Joseph Badger’s “Account of the Strange Exercise called the Jirks” (November 1826)

“I saw several young ladies…, who began to be uncommonly exercised…. It appeared to mortify and embarrass them very much, when they had ‘the power’ as it was called…. [T]heir shoulders would be seized with violent and sudden convulsions, the neck, also, would be affected with spasms, which threw back the head in a frightful manner….”