Aimee Semple McPherson

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'''Aimee Semple McPherson''', née Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy {{lived|October 9, 1890|September 27, 1944}}, was a [[Canada|Canadian]] [[Pentecostal]] evangelist and the founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, today better known as the Foursquare Church.

In 1908 at age 17 she had a [[born again]] experience while attending a [[revival meeting]] led by Pentecostal evangelist Robert Semple. She soon fell in love and married him, but Robert Semple died in 1910 just after the two had arrived in [[China]] to be missionaries. Aimee returned to North America and soon remarried, and began preaching in tent revivals across the [[United States]] in which her [[faith healing]] practices, preaching with a megaphone out of the back of her car, and gimmicks such as boxing events (under the slogan "Knock Out the Devil") earned her a reputation as one of the prototypical Pentecostal evangelists, considered [[charlatan|charlatans]] by much of the public. She was also one of the first [[radio]] evangelists, buying her own radio station in Los Angeles in 1924.

Ironically given her association with conservative evangelical Christianity and revivalism, she had some progressive elements. Besides simply being a woman evangelist at a time when that was considered unacceptable and even scandalous in some quarters, she was also associated with the [[Feminism#Suffrage|women's suffrage]] movement. But on the whole, she was a forerunner of today's [[televangelism]] and [[religious right]]. She campaigned for [[prohibition]] and against the teaching of [[evolution]], working together with [[William Jennings Bryan]] during and after the [[Scopes trial]] and holding large parades in Los Angeles and all night prayer meetings to support the [[creationism|creationist]] side in the trial. Later during [[World War II]], she would use her pulpit to hold rallies promoting the buying of war bonds.

==Mysterious disappearance==
She ultimately became best known for disappearing from public view on May 18, 1926 after supposedly going to swim with her secretary that morning. The media frenzy which followed had speculation she had either drowned or ran off to have an affair with Kenneth Ormiston, the engineer for her radio station who had also disappeared at the same time. She turned up in [[Mexico]] a month later claiming to have been kidnapped and held for ransom. Her own version of the story not adding up, the city of Los Angeles attempted to prosecute her for obstruction of justice but eventually dropped the charges. The rumors and guesses continued to fly (she was having an [[adultery|adulterous]] affair, she had staged the whole thing as an elaborate publicity stunt, she had disappeared to have an [[abortion]] or plastic surgery) but the matter of what actually happened was never resolved. Who knows, maybe she was just "hiking the [[Mark Sanford|Appalachian Trail]]".

==Death==
Hidden lives are nothing new for morality-grifters. On September 27, 1944, she was found dead in a hotel room by her son. The medical examiner determined McPherson died of an overdose of secobarbital. It is so easy to die from secobarbital that it is even prescribed to those wishing to end their lives in places with "death with dignity" laws. In addition, secobarbital is a barbiturate, and barbiturates have largely been replaced by benzodiazepines, as "benzos" have a much lower risk of death and addiction (but not zero risk). Also, benzos have antidotes for accidental poisonings and overdoses, while barbiturates largely do not. 

The lives of high-profile people such as musicians, sportspeople, and (in this case) preachers are often drug-riddled behind the scenes. In the case of McPherson, especially during the time she lived, being honest about it was unthinkable. Who counsels the counselor? It helps to know that many people who seem to "have it all together" really don't. They instead take the broken pieces of their lives and tape them together, but the tape eventually ages and everything falls apart again. Repeat until death.

In the case of McPherson, she was apparently taking the pills to help with sleep (not unusual for travelling in-person acts). McPherson was also relatively broke at death: her assets were only worth $4,000 per the L.A. Times,{{efn|About $90,000 in 2025 money}}<ref>https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/archives/la-me-aimee-semple-mcpherson-19440928-story.html</ref> yet millions of dollars came in and went during her time alive. Exactly how much of that went to Big Pharma's drugs for her and her staff is unknown. The article says all of the money "went back into the church" but financial issues in churches are not new.

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Creationists]]
[[Category:Media hysteria]]

Categories: Canadians, Christians, Creationists, Media hysteria