Lectures on Tap - "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois’ Case of Spirit Possession"

Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in Chicago bars. 📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email 🧠 Lecture: "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois’ Case of Spirit Possession" 🎙️ Speaker: Professor Raymond Clemens Join us for a fascinating evening as Professor Raymond Clemens revisits the eerie 1877 case of Mary Lurancy Vennum, a thirteen-year-old girl from Watseka, Illinois, whose alleged spirit possession captured national attention. After falling unconscious, Lurancy claimed to communicate with deceased relatives and began channeling other spirits—prompting her family to consider an asylum until a Spiritualist intervened. This lecture will explore how the “Watseka Wonder” fits into the wider world of 19th-century medicine, mental health, and American popular religion. Professor Clemens will unpack how doctors, clergy, Spiritualists, and the public made sense of such unsettling phenomena at a time when science and faith often collided. Raymond Clemens served as Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at Yale’s Beinecke Library from 2012 to 2024, previously taught history at Illinois State University, and directed programs at Chicago’s Newberry Library. He is co-author of Introduction to Manuscript Studies and editor of The Voynich Manuscript: A Photofacsimile with Essays. Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌 Agenda 6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key. 6:55 PM – Host introduction 7:00 PM – Lecture begins 7:45 PM – Audience Q&A 8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round 8:30 PM – Wrap up.