One summer evening in 1928 father Theophilus resinger a bespeckled old German-born capuchin franciscan friar And catholic priest was driving to the Train depot in erling iowa he was Scheduled to meet a woman in her forties Who had travelled some distance to Benefit from his expertise Namely decades of experience as a potent And mystic exorcist of demons Already the evening was off to a Sinister start an ill omen of what was To come father risinger suffered car Troubles on the way to the station His car despite being relatively new Struggled to maintain speed meaning that It took him two hours to travel what Should have been an inconsiderable Distance When he finally arrived late and Apologizing the woman was unfazed calmly She is described as having said to the Friar i would have been much more Surprised if everything had gone Smoothly the devil will try his utmost To foil our plans i suspected he would Try to interfere with your coming And into fear he did indeed for if the Case which follows is as true as it is Claimed to be the devil’s grip on the Woman was so strong that he never let go And despite being administered the right Of exorcism not once but multiple times
She continued to experience milder if Still diabolical possessions for the Rest of her life with her story of Possession and exorcism coming to shape Our very understanding of the demonic In order to understand the full and Horrifying scope of this case we must go Back to the beginning and so it is that Our story starts long before that Fateful night in 1928. Many years earlier during the woman’s Adolescence The tragic figure at the center of this Phenomenal tale of demonic possession is Known by the pseudonym anna eklund Described as having been raised in a Religious household in wisconsin at the Age of 14 something changed for young Ackland Despite wanting to pray and go to church To receive the holy communion as she had Always done so some interior hidden Power is said to have stopped her from Doing so in the clutches of this Mysterious force she was physically Incapable of entering the church and Would hear sinister voices telling her To do all manner of unspeakable things According to begone satan the book Published by clergy members in 1935 About her ordeal she even had violent Visions of attacking and suffocating her Spiritual advisor wanting nothing more Than to shatter her holy waterfront and
Utterly destroy the church Other strange symptoms began to manifest Eckland understood languages of which She had no knowledge including latin Hebrew and polish When blessed by a priest she is Described as having foamed at the mouth Enraged and wild and repulsed by holy Objects Medical professionals soon became Involved but none could name the cause Of excellent suffering Declared physically and mentally fit it Was at this point that her family Invited the church to help and so for The first time ackland met with father Rui singer A 1934 pamphlet informed by resinger’s Own private written accounts suggests That she met the friar whilst he was Active in milwaukee wisconsin not yet Ordained as a priest he entered the Cleric there and developed a zeal for Saving mortal souls from the clutches of Evil Eklund so it seems was the trigger for His interest referred to as mary x in The text eckland is also claimed to have Met the friar in new york after he Became a priest and conducted his Ministry there On the 12th of june 1908 he exercised a Then 25 year old eckland for the first Time
This at the age of 40 was also Risinger’s first exorcism It was not however successful she would Be free but only a short time perhaps a Day or two before the demons would Return trapped in diabolical bondage They would compel her to smash Crucifixes and eventually convinced her To abandon her pious life entirely According to the 1934 pamphlet authored By a jesuit who befriended and lived With risinger for a time by 1912 the Situation had somewhat resolved itself After many years of exorcisms eklund was Quite free of the evil which had Tormented her for the next few years not Much is known rhysinger moved away and He and eklund continued to write to each Other presumably she was living her life Free of the past and able to return to The faith which she so loved Then one day resinga received a terrible Letter Dated to the 16th of july 1928 eklund Wrote that the demons had returned and That the devil himself laughed at Already singer had thought he had Achieved Does he not know so the letter goes that Hell is stronger than heaven that there Are more in hell than heaven Later on in the letter eklund added that The devil had told her that he would Make life so disagreeable for me that i
Will gladly turn to a life of sin And so resinger knew that he had to aid His penitent once again throughout his Relationship with eklund resinga was Extremely concerned with both her Spiritual and physical safety Already she had suffered much and so With her body still plagued by demons And unwanted sinful designs he knew he Needed a place where he could work that Would not draw attention with the Permission of the bishop the small town Of erling in iowa was chosen with it Said that eckland had relatives nearby Who knew the local pastor Resinga a capuchin franciscan turned to The convent of the franciscan sisters For help and with the consent of the Mother superior had ecklund moved there For exorcism and so we returned to the Train station in erling far from being Two strangers meeting for the first time Eckland and reesinga greeted each other As old peculiar friends bound together By evil The following day after spending the Night at the convent a large room was Made ready for the deliverance of the Right Ecklund was placed firmly upon the Mattress of an iron bed and upon the Advice of the friar had her arm sleeves And her dress tightly bound so as to Prevent any devilish tricks
The strongest nuns in the convent were Called to help it was suspected that Once the prayers began the demon-played Woman would try to attack resinga and so They were told to hold her on the bed As it was soon after the prescribed Prayers of the church began eckland is Said to have sunk into unconsciousness So deeply that she could not be roused According to the account in begone satan The father had hardly begun the formula Of exorcism in the name of the blessed Trinity in the name of the father the Son and the holy ghost in the name of The crucified savior when a hair-raising Scene occurred With lightning speed the possessed Dislodged herself from the bed and from The hands of her guards and her body Carried through the air landed high Above the door of the room and clung to The wall with a tenacious grip Cat-like and diabolical eckland Allegedly clawed into the wall causing All in the room say for re-singer to Tremble with fear With the effort of several people the Woman was able to be pulled down from The wall and returned to the bed And so the exorcism continued as the Priest prayed a loud shrill screaming is Said to have been heard in the room and Would not stop They were unearthly sounds eckland was
Utterly possessed In order for the exorcism to be Successful the identity of the spirits Possessing the woman had to be Established after all there appeared to Be many of them it is claimed that Eckland spoke with different voices Sometimes even in different languages There were voices that sounded beastial And most unnatural the begone satan Account reports uttering an Inexpressible grief and hatred that no Human could reproduce most bizarrely Eckland is claimed to have remained Unconscious for much of her ordeal with Her mouth closed tight Even when it was open there was not the Slightest movement of the lips nor were There any changes in the position of the Mouth It is claimed that the evil spirits Simply spoke in an audible manner from Somewhere within her and projected their Voices out into the room Such supernatural sounds are said to Have continued for many days sometimes Lasting for hours at a time Then finally after an invocation of Jesus one of the evil spirits possessing The woman named itself beelzebub Barking like a hound from hell Alternating between english german and Latin the demon was quick to declare its Hatred for god and obedience to lucifer
It is also said to have explained the Reason for eklund’s possession Her own father said the demonic voice Explained had cursed evil into her As the conversation between exorcist and Demon continued it was revealed that Ever since his passing eklund’s father Jacob had also been possessing the Unfortunate woman Horrifyingly he too eventually spoke Through his daughter’s body and so Resinga in the course of the exorcism Came to learn of the despicable man of How having led a debased and sinful life He had tried to force his child to Follow in his dark footsteps She a pious teenager had resisted his Advances and ever since jacob had cursed Her wishing all the ill of the world Upon her inviting demons to seize her Body and after his own death joining Them in tormenting her the sin of giving His child over to hell had secured him Eternal damnation equally terrible was Another claimed to have possessed the Woman an aunt by the name of mina who Was also said to have been the mistress Of jacob Her voice was high-pitched and her words Especially hateful Indeed it is said that her replies to Resinger’s interrogations were filled With such bitter hatred and spite that They far surpassed all that had happened
So far According to the account of the exorcism She would also take control of eckland’s Body so as to spit at the priest and Even vomit with one shocking description Detailing how the woman would expel Horrific fluids in quantities that were Humanely speaking impossible to lodge in A normal being even then the worst was Yet to come the reason for mina’s Damnation the evil spirit claimed was Infanticide Little ones she said bitterly had Suffered at her hand They were her own children and after Being pursued by re-singer she confessed To having disposed of six of them In death and damnation it was now her Aim to drive her niece to a similar Horrific end Looking at the 1934 pamphlet which is Now largely lost to time having been Censored by the church one uncovers more Disturbing details about mina and her Relationship with ackland The woman was allegedly known among the People as a witch with it being rumors That she bewitched herbs so as to induce Her niece’s demonic possession She and jacob so it was suggested work Together to destroy the young woman’s Soul Decades later both now dead they were Still determined to complete their
Malevolent scheme as the exorcism Dragged on eckland suffered more and More it is reported that her face became Disfigured as different entities fought To take control of her One particularly long and chilling Description details how her pale Death-like and emaciated head often Assuming the size of an inverted water Pitcher became as red as glowing embers Her eyes protruded out of their sockets Her lips swelled up to proportions Equaling the size of hands and her thin Emaciated body was bloated to such Enormous size that the pastor and some Of the sisters drew back out of fright Thinking that the woman would be torn to Pieces and burst asunder Throughout all of this resinga is said To have persisted undaunted untiring and Singular-minded in his mission he Continued to administer the right of Exorcism even on his own after all it is Said that the demonic presences were so Strong that the pastor of erling who had Been assisting risinger throughout could No longer tolerate the friar or the Exorcism Perhaps identified as the weaker party In the exercising duo satan is said to Have turned his attention towards the Pastor You will have to suffer for that a Demonic voice is reported as having said
It then went on to say just wait until The end of the week when friday comes That friday morning after delivering Mass the pastor had to drive to Administer the last sacraments to the Dying mother of a farmer On the way there a dense black cloud is Said to have formed in the road blinding Him and causing him to crash his vehicle Just as he was about to pass a bridge Over a deep ravine His car collided with the railing of the Bridge Now a complete wreck its carcass hung Onto the iron trellis threatening every Moment to drop into the deep abyss below Miraculously a nearby farmer who was out Plowing a field heard the crash and Rushed to help thus saving the pastor at The very last moment Asides from the shock the man was Somehow unharmed All in all the 1928 exorcism of anna Eklund lasted 23 days In addition to biasib her father jacob And her aunt mina she is also said to Have been possessed by judas and a whole Host of other impish demons both audible And silent According to the text begone satan the Number of silent devils was countless The exorcism’s great length has been Described as unusually long especially Considering how resinger worked from
Dawn to dusk It should perhaps then come as no Surprise that despite providing Immediate relief it was ultimately Unsuccessful In the popular account of the earling Possession begone satan the reader is Informed on the 23rd day of september 1928 in the evening about nine o’clock That with a sudden jerk of lightning Speed the possessed woman broke from the Grip of her protectors and stood erect Before them Only her heels were touching the bed With the father calling for the fiends To depart and leave her body a piercing Sound filled the room it was voices many Voices repeating the names of the Various demons who claimed to have Infested the woman biazerbab judas jacob Mina Eventually the sounds faded away into The distance Soon after ecklund opened her eyes and Mouth for the first time since the Exorcism had begun Smiling she has claimed to have cried Out the name of jesus christ Satan and his minions were gone And yet as happy as this ending may seem This was not the full story for According to the 1934 pamphlet based on Resinger’s own german-written accounts Eckland relapsed into possession almost
Immediately her on off demonic assault Was still ongoing at the time of the Pamphlet being written unwilling to Abandon his charge the aging friar Re-administered the right over and over Even commenting during an interview in 1936 that this case will continue until Christ says it is enough After all and rather sensationally Resinga had come to the belief that each Time ecklund became possessed and was Subsequently exercised billions and Billions of devils will be locked up and Unable to do harm Today there are still many questions Surrounding this case whilst we know That something did indeed happen and That an exorcism of terrible proportion Took place in erling iowa with many Clergy members attesting to the case’s Truth reesinga’s desire to protect his Penitent ultimately succeeded Whilst there have been suggestions as to Eklund’s true identity with it proposed That her real name was emma schmidt We cannot be certain as to which emma Schmidt she was or indeed if this was Her true name Alternatively called anna and mary Eklund died in obscurity presumably Still suffering from demonic possession Resinga’s report on the case contained The noto bene these are not to be Published through the press or from the
Pulpit Discussing his case notes later resinga Had only this to say I have not published a single word nor Have i asked any person to publish a Single word for me but i have sent a Complete account of all that has Happened to the holy see Rome alone is competent to judge until Rome speaks i shall be silent And so it is only through leaks made by Others that we have come to learn Something of the demons who stalked iowa Some 100 years ago with the possession And the exorcisms of anna eckland coming To define what we consider to be demonic In popular culture And in our darkest nightmares Thank you for watching if you enjoyed This episode please don’t forget to like And subscribe for more of the paranormal Equally you can sign up to my email Newsletter over on paranormalscholar.com To receive notifications of new videos Direct to your inbox and if you cannot Wait until my next video why not watch The one suggested on screen now until Next time
