Understanding the True Story Behind "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and the Science of Demonic Possession | Anurag | SonicVerse Studio
Anneliese Michel - A True Story of Exorcism and DID
About Us
Welcome, friends!
My name is Anurag Kurrey, and you are watching SonicVerse Studio. I also have a YouTube channel, so make sure to check it out.
Let's delve into the fascinating and eerie story of Anneliese Michel, which inspired the 2005 Hollywood film The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
→ In 2005, a popular Hollywood film was released, The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Although there are many horror films in Hollywood, there was something special about this film. Look at the poster of this film—what's written? "Based on a true story." It was based on a true incident, the story of Anneliese Michel, one of the most famous exorcism incidents in the history of the world.
The Early Life of Anneliese Michel
→ Anneliese Michel was a girl born in 1952 in West Germany. When she was 16 years old, she suddenly fainted in school. Her friends reported that when she fainted, for a minute or two, she was in a strange trance-like state. When she returned home that evening, she went to sleep in her room. Sometime during the night, she woke up suddenly, feeling as if there was a heavy weight on her body. When she looked around, she realized that she had wet the bed. But for the next few weeks and months, nothing happened—until a year later.
The Mysterious Illness
→ Once again, a similar incident happened, and this time, Anneliese's parents felt that she should be taken to a doctor. The Sun newspaper reported that when the parents went to the doctor, neither the doctor nor the neurologist found anything wrong with Anneliese. But then, about a year later, in February 1970, Anneliese got tuberculosis, which required her to be admitted to the hospital. This time, while lying on the hospital bed, Anneliese said that she saw strange colors and heard voices. The doctor said that she had temporal lobe epilepsy, which caused her seizures.
The Hallucinations and Possession
→ A few days later, Anneliese started having dangerous hallucinations. She began seeing things that no one else could see and hearing voices that no one else could hear. She had some voices in her head that kept telling her that she was cursed. Because of this, she went into a depression. But this was just the beginning.
→ Catholic Christians often kneel while doing a type of prayer. The Telegraph newspaper reported that Anneliese started doing this about 600 times a day, to the extent that her knee ligaments were damaged. Once, she went under a table and hid, barking like a dog for two consecutive days. One day, she ate a spider; another day, she ate a piece of coal, and once, she ate a bird. Her parents were not able to understand what was happening. When they could not get any answers from the doctors, they went to a bishop and asked him to perform an exorcism on Anneliese.
The Exorcism
→ 'Exorcism' means to take out an evil spirit from someone's body by religious procedures. In India, it is called 'Jhad Phuk.' It was said that six demons were residing in Anneliese's body: German dictator Adolf Hitler, Roman Emperor Nero, Judas, a disciple of Jesus who had deceived him, Cain, son of Adam who had killed his brother Abel, Lucifer, the main demon in Christian theology, and Valentin Fleischmann, a German Catholic priest from the 1500s who was expelled from the church due to alcoholism and a murder charge. As the exorcism on Anneliese Michel progressed, it's said that the demons residing within her started talking. The real audio clip of this exorcism is still available online. Anneliese Michel's case is one of the most bizarre in history.
Multiple Personality Disorder and DID
→ But this is not the only one. Ten years ago, an American man was found unconscious in his hotel room. When he was taken to the hospital and regained consciousness, he started speaking Swedish. When his ID card and other documents were checked, his name was found to be Michael Boatwright. But when he was asked his name, he said that his name was Johan Ek. How did an American man start speaking Swedish after becoming unconscious? How did Anneliese Michel start making these demonic sounds? Did a demonic soul really enter these bodies? Let's understand these mysteries from a scientific perspective.
→ In English, it is called demonic possession. In Hindi, it is known as a ghost taking control of your body. The real reason behind all this is Multiple Personality Disorder. You must have heard of this disorder somewhere. If not, then you may have seen it in films such as Aparichit, Karthik Calling Karthik, Fight Club, or Psycho. As the name suggests, 'multiple personality disorder' means that a person has multiple personalities. But how is this possible? To understand this, we need to stop using this name, as this mental condition is now called DID—Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Understanding DID
→ You know what an identity is. Identity refers to your true self. So what can dissociation of identity mean? Famous poet Nida Fazli once wrote, "Every man has 10-20 men inside him. Whomever you want to see, make sure you see them more than once." This poetry has a deeper psychological meaning. Because first of all, you are the person you are in reality. Secondly, you are the person you think you are. Do you understand the difference? If a person is a fool, he may still feel that he is a smart and intelligent person. In psychology, a specific term is used for this—the Dunning-Kruger effect. This effect is seen when a person overestimates his ability, even though he lacks knowledge and skill. There is a saying in Hindi, 'A fool thinks of himself as the most intelligent being.'
→
→ Being a fool or being intelligent is only one aspect. This dissociation of identity can happen even when a person feels that he is good at heart but in reality, he is selfish. Or it can be the other way around. A person may be really good at something, but he may feel that he is not good enough. So, number one, the person you actually are. Number two, the person you feel you are. This is your self-image. Number three is the concept of the ideal self, the person you want to be. This depends on every person as well as your social conditioning. For some people, their ideal self can be a person like Elvish Yadav. But Dr. Vikas Divyakirti tells his son that the watchman of the apartment protects them and is older than the child. So the child should greet them respectfully. So, what will be the ideal self for this child? To be humble and knowledgeable.
→
→ If a person's identity #2 and #3 are vastly different, then his confidence will be quite low, leading to low self-esteem. But if a person's identity #2 and #3 are quite similar, then their self-esteem and confidence will be high. This depends on one question only: How much do you like and accept yourself? Are you like Geet from the film Jab We Met? Or are you a person who doesn't like himself at all? Self-image, ideal self, and self-esteem. Psychologist Carl Rogers says that our self-concept is made up of these three things. And these three parts depend on numerous factors: our habits, the environment around us, the things we are proud of, the things we feel embarrassed about, our regrets, our secrets, the things we fear, our desires, our fantasies. It's a huge world.
→ Our minds are very complex. Although they seem simple, they have multiple layers and multiple personalities. Most people have integrated these personalities, and hence, they behave consistently. But in DID, this integration doesn't happen, leading to different personalities taking control at different times. Thus, the case of Anneliese Michel, who believed she was possessed by demons, can be explained by DID.
Comments
Post a Comment