1 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of iHeartRadio and 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 1: Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. 3 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 2: With the palms of his hands, DeeDee Palmer traced the 4 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 2: length of Harvey Lillard's spine for things unseen. He had 5 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 2: an idea of what he might be looking for. Though 6 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 2: Harvey lay prone on the table game for this experiment. 7 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 2: For years now, he had been living with hearing loss. 8 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 2: Harvey's existence had become muffled, his experience of the world 9 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 2: folding in on itself. He had long ago given up 10 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 2: seeking treatment. But Palmer, an eccentric and electrified character, thought 11 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 2: he could fix this once and for all. This moment 12 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 2: would put all of the things he had been learning 13 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 2: to the test. Believed that a kink in the spine 14 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,759 Speaker 2: was blocking the nerves that controlled Harvey's inner ear. Locating 15 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 2: a lump between Harvey's shoulder blades, Palmer pressed downward to 16 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:16,119 Speaker 2: rack the displaced vertebra back into line. It popped at once. 17 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,400 Speaker 2: Harvey could hear again. So went the laying of hands. 18 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 2: This moment is remembered as the first chiropractic adjustment. The 19 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 2: year was eighteen ninety five, and with just a few 20 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 2: pounds of pressure. Palmer's world radically changed forever he was 21 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 2: something of a healer. It had long worked in the 22 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 2: realm of animal magnetism, a belief that a being's energetic 23 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 2: forces could be manipulated for peeling purposes. Today we might 24 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 2: think of this science as a little fringe, but back 25 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 2: then we just knew less. The medical field was a 26 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 2: lot less professionalized at this time, as medical schools were 27 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 2: opening up and doctoring was becoming an exclusive, expensive club 28 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 2: and thus a bastion of the elite. The field was 29 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 2: made up of dangerous experiments and body snatching. Doctors often 30 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 2: liked knives, and they liked drugs. It was common for 31 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,679 Speaker 2: doctors to bleed patients, believing it was curative. They prescribed 32 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 2: things like opium, mercury, radium, and belladonna. Without full anatomy training, 33 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 2: surgeries could be crude, hurting more than they helped. Palmer 34 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 2: wanted a more gentle alternative that required no butchering. He 35 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 2: sought out guidance not from those in the establishment, but 36 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 2: from those in the grave. This Dear Listeners is a 37 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 2: ghost story. Palmer was one of many people who recently 38 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 2: had begun talking to spirits. Palmer was a staunch spiritualist, 39 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,119 Speaker 2: a popular religious movement that sought connection with the debt, 40 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 2: think seances and Ouiji boards, And it was at the 41 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:04,360 Speaker 2: Mississippi Valley Spiritualists Camp meeting in Clinton, Iowa, that he 42 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:08,119 Speaker 2: first claimed to have made contact with doctor Jim Atkinson. 43 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 2: Jim Palmer claimed taught him about an ancient Egyptian practice, 44 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 2: a fixing displaced vertebra, and how it was necessary to 45 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 2: maintain a healthy body and mind. But could it be true? 46 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 2: Was Jim a figment of Palmer's imagination, a product of 47 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 2: a stellar pr campaign, or something more. Scholars have never 48 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,360 Speaker 2: been able to locate a doctor Jim Atkinson, but we 49 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 2: know Palmer had met a traveling doctor William Atkinson, once 50 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 2: upon time, many years ago in the very mortal Plain 51 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 2: of Iowa. By now, this doctor Atkinson was probably long dead, 52 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 2: but perhaps their relationship lived on. Palmer was alone in 53 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 2: his revelations, but he didn't intend for it to be 54 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 2: that way for long. He started treating all kinds of 55 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 2: ailments through spinal manipulation, and it seemed to work. He 56 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 2: wanted to establish not just a new school of thought, 57 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 2: but a whole new religion. Think Mary Baker Eddy of 58 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 2: Christian Science or Joseph Smith of Mormonism. Palmer had designs 59 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 2: of being at the help a prophet, miracle man, and healer. 60 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 2: History tells us that it didn't quite work out that way. 61 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 2: It turns out that people thought he was a bit unhinged, 62 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 2: and he was later murdered by his own son. But 63 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 2: while Palmer wasn't long for this world, he did gather 64 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 2: quite a flock and created, through some pretty impressive marketing, 65 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 2: what's now a fifteen billion dollar a year chiropractic industry. 66 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 2: I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. Their faces were 67 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 2: crusted in dust, and they sweltered in the damp heat. 68 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 2: Their carriages slouched onwards, bouncing and bobbling of the crude 69 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 2: Kentucky roads. The seekers headed onward, all believing that this 70 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 2: revival was going to be something grand. The human condition 71 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 2: is dominated by suffering and the quest to alleviate it. 72 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 2: Across the globe and across time, people have sought healing, 73 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 2: often through blind faith. The history tells of magical springs, 74 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 2: blessed talismans, holy temples, long pilgrimages, and the laying of hands. 75 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 2: The Bible tells of blind men seeing, lame men walking, 76 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 2: and deaf men hearing, and for those reasons, the Cane 77 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 2: Ridge Communion was about to become one of the most 78 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 2: reported on events in American history. The first five days 79 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,159 Speaker 2: of August of eighteen oh one were a flash bob 80 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 2: of evangelicalism, with tens of thousands of practitioners gathered in contrition. 81 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 2: Here they prayed, preached, and wept in what looked more 82 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:01,160 Speaker 2: like woodstock than most church services. According to historian, it 83 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 2: was the most impactful religious gathering the country had ever seen. 84 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 2: Hearts were on fire, and hunger for a new way 85 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 2: of thinking about salvation was reaching a fever pitch. The 86 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 2: Second Great Awakening had arrived. It was a time of healing, 87 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,720 Speaker 2: and that's what these seekers were most interested in. This 88 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,599 Speaker 2: movement took a more optimistic view of being human, suggesting 89 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 2: that people could take their salvation into their own hands. 90 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 2: From these beliefs sprung riteous revivals and a roster of 91 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 2: self styled prophets and preachers. Some of these religious people, 92 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:40,919 Speaker 2: it so happens, had a crossover role in their community 93 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:45,160 Speaker 2: that of the doctor. And now the intentions of doctors 94 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 2: were often good, but sometimes patients would have been better 95 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 2: off going to no doctor at all. The spiritualists offered 96 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 2: a solution. They recognized a collective urgency and potentially their 97 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 2: very unique ability to help absolve people of their suffering 98 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 2: with no knives or needles required. Through their seances and 99 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 2: Ouiji boards, spiritualists sought guidance from the spirit world, and 100 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 2: with so many people skeptical of the newly installed medical establishment, 101 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 2: it was only a matter of time before they began 102 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 2: to seek help advice from the other side. Medical mediums 103 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 2: began to appear throughout the country. They insisted that every 104 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 2: person had a direct line to the divine. They saw 105 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 2: no need for clergy in the same way, spiritualists believed 106 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 2: people could heal themselves without the intervention of a professional, 107 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 2: and typically they would offer homeopathic remedies, the laying of hands, 108 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 2: and a variety of non invasive prescriptive measures from the 109 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 2: spirit realm. These mediums could often be found listed in 110 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 2: city directories, advertising in trade magazines, and taking clients by 111 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 2: mail order. It was a brisk business, and here we 112 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 2: set the stage for a young boy who'd be born 113 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 2: in Christian County, Kentucky. Seventy seven years later, and some 114 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 2: miles from the Cambridge Revival, he would inherit the legacy 115 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 2: of this land and of its culture. Born on a farm, 116 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 2: he would become a reluctant prophet. Edgar was consumed by nerves. 117 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 2: He felt that he didn't know the first thing about 118 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 2: medicine and doctoring, and he found it worrisome that people 119 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 2: kept coming to him for help. What if he accidentally 120 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 2: hurt someone? How could he live with himself? But strange 121 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 2: things had been happening, strange and wonderful things, and he'd 122 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 2: decided to lean into it. With those memories in mind, 123 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 2: Edgar Casey laid back and fell asleep. But he wasn't 124 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,080 Speaker 2: lying on the couch to rest, nor to dream. This 125 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 2: was all part of his day's work. His face relaxed, 126 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 2: his breathing slowed, and his eyelids began to flicker. His 127 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 2: small audience glanced at each other. They waited, and then 128 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 2: Edgar began speaking with commanding authority. The c H. Dietrich 129 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 2: and his wife's jaws dropped. Here was a man they 130 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 2: had heard talk about, a healer, who they hoped would 131 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 2: help their sick daughter when every doctor had failed. They 132 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:29,679 Speaker 2: watched and listened while Edgar's colleague al See Lane scribbled 133 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 2: furiously nearby. But how Edgar made it to this very moment, 134 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:39,440 Speaker 2: here on this couch is quite an unusual story. He 135 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 2: had been a quiet, sweet boy, raised righteously in the 136 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,959 Speaker 2: countryside of Kentucky. His family grew tobacco, and he had 137 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,080 Speaker 2: a deep love for the land and everything it gave him. 138 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 2: He was seven before he went to school, but had 139 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 2: been brought up on a diet of hard work and 140 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 2: the Bible, and once he got a Bible of his own, 141 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 2: he committed himself to read, reading it once a year 142 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:03,480 Speaker 2: for as long as he lived. He thought he would 143 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 2: become a preacher. One day, when he was thirteen, he 144 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 2: brought his Bible into the woods. It was here, according 145 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 2: to his telling, that an angel took him by surprise. 146 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 2: Her light was bright and her voice soft and clear. 147 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 2: She said, your prayers have been heard, But tell me 148 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:25,480 Speaker 2: what you want most of all, and I'll give it 149 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 2: to you. He was stunned, lost his words, but as 150 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 2: he would later report, he told her that he wanted 151 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 2: to be helpful to others, especially sick children, and hearing 152 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 2: that she was gone, Edgar quickly made his way home. 153 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 2: He had long been able to see and talk to 154 00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 2: people who others couldn't, but this was the first time 155 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,840 Speaker 2: he felt scared. It was soon after that he noticed 156 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 2: things change quietly at first. If we believe it to 157 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 2: be true, his direct life the divine had been activated. 158 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:07,080 Speaker 2: The angel gave him an uncannyability to memorize books from 159 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 2: front to back in his sleep, as long as they 160 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 2: were put under his pillow. This helped him get through 161 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 2: the few years of schooling he had left and avoid 162 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 2: the belt of his father. Edgar would grow into a 163 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 2: man with sundry jobs bookseller, salesman, and Sharon's agent photographer. 164 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:28,560 Speaker 2: In nineteen hundred, he suffered from severe headaches and a 165 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 2: case of laryngitis that doctors couldn't cure. The months trickled on, 166 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:38,199 Speaker 2: no specialist proved helpful, and because he could barely speak, 167 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 2: he had to leave his job. He wondered if he 168 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 2: was being punished for not being helpful, as he told 169 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 2: the angel he wished he could. It was then he 170 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 2: decided to go out on a limb. A famous traveling 171 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:55,840 Speaker 2: hypnotist was coming through town at that time. Some claimed 172 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 2: that hypnotism was the future of medicine, suggesting that the 173 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 2: subconscious mind could be manipulated into healing the body. However, 174 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,199 Speaker 2: this fellow was more showman than anything, and Edgar left disappointed, 175 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:13,240 Speaker 2: though with an idea. Edgar's town of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, had 176 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:18,119 Speaker 2: its own resident hypnotist, and wanting to exhaust all options, 177 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 2: Edgar sought his counsel. Edgar explained to al See Lane 178 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,440 Speaker 2: that he thought if he put himself to sleep, just 179 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 2: like he had when he would sleep atop his books 180 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 2: all those years ago, and Lane were to then talk 181 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 2: with him, maybe they could get somewhere. A strange thing 182 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:37,920 Speaker 2: had happened once when he was a teenager. He had 183 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 2: heard his spine and fell into a stupor. It was 184 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 2: when he finally fell asleep that he called his parents 185 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 2: in and told them what he needed for a cure. 186 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,360 Speaker 2: They listened and it worked. He had no memory of 187 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 2: the event, but if only he could replicate that moment, 188 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 2: perhaps he could heal himself once again. With Edgar's parents 189 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 2: gathered around, he appeared to fall asleep, and Lane began 190 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 2: to speak softly. He suggested that Edgar scan his body 191 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:11,720 Speaker 2: and figure out where things were going wrong. Edgar cleared 192 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 2: his throat and in a voice clear as crystal. He 193 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:19,120 Speaker 2: began to speak. He spoke of nerve strain and broken 194 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 2: vocal chords, and of a need for better circulation. His 195 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 2: chest and throat began to turn pink than burned, a 196 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 2: bright hot red. Minutes passed. Then Edgar spoke aloud, once again, 197 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 2: confirming that his affliction had been healed. He then directed 198 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:42,840 Speaker 2: Lane to gently wake him. Edgar began to stir, He 199 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:47,560 Speaker 2: opened his eyes, he coughed, he began to talk loudly, clearly. 200 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 2: His mother turned and began to cry. It left everyone 201 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 2: wondering if Edgar could heal himself, could he do the 202 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:01,840 Speaker 2: same for others, And so began what one might consider 203 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 2: one of the most unique partnerships that side of the 204 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 2: Mississippi had ever seen. Al a budding osteopath, recognized Edgar 205 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 2: as something special. Though he had only been to school 206 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 2: through the eighth grade, Edgar seemed to have a vast, 207 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 2: working knowledge of the body that was inaccessible during his 208 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 2: waking hours. Edgar couldn't explain it, and it made him 209 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 2: deeply uncomfortable. But the more experiments they did together and 210 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 2: the more readings they transcribed, it became clear that he 211 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 2: was being presented with a real opportunity to help those 212 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 2: in need. So this is how the Dietricks appeared by 213 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 2: his side. When Edgar awoke, the Dietricks were in tears. 214 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 2: In his sleep, Edgar had suggested that Al make some 215 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 2: spinal adjustments on their small daughter, and shortly thereafter she 216 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 2: was healed. Edgar refused to take money for any of this. 217 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 2: It's reported that many patients improved under his suggestions for treatment, 218 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 2: and word of his strange knowing began to spread. Still, 219 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 2: he remained conflicted about these powers. But what if they 220 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,760 Speaker 2: weren't from God but from the devil? How would he 221 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 2: be able to tell? Was he being tripped? But he 222 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 2: saw that something was working, and he was encouraged by 223 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 2: the people around him to continue on. And one of 224 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 2: those people, an osteopath by the name of Wesley Ketchum, 225 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 2: was so encouraged by his work that he, without Edgar's knowledge, 226 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 2: presented a study of Edgar's readings at a conference in Chicago. 227 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 2: The New York Times picked up the story and soon 228 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 2: ran a headline that read alliterate man becomes a doctor. 229 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 2: When hypnotized whether he liked it or not, Edgar had 230 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 2: arrived and whether he could have anticipated what was yet 231 00:15:50,360 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 2: to come is anyone's guess. Many eyes fell on Edgar 232 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:10,640 Speaker 2: during those years doctor studied him, newspapers wrote about him. 233 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 2: The letters started pouring in from all over the world. 234 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 2: After the New York Times piece, Edgar started giving medical 235 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 2: readings on a daily basis. He cut a bargain with 236 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 2: his osteopath colleagues, asking not to be paid for his counsel, 237 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 2: but rather that they rent him a space to both 238 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 2: house and office and a photography studio of his very own. 239 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 2: He would keep his day job with his camera and 240 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 2: work in conjunction with them otherwise. His wife, Gertrude, loved 241 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,320 Speaker 2: him mightily, but was still nervous about his readings. She 242 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 2: preferred not to know too much and was happy that 243 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 2: Edgar also kept a normal line of work. But when 244 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 2: she almost died of tuberculosis and their son, Hugh Lynne, 245 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,680 Speaker 2: accidentally blinded himself with flash powder, she allowed Edgar to 246 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 2: step in for the first time. Asleep, he prescribed his 247 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,360 Speaker 2: wife vapors from a brandy barrel to his son eye 248 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 2: dressings of tannic acid. Both times doctors shot Edgar's suggestions down, 249 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:15,160 Speaker 2: but when the doctors were proven wrong and her husband 250 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 2: was proven right. Gertrude was a skeptic no more, but 251 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 2: that didn't mean she had to like the company he kept. 252 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 2: She was eventually right about that one. Edgar and his 253 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 2: colleagues would soon part ways due to misappropriated funds. Edgar's 254 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:35,359 Speaker 2: moral compass was firm, and he would never be in 255 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:38,960 Speaker 2: business with those who took advantage of others. When letters 256 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:41,199 Speaker 2: arrived with money, he would be sure to send it 257 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 2: back with his reading enclosed. His readings, first inscribed by 258 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:49,920 Speaker 2: Al and then by a young woman named Gladys Davis, 259 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 2: often described home grown homeopathic remedies that were easily accessible 260 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:00,159 Speaker 2: to most pulpoises, vapors, concoctions of roots and herbs. He 261 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:05,399 Speaker 2: prescribed spinal manipulations, sweating, and meditation. He cautioned people against 262 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 2: red meats, fried foods, carbonated beverages, and too much sugar. 263 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:13,000 Speaker 2: He told them to drink more water and to rest. 264 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:18,159 Speaker 2: These suggestions were largely inoffensive and pretty harmless. What was 265 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 2: there to lose in listening to him? Soon people began 266 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,680 Speaker 2: to come to him, asking him to give them readings 267 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 2: on the stock market, to find buried treasure in oil. 268 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 2: For Edgar, this felt foolish. He tried to fulfill some 269 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 2: of these requests, but was never successful. Nineteen twenty three 270 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:41,159 Speaker 2: was both the midpoint and the turning point for Edgar's career. 271 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,520 Speaker 2: It was here that he met Arthur Lammers, a devout 272 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,679 Speaker 2: practitioner of a new religion called Theosophy. It's a belief 273 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 2: system that finds its roots in Hinduism, Buddhism, and the supernatural, 274 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 2: leaning heavily into the ideas of a mystical god and reincarnation. 275 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 2: In Edgar's day, this was cutting edge stuff, originating in 276 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 2: the US in the latter part of the eighteen hundreds, 277 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 2: right around the same time that spiritualism took hold. Arthur 278 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 2: took an interest in Edgar and in him's awesome, untapped potential. 279 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 2: They decided to do a reading. It was there for 280 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 2: the first time that Edgar looked not forwards with suggestions 281 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:26,440 Speaker 2: on how to live a healthy life, but backwards. Edgar 282 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 2: told Arthur that he had once been a monk. It 283 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 2: was a simple suggestion to Arthur, but one that would 284 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:36,199 Speaker 2: change the entire nature of Edgar's work. There was something 285 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 2: here he believed in needing to understand our past selves 286 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 2: in order to live with our present one. For the 287 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 2: next twenty years, Edgar addressed the issue of reincarnation in 288 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 2: his readings over two thousand times asleep. He spoke to 289 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,359 Speaker 2: the quality of his patient's mind, body, and soul and 290 00:19:55,480 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 2: gave insight about their life's purpose. He developed theories around life, 291 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 2: daily challenges, the idea of karma, and the souls recycling. 292 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 2: In return, he was prescriptive about how to move through 293 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,040 Speaker 2: the world and how to engage with and respond to suffering. 294 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:16,720 Speaker 2: He spoke of self development, growth and service, always turning 295 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 2: his attention to a higher power. He claimed to have 296 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:25,240 Speaker 2: access to a compendium of all universal thoughts, events, emotions, 297 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 2: and intent to have ever occurred across time and planes. 298 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 2: He wanted to, according to him, make manifest the love 299 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:37,639 Speaker 2: of God and love of man. He had his followers, 300 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,399 Speaker 2: and he had his detractors. Some of these suggestions of 301 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 2: his his stories were fantastical and unpalatable to the general public, 302 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:51,080 Speaker 2: but Edgar continued to work. He eventually opened up a 303 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 2: university and a hospital, and founded an organization to be 304 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,440 Speaker 2: a repository for his life's work. Over fourteen thousand readings 305 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 2: in all the At first reluctant sleeping Prophet had come 306 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:07,880 Speaker 2: into his own. As he got older, his health began 307 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,120 Speaker 2: to fail. He was warned to do no more than 308 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 2: two readings a day, but the letters kept coming. He 309 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 2: couldn't give up on healing others, but he was unable 310 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,240 Speaker 2: to heal himself. He died at home on January third 311 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 2: of nineteen forty five, at the age of sixty seven, 312 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:41,680 Speaker 2: in sleepy Virginia Beach. Edgar Casey's memory is a controversial one. 313 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 2: Was he a fraud, capitalizing on folk remedies and enabled 314 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 2: by money hungry friends. There's been little study and little 315 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 2: way to verify his claims of cure. We can assume 316 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 2: that the choice to write to Edgar was often the 317 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,760 Speaker 2: last resort for someone when the medical establishment had otherwise failed. 318 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 2: It was free or low cost, So what harm could 319 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:11,360 Speaker 2: come from trying, And most maladies he addressed, well, they 320 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 2: were probably fairly simple fixes, and if they weren't, then 321 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 2: his advice didn't work. We all know that dead men 322 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 2: tell no tales. That's all to say, it's reasonable to 323 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:27,440 Speaker 2: be skeptical of these big claims, and skeptics he's long had. 324 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 2: Maybe he was just a savvy observer of the world 325 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 2: and engineered a very unique way to convey his message. 326 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 2: He's often criticized and remembered for the things he got wrong, 327 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:43,639 Speaker 2: spectacularly wrong. He believed that there were five distinct races 328 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,120 Speaker 2: of people, predicted Armageddon to come in nineteen ninety nine, 329 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 2: that Japan would disappear into the sea, the emptying of 330 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 2: the Great Lakes into the Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantis 331 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:58,639 Speaker 2: rising up from the sea. The list goes on. But 332 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 2: there are things that he did get right. It's reported 333 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 2: that he predicted the Spock market crash of nineteen twenty nine, 334 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 2: Hitler's rise to power, the deaths of FDR and JFK, 335 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 2: and the fall of the Soviet Union. Even today, his 336 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 2: card carrying followers number in the tens of thousands. The 337 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:23,680 Speaker 2: whole research institutes are dedicated to studying psychic phenomena. Edgar, 338 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,879 Speaker 2: should you believe in his psychic abilities or not, seemingly 339 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,239 Speaker 2: had a strong moral compass and grasp on how to 340 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 2: live lovingly and ethically. This is the important thing that 341 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:40,479 Speaker 2: gets lost in the argument around his potential fraudulents. Unlike 342 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:44,119 Speaker 2: Mary Baker, Eddie, Joseph Smith or D. D. Palmer, he 343 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 2: never wanted to lead a movement. He never exploited the 344 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 2: people who sought his help for money or power or prestige. 345 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:55,920 Speaker 2: But his teachings became the blueprint for the aquarian age, 346 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 2: and we still feel them today and how we think 347 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 2: about health sitter alternative medicine, and what color crystals we 348 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:07,440 Speaker 2: buy if you're into that kind of thing. More than anything, 349 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,480 Speaker 2: he was a holistic healthcare practitioner with some good claims 350 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:15,399 Speaker 2: and some bad. He wasn't the first and won't be 351 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 2: the last. Though Edgar has been gone for some time, 352 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 2: we continue to feel his presence, and there's some thought 353 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 2: that we haven't seen the last of them yet. After all, 354 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:32,159 Speaker 2: he predicted his own return. In his last reading. He 355 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,120 Speaker 2: awoke from his dreaming and said I had been born 356 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 2: again in twenty one fifty eight, a d in Nebraska. 357 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 2: The sea apparently covered all of the western part of 358 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 2: the country, as the city where I lived was on 359 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 2: the coast. The family name was a strange one. At 360 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,199 Speaker 2: an early age, as a child, I declared myself to 361 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 2: be Edgar Casey, who had lived two hundred years before Scientists. 362 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,920 Speaker 2: Men with long beards, little hair, and thick glasses were 363 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 2: called in to observe me. They decided to visit the 364 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 2: places where I said I had been born, lived and 365 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 2: worked in Kentucky, Alabama, New York, Michigan, and Virginia in 366 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 2: taking me with them. The group of scientists visited these 367 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:17,880 Speaker 2: places in a long cigar shaped metal flying ship which 368 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:23,240 Speaker 2: moved at high speed. Water covered part of Alabama. A Norfolk, 369 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:27,399 Speaker 2: Virginia had become an immense seaport. New York had been 370 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,960 Speaker 2: destroyed either by war or an earthquake, and was being rebuilt. 371 00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 2: Industries were scattered over the countryside. Most of the houses 372 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:40,639 Speaker 2: were of glass. Will all of this come to pass? 373 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 2: Only time will tell. There's more to this story. Stick 374 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,200 Speaker 2: around after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. 375 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 2: The healing Springs were well known, and people came to 376 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 2: bathe in their powers in the corner of what's now 377 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 2: northwest Arkansas. Their mythology stretches back millennia, and by the 378 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 2: turn of the twentieth century that mythology began to make 379 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:18,879 Speaker 2: people money. The town of Eureka Springs sprung up the 380 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 2: place for pleasure, a mountain getaway where the wealthy could 381 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 2: soak away their ailments. When Norman Baker arrived, all decked 382 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,399 Speaker 2: out head to toe in his purple suit. He had 383 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 2: been many things, a vaudeville magician, a mail order art 384 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 2: school teacher, a radio host, and a small town political pundit. 385 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 2: Recently he had taken up cancer curing. It was nineteen 386 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 2: thirty seven and he had designs on taking over the old, 387 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:52,399 Speaker 2: dilapidated Crescent Hotel. At one time it had been the 388 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:56,400 Speaker 2: grandest resort in the Ozarks, but had recently been sitting empty, 389 00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:01,439 Speaker 2: lonely and rotting. Norman had no idea, a vision for 390 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 2: the place, and a burning desire to keep himself in business. 391 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:09,479 Speaker 2: So he sloshed on some fresh purple paint and tidied 392 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 2: the inside. He painted the walls a deeply brooding technicolor, 393 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 2: all bomber shades of red, orange, yellow, and black. He 394 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,920 Speaker 2: created himself in office, complete with bulletproof glass and machine guns. 395 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:27,119 Speaker 2: Norman was a bit paranoid, you see, fearful that the 396 00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 2: American Medical Association was going to come for him. He 397 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:34,919 Speaker 2: didn't practice by the book exactly. He wasn't even a doctor, 398 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 2: but he called himself a healer and people paid big 399 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 2: money for his cures. What he really was, though, was 400 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 2: a quack. He started advertising his new hospital. Over the 401 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 2: radio and through mailings, he called for volunteers to come 402 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:53,840 Speaker 2: receive treatment. He promised to do things that the medical 403 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 2: establishment couldn't. Norman concocted a set of injections, which he 404 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,920 Speaker 2: mysteriously called Secret Remedy Number five. It was designed, he said, 405 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 2: to eat away at the cancer and the cancer only. 406 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,120 Speaker 2: He considered surgeons to be barbarians and promised his patient's 407 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:16,720 Speaker 2: relief from their knives. He made vats of this stuff, 408 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 2: a mix of glcerin, carbolic acid, alcohol, watermelon seeds, brown corn, silk, 409 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 2: and clover leaves. He created caustic herbal pastes and prescribed laxatives, douches, vitamins, 410 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 2: and diet regiments. But it wasn't long before whispers began 411 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,960 Speaker 2: to spread through town. High up on the hill, people 412 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 2: knew something wasn't quite right. People went to the Baker 413 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 2: Hospital to find a cure, but often found only death. 414 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 2: It took years for the American Medical Association and federal 415 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 2: authorities to put an end to Norman's snake oil ways, 416 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,800 Speaker 2: but not before he had embezzled millions of dollars from 417 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 2: his patients, who often didn't live through the experiences. He 418 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 2: was jailed for a year, but in the end wasn't 419 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 2: long for this world, and shortly after his release, he 420 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:12,040 Speaker 2: died from cirrhosis. The irony that his body had been 421 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 2: poisoned is not lost here, but the only person to 422 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:17,520 Speaker 2: blame was himself. 423 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: American Shadows as hosted by Lauren Vobelbaum. This episode was 424 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: written by Robin Minitter, researched by Robin Minitter, and produced 425 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey, 426 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show, 427 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: visit grimminmile dot com. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 428 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.