3855540086 Live from Milwaukee Paranormal Conference - Wisconsin Legends Podcast

Episode 5

The Devil in Milwaukee (LIVE) 2023 Milwaukee Paranormal Conference w/ Allison Jornlin

Live from the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference

The Devil in Milwaukee w/ Allison Jornlin (American Ghost Walks- Milwaukee)

Allison joins Mike and Jeff to discuss three curious cases from her hometown.

Recorded live at the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center in downtown Milwaukee, October 14th, 2023.

Outro: Halloween Pumpkin by PurplePlanetMusic

Wisconsin Rapids native, Jeff Finup is the mind behind Badgerland Legends, which explores Wisconsin's mysteries and fascinating history, a post at a time. Legends, lore, history, cryptids ,and more from the Badger State. Find his work on Instagram and Facebook.


Mike Huberty, hailing from the town of Big Bend, near Milwaukee, is the owner of American Ghost Walks, a haunted history tour company with locations in Maine, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and started in our very own Badger State of Wisconsin - with tours in Lake Geneva, Milwaukee, Madison, Waukesha, Bayfield, and the Wisconsin Dells. Find out more at AmericanGhostWalks.Com.

Transcript
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Wisconsin, a paranormal paradise with lake

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monsters, dogmen haunted hotels, famous ghosts, and

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deadly killers. It's a lot more than just America's

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dairyland. It's time for a deep dive into the weird,

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wonderful and terrifying that's lying just below the surface of

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reality. From American ghostwalks and Badgerland

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Legends. This is the Wisconsin Legends

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podcast.

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Welcome to the Wisconsin Legends Podcast, live from Milwaukee,

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paracon 2023 to prove to the people

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who are listening later that we are in front of a live audience. Can I

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hear everybody give a clap and a woo.

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Okay, I'm feeling the love. Mike, we totally

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didn't edit that in post. All right. Coming up

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with Jeff Finnab pageantland legends. And we are

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joined today by my sister and Milwaukee

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hauntings, I'm going to say expert, even though it's hard to say anybody in the

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paranormal is an expert because we're dealing with the unknown. But you're the closest thing

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we have to it in Milwaukee. Well, I like to call myself the

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Milwaukee's Fordian Historian, because,

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as Mike said, a lot of the paranormal is very speculative.

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But when you look at the documents, you'll find that

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there are a lot of amazing stories that were recorded. And

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that's what we're going to talk to you about today. Some stories of incursions

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by what really looks like demonic forces in the Milwaukee

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area. They're all vetted stories. They're not just in the

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newspapers, but these people did exist and you can find

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them in census records. And these were real

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people. So I'm not trying to make light of this. And some of these

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stories are very scary, and I'll try to keep it kid

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friendly, but there is murder involved. Just be warned. Just be

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warned. Okay. And so also for the recording, your name is

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Allison Jordlin. Yes. My name is Allison Jordan. I didn't say

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that. Allison Jordlin from American Ghostwalk. Okay, perfect.

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All right, well, let's get started with talking about tales of the

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devil in Milwaukee. So how many of my ex girlfriends are you talking about today,

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Allison? Oh, so many. Hey. All right. And here is

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your litany of terror, otherwise known as a table of

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contents. The itinerary of terror. Yes, that's

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right. This is a list of the

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cases we're going to talk about today. So we start

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chronologically with 1854 and a convent

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infestation that occurred in Milwaukee's.

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Motherhouse. And then number

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two is there's a strange death that occurred

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in 1920 to a little nine year old boy

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called Raymond Nats. And it's very frightening. I would

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say it's probably the most scary story that I've ever

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found. And he was real and his family members

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were real. Number three is Milwaukee

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exorcisms. We had our own exorcist in

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Wisconsin that was ordained here right at St.

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Francis Seminary. And

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he's been involved in high profile exorcism that you may

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have heard of, the 1928 Earling Iowa case.

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But he was from Wisconsin, and

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possibly the possessed woman was from

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Milwaukee, although I'll talk about some problems with that

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assertion, but they don't talk about

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what happened in 1926. She was

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exercised here first in Milwaukee at

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your house. Then we're going to talk

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about some conclusions and maybe take your questions and

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stories or comments. All right,

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the convent infestation. So anybody out there

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remember that we had a motherhouse here in

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Milwaukee? It was on Milwaukee

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Street. And it's right where the Convent

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Hill Apartments are located today. The

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building is much smaller than you'll see. The convent. Was it's

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called Convent Hill? It's called Convent Hill Apartments for

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a reason. And the bells from the old convent

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are in the back of the building, so you can still go visit those and

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they still work very loud. But that's right on

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Milwaukee Street and Ogden. Now, the Mother

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Superior called mother Caroline. Was Caroline Freis?

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And she's significant because this was

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the first American convent of

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the odor of Notre Dame. So maybe

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or Notre Dame, as we sometimes say in the States.

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But you might be more familiar with all these Notre Dame

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schools all over the country. Well, this is

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where they came from, from this woman who came to

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establish the order in the United States

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and also to establish these schools.

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I think that's 500 some schools across the country.

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But the headquarters was right here in Milwaukee. So that's

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Caroline Fryce, and better known

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as Mother Caroline. Well, Mother Caroline came

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over in the 1850s. And

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while we think of Milwaukee now as a

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very, I would say Catholic

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friendly city when it was first established,

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they were facing a lot of anti Catholic

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sentiment in the city at the time. In fact,

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some of the German population that had come over were part

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of this German revolution of the late 1840s.

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And they hated Catholics in particular. Yes. And it was a

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movement, and they were called the Know Nothings. And I think

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something that they did might have led to the

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demonic infestation. Yeah, so the German

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48 ers were what they were called, and they weren't

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minors or anything like that. They were people that hated Catholics

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and were in an Irish place. So I guess it's supposed to be

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fairly Catholic friendly. But in 1854, it

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was not quite so friendly to nuns. Yeah, they

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couldn't go out on the street. People would members of the Know Nothing

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party would throw stones at them and actually

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broke windows at the beautiful

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Motherhouse, which, as you can see, was quite

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large. There's the original building, but then it became

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a whole city block. There's

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a better depiction of it where you can see it's almost like

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a citadel. And there's many buildings

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where the nuns were housed.

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And all the women that were thinking of becoming nuns

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called the novices or postulates. That's my

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favorite nun word. That's right. So I'm

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glad that Mike mentioned the no Nothings, because not only

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were they protesting outside the

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convent throwing stones when the

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nuns dared to leave and physically accosting

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them or drawing negative signs on their

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back with chalk when they could. There was also a

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procession that they led through the streets

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to the nunnery, and they were all

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dressed in black cloaks and they had a goat with them,

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never a good sign. And they also

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had a book that they had made up to

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look like the black book of the devil.

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And they did a ceremony

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out in front of the nunnery

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and soon after is when all the

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disturbances started. So I think there might be a connection there that

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they were cursed. Malediction, it's called. You're going to hear that word a lot today,

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probably. And that's interesting too, because they're performing.

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They bring out the goat as you do when you're doing some

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devil. You know, we think of these were the no

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nothings devil worshippers. No, in fact, they were atheists.

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So they're more like, if you think of that, the Satanic temple

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today, the people that put up that like the statue of Ball in the

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Oklahoma courthouse and everything. So it's the idea that

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they're not particularly like they don't really think the devil's

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going to show up when they do these things. They're doing it to show

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that they hate the nuns. And it's like the Freedom from Religion

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Foundation, which is based in Madison. It's their idea, like, hey, we're not

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interested in getting the religion here. So I don't think the no

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Nothings were particularly satanic or this idea that they really thought the devil would

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come. They're doing something symbolic, right. But that doesn't mean

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it still couldn't call in dark forces. Right.

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So I've got a little timeline. It began

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rather innocuously. It's

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hard to say when a bunch of

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novices were in their dorms and started

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recognizing all this strange activity.

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They couldn't get any of the candles to light that night on

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December eigth, 1854. And so they

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called for Mother Caroline, and

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she took a very rational approach. These were young

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girls thinking of becoming nuns. And she

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thought, like many people at the time, they were prone to

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hysteria and flights of imagination.

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But when she entered, she saw that she

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couldn't get any of the candles to light either.

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And they were able to get some light in there

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from the windows because it's moonlit night. And they saw

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that there were all these night caps

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that the sisters wore and they were lined

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up on a table and they started

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to dance, which is not very scary in

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my Disney movie or whatever. Yeah, it's like

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Beauty and the Beast, the Magician's Apprentice, where you see the broom start to

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dance. Well, she said that she observed these

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nightcaps dancing around and that

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caused a lot of fear in everyone

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involved. And also not being

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able to shed significant light on the situation

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made them very worried. So from

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then on, over a period of 13 months,

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the activity only got worse.

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And they witnessed all kinds of extraordinary

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things and also

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abuse. Not only were the nuns complaining

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of being physically assaulted by unseen

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hands, one of the postulates

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said that her ears were boxed. She was

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hit about the ears violently. And their poor

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dog, I hope he ran away. But

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he was also a victim of this unseen force. And this is

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what Carolyn Frice said herself. It was blood curdling the way

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the poor dog yelped. He was being beaten

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by something unseen, but she

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distinctly heard the cracks of a whip. But as usual, I

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saw nothing. And then she said,

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the dog disappeared. He just ran away

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after this attack and was never seen again.

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So hopefully, he did just get somewhere safe.

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There's many other alleged

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paranormal events that took place.

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So one night in the middle of the night, they had

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call bells which would there was a

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room and these bells, you could make them ring, in

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particular sister's rooms. And so

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one night, all the call bells rang at

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once and they wouldn't stop ringing. And

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so Mother Caroline didn't know what was the matter

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and was especially concerned because she was the only one with a key

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to the room where the call bell

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apparatus was kept. So she ran in there.

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There's no one there. But she saw that as she

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approached, some of the bells were still moving.

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Also, during Mass, there was a candle

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that was lit on the altar and everyone

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assembled watched this candle just blink

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out of existence. And then later, it was found still

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burning in a closed closet.

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So in psychical research, we call that an

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apport. There's also another apport where some

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nuns were baking bread in the kitchen and they had

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just put it into the oven and they went

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back. They'd been working on something else in the kitchen and they just went

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back to take a look and all the lobes were

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missing. And they were found later

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floating around in the cistern. And then shadowy

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figures were seen in the church after

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dark. And also howling was heard at night

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throughout the echoing halls of the very

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big convent. And as I said before,

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sisters complained of being battered by unseen hands.

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These events were eventually resolved. Not in a

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very nice way, I don't think we'll talk about that in a second. But then

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after these events, about a year later, after the

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secession of these events, a choir of

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angels was heard to

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be singing in the chapel. So instead of

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being awakened by these

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horrible screams and howls in the middle of the

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night, as they had become accustomed to over those

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13 months of harassment, they

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were, one night a year later, awoken

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by sweet singing of what they assumed was a

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choir of angels. And they went to the chapel and they saw

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heavenly light emanating. And

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from then on until modern

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times, so this was 1854. This went on till

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1859. When the convent was raised, mother

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Caroline actually established a sacrament

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of perpetual adoration,

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which means that in the chapel 24/7

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there were nuns praying. They would take shifts to make

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sure that the Virgin Mary and other people that

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are mother religious figures like Jesus and the angels

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who they felt had now blessed the convent and

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were protecting them from demonic forces, they would

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have these sisters come and pray.

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And they were there 24/7

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for almost 100 years doing that around the clock.

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That's called the sacrament of perpetual adoration.

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Now, speaking of Mary, though, real quick. So one

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reason that Mother Caroline thought that this demonic

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infestation was happening, and this

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goes back to the fact that they felt like they were under attack, not just

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from the devil, but by the Know Nothings and the

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other people in Milwaukee who were hostile to them. And this is from the

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book as a Magnet the Life of Mother Caroline

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by Sister Mary Thule Zimmerman.

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So it's a book by a nun. So there's just a little bit of

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vulgarity. Anyway,

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so why did Mother Caroline think it happens? The state of affairs began

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on the date that Pope Pius IX declared the Immaculate

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Conception a dogma of faith. December 1854.

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So the idea of the Immaculate Conception is that

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Mary Jesus's Ma was born without sin.

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And so that's a very particularly Catholic thing. And it came out

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December 1854. It seems Mother

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Carolyn reflected that just at the time, a new outburst of

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hatred, our lady, manifests itself to the world. The devil

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emerges with one of the older girls thoroughly disturbed by the

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strangeness. And so Mother Caroline's talking to one of the girls who's

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disturbed, and the girl says, it's all so frightening. She said, you

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never know what's going to happen next. I didn't think the devil was real. I

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thought he was just a myth or a fairy tale. Mother Caroline

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looked at the girl calmly, but the attitude expressed made her feel anything

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but calm. You didn't think he existed.

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A few days later, she gathered the community together and spoke to them of what

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was happening. Perhaps the girl who came to her was not the only one who

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did not understand the reality of the devil.

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There is no doubt about the origin of these happenings. Mother Caroline told

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them, and if some of you are still doubtful regarding the existence of the

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devil, it is time you learned that he exists.

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So they had an idea why it happened, and then they had an idea who

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was doing it. And this time it

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wasn't the Know nothings. This time it was the

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man downstairs. Okay, so how did

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they stop all this harassment that they felt was

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coming from the devil? Well, there was

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one of the novices that

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had come to the convent to escape a

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marriage, so her name was Henrika. And

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apparently there was a very persistent suitor that wouldn't take

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no for an answer, but she didn't want to marry him, so she ran away

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to the convent. Now, the

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sisters began to believe that through

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malediction or cursing, that's what had brought

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the demonic influences into the convent, because

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he was upset about losing this woman he wanted to

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marry. Now, they also found

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that strange pranks like this weird

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slush that didn't act quite like water, was

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found that initial night on the pillows

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of all the novices except for this girl. And

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then they found that she

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acted strangely at certain times when approaching

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religious objects inappropriately laughing

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or being repelled by them. From that.

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Sister Caroline was talking to the parish

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priest and he said he felt that she

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might be under demonic

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influence or even possession. When we think of all

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these hijinks that went on, I think of her more

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as like a poltergeist agent as we would think of

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poltergeist today, where they

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manifest with these strange antics.

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Anyway, they felt that she was

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the reason for the activity. So did they give her a

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sanctuary or an exorcism? Well, they made her go

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back home. Yeah, they kicked her out. And that

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guy who wouldn't take no for an answer, he had been lurking by the

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convent. So as soon as she walked out the door, he

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scooped her up. But after

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she left, all the problems ceased.

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So she was in some way connected, but I feel was an

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innocent victim of a channel

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for this activity, but not willingly.

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And she suffered in an unhappy

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marriage so that the convent could be freed

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from this demonic infestation. And it's just sad

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because I thought you could go to the church for asylum. And

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I feel like they failed her in this case and they don't even acknowledge it

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in the works that are written. So if you want to read more about this

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case as a magnet is the one

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source from the 60s that Mike mentioned. There's also

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a longer account in a book called Running

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Waters by Colon Lukum, and

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you can find both of those at St. Francis Seminary in their

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Salzman Library. So, I mean, it's kind of a sad story for the

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girl. Ended up pretty good for the convent, where they had this

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sight of perpetual adoration for over 100 years.

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But in the end, the devil went home and

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maybe he went back to their house or whatever.

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So story number two involves a strange death.

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And we're going to talk about the victim,

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which was poor little Raymond Nance, who I've

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talked about before, because this is possibly the scariest story,

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in my opinion, that I ever found, because it's just a straight

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newspaper. It's a couple of straight newspaper articles,

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and it involves little Raymond Nash.

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Nats. He's nine years old. This is a picture of him from

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one of the newspaper articles in the local papers. And he seemed

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like a regular nine year old boy. This was May

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of 1920 that this happened. And there

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was an epidemic going through the schools at the time of

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Measles, and he had just recovered from

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measles. But on this beautiful May

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Day, he decided to go fishing. And that

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would have tragic results. Previous to this day that

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we're going to talk about, he had been seeing things that only he

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could see. And this isn't an exact quote from him all

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the way home, that white shadow crept right along behind me.

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Something is going to happen. I can feel it. So he

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felt that his death was

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imminent and that this creature, whatever

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it was he described it as a white shadow, had been

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following him for reasons unknown. Now, here's the

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Milwaukee Sentinel article which gives the most details.

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I just gave the headline. It's super long, but it talks

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about what had happened. Now,

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as you may have seen on the slide, raymond's

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parents were estranged, and they were

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separated and about to go through a

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divorce. But he had bigger problems because this

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strange thing was following him. So

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the scariest night was the night before his

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death, where his parents noticed him acting

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strangely. He had first gone to his mother's

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house, which was in the neighborhood of Lincoln Village.

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So although, according to census records, the

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family was German, they were living in a Polish

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neighborhood. Anyway, he lived right

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near Fourth or Fifth Street, where that

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is today. And he

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went down the street to visit his mom. And she

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said that all night he just seemed terrified. He

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wouldn't talk about it, but he was following something around the

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room and just seemed

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white, knuckled, frozen in fear. And so, of course, she

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noticed something was wrong. And he would just sit in the corner

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and his eyes darted about as if following

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some imminent threat. And then his father came and picked him

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up. And for some reason, he maintained a distance

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between him and his father. And that's when he said, this

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white shadow is following me. So he was in some way

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protecting his father, not wanting to be too close,

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because that white thing would be close to his father as well.

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And the same thing, when he got home, just sat

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dejected in the corner looking around at whatever

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thing this was and wanted to just

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stay up all night. But of course, his dad had work in the morning.

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He was a woodworker at a local sawmill. And

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so he made Raymond go to bed. But in the

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night, Raymond woke his dad up because he was talking in his

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sleep and screaming loudly. And

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then his mother came to his bedside and shook him

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awake. And he was saying,

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oh, Daddy, I was in the

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water with the fishes. And it was so beautiful. But before

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that, he had been screaming at something and

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saying to something, that an unseen forest that, you're just

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fooling me. You can't get me. And

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then he had this strange attitude about playing with the

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fishes. So then that morning, Herman

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Nance had to go back, had to go out to work, and

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he left Raymond with a neighbor lady.

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But he slipped away early that morning to go fishing at

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Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan

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is about an hour

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away, walking wise from where he was

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later found in the lake. So he had to walk

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for an hour, and then,

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sadly, he disappeared and they had to drag the

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lake, and he wasn't found

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until that Friday afternoon. So

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it was Wednesday, the evening of Wednesday that

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we were talking about. And then

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after midnight is when he awakened his

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father. And then the

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drowning happened around

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845, because little Raymond had a pocket watch.

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So although when he got to the lake, it looks like he just

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dropped his pole, his fishing rod,

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and his hat, his cap on the ground, he still had

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his pocket watch. So from the time the

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police only came to one conclusion, that Raymond hadn't

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intended to go fishing at all, he'd walked for an

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hour and then kept walking straight into

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Lake Michigan until the water was over his head

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and he could walk no more. Now, what nine year

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old is capable that kind of

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behavior? So when we talk

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about the activity here, yeah, we

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don't have multiple witnesses seeing the

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shadow. Only Raymond sees that. And

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only Raymond is aware of this harassment. But he's got

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this incredible sense of foreboding. Perhaps he was

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foretelling his own death. And it's just

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shocking, though, to think of just think of you

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as an adult. Could you walk into the water? I mean, they often show that

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on TV and movies where somebody just walks

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into the water and they just keep walking. But could a nine year

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old do that? And why would he do that? And Lake

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Michigan's cold. Let's be real. Nobody just jumps

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in, like, especially in May. But that's why he wasn't in school, because of this

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measle epidemic. It had closed down schools. He was

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just recovering from it himself. But this was

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me in the middle of the week, and he was out

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there because nobody was in school to

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quell that epidemic. Now, I see several different

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connections for different things.

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What happened to Raymond, to mother. Paranormal

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activity number one is the

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nokniche, which is the Polish night.

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Hag. So you guys ever had a sleep

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paralysis? Can I get a round of applause? If anybody's ever had sleep

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paralysis, I. Don'T want to cheer for that. I've had it.

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Terrifying. Sleep paralysis is terrible, and

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especially when you're in the hypnagogic state, which is as you're

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falling asleep, sometimes you see things, or if you ever have the

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experience where that falling

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or that kind of trip or whatever, then you wake yourself up.

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It's a physical experience. It's happening to you.

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Or you wake up and you feel that someone's sitting on your chest and

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you can't move. That's the night hag, and every

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culture seems to have it. The Slavic culture, which would have

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been Lincoln village of the nocnitsa, is from the Wikipedia

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article. In Russian and Slavic folklore,

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nocnitsa is known to torment children at night, and a

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stone with a hole in the center is said to be the protection. Mothers

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in some regions will place a knife in their children's cradles

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or draw a circle around the cradles with a knife for protection. This

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is possibly based on the belief that supernatural beings cannot

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touch iron. Nocnitsa is known to sit on one's chest

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drawing life energy. Because of this, many refer to the

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nocnitsa as a type of vampire. They will often continue

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visiting, and according to some folklore night hags visit while

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one sleeps on one's back with the hands on the chest, a

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position allegedly called sleeping with the dead.

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Accordingly to some folklore, night hags are made of

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shadow, just like what Raymond saw. She might also have a

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horrible screeching voice, just like my ex

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girlfriends. She might allegedly also

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smell of moss and dirt from her forest of origin.

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So these are obviously villages we're talking about. Like your ex girlfriend,

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right? They smell bad. No. Okay.

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This idea of the night hag, though, he's talking to something, and he says, you

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can't get me, you just fool, and you can't get me, until eventually

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he kind of accepts what's going to happen to him. We all talk

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about if you think about nightmare on Elm Street or think

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about the movie dreamscape. Remember that classic? Oh, yeah. It's the

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idea though. In those movies, they say if you die in your sleep, you die

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in real life, right? And everybody's like, nah, that's not true.

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What if it was sudden unexplained

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nocturnal death syndrome? We got an

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article here talking about

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from the 2018 journal of the American

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Heart association. It's called Lie Thai. In

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Thailand, the word lie in leotian means a loud

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groan occurring during sleep or a loud noise made while frightened.

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And thai is a Thai word meaning death.

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It's called bangagut in the Philippines, and that's

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a tagalog word meaning to rise and moan in your sleep.

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Bakuri death syndrome. In Japan, Bakuri means suddenly and

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unexpectedly. This is a Los Angeles times article from July

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10, 1981. Night deaths of Asian men.

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Unexplained Tokyo. Each year, hundreds of apparently

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healthy young Japanese die suddenly in their sleep, sometimes with

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a gasp or a shout, and doctors do not know why.

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Reports of similar deaths in the Philippines and among indochinese refugees

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in the United States have given rise to speculation by medical experts

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that the disease might be common to ethnic groups throughout Asia. Okay?

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Obviously not. Raymond nantz. It's not a matter of the heart being good or bad,

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said Dr. Michio Inui of the Tokyo Metropolitan Medical examiner's

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office, which studies pokiri. They seem to be dying of heart

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failure, but we can only guess the cause. So

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this comes through and these articles in the La times,

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when they came out, when it happened to the hng population after

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the Vietnam War, that's what inspired Wes Craven to

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create Nightmare on Elm Street. And we could actually do a whole podcast on

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that, just that now who's. Going to have a hard time falling asleep

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tonight, right? Yeah. Well, we didn't want you to fall

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asleep during the presentation. And I'd say take your

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Ambien to help. But what does Ambien do

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to people? Makes them sleepwalk. Yeah.

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So go on. So here's another thing that could have happened to

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Raymond. This is from the Toronto Star. In the wake of the Chris

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Heinman tragedy, experts say death by sleepwalking is

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possible. This is from August 6, 2015.

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It's rare, but experts say it's definitely possible to die while

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sleepwalking. Of course it's dangerous, said Dr. Colin

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Shapiro, a University Toronto professor. People can essentially do

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anything. They can walk in their sleep. They can talk in their sleep. They can

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eat in their sleep. They can drive their car in their sleep. They can have

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sex in their sleep. I didn't make that up.

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He said that and to fall and injure yourself or

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die, it's definitely possible. Shapiro said. The

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plausibility of such a demise has come up in the wake of Chris Heinman's

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death. The popular television personality it's Canada. Who knows who

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this guy is? The popular television personality was found dead in

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an alleyway next to the East End apartment where he lived with his on screen

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partner and spouse, Stephen Sabados. Heinman's mother told

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the Star she believed her son died in an unfortunate

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accident while sleepwalking. So,

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okay, people can die in their sleep. Now,

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why is that happening? This is from Scientific American in 2012.

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And this is about sleepwalking

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killers. And this is by people that have done the research on

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it. For as long as we have recognized walking and talking in our sleep,

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we have also been aware of more extreme nighttime behaviors.

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Homer's epics mention, a sleeper's tragic suicide. In

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1313, a church led council concluded that a

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sleepwalking killer was not culpable for his

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crimes. We have no way of knowing the truth of these matters.

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Nonetheless, the medical literature reflects many complex

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actions occurring during sleep. The first brain

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imaging study to observe this state was led by

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one of the authors. A 16 year old sleepwalker was monitored for

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two nights with electrodes placed on his scalp to produce

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a polysomnogram of his brain activity. So what they found,

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when he rose from his deep sleep, walked around, opened

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his eyes, even had a scared expression on his face, they

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put a little radioactive tracer in him while he was sleepwalking.

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And so then they scanned it and they compared the boy's brain activity

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when sleepwalking and when in deep sleep and his sleepwalking state. The

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scans revealed greater activity in areas of the brain involved in motor

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control. So walking and then compared with. The brain of a

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healthy, awake subject. They had a lot less engagement in the

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regions necessary for higher cognitive functions thinking,

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planning, insight. So basically,

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sleepwalking, it's activating your motor part of your body

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and your part of your body that thinks and that knows what's going on is

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off. Yeah. So did you find also a connection to

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measles? I did. Early onset. Sorry, this is

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a word I'm going to butcher subacute sclerosing

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pancephalitis. And this is something that happens to people,

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especially children, after they have measles. And because

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not everybody's vaccinated in India. This is an article from the Indian

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Journal of Psychological Medicine, 2017. Now, the

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cases are normally fatal. The symptoms can range from altered

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behavior, alienation and personality my, clonic

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jerks, which is an epilepsy type thing,

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cognitive decline, gradual behavior changes, an

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unsteady gait, photosensitivity. And

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the average latent period is seven to ten years. So often people,

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this happens to them ten years after they get measles, but it's happened

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up to one month after they've gotten measles. And what happens

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as a result? Well, sometimes they get a

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paranoid, hallucinatory psychosis. Oh, wow.

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There might be a medical explanation for what happened to Raymond. Right, so this is

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a different this is a 2003 article, and they reported

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a case of a 19 year old man who was first diagnosed with

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schizophrenia, which is hearing voices,

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but finally shown to have subacute sclerosing

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panencephalitis. And he had hallucinations

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and negative symptoms with the onset, and he had seizures. So they thought that he

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was schizophrenic, but really he had this disease which results from people

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getting measles. So while I do probably think it was the

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nighthag that got him, we. Have to

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entertain other explanations. So we're going to go a little bit long.

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Is that okay? That's okay. We can go into a couple of Father Reesinger's

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greatest hits, because I think. You got to hear about

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Milwaukee's exorcist Father Theophilus

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Reesinger, and that's who we're going to talk about next. Because we could do a

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whole thing on sudden death in the

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night, because one of those instances in Asia

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occurred in the Singapore where 400 men died as a

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result. So there's a lot to be talked about there. But anyway, let's

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get back to Milwaukee and Milwaukee exorcisms. So

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has anybody here heard of the 1928

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Earling exorcism in

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Earling, Iowa? Yeah. Okay. There's a couple

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of people. All right. This is quite a famous case because in

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addition to the Roland Doe 1949

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case in St. Louis that you hear a

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lot about, this 1928 case

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also influenced William Peter Blatty

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and the writing of the book and then later the movie

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The Exorcist. He read these accounts

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of exorcisms and the dramatic

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things that were said to happen. So as far as the body

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contortion and the pea soup, projectile

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vomiting, that comes from the 1928 case

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in which a 40 year old woman

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was exorcised by a Milwaukee ordained

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priest called theophilus Re singer.

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But they don't talk about 1926,

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when that woman was first exorcised in

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Milwaukee. Yes,

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like the devil right here. And I also want to mention

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that the Archdiocese actually had a press

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conference in 1926 to

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announce two exorcisms that year by Father

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Theo. One was of a

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mechanic, a male mechanic from

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Milwaukee, and I don't have many details about that

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one, but I do know that Father

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Reesinger was quoted saying that as

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he released the demons from this man, it

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shook the seminary. So we think that

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that went on in Milwaukee at

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the Capuchin Monastery on

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Fourth and Harmon streets. And again,

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as the devils were released, the whole building shook.

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That's all I know about that one. They should have press releases now.

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Yeah, I know. This was actually a press

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conference where two top officials from the Catholic

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Church came out to say that there were these two

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exorcisms that were performed locally and

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this news went national. Can you imagine the reporters, though? It's like the

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1920s, like, talking, like, okay, so did you vomit pea soup

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out of it? Just think about 1920s reporters talking to these

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priests about an exorcism. I would have liked to be there.

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So we know the most about the woman,

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although there's a lot of things that still

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need to be sorted out because there's two different stories of how she

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became possessed. She was given the pseudonym

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Anna Ekland. So if you search for that online,

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you'll find a lot about the 1928 exorcism because there's

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a book that's popularly available

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called Begone Satan, which is all about the

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1928 exorcisms. And you can read it for free

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online. Some people say that her real name was

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Emma Smith, but finding her census

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records has proved difficult for me

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because some of the details just don't match up. But this

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guy was definitely real. Theophilus

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Reesinger. He was ordained here in Milwaukee at St. Francis

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Seminary and he moved to the Appleton area. But he came back to

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Milwaukee often whenever he was needed. And he wasn't afraid to take

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people out of state like he did with

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Emma. That's what I'm going to call her, because he

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felt that they needed to be taken away

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from their local area so that the

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community wouldn't be talking about them first. He took her

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in 1926 to St. Joseph's

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Hospital, which was located on Fourth Street and

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Reservoir Avenue. So she was admitted as a

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patient, and then he underwent a three day

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fast and then performed the rites of

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exorcism in the church chapel. Now, he was known

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to be an extraordinarily strong man. He said

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that most people, most exorcists

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didn't live long after their first exorcism. Now,

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I can't support that through documentation, but this is what he

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believed. And he said he was

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gifted with extraordinary strengths from

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the Lord and was able to successfully

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exercise 22 people

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in his long career, but by extraordinary strength. Do you

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mean, like, strength of character, or do you mean, like, spiritual?

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Okay. I was just saying, like, if he could, like, airplane spin. Well,

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he did have a very athletic physique. He was known

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to work long hours and have big

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muscles. You got a picture of him? What was that? I said,

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you got a picture of him? He looks like a badass. Yeah, he is kind

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of a badass. I would say. Look at that. Really tall and really built.

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But he had this spiritual strength that

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he could withstand the onslaughts of the

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devil. And then the 1928 exorcism that he

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performed for 23 days, not

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consecutively. There were breaks in between, so it was over a period of several

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months. But the whole exorcism of Emma

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in Caroline, Iowa, at the convent there lasted

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for 23 days. And

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it's a really physical work. Apparently, his

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cassocks would get sweated through and he would

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have to change his clothes sometimes three times a day. And

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also there was the projectile vomiting. Don't forget about that.

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That could have something to do with it. He did have help in the

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1928 exorcism by Father

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Joseph Steiger, and that was his local parish in

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Caroline, Iowa. This

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guy actually reported that

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the spirits were, like, after him, and he had a hard

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time staying in the exorcisms because they would say terrible

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things to him and accuse him of terrible things. And

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then one day they said, well, just wait till Friday.

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And he's like, okay. On Friday he was called away because

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one of his parishioners needed last rites. And so

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he drove to their house and administered last rites. And

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then on the way back, he said that as he was

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crossing this treacherous bridge, this black

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cloud descended in front of his face and

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blinded him. So he crashed into the rails.

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Now, thankfully, he

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survived. His car didn't, but he survived. And a nearby

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farmer had heard the crash and ran to his aid. And

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when he returned to the exorcism, he hadn't told anybody

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about that, but the demon knew right away. So how did you like

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that, Father Steiger? And so Father

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Steiger was surprised that the demon knew about his

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accident. And the demon also acknowledged that if he hadn't been protected by one

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of the saints, he would have been dead. As I said,

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these 1926 exorcisms made national

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news. But you won't find information about the press

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conference in the Milwaukee papers, but what you will

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find is in depth accounts

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of the exorcisms at the

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hospital chapel. This is the most amazing one, I think,

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from February 18, after the rites, which took

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place around the end of January.

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The woman was still in the hospital, and

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they interviewed a nun named Sister Blanche,

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and she talked about how this little

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woman exhibited extraordinary strength

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and had to be dragged into the chapel

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by four big men. And the howling and animal

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sounds that came from her just seemed unnatural.

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Now this is interesting, something that

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Mother Theophilus Reesinger said in a later

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interview which, when begun, Satan came out in

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1936. He was interviewed in the Milwaukee

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papers and then his interview

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went national and then Time magazine actually featured

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him. Can you imagine opening up Time magazine today and

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seeing them profiling an exorcist and talking

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about details of exorcisms?

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Well, this is interesting to me because I always thought you had to

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give yourself to the devil, like verbally or at least in the

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exorcist films, like play with the Ouija board or something naughty that you're not supposed

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to do that allows you entrance. But he said

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that sometimes there is diabolical material

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in the body and this must be expelled. And

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as long as it is there, the devil can always come

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back. You might like to pick up the sensational book about

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the case of Emma's exorcism called The

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Devil Rocked Her Cradle. Anyway, in here you find

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out that her aunt, who was having

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infidelity with her father, was said to have cursed her

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along with her father cursing her for various abuse

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ridden reasons that I won't mention. The

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Aunt Mina cursed her by putting some strange

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herbs in her tea and performing malediction, which is

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essentially putting a spell on her. Father Theo is

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acknowledging that that you could have some tainted food

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that has some cursed herbs in it and that

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could make you a swinging door for all manner of

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devils and demons. But he would later come to believe that

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Anna, or Emma, as I'm going to call her, that

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she was actually a vessel of the

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Lord and she was the swinging door.

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And this is why he had to exercise her so

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often. There are sources that claim that Father Theo

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his first rite with Emma when she was a teenager in

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1912. And then in 1926

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he brings her to Milwaukee and exercises her here.

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And then in 1928 he takes her

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to Caroline, Iowa to the convent there and

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the nuns there helped by holding her down and doing

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Mother various services. But I think most importantly,

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what he wanted is just like we were talking, the rite

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of perpetual adoration. They could assist with the

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exorcism by constantly praying

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during that 23 day period, praying around the clock.

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And that's what I think happened real quick. Alzheimer, we're running out of

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time. So how did it end up? So let's just how did how did what

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happened to poor Emily and how did it end up? So we can let everybody

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know. We can't leave on a cliffhanger. So in 1936,

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he admitted in Time magazine and in local

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interviews that Emma would have to be exercised

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for the rest of her life, that she wasn't so much a

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victim of these spirits anymore. But

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they were trapped in her body. And then they could be exercised by

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Father Theo and then locked up in hell for a

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long time. So they wouldn't be set anyone else on Earth. And she

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also at one point felt that she was having communications

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with holy figures, like the Virgin Mary was possessing her.

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So she became like a vehicle for the faith. Interesting.

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So it was not a really happy ending for Emma?

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Well, it depends on how you look at it, because

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she was more in control of her actions. But she always

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performed that service of taking in the devil into her

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own body. And then Father Theo would come along and

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take those devil and throw them back into

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so he said that she literally freed this world

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from billions and billions of demonic

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beings. All right, well okay. Well, thanks, Emma. We appreciate that

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today. Yeah. So I know we're wrapping up, but I wanted to just take

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a minute to see if anybody had any questions or comments

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or their own stories to. Share, because what do

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we can definitely do the stories to share at the Ghost

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Story open mic. Oh, that's right. We're ending the day with that.

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Yeah. So we'll talk about that more later. But any questions, though? Will you

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take one or two? Yes, go ahead.

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Oh, 59. Yeah. So she didn't live a very long

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life, unfortunately. How old did Father Theo

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live? He lived to 73. He died in

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1941. Okay. I know we talked about Theo, but

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the Earling Exorcism case is one of the most monumental. It

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was a lot of the inspiration for, obviously, the Exorcist.

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But just inside the Calvary Cemetery here in Milwaukee,

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there's a grave that you can visit interred. There are the remains of

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clergyman Walter Halloran. Now, Halloran, he attended a

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Jesuit boarding school in Pradusheen before joining the Society of

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Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. As Halloran worked towards his

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ordination, he participated in one of the most bizarre and notable events in

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American paranormal history. He assisted Father Raymond Bishop

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in the exorcism of Roland Doe. So it was 1949,

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the notes of which inspired the exorcist novel, as well as the monumental film

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adaptation. Halloran was the last living witness of the possession,

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and it said that he later expressed

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skepticism of the supernatural claims of Bladdy's

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novel and also the directorial work. But Halloran, he'd

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go on to teach at Marquette. He served as a chaplain in Vietnam, and

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he directed campus ministry at St. Louis before retiring

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at St. Camillas here. He died in

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Wawatosa, and he's buried here at the Calvary

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Cemetery. Yes. Actually, two witnesses to the

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Rolando Exorcism died here in Milwaukee at St.

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Camillas, which is a retirement home for

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priests. So they ended their life here in

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Milwaukee. And you can go and see

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Halloran's Gravestone at

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Calvary Cemetery on Jesuit Hill. And

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if you need exorcism yourself, you might want to check out

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this seminary, which is really beautiful.

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It's called the University of St. Mary of the Lake. The

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Mundaline Seminary. It's 1 hour from

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Milwaukee, and I thought you had to go to Rome

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to get exorcism training, but they have a

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yearly cohort there where they train exorcists from

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all over the world. And they also have an annual

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conference for exorcists. They actually come to Mundeline,

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Illinois, and talk shop. But you can't

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get in because you have to be a clergyman

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or you have to be okayed by the bishop. So if you want

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to go get that bishop for your letter going, and then you'll be able to

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go to the conference next summer. All right? So that's

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right. Milwaukee, home of beer brats, the violent

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stems and exorcism, and, of course, the

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devil. So we'll see you next time on Wisconsin Legends

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Podcast.

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Sam.

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Sam.

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Sam.

About the Podcast

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Wisconsin Legends Podcast

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About your hosts

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Mike Huberty

In 2010, Mike founded a tourism company called Madison Ghost Walks dedicated to preserving the Wisconsin capitol city’s history and folklore, as well as showing people a great time around the city. Today, Mike has expanded his mission to 6 U.S. states including California, Puerto Rico, and even Hawaii.

Mike performs in the Weird Wisconsin Rock Band, Sunspot, and is the co-host of the See You On The Other Side podcast with pop culture and paranormal themes. He has also been featured on the BBC and TRVL Channel’s In Search of Monsters.
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Jeff Finup

Wisconsin Rapids native Jeff Finup is the mind behind Badgerland Legends, which explores Wisconsin mysteries, a post at a time. Legends, lore, history, oddities, cryptids, and more from the Badger State.