10 Disturbing Possessions And Exorcisms That Really Happened

While most 17-year-olds enjoy their free time partying, drinking, and lamenting not having any money, Anneliese was disturbed by devilish voices saying she was damned and would rot in hell. Although a court determined that her suicidal wants were caused by depression, in 1975 her Catholic parents believed she was possessed and sought the aid of priests rather than psychiatrists.

Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst were assigned by the Bishop of Wuzburg to cleanse the girl’s soul, and the 22-year-old German suffered 67 rites of exorcism over a period of ten months as the two priests tried to free her from six demons including Lucifer, Judas, and even Adolf Hitler.

In her possessed state, Anneliese tore her clothes and licked her urine off the floor, ate flies, spiders, and coal, ripped the head off a dead bird with her teeth, barked like a dog, and screamed for hours. She later refused to eat, believing starvation would rid Satan from her body, and over time the ligaments in her knees ruptured due to performing 600 genuflections a day.

During her last rite of exorcism on 30 June 1976, she weighted only 68Ibs, and her final words were ‘beg for absolution’ and ‘Mother, I’m afraid’. An autopsy reported that she died from severe dehydration and malnourishment on 1 July, and her parents, along with Renz and Ernst, were found guilty of negligent homicide for which they were given suspended sentences of six months in prison and three years’ probation.