Full Of It #309 - The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel
Added 2024-10-12 23:00:04 +0000 UTCAnneliese Michel was a German woman at the centre of a 1978 court case who died in the grip of an alleged demonic possession. Her priest and parents were tried with negligent homicide having removed Anneliese from the medication she was prescribed for, what the prosecution argued was, epilepsy and psychosis. Her story is the focus of the horror drama The Exorcism of Emily Rose and makes for a highly compelling Halloween pod moment.
The end of this pod features a real recording of Annaliese's exorcism that some puffins may find distressing.
Comments
Just here to say I think you're on about Special Books by Special Kids for anyone interested in looking into Cecilia and her amazing journey (and many more)
Jemma Victoria
2024-11-08 23:03:41 +0000 UTCI'm really very late, but I've been meaning to chime in and just keep finding reasons to do absolutely NOTHING with my time. I'm a forensic psychiatrist and I found this pod fascinating! Lymp, your objectivity and critical thinking here was so refreshing, and I side with pretty much everything you said. I was particularly thinking about some of my patients (current and past) who are suffering from schizophrenia, or really any psychotic illness, and how religious themes are so prevalent. An individual with florid psychosis, namely religious and persecutory delusions, could absolutely be averse to being exposed to religion-themed THINGS, I guess I'll just call them. And you're so right - the antipsychotics we had back then were few and far between - perhaps we had 10 or so, a guess without using The Goog? Chlorpromazine, the first to be prescribed, had just come on the market in 1951 or so. The side effects were - and are - unpleasant for a lot of people, and even though those first-generation antipsychotics were - and are! - effective for many, monotherapy is not for everyone. I can only imagine the lack of knowledge in combining meds/polypharmacy back then; but even WITH the knowledge, there was a dearth of options. I'm very sorry for the novel, but this was so compelling. Nova, hope you're feeling much, much better! - Nicole
Nicole
2024-10-19 21:42:26 +0000 UTCJust watched Emily Rose. I think I expected a courtroom drama with just a dash of demon but it was scarier than I'd expected. I enjoyed how you meshed the Emily and Anneliese stories. Makes me want to rewatch Primal Fear. Laura Linney. The Catholic Diocese. A priest. Another excellent courtroom thriller. 🖤❤️
Scary Clarey
2024-10-18 21:45:56 +0000 UTCThe scariest part was when the demon yelled ‘bur-donkey!’
Big Witch Energy
2024-10-18 01:48:51 +0000 UTCOff topic but I was talking to my manager and he mentioned My Strange Addiction I said you opened a Pandora's box and I showed your parody. He was cracking up. He said "I liked the Christina Aguilera one" (Nova)
Ted Palicz
2024-10-17 11:42:27 +0000 UTCIt doesn't help that his longer name is Shane Lee, either..
Lee Dawson
2024-10-17 09:30:20 +0000 UTCHi Lymp! Haven’t listened to the whole pod yet but I can’t stop without saying that you HAVE to do a Silent Hill pod with Nova as well. You can’t talk about the film without talking about the games too!
GrizzlyArctos
2024-10-16 21:20:55 +0000 UTCI love this movie! I loved how it cut between paranormal and medical version of events but both were equally horrifying and awful to contemplate. I love how the ending is also very much up to interpretation, whether the paranormal exists or not! Love any movie that leaves you thinking haha like silent hill ending is fantastic! I will be far too excited of you do an episode on it! It'll be like that time you did one episode on zombies I about shit the bed when I say the topic
Morgan Nyhan
2024-10-16 20:03:23 +0000 UTCOlympia I have to tell you.. I was just listening to the latest episode of absolute agony where you and nova were discussing the haunted themed questions.. I wasn’t going to write anything in as, like you, i’m a sceptic who hasn’t had anything particularly creepy happen to me.. except one thing… When I was about 14 living at home with my parents my bedroom was built as an extension and so was quite a long thin room attached to the side of the house, it was so long that my bed could fit up one end while I could also fit a sofa down the other end opposite a large tv stand with my tv resting on it.. one night at about 2am i woke up to a massive crashing sound that terrified me from the other end of my room, I struggled for the light switch and found that the tv had fallen forwards onto the floor, the tv was on a stand with plenty of space around it on the tv cabinet.. there is no way that thing would have fallen off without something pushing it with force! I was terrified at the time but had forgotten about that incident until listening to your podcast and hearing the exact same thing happened to you! How wonderfully creepy, keep up the great pods love xx
Joe Crabtree
2024-10-16 16:58:43 +0000 UTCIt’s been a while since I’ve commented but I just want to say, this is my favourite month of content you gorgeous ladies produce. I cannot wait to see all the exciting stuff you will give this amazing community over the spooky season. Another great POD and as usual am listening today whilst on my train making it a bit less stressful.
Stuart Barber
2024-10-14 09:40:27 +0000 UTCAs someone who works for the local council I can only imagine the bureaucracy of getting an exorcism signed off. Do they have to put a business case together on how it meets the full criteria? Do they ‘hop on’ a teams call to discuss viability? Is there an admin assistant called Sharon that treats it like her fiefdom and won’t acknowledge you until you’ve filled out a particular form and got it signed by your manager?
Josh Lee
2024-10-14 06:02:43 +0000 UTCPoor Nerva, tonsillitis is awful. Will she get them out? I had to when mine never returned to normal size :( P.S In regards to the stinky room in your latest toy video - Have you guys tried pine bark kitty litter? A lot of cat owners swear by it!
BinChicken
2024-10-14 05:09:25 +0000 UTC67 exorcisms in one year is roughly one every 5-6 days! The poor woman! I agree that Jennifer Carpenter is a phenomenal actress, especially in horror films. She was incredible in this and in quarantine. There's an amazing Argentinean/Chilean film called "when evil lurks" about possession if you're interested, the possessed literally rot and bloat from the inside out. It's pretty bleak but so good
Tom Bird
2024-10-14 04:20:50 +0000 UTCI came to the comments to share some thoughts about how her intensely religious upbringing may have informed her delusions and hallucinations. I had some thoughts while completing my Honours Psychology degree that I will try to communicate briefly here. If we can agree for example that aliens or the CIA are not beaming thoughts into the minds of people with mental illnesses that cause delusions or hallucinations, then we can go on to agree that delusions and hallucinations can therefore only be constructed from the existing information, attitudes, etc. that already exist in an individual's mind. Hence, with her religious upbringing, her mind was already full of fire, brimstone. I originally had these thoughts after watching a documentary about a man with paranoid schizophrenia who heard a voice telling him to kill the first pretty woman he saw, which unfortunately turned out to be a young woman just walking out of a grocery store. Amazingly she survived the many many stab wounds he inflicted on her, but I couldn't stop thinking for weeks afterwards how if this man's mind had not already contained some misogynistic attitudes towards women, that the voices in his head, (all of which are technically his voice) might have told him to spend his day doing something else entirely. The description of her physical state in her final year is absolutely heartbreaking. I have to wonder as well if something happened to her at school, maybe she kissed a boy or girl, maybe she drank alcohol, smoked a joint, was she a victim of SA or IPV at her new school, and she internalized the shame so deeply, was so traumatized that her illness and the subsequent delusions were triggered? In abnormal psych we talk about the diathesis stress model and how not all people who have the genetic potential for severe mental illness will inevitably develop it, and how a major stressor, or series of stressors can trigger the expression of those genes which could have remained dormant.
Jilleen S
2024-10-14 01:06:41 +0000 UTCYes! So much yes to the religious trauma! I have been telling anyone who will listen to go listen to Twinnuendo for an inside look into American Christian Nationalism and how it affects children and tears families apart but also while being entertained and having a good laugh.
Jilleen S
2024-10-14 00:40:43 +0000 UTCI was initially so confused because I got Anneliese Michelle mixed up with Alesia Michelle and wondered when she took a break between Eurovision content to get possessed by Satan. Also, very dark, but as an Irish person raised Catholic, I wonder if Anneliese experienced some abuse within the church, which would explain why her psychosis manifested as a fear or priests, religious spaces, religious iconography. Trauma can do strange things. On a lighter note, what is your favorite Halloween candy, mine are the tiny bags of Skittles. ❤️
Sabrina Spunkman
2024-10-13 22:29:33 +0000 UTCGreat pod lymp! Here’s my personal religious trauma it’s fairly mild but… around the age of 6 our church gave a “children’s sermon” in which the vicar gave a very harrowing performance of the destruction of sodom and Gomorrah using fuzzy felts. Fair to say I was absolutely traumatised and refused to go back to church until our vicar retired. I was convinced his eyes glowed red at me as I was sat cross legged in the front row. (Why do they always make kids sit on the floor????) anyway this meant I didn’t get into the only good school in our area because it was a religious school and they contacted this old vicar and he told them I stopped going!! This was a fairly vanilla Methodist in Essex and I still think about those damn felt children burning in hell! So basically I can see how religious imagery can traumatise people and how a schizophrenic mind could take those images and turn them on themselves. It’s truly wild
Esther Renehan
2024-10-13 20:47:04 +0000 UTCThis is an interesting one from a moral philosophy perspective if nothing else. Obviously I don't buy into the idea that this poor girl was possessed, but the intention behind her treatment still plays a part. For my two cents, I think they were right to be convicted: she *was* discouraged from futher medical treatment; she *was* allowed to starve herself without outside intervention; and, because she *very clearly* wasn't in a cogent state of mind, could not reasonably consent to the exorcisms. Just because abusive or negligent treatment is done with good intentions does not mean it's not still abuse. That said, given this was the 70s further medical or psychological support was probably very limited. If this was a more modern case I would frankly want severe sentences.
Mani
2024-10-13 20:22:12 +0000 UTCWow this was so fascinating. My one take away from all this is that the human mind is astonishing. I just find the concept of a believed reality so incredible. Do I personally believe she was possessed by a demon? Absolutely not. But do I believe that everyone involved believed without doubt that she was? Yes. I’ve been recently listening to Darby (of IMHO fame) and her ex-pastor twin brother talk about religious trauma on their new podcast Twinnuendo. Only after hearing them talk so in depth about it do I think I am starting to actually grasp a) how evil organised religions can be and b) how your lived reality is shaped by what you are told. The idea that demons and eternal damnation are literal facts in a persons mind is so wild to me but completely understandable when it’s been taught to you by those you trust most.
Mark Hall
2024-10-13 16:06:25 +0000 UTCJust came across something online that you might like. Have you ever heard of the Schuylkill notes? It's a phenomenon regarding strange notes found in food packaging, boxes of medication and on hiking trails in different areas of the US. They contain info about different conspiracy theories and prominent people. It reminded me a bit of the Toynbee Tiles. Here's the wiki link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuylkill_notes?searchToken=1wi1c05bvpaalib6fq8s6epb8 Can't wait to listen to this pod. Have had my pet rat put to sleep this weekend so feeling very down. FOI is like my comfort blanket in times like this. Thanks Lymp x x x
Chelsea Shapcott
2024-10-13 06:31:37 +0000 UTCWhat another good episode! I guess it’s not my place to really decide on whether or not Anneliese Michel was suffering from severe mental illness or was actually possessed. I have heard of some religious people saying that those who are mentally ill have less natural protections against being possessed. So maybe she could have been both? Just such a sad story. I do believe that her potential epilepsy could be why she couldn’t handle looking at certain religious objects especially if she described them as dazzling. I can’t help but wonder if she was born in the 90’s and her situation was taking place today what it would be like. Maybe they could save her? Also, it was so cool to hear you read my comment from the last podcast that mentioned missing 411. I hope that you’ve had a chance to do more research on it. The potential supernatural element is what keeps me interested I believe. Well I’ve typed enough I think lol. Amazing podcast as always, looking forward to next weeks!
Kay
2024-10-13 04:18:17 +0000 UTCI grew up in a high-control religion and demons were the group's bogeymen. Start with being told demons are watching everything you do and can hitch a ride into your home on any item handled by non-believers; add in the religion's obsession with prophecy and regularly being told that not preaching enough made you a murderer who'd be executed at Armageddon; multiply the total by untreated anxiety, ADHD, and multiple physical illnesses... and (in my case) you get a severely dysfunctional kid obsessed with religion, constantly studying the Bible and religious propaganda, no friends, and perpetual white-hot anxiety and fear. Given that I'd been raised in an environment where spiritual abuse was baseline normal, even after I left the religion, the most frightening teachings had a death-grip on my mind for years. All that to say... I can understand - under those circumstances - a young person developing garbage mental health at the very least. Trauma/PTSD can create aversions and physical reactions (eg. nausea, hives, etc) to people/places/things/ideas. Neurological disorders and the meds to treat them can create quite a bit of brain funkiness. Mundane life becomes its own kind of hell. It makes sense that anything *actually* paranormal (if we're allowed the possibility) would get kicked into high-gear (though usually it doesn't go beyond poltergeist-like activity, if the researchers are to be believed).
Tre C
2024-10-13 00:51:12 +0000 UTCLymp you are singing my song right now in regards to professors at uni I always found myself editing my work to not what was most creative but what the lecturer liked . I did a creative writing course and they had no interest in anything that wasn't an a clone of what is considered literature! Funny story I was nearly on a course at Bournemouth doing script writing and I would have been in the same year as you !
Richard Prendiville
2024-10-12 23:44:26 +0000 UTCTonsilitis can be a doozy, as a local drag queen I would get it 5 times a year from shairng microphones ( who would have thpught). Mics are filthy and no one talks about it. Hope Nova feels better, its like swallowing razors. love the pods especially of late. ps. The Annie one I replay all the time " ROVER!!!"
Mary Scary and KOEKIE
2024-10-12 23:07:51 +0000 UTCI was dreading going back in to work after lunch but lucky, lucky me a new Olympus pod arrives! I’ve started it up. It’s playing in my right ear and will be while I greet shoppers and do my best to get through. Thanks for a 1 hour and 45 minute rescue from a dreary afternoon. Life saver!!
Rallemandil
2024-10-12 23:04:09 +0000 UTC
