# Event Details - **Event Name**: Lectures on Tap - "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois’ Case of Spirit Possession" - **Event Start and End Date**: Tue, 27 Oct, 2026 at 06:30 pm – Tue, 27 Oct, 2026 at 08:30 pm (-05:00) - **Event Description**: Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in Chicago bars.About this Event📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email 🧠 Lecture: "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois’ Case of Spirit Possession" 🎙️ Speaker: Professor Raymond Clemens Join us for a fascinating evening as Professor Raymond Clemens revisits the eerie 1877 case of Mary Lurancy Vennum, a thirteen-year-old girl from Watseka, Illinois, whose alleged spirit possession captured national attention. After falling unconscious, Lurancy claimed to communicate with deceased relatives and began channeling other spirits—prompting her family to consider an asylum until a Spiritualist intervened.This lecture will explore how the “Watseka Wonder” fits into the wider world of 19th-century medicine, mental health, and American popular religion. Professor Clemens will unpack how doctors, clergy, Spiritualists, and the public made sense of such unsettling phenomena at a time when science and faith often collided.Raymond Clemens served as Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at Yale’s Beinecke Library from 2012 to 2024, previously taught history at Illinois State University, and directed programs at Chicago’s Newberry Library. He is co-author of Introduction to Manuscript Studies and editor of The Voynich Manuscript: A Photofacsimile with Essays.Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌Agenda6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.6:55 PM – Host introduction7:00 PM – Lecture begins7:45 PM – Audience Q&A8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round8:30 PM – Wrap up. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/chicago/lectures-on-tap-the-watseka-wonder-illinois-case-of-spirit-possession/100002001274323374 - **Event Categories**: fitness, Art, health-wellness, literary-art, science-fair - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 - **Event Highlights**: - Duration: 2 hours - Location: Logan Square - Languages: English ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 38.66, max: 38.66, currency: USD ## Event venue details - **city**: Chicago - **state**: IL - **country**: United States - **location**: Logan Square - **lat**: 41.9215421 - **long**: -87.70248169999999 - **full address**: Logan Square, Logan Square, Chicago, United States ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Lectures on Tap - "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois’ Case of Spirit Possession" - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/f9069798030747c7b9d4af4970060fa4a8c6c6ad558def6d61b702022f37e16e-rimg-w1200-h675-dce8e8d8-gmir.jpg?v=1790730283 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Lectures on Tap - "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois Case of Spirit Possession" being held? - **A:** Lectures on Tap - "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois Case of Spirit Possession" takes place on Tue, 27 Oct, 2026 at 06:30 pm to Tue, 27 Oct, 2026 at 08:30 pm at Logan Square, Logan Square, Chicago, United States. - **Q**: Who is organizing Lectures on Tap - "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois Case of Spirit Possession"? - **A:** Lectures on Tap - "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois Case of Spirit Possession" is organized by Felecia For The Win. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Lectures on Tap - "The Watseka Wonder: Illinois’ Case of Spirit Possession"", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/f9069798030747c7b9d4af4970060fa4a8c6c6ad558def6d61b702022f37e16e-rimg-w1200-h675-dce8e8d8-gmir.jpg?v=1790730283", "startDate": "2026-10-27T18:30:00-05:00", "endDate": "2026-10-27T20:30:00-05:00", "url": "https://allevents.in/chicago/lectures-on-tap-the-watseka-wonder-illinois-case-of-spirit-possession/100002001274323374", "eventStatus": "https://schema.org/EventScheduled", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Logan Square", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "Logan Square", "postalCode": "60647", "addressLocality": "Chicago", "addressRegion": "IL", "addressCountry": "US" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "41.9215421", "longitude": "-87.70248169999999" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in Chicago bars.", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-09-30", "availabilityEnds": "2026-10-27T20:30:00-05:00", "validFrom": "2026-09-30", "lowPrice": "38.66", "highPrice": "38.66", "price": "38.66", "url": "https://allevents.in/chicago/lectures-on-tap-the-watseka-wonder-illinois-case-of-spirit-possession/100002001274323374" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-09-30", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-09-30", "url": "https://allevents.in/chicago/lectures-on-tap-the-watseka-wonder-illinois-case-of-spirit-possession/100002001274323374", "price": "38.66", "name": "Admission Ticket" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Felecia For The Win", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/felecia-for-the-win/24277484", "description": "Felecia is a software engineer, content creator, and host with over 700k followers across her social media platforms. Her content is playful, educational, and entertaining.She's the host of Lectures on Tap, a repeat event series that brings professors, experts, and storytellers into NYC bars to present thought-provoking lectures." } ] } ] ```