Excerpt from the Diary of Paul Henkel (September 6, 1806)
“During the sermon I saw a young girl doing the strange movement that the English call the jerks…..”
Published Letter by Jacob Gruber (ca. 1806)
“When any ask me to explain all these antics or exercises, I say I do not explain what I do not understand. Many who had these exercises did not understand them—would not account for them. I am not called to analyze or methodize the jerks: have no tools for that work….”
Extracts from the Journals of Thomas Mann (May 21–September 21, 1807)
“Dr. Hambleton had the Jurks five time[s] in meeting….”
Extracts from the Diary of John Early (November 18–December 21 1807)
“She…said the Jirks came from the Devil & wou’d go Back to him again. I told her to pray or [I] Did not know But the Jirks wou’d Kill her & she’d go to hell & she said she wished I might to go Hell above all people….”
Excerpt from the Personal Narrative of Joseph Carson (ca. 1807)
“I have seen persons jerked over ground which was rocky and full of stumps, and wonderful to tell, they were never hurt. They would always beg not to be held or touched while thus affected, saying that it caused great pain….”
Excerpts from Joseph Thomas’s Life of the Pilgrim (Fall 1808–Spring 1809)
“[W]hile [I was] preaching a young woman was taken with the jirks…, and the people being mostly strangers to the like were much alarmed at the operation, as she was frequently jirked from her seat and thrown involuntarily over the floor and across the benches in different directions….”
