Imagine being 16. You're sitting in class, talking to your friends.

And suddenly...

your eyes roll back. Your body goes completely still. You stop responding.

For several minutes, you're physically there… but you're gone.

Then you wake up. And remember nothing.

That was the beginning of one of the most disturbing and controversial possession cases in modern history.

Her name was Anneliese Michel.

And eight years later, she would die weighing less than 31 kg after undergoing 67 exorcism sessions, at the age of 23.

But let's go back to the beginning.

September 21, 1968.

Anneliese had just turned 16.

She was raised in a deeply religious Catholic family in West Germany. She was described as bright, hardworking and kind, with dreams of becoming a teacher.

Then she collapsed. Her classmates watched her eyes roll backward until only the whites were visible. They called her name.

Nothing.

Minutes later, she suddenly came back.

The terrifying part? She had no memory of it.

That night, around 2 a.m., her parents heard screaming.

Anneliese was writhing in bed, gasping for air and saying something was sitting on her chest.

Then, just as suddenly...

it stopped.

For a while…

Over the next few years, the episodes became more frequent.

Doctors ran tests.

She was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy and given anti-convulsion medication. Later came medication for schizophrenia, delusions and abnormal behaviour.

But the symptoms continued. 

She began seeing shadows and distorted faces.

She smelled sulfur and rotting meat.

And sometimes, strangely, violets during prayer.

Then came the voices.

They whispered while she prayed.

They told her she was worthless.

That she would burn forever.

Eventually, she said the voices began arguing with one another.

And she couldn't tell where her own thoughts ended… and theirs began.

Then something happened that terrified her family.

Anneliese had been raised to find comfort in religion.

Now crucifixes terrified her.

Pictures of saints terrified her.

During a pilgrimage to a shrine in Italy, she suddenly refused to enter.

She cried:

“I can't go in there.”

Then she described what she was seeing.

“They're all gnashing their teeth. The ground is on fire.”

Her family saw peaceful pilgrims.

Anneliese saw something completely different.

And eventually, she began behaving in ways nobody around her could explain.

She scratched deep wounds into herself.

Smashed her head against the walls.

Stopped eating.

Sometimes she ate insects from the garden.

Sometimes drank dirty water or even her own urine.

Witnesses also claimed her voice would suddenly become deeper and guttural.

By 1975, her family was desperate.

At first, priests refused to perform an exorcism.

Then Anneliese met Father Ernst Alt.

During one visit, he reportedly hid a crucifix behind his back.

Anneliese reacted violently despite apparently not knowing it was there.

Father Alt began to believe that medicine wasn't explaining everything happening to her.

Finally, an exorcism was authorized.

It was reportedly the first officially approved exorcism in Germany in more than 50 years.

And then...

Everything got worse.

From September 1975 to July 1976, Anneliese underwent 67 exorcism sessions.

Some lasted four hours. Some lasted ten. Some continued through the night. And priests recorded many of them.

Those recordings still exist.

During the sessions, different voices reportedly emerged from Anneliese.

They claimed to be:

Lucifer.
Cain.
Judas.
Nero.
Adolf Hitler.

And even a disgraced priest named Fleischmann.

Each supposedly had a different voice and personality.

And one voice reportedly said of the rosary:

“That chain of beads. It burns us. It weakens our hold.”

Then came perhaps the most tragic part.

Anneliese began believing her suffering had a purpose.

She believed she had been chosen to suffer for other people.

She said:

“I must suffer so they don't have to.”

And:

“This is my sacrifice.”

She began refusing food and water for longer periods.

Her parents stopped medical treatment. 

Only prayer.

And exorcisms.

By June 1976, Anneliese weighed less than 31 kgs.

Her hair was falling out.

Her body had become skeletal.

Her knees were badly damaged from spending hours kneeling.

Yet the exorcisms continued.

On June 30, she spoke to her mother.

Her final words were:

“Mama, stay with me. I'm afraid.”

The next morning...

she was dead.

She was 23.

And after all these years, we're still left with the same question:

Was something unseen involved?

Or was there another explanation for everything she experienced?

Maybe the most unsettling part is that we'll never have an answer that satisfies everyone.

So, detectives...

What do you think was happening to Anneliese?

Hit reply. And let us know what your thoughts are about it.

We're opening this investigation. 🕵🏻‍♀️

— The Crime Times

(Your smartest friend who's dangerously obsessed with horror stories. 🧚🏻‍♀️)