By the time she was just fourteen years-old, a girl from Earling, Iowa named Anna Ecklund began showing signs of demonic possession. The girl had been raised a devout Catholic, however her father and aunt, who practiced witchcraft, allegedly cursed the girl routinely and used herbs to taint her food. Soon, she could not tolerate religious artifacts, became sexually depraved, and could not enter a church.
In 1912, Anna Ecklund underwent a successful exorcism, but after being “cured” of her possession, her father and aunt prayed to Satan for her to suffer even more, and within a year the girl had become possessed by multiple entities, many of whom are said to be the same spirits who possessed Annaliese Michel.
In 1928, Anna Ecklund again sought help from the church. She was placed in a convent where her exorcism would take place, and the girl’s behavior worsened while in the care of the nuns. When the nuns would bless her food before entering her room, Ecklund could sense the blessing. She would hiss at the nuns and throw the food on the floor. She would tolerate food that had not been blessed. Witnesses testified to seeing the girl speak and understand foreign languages she’d never heard before.
They also claimed that she defied gravity by levitating and clinging to the wall. The girl was clairvoyant and often vomited and spit at the priests. Her eyes bulged and her body was so bloated and heavy that she nearly broke the iron bed on which she lay.
After twenty-three days and three complete exorcism rituals, the clergymen finally declared her free from the demons who had possessed her.