The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel: The Vatican Case That Divided Science and Faith

This Halloween, we're tackling one of the most disturbing cases in modern history...a story where faith, medicine, and the unexplainable collide with tragic consequences.

July 1, 1976. Bavaria, Germany. Twenty-three-year-old Anneliese Michel dies weighing just 68 pounds after 67 exorcism sessions over ten months. Her parents and two Catholic priests believed they were saving her soul from demonic possession. Medical professionals believed she was a mentally ill young woman who needed psychiatric care.

But here's what makes this case so unsettling: we genuinely don't know which explanation is correct.

In this episode, Kathryn and Gabriel present both sides with equal weight, the evidence for possession and the psychological explanations, without dismissing either. We explore the disturbing audio recordings, witness testimonies about simultaneous voices and unexplained knowledge, reactions to blessed objects, and predictions that came true. We also examine epilepsy, dissociative disorders, cultural shaping of mental illness, and the power of belief.

The result? An episode that leaves you more uncertain than when you started and that uncertainty might be the scariest thing of all.

What We Cover:

• Anneliese's devout Catholic upbringing and early symptoms
• The 67 exorcism sessions and what was documented
• Evidence that challenges natural explanation
• Psychological frameworks for understanding possession states
• Why certainty (on both sides) can be dangerous
• Whether mental illness and possession could coexist

Fair Warning: This episode doesn't provide easy answers. We don't conclude she was possessed, and we don't conclude she was "just" mentally ill. Instead, we sit with the discomfort of not knowing, because sometimes intellectual honesty means admitting the limits of our understanding.

Content Note: Discussion of mental illness, religious trauma, starvation, and death. Listener discretion advised.

Sources & Further Reading:

1. Goodman, F. D. (1981). The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel. Doubleday.
2. "The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel" trial transcripts, 1978, District Court of Aschaffenburg.
3. Temporal lobe epilepsy and religious experiences: Devinsky, O., & Lai, G. (2008). "Spirituality and Religion in Epilepsy." Epilepsy & Behavior, 12(4), 636-643.
4. Catholic exorcism criteria: Rituale Romanum and updates from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
5. Dissociative Identity Disorder research: American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5.
6. Cultural contexts of possession: Seligman, R., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2008). "Dissociative experience and cultural neuroscience." Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 32(1), 31-64.

Happy Halloween. Question your certainties.