Excerpt from the “Concise Sketch of the Life and Experience of Isachar Bates” (January 31, 1805)
“We called and saw them have the jirks and asked them qustions and went on….”
Letter from John Meacham, Issachar Bates, and Benjamin Seth Youngs to the Shaker Ministry (January 31, 1805)
“I took the Jerks, & was the first person that had it in these parts. Sometimes I have had it in meditating on serious things when alone, sometimes by seeing the situation of the wicked, sometimes by reading, or hearing some striking expressions, sometimes in going about my common employment, & sometimes while in bed….”
Excerpt from the Memoir of the Rev. Jesse Lee (May 9, 1806)
“[O]ne circumstance contributed not a little to interrupt the harmony of the meeting…, which was the wild enthusiasm displayed by a certain female…. [S]he exhibited at some times the jerking exercise, at other times the dancing exercise, and not unfrequently the [barking] exercise….”
Letter from John Meacham, Issachar Bates, and Benjamin Seth Youngs to David Osborn (April 27, 1805)
“Soon after they began to sing several were taken with the Jerks, while sitting on their seats. Their heads, & shoulders were Jerked back & forth, with such increasing violence, that in a few seconds their hats, & bonnets, & even hankerchiefs which were tied close to their heads would fly off. Some would soon be Jerked flat on the floor, in a manner very mortifying to all delicate feelings….”
Letter from William Radford to John Preston (May 14, 1805)
“The Jerks are making their apperance again and will spread generally with the lower class of people….”
Felix Roberton’s Essay on Chorea Sancti Viti (June 5, 1805)
“I suppose there are but few individuals in the United States, who have not at least heard of the unparalleled blaze of enthusiastic religion which burst forth in the western country about the year 1800…. It was under these circumstances that some found themselves unable by voluntary efforts to suppress the contraction of their muscles….”
