Who Was Priest Fleischmann?

Priest Fleischmann was considered to be one of Anneliese Michel’s six possessing demons. The film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” was inspired by the exorcism of these demons.

Valentin Fleischmann was a sixteenth-century Frankish Catholic priest. Fleischmann served as a priest from approximately 1572 to 1575. Due to his alcoholic behaviour, he had been defrocked and excommunicated from the Catholic church. Fleischmann was charged of murder and assault. Fleischmann, according to the priests who performed the exorcism of the young German woman Anneliese Michele, was the sixth demon revealed to be occupying Anneliese’s body. Anneliese, a German Catholic who resided in Germany, may have studied Valentin Fleischmann because the Franks were Germanic and Fleischmann resided in Ettlebin, Bavaria. This knowledge may have affected Fleischmann’s alleged demonic manifestation.

During the exorcism, Anneliese’s body was reportedly possessed by a total of six demons. Aside from Fleischmann, the other five were Lucifer, Roman Emperor Nero, Adolf Hitler, Cain, and Judas Iscariot. There have been rumours that Valentin Fleischmann represented the corruption of the Catholic priesthood and church. Prior to her death in 1976, Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst Alt performed approximately seventy exorcisms on Anneliese. Josef and Anna Michel, the parents of Anneliese, were charged with negligent homicide. Renz and Alt were charged as well. Anneliese died of hunger and dehydration, having weighed only 68 pounds at the time of her death.