Anna Ecklund May 2026

She is most widely known as the subject of the (1912) in Iowa, which some claim was the inspiration for The Exorcist (though that was officially based on a 1949 Maryland case). The "Most Violent Exorcism on Record" Anna Ecklund (whose real name was likely Anna Ecklundt or a derivative) was a German-American woman living in rural Kansas. From childhood, she was reportedly plagued by demonic activity—furniture moving, hearing blasphemous voices, aversion to sacred objects. Her case became infamous because multiple priests, including a theologian from St. Louis named Father Theophilus Riesinger, attempted exorcisms over several years.

Modern psychologists suggest Anna likely suffered from severe dissociative identity disorder (DID) or psychosis , exacerbated by possible childhood abuse. The "demonic" behaviors—violent fits, voice changes, aversion to religious objects—fit certain psychiatric profiles.