The Terrifying Exorcism of Michael Taylor: The Ossett “Exorcist” Murder...

The small town of Ossett in West Yorkshire, England, is a quiet, sleepy market town boasting a population of around 21,000.  It seemed like the least likely place from which tales of the occult and demonic possession would stem. But in 1974 the whole town was shocked. In today's podcast, we explore the terrifying exorcism of Michael Taylor.

Episode narrated by Top5s
Music by CO.AG

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Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing cases involving serial killers. Listener discretion is advised.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

The small town of Austin in West Yorkshire, England is a quiet sleepy market town boasting a population of around 21,000. It's home to a few notable people, including crime novelist, David peace, and several actors who had successful careers on British soaps, such as coronation street in the 1970s, its population sand at around 17,000. And it seemed like the least likely place for a gruesome murder to occur or a place from which tales of the Colt and demonic possessions could STEM. But in 1974, the whole town was shocked when one of that beloved well known locals became a cold blooded killer. This is the terrifying story of Michael Taylor's demonic possession in September of 1974, Michael Taylor was 31 years old. He was married to a woman named Christine age 29, and the couple had five children, all boys who age between six and 12, the family had led an ordinary life so far. And while they were not excessively wealthy, they had enough money to feed their children and pay for the roof over their heads. By all accounts, the Taylors had been comfortably middle-class until early 1974. When Michael injured his back and began to suffer from constant back problems that left him struggling to maintain longterm employment. The UK was also in the midst of a recession. So job opportunities were beginning to dry up. As a result, the Tate has began to feel the weight to financial strain as their income began to dwindle. These financial difficulties are thought to have been the catalyst that had the patriarch of the family spiraling into a deep depression, something that he grappled with for quite some time in an attempt to alleviate his mental torment and to try and encourage the couple to be more social. A friend of the family suggested that Michael and his wife, Christine visit a local Christian fellowship group located in GABA. The Frank claimed that his group's gatherings when nothing like the stuffy stuck up traditional services that we used to, and instead the proceedings were energetic and exciting. The charismatic Christian movement, which the group was pots off, focused more on supernatural aspects of the Bible. They believed on practice, faith healing sang upbeat Christian music, as opposed to gloomy hymns. I'm a January much more interesting and enthusiastic. Although the Taylors were not a religious family and often skipped out on attending church, they agreed to give this particular group a shot. The couple was surprised to find that defacto leader of the group was a young woman in her early twenties, a lay preacher named Mary Robinson. The Taylors were immediately drawn to the Christian group. They felt welcomed as everyone was eager to get to know them. They were so impressed, but they decided to join the church converting after that first meeting and even offering up their house as a location for group meetings from time to time over the next few weeks. However it soon became clear that Michael was the more devoted half of the couple. Although it seemed that his interests focused more on Maria Robinson than anything or anyone else young, good looking and engaging it wasn't long before Michael felt drawn to the preacher and his interest in her became less friendly and more romantic. Christine was not oblivious to the fact that her husband was enamored with the young woman. The two spent much of that time together, all the while Michael's mental health began to deteriorate one day, he claimed to be afraid of the moon and him and Marie stayed up all night in the family home. As she tried to help him, they even spoke in tongues together, something which was practiced in the church at the time as the two grew closer, Michael turned from a happy, good natured, loving family man to a moody and argumentative one who was easy, annoyed by his wife and children. The shift in his personality, he was disturbingly drastic and happened within weeks of meeting the young preacher. Eventually Christine had had enough one day during a group meeting at the family home, she confronted her husband. I'm Marie demanding to know if they were having an affair. The two told her that they were not engaging in any kind of sexual activity. And Mary attempted to calm down the older woman. At some point after this, Christine suggested that her husband and the preacher talk things out and the two obliged leaving the room together so they could talk in private. It is not known what exactly was said between the two during this conversation. But Marie later claimed that Michael had tried to kiss her and she had rejected his advances after this. He called everybody to the room and declared. We have won a great victory for the Lord. A miracle has happened. We have both overcome our passions. This is often melted to be the true start of whatever mental or psychotic break. Michael seemed to suffer in the coming months. As upon declaring this, he then looked at Mary who described this moment in court as his whole features changed. He looked almost be steel. There was a real wild look in his eyes at that moment, the 31 year old lunge for his preacher and began verbally and physically attacking her. It took several members of the group to hold him off her and restrain him. Michael later claimed that he had no memory of the incident. Incredibly the following day, the young woman went to his house to forgive him and Michael received a church absolution too high of a Michael's state of mind, continued to deteriorate as time went on tales of the family. Man's erratic behavior and perceived mental break made that rands amongst the town folk, and eventually reached the ears of a local vicar and his wife, Peter and Sally Vincent father Vincent was a 52 year old Anglican priest at st. Thomas Church and was described as an enthusiastic accessed, the couple invited Michael and Christine into their home so that they could assess the situation where the 31 year olds reported last night, again, breaking tableware. And in some reports tossing the Vincent's cat out of the window. This quickly prompted the couple to reach the conclusion that Michael was in desperate need of an exorcism. He was filled with multiple different evil spirits who are out to destroy his life and those around him. While the tailors thought that maybe they should focus less on religion and the group and more on spending quality time together as a family, they were reportedly dissuaded from this idea and pushed more towards the concept of exorcism springing quickly into action. The Vinsons put together a team of trusted people to help with the exorcism. They invited the tailors to st. Thomas Church in[inaudible] South Yorkshire on October the fifth, it was here that Michael was subjected to an exorcism, which lasted seven hours with Peter Vincent and Reverend Raymond Smith. Leading the process. During this time, the young man reportedly exhibited the typical signs of demonic possession. He spanned scratched bet and his body convulsed. He was eventually forcefully tied to the floor. So he would stop reaching out to attack those around him. Although Michael continued to grow at anyone who came close to him, Michael and Jordan, much misery during the procedure, the tainted wooden cross he wore was burned. Wooden crosses were shoved into his mouth. He was continuously dialed with Hodi water and he was forced to confess their sins that he had not committed along with all this. He was also subject to much verbal abuse and according to a few reports, some physical abuse by the time morning arrived, everyone involved was exhausted and knew that they had to stop for a break. Father. Vincent said that he had at this point expelled 40 different demons from Michael's body, including those that represented blasphemy, incest beastiality and hearsay among others. He said that only three remained, and those ones were associated with murder violence and insanity. Allegedly one woman who had been witness to the entire procedure attempted to persuade the men to carry on with the exorcism, because the voice of God told her that those demons inside of Michael, we're going to kill Christine. The men didn't listen. However, and after 7:00 AM on October sick, everyone went home for rest later that morning at around 10:00 AM, Michael murdered Christine in the family home, it's unclear whether he strangled her or she died from the shock and blood loss sustained from the horrific attack with some articles indicating that the young woman drowned in her own blood, the couple's children with thankfully staying with their grandparents. And so they did not witness the horrifying bloodbath that unfolded in the house that morning, nor did they become victims of their father's violence. Soon, the local police department began to receive calls from concerned citizens who claimed that a naked man covered in red paint was wandering aimlessly around the streets. The police discovered that it was Michael covered in blood. He reportedly told the police undisturbed onlookers. It is the blood of Satan. One officer who recognized Michael requested that further members of law enforcement be dispatched to the family home reportedly. One of the first police officers on the scene saw the gruesome state of Christine's body and had to run out to the house again to dry heave. He later described the scene as one of a Portlander privacy. Christine Taylor's body had been mutilated. Her face had been torn from her skull. Her eyes had been gauged out and a tongue had been removed from him. My flesh and blood was splattered across the walls floor on furniture. A trail of rant led from the back door to the living room where Christine's body lay, not even the family dog, a small poodle had been spanned. It had been strangled to death. Its limbs pulled from its body and its hair, teeth and eyes removed from its skull. More disturbingly as police officers on the scene, search the home for some kind of weapon. The medical examiner revealed that he believed a weapon would never be recovered saying none of the body parts showed any sign of knife marks or cutting of any kind. Michael had carried out all of this grizzly violence using his own bare hands. While some have stated that disbelief that a man of average height and weight could cause such carnage with his bare hands, others have argued that it seems highly unlikely that a man so detached from reality could possibly clean and or hide a weapon. So well, it also seems unlikely that the highly skilled medical examiner would miss any marks left by objects that were used while in custody. Michael told authorities, they primed me for it. They tried to bring me peace of mind, but instead they filled me with the devil. He also claimed yet again, to have no memory of the events, he claimed that he'd been controlled by evil forces and suspect that his wife had also been, which is why he'd killed her. He added chillingly that he fell compelled to destroy everything living within that house. When authorities asked him how he felt now, he replied, released, I am released. It has done the evil in her has been destroyed. The combination of the gruesome sensational bloody murder and talk of demons and exorcisms led to much shock and morbid fascination amongst the public in the UK. The case of Christine Taylor and her husband became a media sensation with the subsequent trial pulling in limitless interest from people up and down the country. During the trial, a clinical psychologist claim that Michael's actions were a result of the intense psychological torment he had experienced the previous night during the exorcism. It was also pointed ironed that the Christian group had been more like a cold exacerbating, preexisting mental health issues that the 31 year old had and influencing him fire indoctrination and mind control the accesses and procedure itself was largely blamed for pushing an exhausted mentally ill and disturbed man. Over the edge. One of the barristers made a statement during the trial placing some of the blame of the events, which unfold in following the exorcism squarely on the shoulders of the church, saying, let those who truly are responsible for this killing stander. We submit that Taylor is a mere cipher. The real guilt lies elsewhere. Religion is the key. Those who have been referred to an evidence and those clerics in particular would be with him in spirit. Now in this building and each day he is incarcerated in Broadmore and not least on the day. He must enjoy the bitter reunion with his five motherless children. While the church defended father Vincent during the trial, they subsequently altered their rules regarding the execution of access isms in one newspaper, clipping the Bishop of Wakefield at the time labeled Michael's exorcism unwise, which appears to be a massive understatement, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, however condemned father Vincent's rush approach. Meanwhile, father Vincent continued to stand by his decision to carry out the procedure on the young unstable man, insisting that he was very much possessed. And the case was a real example of demonic possession. When faced by those who accused him of destroying an entire family in less than a day, he would often respond. God will bring good out of this in his own way. Reverend Raymond Smith, however, saw things differently, noting that he had his doubts about the procedure purportedly. He had been in attendance on the night that the Taylors had visited the Vincent's in their home. And he had advised Christine that she should seek the help of a doctor. The 29 year old had refused however concerned it would cause her husband more stress. Sally Vincent had agreed and blamed Michael's possession on Mary Robinson. At some point after the trial, Reverend Smith said, if people come to me in trouble of any kind, I will try to help. I would give such comfort as I could, but I am only an ordinary human being with human failings. The Anglican movement seemed to feel, but the case simply prove them, right? They did not feel that this exorcism proved that the procedure was dangerous, but that clergyman should always make sure that an exorcism was completed before stopping. They believed that if the process had been finished, Christine would not have ended up dead. Ultimately Michael was found not guilty by reason of insanity. After his sentencing, a doctor deemed him completely detached from reality, unaware of his surroundings and unfit to remain in prison custody. As a result, Michael was transferred to and spent two years at the high security Broadmore psychiatric hospital, where he had been held during his trial, and then went on to spend a further two years at Broadford. Well infirmary in West Yorkshire during these hospital stays Michael received psychiatric care. Although his final diagnosis, assuming there was one does not appear to be publicly known in any case. This seems like a disturbingly small amount of time for Michael to have been in rehabilitation after committing such a heinous and violent crime in the years, following his release, Michael is thought to have moved back to Austin. Although it's hard to believe that he would have done such a thing, given the grotesque memories or nightmares that must have played him. He also attempted suicide four times. Each of these efforts failed. However, with one leading to him, severely injuring his back and legs. When he threw himself from a bridge for 30 years, Michael Taylor kept a relatively low profile, but in 2005, he was arrested and charged for indecent conduct with a minor. When he inappropriately touched a teenage girl, he spent one week in police custody during which he began to exhibit symptoms like those. He showed during his alleged possession. These symptoms reported. He vanished when he was released on bail, but they reoccurred during his trial where he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault. In the end, Michael was sentenced to three years of community service and was ordered to undergo further psychiatric treatment. Although it was done on an outpatient basis this time he received no jail time for his crimes, no members of the church were ever charged in relation to the murder of Christine Taylor. After the trial, Sally Vinson was released from her teaching position at Highfield grammar school and never taught again. While her husband Peter was relocated to another congregation, he passed away in March of 2017 in recent years, several crime and paranormal based podcasts and websites have covered the case of Michael and Christine Taylor. One of these podcasts, where is the line managed to contact the man named Phil, who is dating the Vincent's teenage daughter at the time the exorcism took place. According to fel, Sally Vinson was the one who called the shots in the marriage and controlled most aspects of the family's lives. She reportedly also had a preexisting obsession with demonic possession together. These two ideas have led Phil to believe that the axis ism was more Sally's idea than it was her husband's Peter face much backlash from law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and even the public as a result of the famed trial of Michael Taylor. But it seemed that he might not have been the one pulling the strings after all fell. Also added that the Vincent's teen daughter Maria had told him that on the night of the activism, she had witnessed a metal cross in the family home, begin to mound, and that afterwards it was left distorted Phil added, however that he did not see the cross in the home after the event, a fictionalized version of Michael's case is told in the novel 1977, which was written by David peace, an English writer who grew up in Austin. The novel is part of David's successful red riding quartered series. Michael taters case often raises many questions. Most notably, many have wondered how the Taylor children left motherless by their father managed to rebuild their lives. When such a horrifying tragedy hit their family from out of what seems like nowhere, retired, Constable Ian Walker summed up the horrendous devastation best stating of all the incidents of which I was involved in 30 years of police work, nothing affected me like this one, the stupidity and futility of it, all the complete and utter waste of life. Destruction of a family, not to mention the death and other traumas are far beyond anything else I have ever come across.