In 2018 the Vatican held a training course
for priests to be trained as exorcists after a global explosion in demand for exorcisms. The International Association of Exorcists,
which represents more than 200 Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox priests, have called the growing
number of demon possessions a “pastoral emergency”. Friar Cesare Truqui has commented, “...today
we are at a stage crucial in history: many Christians no longer believe in the devil's
existence, few exorcists are appointed and there are no more young priests willing to
learn the doctrine and practice of liberation of souls.” For his part, Pope Francis has spoken cautiously
about exorcism, and while he has placed a premium on mental health care, he has also
said that genuine spiritual disturbances must be referred to exorcists. So what exactly is going on in our world,
are we under demonic attack? Hello and welcome to another episode of The
Infographics Show- today we're taking a look at some real life exorcisms. It's a strange conundrum we find ourselves
in. Globally the number of people who adhere to
strict religious standards is on the decline, and faith in science and mental health care
has largely replaced faith in the divine. Yet even with our modern mental health care
and centuries of debunking possessions as simply mental illness, cases of demonic possession
seem to be on the rise. You've probably heard that famous quote by
now, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. Have we all been fooled into complacency by
Satan? Are we in mortal spiritual peril because of
our lack of faith? We can't answer that question for you, but
we can explore some of the most shocking exorcisms in recent history. Anneliese Michel (use photo: https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/78/590x/secondary/Anneliese-Michel-1043015.jpg) In 2005 the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose
was widely regarded as the new The Exorcist. A terrifying film, the movie portrayed an
exorcism that was loosely based on the real life exorcism of a German girl named Anneliese
Michel. Michel grew up a devout Catholic and attended
mass biweekly, and for all intents and purposes appeared to be a normal teenage girl. Then when she was sixteen she suffered a severe
convulsion that struck from out of the blue, and doctors were quick to diagnose her with
temporal lobe epilepsy. A few years later she suffered another seizure
while staying at a psychiatric hospital and was prescribed anticonvulsant drugs for the
first time. The drugs unfortunately did nothing to alleviate
the problem, and soon Michel began describing “devil faces” that she would see throughout
her day. She was then prescribed another drug, Aolept,
which was used in the treatment of psychosis and schizophrenia, and was meant to curb these
delusions. However by 1973 Michel was suffering from
deep depression and began hallucinating while she prayed, as well as hearing voices telling
her that she was “damned” and would “rot in hell”. Despite more treatment at a psychiatric hospital
over the course of five years, her health did not improve and her depression deepened. Then suddenly Michel started exhibiting an
intolerance of Christian sacred objects and places, refusing to walk past crucifixes or
to drink from a holy Christian spring. When taken to a holy shrine she complained
that the ground burned her feet and she was unable to physically approach the shrine itself. When she looked at the people praying in front
of it she described seeing them gnashing their teeth angrily or in agony. Soon after she claimed to no longer be able
to look at the pictures of saints, for they sparkled so brilliantly that they blinded
and hurt her. Michel's desperate family appealed to the
church for an exorcism, but the church declined over and over again, instead encouraging the
family to continue psychiatric treatment. Michel worsened during this period, becoming
physically weak and displaying heightened aggression. She would also regularly hurt herself, eat
insects, and drink her own urine. In 1973 she was prescribed more antipsychotic
drugs and mood stabilizers, though they did nothing to improve her health. In 1975 the church granted permission for
priest Arnold Renz to perform the exorcism, although only under the strictest secrecy. The last thing the church wanted was a media
circus around the poor girl's house. On September 24th, Renz performed the first
session, and would ultimately perform 70 exorcism sessions on the stricken girl over the next
ten months. Claiming that she was possessed with several
demons, including Judas, Nero, Hitler, Cain, Lucifer, and others, Michel would try to weaken
the evil spirit's hold on her through self-flagellation, often beating herself so hard that she had
to be helped when standing. On July 1st, 1976, and after ten long months
of failed exorcisms, Anneliese Michel passed away. She weighed just 68 pounds and an autopsy
confirmed that she had died of malnutrition and dehydration. The priests involved were put on trial for
manslaughter, and during the course of the trial 47 tapes recorded during the exorcisms
were played for the jury. In the tapes Michel is heard to be vomiting,
growling and snarling like an animal, and at times what sounds like two distinct voices
can be heard arguing with each other. If you do a youtube search right now you can
find some of the tapes for yourself, if you dare listen. The priests involved would end up getting
six months of prison time, which was later suspended, and three years of probation. After the trial Michel's parents asked the
court for permission to exhume the body so that they could rebury their daughter in a
proper coffin and with a proper ceremony, claiming that the original burial had been
rushed. When Michel's body was exhumed several people
claimed that the body had not deteriorated as expected, though medical professionals
who examined the remains said that decomposition had proceeded normally. Still, one nun claimed to have had a vision
of Michel's unblemished body, and to this day her burial site remains a place of pilgrimage
for many devout believers. Roland Doe In 1973 the film The Exorcist shocked and
terrified audiences around the world, yet just like our previous exorcism served as
the basis for a future film, so too was The Exorcist based on a real life event that happened
decades before. The case would be so disturbing for all involved
that to this day the identity of the victim remains unknown, and goes only by the monicker,
Roland Doe. In 1940 a 14 year old Doe was distraught over
the death of his favorite aunt who was herself a spiritualist. Before dying she had taught Doe how to use
a talking board- or a ouija board as we know them today- and after her passing, young Doe
tried to use the board to contact her in the great beyond. Doe however contacted something else, something
far darker and more sinister. Soon after making contact with the demonic
entity, strange things began happening around the house. The family heard the sound of marching feet
around them, objects were levitated or flung across the room, furniture was violently pushed
over, and religious iconography shook from their hooks on the walls. Not content to torment Doe at home though,
the entity even followed him to school where witnesses claim that his desk was pushed across
the floor. With the demonic activity taking a toll on
the young boy, Doe was taken to doctors and psychologists, though none could pinpoint
anything specifically wrong with the child, and they certainly had no explanation for
the supernatural occurrences. Frustrated, Doe's parents approached their
Lutheran pastor, who invited the boy to stay at his home for the night in order to observe
him. During the course of the night the pastor
claimed to have heard scratching and clawing sounds coming from the walls, and even saw
a heavy armchair get knocked over completely on its own. The very next morning, he advised Doe's parents
to immediately contact a Catholic priest. Edward Hughes conducted the first exorcism
on the boy at Georgetown University Hospital, which ended in disaster. In the middle of Hughes' prayers, the enraged
child slipped free of his restraints and tore a bedspring from the mattress, using the sharp
metal wire to slash the priest's arm. Hughes very quickly referred the family to
William S. Bowden, an associate of College Church in St. Louis. Bowden and another priest also chose to observe
Doe before deciding if an exorcism was proper or not, and while under observation Doe's
bed began to violently shake as objects moved on their own. Doe also began to speak in a guttural voice
and displayed an extreme aversion to religious objects. Taking their findings to the archbishop, the
archbishop gave his permission for the rite of exorcism to be performed again. Doe's exorcisms went on for weeks, and during
one exorcism with three witnesses, wounds appeared all over Doe's body. Some of the cuts and lacerations were said
to resemble words, or even demonic faces, and would quickly heal. Doe also became supernaturally strong, far
stronger than a 14 year old boy should be, and at one point Roland violently attacked
one of the priests, breaking his nose. Doe was also witnessed to speak in perfect
latin, despite having no schooling in the language, and some of these events were witnessed
by up to 48 people. Roland Doe survived his exorcisms, which appeared
to have been a major success. The child's anonymity has been strictly preserved
to this day, though the only surviving priest who took part in the exorcists assured people
in the 1970s that Roland had grown up to be a perfectly healthy and successful man, with
no recollection of the events surrounding his exorcism. Unfortunately not much hard evidence exists
of Doe's exorcism, aside from the journal of one of the now-dead priests, and the strict
anonymity clause that Doe's family requested has for decades prevented anyone from discovering
his true identity. Yet while skeptics consider the event to be
false, there is still the question of why at least two devout religious men would go
to the lengths of creating such a tall tale, one who spoke about it until his death and
another who refused to speak of it and only documented it in his personal diary, discovered
after his death? Surely if the exorcism had been nothing more
than a fictional story, a priest wouldn't have gone through the trouble of including
it in his diaries, which were never meant to be made public? Yet many skeptics doubt that Roland Doe was
anything more than a particularly wily young teenager, and an investigation into the exorcism
has revealed facts that throw into question the veracity of the account as alleged by
the priests who are said to have performed the ritual. Was it all a hoax perpetrated by a disturbed
teenager wanting nothing more than attention? If so, the hoax fooled at least one of the
priests who would write about it in his personal journals Or was it a real example of demonic
possession? Do demons exist, lurking in the shadows and
waiting to attack? We’ll let you mull the case over tonight
in your bed all alone in the dark and decide for yourself. Are exorcisms real, or is demonic possession
just a psychological condition? If it's all in the mind then why did Anneliese
Michel not respond at all to various rounds of antipsychotics? How was the emaciated and starved girl able
to sometimes overpower the grown men trying to hold her down, and why would such devastating
mental illness strike so suddenly out of the blue? Some have theorized that a tumor had grown
in Anneliese Michel's brain, which pressed onto parts of the brain and helped explain
the extreme behavior- yet two medical examinations of the body discovered no such tumor. Then there's the case of Roland Doe, which
admittedly is rife with possibility that it was nothing more than a hoax. Yet we still have to ask ourselves why would
two priests invent the fictional event yet seek no public benefit from it, and why would
one of the two priests never speak about it his whole life and only record the event in
his private journals? Is the Devil real? Are we really in mortal spiritual danger? Want to hear about more terrifying exorcisms? Tell us in the comments. Also, be sure to check out our other video
You vs Anabelle - Could You Defeat Her! Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t
forget to like, share and subscribe. See you next time.
