13 Iconic Horror Movies Inspired by Real-Life Events

What's real: The story of Emily Rose actually follows the life of Annaliese Michel — a young girl living in Germany — very closely. According to a piece by The Washington Post, Michel was thought to be possessed in 1976. The woman who first suspected possession noted that, during a religious pilgrimage, she "would not walk past a certain image of Jesus, refused to drink water from a holy spring, and smelled bad — hellishly bad." After an attemped exorcism, Michel reportedly died of malnourishment and dehydration. Even the film's court case really happened — a German court found her parents and two priests guilty of manslaughter.