Welcome back, fans of the strange and the supernatural, to Whispers from the Dark. Join Raven Vale as we delve into one of the most chilling and controversial cases of demonic possession in UK history: the terrifying ordeal of Michael Taylor in 1974. This episode explores the harrowing transformation of an ordinary man from Ossett, England, into a vessel of unspeakable evil, culminating in a dramatic exorcism and a shocking true crime tragedy.Witness accounts from priests and family detail the alleged paranormal activity, violent outbursts, and multiple demonic manifestations leading up to the infamous all-night ritual. But was the evil truly cast out? We meticulously examine the brutal events that immediately followed the exorcism, leading to murder and a landmark "not guilty by reason of insanity" verdict.This dark history podcast tackles the profound questions surrounding Michael Taylor's case: was it genuine demonic possession, a descent into severe mental illness, or a terrifying blend of both? If you're drawn to unexplained phenomena, real exorcism stories, true crime horror, and deep dives into historical mysteries, prepare to be profoundly unsettled. Whispers from the Dark peels back the layers of fear and controversy, leaving you to ponder the thin line between the spiritual and the psychological. Tune in for a chilling investigation into one of England's most disturbing unsolved paranormal mysteries.#MichaelTaylor #Exorcism #DemonicPossession #TrueCrimeUK #1974 #Ossett #EnglandTrueCrime #HauntingStories #ParanormalPodcast #Supernatural #Unexplained #DarkHistory #RealExorcism #TrueHorror #UnsolvedMysteries #PsychologicalHorror #WhispersFromTheDark #CrimePodcast #ReligiousHorror #BritishMysteries #Demons #TrueCrime Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
When the lights go out and they speak. The vanished,
the cursed, the crueler. Their echoes live here. I'm Raven Veil,
and you've just crossed the threshold. Welcome to Whispers from
the Dark, the unholy butcher, Michael Taylor, and the remaining demons.
(00:35):
The darkness gathers and with it the whispers. I'm Raven Veil,
and this is Whispers from the Dark. Tonight we journey
to a quiet, unassuming town, nestled in the industrial heartland
of West Yorkshire, England. The year is nineteen seventy four.
(00:58):
It's a place where life was built on hard work,
community ties, and a deep seated, if often private faith.
But for one family, a seemingly ordinary spiritual awakening would
lead to a horrifying descent into madness, violence, and a
crime so brutal it would challenge the very boundaries of
(01:20):
human understanding and religious conviction. This is the tragic and
terrifying story of Michael Taylor, a man driven to unspeakable
acts allegedly by demons that refused to leave. Michael Taylor was,
by all accounts an ordinary man, a butcher by trade
(01:44):
in the town of Osset. He was a husband to
Christine and a father to their children. Their lives were
grounded in the routine of working class England, simple and predictable.
In nineteen seventy four, Michael and Christine became involved with
a local Christian fellowship group, part of the burgeoning charismatic
(02:06):
movement sweeping through parts of Britain. This group emphasized spiritual healing,
speaking in tongues, and deliverance from evil. For Michael, who
had been struggling with a debilitating back injury and a
subsequent bout of depression, the fellowship offered a sense of
(02:26):
hope and spiritual renewal. Initially, the group seemed to have
a positive influence. Michael became more engaged, finding solace in
prayer and community. However, as the months progressed, his behavior
began to shift. It started subtly moments of intense emotion,
(02:49):
uncharacteristic fits of anger, and claims of hearing voices. The
turning point came when Christine Taylor, his wife, expressed concern
to the group's lay leader, Marie Robinson, about what she
perceived as a carnal relationship developing between Michael and Robinson.
(03:10):
This accusation ignited a furious verbal altercation within the group,
during which Michael reportedly screamed at Robinson in tongues, displaying
a volatile aggression entirely uncharacteristic of his mild mannered nature.
Following this outburst, Michael admitted to the group that he
(03:30):
felt an evil within him. Rather than seeking traditional psychiatric help,
the group steeped in deliverance ministry interpreted his escalating erratic behavior,
his cursing, his growling, and his violent outbursts as signs
of a profound demonic possession. They believed that the evil
(03:53):
within him needed to be cast out. The local vicar,
Peter Vincent of Saint Thomas's Church in Gorba, who had
some experience with deliverance, was consulted, along with a Methodist clergyman,
the Reverend Raymond Smith, and other experienced ministers. What they
(04:13):
embarked upon was an exorcism of unprecedented scale and duration.
On the night of October five, nineteen seventy four, Michael
Taylor was brought to Saint Thomas's Church. There, a team
of clergy and lay exorcists began what would become a
grueling all night exorcism ritual. It was an exhaustive terrifying
(04:40):
session designed to purge the numerous malevolent entities believed to
be residing within Michael. For hours, the church echoed with
the sounds of Michael's contortions, his guttural screams, and the
voices allegedly speaking through him. The exorcists worked tirelessly, challenging
(05:02):
the demons, commanding them to identify themselves and leave Michael's body.
According to the accounts of those present, the exorcism was
a marathon of spiritual warfare. Over the course of approximately
twenty four hours, a horrifying litany of forty alleged demons
(05:22):
were identified and believe to have been successfully expelled from
Michael Taylor's body. These were not minor spirits, but powerful
sins and vices, personified demons of lust, blasphemy, hatred, pride, greed, incest, bestiality, lewdness,
and many others. Each alleged expulsion was marked by a
(05:47):
violent thrashing from Michael, a terrifying shriek, or a moment
of temporary calm before the next entity revealed itself. The
clergy believed they were witnessing a profound victory over evil,
a cleansing of a tormented soul. However, as the dawn
of October sixth broke, casting pale light through the church windows,
(06:11):
the exorcists, utterly exhausted from their relentless battle, felt a
chilling premonition. Despite having seemingly cast out forty entities, they
believed that three particularly malevolent demons remained within Michael Taylor,
the spirits of insanity, murder, and violence. They were too
(06:33):
drained to continue the fight, too weary to attempt to
dislodge these most dangerous entities. In a decision that would
forever haunt them and shatter a family, they allowed Michael
to return home, instructing him to go to bed and rest,
believing he was for the most part cleansed and that
(06:56):
the remaining demons might be dealt with later. Michael returned
turned to his home seemingly calmer, though profoundly exhausted and disoriented.
His wife, Christine, relieved that the ordeal was seemingly over,
helped him settle in, but the peace was tragically short lived.
(07:17):
Hours later, in the early morning darkness of October six
the lingering demons, or perhaps the psychological fragmentation left in
their wake, unleashed an unspeakable horror. Michael Taylor, in a sudden,
inexplicable fit of rage and terror, brutally attacked his wife, Christine.
(07:40):
He did not use a weapon, He used his bare hands.
He beat her, he choked her, his strength seemingly superhuman.
The attack was prolonged, savage, a visceral act of violence
devoid of mercy. In the horrific climax of the assault,
Michael committed an act of growth tesque mutilation, tearing out
(08:02):
her tongue and almost completely tearing her face from her skull.
The scene was one of unimaginable carnage, a testament to
an animalistic fury. After the murder, in a dazed, confused state,
Michael strangled the family's pet poodle. He was discovered shortly thereafter,
(08:24):
naked and covered in blood, wandering disoriented in the street.
When a policeman approached him. Michael's only coherent explanation, delivered
in a flat, vacant tone amidst his shock and the
blooded tableau, was that Satan had taken hold of him.
He claimed he remembered nothing of the murder, only a
(08:47):
fleeting sense of being controlled by an external, malevolent force.
The discovery of Christine's mutilated body within their home shocked
the quiet town of Osset to its core, a crime
so vicious it seemed to defy human capacity. Michael Taylor
(09:08):
was arrested and subsequently charged with murder. His trial in
March nineteen seventy five became a landmark case, drawing intense
public and media scrutiny. The defense team, working closely with
the clergy involved in the exorcism, presented a radical argument
(09:30):
Michael Taylor was not guilty by reason of insanity, his
actions directly influenced or caused by demonic possession or a
profound mental breakdown triggered by the intensity of the exorcism
ritual itself. The prosecution meanwhile argued for premeditated murder, viewing
(09:52):
Michael's claims as a desperate attempt to evade responsibility. The
trial became a chilling debate on the nature of evil,
mental illness, and criminal culpability. Clergymen testified to the phenomena
they witnessed during the exorcism. Medical experts offered psychiatric evaluations,
(10:14):
some suggesting acute psychosis. The jury faced an agonizing dilemma
how to reconcile the brutal facts of the murder with
the extraordinary claims of supernatural influence. After intense deliberation, the
jury returned a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
(10:36):
Michael Taylor was committed to a secure mental institution, Broadmoor Hospital,
where he remained for two years before being transferred to
a secure ward in Bradford and eventually released. The Michael
Taylor case ignited a fierce and enduring debate. For believers,
it was stark proof of the reality of demonic possession
(11:00):
and the terrifying consequences of a failed exorcism, a warning
that some evil cannot be so easily expelled. For skeptics,
it was a tragic case of severe mental illness, possibly
exacerbated by highly suggestive religious rituals that pushed a fragile
mind over the edge. The Church, while affirming the reality
(11:25):
of demonic possession, often reiterates the need for careful discernment
and collaboration with medical professionals in such complex cases. The
story of Michael Taylor, the seemingly ordinary butcher turned unholy murderer,
remains a chilling testament to the thin line between the
(11:46):
spiritual and the psychological, Between the sacred and the profane?
Was he a victim of the very deliverance he sought,
leaving him open to the darkest aspects of himself or
to the remaining demons that the weary exorcists could not
cast out. The brutal disfigurement of his wife, the tearing
(12:09):
out of her tongue, speaks of a rage beyond human,
a desecration that resonates with ancient malevolent intent. It leaves
us with the horrifying question of what truly takes hold
when the human mind or soul becomes a battle ground,
and what unspeakable acts can be committed when, as Michael
(12:33):
Taylor claimed, Satan truly takes hold. Until next time, when
the whispers grow louder. Good Night,
When the lights go out and they speak. The vanished,
the cursed, the crueler. Their echoes live here. I'm Raven Veil,
and you've just crossed the threshold. Welcome to Whispers from
the Dark, the unholy butcher, Michael Taylor, and the remaining demons.
(00:35):
The darkness gathers and with it the whispers. I'm Raven Veil,
and this is Whispers from the Dark. Tonight we journey
to a quiet, unassuming town, nestled in the industrial heartland
of West Yorkshire, England. The year is nineteen seventy four.
(00:58):
It's a place where life was built on hard work,
community ties, and a deep seated, if often private faith.
But for one family, a seemingly ordinary spiritual awakening would
lead to a horrifying descent into madness, violence, and a
crime so brutal it would challenge the very boundaries of
(01:20):
human understanding and religious conviction. This is the tragic and
terrifying story of Michael Taylor, a man driven to unspeakable
acts allegedly by demons that refused to leave. Michael Taylor was,
by all accounts an ordinary man, a butcher by trade
(01:44):
in the town of Osset. He was a husband to
Christine and a father to their children. Their lives were
grounded in the routine of working class England, simple and predictable.
In nineteen seventy four, Michael and Christine became involved with
a local Christian fellowship group, part of the burgeoning charismatic
(02:06):
movement sweeping through parts of Britain. This group emphasized spiritual healing,
speaking in tongues, and deliverance from evil. For Michael, who
had been struggling with a debilitating back injury and a
subsequent bout of depression, the fellowship offered a sense of
(02:26):
hope and spiritual renewal. Initially, the group seemed to have
a positive influence. Michael became more engaged, finding solace in
prayer and community. However, as the months progressed, his behavior
began to shift. It started subtly moments of intense emotion,
(02:49):
uncharacteristic fits of anger, and claims of hearing voices. The
turning point came when Christine Taylor, his wife, expressed concern
to the group's lay leader, Marie Robinson, about what she
perceived as a carnal relationship developing between Michael and Robinson.
(03:10):
This accusation ignited a furious verbal altercation within the group,
during which Michael reportedly screamed at Robinson in tongues, displaying
a volatile aggression entirely uncharacteristic of his mild mannered nature.
Following this outburst, Michael admitted to the group that he
(03:30):
felt an evil within him. Rather than seeking traditional psychiatric help,
the group steeped in deliverance ministry interpreted his escalating erratic behavior,
his cursing, his growling, and his violent outbursts as signs
of a profound demonic possession. They believed that the evil
(03:53):
within him needed to be cast out. The local vicar,
Peter Vincent of Saint Thomas's Church in Gorba, who had
some experience with deliverance, was consulted, along with a Methodist clergyman,
the Reverend Raymond Smith, and other experienced ministers. What they
(04:13):
embarked upon was an exorcism of unprecedented scale and duration.
On the night of October five, nineteen seventy four, Michael
Taylor was brought to Saint Thomas's Church. There, a team
of clergy and lay exorcists began what would become a
grueling all night exorcism ritual. It was an exhaustive terrifying
(04:40):
session designed to purge the numerous malevolent entities believed to
be residing within Michael. For hours, the church echoed with
the sounds of Michael's contortions, his guttural screams, and the
voices allegedly speaking through him. The exorcists worked tirelessly, challenging
(05:02):
the demons, commanding them to identify themselves and leave Michael's body.
According to the accounts of those present, the exorcism was
a marathon of spiritual warfare. Over the course of approximately
twenty four hours, a horrifying litany of forty alleged demons
(05:22):
were identified and believe to have been successfully expelled from
Michael Taylor's body. These were not minor spirits, but powerful
sins and vices, personified demons of lust, blasphemy, hatred, pride, greed, incest, bestiality, lewdness,
and many others. Each alleged expulsion was marked by a
(05:47):
violent thrashing from Michael, a terrifying shriek, or a moment
of temporary calm before the next entity revealed itself. The
clergy believed they were witnessing a profound victory over evil,
a cleansing of a tormented soul. However, as the dawn
of October sixth broke, casting pale light through the church windows,
(06:11):
the exorcists, utterly exhausted from their relentless battle, felt a
chilling premonition. Despite having seemingly cast out forty entities, they
believed that three particularly malevolent demons remained within Michael Taylor,
the spirits of insanity, murder, and violence. They were too
(06:33):
drained to continue the fight, too weary to attempt to
dislodge these most dangerous entities. In a decision that would
forever haunt them and shatter a family, they allowed Michael
to return home, instructing him to go to bed and rest,
believing he was for the most part cleansed and that
(06:56):
the remaining demons might be dealt with later. Michael returned
turned to his home seemingly calmer, though profoundly exhausted and disoriented.
His wife, Christine, relieved that the ordeal was seemingly over,
helped him settle in, but the peace was tragically short lived.
(07:17):
Hours later, in the early morning darkness of October six
the lingering demons, or perhaps the psychological fragmentation left in
their wake, unleashed an unspeakable horror. Michael Taylor, in a sudden,
inexplicable fit of rage and terror, brutally attacked his wife, Christine.
(07:40):
He did not use a weapon, He used his bare hands.
He beat her, he choked her, his strength seemingly superhuman.
The attack was prolonged, savage, a visceral act of violence
devoid of mercy. In the horrific climax of the assault,
Michael committed an act of growth tesque mutilation, tearing out
(08:02):
her tongue and almost completely tearing her face from her skull.
The scene was one of unimaginable carnage, a testament to
an animalistic fury. After the murder, in a dazed, confused state,
Michael strangled the family's pet poodle. He was discovered shortly thereafter,
(08:24):
naked and covered in blood, wandering disoriented in the street.
When a policeman approached him. Michael's only coherent explanation, delivered
in a flat, vacant tone amidst his shock and the
blooded tableau, was that Satan had taken hold of him.
He claimed he remembered nothing of the murder, only a
(08:47):
fleeting sense of being controlled by an external, malevolent force.
The discovery of Christine's mutilated body within their home shocked
the quiet town of Osset to its core, a crime
so vicious it seemed to defy human capacity. Michael Taylor
(09:08):
was arrested and subsequently charged with murder. His trial in
March nineteen seventy five became a landmark case, drawing intense
public and media scrutiny. The defense team, working closely with
the clergy involved in the exorcism, presented a radical argument
(09:30):
Michael Taylor was not guilty by reason of insanity, his
actions directly influenced or caused by demonic possession or a
profound mental breakdown triggered by the intensity of the exorcism
ritual itself. The prosecution meanwhile argued for premeditated murder, viewing
(09:52):
Michael's claims as a desperate attempt to evade responsibility. The
trial became a chilling debate on the nature of evil,
mental illness, and criminal culpability. Clergymen testified to the phenomena
they witnessed during the exorcism. Medical experts offered psychiatric evaluations,
(10:14):
some suggesting acute psychosis. The jury faced an agonizing dilemma
how to reconcile the brutal facts of the murder with
the extraordinary claims of supernatural influence. After intense deliberation, the
jury returned a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
(10:36):
Michael Taylor was committed to a secure mental institution, Broadmoor Hospital,
where he remained for two years before being transferred to
a secure ward in Bradford and eventually released. The Michael
Taylor case ignited a fierce and enduring debate. For believers,
it was stark proof of the reality of demonic possession
(11:00):
and the terrifying consequences of a failed exorcism, a warning
that some evil cannot be so easily expelled. For skeptics,
it was a tragic case of severe mental illness, possibly
exacerbated by highly suggestive religious rituals that pushed a fragile
mind over the edge. The Church, while affirming the reality
(11:25):
of demonic possession, often reiterates the need for careful discernment
and collaboration with medical professionals in such complex cases. The
story of Michael Taylor, the seemingly ordinary butcher turned unholy murderer,
remains a chilling testament to the thin line between the
(11:46):
spiritual and the psychological, Between the sacred and the profane?
Was he a victim of the very deliverance he sought,
leaving him open to the darkest aspects of himself or
to the remaining demons that the weary exorcists could not
cast out. The brutal disfigurement of his wife, the tearing
(12:09):
out of her tongue, speaks of a rage beyond human,
a desecration that resonates with ancient malevolent intent. It leaves
us with the horrifying question of what truly takes hold
when the human mind or soul becomes a battle ground,
and what unspeakable acts can be committed when, as Michael
(12:33):
Taylor claimed, Satan truly takes hold. Until next time, when
the whispers grow louder. Good Night,
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