1805-1809, Christians/Disciples of Christ, Diaries & Journals, Union Presbyterian Seminary
“[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….”
1805-1809, Diaries & Journals, Western Reserve Historical Society
“Had meeting at Robert Houstens. A Blessed assembly of people, white, Yellow, & black…. [I]n singing our Songs, the power of God came upon them, some fell with jurks, Some leaping, some dancing. The whole multitude were in motion….”
1805-1809, American Antiquarian Society, Autobiographies & Biographies, Barking Exercise, Dancing Exercise, Falling Exercise, Laughing Exercise, Methodists
“These strange exercises that have excited so much wonder in the western country came in toward the last of the revival, and were, in the estimation of some of the more pious, the chaff of the work. Now it was that the humiliating and often disgusting exercises of dancing, laughing, jerking, barking like dogs, or howling like wolves, and rolling on the ground, manifested themselves….”
1805-1809, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Presbyterians
“Preached to a mixed multitude of Seceders, Presbyterians, Baptists, & Methodists. One took the jirks, another old lady shouted. People in general were serious….”
1805-1809, Autobiographies & Biographies, Methodists
“O Lord, if thou wilt grant me the blessing she seems to enjoy, I will willingly have the jerks or anything else thou may please to put upon [me.]”