Real-world events have inspired many famous horror movies. Sometimes the truth is so horrifying that it needs to be dulled down for an audience to take it in.
Such was the case with many nefarious killers and bizarre events that led to iconic silver screen performances.
That was the case with The Exorcism of Emily Rose. In reality, there never was an Emily Rose.
That story is based on the real-life exorcism and subsequent death of a woman named Anneliese Michel.
Her case inspired many demonic possession movies, concepts, and a wide sweeping public paranoia.
However, her death was largely overlooked as the cost that such a practice could take on someone whose ailments were more based in science than in faith.
It was also much more gruesome than the movies of her likeness could compare.
10 /10 Growing Up
Anneliese, born Anna Elisabeth Michel, grew up in Bavaria, part of West Germany. Her family was devoutly Roman Catholic.
Along with her three sisters and parents, she attended mass twice weekly and was described as withdrawn and very religious by schoolmates.
Nothing was out of the ordinary with her until she was 16, at which point her life began to change dramatically.
9 /10 Touch Of The Devil
At 16, Anneliese suffered a minor seizure that triggered multiple mental symptoms, the most glaring of epileptic psychosis.
She would occasionally go into uncontrollable fits of movement as well as other more drastic hallucinations. She was diagnosed with depression and was placed on medication, but it didn’t do enough after several years.
She checked into a mental hospital, hoping they could work more directly to cure her as the voices she heard were starting to become aggressive, and her convulsions would not stop.