reported to have contracted pneumonia.<ref name="hln">{{cite news |author=Eric Borsje |date=17 June 2013 |title=Duitslands beroemdste horrorhuis afgebrand |language=nl |trans-title=Germany's most famous horror house burnt down |publisher=HLN.BE |url=http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/960/Buitenland/article/detail/1653480/2013/06/17/Duitslands-beroemdste-horrorhuis-afgebrand.dhtml |access-date=25 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620165334/https://www.hln.be/hln/nl/960/Buitenland/article/detail/1653480/2013/06/17/Duitslands-beroemdste-horrorhuis-afgebrand.dhtml|archive-date=20 June 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><section end=Modern criticism of the Catholic Church transclusion/>
==Prosecution== <section begin=Modern criticism of the Catholic Church transclusion/>After an investigation, the state prosecutor maintained that Michel's death could have been prevented as late as one week before she died.<ref name="Press courier">{{cite news |date=22 April 1978 |title=Bizarre exorcism draws suspended prison terms |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AcJdAAAAIBAJ&pg=5443%2C5231320 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421140731/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AcJdAAAAIBAJ&pg=5443%2C5231320 |archive-date=21 April 2022 |access-date=26 June 2013 |work=The Press-Courier |quote=received suspended prison sentences Friday. They were convicted of negligent homicide. ... were convicted and ordered to share the costs of the proceedings. The sentences were stiffer than those sought by Chief Prosecutor Karl Stenger, who recommended fines for the priests, but asked that the parents be spared punishment after suffering the ordeal of losing their daughter.}}</ref><section end=Modern criticism of the Catholic Church transclusion/>
In 1976, the state charged Michel's parents and priests Ernst Alt and Arnold Renz with negligent homicide.<ref name="trial">{{cite news |author=Getler |first=Michael |date=21 April 1978 |title=Cries of a Woman Possessed |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/04/21/cries-of-a-woman-possessed/94bf2fd3-8e64-482d-869d-1f929851ca8f/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828163113/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/04/21/cries-of-a-woman-possessed/94bf2fd3-8e64-482d-869d-1f929851ca8f/ |archive-date=28 August 2017 |access-date=24 December 2016 |newspaper=The Washington Post |quote=Nobody is expected to go to jail. The prosecutor yesterday asked that the priests be fined and that the parents be found guilty but not punished because they have already suffered enough.}}</ref> The parents were defended by famed Nuremberg trials defense attorney Erich Schmidt-Leichner and the priests' defense counsel were paid by the church.<ref name="trial"/> The state recommended that none of the involved parties be jailed; instead, the recommended sentence for the priests was a fine, while the prosecution concluded that the parents should be exempt from punishment as they had "suffered enough,"<ref name="trial"/><ref name="Press courier"/> a mitigating legal factor in German penal law (cf. § 60 StGB).
On July 14, 1977, a ''New York Times'' article reported the Aschaffenburg prosecutor had announced that two Roman Catholic priests had been charged with negligent homicide in the death of Anneliese Michel, who had undergone exorcism a year previously.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1977-07-14 |title=2 Priests Charged In Exorcism Death Of German Woman |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/14/archives/2-priests-charged-in-exorcism-death-of-german-woman.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112003200/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/14/archives/2-priests-charged-in-exorcism-death-of-german-woman.html |archive-date=2020-11-12 |access-date=2023-09-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
===Trial=== The trial began on 30 March 1978 in the district court and drew intense interest. Doctors testified that Michel was not possessed, stating that the manifestations of demonic possession were a psychological effect of her strict religious upbringing as well as her epilepsy. Schmidt-Leichner argued that the exorcism was legal and that the German constitution protected citizens in the unrestricted exercise of their religious beliefs. The defense played tapes recorded at the exorcism sessions, sometimes featuring what was claimed to be "demons arguing" to assert their claim that Michel was possessed. Both priests claimed that six demons identified themselves as Lucifer, Cain, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Adolf Hitler, and an evil priest named Fleischmann.<ref name="Young 2016"/><ref name="Ebert2013"/> They also stated that Michel was finally freed of demonic possession resulting from the exorcism just before her death.<ref name="Washington Post"/><ref name="Press courier"/>
Bishop Stangl said that he was not aware of Michel's alarming health condition when he approved of the exorcism and did not testify in court. In April 1978, the Michels and the two priests were convicted of negligent homicide but were given suspended prison sentences, and were ordered to share the costs of the legal proceedings.<ref name="Press courier"/> The sentences have been described as stiffer<ref name="Press courier"/> than those requested by the prosecutor, who had asked that the priests only be fined and that the parents be found guilty but not punished.<ref name="Press courier"/><ref name="trial"/> <section begin=Modern criticism of the Catholic Church transclusion/> By approving the ancient exorcism rite, the Catholic Church drew public and media attention. According to author John M. Duffey, the case was a misidentification of mental illness.<ref name="Duffey2011">{{cite book|last=Duffey|first=John M.|title=Lessons Learned: The Anneliese Michel Exorcism: The Implementation of a Safe and Thorough Examination, Determination, and Exorcism of Demonic Possession|date=13 July 2011|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |language=en|isbn=9781621890218|quote=This is also mental misidentification of internal information as external information.}}</ref>
==Exhumation and aftermath== thumb|Michel's gravesite, which became a place of pilgrimage After the trial, the Michels asked the authorities for permission to exhume the remains of their daughter because she had been buried in undue hurry in a cheap coffin. Almost two years after the burial, on 25 February 1978, her remains were replaced in a new oak coffin lined with tin. The official reports state that the body bore signs consistent with deterioration of a corpse of that age. The family and the priests were discouraged from viewing Michel's remains. Father Renz later stated that he had been prevented from entering the mortuary.<ref name=hln /> Michel's gravesite remains a pilgrimage site as she is "revered by small groups of Catholics who believe she atoned for wayward priests and sinful youth."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p4-TBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA269|title=Beware of the Other Side(s): Multiple Personality Disorder and Dissociative Identity Disorder in American Fiction|last=Schwarz|first=Heike|date=March 2014|publisher=transcript Verlag|isbn=9783839424889|pages=269|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Washington Post" />
The number of officially sanctioned exorcisms decreased in Germany following the incident.<ref name="DW">{{Cite news |last=Paulick |first=Jane |date=22 January 2008 |title=Planned Polish Exorcism Center Sparks Interest in Germany |url=http://www.dw.de/planned-polish-exorcism-center-sparks-interest-in-germany/a-3082751-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928105913/http://www.dw.de/planned-polish-exorcism-center-sparks-interest-in-germany/a-3082751-1 |archive-date=28 September 2013 |access-date=31 July 2013 |work=Deutsche Welle}}</ref><ref name="The Local">{{cite news |date=21 May 2008 |title=German Catholics bring back exorcism |url=http://www.thelocal.de/society/20080521-12011.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120122203/https://www.thelocal.de/society/20080521-12011.html |archive-date=20 January 2009 |access-date=31 July 2013 |work=The Local}}</ref>
Michel's father, Joseph Michel, died in 1999. In a 2006 interview, Anna Michel stated that she did not regret her actions, saying, "I know we did the right thing because I saw the sign of Christ in her hands".<ref name="telegraph"/> On 6 June 2013, a fire engulfed the house where Michel had lived. Although the local police determined that it was a case of arson, some locals attributed the fire to the exorcism case.<ref name="hln" /><ref name="sat.1">{{cite web|title=(Video & Text) Klingenberg-Exorzismus: Haben Satanisten dieses Haus angezündet? |url=http://www.sat1bayern.de/news/20130612/klingenberg-braende-wecken-erinnerung-an-dunkle-stadtgeschichte/ |publisher=SAT.1 |language=de |access-date=12 June 2013 |author=SAT.1 Television |date=12 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615201505/http://www.sat1bayern.de/news/20130612/klingenberg-braende-wecken-erinnerung-an-dunkle-stadtgeschichte |archive-date=15 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="az">{{cite web|title=Abgebrannt - Das Exorzisten-Haus|url=http://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/inhalt.satansjuenger-in-franken-zum-gruseln-abgebrannt-das-exorzisten-haus.0c752bcd-fac7-4b51-901f-d0e0083b26bb.html|publisher=Abendzeitung| language=de|access-date=16 June 2013|author=Helmut Reister|date=16 June 2013}}</ref>
==In popular culture== * Three films, ''The Exorcism of Emily Rose'' (which focuses on both the court case and the exorcism), ''Requiem'', and ''Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes'', are loosely based on Michel's story.<ref name="Sicilia Informatio" /> * ''First Issue'', the debut album by post-punk band Public Image Ltd, contains a song titled "Annalisa" that is based on the case.<ref>Chris Brazier: "The Danceable Solution" (Melody Maker, 28 October 1978)</ref> * The case and the theories surrounding it were discussed during the fourth episode of the first season of the BuzzFeed web series ''BuzzFeed Unsolved: Supernatural'' in November 2016. * The case and its history were covered in ''Case 11: Anneliese Michel'', a March 2016 episode of the ''Casefile True Crime Podcast''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://casefilepodcast.com/case-11-anneliese-michel/|title=Case 11: Anneliese Michel - Casefile: True Crime Podcast|date=2016-03-19|work=Casefile: True Crime Podcast|access-date=2018-01-21|language=en-US}}</ref> * The exorcism was covered in the podcast ''My Favorite Murder'' in the episode "The Devil's Number". * ''The Last Podcast on the Left'' covered Michel's story in episodes 473 and 474. * The video game ''Faith: The Unholy Trinity'' uses audio from the exorcism tapes for a boss fight. * The song "Anneliese" by the Scottish band Hellripper is inspired by the events. * Metal band Ice Nine Kills used some of the recordings of Michel in the intro of their song "Communion of The Cursed" (from the album ''Every Trick in the Book'')
==See also== * Exorcism in Christianity * Religion and schizophrenia
==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |author-last=Goodman |author-first=Felicitas D. |author-link=Felicitas Goodman |year=2005 |orig-date=1981 |title=The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_DO9AAAACAAJ |location=Eugene, Oregon |publisher=Resource Publications |isbn=978-1-59752-432-2}} * {{cite news |author-last=Getler |author-first=Michael |author-link=Michael Getler |date=21 April 1978 |title=Cries of a Woman Possessed: German Court Hears Tapes in Exorcism Death Trial |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/04/21/cries-of-a-woman-possessed |newspaper=The Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=William Lewis |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=2269358 |access-date=9 May 2025}}
==External links== {{Commons}} {{Portal|Biography|Catholicism}} * [http://casefilepodcast.com/case-11-anneliese-michel/ Casefile True Crime Podcast – Case 11: Anneliese Michel] - 19 March 2016 * {{Skeptoid|id=4248|number=248|date=8 March 2011|title=The Exorcism of Anneliese|access-date=22 June 2017}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Michel, Anneliese}} Category:1952 births Category:1976 deaths Category:1976 crimes in Germany Category:20th-century Christian mystics Category:20th-century German people Category:20th-century German women Category:Deaths by dehydration Category:Deaths by starvation Category:Exorcised people Category:German Roman Catholics Category:German victims of crime Category:Manslaughter victims Category:Marian visionaries Category:People from Straubing-Bogen Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:People with epilepsy Category:People with schizophrenia Category:Roman Catholic mystics Category:Stigmatics Category:University of Würzburg alumni