Ralph and Joan Vollmer lived on a farm outside of a small Australian country town. When Joan’s mental health deteriaorated, her feverishly religious husband was convinced she was possessed by the Devil. During a botched exorcism, Joan died. But who was to blame?

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Resources
R v Vollmer and Ors [1996] 1 VR 95 — Victorian Court of Appeal (case cited in legal sources)
Adrian Howe & Sarah Ferber — “Delivering demons, punishing wives: False imprisonment, exorcism and other matrimonial duties in a late 20th-century manslaughter case”
Associated Press, 3 February 1993 — “Australian woman dies after 4-day exorcism”
Casefile — Case 128: Joan Vollmer (consulted only as a comparison source; this script was independently restructured and rewritten)

Created & Produced by Sonya Lowe
Narrated & written by Noel Vinson
Music: “Nordic Medieval” by Marcus Bressler
Background track: Doblado Studios: https://www.youtube.com/c/DobladoStudios

This True Crime Podcast was researched using open source or archive materials.