Demonic Possession
“believed by some to be the process by which individuals are possessed by malevolent preternatural beings, commonly referred to as demons or devils.”
Tales of demonic possessions or similar experiences range through almost every religion and culture. The oldest references of demonic possession comes from the Sumerians. They believed that any form of mental or physical illness was the cause of a demonic possession and so they would pray and perform rituals to rid the bodies of the demons.
Each religion has different ideas as to why and how demonic possession occurs as well as different ways to rid people of a demonic possession. One thing is clear throughout all beliefs; demonic possessions allow for a demon or devil to take control of your actions and your thoughts. In history there have been a handful of alleged demonic possessions that shook society and changed the world.
Roland Doe
The sad story of Roland Doe is a story that inspired the famous film “The Exorcist”. This story starts in Washington DC in the 1940’s at the Doe family home. Roland lost his spiritualist aunt, a family member that he was particularly close to. She taught him about spiritualism and Ouija boards and meditation. For years Roland struggled to deal with the death of his aunt because he had lost a friend and a teacher. In early January of 1949 Roland began to experience strange occurrences. He would hear scratches coming from the floors and walls of his bedroom, unexplained water would drip from all over his room and from time to time his mattress would jerk uncontrollably while he was on it. From the outside this has all the makings of your typical poltergeist haunting.
Fearing for their son’s mental health Roland’s parents consulted various doctors, psychiatrists and after further struggles they consulted their minister. After some talks and observations the church decided that an exorcism should be done. An exorcism was performed on Roland Doe in 1949 by Father E. Albert Hughs. The exorcism was never completed though because Roland managed to tear out a piece of the spring from the mattress he was tied down to and slashed the priest across his shoulders.
Days after the failed exorcism Roland began to get red scratches all over his body out of seemingly nowhere. One day the scratches spelled out “Louis”. This made the family believe that they needed to visit their family living in St Louis. They believed that this is where they could save their son. The rest of Roland’s story happens in Bel-Nar on Roanoke Drive.
Once in St Louis the family came into contact with Reverend William Bowden. It was decided that another exorcism would be performed but this time with a group of assistants. The exorcism carried on for well over a week. Reportedly Roland would behave violently towards religious artefacts and he was prone to wild outbursts, screaming and being in a trance-like state all the while speaking in a deep guttural voice. After days of exorcising Roland was completely exhausted and wet his bed and started cursing at the priests. At this point his parents decided to reach out for medical help and took him to the hospital for treatment. He was exhausted, bruised and full of scratches. Nearly a month later Roland was still in hospital and continued to experience the same outbursts and violent behaviour. The priests once again gathered at his bed and surrounded him with rosaries, crucifixes and relics in an attempt at one last exorcism. About seven minutes later Ronald came out of his state and said calmly “He’s gone”. After his release from the hospital Roland continued to live a completely normal life.
Michael Taylor
Michael Taylor and his wife lived in a small town in Great Britain called Ossett. They were a very religious couple and would attend a prayer group lead by a lady named Robinson. Not too long after they started attending the group Mrs Taylor accused Michael of having an affair with Robinson. An uncomfortable situation ensued. At one point Michael started spewing obscenities and acting erratically. This led the women to decide that he must be possessed by the devil. After months of erratic and obscene behaviour it was decided that an exorcism should be performed.
The exorcism on Michael lasted well over 24 hours and it was claimed that about 40 demons were removed from him. Warning that a second exorcism would be necessary, Michael was sent home to rest. However, as soon as they got home Michael brutally murdered his wife and dog and went wandering through the streets covered in their blood. Although he definitely murdered them his charges were acquitted by reason of insanity.
Clara Germana Cele
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Clara was an orphan and a student at St Michaels Mission in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. It is believed that as a young girl she made a pact with the devil and by the age of 16 was possessed by a demon. She began to speak and understand many languages that she had never been exposed to before. She was also able to tell intimate secrets about people that she had absolutely no contact with and it is believed that she could see events coming before they even occurred. She could not stand to be in the presence of blessed items and would reportedly throw nuns across the room and regularly beat them up. One witness account explains that she had been seen levitating in the air and would only calm down when holy water was sprinkled over her. Records show that she underwent a 2 day long exorcism during which she regularly attempted to choke the priest. Clara was cleansed of her demons and went on to live a completely normal life.
Anna Ecklund
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Anna was raised by her mother as a strict catholic although her father and aunt were accused of performing witchcraft on her by adding herbs to her food and using her hair in spells. By the age of 14 Anna started to show signs of a demonic possession. She refused to enter a church, became sexually depraved and could not stand the sight of religious artefacts. In 1912 Anna underwent a successful exorcism but her father and her aunt are believed to have made a pact with the devil to make Anna suffer further.
It is believed that after this she became possessed by multiple entities. In 1928 Anna decided to seek help and went to live with nuns in a convent. The nuns would attempt to help her by blessing her food but any plate of blessed food would be hissed at and thrown on the ground. It is recorded that she would speak in languages she had never heard or understood before and would often be seen levitating off of the ground. She also showed strong signs of clairvoyance. After 23 days at the convent and about 3 full exorcism rituals she was finally declared free of her demons and could carry on with her life.
Carolyn Perron
The story of Mrs Perron is so famously documented that it was the inspiration for the hit horror film “The Conjuring”. The Perron family moved into their 18th century Rhode Island home with the hopes of having a fresh start. After a few nights in the new home Mrs Perron started to see an apparition of a woman hanging from her bedroom ceiling. Brushing it off as anxiety and stress she decided to ignore it. A few more days later she started hearing disembodies voices, doors started banging on their own and family members would be yanked out of their beds by invisible hands. Once again, looking from the outside this has all the makings of your classical poltergeist haunting.
A few weeks after having moved into the home Carolyn started speaking in a low, gruff voice and would display moments of superhuman strength. After the odd behaviour continued for some time the family called on Ed & Lorraine Warren, the world’s most prolific demonologists. After some research the Warren’s discovered that the land originally belonged to a woman accused of witchcraft who had hung herself after pledging herself to the devil. Upon her death she cursed all those who attempted to take her land. Typical scary story stuff. There was also a report with a long list of suicides and nasty murders that had happened on the property.
After months of investigations and bizarre activity an exorcism was performed on Mrs Perron but it was unsuccessful. The home that they lived in is to this day considered one of the most haunted sites in the world.
Anneliese Michel
The possession of Anneliese Michel is easily the most documented and saddest demonic possession that has occurred to date. Her story inspired books, films, websites, movies and even religious movements. Anneliese was a German Catholic that was believed to be possessed by a demon. In 1968 when she was only 16 she started to experience episodes of convulsions and she experienced her first epileptic fit in 1969. She was eventually diagnosed with Grand Mal Epilepsy.
By 1973 Anneliese suffered from a very deep depression and became suicidal. Her behaviour became more bizarre as she started to regularly tear her clothes off, ate coal and started licking up her own urine. She claimed that she would see evil hallucinations while praying and that she could hear terrifying voices telling her that she was damned. With further medical treatment her condition only worsened. Having being raised in a Catholic family Anneliese began to think that she was possessed. She began to feel as if she was repulsed by religious artefacts and could not go to religious places. Anneliese was prescribed anti-psychotics which she may or may not have stopped taking.
After a few months Anneliese claimed that she was seeing devil faces around her. Convinced that medical treatment would not help Anneliese requested that an exorcism be performed on her. In 1975 at 23 years old Anneliese accompanied a group on a pilgrimage. There she met an older lady who agreed with the diagnosis of demonic possession after Anneliese refused to walk past an icon of Jesus Christ and refused to drink water from the holy spring. After years of ineffective medical treatment the Michel family gave up and opted for an exorcism.
Around 67 exorcism rites were performed over a period of about 10 months. Some of which lasted up to 4 hours. At this point Anneliese was refusing medical treatment and believed that her death was meant to be an atonement for the sins of others. In 1976 Anneliese died in her sleep. Cause of death was malnutrition and starvation, part of the exorcism rites. Pastor Ernst Alt, Father Arnold Renz and both Anneliese’s parents were charged with negligent manslaughter. An autopsy revealed that had she received any kind of treatment even just a week before her death she would have survived and made a full recovery. Although the sentencing was unreasonably light, all four parties were found guilty and charged. After her death it was discovered that Anneliese was likely suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, something that can be properly managed with psychotherapy.
Anneliese died a terrible and sad death which could have easily been avoided. During her exorcism rites she would have experienced “rituals” similar to popular torture methods, never mind someone in her state of mind experiencing mass hysteria around her like that.
The laws surrounding exorcisms are strict. For the reasons above. None of the stories in this blog are happy or enjoyable. Although it is said that some of them carried on to live a normal life there will always be severe trauma experienced during their exorcism rites which could boil up at a later stage in life and be the cause of severe mental illness. Exorcisms have to be approved by the Vatican and there are only a handful of priests qualified to perform them. Often in my line of research I come across people, ordinary people like you and me, who tell me that they were exorcised by the pastor at their local church. There are countless reasons why this is not alright. As recently as a few years ago a Maori woman was drowned during one of their curse-ridding exorcisms.
Horror movies are a massive cause for people believing in demonic possessions. I will admit that there are many things in this world that we do not understand and cannot explain, but this in no way means that we should be fearful of it. Not everything that makes us upset or uncomfortable is caused by the devil and not everyone that is out of the ordinary is the anti-Christ. People are people and our minds don’t always work the same and they do not always work the way they should. This is not something that should be punished or tortured. A fortunate few have recovered after an exorcism and had a better life afterwards. But those people are very few compared to those who have experienced permanent damage or died as a result of it. Tell someone for long enough that they are the devil and they will see no reason to be anything different than that.
In the case of Michael Taylor, he was specifically told that they were not able to rid him of the demon of murder and he later went home to murder his wife and dog. This is after a thought was planted in his mind. We are capable of dropping thoughts into the mind's of others and letting the butterfly effect unfold and we use this power way too irresponsibly. By simply planting a word in someone’s mind you can create a chain reaction which causes them to act in a different way or consider something they might never have considered before. In my personal opinion, exorcisms are dangerous and irresponsible and if absolutely necessary should be conducted in front of law enforcement and family lawyers to create a more controlled environment. Even this should only be approved after medical proof that the person in question has gone to seek medical help and has attempted medical and psychiatric treatment. Looking at the cases of all those listed above it is evident that each individual is most likely suffering from mental illness that was left untreated and misdiagnosed as the devil’s work.
