The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

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Earling Possession (1928) One of the best-documented
demonic POSSESSION cases in the 20th century. The possession
of Anna Ecklund also is unusual for the combination
of demonic entities within one victim.
Anna was born in the Midwest about 1882 and was
raised a devout and pious Catholic. She first began showing
the symptoms of possession—revulsion toward
holy objects, inability to enter church, and disturbing
thoughts about unspeakable sexual acts—at age 14, finally
becoming totally possessed in 1908. In the account
of Anna’s travails, Begone Satan!, written in German by
the Reverend Carl Vogl and translated into English by the
Reverend Celestine Kapsner, O.S.B., Anna’s aunt Mina, a
reputed witch, caused her possession by placing spells on
herbs used in Anna’s food. Father Theophilus Riesinger, a
native Bavarian and a Capuchin monk from the community
of St. Anthony at Marathon, Wisconsin, successfully
exorcized her on June 18, 1912, only to have her fall prey
to the Devil again after her father heaped CURSEs on her
and wished her possessed. In 1928, when Anna was 46
years old, Father Theophilus tried again.
Seeking a place where Anna was unknown, Father
Theophilus approached his old friend, Father F. Joseph
Steiger, parish priest in Earling, Iowa. With great reluctance,
Father Steiger agreed that the exorcism could
take place in the nearby convent of the Franciscan Sisters.
Anna arrived in Earling on August 17, 1928. Trouble
started immediately; sensing that someone had sprinkled
holy water on her evening meal, Anna threw a fit, purring
like a cat, and refused to eat until unblessed food could
be served. After that, the devils within her always knew
whether one of the nuns had tried to bless the food or
drink, and they always complained.
The ancient ritual began in earnest the next morning.
Father Theophilus had several of the strongest nuns hold
Anna on a mattress laid upon an iron bed, and her clothes
were bound tightly around her to prevent her from stripping
herself. With Father Theophilus’ first exhortations
Anna’s mouth clamped shut and she fell unconscious,
followed almost immediately by an extraordinary feat of
levitation. Rising swiftly from the bed, she hung onto the
wall above the door like a cat, and it took great effort to
pull her down. Although Anna was unconscious and her
mouth never moved throughout the sessions, voices issued
from within her, accompanied by screams, howls,
and unearthly animal noises. Earling citizens, alarmed
by the outcries, gathered at the convent, ruining Father
Theophilus’ hopes of keeping the exorcism secret.
Totaling 23 days, the exorcisms covered three sessions:
from August 18 to the 26, from September 13 to
20, and from December 15 to 23. Through it all, Anna’s
physical state deteriorated to the point of death. She
ate no food but only swallowed small amounts of milk
or water. Nevertheless, she vomited enormous quantities
of foul-smelling debris, often resembling tobacco
leaves, and spit prodigiously. Her face became horribly
disfigured and distorted, often suffusing with blood as
her head swelled and elongated, her eyes bulged, and her
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