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Reverend Luther Miles Schulze (born on 30 July 1906) was a Lutheran clergyman who served as the pastor of St. Stephen’s Evangelical Lutheran Church located in Washington, D.C. In a famous case, in January of 1949, one of Schulze's parishioners named Robbie Mannheim, a thirteen-year-old Lutheran boy, living in Mt. Rainer, Maryland became involved in satanic possession after trying to contact his diseased aunt (with whom he had been very close) via an oujia board. Shortly afterwards, his home became the scene of many alarming events, including unexplained noises, rearranged furniture, and flying objects. Forty-eight witnesses attested to these paranormal phenomenon. The boy was examined by both medical and psychiatric doctors, who could offer no explanation for these disturbing events. The frightened family turned to their Lutheran clergyman, Rev. Luther Miles Schulze, for help and he concluded that there was evil at work in the teen. The minister then arranged for the boy to spend the night of February 17th in his home in order to observe him. The boy slept nearby to the minister in a twin bed and the minister reported that in the dark he heard vibrating sounds from the bed and scratching sounds on the wall. During the rest of the night he allegedly witnessed some strange events—a heavy armchair in which the boy sat seemingly tilted on its own and tipped over and a pallet of blankets on which the sleeping boy lay inexplicably moved around the room. Consequently, Rev. Schulze referred the case to Rev. Edward Hughes, a Catholic priest, who conducted an exorcism on the boy. Rev. William Bowdern, assisted by Rev. Walter Halloran and Rev. William Van Roo, conducted subsequent exorcisms and succeeded in driving out the demon from the child when the child finally uttered "Christus, Domini." According to this Christian proposition, most psychologists would like to dismiss this case, and other cases of demonic possession, as that of mental illness; yet they cannot fully explain why he never had a relapse. The Maryland youth went on to lead a normal, healthy existence, whereas schizophrenia and other dissociative disorders are often lifelong and require extensive psychiatric treatment. In the early to middle part of twentieth century, people were committed to sanitariums for these conditions. Yet, in this case, there were no recorded residual effects. Full-blown mental illness rarely (if ever) goes away on its own.
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