Humans often take for granted that we are ultimately responsible for our actions, that the choices we make are governed by nothing but our own free will. To question free will is to question not only moral responsibility, but also the very notion of the self. After all, if you take away our conscious agency, then who or what exactly
are we? If, for example, we take a Newtonian deterministic view of the universe and accept the universe as a place in which every event is caused by a pre existing set of conditions that in turn result in predetermined actions, we would have to concede that free will in the strictest sense is an impossibility. Our acts, as John Gray notes in his two thirds thousand and three book straw Dogs, would be nothing but end points in long sequences of
unconscious responses. Intrigued by this idea, in nineteen eighty, neuroscientist Benjamin Labette devised an experiment to try and determine whether our actions are conscious choices or not, with some surprising results. In Labette's study, titled Unconscious Cerebral Initiative and the Role of Conscious Will in Voluntary Action, participants were first hooked up to an electro encephalogram or EEG machine. The device uses electrodes placed directly on the sculp to measure communication
between brain cells. With this set up, the subjects were then tasked with carrying out a simple function, such as pressing a button or flexing their wrist, while at the same time making a note of when they decided to
carry out the action. After comparing the participants per set of when they decided to act with the actual brain function instigating the act, Labette and his team discovered that these seemingly voluntary choices were being initiated up to zero point three to five seconds before the subjects were aware of them. The implications of Labette's findings were fiercely debated, with some suggesting that this small delay is just a period of latency between the brain initiating the action and
our actual conscious awareness that we'd initiated it. However, this was challenged significantly in two thousand and eight after a series of similar experiments conducted by a team of scientists led by Professor John Dilan Haynes at the Max Planck Institute in Germany revealed that some of our so called decisions might actually occur in the brain as much as
seven seconds before we become aware of them. Perhaps a little unnerved by the results, Professor Haynes was quick to leave the door open for free will, stating that it remained to be seen if such decisions could also be reversed or deliberately not acted on either way, the idea that free will is little more than a useful illusion is unnerving, to say the least, And although we might yet come to accept this as merely a quirk of life for others, the implication speaks of something else, entirely,
something far more sinister. If we aren't in control of our minds, then who or what is To travel upstream along the placid waters of the River Mine from where it joins the Mighty Rhine is to enter an enchanted world of ancient forest, colorful wedding cake towns, and neatly treted castles, as if lifted straight from a grim fairy tale. It may be of little surprise, then, to learn that the Grim Brothers were born in Hanau, one of the first towns you encounter heading east out of Frankfort, the
largest city on the river. Following the waters south into Bavaria, you'll soon find yourself caught between the Odenwald mountain ranges to the west and the low lying Spssart Hills to the east. It is from these ancient mountains, with woods of oak, beech and fir, that tales such as Snow White and Handsome and Gretel are thought to have originated, before being compiled and eventually published as the Grim's Fairy
Tales in eighteen twelve. If you were to travel deeper into these mythical lands, you might come across a place where four roads meet, and had you stumbled upon it one dark night centuries ago, so you may have spied a young doctor by the name of Faustus standing in the forest alone, drawing mystical circles in the earth and
speaking strange incantations into the wind. Perhaps you would then have continued to watch in secret as the young man's chants were drowned in a cacophony of inhuman sound, while terrifying, monstrous apparitions appeared in the air around him, threatening to emerge from some other place. If you hadn't already succumbed to fear and made a hasty retreat, you might have seen one such apparition finally take shape a demon and servant of Lucifer by the name of Mephistopheles, as recounted
in the legendary tale of Doctor Faustus. Elsewhere southwest of the Spressart Hills lies a pretty hamlet of colorful stucco and half timber houses with neat terra cotta roofs, known as Klingenberg. The town has weathered many storms throughout the years.
Some brought destruction, like King Louis the fourteenth of France, whose troops raised Klingenberg Castle to the ground in sixteen eighty, while others, such as invading Roman settlers from two thousand years ago, left seeds that later blossomed into the well established vineyards that today provide much of the town's trade.
In nineteen fifty two, Klingenberg, with its modest population of three thousand, is part of Western Germany, a nation newly forged from the ashes of the most destructive war the world has ever known. The old flags of red and white, with their black crooked symbols, that flew from the municipal buildings only a few years before, have been taken down
and replaced by simple black, red and yellow stripes. It is in this town one Sunday morning in September of that year that Anna and Joseph Michel celebrate the birth of their first child together. Twenty four years later, that same child will be dead, the result, some have said, of the most terrifying and convincing case of demonic possession ever recorded. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McLean Smith.
Back in nineteen forty eight, two hundred miles to the east of Klingenburg, in the district of Libelfing, twenty eight
year old Anna Firk is in a desperate state. The recent birth of her child, Martha, born out of wedlock, has brought disgrace on her and her devout Catholic parents, Terrified that their daughter will no longer be able to marry, and as parents, spy an opportunity when they're introduced to a young man named Joseph, recently arrived in town on business with the help of the Diocese of Wurtzburg, and it is rumored a few hundred Deutsche marks, the Firks
gift their daughter to the young man. Joseph and Anna, shrouded in a black veil as a symbol of her disgrace, were married. The following year. Despite their inauspicious beginnings, the couple are happy together and soon settled down in Klingenberg, where Joseph, now the head of his family's sawmill business, lovingly builds them a house on a quiet street overlooking
Klingenberg Cemetery. It's a modest, two story home with cream stucco walls and a high peaked roof, reminiscent of the steep vineyard heiresses that slope up behind it before disappearing into the foreboding Sbssart trees. Joseph loves Anna's daughter Martha as his own, but his affection for her is nothing compared to what he feels when his and Anna's first child together arrives on a warm September morning in nineteen
fifty two. Born on the Lord's Day, it is only fitting that she should be named Anna Lisa, meaning God is Bountiful, and she is as beautiful a baby as any parent could wish for. She is joined soon after by sisters Gertrude, Maria, and Barbara, and together the four sweet children are a blessing on the pious and devoted Anna and Joseph. But in nineteen fifty six, tragedy strikes. A tumor is discovered in eight year old Martha's kidney,
which requires immediate surgery. Operation is not successful, and the young Martha dies soon after. To the avowedly Catholic family, it seems a particularly unfathomable tragedy. How could an innocent child be so cruelly and suddenly snatched from them? But part of Anna has always known this day would come. Martha had come into the world a literal embodiment of sin upon God's earth, and Anna had failed to compensate for it. Clearly thinks Anna Martha's premature death was God's
inevitable revenge. Nevertheless, it is with great sorrow that Martha is laid to rest in the cemetery next to the house, albeit hidden away at the back in grounds set aside for suicide and the so called illegitimate. Convinced now of what she must do, Anna determines to make her second child,
Ann Eliza, her vessel for salvation. To this end, she determines that she will do everything in her power to make sure her daughter will never be without the Rosary or skip Mass, and together they will win back God's love. Not long after Martha's death, An Eliza contracts measles, followed by the mumps and scarlet fever. Naturally, Anna fears her efforts of once again being in vain, but after much praying, ann Eliza's ailments soon subside and she becomes a healthy,
happy child once more. In the autumn of nineteen fifty eight, a six year old ann Eliza takes her first communion as Anna and Joseph watch proudly while she eats the body and SIPs the blood of Christ. It is with the feeling of a great weight being lifted. The arrival of another baby girl in December, christened ross Weather, comes like a reward for all their efforts. Many happy years follow, and at the age of twelve, Analiza graduates to the
Dalberg Gymnasium in Aschaffenburg. It is only a ten minute train ride from her home, but those ten minutes spent gazing at the passing hills and bright yellow fields are a freedom she's never known before. There are new friends to be made, like Maria, whom Analiza regularly laughs and jokes with on their daily commute, and over the next few years there are other changes to biological changes and feelings that Ann Eliza struggles to reconcile with the demands
of the scriptures. Though she desires to learn dance at the local ball room like her sisters, her mother Anna forbids it. Her place is at Mass, to give thanks to the Mother of God, Anna reminds her, and to show penance for all those less fortunate than herself. Some nights, ann Eliza decides voluntarily to sleep on the floor as a sign of contrition. So determined is she to show her mother that she understands. But in spite of it all,
something is stirring. In the summer of nineteen sixty eight, ann Eliza and Maria are working together in class when Maria notices something amiss. Ann Eliza appears to have fallen asleep in her chair. Anneliza, she whispers to her, but there is no reply. Aliza, she says, more forcefully, Is it Alison Ordnunk? Is everything okay? Oh yeah, the turlish replies Anna Lisa, finally suddenly seeming to snap out of a daydream, before turning back to her work as if
nothing had happened. Later that night, she wakes with a start, unable to catch her breath and her eyes wide in horror. She tries to cry out for help, but no words come out of her mouth. Her limbs are rigid, while something strong and invisible seems to be pinning her down to the bed. When she is finally released, a warm, dampness spreads out from underneath her. She has wet the bed.
Keeping the events of that night to herself, the incident is all but forgotten until a year later when it happens again, only this time, her screams of terror are heard throughout the house. The next morning, disturbed by the previous night's events, Anna takes her daughter to seniorrologist doctor Siegfried Lootie. The clipped and urbane Lootie finds little wrong with Anna Lisa, but suggests taking an EEG test in the hope of shedding some light on the cares of
her peculiar seizures. Two days later, a nervous Anna Lisa sits in an examination room surrounded by the quiet hum of machinery as a series of small, wiry electrodes are stuck to her head. At the flick of a switch, a continuous feed of paper begins streaming from a printer, as a row of crooked metal arms make sharp lines
of color across the page. Anna squeezes her daughter's hand with relay as Lutie regards the readings briefly before telling them both that there is nothing to be concerned about. A few weeks later, however, Analiza is struck down with tonsilitis followed by bouts of pleurisy and pneumonia. In February nineteen sixty nine, having also contracted tuberculosis, a devastated Analza is taken out of school, away from her friends, and
sent for treatment at Hokeburk's Clinic Sanatorium. The grand but stark sanatorium, located on the edge of Middelburg on the border of Western Germany and Austria, is nestled one thousand feet high in the Algoy at the northern tip of the Alps. The rarefied air and majestic views of the Fussun Mountains should be the perfect tonic for Analza's lungs, but there is no shaking the sense of foreboding on her arrival as she approaches the isolation monolithic building with
the dark evergreen furs looming behind it. Inside, Anna Lisa is led to her dormitory. With each step through the sanatoriums, sterile iodic corridors. Young pallid faces appear in the approaching doorways, keen to get a look at the latest visitor. However, when she enters the dorm, the girls inside are quick to welcome her into their makeshift commune, and the familiar chirrup of teenagers soon puts her at ease. As spring turns to summer, Anna Lisa is making good progress until
one night when everything changes. A throat ripping scream wakes the girls and sends nurses sprinting down the halls to Analisa's dorm. Only a few catch the faint whiff of ammonia and notice the dampness of her sheets. All see Anna Lisa shaking with terror. It isn't clear what has set it off, but Ane Lisa is soon calmed and moved to a clean bed, but she is too scared to sleep. The next morning to check up, finds nothing
wrong in her dorm. A few weeks later, Anna Lisa sits alone in the gloaming as the last of the day's light fractures in a burst of golden orange from behind the distant mountain peaks. Closing her eyes, she picks up her rosary and starts to pray, our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom Come. She is still sitting in her chair, speaking to herself. When the girls find her, Lisa, they say timidly, they say again. It is as though she doesn't even register them.
The girls look on with unease as an unresponsive Annalisa continues to stare vacantly out of the window, her trembling hands held up in front of her face, stiff and rigid like claws. She seems to snap out of the trance and turns silently to face the girls as an odd, beatific smile plays about her lips, the pupils of her eyes like two vast black discs. In June, Ana Lisa is taken for another EEG scan. This time it reveals a slight anomaly in the pattern of her brain waves.
According to the doctors, it appears that Ana Lisa is suffering from Grand Marle epilepsy and is prescribed a course of anti convulsant pills to limit the chance of her suffering from a seizure. A week later, alone in her room, she is again staring out the window as she passes the rosary beads between her fingers. As she prays, something strange begins to take shape. Above the mountain peaks. The crooked nose appears first, followed by a pair of oddly
twisted ears. Then comes a hideous mouth of gnashing teeth, death and a pair of eyes that stared directly at her from out of the sky. She tries to turn away, but something is stopping her, compelling her to look and take it all in. When she is finally released from its grip, she runs in terror to the back of the room, screaming at all her confused and terrified roommates
to leave her alone. Afternoon a few days later, and Alisa is asked if she's been suffering any further issues during her stay, but she says no, fearful of what they might do to her if she tells them about what she saw. After nearly six months in the sanatorium, she has given a clean bill of health and returns home. Now back home in Klingenberg after such a long time away, and Alisa heads straight to her old bedroom. There, she takes a moment to reacquaint herself with all her old things.
Sitting on her bed, she runs a hand over her old prayer book on her bedside table, with the wild flowers pressed inside it. She picks up her badly neglected diary and absent mindedly flicks through the pages. Then she stands and strokes the framed picture of Jesus on her wall. Meanwhile, downstairs, her sisters are speaking among themselves with quiet concern. Something isn't quite right with Anna Alsa, they say, she seems different.
Over the next few years, Annelisa excels at school and, barring a few minor seizures, appears to be returning to a semblance of normality. In truth, she knew it would only be a matter of time before it came for her again, and sure enough it did. It started one night in the spring of nineteen seventy three when she was awakened by what sounded like a gentle knocking on her door, but when she got up to open it, there was nobody there. When this happened a number of times,
and Elisa felt compelled to tell her mother. She has taken again to see the doctor, but they fail to establish any explanation for the seemingly imaginary noises. When they return home. An Alisa's sister, Barbara, asks her mother what the visit was about this time, It's nothing, she replies, and Elisa is imagining noises at night. But Mama says, Barbara, I have heard them too. In fact, as it turns out, all of the sisters have been hearing it, the strange
soft banging coming from somewhere inside the house. Sometimes it seems to come from inside the walls, sometimes from under the floorboards, and sometimes it sounds like it's coming directly from inside and Elisa's own wardrobe. One night, unheard by the rest of the family, and now twenty year old Anna Lisa awakes in the dark to find a voice is speaking to her. Join us in health, ever, join us in health. Ever, join us in health. Forever, it
rasps over and over again. Join us in health, rev join us in health forever, in us in hell, forever, join us in health. Health. Joseph is startled awake by Anna Lisa screaming hysterically. Rushing to her bedroom, he finds his daughter writhing about in terror, with her hands clasped over her ears, begging the voices to stop. He grabs his daughter and holds her tight until she eventually calms down.
In the summer of nineteen seventy three, Joseph takes Anna Lisa on a pilgrimage to central Italy to visit the Garden of Rosa Quatrini Buzzini, a recently venerated shrine in the village of San Damiano, just east of Perugia. When Anna Lisa nears the garden, she appears suddenly crippled by a searing pain in her feet, as if they were on fire. When she next looks up, she is horrified to find the faces of the other pilgrims have turned into wide mouths of sharp, gnashing teeth, all coming for her.
Though the moment passes. On the coach back to Klingenberg, Annalisa rips an icon medallion from the neck of Tia Hine, a friend and neighbor who'd organize the trip. Joseph apologizes profusely for her behavior, and shepherds his daughter back to their seats, trying his best to keep her calm, while the rest of the passengers whisper and stare at them. A few days later, Anna Lisa is back in doctor Lutie's office. The devil is in me, she tells him.
Lootie shifts uncomfortably for a moment in his chair and looks to her mother Anna, then back to Anna Lisa. What do you mean exactly? He asks? He's been speaking to me through them? And who were they? The demons? She says plainly, And these are the ones whose faces you've seen? Yeah? And how do you recognize this as the devil? Exactly? Anna Lisa looks to her mother as if mulling over what to say, but is unable to reply.
She knows that Lootie will never understand it is the last time she mentions anything to doctors about the gruesome faces or tormenting voice. Is It is September nineteen seventy three when father Ernst Anton Alt first learns about Analisa's case. The tall and sharply bearded Alt, although relatively young at thirty five, is considered deeply thoughtful and intelligent by his peers.
He listens with great concern as Father Carl Roth recounts the meeting he's just attended concerning a possible case of demonic molestation. But before Roth can say more, a strange look comes over Father Alt, much to Roth's amazement. Alt then proceeds to describe Ana Lisa and her family's situation in complete detail. He claims to have no idea how he was able to do this. Two days later, Father Alt consults with another colleague, father Eduard Hermann, who'd also
been contacted by the desperate family. When Hermann hands Alt to letters he received from Anna and Joseph outlining the case, Alt is overcome by a strange nausea. It is, he believes, as though something were warning him to stay away. Disturbed by his strange reaction to the case, Father Alt wastes
little time in arranging to speak with the family. On first meeting, the now twenty one year old Anna Lisa is a little taken by surprise at how lucid and determined, albeit a little pale, she seems considering everything he's heard about her predicament. I am looking for people who believe me, she tells him, wasting little time in pleasantries. At first, her conviction seems reassuring, but after an hour of examination, Father Alt and Father Wrath are left in little doubt
that Annalisa is indeed in the grip of a terrifying possession. However, not wanting to cause any alarm to Annalisa or her family, the pair decide to keep their judgment to themselves and agree to simply observe her over the coming weeks and months before deciding what they should do next. In the meantime, ann Elisa is encouraged to continue living her life as she has always done. Around this time, she gains entry
onto the University of Wurtzburg's teacher training course. In November, Galvanized by her regular consultations with father Aldt, she travels to Wurtzburg to begin her studies. After moving into the university's dark, five story dormitory, she spends the next few
months attending lectures and making new friends. There are ups and downs with Annalisa, sometimes stay entire days in her room to lethargic to even speak to anyone, But on one of her better nights, she is dragged to a dance at the dormitory as euphoric rock and roll shimmers from the speakers. A young man with soft, pale skin and dark wavy hair watches from the edge of the hall as Anna Lisa dances blissfully under the smoky haze
and dimmed lights. He introduces himself as Peter. She likes his eyes and his gentle self assurance and something about him puts her immediately at ease. They agree to meet up again, and in the days that follow, Peter grows ever more fond of the enigmatic young woman from Klingenberg, and in those first flushes of young love, it seems that an Eliza might finally be able to put her troubles of the past behind her. But all that was about to change in more horrific and terrifying ways than
anybody could ever have imagined. You've been listening to Unexplained, Season seven, episode six, look Me in the Eye, Part one of three. This episode was written by Richard mc lean smith. Unexplained. The book and audio book, with stories never before featured on the show, is now available to buy world wide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones,
and other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and reach us online through Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com forward Slash Unexplained podcast