We’ve all seen movies like The Exorcist or The Exorcism of Emily Rose, but how much do you know about the stories that influenced them? They may seem like a fantasy created by Hollywood, but many priests still actually perform exorcism rituals to get away evil spirits that may be plaguing families. That’s right. Some of the most frightening films were inspired by real events.
And here are some of the strangest cases.
Arne Cheyenne Johnson.
The first case in the US in which a lawyer pleaded that his client was possessed by a demon didn’t happen in the time of the Puritans. No, it happened in 1981. Arne Cheyenne Johnson claimed to have been possessed by “a man with big black eyes, a thin face with animal features and jagged teeth, pointed ears, horns, and hoofs” who put him in a trance and forced him to stab his neighbor multiple times.
Ronald Doe.
This is the story that influenced The Exorcist. In the 1940’s, a boy used a Ouija board that allegedly called forth demons from a nether-realm. He began seeing unexplained scars on his chest and kept making horrifying guttural noises with his throat. During the exorcism, a presence left Ronald’s body that witnesses report smelled like sulfur.
Anneliese Michel.
Anneliese had been treated for epilepsy before, but in 1973 she was admitted to a ward after becoming suicidal. This is where she began drinking her own urine and hearing voices. The priests of her parents’ church convinced them she was possessed by demons. They performed 70 exorcisms on her before she died of starvation. Her parents and the priests were charged with negligent homicide.
Bobby Jindal.
Current Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, once excorcised a demon from a classmate. When attending a prayer meeting at Brown University, a girl began writhing on the floor and screaming about a friend’s recent suicide. Jindal began yelling at the demon to release her, and eventually the girl became calm and quiet.
Clara Germana Cele.
In 1906, a young student at a Christian school made a pact with the devil out of rebellion and was taken by some kind of demonic force. The nuns say she had a physical resistance to crosses, could read the thoughts of those around her, and out of anger would float up to five feet in the air.
The Perron Family.
This case heavily influenced the movie The Conjuring. What people don’t know about this ghost-filled house was that the father was actually possessed by one of the spirits. It was he, not the mother, who required a priest’s help to be exorcized.
Who knows what is actually going on in each of these cases, but one thing is certain, there is some kind of negative energy that has struck these people and it’s amazing the church has found a way to combat it.
