ကူးယူချက် 🔗
WEBVTT
1
00:00:14.710 --> 00:00:17.309
In the early 70s, a man by the name of
2
00:00:17.370 --> 00:00:20.429
Michael Taylor committed one of the most gruesome murders in
3
00:00:20.489 --> 00:00:25.140
England's history. He was arrested shortly afterwards, and when asked
4
00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:29.440
why he had committed such a horrendous deed, he simply replied,
5
00:00:30.440 --> 00:01:36.849
The devil made me do it. Thank you. One of
6
00:01:36.890 --> 00:01:40.430
the most terrifying prospects for any advocate of the paranormal
7
00:01:41.109 --> 00:01:43.870
is the possibility of being possessed by an evil or
8
00:01:43.909 --> 00:01:49.060
demonic entity. The age-old fear of demonic possession, especially by
9
00:01:49.090 --> 00:01:51.760
the devil, has lived with man for as long as
10
00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:56.980
anyone can remember. Early civilizations told tales of demons of
11
00:01:57.019 --> 00:02:00.239
the night who could seize hold of a person and
12
00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:03.359
force them to commit vile and cruel deeds against their will.
13
00:02:04.510 --> 00:02:09.120
Hebraic and Sumerian folklore spoke of Lilith, the purported first
14
00:02:09.180 --> 00:02:12.740
wife of Adam, who gave herself to evil spirits and
15
00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:16.199
visited men in their dreams to steal their essence. The
16
00:02:16.259 --> 00:02:19.849
Old Testament related how King Saul was invaded by demonic
17
00:02:19.889 --> 00:02:24.349
entities and underwent severe depression before young David cast them out,
18
00:02:25.169 --> 00:02:28.289
whilst Jesus Christ is said to have expelled seven demons
19
00:02:28.330 --> 00:02:32.360
from Mary Magdalene as one of his many miracles. Islamic
20
00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:35.979
culture told tales of the jinn, a magical demon capable
21
00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.560
of granting wishes, whilst also seizing control of a person,
22
00:02:40.330 --> 00:02:44.389
and Hindu belief, warned of Rakshas, entities which could drive
23
00:02:44.430 --> 00:02:49.110
men to harm themselves and others. Over the course of history,
24
00:02:49.669 --> 00:02:52.710
we hear stories of the devil possessing humans without warning,
25
00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:55.479
and of the efforts to combat these demons in holy
26
00:02:55.539 --> 00:02:59.360
rituals called exorcisms. Yet what was once viewed as a
27
00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:02.400
genuine battle between good and evil, has now come to
28
00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:06.340
be seen as hysteria. born out of primitive society's ignorance
29
00:03:06.379 --> 00:03:11.020
to scientific and rational explanation, and in some cases, even
30
00:03:11.099 --> 00:03:15.620
farce and entertainment. The wider world is largely unaware of
31
00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:19.680
the 1949 case of Robbie Mannheim, a Baltimore boy who
32
00:03:19.699 --> 00:03:23.909
was possessed by demons and underwent an excruciating exorcism, but
33
00:03:23.990 --> 00:03:26.629
is far more familiar with the piece of fiction it inspired,
34
00:03:27.229 --> 00:03:30.250
William Blatley's novel The Exorcist, and its 1973 film adaption.
35
00:03:33.030 --> 00:03:35.590
Perhaps that is why the most notorious cases of such
36
00:03:35.650 --> 00:03:38.900
instances are lesser known, since there are times when these
37
00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:42.419
struggles have not always gone in our favour. One tragic
38
00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:47.259
example is the 1974 case of Anneliese Mikkel, a teenage
39
00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:51.389
German girl who allegedly fell victim to demonic possession and
40
00:03:51.449 --> 00:03:55.189
died during the exorcism, a case which loosely inspired the
41
00:03:55.189 --> 00:04:00.360
2005 film The Exorcism of Emily Rose. And perhaps it
42
00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:04.039
is also no coincidence that in the same year, one
43
00:04:04.060 --> 00:04:07.080
man in England fell victim to what many feel was
44
00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:10.129
a clear case of demonic possession, and committed one of
45
00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:13.930
the most gruesome crimes in English history. It was a
46
00:04:13.969 --> 00:04:17.449
crisp and calm autumn morning on Sunday the 6th of October, 1974,
47
00:04:17.449 --> 00:04:21.949
in the quiet little village of Osset, near West Yorkshire
48
00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:26.180
in England. For the devout Anglican villagers, the highlight of
49
00:04:26.220 --> 00:04:28.300
the day was the regular trip to the Morning Mass,
50
00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:32.089
a traditional practice by the pious folk that had taken
51
00:04:32.170 --> 00:04:36.709
place there since antiquity. For one woman, however, the thought
52
00:04:36.750 --> 00:04:38.529
of heading out to church that morning must have been
53
00:04:38.550 --> 00:04:41.250
the furthest thing from her mind as she picked up
54
00:04:41.269 --> 00:04:45.980
the telephone to contact emergency services. Just outside her window,
55
00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.600
she watched as a tall man ran stark naked past
56
00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:54.040
her front gate, yelling something incoherent about Satan and covered
57
00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:57.750
in what she described as red paint. As she urged
58
00:04:57.800 --> 00:04:59.769
the operator to send an officer to the scene of
59
00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:03.519
the disturbance, little did she, or in fact anyone in
60
00:05:03.540 --> 00:05:06.759
the quiet town realise, that the biggest scandal to ever
61
00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:12.639
rock their conservative community was just about to unfold. 31-year-old
62
00:05:12.699 --> 00:05:16.019
Michael Taylor was often described by neighbours as being a
63
00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:19.560
gentle and kind man, a loving husband and a wonderful
64
00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:23.040
father of five. He was born and lived his whole
65
00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:25.819
life in Osset with his family, and although he made
66
00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:29.259
a modest living In a time of increasingly high
Load full transcript
unemployment
67
00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:32.550
in the country, he was generally a happy and affable man.
68
00:05:33.889 --> 00:05:36.910
Several friends even noted that they often heard laughter coming
69
00:05:36.930 --> 00:05:39.810
from his home, for he loved to tell jokes and
70
00:05:39.850 --> 00:05:43.810
often played with his children to no end. Things, however,
71
00:05:44.329 --> 00:05:47.779
took a sudden change in April 1974, when he suffered
72
00:05:47.819 --> 00:05:50.139
a back injury after falling from the rafters of a
73
00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:54.819
home whilst attempting repairs. Although the injury was minor, he
74
00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:58.610
suffered chronic back pain, causing him to resign from his occupation.
75
00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:02.139
As he struggled to find a new line of work,
76
00:06:02.699 --> 00:06:07.220
he began experiencing severe bouts of depression. In June, he
77
00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:10.220
eventually settled into a job as a butcher, and although
78
00:06:10.259 --> 00:06:12.759
it brought in a low wage, he cheerfully did his
79
00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:16.389
best to live a decent lifestyle. But all that appeared
80
00:06:16.430 --> 00:06:19.709
to change after Michael began to express discontent with his
81
00:06:19.769 --> 00:06:23.750
meagre salary, and behaved rather coldly towards friends and co-workers.
82
00:06:24.750 --> 00:06:29.420
He also experienced mood swings, often becoming confrontational over minor things,
83
00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:34.370
a trait he had never exhibited before. His wife Christine
84
00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:37.810
supported him during this troubled time, but became concerned by
85
00:06:37.889 --> 00:06:41.589
his sudden change in behaviour, and confided to neighbours that
86
00:06:41.629 --> 00:06:45.350
she worried over his mental state. Her worries prompted a
87
00:06:45.389 --> 00:06:49.610
family friend, Barbara Wardman, to talk Michael into turning to
88
00:06:49.649 --> 00:06:53.670
a local religious gathering, the Christian Fellowship Group, to have
89
00:06:53.689 --> 00:06:56.730
them help him in his time of need. Even in
90
00:06:56.769 --> 00:07:01.170
the early 1970s, Osset was a very devout village, with
91
00:07:01.209 --> 00:07:05.689
much of the populace attending church regularly on Sundays. Wardman
92
00:07:05.769 --> 00:07:08.860
felt the word of God was the answer. She attributed
93
00:07:08.899 --> 00:07:12.579
Michael's change in mood to his religious indifference, opening that
94
00:07:12.620 --> 00:07:15.379
his lack of faith was leading to his employment difficulties
95
00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:18.600
and struggles at home. So it was with good intentions
96
00:07:18.980 --> 00:07:21.060
that she brought Michael to the group's meeting house on
97
00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:24.180
Saturday the 12th of September, and it was through her,
98
00:07:24.699 --> 00:07:27.990
that he met the group's 21-year-old faith leader, Marie Robinson.
99
00:07:29.050 --> 00:07:32.029
It was a meeting that was to have massive repercussions.
100
00:07:33.490 --> 00:07:36.850
Claiming to be able to communicate with God, Marie Robinson
101
00:07:36.910 --> 00:07:40.230
easily accepted Michael into the group, and he fell almost
102
00:07:40.269 --> 00:07:44.829
immediately under their sway. Marie described her denomination as being
103
00:07:44.850 --> 00:07:47.930
a vital front line in God's battle against evil, and
104
00:07:48.009 --> 00:07:51.980
even claimed to possess miraculous powers, which allowed her to
105
00:07:52.040 --> 00:07:57.620
exorcise demons from individuals. the group also practiced speaking in tongues,
106
00:07:58.180 --> 00:08:01.300
prayed long hours into the night, and some reports even
107
00:08:01.339 --> 00:08:05.959
alleged Marie could summon the Holy Spirit during exorcisms. As
108
00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:09.850
her charm and favour towards Michael became more obvious, so
109
00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:14.529
too did his infatuation with her. Almost immediately after joining
110
00:08:14.550 --> 00:08:17.129
the group, he started to spend a great deal of
111
00:08:17.209 --> 00:08:21.110
time sequestered in private with Marie, supposedly praying for hours
112
00:08:21.170 --> 00:08:25.060
on end. But behind the scenes, several of her followers
113
00:08:25.389 --> 00:08:28.379
suspected her of engaging in a torrid affair with Michael.
114
00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:32.500
Some reports at the time claimed that Michael would even
115
00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:34.919
set out just after dinner to go to the congregation,
116
00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:38.279
even on nights when the group did not meet, and
117
00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:41.679
join Marie in prayer against the full moon, which she
118
00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:45.759
believed weakened her special powers. The more time he spent
119
00:08:45.820 --> 00:08:49.200
in her company, the more rumours continued to run rampant
120
00:08:49.659 --> 00:08:52.490
that she and Michael were becoming far too inseparable for
121
00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:56.909
anyone's likings. Christine bravely put up with much of the gossip,
122
00:08:57.570 --> 00:09:02.950
but by October 1974, she too had had enough. At home,
123
00:09:03.590 --> 00:09:07.669
Michael's attitude towards her and the family dramatically worsened. His
124
00:09:07.730 --> 00:09:10.580
mood swings turned violent, and only when he was around
125
00:09:10.620 --> 00:09:13.940
Marie did he appear to regain some of his former cheerfulness.
126
00:09:15.580 --> 00:09:19.399
On the evening of the 1st of October 1974, Christine
127
00:09:19.460 --> 00:09:22.639
joined her husband for what was to become an unforgettable
128
00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.899
night with the group. unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.
129
00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:32.480
Almost as soon as she arrived, Christine immediately accused Michael
130
00:09:32.580 --> 00:09:35.879
of having an extramarital affair, and demanded him to confess
131
00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:40.019
his sin before the group. Instead, he suddenly rose and
132
00:09:40.039 --> 00:09:43.889
began to scream wildly, and without warning, lunged out to
133
00:09:43.950 --> 00:09:48.330
attack Marie before everyone's eyes. Several group members helped to
134
00:09:48.370 --> 00:09:50.970
subdue him, but the look on his face was one
135
00:09:50.990 --> 00:09:55.470
of terrible rage, and as Marie later described, bestial fury.
136
00:09:56.769 --> 00:10:01.039
Marie started screaming in tongues and chanting Jesus. Jesus, in
137
00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:03.659
an effort to calm him, and after nearly an hour
138
00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:09.789
of being restrained, Michael eventually succumbed. The following day, his
139
00:10:09.870 --> 00:10:12.870
mood had completely changed, and he claimed to remember nothing
140
00:10:12.889 --> 00:10:17.789
of the incident. Although wary, Marie forgave and absolved him,
141
00:10:18.299 --> 00:10:21.559
and reluctantly allowed him to remain in the group. In
142
00:10:21.580 --> 00:10:24.570
the back of her mind, however, the experience had made
143
00:10:24.610 --> 00:10:27.169
the young woman fear for her life, and several of
144
00:10:27.210 --> 00:10:30.169
the group's members closely monitored Michael to ensure he did
145
00:10:30.210 --> 00:10:33.830
not repeat this violent attack. But his attitude at home
146
00:10:33.870 --> 00:10:36.870
did not change, as he continued to act aggressively towards
147
00:10:36.909 --> 00:10:41.090
his wife and family. Neighbours and friends noticed this, and
148
00:10:41.169 --> 00:10:46.370
alerted the vicar of Osset. After some observation, the vicar concluded,
149
00:10:46.779 --> 00:10:50.509
that Michael was desperately in need of divine intervention. He
150
00:10:50.549 --> 00:10:53.750
requested help from the Anglican Church of England for permission
151
00:10:53.789 --> 00:10:58.100
to perform an exorcism. For this endeavour, the church sent
152
00:10:58.169 --> 00:11:03.039
Anglican pastor Father Peter Vincent and Methodist minister Reverend Raymond
153
00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:05.919
Smith to meet with Michael, and they came to the
154
00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:11.029
same conclusion that an exorcism was indeed necessary. They set
155
00:11:11.070 --> 00:11:14.889
the date of the session for Saturday 5th October 1974.
156
00:11:15.379 --> 00:11:17.250
and would hold it at the Church of St. Thames
157
00:11:17.309 --> 00:11:21.169
in Barnsley. They would be in for one long night.
158
00:11:22.590 --> 00:11:27.669
At 10pm, the exorcism commenced, and right away, Michael's behaviour
159
00:11:27.690 --> 00:11:31.490
became evidently violent, shouting in tongues and writhing about in
160
00:11:31.529 --> 00:11:36.120
almost inhuman convulsions. He exhibited all the commonly described signs
161
00:11:36.179 --> 00:11:41.799
of demonic possession, scratching, biting, spitting, and uncontrollable fits of rage.
162
00:11:42.980 --> 00:11:46.419
His
conduct towards the two priests became so dangerous that
163
00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:49.279
he was forcibly tied to the floor whilst they continued
164
00:11:49.330 --> 00:11:53.350
to do battle with the demons inside him. By their count,
165
00:11:54.049 --> 00:11:56.830
Vincent and Smith claimed that at least 40 demons lay
166
00:11:56.889 --> 00:11:59.809
buried deep in Michael's mind, and each one was going
167
00:11:59.850 --> 00:12:02.789
to be hard to remove. They named the demons of
168
00:12:02.850 --> 00:12:08.080
carnal sin, those of blasphemy, bestiality, incest, and even masochism.
169
00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:12.000
For more than eight exhausting hours, they battled their way
170
00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:14.690
through his psyche and to the point of near collapse,
171
00:12:15.389 --> 00:12:18.970
before finally declaring most of the demons expelled the following morning.
172
00:12:20.289 --> 00:12:23.769
Although he appeared cured, Michael was warned by the priests
173
00:12:24.129 --> 00:12:26.669
that there remained three terrible demons still in his head,
174
00:12:27.250 --> 00:12:30.669
and that he had to be careful. Michael appeared thankful,
175
00:12:31.009 --> 00:12:34.309
and then asked if he could return home. Fathers Vincent
176
00:12:34.350 --> 00:12:38.029
and Smith reluctantly released him from their charge, and watched
177
00:12:38.090 --> 00:12:41.529
as he headed home with Christine, unaware that in just
178
00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:44.789
several hours' time, they would come to regret this decision.
179
00:12:46.470 --> 00:12:51.210
That same afternoon, just after 12pm, police constable Ian Walker
180
00:12:51.429 --> 00:12:54.809
responded to a phone call concerning a man creating a
181
00:12:54.850 --> 00:12:58.149
disturbance near the street where the Taylor residence was located.
182
00:12:59.409 --> 00:13:02.669
Upon arriving, he found a naked man crouched in the
183
00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:06.340
fetal position, giggling maniacally and covered in what he thought
184
00:13:06.379 --> 00:13:10.700
was red paint. Walker then recognised the man as Michael Taylor.
185
00:13:11.139 --> 00:13:14.759
and noted a faint, odd smell coming from him. Upon
186
00:13:14.820 --> 00:13:18.600
closer inspection, he realised, to his horror, that he was
187
00:13:18.659 --> 00:13:25.110
covered not in paint, but in blood. Human blood. Michael
188
00:13:25.139 --> 00:13:27.730
appeared to be in a dazed state, as though he
189
00:13:27.769 --> 00:13:30.929
had just awoken from some terrible dream, and when asked,
190
00:13:31.289 --> 00:13:33.330
he professed that he had no idea where the blood
191
00:13:33.370 --> 00:13:36.830
came from, but he feared he had harmed someone, and
192
00:13:36.850 --> 00:13:41.220
worried they were dead. Walker then requested backup, and after
193
00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:44.610
authorities arrived on the scene, they entered the Taylor home,
194
00:13:45.350 --> 00:13:49.750
thoroughly unprepared for what they were about to find. In
195
00:13:49.789 --> 00:13:51.690
what could only be described as a scene from a
196
00:13:51.730 --> 00:13:55.350
horror film, the police found Christine Taylor lying dead in
197
00:13:55.370 --> 00:13:57.330
the living room in a pool of her own blood.
198
00:13:58.309 --> 00:14:00.629
They found that she had been strangled, and that her
199
00:14:00.690 --> 00:14:04.309
face had been horribly mutilated afterwards. Her eyes had been
200
00:14:04.350 --> 00:14:07.269
gouged out, her tongue had been ripped from her mouth,
201
00:14:07.950 --> 00:14:10.590
and the flesh on her face was clawed, and chunks
202
00:14:10.620 --> 00:14:14.450
of her skin lay scattered all around. The police also
203
00:14:14.549 --> 00:14:17.789
found the tattered remains of the Taylor family's poodle, having
204
00:14:17.850 --> 00:14:20.629
also been strangled and then mutilated in a similar fashion
205
00:14:20.669 --> 00:14:23.850
to Christine, with its limbs ripped out of their sockets.
206
00:14:25.350 --> 00:14:27.289
When the coroner took a closer look at the body,
207
00:14:27.990 --> 00:14:30.830
he found there was blood in Christine's esophagus and stomach,
208
00:14:31.429 --> 00:14:33.750
indicating she had choked on her own blood as she
209
00:14:33.789 --> 00:14:37.340
lay dying. It did not take long for the police
210
00:14:37.379 --> 00:14:41.419
to conclude that Michael had committed the deed, surmising that
211
00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:44.240
after killing his wife and their dog, he had then
212
00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:47.659
removed his clothing and bathed in their blood, after which
213
00:14:47.750 --> 00:14:51.789
he left the house. Several neighbours and witnesses claimed he
214
00:14:51.830 --> 00:14:55.730
ran around screaming, chanting, it's the blood of Satan, before
215
00:14:55.789 --> 00:15:00.570
eventually returning home. For his part, Michael appeared to remember
216
00:15:00.649 --> 00:15:03.990
nothing of murdering his wife, despite admitting the blood was
217
00:15:04.049 --> 00:15:07.350
surely hers, but made no challenge as they placed him
218
00:15:07.409 --> 00:15:11.629
under arrest. Once word of the gruesome murder leaked out,
219
00:15:12.370 --> 00:15:15.509
the shocked townsfolk of Osset found themselves at a loss
220
00:15:15.549 --> 00:15:19.049
for words. Several of the Taylor's friends and neighbours could
221
00:15:19.090 --> 00:15:21.830
hardly believe someone so close could do such a thing,
222
00:15:22.460 --> 00:15:25.980
and as the story rocked their town, reporters began flocking
223
00:15:26.019 --> 00:15:28.179
to Osset to learn what they could of the crime.
224
00:15:29.419 --> 00:15:32.240
When news correspondents learned that the murder had taken place
225
00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:35.639
the day after Michael had undergone an exorcism, the story
226
00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:39.509
took on an even more macabre angle. Newspapers called it
227
00:15:39.529 --> 00:15:42.279
the devil's work,
and claimed that Mr. Taylor had been
228
00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:44.919
possessed by a demon, and had murdered his wife at
229
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:48.320
its whim. The coroner had even listed the time of
230
00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:52.059
Christine's death to be 10am that morning, a mere two
231
00:15:52.100 --> 00:15:56.149
hours after they had left St. Thames Church. Michael was
232
00:15:56.169 --> 00:15:59.029
sent to the Broadmoor Secure Hospital for the Criminally Insane
233
00:15:59.250 --> 00:16:02.490
to have his sanity evaluated, but whilst he was detained,
234
00:16:03.230 --> 00:16:07.919
several people in Osset started pointing their fingers. Many blamed
235
00:16:07.940 --> 00:16:11.340
the Christian Fellowship group, accusing them of being little better
236
00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:14.879
than a fanatical cult, which used brainwashing techniques to influence
237
00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:19.860
Michael's already agitated mental condition. An equal amount of criticism
238
00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:23.470
was aimed at Marie Robinson. Some believed she had been
239
00:16:23.610 --> 00:16:27.070
using the group to convince Michael he harboured demons, and
240
00:16:27.110 --> 00:16:31.389
filled his head with worrisome thoughts. Allegations of their supposed
241
00:16:31.450 --> 00:16:35.519
affair disgraced her even further. but then another group came
242
00:16:35.580 --> 00:16:38.750
under fire as the case began its hearings, the priests
243
00:16:39.070 --> 00:16:43.570
Peter Vincent and Raymond Smith. The media believed that the
244
00:16:43.610 --> 00:16:47.429
incomplete exorcism, and their inability to completely drive out all
245
00:16:47.450 --> 00:16:52.169
of Michael's demons, had led to Christine's untimely death. Reverend
246
00:16:52.230 --> 00:16:55.690
Smith's own wife Margaret, who was present at the exorcism,
247
00:16:56.090 --> 00:16:58.879
had even warned that something terrible would happen to Christine
248
00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:02.669
once she left the church. But even then, the exhausted
249
00:17:02.769 --> 00:17:07.369
priests had allowed them to leave together. Journalists criticized them
250
00:17:07.410 --> 00:17:10.230
for being inept and felt they had used the exorcism
251
00:17:10.609 --> 00:17:14.099
to further warp Michael into a frenzied delirium, which resulted
252
00:17:14.130 --> 00:17:17.920
in the murder. As the trial began on the 17th
253
00:17:17.940 --> 00:17:23.059
of February, 1975, prosecuting barrister Jeffrey Baker called the case
254
00:17:23.099 --> 00:17:26.140
so bizarre, it would be rather difficult not to believe
255
00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:30.119
one was back in the Middle Ages. The prosecution wasted
256
00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:33.130
no time in presenting the gruesome evidence to the jury,
257
00:17:33.609 --> 00:17:36.849
stating Michael had been held against his will and forced
258
00:17:36.869 --> 00:17:41.509
to undergo a harrowing religious frenzy, reached near breakdown, and
259
00:17:41.549 --> 00:17:44.450
in his exhausted state from the exorcism, was driven to
260
00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:48.799
kill his wife in a fit of extreme rage. The defence,
261
00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:52.079
in turn, stated that the guilty parties not present at
262
00:17:52.099 --> 00:17:56.359
the trial, the Christian Fellowship Group, Marie Robinson and the priests,
263
00:17:56.980 --> 00:18:00.549
had merely used Michael for their own ends, experimenting on him.
264
00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:05.230
and making him believe he harboured demons. They ventured that
265
00:18:05.259 --> 00:18:08.680
the exorcism was another deliberate attempt to keep him under
266
00:18:08.700 --> 00:18:13.059
their control. The defence attorney famously laid the blame on
267
00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:16.000
the cult and religion as a whole, and public opinion
268
00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:19.960
soon turned against the church, fulfilling Michael's head with paranoid thoughts.
269
00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:23.970
The backlash from the trial made many uncomfortable with the
270
00:18:24.009 --> 00:18:27.769
thought of exorcisms, and the resulting public outcry forced the
271
00:18:27.809 --> 00:18:31.380
Anglican Church of England to act. they released an official
272
00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:34.700
statement that no further exorcisms would ever be conducted by
273
00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:37.420
any member of the church again, and to this day,
274
00:18:38.059 --> 00:18:43.390
that has been the case. Perhaps ironically, the prosecution's attempts
275
00:18:43.430 --> 00:18:47.109
to paint Michael Taylor as a neurotic, mentally unstable man
276
00:18:47.230 --> 00:18:49.410
at the time of the murder worked to save him.
277
00:18:50.549 --> 00:18:54.599
In March 1975, the jury returned a not guilty verdict
278
00:18:54.650 --> 00:18:58.039
by reason of insanity, meaning that Michael would not be
279
00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:01.809
sent to prison for his crimes. Instead, he was sentenced
280
00:19:01.849 --> 00:19:05.289
to two years of medical observation at Broadmoor Hospital, to
281
00:19:05.309 --> 00:19:08.650
be released only upon a final evaluation of his mental state.
282
00:19:09.930 --> 00:19:12.930
Four years of medical treatment would follow the trial before
283
00:19:12.970 --> 00:19:16.869
he was released in July 1979 to an understandably wary
284
00:19:17.009 --> 00:19:21.789
Osset community. Granted only minor visitation rights, Michael was never
285
00:19:21.869 --> 00:19:24.690
able to reconnect with his children, and his mental state
286
00:19:24.710 --> 00:19:29.869
began to suffer drastically. In 1981, he was hospitalised for
287
00:19:29.890 --> 00:19:33.150
the first of what would be four suicide attempts, brought
288
00:19:33.190 --> 00:19:36.599
about by severe depression and the unenviable infamy of being
289
00:19:36.619 --> 00:19:40.599
the victim of demonic possession. His name was back in
290
00:19:40.619 --> 00:19:44.400
the headlines in England when, in July 2005, Michael was
291
00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:48.170
arrested for making unwanted sexual advances towards an underage girl.
292
00:19:49.049 --> 00:19:51.789
He was found guilty for this misdemeanor and once again
293
00:19:51.849 --> 00:19:55.410
was admitted to hospital for three years of psychiatric evaluation
294
00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:59.960
and treatment. When his second trial took place, old memories
295
00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:03.519
of his demonic deed resurfaced and made a new generation
296
00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:08.470
of Osset citizens wary of his presence. In reviewing this case,
297
00:20:08.829 --> 00:20:12.619
we are left with several unanswered questions. What really happened
298
00:20:12.660 --> 00:20:17.099
that October morning in 1974? We know from reports what
299
00:20:17.140 --> 00:20:19.839
took place, but how could a man be driven to
300
00:20:19.900 --> 00:20:23.160
murder his wife in such a manner? Was it all
301
00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:26.509
really the result of ongoing mental deterioration, which had been
302
00:20:26.549 --> 00:20:29.890
brought about by fervent influence and mental conditioning by a
303
00:20:29.930 --> 00:20:35.009
religious cult? Or was it something far more sinister? Something unthinkable?
304
00:20:36.250 --> 00:20:39.150
Are there such things as demons, and can they cause
305
00:20:39.190 --> 00:20:41.880
us to commit such acts of barbarity? And if this
306
00:20:41.930 --> 00:20:46.559
is the case, who amongst us is most vulnerable? We
307
00:20:46.599 --> 00:20:51.259
are left with one final haunting thought. Michael Taylor's remaining
308
00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:55.319
demons were apparently never excised from him. We are to
309
00:20:55.380 --> 00:20:59.170
question then, whether they ever truly left him, or whether
310
00:20:59.190 --> 00:21:02.609
they are simply lying dormant, waiting to come forth once
311
00:21:02.670 --> 00:21:07.019
again and remind us that we might each be carrying
312
00:21:07.619 --> 00:21:50.490
the devil inside. Bedtime Stories.