IAHGames

I promise this is the only scary picture I will show
Source: movieposter.com

So you think games and movies are the only places you'll see unbelievable characters or people caught in out-of-this-dimension situations? Think again!!

In this new column, we trawl through our massive collection of DVDs, spend hundreds of hours in a darkened room alone with movies, feverishly taking notes while stuffing our faces with week-old popcorn and… okay... not really. Anyway, welcome to Larger Than Life, where we feature unbelievable REAL people and the movies inspired by them...

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) alternates between flashbacks of Emily Rose’s horrific experiences and exorcism and scenes in the courtroom where the priest who carried out the exorcism stands trial for her death. Eventually Father Moore, her priest, is convicted of negligent homicide. Wait, this really happened??

 The real ‘Emily Rose’
Source: ChasingTheFrog

Meet Anneliese Michel, the inspiration behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Her story also inspired a German movie, Requiem (2006). A Catholic born in 1952 Germany, she started having convulsions while in high school. This grew in intensity until her death eight years later in 1976. She was said to have been a victim of demonic possession, but was diagnosed as having Grand Mal epilepsy (French: Big Illness) and psychosis.

After years of psychiatric treatment, there was no improvement in Anneliese’s condition. In autumn 1970 she had begun to believe that she was possessed, but when she mentioned this to her doctors, they seemed equally helpless. At this point, Anneliese lost hope in medicine. As her condition grew increasingly worse, her parents started to ask pastors to perform an exorcism in the autumn of 1973. Their requests were rejected until a whole two years later.

Exorcism: Deals 223-256 damage to Undead
Source: icanhascheezburger.com

According to the Vatican, certain requirements must be fulfilled before a person is deemed demonically possessed. If you are a horror movie buff and have watched The Exorcist, these are pretty obvious: speaking in tongues that have never been learnt, displaying an aversion to religious objects, and possessing supernatural powers. In the modern day, hysteria and mental illness must first be ruled out. It is reported that only 1 in 5000 cases are genuine.

Let's go through the checklist for Anneliese Michel...

Speaking in tongues
In a famous scene in the movie, the character Emily Rose reportedly speaks in six different languages, admitting she is possessed by six demons, as Anneliese had reportedly done. A possible explanation to debunk this is during her religious classes in church, she could have studied the ancient languages and she had studied German during her stint in high school.

Aversion to religious objects
In 1975 Anneliese went on a pilgrimage with an older woman who reported that the girl was unable to walk past a certain icon of Jesus Christ and even refused to drink the water of a holy spring.  Her demonic possession was also verified by an exorcist in a nearby town.

Supernatural powers
As for supernatural strength, Anneliese reportedly needed up to three men to hold her down during her fits, and even required chaining up.

Maybe not as insanely superhuman as this, huh
Source: planningfamily.com

However, there exists something termed hysterical strength. No, it’s not where you go all hysterical, kicking and screaming and crying while lifting a frying pan above your head. These are anecdotal evidence of your everyday folk performing feats of amazing strength in high-stress situations – possibly caused by high levels of adrenaline in the body.

Let’s swing back to Anneliese after Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst Alt were assigned by the Bishop of Wurzburg, Josef Stangl, to carry out "The Great Exorcism" on her. These characters are represented in the movie as a single man – Father Moore.

By now, apart from hearing voices, hallucinating, seeing visions of demons and strong epileptic fits, Anneliese's condition had grown increasingly worse. She displayed erratic and violent behaviour - insulting, beating, and even biting her family members. She also screamed for hours and destroyed religious objects in the house. She said the demons did not allow her to eat, so she slept on the stone floor, ate spiders, flies, and coal, and even drank her own urine. She was also reported to have committed acts of self-mutilation.

In ten months she underwent 67 sessions of exorcisms which lasted up to four hours each, performed up to two times a week. Her knee ligaments ruptured due to 600 obsessive genuflections during these rites (falling to one’s knee/knees in reverence).

Genuflection: Even Darth Vader’s doing it!
Source: Lucasarts

Anneliese Michel passed away in her sleep on July 1, 1976 due to severe dehydration and malnourishment. She had also been suffering from pneumonia and a high fever at the time of her death. By then, she was so weak that her parents had to assist her physically in her exorcism rites.

Some believe that exorcism only reinforced Anneliese’s belief that she was possessed; others think that she was truly possessed, and visit her grave even today to pay their respects for her courageous fight against her demons. Which camp are you on?