Author Topic: Victorian Exorcism goes wrong- anniversary  (Read 6137 times)

Offline Christine

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Victorian Exorcism goes wrong- anniversary
« on: March 05, 2013, 12:48:48 PM »
THE HOUSE: THE house where Victoria's only known exorcism death occurred is being used to test the bravery of local youths.


RECOMMENDED COVERAGE
Small town exorcism's ungodly end


It is 20 years today since Joan Vollmer was killed as her husband, two friends and an exorcist tried to rid her of supposed demons in a frighteningly violent way.

The friends, Leanne Reichenbach and David Klingner, were later convicted of the manslaughter of Mrs Vollmer and falsely imprisoning her.

Her husband Ralph was convicted of recklessly causing her injury and false imprisonment and the self-proclaimed exorcist, Matthew Nuske, was found guilty of falsely imprisoning Mrs Vollmer in the Vollmer's Antwerp pig farm.

In what became one Victoria's most bizarre sagas and criminal trials, the German-born Mr Vollmer invited the media to her funeral to witness and film his wife's resurrection.

Mrs Vollmer, 49, didn't rise from the dead and it appears Mr Vollmer, then 55, grew tired of waiting for her to come back to life as Antwerp locals this week said he remarried soon after the fatal exorcism and moved to Queensland with his new bride.

Visiting the now derelict and empty Vollmer exorcism house has been a rite of passage for years for many a youth in the Wimmera district - and it remains one of the things they dare each other to do.

Locals claim scared youths - and adults - have held seances inside and psychics have also travelled to the notorious house to try to get in touch with Mrs Vollmer - so far without success.

Pic of the house plus a timeline:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/joan-vollmer-exohouse-in-antwerp-haunts-the-local-youths/story-fnat7dag-1226564529653
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.
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Offline Christine

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Re: Victorian Exorcism goes wrong- anniversary
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2013, 12:49:51 PM »
THE husband of a woman killed in Victoria's only known exorcism fatality yesterday tried to shift the blame from him to a hospital.

It is 20 years since Joan Vollmer died as her husband, Ralph, tried to rid her of her supposed demons.

Mr Vollmer, 75, yesterday said he wouldn't have had to take matters into his own hands if the hospital he took her to for psychiatric help had done a better job.

"The biggest mistake was made by the hospital in Ballarat because they released her when she wasn't ready to be released," he told the Herald Sun.

The exorcism of God-fearing Joan Vollmer

'The strangest case I've ever taken'

Exorcism house spooks the locals

Mr Vollmer said his wife was still acting strangely in January 1993, after being discharged from hospital, so he sought help from two friends and an exorcist.

The friends, Leanne Reichenbach and David Klingner, were later convicted of Mrs Vollmer's manslaughter and of falsely imprisoning her.

Mr Vollmer was convicted of recklessly causing her injury and false imprisonment. And self-proclaimed exorcist Matthew Nuske was found guilty of falsely imprisoning Mrs Vollmer at the Vollmers' Antwerp pig farm.

In one of Victoria's most bizarre sagas, the German-born Mr Vollmer invited the media to her funeral to witness and film his wife's resurrection.

Mrs Vollmer, 49, didn't rise from the dead, and Mr Vollmer now admits he is trying to forget about her.

"This is history," he said yesterday.

What he did included strapping his wife to a chair, tying her feet to boards to further restrict her movement, and helping to hold his struggling wife down while the others used force to supposedly push the "demons" up her body and out of her mouth.

Mr Vollmer yesterday admitted that he should have got more professional help for his wife.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/husband-blames-ballarat-hospital-over-wife-joan-vollmers-exorcism-death/story-e6freuy9-1226572981691

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.
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Offline Christine

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Re: Victorian Exorcism goes wrong- anniversary
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2013, 12:50:21 PM »
EXORCISM IN VICTORIA GOES WRONG

(Investigator 29, 1993 March)



A woman who died during an exorcism on January 30, twice failed to rise from the dead thereby thwarting predictions by persons "very sensitive to the Lord".

Mrs Joan Vollmer, 49, lived on a pig farm near Dimboola in Western Victoria. She suffered from schizophrenia, had at times been institutionalised.

On January 23 husband Ralph Vollmer, 54, saw his wife dancing outside, yelling and wildly waving her arms. Mr Vollmer, nominally of the Salvation Army, attended Bible meetings of a small charismatic group. He telephoned the local leader John Reichenbach, 38, and wife Leanne, 30, and the exorcism started.

Days of prayers and holding Mrs Vollmer down followed. Two more cult members joined in, about January 28. Allegedly Mrs Vollmer had 10 demons in her including the "spirit of filth", the "spirit of abuse" and "Legion" a spirit with the strength of 2,000. Mrs Vollmer allegedly displayed abnormal strength, "read our minds" and swelled up as though pregnant.

On Saturday, January 30, further help arrived from Melbourne 450km away in the form of Matthew Paul Nuske, 22, an assistant green-keeper, footballer, and secret exorcist. He ran cling-wrap around the house seven times and over the roof. Then the holding down, the prayers and the commanding of the demons in Jesus name to come out continued.

On February 3 on TV Vollmer explained: "there were some terrible hissing sounds; some froth came out of her mouth. The lights went out of her eyes instantly the moment the demons came out." This occurred late afternoon after which Nuske left. The death was not immediately reported: "Because…we received…phone calls from people…very sensitive to the Lord…that the Lord was going to raise her up."

By Monday, February 1, the body had swollen in the 40-degree heat (104 fahrenheit), was stinking and decomposing, and "blowflies and things" were gathering!

At midday the decision was made to report the death and a second resurrection date was set to coincide with the funeral at Horsham on Friday February 5.

Said Vollmer in the TV report: "I do not believe; I know this will happen. The whole thing has been God's plan from the very beginning and his name is going to be glorified like its never been before. Before her body is lowered into the grave he is going to raise her up again. And I hope and pray that your cameras will be there… because the Lord wants the world to see this."

In a different TV report Derrin Hinch interviewed Catholic priest Father John Shanley who had performed exorcisms since 1978.

Said Father Shanley: "Things like that [as in the movie The Exorcist] can happen. People begin to throw up. About a teaspoon of black stuff.

"An invisible thing hits me… when I feel it leaving or if I'm under attack… It grabs me around the hips… like an electric current was hitting you or a coldness that pierces you to the bones."

The Father added that demon possession could not be solely a mental symptom because it involved muscle movements which can't consciously be performed and because exorcisms are only attempted after medical diagnosis and help has failed.

In April 1991 the Roman Catholic Church permitted an exorcism in America to be filmed and shown on TV. A young woman, "Gina", was shown being held down while she struggled and shouted incomprehensibly. Reverend James LeBar of the Archdio-cese of New York stated that exorcism was needed when medical explanations had been excluded and/or the person manifested great strength, levitation, clairvoyance and speaking in languages they had not studied.

In Adelaide the Anglican Church, Catholic Church, Uniting Church and Christian Revival Crusade all perform exorcisms.

In the New Testament the casting out of "devils" and "unclean spirits" is mentioned dozens of times in the first three Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – only on four occasions in Acts and then no more.

A report in PSYCHOLOGY TODAY said: "In a recent study of 27 patients with religious delusions, Dr Littlewood found that three were possessed by the devil and eighteen by the Holy Ghost." (Volume 3, No.1 p.29)

In the Vollmer case the alleged demons were anchored to the womb. We're told that they were forced out via the stomach, throat and mouth. Police confirmed that Mrs Vollmer died of internal injuries.

Hours before the burial Mr Vollmer still declared that he had received further "promises" of his wife's resurrection.

Present at the funeral were about 30 journalists and photographers, 50 mourners and scores of spectators. When the coffin was lowered and the wife didn't step out Mr Vollmer hypothesised that she liked her new home too much to return to this world.
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.
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Offline Simon2

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Re: Victorian Exorcism goes wrong- anniversary
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2013, 02:49:11 PM »
strange people do very strange things to their sick loved-ones.

Not surprisingly in the name of God!!!!
To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue;

These five are gravity, generosity of (the) soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.
(Confucius)

Offline Christine

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Re: Victorian Exorcism goes wrong- anniversary
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2013, 09:25:35 PM »
I know.
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.
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Offline Colleen

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Re: Victorian Exorcism goes wrong- anniversary
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2013, 08:04:06 AM »
What a horrible thing to do to that poor woman. 
Stop the torture. Stop Yulin. Become the voice of animals who cannot talk.

Offline Christine

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Re: Victorian Exorcism goes wrong- anniversary
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2013, 11:36:03 AM »
I know, how awful.
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.
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