The Possession of Lurancy Vennum

1877

The small town of Watseka, located in the northeastern corner of the state and just a few miles from the Indiana border, was just like any other midwestern farm town in the late 1800's. Little out of the ordinary occurred here --- until July 1877. It was in this month that what became known as the "Watseka Wonder" first came to prominence here. It was at this time that a 13 year-old girl name Lurancy Vennum first began to fall into mysterious, catatonic trances during which she claimed that she was able to speak to angels and the spirits of the dead. The strange spells would often occur many times each day and some of them would last for hours. During the trances, Lurancy would speak in different voices and tell of places far away that she had no real knowledge... Read More