Exorcisms are in vogue again. Evangelists like Bob Larson roam the country performing "deliverances" on (and profiting from) gullible members of his audience that he convinces have demons in them. Similar deliverances are conducted in churches and by ministries around the world - including Russia, on which I reported in the article "Exorcism in Russia." Even the Catholic Church, which for decades kept exorcism in the closet, is once again bringing it out into the open. In early 2005, about 100 Catholic priests signed up for a Vatican-sanctioned course on exorcism, and today the Church's ranks of official exorcists has swollen to more than 400.
No doubt about it. The interest in expelling demonic forces is high and growing.
And when a film like The Exorcism of Emily Rose becomes popular, fascination increases -- especially when it is promoted as being based on a true story. The same thing happened when The Exorcist shocked viewers back in 1973, a story also said to be inspired by true events.
What's going on? Is there really an increase in demonic activity and possession of humans? Or are we becoming increasingly superstitious, blaming extraordinary psychiatric and physical ailments on the Devil, much as people did in the unenlightened Middle Ages?
NO EVIDENCE
The truth is, there is no evidence whatsoever for the idea of demonic possession.
I have been researching paranormal phenomena for many years, and have never come across or read about one plausible case of possession that could not be explained better as mental illness, physical ailments and hoaxes. (Psychic phenomena might be evident in some rare cases.) There is good evidence for ghost and haunting phenomena, Bigfoot, psychic phenomena and many other areas of the paranormal, but there is no good evidence for demonic possession.
If there is, I'd like to see it.
As you can now tell, I am highly skeptical on this matter. And to be fair, I have never attended an exorcism or personally encountered a person thought to be possessed, but even those who have cannot seem to produce the slightest bit of evidence. No film, video or photos of levitation or other supernatural events -- although they are often claimed to take place during exorcisms.
You've seen the videos and heard the recordings of alleged possession and exorcisms. Did you ever see or hear anything that could be regarded as truly supernatural? These recordings can be eerie and even disturbing, to be sure, but that's the extent of it. Howling, growling, yelps, cursing and screams. Crazy, even frightening, but nothing a mentally disturbed or hysterical person cannot manufacture.
"Extraordinary strength" is one of the most common attributes that exorcists describe for the possessed. It has long been known that the mentally ill and even persons under great stress can muster such strength. Anyone who has worked in a mental institution with highly disturbed patients can attest to extraordinary sounds and sights they encounter there -- probably far more terrifying than any supposed possession -- but nothing supernatural.
THE CASE OF "EMILY ROSE"
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on the tragic case of a young German woman named Anneliese Michel, who in the early 1970s underwent an ordeal that eventually led to her death. The details of her case can be found in such web articles as The True Story of Anneliese Michel. The controversy surrounding her illness, exorcism and death resulted in a sensational trial, all of which are part of the Emily Rose film.
Anneliese was diagnosed by doctors as suffering from grand mal epilepsy, a condition of the brain that causes severe seizures. This, compounded by other possible mental and psychological disorders, resulted in hallucinations of demonic faces and voices. Her religious parents, apparently baffled and frustrated by their 16-year-old daughter's increasingly psychotic and often violent behavior, chose to thwart the medical diagnosis and sought an exorcism.
For years, the Church refused to grant an exorcism. They accepted the medical diagnosis, finding no supernatural criteria to warrant an exorcism. There were certainly very serious and highly disturbing symptoms: Anneliese would mutilate herself, eat flies and coal, drink her own urine and physically lash out at her family. A profoundly disturbed girl. But there was no levitation, no documented telekinesis (heck, even poltergeist cases have some telekinesis) -- nothing whatsoever that could be deemed supernatural.
MAKING MATTERS WORSE
Despite this lack of evidence, however, in 1975 the Michels finally convinced priests to perform exorcisms -- a whole series of them, in fact, sometimes two rites a week!
Certainly, this only reinforced Anneliese's delusion that demons were inside her. And not just any demons. She claimed to be possessed by the spirits of Cain, Judas Iscariot, Nero, even Adolf Hitler, among others.
Only for a short time did she seem to improve because of the exorcism rites. But soon the mental anguish returned with a vengeance. She stopped eating and her knees ruptured from the 600 genuflections she performed obsessively.
Ultimately, the exorcisms failed. On July 1, 1976, Anneliese died of starvation, and her parents and exorcising priests were charged with negligent homicide -- and rightly convicted.
The exorcisms failed because there was nothing to exorcise. Anneliese Michel was not possessed; she required heavy duty medical attention. Had her parents sought proper medical care for their daughter instead of seeking refuge in superstition, Anneliese might be alive today. With the improved medications and treatments now available, she might even be living a normal life.
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