Anneliese Michel was a Catholic woman from Germany who was said to be possessed by six or more demons and subsequently underwent an exorcism in 1975. Annelise died from malnutrition and dehydration during the exorcism, and both her parents and two priests were charged with manslaughter resulting from negligence. Two motion pictures, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Requiem are loosely based on Anneliese’s story. A recording of Anneliese’s exorcism is below. Anneliese is pictured to the right.

A boy identified by the pseudonym “Roland Doe” was the subject of an exorcism in 1949, which became the subject of The Exorcist, a horror novel and later film written by William Peter Blatty. Blatty heard about the case while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University. The exorcism was partially performed in both Cottage City, Maryland and Bel-Nor, Missouri by Father William S. Bowdern, S.J. and a then Jesuit scholastic Fr. Walter Halloran, S.J.

Mother Teresa allegedly underwent an exorcism late in life under the direction of the Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry D’Souza, after he noticed she seemed to be extremely agitated in her sleep and feared she “might be under the attack of the evil one.”

Exorcism

Exorcism (from Late Latin exorcismus, from Greek ἐξορκισμός, exorkismos - binding by oath) is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be done by causing the entity to swear an oath, performing an elaborate ritual, or simply by commanding it to depart in the name of a higher power. The practice is quite ancient and part of the belief system of many cultures and religions.

According to the Oxford Reference Online an exorcism is the driving out of a dybbuk, demons, or evil spirits; the belief that a holy man can order the expulsion of evil spirits that have invaded a place or body of a person is ancient.Different types of exorcisms and rituals can be seen throughout different faiths too. Requested and performed exorcisms occurred rarely until the 1900’s where the public saw a sharp rise due to the media attention exorcisms were getting. There was “a 750% increase in the number of Exorcisms performed between the early 1960’s and the mid 1970’s”

Islam
In Islam, exorcism is called ruqya. It is used to repair the damage caused by sihr or witchcraft. It consists of reciting some specific verses from the Quran which glorify God (e.g The Throne Verse (Arabic: آية الكرسي Ayatul Kursi), and invoke God's help. In some cases, the adhan (the call for daily prayers) is also read, as this has the effect of repelling non-angelic unseen beings or the jinn.

The Islamic prophet Muhammad taught his followers to read the last three suras from the Quran, Surat al-Ikhlas (The Fidelity), Surat al-Falaq (The Dawn) and Surat al-Nas (Mankind).

Christianity
In Catholic christianity, exorcisms are performed in the name of Jesus Christ A Distinction is made between a formal exorcism, which can only be conducted by a priest during a Baptism or with the permission of a Bishop, and "prayers of deliverance" which can be said by anyone.The Catholic rite for a formal exorcism, called a "Major Exorcism", is given in Section 13 of the Rituale Romanum. The Ritual lists guidelines for conducting an exorcism, and for determining when a formal exorcism is required. Priests are instructed to carefully determine that the nature of the affliction is not actually a psychological or medical illness before proceeding.

Judaism
Josephus reports exorcisms performed by administering poisonous root extracts and others by making sacrifices.They mention that exorcisms were done by the Essene branch of Judaism (Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran).In more recent times, Rabbi Yehuda Fetaya authored the book Minchat Yahuda, which deals extensively with exorcism, his experience with possessed people, and other subjects of Jewish thought. The book is written in Hebrew and was translated into English.