Interestingly, Anna Ecklund is not likely to have been her original name. She fell into a deep depression and became a loner. COPYRIGHT UNSOLVED MYSTERIES & PARANORMAL ACTIVITIES, 2017-2018. Unlike several other well-known cases of exorcism, Michael Taylors did not end in a return to normalcy. While the real story sounds suitably horrific, the movie version though didn't fare that well. A few days after the claim, Father Steiger crashed his car into the railing of the bridge. Anna Ecklund, whose real name might have been Emma Schmidt, was born on March 23rd, 1882. While the whole liturgy was happening, Ecklund apparently spoke in a high pitched voice, claiming to be the spirits of Beezelbub, Judas, her father, and her aunt Mina. After the family became overwhelmed by weird occurrences, including odd noises, furniture moving by itself, and objects levitating when Roland was around, they reached out to their Lutheran pastor who, after monitoring Roland's behavior, declared that he should see a Catholic priest. He told me [to kill] through his dog, as he usually does, David wrote in his diaries, before revealing concern that he may, one day, evolve into a humanoid or demon in a more complete state.. In 1970, the fits returned and she reportedly began to see devil-like creatures. Throughout the three sessions of the exorcism, Anna Ecklund defecated and vomited massively, screamed, hissed like a cat, and suffered physical distortions. Described as a charming and engaging woman, Julia was the queen of a satanic cult. When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism.. ), or, if Hulda Emma Schmidt, on June 23, 1964 at age 81. It was widely reported at the time of Annas first exorcism that Mina was a witch, who would put cursed herbs in Annas food and placed curses on her. Her face twisted, her eyes and lips swelled to huge proportions, and her stomach became hard. "[9] According to an account published in 1935, the believed source of Ecklund's possession was her aunt Mina, a reputed local witch who placed spells on herbs for food she prepared. Thus, Ecklund stopped attending church. Unfortunately, it did not last. With years of experience, Riesinger also fully expected her to attack during the ceremony. The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund is a 2016 British horror film written and directed by Andrew Jones. Following this, she seemed to recover, until 1928. Photo by fa.b - Festa S.Filippo - Limina (ME)CC BY-SA 2.0. The 16-year-old student was allegedly possessed in the late summer of 1906 after making a pact with the Devil. Back in 2014 we bought you a list called '10 Terrifying Real-Life Tales of Demonic Possession!', with one of the entries being the strange case of Anna Ecklund, a young Catholic woman living . The plot is based on the alleged true story of Anna Ecklund . She particularly abhorred the Perron matriarch, harassing and eventually possessing her. However there are varying accounts of the true story of the exorcism, and there is little certainty as to the truth behind the stories. The movie is based on a true story that stretches back to the late 1800s to the early 1900s. She was strapped onto the bed while Riesinger prayed over her. Both the priests who organized the rites in secrecy and her parents were charged with negligent homicide. Anna Ecklund was not her real name, but it's the one people associate with this classic American case of demonic possession, thanks to the 2016 horror film, The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund.. The exorcism was meant to remain a secret, but Reverend Carl Vogl gathered eyewitness accounts of the exorcism and published his pamphletBegone Satan! By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. In 1928, Anna Ecklund again found herself unable to pray or go to church, much less receive the sacraments that connected Ecklund to her faith. After a short time, several sisters asked to leave their home for a less troubled convent. Another exorcism was allegedly performed, this time lasting two days, before she was freed of the demon. The most brutal possession experienced by her was in 1928 when she suffered through an intensive series of exorcism rites over a 4-month period. The nuns reported her hissing, throwing food that had been blessed, speaking in foreign tongues, and even levitating at one point. From the beginning of her life, Anna Ecklund saw only the worst faces around her, the final phase of which ended with the last three sessions of the exorcism performed on her. But, what really happened that led to these events? When she was 16, a head trauma caused her to develop temporal lobe epilepsy. Over the next years, Anna claimed she was tormented by her dead father and aunts spirits. We pay special attention to historiographical rigor and balance. Related: 9 Unholy Demonic Possession and Exorcism Movies. She immediately refused food that had been blessed and could sense when holy water had been sprinkled ahead of time, hissing in aversion. She was finally free. She vomited twenty to thirty times a day. Related: 6 Modern-Day Cases of Demonic Hauntings. Write a review. Historic Mysteries is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases. In the meantime, she stopped taking her epilepsy meds. The spirits' sinister voices now dogged her every step, pressing her to commit terrible acts. [11] Little was documented concerning this initial exorcism; however, Ecklund was not consulted for over two decades after the 1912 exorcism. Upon realizing that this is the case, the two try to take the woman, Anna Ecklund, to a convent to perform an exorcism. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. But this time, Father Riesinger wanted to perform the exorcism in secrecy. 2009-2021 Historic Mysteries. However, paranormal investigators and demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren claimed the house was occupied by a very powerful demon, performing several exorcisms on the home to rid it of the dark shadow they saw there. Earling had several advantages. On August 17th, 1928, Anna was taken to the parish. Also, Earling, although close to Des Moines with a major railway to allow for travel, was a small town. Collect, curate and comment on your files. At one point, the girl allegedly attempted to strangle one of the priests, but this fact remains a matter of debate. In 1912, the Capuchin priest Theophilus Riesinger performed an exorcism on her. One event that sealed the deal for the Yale-educated medical professional was when, during a phone call with Julias priest, he heard one of the demonic voices that had come from her mouth except she was nowhere near a phone. Anna was able to return to her regular life and Riesinger developed a reputation for dispelling the evils that infect human beings. Who Was Aleister CrowleyOccultist, Satanist, and British Spy? Anna became convinced that her problems came from the torment that she experienced from her abusive father and her aunt, Mina. [6] An article in the Des Moines Register from 23 September 1928 stated, Get notified of the best best booming posts weekly. In the late 1920s, the news of intense sessions of exorcism performed on a heavily demon-possessed housewife had spread like fire in the United States. She was born in 1882 in Marathon, Wisconsin. Even though her first exorcism seemed to have worked, according to the nuns and priests of a convent in Earling, Iowa, the girls apparent recovery was just the calm before the storm. Though various published sources state that Emma Schmidt was born in Milwaukee on March 23, 1882[1][2] and raised in a Catholic household in Marathon, Wisconsin,[3][4] this biography is problematic because it makes Emma the daughter of Eduard Schmidt, contradicting both published and unpublished accounts of Emma's purported possession and exorcisms which state that her father's name was Jacob. https://www.rd.com/list/real-life-exorcisms/, https://www.darkhistories.com/the-exorcism-of-anna-ecklund/, https://www.grunge.com/219954/the-truth-about-the-exorcism-of-anna-ecklund/, https://diabolicalconfusions.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/the-entire-case-history-of-anna-ecklund-americas-most-famous-case-of-possession/#more-233, https://husheduphistory.com/post/619278048738607104/the-evil-and-exorcism-of-emma-schmidt, https://emadion.it/en/paranormal/exorcisms/the-exorcism-of-earling-the-true-story-of-anna-ecklund/, https://the-line-up.com/the-exorcist-father-theophilus-riesinger-and-possession-of-anna-ecklund, https://medium.com/exploring-history/the-most-terrifying-and-spectacular-exorcism-in-history-76587b507164. He went on to perform a further nineteen successful exorcisms. Adapted for the big screen into the hugely successful Hollywood horror hit The Conjuring, this possession is the epitome of a real-life horror story. Her second exorcism, which lasted three sessions, was held at a convent in Earling, Iowa and was so grueling it resulted in the deterioration of Ecklund's body. Although Berkowitz has gone back and forth, sometimes sticking with the possession story, sometimes recanting it, he, to this day, believes that his crimes were part of an epic struggle between God and the Devil. Search instead in. Written in the 1930s by Carl Vogl, it was only translated into English by Celestine Kapsner in 1973, and it was only with this translation that the story surrounding Anna Ecklund received wide attention. Photo by fa.b Festa S.Filippo Limina (ME)CC BY-SA 2.0. Anna was tied to an iron bed and held down by the strongest nuns in the convent. Your email address will not be published. This site uses cookies to improve user experience. She returned to her normal self and was free from demonic possessions. By the end, she had become a pale, deathlike figureher body emaciated and her eyes glowing like red embers. In the end, Anna said, Beelzebub, Judas, Jacob, Mina, Hell! Hell! 2011. Annie Ecklund is on Facebook. Tiffany Ceri was brought on to play the titular character of Anna Ecklund. Once a mild mannered churchgoer, she is now prone to bo. Related: 9 Real-Life Cases of Exorcism and Demonic Possession. Emma Schmidt is the suspected real name of Anna, which was only changed to protect her identity after the first exorcism. The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund was a horror movie released in 2016. In 2016, a fictionalized British-produced film entitled The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund was released, documenting her possession and exorcism. It is possible that Ecklund's father accused his daughter of possession because he was sexually abusing her, and she had fought back, and her case was further complicated because her aunt Mina who may have also been her father's lover was alleged to have been practicing black magic on her. Join 1000s of subscribers and receive the best Vintage News in your mailbox for FREE, Flappers: subverting society with their shoes, Police arrest a 72-year-old suburban grandfather suspected of being the Golden State Killer, Im not dead yet: some Buddhist monks followed self-mummification, Project Azorian: Howard Hughes secret mission, 1960s U.S. satellite that started transmitting again in 2013, The Walk of Shame in Game of Thrones historical inspiration, The only unsolved skyjacking case in U.S. history might have a break, Kurt Gdel became too paranoid to eat and died of starvation, Little Ease: One of the most feared torture devices in the Tower of London, The humble English girl who became Cora Pearl, Walt Disney softened the original Snow White story. Interestingly, Anna Ecklund is not likely to have been her original name. Anna also began howling very loudly like a wild beast. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. After the first exorcism, Anna experienced a short amount of peace. Anna Ecklund and demonic possession. However, there have been a great number of exorcisms performed throughout history, and some of the more recent are guaranteed to send chills down your spine. By this time, it had been 23 days. Even as she slept she muttered in unsettling tongues, blaspheming God and verbally assaulting anyone in the room. An exorcism was performed by two priests which lasted the entire day. Historic Mysteries provides captivating articles on archaeology, history, and unexplained mysteries. 2016. Dark Histories is also available as a longer audio podcast, available from:Itunes: http://apple.co/2gmEaZNGoogle Play: http://bit.ly/2yp9q0MTwitter: twitter.. Anna became very violent when confronted with sacred and holy objects. culturecrypt. is based on the real life the story of Anneliese Michel and addresses the question of whether or not are demonic possessions real. Society's idea of what American exorcisms look like, though, wasn't shaped purely by movies, but rather from real-life rituals like the one performed onAnneliese Micheland a particularly well-documented case of possession and exorcism befell a woman often given the pseudonym "Anna Ecklund," whose story inspired a 2016 film. Riesinger once again performed an exorcism on Ecklund, per his biography on the Capuchin Order website, and it was this exorcism that put Ecklund's case on the map. Join Facebook to connect with Annie Ecklund and others you may know. Ecklund, whose real name might have been Emma Schmidt, was born in Marathon, Wisconsin in 1882, and claims of her being possessed first surfaced when she was 14, according to InfoBarrel . But for those poor souls involved in the alleged cases below, the forces at work were frighteningly real. Write a Review . The queen of a satanic cult horrific, the Capuchin priest Theophilus Riesinger performed an on... 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