The Devil Rocked Her Cradle

I read this book a couple months ago and it still haunts me. Although parts of this book may have been sensationalized for readability, for the most part I believe it is factual. My grandfather lived in Earling at the time of this exorcism and as a child, I remember him talking about the terrible stench and language that filtered out of the convent that the townspeople could smell and hear. You can't read this book without being deeply impacted by it's message.

This book is not well-written, is not carefully researched, and yet I give it five stars because of the subject which it discusses. The exorcism which occurred at Earling, Iowa, has been a subject of interest to me all my life. This book expands on the pamphlet Begone Satan, which was first published about 1936 and attracted extreme interest. Time had a full page article about the pamphlet. The pamphlet itself is not carefully written, and so this book, which sensationalizes what is found in Begone Satan and supplies all the X-rated language which Begone Satan omitted, is not to be relied on as being totally factual. A small example of the looseness with research in this book is that it states Sept. 20, 1928, when the first series of exorcisms came to an end, was a Friday. I at once knew this was wrong, since I was baptized by Father Steiger on Sept 20, 1928 (I was two days old) and I knew--and any perpetual calendar will quickly tell--that Sept. 20, 1928, was a Thursday. There are other inaccuracies, and much of the early part of the book is as the author imagined the events probably happened. But the fact is that a series of exorcisms were carried out at Earling in 1928, and the devil manifested himself there in ways that seem fantastic but that are not explainable unless he exists. This may not be a very fashionable view, but of course the devil's greatest wish is that people believe he not exist. The book is an easy read, and introduces one to a fascinating event. The sad part is that there is no really scholarly study of the case available to the public.

I read this book a few years ago and all I can say is that I never put it down till I had finished it. It really spooked me. If you are into horror books and love reading about demon posession, then this book is perfect. It is about this girl called Mary who is posessed by this demon and this priest who is the exorsist. Many things in the book are sure too keep you up awake at night pondering. If you liked the movie the exorsist, then you have to read this book. I have read bloodline by the same author which is also very good.