The Original Sexy Nun: Your Halloween Costume Has Nothing on This

Emergency Exorcisms Call for Holy Water Enemas

in 1627, Jeanna de Agnes was appointed Mother Superior at the new Ursuline convent at Loudon in France.

It didn't take long before Jeanne became sexually enamored with the parish priest, Father Urbain Grandier, who had a history of adultery and scandal.

Perhaps that is why it came as no surprise when Jeanne began claiming that Grandier's spectral image was appearing in her dreams, seducing her and robbing her of her sacred vow to Jesus Christ.

Not long after, the other nuns in the convent started to complain that Grandier was possessing them as well. Of course, none of them were quite as afflicted as Jeanne, who hosted a whopping seven demons.

Exorcisms were performed for years. These spectacles were described to be very sexually-charged, including performing enemas with holy water, and nuns exposing themselves in fits of convulsions.

Grandier was charged with the crime of sorcery and initially acquitted. After the Chief Minister of France ordered a new trial, however, Grandier was burned at the stake; even after Jeanne and the other sisters had recounted their allegations.

The Radium Girls: A "Jaw-Dropping" Tale

Workers' bodies deteriorate from a "Harmless" chemical

After its discovery in 1898, radium became a popular additive for commercial companies to use in their products. It was incorporated into everything from hair gel to beverages.

Around the time WW1 was ending, many women secured high-paying jobs with United States Radium Corporation painting radium onto the dials of watches.

The women were instructed to point their paintbrushes by placing the tips in their mouths in between dipping the brushes into the self-luminescent radium paint.

they were assured that this process was completely harmless.

some of the women even painted their nails and teeth with the paint for an extra glow, before leaving work for a night out.

It only took a few years before lesions and ulcers began appearing on the skin of the women, and their teeth started to fall out. One woman's jaw deteriorated and eventually had to be pulled out entirely.

Five of the women suffering from radium poisoning filed a lawsuit against United States Radium Corporation, inspiring women working for similar companies to do the same. Unfortunately, not all of these women would survive long enough to witness the outcome of their cases.

These woman became known as the Radium Girls. Their stories left a legacy and set forth reforms on industrial health and occupational safety laws that we have today.

Rhoda Wakeman: Heaven Hath No Fury

A Near-Death Experience Leads Woman to Form Murderous Cult

Rhoda Sly was only 13 years old in 1800 when she married Ira Wakeman.

A man ten years her senior, Ira would beat Rhoda throughout the entirety of their nearly 30 year long marriage.

In a drunken rage one night, Ira tied Rhoda to a chair and set fire beneath her. He proceeded to stab her with a piece of burning wood.

After this experience, Rhoda claimed to have died and to have risen up to heaven, only to be granted life again and returned to earth as a prophet of God.

And thus, the Wakemanite movement was born.

Rhoda gained a large following of Wakemanites after preaching to the inhabitants of Connecticut and convincing them that her husband had made a pact with the devil. This lead to the Wakemanites' brutal assault of Ira. His consequential death was dismissed as simply a result of being in league with Satan himself.

Anyone who dared to challenge the word of Rhoda Wakeman would be called out as a Satanic heretic.

After taking a bribe from one of her followers, Rhoda decided that accepting a payout from a "man of sin" put herself and the rest of the Wakemanites in a bad place with God, and insisted that the group offer up a living sacrifice. Follower Justus Matthews was chosen to be this sacrifice.

Rhoda convinced her band of followers that Justus had been possessed by the Devil. The exorcism began with praying and shouting, but ultimately ended with his murder.

The court found the Wakemanites, including Rhoda, as not-guilty by reason of insanity. They were sent to live out their days at the Insane Retreat in Hartford.