HAUNTED: The Possession of Elizabeth Knapp

There is a common phrase we often use when we can’t explain why a person does something strange or out of the ordinary. “I don’t know what possessed them to do that.” Have you used it? Do you know its origins? Demonic possession is the belief that a spirit, demon or entity controls a person’s actions. And the unique story of Elizabeth Knapp in the 1600s may be one of if not the first documented cases of someone who had to face the devil inside them.

Artist's rendition of a possession

Credit: Unknown. If this is your photo/image or if you know the appropriate source to credit, please email contact@apsychiccstory.com.

Samuel Willard

Credit: Unknown. If this is your photo/image or if you know the appropriate source to credit, please email contact@apsychiccstory.com.

An artist's rendition of the Salem witch trials

Credit: The witch no. 3. (LOC Prints and Photographs Division

An old map of New England

Credit: Unknown. If this is your photo/image or if you know the appropriate source to credit, please email contact@apsychiccstory.com.

EPISODE SOURCES

Possession of Elizabeth Knapp (Wikipedia)

Puritans in America: Beliefs, Religion & History

Demonic Possession (Wikipedia)

The Use of Transference in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts

American Exorcism 

Puritans (Wikipedia)

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