The Devil Within

The Devil Within

Prayers for the Damned — Episode Two: The Exorcism That Broke the Church’s Silence

In August 1928, Father Theophilus Riesinger arrived at a secluded convent in Earling, Iowa.

He believed he was performing an exorcism.

Instead, he walked into a spiritual war that had been building for 105 years.

Episode Two documents the most detailed and widely reported exorcism in American history — a twenty-three-day ordeal that tested the limits of ritual, endurance, and belief.

This episode explores:

Anna Ecklund’s condition upon arrival at the convent

Reports of multiple entities speaking through her voice

Supernatural strength, levitation, and unknown languages

Psychological warfare against priests and nuns

The emotional and physical toll on everyone involved

A radical shift in strategy: instead of fighting the demons… allowing them to reveal themselves

As the entities expose their methods and motives, a disturbing possibility emerges:

Anna isn’t just possessed.

She’s a spiritual anchor — the center of a network of damage spread over decades.

The Turning Point

Father Riesinger abandons traditional exorcism.

Instead of resistance, he allows full manifestation — a dangerous gamble that ultimately reveals the limits of the forces inside her.

On December 23, 1928, at 3:17 PM, Anna speaks in her own voice for the first time in more than a century.

The voices are gone.

But the victory comes at a cost.

Themes in This Episode

The psychological toll of prolonged spiritual conflict

Institutional faith pushed to its breaking point

The idea that some possessions are transformations, not conditions

A haunting question:

If suffering defines a person, what remains when it’s removed?

Anna lived twelve more years after the exorcism — quiet, withdrawn, and described by witnesses as spiritually “translucent.”

Saved.

But never the same.

Call to Action

If this story challenged your understanding of faith, evil, and the human mind:

Because sometimes the real horror isn’t possession…

It’s the price of being set free.

🎧 LISTEN & FOLLOW

If you’re enjoying the show, make sure you’re following the entire Evio Creative lineup wherever you get your podcasts — The Devil Within, The Ides of April, Criminal Mischief, Taboo Treasures, Finding Me with Josh Wolf, and more — so you never miss a new episode.

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The Devil Within

Prayers for the Damned — Episode One: The Girl Who Wouldn’t Stay Saved

At 3:17 AM, the screaming stopped.

For twenty-three days, a convent in Earling, Iowa endured sounds that tested the limits of faith — inhuman voices, violent manifestations, and a woman whose suffering stretched back more than a century.

But the story of Anna Ecklund didn’t begin in America.

It began in a remote Austrian village… with a father’s betrayal.

Episode Overview

In Episode One, we follow the origins of what would become America’s most documented case of demonic possession.

This episode explores:

Emma Schmidt’s childhood in 19th-century Austria

The abuse and trauma that preceded her first possession in 1823

Early exorcism attempts by local priests

Strange phenomena: foreign languages, supernatural knowledge, violent reactions to sacred objects

The role of occult practices allegedly performed by her father and a local witch

The growing isolation of a family marked by fear, shame, and suspicion

The Church’s early failures — and the long shadow those failures would cast

As Emma becomes Anna Ecklund and emigrates to America, her symptoms disappear for years… until the darkness returns — stronger, more organized, and waiting.

Themes in This Episode

The intersection of trauma, faith, and possession

Generational sin and spiritual consequence

When religious intervention fails — and what that does to belief

How a single case can ripple through communities, clergy, and institutions

What Comes Next

By 1928, Anna is sixty-nine years old.

The Church prepares for one final attempt.

It will take twenty-three days.

And it will change how the Catholic Church understands possession forever.

🎧 LISTEN & FOLLOW

If you’re enjoying the show, make sure you’re following the entire Evio Creative lineup wherever you get your podcasts — The Devil Within, The Ides of April, Criminal Mischief, Taboo Treasures, Finding Me with Josh Wolf, and more — so you never miss a new episode.

⭐ RATE & REVIEW

Ratings and reviews genuinely help independent shows grow.

If you have a moment, leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — it helps more than you think, and yes… we read them.

📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE

You can now watch full video episodes, clips, and exclusives from all Evio Creative shows on YouTube.

👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications so you don’t miss new drops across the network.

📲 FOLLOW ON SOCIAL

Follow for updates, visuals, and behind-the-scenes content:

• @thedevilwithinpod

• @idesofaprilpod

• @eviocreative

• @findingmewithjoshwolf (Instagram, TikTok & Facebook)

🌐 VISIT THE NETWORK

Explore all of our shows, projects, and upcoming releases at

eviocreative.com

✉️ GET IN TOUCH

Have a story, tip, correction, or something you think we should cover?

Email us at [email protected]

🔁 SHARE THE SHOW

If you know someone who loves true crime, history, horror, or stories that refuse to let go — share the episode.

Word of mouth keeps this network alive.

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The Devil’s Ledger

Week of March 2

Winter is doing what winter does — and depending on where you live, it’s doing a lot of it. If you’re under 35 and living in the Northeast, this may be the coldest winter of your life. In parts of the Southwest, it might be the warmest. Here in Los Angeles, it’s been suspiciously perfect. Sorry to our friends back East.

The Creepiest Thing I Heard This Week

Apparently, Bigfoot is alive and well… and wandering along power line clearings in the Upper Midwest. Multiple sightings, same week. Tall, broad, covered in dark hair, walking upright before disappearing into the tree line. Either it’s misidentification — or something out there really prefers utility access roads.

On The Devil Within

We begin a two-part series on the possession of Anna Ecklund, one of the most documented exorcism cases in American history — a story that may connect back more than a century and across an ocean.

On The Ides of April

Alexander reaches Egypt and starts naming everything after himself — cities, allies, probably his lunch — until his exhausted army finally refuses to follow him any farther toward India.

On Criminal Mischief

Carolyn covers the trial of Kouri Richins, the mother who wrote a children’s grief book after her husband’s death — and now stands accused of causing it.

On Taboo Treasures

The guys dig into the long history of executions — and how capital punishment has become one of the most politically charged debates of our time.

On Finding Me with Josh Wolf

Josh continues his daily pursuit of accountability, honesty, and becoming the best version of himself — one uncomfortable truth at a time.

This Week in Horror

The Bride! reimagines the Frankenstein story in 1930s Chicago, starring Christian Bale, Jesse Buckley, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Follow The Devil’s Ledger for weekly updates from across the Evio universe — and share it with someone who likes their news with a darker edge.

Because sometimes the strangest stories aren’t legends.

They’re the ones happening right now.

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The Devil Within

Wings of Prophecy — Part Two: The Final Witnesses

At 5:04 PM on December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed into the Ohio River.

In less than a minute, forty-six lives were lost.

But in the days leading up to the disaster, the people of Point Pleasant believed they had been watching something — or something had been watching them.

In Part Two of Wings of Prophecy, we follow the Mothman legend to its devastating conclusion, tracing the final sightings, the growing sense of unease across the town, and the tragedy that forever linked folklore with one of America’s deadliest infrastructure failures. 

Mothman 2

As winter closed in, witnesses reported that the sightings were changing. The creature that once appeared suddenly and vanished just as quickly now lingered in plain sight — perched, watching, almost as if standing vigil.

One of the final reported encounters came just days before the collapse.

By then, Point Pleasant had transformed. National attention brought curiosity seekers, investigators, and skeptics. Businesses leaned into the legend. Others resented the spectacle. Beneath it all, anxiety spread — strange dreams, unusual animal behavior, and a growing sense that something was wrong.

Then came the engineering reality.

Unseen inside the bridge’s structure, a microscopic crack in a critical steel component had been growing for months — invisible to inspections at the time. Each passing vehicle added stress. Each day brought the structure closer to failure.

On a December evening filled with Christmas shoppers, commuters, and families heading home, that hidden flaw reached its breaking point.

The collapse was sudden. Catastrophic. Irreversible.

In this episode:

    •    The final reported Mothman sightings before the disaster

    •    How Point Pleasant changed during thirteen months of national attention

    •    The structural failure that caused the Silver Bridge collapse

    •    Eyewitness accounts from the moments before and after the tragedy

    •    How folklore and trauma became permanently intertwined in the community

In the aftermath, the sightings stopped.

The creature was never reported again.

But the legend remained — not just as a monster story, but as a way for a grieving community to make sense of sudden, senseless loss.

Because sometimes the mystery isn’t whether something supernatural happened.

Sometimes the mystery is how people survive what did.

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And remember:

The most powerful legends don’t come from what we imagine.

They come from what we’re trying to understand after everything changes.
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The Devil Within

Wings of Prophecy — Part One: The Watchers in the Dark

Something was watching Point Pleasant.

Before the headlines.

Before the legend.

Before the bridge fell.

In Part One of Wings of Prophecy, we begin a two-part investigation into one of the most chilling and enduring mysteries in American folklore — the wave of strange sightings that gripped a small West Virginia town in the thirteen months before tragedy struck.

The story begins on a quiet November night in 1967, when four young people driving near an abandoned TNT plant encountered something impossible: a towering, winged figure with glowing red eyes that appeared to follow their car at highway speeds.

What they reported would become the first of dozens of sightings.

And the beginning of something far bigger than a local ghost story.

As word spread, more witnesses came forward. A respected barber described strange lights — and the disappearance of his dog. Residents reported massive shapes flying over roads, perching on rooftops, and watching from the darkness beyond town.

Law enforcement took statements.

A journalist arrived.

The story spread.

And slowly, the community began to divide — believers and skeptics, fear and ridicule, curiosity and dread.

But beneath the growing legend was something deeper:

A town beginning to feel watched.

Studied.

Waited for.

In this episode:

    •    The first terrifying encounter near the TNT area

    •    Deputy Halstead’s investigation and the growing number of eyewitness reports

    •    The arrival of reporter Mary Hyre and the national attention that followed

    •    Strange animal behavior, unexplained lights, and escalating fear

    •    How the legend of the Mothman took hold inside a community under pressure

Because sometimes the most powerful monsters aren’t just what people see.

They’re what fear does to a town.

And while residents debated whether the creature was real… something else was happening in Point Pleasant.

Something no one could see.

A microscopic flaw inside the Silver Bridge — slowly growing, quietly weakening the structure that held the town together.

Thirteen months later, that bridge would collapse into the Ohio River in less than sixty seconds, killing 46 people.

And the question that still haunts the town remains:

Was the Mothman a warning…

Or was it simply waiting?

🎧 Follow The Devil Within so you don’t miss Part Two of Wings of Prophecy.

⭐ If this episode stayed with you, leave a review — it helps more people discover the show.

📲 Share this episode with someone who loves stories where folklore, fear, and reality collide.

📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE

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👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications so you don’t miss new drops across the network.

📲 FOLLOW ON SOCIAL

Follow for updates, visuals, and behind-the-scenes content:

• @thedevilwithinpod

• @idesofaprilpod

• @eviocreative

• @findingmewithjoshwolf (Instagram, TikTok & Facebook)

And remember:

Sometimes the most unsettling mysteries aren’t the ones we see coming…

they’re the ones that unfold quietly, right in front of us.

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