May 18, 1926: Aimee Semple McPherson, Renowned Preacher, Disappears!

A Brief History

On May 18, 1926, radio evangelist preacher Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from Venice Beach in southern California. No witnesses came forward and her secretary with whom she had gone to the beach did not report any unusual events. She just was there, and then gone.

Digging Deeper

Believed to have drowned, her enormous following and celebrity created a stir. Her mother offered $25,000 (a lot in those days!) for information of her whereabouts. A diver and a swimmer both died trying to find her body in the surf, and police were without a clue. Shockingly, 5 weeks later Aimee staggered into a Mexican town saying she had been kidnapped, and walked for 13 hours to safety.

Skeptics surfaced almost immediately. Although her popularity and following were both massive, there were many others who did not like her to the point of hatred. Her fundamentalist message and disdain for Darwinism and Evolution as well as her “faith healing” left modern thinkers and unbelievers with the opinion that she was a charlatan. Her previous divorce and alleged infidelities made lurid headlines as did allegations that the so called kidnapping was a publicity stunt.

The battle for public opinion got so heated that it went to the courts. Should she be charged with fraud and perjury, or should investigation continue into the crime of kidnapping? The court concluded that no proof of conspiracy to defraud the public was perpetrated by Aimee or her mother, but also no evidence of the kidnappers was ever found. The entire sad affair seemed kind of ridiculous on both sides. Folk singer Pete Seeger later wrote and performed a song, “The Ballad of Aimee McPherson,” that was clearly dubious of her claim of kidnapping.

Being only the second woman ever to obtain a broadcast license, Aimee became the first mass media superstar preacher and her fame was widespread across the country and even the world. She was widowed, then remarried and divorced twice, something that not all Christians in those days accepted. She died in 1944 of an overdose of Seconal. Whether accidental or intentional is unknown. Despite receiving millions of dollars in donations and fees over the years, her estate was a mere $10,000, although her church assets were closer to $3 million.

Aimee is remembered by numerous references and allusions in books and films, and has been played by Faye Dunaway, with characters based on her played by Agnes Morehead and Barbara Stanwyck. Biographies and fiction both featured versions of Aimee, including an alternate history novel where she is in the cabinet of President Al Capone! If that is not cracked enough, Kathie Lee Gifford wrote a musical about her called Scandalous (originally called Saving Aimee).

Question for students (and subscribers): Was Aimee kidnapped or was the event staged? Was she the real deal or a fake huckster fleecing a naïve public? Tell us what you think in the comments section below this article.

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