This Day in History May 18, 1926

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I believe I have heard of today's feature, but I have not heard of this particular incident in her life.  Amy Semple McPherson was one of the first Pentecostal evangelists.  This was long before the television evangelists we see today.  But it was on this date in 1926 that she disappeared.  She went swimming on this date near Venice Beach, and they never returned.  It was feared that she drowned, and her death was mourned.  People actually died searching for her body.

On June 23--around a month later--she appeared and claimed she had been kidnapped, drugged, tortured, and held for ransom.  She claimed to have gotten away from her captors.  Her story was met with skepticism, and a grand jury disbanded when as there seemed not enough conclusive evidence.  There is much speculation as to what really happened, but I will have to say that I do not believe she was abducted.  It would not surprise me for it to have been a publicity stunt.  But I guess the world will never know.

For more information, please check out:
http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/scandals/aimee.html
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG00/robertson/asm/front.html
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/protestant/a/aimee_mcpherson.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimee_Semple_McPherson