An American Exorcism

Patheos has the story, told more completely in Begone Satan. Excerpts:

...At times the work was unendurable. An unnatural stench filled the room, and though Emma ate little, she vomited dozens of times daily. She screamed and moaned for hours in unearthly voices "that no human could reproduce." Witnesses noticed that her "face became so distorted that no one could recognize her."

Riesinger identified four main spirits operating in Emma. One called itself Beelzebub, another Judas Iscariot. Two were spirits of deceased relatives. One was Emma's father Jacob, an alcoholic who sexually abused her and placed a curse on her. The other was her aunt Mina, Jacob's mistress, a child murderer who practiced witchcraft. When Emma was 14, Mina put a spell on her food. Father Theophilus asked the demon's intent. It answered: "To bring her to despair so that she will . . . hang herself! She must get the rope, she must go to hell!"

At one point, the possessed woman threatened Father Steiger: "Just wait until . . . Friday comes." A few days later, on his way to a sick call, he was involved in an automobile accident, but emerged uninjured. It was Friday. When he returned to the convent, he heard a roaring, bitter laughter: "It served you right!"

During the exorcism process it was noted that Father Theophilus seemed to age twenty years. Father Steiger was reaching his own endurance limit, and the Sisters approached collective breakdown. But they became hopeful after St. Thérèse of Lisieux, known as the "Little Flower," appeared to Emma, saying: "Do not lose courage! The end is soon at hand." On the ceiling they saw roses, traditionally understood as evidence of Thérèse's intervention.

On December 23rd, Emma broke her grips and stood up. Father Theophilus blessed her, shouting: "Depart, ye fiends of Hell! Begone, Satan, the Lion of Judah reigns!" Voices responded: "Beelzebub . . . Judas . . . Jacob . . . Mina . . . Hell . . . Hell . . . Hell!" As they faded, Emma opened her eyes. Her first words were, "Praised be Jesus Christ!" The entire company of priests and nuns broke down in tears...

For more on Christian teaching on evil, see Christian Faith and Demonology.