Famous cases of demonic possession
Clara Germana Cele (1906)
Clara was a sixteen year old student at St Micheal's Mission in South Africa. She is said to have made a pact with the devil, for reasons unknown. Following her deal, she began to exhibit strange behaviors. The nuns reported her making animalistic noises and speaking in languages that she had no prior knowledge of. Over 170 people at her school witnessed her levitating. During her two day exorcism, she strangled a priest with his own stole. She was finally released from demonic hold shortly after. |
Anneliese Michel (1973)
Anneliese Michel has a very controversial case. For one, the story itself is tragic. She was sixteen years old, and suffered from epilepsy and mental illness. In 1973, she began repelling religious artifacts, having outbursts, and drinking her own urine. No medication seemed to help, so her family ordered an exorcism. The request was rejected due to her history of illness. Two local priests attempted to exorcise her over seventy times within a ten month period. She stopped eating and taking her medications, and was dead within a year. Many of her exorcisms were recorded. |
"Julia" (2008)
In 2008, Dr. Richard E. Gallagher, a psychiatrist at New York Medical College, diagnosed "Julia" (a pseudonym) with demonic possession. He claimed her outbursts and behavior were not like that of a mentally ill patient. He claimed she would go blank, and then spew obscenities, often in a completely different voice, and also have conversations with an unseen force. During her exorcism, objects flew about the room and she levitated about half a foot off the ground. |
Michael Taylor (1976)
Michael Taylor and his wife, Christine, joined a local prayer group led by Marie Robinson. Christine accused Robinson and her husband of having an affair. Over the next few months he began to act irrationally, and uncharacteristically violent. The church granted an exorcism, where priests claimed they removed all but one demon. Following the exorcism, Michael went home and brutally murdered his wife. |
Anna Ecklund (1928)
Anna Ecklund was fourteen years old when she began to display unusual behavior. She was raised a devout catholic, but her father and aunt, who practiced witchcraft, had been cursing the girl and tainting her food. Soon she was unable to enter a church, she became violent and sexually depraved. In 1912, she underwent an exorcism that was ultimately successful. However, her father and aunt prayed to Satan to re enter her soul, and she was possessed again within the year. In 1928, she was placed in a convent where another exorcism would take place. Nuns caring for her leading up to the exorcism attempted to bless her food, Ecklund rejected it. Even if the food was blessed in private, Ecklund knew whether or not the food had been blessed. Her second exorcism took twenty eight days, but Ecklund was freed from the demons that possessed her. |