In 1928, a woman known as Anna Ecklund arrived at a Franciscan convent in the small town of Earling, Iowa. She was about to become the center of one of the most disturbing alleged cases of demonic possession in American history.
For nearly a month, priests and nuns reportedly witnessed violent outbursts, terrifying voices, physical struggles, reactions to holy objects, and alleged communications from entities claiming to be demons and even Anna's own father.
But the darkest part of the story was the accusation that her father had sexually desired his daughter and, after she rejected him, had placed a curse on her.
Was Anna truly possessed? Was she experiencing trauma or a condition that medicine in 1928 couldn't explain? Or was something else happening inside that Iowa convent?
In this episode, we step inside the Earling exorcism and follow the story from Anna's troubled childhood through the terrifying events of 1928, the priests and nuns who witnessed them, the alleged entities who spoke through her, and the final night when Father Theophilus Riesinger believed he had finally driven the evil from her.
This is a story about faith, trauma, possession, family secrets, and the thin line between the supernatural and the unexplained.
Content note: This episode discusses alleged sexual abuse, incest, demonic possession, death, and disturbing religious experiences.