The Terrifying Exorcism of Michael Taylor

  • By Sam Ashford
  • First Published: August 19, 2024
  • Last Updated: September 12, 2025

Michael Taylor

It’s a story that sent shockwaves through Britain and the rest of the world.

Hailing from a small town, Michael Taylor was suspected to have been inhabited by more than 40 demons. After an hours-long exorcism to rid him of the demons, Michael was sent home where, not even two hours later, he brutally killed his wife, Christine Taylor.

Read here to learn about the terrifying exorcism of Michael Taylor, what led to his exorcism, and what terrifying events played out afterwards.

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The Man Behind The Ossett Murder: Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor was born in September 1944 and lived an ordinary, quiet life in Ossett, West Yorkshire.

A butcher by trade, he shared their house with his wife, Christine, their five kids, and their dog. Described by neighbours as kind and mild-mannered, Michael went about his life like any other father, working, caring for his wife and kids, and spending time with friends and family.

However, Michael suffered a back injury, which made it difficult to keep a full-time job, making him depressed and, at times, withdrawn and unwilling to interact with those around him. The Taylor family weren’t religious but started attending meetings of the Gawber Christian Fellowship Group after a friend suggested that Michael’s hardships may be caused by his lack of spirituality.

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Here he met and became fascinated with Marie Robinson.

The Other Woman: Marie Robinson

A lay preacher, Marie, ran the prayer group Michael and his family attended.

Enamoured by Marie’s soft-spoken and old-time religious views, Michael began spending more time at church, attending several church group meetings. However, what started as a quest to become more spiritual soon became an obsession as Michael fell head-over-heels in love with Marie.

He started spending more time with the lay preacher and less at home. When home, Michael was withdrawn, depressed, and argumentative and often lashed out at his wife and kids.

Christine, suspicious of Michael’s new-found love for religion, confronted Michael during a prayer meeting, claiming his relationship with Marie was more than just cordial, labelling their connection as carnal. Surprisingly, instead of confronting Christine, Michael had to be restrained as he lashed out at and began to physically and verbally abuse Marie.

At their next prayer meeting, Michael apologised to Marie for his behaviour, claiming he had no recollection of what had happened. Though they forgave him, the church’s leaders, worried about Michael’s erratic behaviour, gathered and concluded that he was the victim of demonic possession and needed to undergo an exorcism.

Diagnosis, Exorcism And The Aftermath

Convinced that Michael was possessed by more than 40 demons, Anglican church leaders summoned him to attend a prayer meeting on 5 October 1974 to perform an exorcism.

5 October 1974: The Exorcism

Michael, accompanied by his wife, arrived at the Saint Thomas’s Church in Gawber around midnight.

Also present were Father Peter Vincent, Reverend Raymond Smith, and other members of the prayer group. Michael, also convinced that he was indeed possessed, was restrained, where, for the next eight hours, the two church leaders performed the sacred rite of exorcism on him.

Later in court, during Michael’s trial, witnesses testified how he began thrashing, spitting, and convulsing, prompting the group to tie him to the church floor. Witnesses also told of how he was drenched in holy water and a crucifix jammed down his throat during the ordeal.

Hours later and exhausted from the ordeal, the group decided to release Michael into the care of his wife. Saying they managed to rid him of most of the demons, including those representing sensuality, bestiality, and incest, they planned to, at a later stage, rid him of the remaining demons.

These remaining demons, according to church leaders, were those associated with violence, murder, and insanity.

6 October 1974: The Murder

Exhausted from the ordeal, Michael and Christine arrived home around 8 AM on 6 October.

Barely two hours later, Michael brutally attacked and murdered his wife.

Police reports say he tore his wife’s eyes and tongue out with his bare hands, ripping her skin from her skull and leaving behind a blood-drenched scene. In his killing frenzy, Michael also attacked, throttled, and completely dismembered their family dog. The dog’s severed limbs were strewn across the crime scene.

A police officer, first on the scene at the Taylor house, told another officer, who arrived a little later:

“You don’t want to see this one… It’s the wife… He’s ripped at her son. It’s a right mess in there. There’s not much of her left.”

Police officers failed to find a murder weapon. As it turned out, Michael used only his hands to kill his wife and dog!

During his arrest, Michael claimed that the previous night’s exorcism wasn’t successful:

“They primed me for it last night. They tried to bring me peace of mind, but instead they filled me with the Devil. It was within her.”

Michael Taylor’s Trial

After his arrest, Michael went to trial for the brutal attack and murder of his wife.

Michael’s defence team cited insanity and argued that their client, already in a fragile mental state, was pushed to the limit by the so-called exorcism.

He was acquitted and spent two years in Broadmoor Hospital, where he received psychiatric treatment. He spent another two years at Bradford Royal Infirmary and was later released.

FAQs

What happened to Michael after he was released?

After his release, Michael moved back to Ossett where he reportedly tried to commit suicide four times.

Taylor made news headlines again in 2005 when he was arrested for the indecent assault of a teenage girl. While in jail, he again started showing erratic behaviour, prompting authorities to send him for psychiatric observation and treatment.

Were there any other well-known cases of exorcisms reported?

Yes, here is a list of five other well-known exorcisms that shocked the world:

  1. The New Mexico Colony Exorcisms. A Spanish missionary, Juan Toledo in a letter to the governor of New Mexico, told of how he had to perform a series of exorcisms on residents of the settlement. Toldeo claimed he successfully performed exorcisms on five women and one man, ridding the small colony of its demon infestation.
  2. The Exorcism of George Lukins. After several claims that he was possessed and bewitched by several women, George Lukins underwent an exorcism to rid himself of seven demons.
  3. The Exorcism of Clara Germana Cele. The exorcism of this young Zulu girl also captured the imagination of millions. Reverend Erasmus Hoerner, who performed the exorcism in 1906, reported how the young girl levitated and bit and punched his helpers during the three-hour ritual.
  4. The Exorcism of Emma Schmidt. This 46-year-old Earling, Iowa resident’s exorcism is one of the most well-known exorcisms recorded in the United States. Taking place over 23 days in 1928, Theophilus Riesinger reported how the woman levitated, spoke in tongues and vomited during her cleansing ritual.
  5. The Exorcism of Roland Doe. This exorcism, performed on a 14-year-old boy in Maryland in 1949 inspired the well-known book, The Exorcist. The priests who helped rid the boy of his demons claimed to have seen scratches, resembling words and phrases, appear on the child’s body during the ritual.

Final Thoughts

What started as a mission for a young family to become more spiritual, turned into a horrifying story of an affair, demonic possession, an exorcism, and a gruesome murder.

A doting and loving father and husband, after an eight-hour exorcism, turned on his wife and family pet, leaving a scene covered in blood from floor to ceiling.

On your next ghost hunt, make sure you tell the story of how the exorcism of her husband Michael led to the gruesome death of Christine, and how the events ripped the Taylor family apart.

Before heading into the night, grab one of Spiritshack’s range of ghost-hunting equipment to make your expedition extra scary and special.

Sources:

Sam Ashford
Sam Ashford - Author

Hey, I'm Sam Ashford! I'm a ghost-hunting expert, writer and founder of SpiritShack. My mission is to help people like yourself learn about spirituality and how to hunt ghosts!