Providentia

Schizophrenic Man Beaten to Death in Exorcism to Cure Him of "Evil Spirits"

Police in Azerbaijan have arrested six men for their role in the beating death of a schizophrenic man during an attempted exorcism.  The battered body of 25-year-0ld Murad Soltanov was found in an apartment in the Azeri town of Shabran, located not far for the nation's capital city, Baku.   The apartment had been rented for the purpose of the exorcism by  Shahin Soltanov, the father of the deceased and is there that the six men charged carried out the exorcism.    The deceased man had been recently diagnosed with schizophrenia accompanied by seizures.   Though he was receiving treatment, his condition had deteriorated and his father apparently decided that his illness was caused by demons that needed to be exorcised.  After a previous exorcism failed to cure his son,  Shahin Soltanov apparently decided on more extreme measures.  

Not telling anyone of his plans, the father then took his son from their home town of Mashtaga to nearby Shabran for the exorcism.   Among the men he consulted was Fizuli Garibov, an Islamic mullah who apparently "specialized" in exorcisms.  After paying Garibov ₼400 ($240) for the exorcism, Shariv Soltanov then brought the cleric and his helpers to the apartment.  He then watched as they beat his son with pomegranate branches to "drive out his inner demons.".   According to a statement provided to police following the interrogation, Soltanov began screaming and crying when the beating began but nobody came to his aid.  Later, when he began coughing up blood, the exorcists referred to it as a positive sign that the "demons were leaving his body."  Even after begging them to stop, the men insisted that "it was not him speaking;  it was the demon."

By the time police discovered Murad Soltanov's body, it was reportedly black and blue from the numerous bruises along with evidence of vomited blood.    Pictures of the deceased have been circulated online along with pictures of Soltanov when he was alive.   The six men have been charged with "inflict­ing fatal injuries and using forbidden treatment methods resulting in death."    When asked to comment, one of the men charged insisted that the method used was a common one.   “We have treated him this way before, but during the last session Soltanov suddenly died," he was quoted as saying.

While psychiatric treatment is becoming more widely available worldwide, the stigma surrounding most forms of mental illness often lead to families seeking more unconventional forms of treatment.   Since belief in demonic possession remains strong in many parts of the world, cases of mental patients being killed during attempted exorcisms continue to be reported.    

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Are Criminal Brains Different from Non-Criminal Brains?

Over 100 years ago Lombroso [(1876/2006). Criminal man. Durham: Duke University Press] proposed a biological basis for criminality. Based on inspection of criminals’ skulls he theorized that an imbalance of the cerebral hemispheres was amongst 18 distinguishing features of the criminal brain. Specifically, criminals were less lateralized than noncriminals. As the advent of neuroscientific techniques makes more fine-grained inspection of differences in brain structure and function possible, a new article published in the journal Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition examines criminals’ and noncriminals’ structural, functional, and behavioural lateralization to evaluate the merits of Lombroso’s thesis and investigate the evidence for the biological underpinning of criminal behaviour. Although the body of research is presently small, it appears consistent with Lombroso’s proposal: criminal psychopaths’ brains show atypical structural asymmetries, with reduced right hemisphere grey and white matter volumes, and abnormal interhemispheric connectivity. Functional asymmetries are also atypical, with criminal psychopaths showing a less lateralized cortical response than noncriminals across verbal, visuo-spatial, and emotional tasks. Finally, the incidence of non-right-handedness is higher in criminal than non-criminal populations, consistent with reduced cortical lateralization. Thus despite Lombroso’s comparatively primitive and inferential research methods, his conclusion that criminals’ lateralization differs from that of noncriminals is borne out by the neuroscientific research. How atypical cortical asymmetries predispose criminal behaviour remains to be determined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

The Kansas City Bloodsuckers

"For the life of the flesh is in the blood."   Leviticus 17:11 (KJV)

Human beings have always had a fascination with blood.   For as long as we've had medical practitioners, shamans, and spiritual healers. they have attached a powerful significance to blood and its role in health.    Certainly, it's common knowledge that losing too much blood can be fatal, but doctors once believed that different diseases were caused by having an "abundance" of blood.  This meant that people could be cured through bloodletting or with the use of leeches to suck out the "bad blood."    Blood is also a common theme in many religions, including during Catholic and Orthodox masses in which the host is transformed to the "body and blood of Christ" which the faithful could consume.   While Protestant churches rarely go that far, they still acknowledge the symbolism of Christ's blood in the use of red wine.  In Jewish and Islamic tradition, by comparison, the drinking of blood was absolutely forbidden along with the eating of meat without the blood being drained off.   Then again, folklore is filled with examples of malevolent creatures, including vampires, that rise from the dead to consume the blood of the living (often invoked as an explanation for anemia and similar conditions).

Given the macabre appeal of blood drinkers, it's not that surprising that actual cases crop up more often than you might think.   Certainly, the psychiatric literature contains numerous case histories of individuals with a psychosexual fixation on the drinking of blood.  Usually referred to as clinical vampirism (though haematodipsia and Renfield syndrome are two other terms that has been used), examples go all the way back to Richard Krafft-Ebbing in the 19th century.   Today, the popularity of vampires in movies, television, and literature, has helped create an entire subculture of "Sanguinarians" who pursue the "vampire lifestyle" (though they largely subsist on animal blood which is only drunk on special occasions).  Not as popular as some of the more conventional sexual fetishes, the most extreme examples are found in the annals of forensic history with cases such as Peter Kurten and Richard Chase.

But there was an even more bizarre instance of vampirism in U.S. history which has been almost completely forgotten.   Not as glamorous as Dracula and his brides perhaps, but there was nothing fictional about the Kansas City Samaritans.   And it apparently began in  1888 or 1889 when a traveling preacher named Silas Wilcox first arrived in Kansas City, Missouri.  Apparently inspired by that passage from Leviticus quoted above, Wilcox taught that the drinking of blood was a crucial part of curing illness.   Hardly the sort of remedy most medical doctors would advocate (though some have come close), Wilcox still managed to gather about twenty followers as part of a community that he dubbed the "Samaritans."    As part of their regular sharing ritual, Wilcox and his followers regularly visited slaughterhouses where they could collect the blood of freshly-killed cattle for drinking..  

If it had ended there, the story of the Samaritans might not have been all that memorable.  After all, bizarre little cults could be found in many different parts of the United States (especially in the 19th century for whatever reason).    But the story of the Samaritans took a particularly strange turn when Silas Wilcox hit on a novel alternative to cattle blood drinking:  drinking the blood of fellow Samaritans.

While his disciples might have felt a little squeamish about this proposed change, this all changed when Wilcox became so seriously ill that he was no longer able to go with them to the slaughterhouse for the regular blood-drinking.   Instead, he called on the Samaritans to save his life by offering up their own blood for him to drink.  According to one account, a disciple named Nancy Dixon was the first to offer up her own arm and Wilcox began sucking her blood  after making an incision.  The other Samaritans were reportedly amazed to see Wilcox recover almost immediately, something he attributed to the power of drinking blood offered up willingly.

After that, the Samaritans stopped visiting slaughterhouses and began the ritual of mutual blood-drinking that was to make them so memorable.  Basically, this involved meeting in a member's house during which, according to one account, “the sick or ailing members ask for assistance from the well ones, and these are detailed to give their blood according to their health and strength. When a member becomes very sick the well ones take turns in supplying him the life-giving fluid.”   Despite attempts by local law enforcement to rein in this practice, the Samaritans insisted that they weren't in violation of any laws.   And they weren't, so long as the blood was being offered up voluntarily.  In fact, Wilcox and his fellow Samaritans insisted that their mutual blood drinking was no different from the regular blood transfusions already being carried out by conventional physicians.  

Interestingly enough, the Samaritans of Kansas City were not the only blood drinkers around.   During that same era, many slaughterhouses across the United States began reporting regular visits from blood drinkers though it remained unclear whether they had any link to the Samaritans.   When newspapers interviewed these various bloodsuckers, they often justified their habit by saying that fresh cattle blood was a tasty alternative to more conventional alternatives, including milk.  It also helped that many slaughterhouses allowed people to drink the blood free of charge, something that likely appealed to the poorest segments of society.   It also helped that blood drinking was believed to cure a range of diseases, particularly tuberculosis (which was a fatal disease at the time).   

As for the Samaritans themselves, virtually all of the news stories that I have been able to find on them were from 1890 alone.   It was around that time that the Secretary of the Kansas City Humane Society reportedly received the following letter in early January of that year (the spelling mistakes are from the original letter):

Mr. Huckett:  There is something that I think that ought to be called to your attenshen at once which I think is bad for a civilized community.  There is John Wrinkle and his two children.  He has been sick and he is crazy on religion.   His little girl, Minnie, is 13 years old and his boy, John, is 11.  Wrinkle has hearn of people drinken blood at sloughter houses and he said that he believed in the bible that it preached that the well should make sacrifices for the sick.   

He did blede the little girl and boy until they are recks and he did drink the blod.  It has leaked out and unless something is done by you, the neighbors will take things into their own hands and that quick too.  He lives on a little piece of land near the new city limits.  

Your respectfully, George West

p.s. send some officers.

After receiving the letter, Huckett immediately passed it along to the Kansas City Police Chief.   An officer was dispatched to investigate and, according to the news story, "he found that the letter to the secretary had not told half of the terrible state of affairs which has obtained in the Blue Valley."    At John Wrinkle's house, the officer found "two emaciated children" along with Wrinkle himself who appeared to be in the final stages of consumption (tuberculosis).   Though Wrinkle and the children denied the bleeding rumours, the officer noted how pale the children were and he also found scars all along their arms.  After being confronted by the evidence, Wrinkle finally admitted to drinking the blood of his children but stressed that it was voluntary,

While Wrinkle was too ill to be moved, let alone arrested, the children were removed from his home and placed in the Children's Home.    As for what happened to Wrinkle, his children, or the entire Samaritan movement, that remains a mystery since there were no follow-up newspapers stories mentioning them.   Though John Wrinkle likely died of tuberculosis not long after his children were removed,  the question of what happened to the Samaritans remains a troubling one.  At least one historian has suggested that the entire story of blood-drinking Kansas may have been an elaborate hoax but, if true, it seems to be a hoax with no follow-up.   As local legends go, it certainly wasn't a popular one since you'd have to do some serious digging to find any mention of the Samaritans at all. 

Whether or not the Samaritans actually existed, blood-drinking certainly enjoyed an odd popularity around the end of the 19th century though, for the most part, it was restricted to drinking animal blood.   Ironically, just a few years after these stories generated national attention, Karl Landsteiner's discovery of the main blood groups in 1900 paved the way for modern blood transfusion.   Though it would take decades for blood banks to become universal, the life of the flesh has indeed become the blood. 

Just not quite the way Silas Wilcox and his disciples imagined.   

 

King William's Rise and Fall

Visitors to the Californa ghost town once known as Holy City would probably not spend much time exploring the place.  Located in an obscure corner of wilderness about ten miles from Los Gatos in the Santa Cruz Mountains, all that remains of the town are some old buildings and several tourist shops.   Anyone unfamiliar with the history of the town would be amazed to discover that it was once a thriving utopian community with its own radio station and a tourism industry.   During the 1930s, billboards proudly proclaimed Holy City to be the "headquarters for the world's most perfect government" and that it "answers all questions and solves all problems."  

To understand what happened to the town and why it is virtually forgotten today, you  would need to know something about the town's legendary founder:  William Edward Riker.   Born in California in 1873,  relatively little is known about Riker's early life (aside from what he provided himself, of course.)   Described as a handsome Californian who was "a favorite with the ladies,"  the self-styled "Professor" first established himself as a palmist and a professional mind reader who toured across the country on the carnival circuit.   

That is, until he was forced to flee to Canada after being charged with bigamy.   Having abandoned both of his wives, Riker took advantage of his Canadian exile to found what he described as "the Perfect Christian Divine Way."   This called for total celibacy (at least for his followers), abstinence from alcohol, hard-core white supremacy with total segregation of the races, and communal living.   With this new mission in place, Riker returned to California in 1918 and founded a commune near San Jose.  There was no word on what became of his bigamy charges but presumbly he managed to reach an understanding with his wives.  Those followers who were "born again" to be part of Riker's community were expected to abide by their leader's rules for living but, more importantly, to hand over their life savings as well.  That allowed Riker to buy the land where he had his commune and also ensured that his first thirty followers, mostly elderly people, had little choice but to live the "Perfect Christian Divine Way" or as long as they were under his rule.  

Though his followers were expected to remain celibate, Riker obviously felt exempt from that little rule (it's good to be king).   His new bride, Lillian, was quickly established as his co-leader in the commune which offended some of his early followers, who likely realized that their leader had feet of clay.   One of them, Frieda Schwartz, sued to regain the money she had given Riker but she ended up losing the case.  All this accomplished was to give Riker's commune more publicity than ever and draw in new followers. 

As the commune grew, Riker was able to establish a restaurant, a service station for those newfangled automobiles, a dance hall, a penny arcade, and an observatory for tourists to look at the Moon through a telescope (all in Riker's name).   The revenue from these various businesses, along with a side business selling mineral water, brought him an income of $100,000 a year, even at the height of the Depression.   But that wasn't enough for William Riker.   He also wanted to establish  a major media empire as well.   Not only did he launch a weekly newspaper, but Riker also set up one of California's first radio stations, KFQU, which featured a half-hour show with a Swiss yodeler.   His radio license was revoked in 1931 due to various "irregularities" but that didn't keep the irrepressible Riker down for long.

By the 1930s, Holy City had grown to more than 300 inhabitants, all ruled over by "King William" and "Queen Lillian."   Most of the inhabitants were either elderly followers or out-of-work drifters looking for jobs.  Along with the billlboards proclaiming his message, Riker also declared himself to be the "phantom spokesman of all wise Christians -  God's chosen of all people in the world."   To spread his message of white supremacy and segregation even further, Riker first ran for Governor of California in 1938.   As part of his platform, he called for a ban on businesses in California being owned by non-whites.   In one of his political pamphlets, he wrote that:

The White Man can take care of any and all kinds of business in our own, White Man's California State Home, and no longer will the White Man tolerate your undermining and polluting tactics. Farmers, Business Men and The Workers say: Orientals get out and stay out of our business. Our new Government will see that you get a job. Your polluting, undermining system of business must eternally stop in Our California. And besides this, keep your polluting hands off our White Race Women; they also belong only to the White Race Man. This is the true law of our original White Man's Constitution, these statements explain the real and true spirit of California.

He was never more than a fringe candidate for the Progressive Party and only got 170 votes in the primary.  Still, he obviously felt encouraged enough to run three more times. It was his continuing support of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi policies, even after the United States entered World War II, that really got Riker into trouble though. 

After authorities learned about a series of letters of support that Riker had written to the German leader, "William the Comforter" was arrested in 1943.   Though he retained famed trial lawyer Marvin Belli to represent him during his trial, Riker would become incensed by the way his lawyer repeatedly referred to him as a "crackpot" in his defense.   Despite being acquitted, Riker was offended enough by Belli's comments to try suing him afterward for "defamation of character."   Riker lost his case and was forced to pay court costs.

The final end for Holy City (and Riker's empire) came in the 1940s when the construction  of a new highway doomed the thriving tourist trade.    Since Holy City was no longer on the main route through the Santa Cruz Mountains, businesses closed and many residents were forced to find work elsewhere.  Holy City was disincorporated in 1959 and Riker lost control of his empire in 1960.  Exactly what happened is still a mystery though many of the buildings that made up Holy City were destroyed in a large fire that occurred around that time.  

Even with his empire gone, Riker managed to hang on to the few acres remaining to him.   His white supremacy message had fallen increasingly out of favour, especially with the rise of the civil rights movement, and he had only a handful of followers.   Still, those same followers were likely astonished when William Riker suddenly convered to Roman Catholicism at the age of  93.   Three years later, he died at Agnew State Hospital.  

According to "Father" Riker's obituary, there was only one known survivor of his original disciples still living at the time (no word on what became of "Queen" Lucille).  Still, the loss of his following didn't keep him from his dream of reestablishing his empire. Just a month or so before his death, Riker produced a crayon drawing of a multi-million dollar church that he hoped to build with the right support. 

Though Riker's big dream died with him, there are still traces of Holy City left behind for the determined visitor.   The former post office of Holy City is now an upscale shop selling all types of handblown glass though a neon sign reading "Holy City, California" is still prominently displayed in the window.  That, and the small collection of Holy City memorabilia maintained by the shop's owner are all that remain of William Riker's utopian dream and the ""headquarters for the world's most perfect government."

Want to Do An Exorcism? There's an App For That!

There seems no doubt that exorcism is a growth industry these days.

Not only are exorcists working for the Catholic Church reportedly overwhelmed with all the exorcism requests they have been receiving, but most mainstream churches are reporting the same.    Fundamentalist religious leaders worldwide are also claiming to cast out demons supposedly responsible for a wide range of complaints, including physical disease and homosexuality.   And then there are the "demonologists" (yes, that is a thing), who claim to be able to cast out demons without having any formal religious credentials.    As I said, it's a growth industry these days with nothing that even remotely resembles government regulation.  

To keep up with the demand, and to help avoid the often-hefty fees many exorcists charge for their services, some enterprising developers have come up with digital apps that allegedly allow users to cast out demons on their own.   According to a new report by the business website Compelo, there are already four apps that can be downloaded for use on iPhones and Android phones and more are likely already on the drawing boards.  With more than 66,000 downloads so far, there's no disputing their popularity.   Here are some of the leading candidates:

• Exorcism - certainly the most popular exorcism app with more than 50,000 downloads, Exorcism was created by a Spanish developer and already boasted a 4.5 rating with hundreds of reviews attesting to its effectiveness.   Along with information on exorcism and a litany of prayers to be used against demons, this app also contains an image of a St. Benedict's medal.  According to the description given, "this application introduces us to the world of exorcism and its basic concepts and provide protection prayers."    While the reviews fail to provide real details, the barrage of 5-star reviews attest to the satisfaction of its users (no word on actual effectiveness given, though).
• Exorcism and Deliverance -  Billed as a "FREE Catholic Android app providing info on how to handle demonic attacks", this app isn't quite as popular as Exorcism but still boasts over 10,000 downloads and a 4.5 rating on the Google store site.   Along with various deliverance prayers to be used by priests and the laity for defense against evil, it also features what is allegedly the formal Rite of Exorcism used by Catholic priests as well as information about "signs/symptoms of demonic attacks" and tips about how to "prepare for the spiritual battle."   While the reviews are generally positive, a few reviewers warn about the dangers of using the exorcism rite without proper authorization.  
• Exorcism Against Supernatural  -  Obviously not written by a native speaker of English, the description of the app says it can "help you performing real Latin exorcism with audio and text tips.   Professionally recorded high quality Latin pronunciation of the exorcist with mysterious music background from our studio".   Despite a 4.2 rating, this app has only been downloaded 1,000 times and the reviews are generally not that informative.  
• Ghost- Detection and Protection -  While not an exorcism app as such, the description states that the app "contains all information about ghosts.  You can be a Ghost detector after reading this app.  You can protect yourself from ghosts by this app."   Offering "the best from the world of astrology and darkness,"  the app is said to feature "tricks to save you from ghost evil spirits, their detection and protection in emergency situations.    Despite a 4.1 rating, 1,000 downloads, and generally positive reviews, some reviewers express misgivings about this app (including disappointment that it doesn't feature a "ghost detector").   

As you can see, exorcism and demonology apps seem to be popular these days and there are many more that aren't as highly rated.   While apps such as these aren't likely to put professional exorcists out of work any time soon they do reflect the very real fears about demonic possession and spiritual attack that people seem to have.   Fueled by the numerous exorcism movies and television shows that continue to present these possessions as real, the demand for exorcism services, both from professionals and wanna-bes, is only going to increase in the years to come.

 

 

 

The Possession of James Davenport

Evangelism has a long and strange history in the United States, but there were few  evangelists who had a more, ahem, colourful career than the Reverend James Davenport. 

Born in Stamford, Connecticut in 1716, Davenport was part of an extremely distinguished Puritan family.  His great-grandfather founded the New Haven colony while his father and grandfather were both Puritan pastors.   James seemed destined to follow in their footsteps and attended Yale University so that he could be ordained as a minister,   Whatever plans he had for a quiet career in the ministry ended when he met the overzealous David Ferris in Yale and became part of his inner circle.  Ferris was a radical evangelist who took his inspiration from the evangelical movement that was sweeping parts of Europe and the pre-Revolution American colonies around this time.

Known as the First Great Awakening, Protestant ministers led by George Whitefield in the United Kingdom and Jonathan Edwards in Massachusetts began to reject traditional religious teachings and preached a more personal relationship with God.  This also marked a major split in Protestant churches along class lines.  While the Evangelists talking about being "born again" and publicly proclaiming their faith, the traditionalists were increasingly disturbed at what was happening at the Evangelist rallies, including screaming, "talking in tongues", fainting spells, and cries of salvation.   Although the new Evangelist movement was mainly limited to local revivals in numerous places throughout British North America, at least a few religious leaders were especially prominent, James Davenport among them.

After Davenport  graduated from Yale at the age of seventeen (the youngest on record), he went on to complete his religious training so that he could be ordained as a minister. It was somewhere around this time that he developed a "cancry humour" on his leg, likely a severe ulcer, that would plague him for the rest of his life.  While staying at the house of the Reverend Jared Eliot, Davenport managed to recover to the point of continuing his religious studies.  He credited his recovery to the power of faith and his future vocation seemed even clearer.

Ordained as a minister in 1738, he took up  position at a Puritan church in Long Island though he was only twenty-one years old. Meanwhile, momentous things were happening as other Evangelists began preaching the "Good News of salvation" and Davenport became convinced that the Day of Judgment was at hand. Inspired by the success of other Evangelists, Davenport decided that God was calling him to follow their example.  As he would later claim, opening his Bible to a passage in which Jonathan and armor-bearer attack the Philistine camp inspired him to launch his crusade in 1741. 

This transition from staid minister to fiery evangelist was somewhat, um, abrupt.  During one marathon session, he ranted at his congregation for twenty-four hours straight before collapsing.  After recovering, he then called on all of his parishioners to make full confessions and chose the most worthy among them to become his formal "brethren" (the less worthy among them were relegated to being called "neighbors").   Though Davenport insisted that it was the Holy Spirit which inspired him to choose who were most likely to be saved,  quite a few parishioners were disgruntled to find out they were considered unworthy. 

Davenport also tried his hand at faith healing.   One mentally ill parishioner who was "distracted and dumb"  (possibly catatonic) became a special project for him as he predicted that she would be "delivered and recover her speech" on a given day as a result of his prayers and fasting over her.  As it happened, she died on the predicted date though she never recovered her sanity or speech.   Not wasting an opportunity, the good reverend insisted that his prayers had been answered and that she had been received into Heaven instead.   Quite a few of his parishioners accepted this explanation and managed to get themselves promoted to "brethren" status afterward.

Soon afterward, James Davenport gave up his comfortable congregation and became a traveling preacher, much like his Evangelist heroes.  One of his "brethren", Daniel Tuthill, joined him as an assistant.  Davenport's new mission depended on recruiting converts by reaching as many people as possible in order to save them before the world ended.   His preaching, much like so many of his fellow Evangelists before and since, was filled with descriptions of hellfire, the inherent sinfulness of mankind, and the need for salvation by allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through their hearts so that they could avoid damnation.   

With other Evangelists paving the way, whipping congregations into a religious frenzy, Davenport certainly found his share of receptive converts. One media account describes the kind of sermons he gave and the fever of religion he helped inspire:

Divers women were terrified and cried out exceedingly. When Mr. Davenport had dismissed the congregation some went out and others stayed; he then went into the broad alley, which was much crowded and there screamed out, “Come to Christ! Come to Christ! Come Away! Come Away!” Then he went into the third pew on the women’s side, and kept there, sometimes singing, sometimes praying; he and his companions all taking their turns; and the women fainting and in hysterics. This confusion continued until 10:00 at night and then he went off singing through the streets

Not surprisingly, he also had to deal with the numerous enemies he made along the way.   Along with converting the unbelieving, he also began attacking other ministers, including some he declared to be "unconverted" after they refused to confess their own sins to him.  He declared these uncooperative ministers to be "wolves in sheep's clothing" who were leading their parishioners into "perdition."   Considering that a few of his targets were fellow Evangelists, you can imagine the controversy Davenport inspired.   Many even refused to allow him to deliver sermons in their churches and Davenport was obliged to conduct his revival meetings out in the open.  

Davenport's crusade had mixed success at best.  His illustrious family guaranteed him a few sympathetic listeners among the more established communities but he still had an unfortunate tendency to divide entire congregations.  The sermons he delivered were, well, provocative.  Here is a bit of one of his sermons that one witness described:

"At lenth, he turn’d his Discourse to others, and with the utmost Strength of his Lungs addressed himself to the Congregation, under these and such-like Expressions; viz. You poor unconverted Creatures, in the Seats, in the Pews, in the Galleries, I wonder you don’t drop into Hell! It would not surprise me, I should not wonder at it, if I should see you drop down now, this minute into Hell. You Pharisees, Hypocrites, now, now, now, you are going right into the Bottom of Hell…. Then he came out of the Pulpit, and stripped off his upper Garments, and got into the Seats, and leapt up and down some time, and clapt his Hands, and cried out in those Words, the War goes on, the Fight goes on, the Devil goes down, the Devil goes down; and then betook himself to stamping and screaming most dreadfully.

Even supposedly "converted" ministers quickly regretted inviting him to give guest sermons to their parishioners.   When some of them visited him to try to get him to explain himself, he denounced them as "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing" and prayed for their conversion instead. 

Still, Davenport was amazingly successful  when he went out to preach to Native American tribes and the support he received with Protestants tended to split along class lines.  The wealthier merchants and farmers mistrusted this new preacher whom they regarded as a dangerous fanatic but the less well-off townspeople loved his antics.   A general court in Connecticut even passed a law in 1741 banning preachers to give sermons to parishes without the express permission of the presiding minister.    Davenport promptly broke that law and was arrested soon after. 

Appearing before the Connecticut general assembly, Davenport gave his most bizarre performance yet. Certainly, those few available descriptions of James Davenport's bizarre behaviour at his trial seem downright entertaining.  According to one news story:

"At one point everyone there heard him "vehemently crying out, That he saw hell-flames slashing in their faces; and that they were now! now! dropping down to hell; and also added, Lord! Thou knowest that there are many in that gallery and in these seats, that are now dropping down to Hell! etc.”

Screaming about persecution, Davenport compared himself to Christ with his own suffering and, when the sheriff tried to eject him, he shouted "Lord! thou knowest somebody’s got hold of my sleeve, strike them! Lord, strike them—".     A mob of his supporters quickly gathered and attacked the sheriff and his deputies as they led Davenport to jail.  

On the following day, the court concluded that Davenport was insane and deported him from the Connecticut colony.   Though supporters tried to stop them, Davenport and his assistant were shipped back to Long Island.   Once there, he discovered that his old parishioners were rather tired of his antics and frequent absences.    He was basically ordered to stay at home and tend to his own congregation but Davenport was unrepentant.  As far as he was concerned, he was one of the leading lights of the new Evangelical movement and his crusade would continue.

By 1742, his crusading had taken him to Boston where a group of ministers promptly ordered him to explain his attacks on fellow preachers.  His critics included many Evangelists who refused to allow him to preach to their own parishioners.   But this didn't stop him.  Instead, he took to the streets and held open-air rallies that would last whole nights.  As one Boston newspaper described it: 

"Though were you to see him in his most violent Agitations, you would be apt to think, that he was a Madman just broke from his Chaines: But especially had you seen him returning from the Commons after his first preaching, with a large Mob at his heels, singing all the Way thro’ the streets, he with his Hands extended, his Head thrown back, and his Eyes staring up to Heaven, attended with so much Disorder that they look’d more like a company of Bacchanalians after a mad Frolick than sober Christians who had been worshipping God."

People in Boston were forced to put up with Davenport and his disciples singing hymns in the streets at all hours, day or night.  Most of these followers were young people, including children, from the less well-off segments of Boston society.   Though some of them simply came to watch the antics, Davenport's vicious attacks on fellow clergy proved to be extremely popular.  Like everywhere else he went though, Davenport divided Boston society and his exhausted critics finally persuaded Boston magistrates to have him arrested and put on trial.

And what a trial it was!

Davenport was in fine form throughout the hearing, denouncing the unconverted ministers and making grim prophecies about what would happen to them when they faced judgment.  His supporters predictably insisted that he was being persecuted though he was extremely well-treated while in jail (his jailors likely worried about mob violence if any reports of abuse got out).   The outcome was never really in doubt though.   The only two holdouts in the jury were a Quaker and a lay supporter, both of whom objected to the trial being held at all.   When the court declared Davenport to be non comp0s mentis, he promptly decamped for a more congenial city.   It took a considerable amount of time for things to settle down in Boston afterward and his trial would remain a hot issue for years.

The final saga in James Davenport's strange career occurred in 1743 when he was invited to New London, Connecticut.   Despite having already been deported (and risking a heavy fine in the process), Davenport and  his chief disciple, Daniel Tuthill, set sail immediately.  By this time, Davenport was visibly weaker because of his health problems.   He needed Tuthill's help to walk but this hardly deterred him from his mission.   On arriving in New London, he preached to his followers about the "Messages which he said, he received from the Spirit in Dreams and otherwise, importing the great Necessity of Mortification and Contempt of the World.” 

To accomplish this great goal, Davenport encouraged his followers to throw away any worldly possessions to which they were attached.  Along with wigs, fine clothing,artworks, and jewelry, they also had to throw away those books he deemed offensive.   To nobody's surprise, this included books by religious authors he regarded as "unconverted", including some of his own fellow Evangelists.  These various works were destroyed in two "bonfires of the vanities" in which his followers danced around the flames while these books were still burning.  

During the last of these bonfires, Davenport and his followers were reportedly in a state of hysteria as they cast clothing onto the bonfire.  According to one account, "ome of them in the heighth of their Zeal, conferred not with Flesh and Blood, but fell to stripping and cast their Cloaths down at their Apostle’s Feet; one or two hesitated about the Matter, and were so bold as to tell him they had nothing on which they idoliz’d: He reply’d, that such and such a Thing was an Offense to him; and they must down with them."   Davenport, in his zeal, began stripping off his own clothing, including his breeches which he then threw on the fire.   One woman, perhaps a little distressed by this radical act, snatched the breeches from the fire and basically told the good Reverend to restrain himself.  This was apparently what broke the spell and made Davenport realize that he had gone too far.

And, that was pretty much it for James Davenport.   While his other antics had done little to curb the enthusiasm of his followers, indecent exposure was a bit much even for them.   He left town soon afterward and, because of declining health,was taken home to recover.  As for the local townspeople who had taken part in the book burnings, they were later charged though most of them just got off with small fines.  A council of ministers was held later that year which marked the end of Davenport's crusade, not to mention the Great Awakening itself.   While Evangelism still continued, the zeal was somewhat more restrained from that point onward.

As for the Reverend Davenport, he was deeply disturbed by the New London incident and began to wonder whether he had been possessed by God or Satan.  His doubts about what he had been doing, not to mention the deep schism he had caused, left him depressed.   Though he still believed that the Holy Spirit had spoken to him, he recognized that he he had been too arrogant in denouncing his fellow preachers.   By 1744, he had recovered enough to go on a "repentance tour" visiting many of the towns in which he  had carried out his most outrageous episodes so he could personally apologize for what he had done. 

Still, while he was considerably wiser, his great success as a preacher was largely behind him.  His movement broke up and he was largely abandoned by almost everyone, even his "armour bearer" Daniel Tuthill.  Though he made a new tour across Connecticut in which he personally apologized to many of the ministers he had previously denounced,  the spirit had largely gone out of him.  In 1744, he wrote The Confessions and Retractions of James Davenport in which he publicly apologized for much of what he had said in the past and blamed himself for "falling into the Snare of the Devil." 

Reaction to Davenport's confession was largely mixed.  Some critics argued that he didn't go far enough in apologizing considering the harm he had already done while others were prepared to accept his apology at face value.  Davenport resigned his Long Island post and went to a new church in New Jersey where he would spend the rest of his days.  Somewhere along the way, he managed to marry and have three children though little else is known about this final period in his life.  In 1756, with the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, Davenport made one last proclamation that the war was an omen of the coming Apocalypse,  A year later, he was dead at the age of forty-one. 

So what can anyone say about James Davenport's legacy?  His fervent crusading and his humiliating disgrace can probably serve as a warning for modern evangelists whose outrageous claims have a way of blowing up in their faces.   If nothing else, his antics can be considered a prime example of the dangers of hubris (not to mention, ahem, overexposure).   Sadly, modern day pundits seem determined to fall into the same trap as Davenport, even if they definitely lack his personal charisma. 

In an era of smartphones and social media, embarrassing moments have a way of being recorded for posterity.   We may be seeing quite a few "penitence tours" in the years to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Shared Psychosis" Presumed Cause of Mass Suicide in Delhi

Just days after the bizarre discovery of eleven bodies belonging to the same New Delhi family, police are still struggling to understand the underlying cause of the deaths.   Though initially suspected to be murder, an autopsy report determined that the eleven members of the Chundawat family all died due to hanging, apparently self-inflicted.   Ten of the bodies were found hanging from iron mesh that had been secured to the ceiling while the eleventh body, that of 77-year-old Naryan Devi, was found lying on the floor in another room of the house.   Though the autopsy determined that she had died of hanging as well, it remains unclear whether she had died before or after the others.   One of the deceased, a 33-year-old IT company employee, was to have been married later in the year.  

Police also recovered documents at the scene including instructions on how to carry out the hanging as well as a letter suggesting that the family had been in contact with a nearby "godman" who may have been involved.  While police have interviewed the religious leader, he denied any contact with the Chundawat family.  While all of the bodies were found with their hands tied with rope, three of the bodies had their hands tied loosely in front of them leading police to suspect that they had either tied up the others or tried to free themselves.   

In conducting the psychological autopsy of the deaths, police and medical examiners reviewed diaries of some of the deceased which were also recovered at the scene.  Police also interviewed other members of the same family, some of whom were devastated over the deaths and reluctant to share details.   According to what has been pieced together, the entire family was extremely religious and had apparently been influenced by what they believed to be spiritual messages from the Naryan Devi's deceased husband.   These messages, which were documented by family members in one of the diaries recovered at the scene, provided instructions for a religious ritual in which the family would kill themselves.    The reason for the suicide is still unclear given that the family was extremely well-off with no sign of financial problems.      

While mental health professionals linked to the police have speculated that the deaths may have been due to a "shared psychosis",  a psychological autopsy is already underway.   The bodies have since been cremated in according with religious custom.  Still, even as police continue to try unraveling what led to the deaths, news of another family suicide, this time in the province of Jharkand, has raised fears of a new suicide cluster inspired by the Burari deaths.  In this new incident,  six bodies were were found of whom three were adults and the rest where children.  In the three suicide notes left behind, the parents had apparently killed their children and then killed themselves due to being deeply in debt.   A similar incident occurred earlier in July with a family attempting suicide by poisoning though no fatalities occurred.

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Inspiring "The Exorcist"

Forty years after "The Exorcist" premiered, the anniversary of that classic horror movie has led to renewed interest in the 1949  possession case that reportedly inspired it.   The movie, based on a book by William Peter Blatty, showed the demonic possession of a twelve-year old girl in a performance that made Linda Blair a horror icon.  As for the real-life case in St. Louis, MO that inspired the Blatty book,  a recent panel held at St. Louis University demonstrates the fascination that it still has for the people of St. Louis. 

The boy at the centre of the exorcism case remains anonymous although he was assigned the pseudonym of "Roland Doe" by the Catholic Church (later sources changed the name to "Robbie Mannheim").    Doe, who was thirteen years old in 1949 when the alleged exorcism occurred was an only child who was born into a German Lutheran family and raised in Maryland.   Later moving with his family to St. Louis, supernatural activity began shortly after the death of a favourite aunt who had been a spiritualist.   Allegedly, she had introduced him to the supernatural along with how to use a Ouija board. 

According to various reports, unexplained occurences began in the house in which "Robbie" and his family lived.   This included furniture moving, strange noises, and a picture of Jesus rattling on the walls.   When the frightened family turned to their Lutheran pastor for help,  Robbie was examined by clerics and psychiatrists who could find no explanation for what was happening. 

After Robbie spent an evening at the pastor's house, various occurrences led the pastor to conclude that "evil was at work" and arranged for a Lutheran rite of exorcism to be carried out.    According to most accounts, Robbie underwent an Anglican exorcism and, when that failed, the case was referred to Reverend Edward Hughes, a Catholic priest, who carried out am exorcism at Georgetown Hospital near Washington, D.C.    During that exorcism, Robbie injured the priest and required him to receive stitches.   The ritual was then stopped and he was sent home to his family.   

In desperation over Robbie's worsening problems, his family took him to St. Louis University where two Jesuit priests examined him.   According to the eyewitness accounts still available, Robbie was showing many of the classic signs of possession including aversion to holy symbols,  flying objects, and Robbie speaking in a guttural voice.   After receiving permission from the Archbishop, the Reverend William Bowden and two other priets conducted the exorcism in the psychiatric wing of Alexian Brothers Hospital in St. Louis.    In a diary which Reverend Bowden kept of the exorcism, he reported that words such as "evil" and "hell" erupted on Robbie's skin and he broke the nose of one of the priests during his violent thrashing.   When the exorcism was finally complete, witnesses reported a loud noise in the hospital.

Robbie Mannheim went on to have a normal life and reportedly has no memory of the exorcism.  As they reported afterward, all of the priests in attendance were consistent in their belief that it was an actual possession.   Along with inspiring William Blatty's book and the movie of the same name, the case of Robbie Mannheim  was also depicted in the 2000 movie Possessed and a 1997 documentary In The Grip of Evil.   While Robbie Mannheim has never gone public with his experiences, several of the priests who took part in the exorcism, including Father Walter Halloran, continued to insist that the possession was genuine.

But skeptics examining the various statements made afterward noted key discrepancies that cast doubt on the eyewitness accounts.   In an investigative piece for Strange magazine published in 1997, journalist Mark Opsasnick examined the diary that had been reportedly kept by the lead priest carrying out the exorcism.   He also interviewed Father Halloran and determined that many of the statements attributed to him about the exorcism had been exaggerated by previous reporters seeking to play up the sensational aspects of the story.    The claim that Mannheim had spoken in tongues during his possession was also dismissed by Father Halloran along with the words that had "miraculously" appeared on his skin.   All of the "supernatural" phenomena reported by eyewitnesses could have been faked by Mannheim himself, possibly as a way of getting attention.   In his own investigation of the Mannheim case, skeptical investigator Joe Nickell largely confirmed the conclusions raised by Opsasnick.

Without being able to interview Robbie Mannheim directly, no clear conclusion can be made over whether he was behind what occurred in 1949.   Despite speculation that mental illness may have played a role in the case, no evidence that Mannheim suffered from any of the different diagnoses attributed to him over the years (including Tourette's syndrome,  obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia) has ever surfaced.   What evidence there is focuses on eyewitness testimony and all-too fallible memory. 

In the decades since the Mannheim exorcism,  the cultural impact resulting from the events of 1949 has been profound.   Along with The Exorcist, virtually every movie featuring exorcisms has drawn on the Mannheim case, either directly or indirectly.   Regularly invoked as proof that demonic possession exists, the case may also have inspired "copycat" possession cases including the 1978 exorcism-related death of Anneliese Michel which led to the conviction of the 23-year old woman's parents and the two priests who conducted the exorcism. 

While no clear link was ever proven, there seems little doubt that reports of demonic possession rose sharply in the years following the release of the 1973 movie and that exorcism continues to have a strange popularity.    Exorcists are being trained in increasing numbers and the demand for their services has risen as well.     That many of the people being exorcised suffer from mental illness and that deaths resulting from exorcism continue to be reported seems not to have dampened the enthusiasm of people believing themselves to be possessed.  

Until "Robbie Manheim" comes forward or until more reliable evidence surfaces, the mystery surrounding the St. Louis exorcism case will continue to be invoked by the true believers as "proof" that the Devil is at work in the world.   What that might mean for future exorcism cases is anybody's guess.

Doomsday Deferred

The history of religious movements seems filled with examples of religious figures proudly proclaiming the imminent coming of God, along with redemption for the faithful and punishment for unbelievers.   Many of these religious figures even  give a specific date so their followers could wrap up their affairs and get ready.  And, based on these confident prognostications,  far too many followers ended up doing  just that, even to the point of quitting jobs or selling their houses to await the promised day.   That this day of judgment has yet to materialize hardly seems to matter to the believers, all of which makes stories such as this sound so incredible.

And so we come to Wibur Glenn Voliva.  

Born in 1870 and raised in Illinois, Voliva's improbably career began, like so many others, as an acolyte to the charismatic John Alexander Dowie.   It was Dowie who founded the city of Zion, Illinois in 1901 as a religious community and the hub of his Christian Catholic Apostolic Church.    Having joined Dowie's church in 1898, Voliva became one of his chief lieutenants and even traveled to Australia in 1901 to oversee the church's Australian branch.

As an evangelist and faith healer, Dowie had already gained fame at the 1893 World's Fair holding "big tent" meetings and relying on tricks that seem little different from faith healers today.   With thousands of followers, he founded the city of Zion only a short distance from Chicago.   But Dowie was also shrewd financially.   Before announcing the move to Zion, he secretly bought up as much of the real estate in Zion as he could.   Along with making a fortune in real estate, he also forced his followers to put all their money in the Zion bank (which he owned).   As Dowie proudly proclaimed, his church would control every aspect of life in the new town.  "Our motto," he said, "is the unalterable and unassailable truth that where God rules, man prospers . . . our object, the establishment of the rule of God in every department of the government."   With the hold he had on the town, and the fortune he made from selling stock in various businesses in the town, Dowie quickly made himself one of the wealthiest men in America.

What ultimately doomed Dowie, and gave Wilbur Glenn Voliva the chance to overthrow his rule over the church, was a stroke that he had in 1905.  With Dowie still recovering, Voliva arranged for an audit which determined that millions of dollars were missing from the accounts of the church.    Despite fighting back through litigation, Dowie was forced to step down and live on a pension until his death in 1907.   From that point on, it was Wilbur Voliva who was in control of Zion and the town flourished like never before.  

Not only did Voliva diversify the town's industries, including selling chocolates, lace, and other products, but the church stayed under his solid control.   As a one-company town, the people of Zion had no choice but to accept the wages that Voliva allowed, which were well below the standard set in other towns.  Instead of owning their homes outright, the people of Zion also had to pay for 1100-year leases  held by the Bank of Zion.   And it worked, at least economically.   Though Dowie's mismanagement had left the town bankrupt by the time of his death, Voliva created an economic boom in Zion.   Though he certainly had his share of critics,  many of whom tried to have him charged with  perjury and conspiracy, Voliva proved himself untouchable.

But that would change in time...

Along with being the main employer in town, Voliva also established stern guidelines for the kind of behaviour allowed in the town.  That meant banning alcohol, tobacco, playing cards, oysters, pork, and shellfish, among other things.  By pressuring the state legislature, Voliva even arranged for trains not to stop in Zion on Sundays.   But Voliva had more grandiose plans.  As a national advocate or the flat earth movement, he famously offered $5000 to anyone who could disprove the flat earth theory and also made the teaching of a flat earth and creationism mandatory in Zion schools.  His radio broadcasts preaching against modern astronomy and biology made him one of the most famous religious pundits of his time.   Referring to evolution, modern astronomy, and higher criticism as the "trinity of evils", Voliva's diatribes did little to change public opinion in the rest of the country, but he was still widely quoted.   Even after Richard Byrd's historic flight  over the Antarctic in 1928, newspapers were quick to publish Voliva's stern pronouncement that Byrd's flight did nothing to prove that the world was round.

What really led to his undoing was his frequent pronouncements on the impending end of the world.   Coupled with boasting about the "wonders and miracles the the Lord would work in Zion", Voliva based his doomsday predictions on calculations of key passages from the Book of Daniel.   As the Kingdom of Judah ended on October 6, 586 (how Voliva got the precise date was left up to speculation) then the world would come to a final end on that same day in 1943.   But the signs of the impending end of the world would begin long before then, Voliva predicted.   Prior to the world's ending, Benito Mussolini and "ten kings" would become absolute rulers of the Earth by 1936 and "you would not be able to buy or sell a cent's worth of anything unless you have his sign on your forehead."  But the faithful would have nothing to fear since "the Divine Ruler will appear above the Earth and draw His own up to Him."    He set various dates for when the Rapture would take place which newspapers dutifully reported.  But it was their gleeful reporting on the failure of Voliva's various prophecies that really sold newspapers.  On one promised date, September 10, 1934, Voliva and his followers gathered at Shiloh temple in Zion though they didn't seem to make any real preparation for the Rapture.   When nothing happened, Voliva simply argued that the true date of the Rapture would be on September 10, 1942 instead.   

Meanwhile however, the town and the companies that he had been controlling for so long were suffering from the effects of the Great Depression and all of Voliva's religious sermons failed to keep the townspeople from noticing. Residents in Zion began demanding changes to Voliva's autocratic rule, including the right to own their own property. 

Much like his predecessor, Voliva's lavish lifestyle helped force Zion Industries into bankruptcy.   His plans to revive the town's fortunes by establishing a Passion Play festival much like the one in Oberammergau failed when  a disgruntled employee burned down the theatre in 1937.    Soon afterward, Voliva was forced to declare personal bankruptcy (despite a personal forture once estimated to be around $5 million).

Slowly, his once-absolute control of the town slipped away from him.    Despite blustering statements to the newspapers of being a "two-gun man" surrounded by armed guards, he suffered the humiliation of losing control of Zion Industries and seeing independents winning important political seats in Zion.   Trying to rebuild his financial base with  a series of paid lecture tours, he boasted to journalists that "all that riff-raff (in Zion), will come crawling back to me when I get the colony out of receivership.  Voliva is still on top and will be when prosperity returns to Zion."

When the  people of Zion turned against him, Voliva shifted his base of operations to Florida where he hoped to establish a new religious colony.  This went nowhere and Voliva was forced to live on a pension from his  church in Zion.   Despite his confident predictions, the world never ended and life moved on for everyone but Voliva.   Following his death from cancer in 1942, the church that he had led for so long lost most of its followers.   Though the Christ Community Church stilll exists, it has only a fraction of the adherents it had during the boom years in the early 20th century.   Even the "blue laws" that Voliva had passed in Zion barely survived his death.  The last of them were repealed by 1950.

Today, Zion, Illinois has over 20,000 residents and seems little different than other towns its size.  That it was once the seat of a worldwide church empire, not to mention the home base of one of America's most colourful religious leaders seems to have been largely forgotten.   Still, both Alexander Dowie and Wilbur Glenn Voliva have had a powerful effect on Christian fundamentalism and many of the ideas they once championed live on in the religious crusades of modern evangelists (but mostly without the flat-earth beliefs that made Voliva so eccentric).  

So, the next time you listen to Pat Robertson or once of his fellow evangelists, spare a thought for Wilbur Glenn Voliva, the colourful autocrat who outcrazied them all. 

 

The Man Who Would Be God (Part Three of Three)

Continued from Part Two

 Finally, after weeks of hiding in the brush around town, Joseph Dylkes made a semi-public reappearance at the home of one of his followers.   While he was naturally suspicious of any strangers, he grew confident enough to arrange for more meetings and his band of followers slowly began to grow again as Dylkes made more recruits.  Finally, towards the end of October, 1828, heannounced that the time had come to establish his new kingdom on Earth.   But, given the persecution he and his followers had already faced, he decided that some important changes needed to be made.

First of all, he decided to move his followers to Philadelphia which he felt would be a much more receptive location and far away from the mob that was still hunting for him.   He also decided to appoint "apostles" to travel with him to Philadephia and assist him in his holy quest.   Robert McCormick was formally named Dylkes' "Paul" while Michael Brill (who owned the house where they were meeting) was renamed "Silas" and a third man was appointed "Peter."   These were the men who would travel with him while a fourth man, John Brill, was placed in charge of the "little flock" that would stay behind in Salesville.

During his absence, the remaining followers were to continue their prayer meetings and continue facing east while they prayed (since that was the direction Dylkes would be traveling).  Soon, he promised, he and his apostles would return to bring them all to the glorious new city he would build in Philadelphia.   In describing this new Jerusalem, Dylkes outdid himself with the vision he presented to his followers:  "Its light would eclipse the splendor of the sun,"  he said.  "The temples thereof and the residences of the faithful would be built of diamonds excelling the twinkling beauty of the stars.  Its walls were to be of solid gold and its gates silver.   The streets were to be covered with green velvet, richer in luster and fabric than mortal eye could behold."     He went on to describe how the faithful "would ride in chariots of crimson drawn by jet black horses that need no drivers...the air of the city would be redolent with the aroma of shrub and flower, while ten thousand instruments, attuned to the symphony of heaven, would fill the courts, streets, temples, residences, and gardens with music ineffably sweet."   Exactly how the poverty-stricken Dylkes would accomplish all of this was left up to the imagination of his listeners (who had long since learned not to ask awkward questions).  

With this final sermon, Dylkes and his three apostles set out for Philadelphia.  Having no money, they traveled on foot the entire way and managed to scrounge whatever food and shelter they could find.   Still, they made it as far as a few miles outside the city when they came to a forked road and Dylkes decided to go down one road with only his faithful Peter (Davis) while the other two took the other fork.  His final instructions to Robert McCormick and Michael Brill before leaving them were:  "Faithful apostles, it is now necessary for us to separate for a time.  Paul (McCormick) and Silas (Brill) will take the south road of this fork, I and Peter will pursue the north.  We meet again where the light of heaven shall shine within the city for there will be the new Jerusalem begin to expand to fill the earth."

While McCormick and Brill reached the city after a while, they were troubled to see no sign of the light Dylkes had promised.   Even after searching all through Philadephia, couldn't find Dylkes or the other man, Davis, and eventually walked to Baltimore where they found the funds they needed to travel back home.  Even after they made their report to the rest of Dylkes' followers, nothing really changed for the faithful community that had stayed behind in Salesville.  Everyone, including McCormick and Brill, continued to believe in Dylkes and his eventual return to them.  Finally, after seven years, the man Dylkes called "Peter", a.k.a. Reverend Davis, returned to Salesville.  After arranging to give a sermon in the Temple, Davis announced that he had personally seen Dylkes ascend to Heaven and that he would soon return to establish his new Jerusalem.  He also denounced all other religions, including Christianity which he called "a hotchpotch of Judaism and heathenism."   After this amazing sermon, he left town and was never seen again.  Neither was Joseph Dylkes.

As the years passed, the "Dylkites" (which is what the rest of the town called them) continued to live and worship as they always had.  Nobody seemed inclined to take Dylkes' place as head of the community and they simply met privately with no attempt at spreading their peculiar faith.  Since there were no new converts, the community slowly dwindled as the believers died off.  With no real legacy left behind, Dylkes might have been forgotten completely had it not been for William Dean Howells who published a fictionalized account about this peculiar religion in 1916.  Titled, "The Leatherwood God", the book generated a flurry of interest, mainly because of Howell's solid reputation in American literature, though it isn't considered to be one of his best known works.  

And, that was it really.  Though he promised to found a kingdom that would last forever, Dylkes' religious legacy didn't even last more than a few decades once he disappeared.  Was he a huckster all along or did he genuinely believe in his own divinity?  If so, he likely didn't last long in Philadephia before being packed off to the local lunatic asylum, the likely fate of any would-be messiah in more jaded cities.   Whatever his ultimate fate,  he can still be viewed as an object lesson in the dangers of excessive belief and the need for healthy skepticism when dealing with incredible claims.   Perhaps now, in an era of religious and paranormal claims being made ever more frequently, the case of the Leatherwood God deserves to be much more widely known.