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The Secret History of the ‘Earling Exorcism’
Abstract
The exorcism of a woman variously called Anna Ecklund, Emma Schmidt, or simply ‘Mary,’ by Theophilus Reisinger, a German-born Capuchin monk, in Earling, Iowa, in 1928, is a near legendary event. The case was studied by William Peter Blatty in his research for his novel The Exorcist and many of the famous tropes popularized in the film adaptation of Blatty’s novel (levitation, uncanny projectile vomiting, and a young woman physically restrained on a bed) have their genesis in accounts of this event. Most of what is known about the Earling exorcism comes from a pamphlet called Begone, Satan! A Soul-stirring Account of Diabolical Possession in Iowa, written in German by one Father Carl Vogl and translated by Father Celestine Kapsner, a Benedictine monk from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. There was, however, a second account of the exorcism that was never promulgated by the Church. A pamphlet entitled The Earling Possession Case: An Exposition of the Exorcism of ‘Mary’ a Demoniac and Certain Marvelous Revelations Foretelling the Near Advent of Antichrist and the Coming Persecution of the Church in the Years 1952–1955 was written in 1934 by one Rev. F. J. Bunse, S. J. The pamphlet is based on Riesinger’s own account of the event written in German. Bunse’s account reveals, among other things, that the exorcism of ‘Mary’ – as Bunse calls the energumen – did not end in 1928! Mary’s possession resumed in 1929 and Riesinger was apparently still performing regular exorcisms on her when the pamphlet was written in 1934. Furthermore, Mary was not merely being possessed by demons – she was receiving frequent messages from ‘heavenly visitors’ that included Mary, Jesus, the archangel Michael, and numerous other angels and saints. This chapter examines these two accounts of the Earling exorcism in an attempt to arrive at a clearer picture both of what happened and of how the narrative was spun by Church authorities. These two accounts demonstrate the political interests at stake in the rush to narrativize the significance of Mary’s experiences.
Exorcism is a long-standing practice in the history of religions and has increased in contemporary societies. The introduction to the dossier ‘Exorcisms, extractions of unwanted identities, and other spiritual struggles around the body’ proposes a revision of the production of contemporary social sciences – in particular, anthropology and sociology – on exorcism. First, we propose a reflection on the category of exorcism, and then we discuss some of the issues that underlie research on the contemporary practice: ritual performance, the status of exorcism in modernity, the relationship with therapeutic and healing practices, the discussion of exorcism as a gendered ritual, and the political dimension of the practice.
This paper argues that when sociologists study religious experience we cannot study “experiencing” — religious experience
in real time and its physical, mental, and emotional constituents — and therefore must study retrospective accounts — linguistic
representations — of religious experiences. It is in the nature of experiencing and its linguistic expression that the two
are loosely coupled and therefore we do not study phenomenological descriptions of experiences but how an experience is made
meaningful. On this basis, existing studies of religious experience are criticized, and an alternative, narrative approach
to studying religious experience which is sensitive to its unique ontology is elaborated. The paper concludes with some brief
suggestions for applying the narrative approach to studying the meaning of religious experience.
In the Winter 2010 issue of "Southern Cultures" Hal Crowther takes on H.L. Mencken (and Rush Limbaugh, too); southerners battle hornets, rattlesnakes, and bears--so they can pick blackberries; Cowboy Troy crosses country music with hip-hop and says his belt buckle is bling; the experts redraw the boundaries of North and South; The Home of the Double-Headed Eagle rises amidst a line of shotgun shacks; and much more. "Southern Cultures" is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South. © 2013 The University of North Carolina Press. All rights reserved.
From 1400 through 1700, the number of reports of demonic possessions among European women was extraordinarily high. During the same period, a new type of mysticismâpopular with womenâemerged that greatly affected the risk of possession and, as a result, the practice of exorcism. Many feared that in moments of rapture, women, who had surrendered their souls to divine love, were not experiencing the work of angels, but rather the ravages of demons in disguise. So how then, asks Moshe Sluhovsky, were practitioners of exorcism to distinguish demonic from divine possessions? Drawing on unexplored accounts of mystical schools and spiritual techniques, testimonies of the possessed, and exorcism manuals, Believe Not Every Spirit examines how early modern Europeans dealt with this dilemma. The personal experiences of practitioners, Sluhovsky shows, trumped theological knowledge. Worried that this could lead to a rejection of Catholic rituals, the church reshaped the meaning and practices of exorcism, transforming this healing rite into a means of spiritual interrogation. In its efforts to distinguish between good and evil, the church developed important new explanatory frameworks for the relations between body and soul, interiority and exteriority, and the natural and supernatural.
This is a highly original study of demon possession and the ritual of exorcism, both of which were rife in early modern times, and which reached epidemic proportions in France.
The Earling possession case: An exposition of the exorcism of ‘Mary’ a demoniac and certain marvelous revelations foretelling the near advent of Antichrist and the coming persecution of the Church in the years 1952-1955
- F J Bunse
Angels on horseback: A critical review of the pamphlet ‘Begone Satan’ which relates an alleged case of demoniacal possession
- A R Bandini
- AR Bandini
If there were demons, then perhaps there were angels
- W P Blatty
- WP Blatty
Begone Satan! A soul-stirring account of diabolical possession in Iowa
- C Vogl