Mrs. Wakeman vs. the Antichrist (22 page)

81
Reminiscences of Bethany.

82
Ibid.

83
New York Times
, January 4, 1856.

84
Samuel Davidson, “Seymour Record” (1913). Over time other versions of the story appeared. In one of them, Mrs. Wakeman declares that a man named Matthew is the devil, and “Charles Sanford, having become crazed with her teachings, had a brand new axe with which he planned to exterminate Matthews, with the idea that he would be doing a great service to the world and started on his way. First coming to a sleigh in which Enoch Sperry of Woodbridge was sitting on his way home from New Haven, Sanford came up behind the sleigh and deliberately chopped down his victim.”
Reminiscences of Bethany
.

85
New York Times
, January 3, 1856.

86
New York Times
, January 4, 1856.

87
West Virginia Archives and History News
, vol. 2, no. 1.

88
New York Times
, January 4, 1856.

89
New York Daily Times
, January 4, 1856.

90
The New Haven State House [date unknown], 17.

91
“Lies and Legends of Bethany,” a talk given by Robert Brinton, OrangeBulletin.com.

92
Ibid.

93
Personal communication from Barbara Narendra to author, May 21, 2012.

94
New York Times
, January 4, 1856. The online collection at http://www.findagrave.com does not list Enoch Sperry's grave at Westville, though it does have an “Enos Sperry,” 1789–1873.

95
New York Daily Tribune
, January 21, 1856.

96
New York Daily Tribune
, January 31, 1856.

97
There is no reason for believing that Mrs. Wakeman was influenced by Freemasons, but the promise to have one's head taken off before leaving or forsaking the Savior recalls the Mason's oath to have his throat cut ear to ear if he betrays the group's secrets. In addition, there is Mrs. Wakeman's statement that her private papers “are only to be inspected by her few faithful followers who have taken ‘
all the degrees
'” [my italics].
New York Daily Tribune
, January 31, 1856.

98
Fornell,
The Unhappy Medium
, 100.

99
New York Times
, January 7, 1856.

100
Ibid.

101
Ibid.

102
New York Times
, January 10, 1856.

103
Daily Free Democrat (Milwaukee, WI)
, January 21, 1856.

104
New Haven Courier
(January 18, 1856), printed in the
Tioga Eagle
(January 31, 1856).

105
“Trial of the Wakemanites,”
New York Daily Tribune
, January 21, 1856.

106
Daily Standard (Syracuse, NY)
, January 7, 1856.

107
Trial of the Wakemanites;
New York Times
, January 4, 1856.

108
New York Daily Tribune
, January 21, 1856; Ephraim Lane testimony, Trial of the Wakemanites.

109
Phebe A. Beckwith testimony, Trial of the Wakemanites.

110
George Root testimony, Trial of the Wakemanites.

111
New York Daily Tribune
[date unknown].

112
Trial of the Wakemanites.

113
Ibid.

114
Ibid.

115
Fort Wayne (IN) Daily Times
, May 1, 1856.

116
Ibid.; Trial of the Wakemanites.

117
“Trial of the Wakemanites,”
New York Daily Tribune
, January 21, 1856.

118
Ibid.

119
Beckwith's Almanac
, no. 10 (1857).

120
Fornell,
The Unhappy Medium
, 101.

121
Herbert Hiram,
Poor Mary Stannard!
(New Haven, CT: Stafford, 1879), title page.

122
Ibid., 46.

123
The Manson Women: An American Nightmare
, History Channel (2002).

124
Freeman was a leading member of the small Adventist community at Pocasset and, like the Wakemanites, was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to an asylum. He eventually recovered and was released.

125
New York Times
, October 3, 1886.

126
Encyclopedia Americana
, vol. 23 (1952), 218.

The Littlest Stigmatic

1
Oakland's Santa Fe Elementary School is at 915 54th Street, Oakland, California.

2
There is a surprising amount of confusion regarding her surname. It often appears as
Robinson
, sometimes as
Starks
and even
Cloretta Starks Robertson
. As she grew older, she used the name
Cloretta Starks
; presumably
Starks
is her biological father's name. When
Jet
magazine ran an article about her, however, they used
Robertson
and it appears that way in newspaper ads placed by the family's church.

3
Loretta F. Early and Joseph E. Lifschutz, “A Case of Stigmata,”
Archives of General Psychiatry
30 (February 1974), 199. Another source claims that Cloretta read a book titled
Before the Cross
.

4
Jet
, vol. 42, no. 3 (April 13, 1972), 14–15.

5
The Times (San Mateo, CA)
, March 23, 1972.

6
Rene Biot,
The Enigma of the Stigmata
(Portland, OR: Hawthorn Books, 1962), 72.

7
St. Bonaventura,
Life of Saint Francis
(London: Dent, 1904), 137.

8
Ibid., 140.

9
Stanley Krippner, “Stigmatic Phenomena: An Alleged Case in Brazil,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration
16, no. 2 (2002), 207–224, 207.

10
Malcolm Day, “Blood Brother: Padre Pio,”
Fortean Times
(September 2002).

11
Marco Margnelli, “An Unusual Case of Stigmatization,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration
13, no. 3 (1999), 463.

12
The Times (San Mateo, CA)
, March 23, 1972.

13
Arizona Republic
, March 24, 1972.

14
The Times (San Mateo, CA)
, March 23, 1972.

15
Loretta F. Early and Joseph E. Lifschutz, “A Case of Stigmata,”
Archives of General Psychiatry
30 (February 1974), 197;
Daily Review (Hayward, CA)
, March 23, 1972.

16
The Times (San Mateo, CA)
, April 1, 1972.

17
New Castle (PA) News
, April 1, 1972.

18
Daily Review (Hayward, CA)
, March 23, 1972.

19
Jet
, vol. 42, no. 3 (April 13, 1972), 14–15.

20
Ibid.

21
Daily Review (Hayward, CA)
, March 23, 1972.

22
Stars and Stripes
, March 25, 1972.

23
Daily Review (Hayward, CA)
, March 23, 1972.

24
Early and Lifschutz, “A Case of Stigmata,” 197–200.

25
Ibid.

26
Ibid., 200.

27
Ibid., 197–200.

28
Stanley Krippner, “Stigmatic Phenomena: An Alleged Case in Brazil,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration
16, no. 2 (2002), 207–224.

29
Early and Lifschutz, “A Case of Stigmata,” 199.

30
Arizona Republic
, March 24, 1972.

31
Early and Lifschutz, “A Case of Stigmata,” 199.

32
Ibid.

33
Ibid.;
Daily Review (Hayward, CA)
, March 23, 1972.

34
Early and Lifschutz, “A Case of Stigmata,” 199.

35
Ibid.

36
Oakland (CA) Tribune
, March 18, 1975.

37
The blood that appeared on the third day contained “hemoglobin, 12.9 gm/100 ml: white blood cells (WBC), 7,200; polymorphonuclear neutrophils, 70%: lymphocytes, 37%: monocytes, 3%; platelets, 246,000/cu mm; sickle cell preparation, negative results,” Early and Lifshutz, “A Case of Stigmata,” 199.

38
Ibid., 199–200.

39
Mountain Democrat (Placerville, CA)
, July 5, 1973.

40
Early and Lifschutz, “A Case of Stigmata,” 198.

41
Ibid., 200.

42
Ibid., 199.

43
Ibid.

44
Ibid., 200.

45
Jet
, vol. 42, no. 3 (April 13, 1972), 14–15;
Daily Review (Hayward, CA)
, April 1, 1972.

46
Early and Lifschutz, “A Case of Stigmata,” 200.

47
Oakland Tribune
, March 18, 1975.

48
Oakland Tribune
, April 4, 1975.

49
Early and Lifschutz, “A Case of Stigmata,” 200.

50
Oakland Tribune
, October 7, 1977.

51
Claudia Mair Burney,
Wounded: A Love Story
(Colorado Springs, CO: Cook, 2008), 133–134.

52
“Holy Enigma,”
People
, April 27, 1992.

The Four Wild Men of Dr. Dedge

1
An
Almas
is a Central Asian wild man; the city might be named after Mrs. Alma Sheridan, or the combined initials of the four cities that have been Georgia's capital: Augusta, Louisville, Milledgeville, and Atlanta.

2
Personal communication from Judge Braswell Deen to author, November 16, 2009.

3
Ivan Sanderson,
Things
(New York: Pyramid Books, 1967), 80–93.

4
New York Times
, February 10, 1883;
New York Times
, August 19, 1884.

5
Atlanta Constitution
, February 4, 1889.

6
Robert Bogdan,
Freak Show
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 60.

7
Ibid.

8
“The Wild Men of Borneo! or Modern Sampsons, Recently the Great Sensation in Boston, and Eastern Cities. The Greatest Curiosities Ever Seen By Man.” http://www.barnummuseumexhibitions.org/apps/blog/entries/show/17850627-wild-men-of-borneo.

9
Ibid.

10
“What is It?” or “Man Monkey.” Lithograph (circus poster) by Currier & Ives, c. 1860. Negative #67612. From the collection of the New-York Historical Society; Frederick Drimmer,
Very Special People
(New York: Bantam, 1973).

11
Charles Carroll,
The Negro a Beast
(St. Louis, MO: American Book and Bible House, 1900), 148.

12
Ibid., title page.

13
Alexander Winchell,
PreAdamites
(Chicago: Griggs, 1881), 178.

14
Milledgeville (GA) Statesman
, June 6, 1829.

15
The Baxley (GA) News Banner, June 9, 1938, George D. Lowe, “Rambling Remarks and Reminiscences.”

16
Dr. Dedge vaccinated seven hundred employees of the Southern Pine Company at Waycross on January 26, 1900.
Atlanta Constitution
, February 1, 1900.

17
Des Moines News
, June 26, 1914. Information about Doc Brinson's sideshow career comes from an unsourced article at the Alma Historical Society. According to the
Des Moines News
(June 26, 1914), Brinson was a successful businessman who “turned down innumerable offers from circus and vaudeville people, preferring his happy life on the farm.”

18
Scott Hart, “How Circus Freaks Are Made,”
Coronet
(May 1946).

19
Newark (OH) Daily Advocate
, March 15, 1883.

20
A copy exists of Dedge's passport application, dated July 5, 1901.

21
Lovick Pierce Anthony,
A Dictionary of Dental Science
(Philadelphia and New York: Lea and Febiger, 1922), 169.

22
Atlanta Constitution
, July 20, 1904.

23
The Post Standard (NY)
, August 21, 1902.

24
Lowe, “Rambling Remarks and Reminiscences.”

25
Ibid.

26
Atlanta Constitution
, July 20, 1904. The newspaper also reported that Dr. Dedge had secured the wild man in Central America, which agrees with Bird's account of where they met.

27
http://www.syracuse.ny.us/parks/kirkpark.html.

28
The Post-Standard (NY)
, August 21, 1902.

29
The Post-Standard (NY)
, August 22, 1902.

30
Ibid.

31
Ibid.

32
The Post-Standard (NY)
, August 23, 1902.

33
Unsourced article from the Alma Historical Society, 62.

34
“Discussion on the Paper of Dr. Roberts,”
The Illinois Medical Journal
, February 1911, 19: 221.

35
Atlanta Constitution
, July 20, 1904.

36
Victoria and Frank Logue,
Touring the Backroads of North and South Georgia
(Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair), 198;
Atlanta Constitution
, July 20, 1904.

37
Lowe, “Rambling Remarks and Reminiscences.”

38
Unsourced article from the Alma Historical Society, 62.

39
Atlanta Constitution
, July 20, 1904.

40
Lowe, “Rambling Remarks and Reminiscences.”

41
Atlanta Constitution
, February 20, 1910.

42
Ibid.

43
Ibid.

44
Atlanta Constitution
, March 6, 1913.

45
Ibid.

46
Ibid.

47
Arthur D. Little and Arthur D. Little Jr., “The Goat Man,” reprinted from
Medical Mentor
4, no. 2 (April 1933), 132.