Strange behavior, bizarre physiology, and uncontrollable trance-like states once perplexed physicians across the world.
Clara Germana Cele (South Africa, 1906)
Clara Germana Cele was a 16-year-old student attending St. Michael’s Mission in Natal, South Africa in 1906. Historical records indicate she confessed to her spiritual advisor that she had made a deal with the Devil. Afterward she behaved in ways missionaries considered demonic possession.
Reports from the time say she spoke in strange voices, violently convulsed at the sight of crucifixes, and was purported to have superhuman strength. Later sources also claimed she spoke in languages she did not know and levitated while being exorcised. All of these accounts are historical but lack supporting, contemporary medical documentation.
The Loudun Possessions (France, 1634)
During what became known as the Loudun possessions, Ursuline nuns in Loudun, France began experiencing convulsions, horrible visions, and drastic changes in behavior starting around 1632.
The nuns blamed their possession on the town priest Urbain Grandier, claiming he bewitched them. Grandier was put on trial and burned at the stake for his supposed crimes in 1634. Historians now frequently interpret this episode as a blend of religious conflict, political maneuvering, psychological suffering, and widespread delusion.
Gottliebin Dittus (Germany, 1840s)
Gottliebin Dittus of Möttlingen in modern-day Germany was connected to one of the most famous supposed possession cases in 19th-century German Lutheranism.
From history books, we know that Dittus suffered from trance-like states, seizures, and experienced strange voices and unexplainable disturbances in her house. A Lutheran pastor by the name of Johann Christoph Blumhardt would come to her house and attempt to pray with her and intervene multiple times.
According to Blumhardt’s records, the house was subject to mysterious sounds and objects that shifted without apparent cause. And further, we understand from Blumhardt’s narration that Dittus eventually healed, and the experience was pivotal to his later theological work.
The Illfurt boys (Alsace, 1864–1869)
Brothers Thiébaut and Joseph Burner were believed to be possessed in Illfurt, Alsace, in the 1860s. Written testimony places their symptoms beginning in late 1864. Sources place much of the extreme activity, such as flying, around 1865.
The children reportedly jumped around violently, contorted their bodies unnaturally, and spoke bizarre phrases during episodes. Objects reportedly moved around the children, and they could hold their bodies in strange positions for extended periods of time.
Medical doctors, priests, police commissioners, and witnesses all investigated or observed the case. It’s reported that after the priests performed an exorcism, the children’s symptoms subsided.
“Julia’s” Case (United States, reported in 2008)
Psychiatrist Richard Gallagher has written about an alleged demonic possession involving a woman known only by the pseudonym “Julia.” He became aware of the case through consulting with members of an exorcism team.
Gallagher alleges that Julia began speaking with variations in tone and inflection, and exhibited unusual behaviors. The woman would also seem to know things about the people around her that she could not have known. Gallagher also relayed claims that various unidentified objects would fly through the air during her encounters.
There is no independently verified proof that any of these claims are true. The basis for these alleged events lies in interviews and Gallagher’s personal interpretations.
George Lukins (England, 1778)
By 1778, George Lukins, a tailor from Yatton, Somerset, had become nationally famous due to an alleged possession incident. Reports said that he was afflicted by “violent fits, and uttering strange and incomprehensible noises”, including what sounded like a bark.
Seven priests assembled at Bristol’s Temple Church to perform an exorcism-style service in order to cast out the spirits. Reports say that Lukins theatrically thrashed around during the hours-long ceremony before becoming docile.
This nationally publicized case became one of the most famous British stories of alleged possession during the eighteenth century.
Nicole Obry (France, 1566)
Nicole Obry was a woman who lived in Vervins in northern France. She began behaving bizarrely in 1566, causing gatherings of thousands of people who watched public exorcism rituals take place.
Records from the time describe convulsions and odd speech patterns that priests believed demonstrated that Obry was possessed by the Devil. The case received widespread attention because it happened during a time of religious strife in France.
What historians now see in this episode is a window into the interplay of religious passion, public display, medicine, and politics in Europe’s sixteenth century, rather than a testament to Nicole Obry’s demonic possession.
Anneliese Michel (Germany, 1975–1976)
While Anneliese Michel had previously been diagnosed with epilepsy and mental disorders, her family began seeking spiritual help for her when she began to exhibit unusual behavior. Eventually, two Catholic priests were authorized to carry out an exorcism on Michel. The exorcisms spanned 67 sessions from 1975 through 1976.
Michel eventually took a turn for the worse and she died due to malnourishment and dehydration in 1976. Michel’s parents, as well as the two priests who performed the exorcisms, were convicted of negligent homicide.
The case garnered worldwide attention and is still used today as one of many examples when pitting medicine against religion.
Michael Taylor (England, 1974)
Michael Taylor was an Ossett butcher whose alleged possessions began in 1974 after he reportedly began acting erratically. His church’s congregation, along with others, were invited to an overnight exorcism at St. Thomas’s Church in Gawber.
Witnesses later recalled Taylor becoming frantic throughout the ordeal. By the time the exorcism was over, participants were so drained that the ritual was aborted before all of the prayers could be recited.
Upon arriving home, Michael beat and killed his wife Christine. He was later acquitted of murder by reason of insanity. This incident is one of the most disturbing in British history regarding mishandled cases of severe psychosis being addressed by spiritual means first.
Magdalena de la Cruz (Spain, 1546)
In Cordoba, Spain, lived Magdalena de la Cruz, a Franciscan nun who became known for her alleged mystical experiences. For decades she was seen as a saintly woman by many individuals based on her claims of visions and other miraculous occurrences.
Later, after falling ill, she supposedly admitted to faking parts of her mystical notoriety and made a deal with the Devil. In 1546, the Spanish Inquisition took up her case.
The fate of Magdalena de la Cruz did not involve being burned. Instead, she was sentenced to life as a prisoner of her own order.
Elizabeth Knapp (United States, 1671–1672)
Elizabeth Knapp was a 16-year-old girl from Groton, Massachusetts who experienced some very odd events, which were documented meticulously by her local minister, Samuel Willard.
From late 1671 through early 1672, Willard wrote of Knapp engaging in violent fits, trance-like behavior, screaming, voice alterations, and more. Within the religious framework of seventeenth-century New England, certain things Knapp said during this period were seen as signs of spiritual torment.
Willard’s firsthand documentation is what makes this case so helpful to historians studying these events, as he detailed how onlookers viewed both physical and spiritual causes for her behavior.
Anna Ecklund (United States, 1928)
Anna Ecklund was the name attributed to published reports of Emma Schmidt, an American woman claimed to have been possessed and subjected to months of exorcism in Earling, Iowa, in 1928.
Reports indicate that Father Theophilus Riesinger oversaw the exorcism rites during which Emma displayed an immediate physical transformation as well as behavioral alterations.
This event received widespread attention from Carl Vogl’s 1935 book Begone, Satan and later coverage in Time magazine the following year.
The Watseka Wonder (United States, 1878)
In 1878, fourteen-year-old Lurancy Vennum of Watseka, Illinois, was initially diagnosed with fits, only to later enter trance-like states where she insisted she was Mary Roff, a young woman who had passed away years before.
From what is known about the case, Lurancy began to act like she knew members of the Roff family, going so far as to say she knew information that only Mary would know. She stayed with the Roff family for some time before she seemingly returned to her normal personality.
For some spiritualist and psychical researchers of the time, this case served as an illustration of spirit possession or reincarnation.
Martha Brossier (France, 1598–1599)
Martha Brossier was famously involved in a disputed possession case in France in 1598. What she supposedly went through included many of the classic physical and behavioral cues seen as markers of demonic possession during that era.
Doctors and members of the clergy investigated her case. When brought to Paris for examination, doctors asked if she was truly possessed and determined that Martha Brossier was faking her condition. The case became something of a landmark in the conflict between religious and medical explanations for alleged possessions.
Compared to several other cases on this list, a key aspect of the Brossier affair is the fact that authorities at the time questioned the reality of her alleged possessions.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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