There is another, very strange group of demonic entities who made their appearance at the exorcism of Anna Ecklund. And they are intriguing:

It looks like the one left of center is delivering a prophetic message from an inner organ of his body! I will let the Good Cleric describe these strange demonic beings:

Countless brats of devils also interrupted the process of exorcism by their disagreeable and almost unbearable interferences.

It must be said that being a parent isn’t easy. Satan did get lucky with the Son of Satan and Satana. But apparently, he had other children, who we describe as:

 Brats: a pejorative colloquial English term for a child, especially an ill-tempered, spoiled or badly-behaved child.

Funny, I would have thought that all demons would be rather badly-behaved, even if polite enough to not subject you to a Vulgar Display of Power, a few car accidents notwithstanding. Now I have discussed the fact that certain naughty sons of Elohim decided to marry human women and raise babies. This is the first time that I have heard that demons actually procreate.

If the brats of devils could also be called Hell-brats, that would rhyme quite well with another bizarre group of demons that one of the priests involved in the exorcism says he encountered:

Wait, you cursed hellrats, I'll get rid of you yet!" Getting up again, he lit two candles before a crucifix and recited the small formula of exorcism against evil spirits. Aha! That was the language these hellrats understand. They took to flight and all was quiet. They seemed to have been spirited, blown off now, although all previous thumping and pounding on the walls had brought no results.

Hell-brats and Hell-rats! Word-game time! Let’s play some more! I’ll quote Father Riesinger from his interview:

You cannot imagine the terrible symptoms and feelings that possessed persons have. Strange cats and dogs talk to them in the night.

Hell-brats and Hell-rats and Hell-cats…Oh, my! What’s wrong with these zoological conversations?

If we could talk to the animals,

Just imagine chatting to a chimp in chimpanzee;

Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting to a cheetah!

What a neat achievement that would be!

If speaking with animals is a sign of demon-possession, then we must conclude that 

Dr. Doolittle was demon-possessed too. I think our Fraudster may have “familiar spirits” in mind. During the Medieval period, witches were believed to be assisted in their witchery by spirits who appeared to them in disguise. Frequently, they appeared as animals, the cat being a particularly popular manifestation.

See! Witch’s hat and everything! And a violin. Boy are those dancing hell-rats in for trouble! But not just cats:

Two witches pointing out their pets. Jarmara looks worried! He is the shaggy dog in the middle.

 But I bet that you’d be worried too if you found yourself

Sitting on Regan MacNeill’s Diabolical bed! So now we know that Regan’s fuzzy stuffed dog is named Jarmara.

 If I were witch, my familiar would be a

Pushme-Pullyu. They are kind of big, though.

Yet another group:

Among these the so-called dumb devils and avenging spirits made themselves especially prominent.

Dumb devils and avenging spirits...

The number of silent devils was countless. Apparently they were from the lower classes, for they displayed no marks of strength or power. Their voices were rather a confusion of sounds from which no definite answers could be distinguished. There was no articulate speech, rather a pitiful moaning and subdued howling. They could put up little resistance against the powerful effects of exorcism. It seemed as though they came and left in hordes, one crowd being relieved by others of the same type. They reminded one of a traveler who is suddenly overtaken by a swarm of mosquitoes. A few puffs of tobacco drive them away, but in short order they return and pester him again.

Yet again with the tobacco. Seeing how the Dumb Devils can’t really speak, and that may be due to the fact that they weren’t born to the upper or middle-class devils, they could only make confusing sounds. But what they lacked in the ability to speak, they made up for with their numbers. They were like a swarm of mosquitoes, and if Pseudo-Anna would share some of her tobacco, you could drive them away. Wait…don’t do that!

 Are you serious?

No, don’t do it!

Father Karras, could you please set a good example?

Never mind.

If one might bear with me, I would point out yet another type of demon…a devil…that may or may not have been present. These devils aren’t mentioned in the book. What kind of devils? Red devils, a derogatory term that was used of communists. And that is interesting. An ode to the life of Father Riesinger, which naturally cast the King of Exorcists in the best possible light, drew a connection between two things:

Another group which interested him was the Socialists. They were the extreme Marxists in those days. In order to combat their false doctrines and their influence on the laborer more successfully, he took a special course in Socialism at Fordham University. It was at this time also that, according to his statement, circumstances forced him to take up his peculiar work against evil spirits. In 1912, this effort brought him into conflict with diocesan authorities. He was transferred to Wisconsin for the next thirty years and alternated between Appleton and Marathon.

First…Socialists are not extreme Marxists. And they are not Communists. This bit is, in my opinion, wrong. But I find it fascinating that Riesinger’s interest in Socialists and his interest in evil spirits originated at the same time. It is also interesting that, and this part is hardly surprising, this got him in trouble with his superiors. The above article acknowledges that because of the trouble he found himself in, he was exiled to Wisconsin. If Leo XIII gave us a handy exorcism ritual, and the existence of demons and demon-possession was accepted as fact by the Catholic church, which it certainly was, then why would a desire to carry out a Leoist war against Satan get him in so much trouble that the diocesan authorities decided to get rid of him? Another source sees it differently. Here we find the suggestion that it was Riesinger’s sympathy toward Marxism that got him kicked out of Brooklyn. I’m at a total loss as to how you can be a priest and a Marxist at the same time. To be a Marxist, you are an adherent to the views of Karl Marx…in particular, Das Kapital:

Religion is the gasp of the oppressed, the heart of a heartless world, the soul of soulless conditions…it is the opium of the people.

But it would seem certain that Riesinger’s sudden interest in Marxists and evil spirits had appeared at the same time. I wonder why? Did he truly hate Marxists? And if he did, did he come to associate Marxists with evil spirits? If so, then by driving out evil spirits, was he really trying to free the world of Communists? Perhaps, ridding the world of Bolsheviks? If he embraced Marxism, then that would raise interesting possibilities all their own.

Before I head into the home-stretch, I would point out a few interesting things from the 1936 interview. First:

So not only is the Not-Father-Merrin of such a mind that Diocesan Authorities in Brooklyn performed an exorcism on New York, thereby driving-out the demon called Riesinger and banishing him to Wisconsin…no…he also seems to think that he is the most powerful being in the universe. Devils would rather beg God to cast them into Hell rather than go up against Father-I’m-Insane.

This is fascinating, and we almost have a strange connection with the Exorcist. We know that in the movie, Merrin’s exorcism performed on a boy in Africa almost cost him his life. And here the most Powerful Priest in the Universe tells us that most exorcists don’t live long after performing an exorcism. Except for him, of course. And! Regan’s exorcism wasn’t even over, it being only about an hour since it began, that Merrin and Karras were both dead. Chris seemed to believe that exorcisms were lethal to the demon-possessed person. Crazy Riesinger thinks that they’re lethal to the exorcist. Unless you’re him. And there are hints of this in the movie as well.

One last point, and this is fascinating because I can’t find it in the dime-store novel published in 1935. And this will sound strangely familiar:

In descending order of importance. First, an exorcism is a pretty good workout..no need to go to the gym when the Devil is your sparring partner. In spite of all his begging and crying. Second…the possessed person floats in the air. In the book, Anna does her Bat-Girl imitation, but real levitation isn’t described. The levitation scene in the Exorcist is legendary, but I made it more ordinary:

Third, and this is missing from the book as well…the eyes are always closed, except when they’re open. And when they’re open, they are covered in a yellow skin. And this one is worth commenting on, since it has such a clear parallel in the Exorcist. Regan’s eyes come in two colors. First…white

And:

Again:

They also come in yellow:

And

This one is cool!

Even Karras’s eyes join in the fun. Well, only at the moment that he believed that something passed from Regan into him, with his eyes immediately going back to their own, boring color.

The last thing to say is this…can there be any doubt that Riesinger was certifiably insane? I quote:

On several occasions when I have drawn near with the blessed sacrament I have observed the devil moving around under that skin (film) just as a pea would move.

So here we have the Incredible Shrinking Devil. He can transform himself into something as small as a pea. Then he moves around under the yellow skin covering the eyes. Of course he does…Riesinger…you need help! I wonder what color the eyes of Mexican Marxists are? For that matter, I wonder what color Padre Pio’s eyes were?

I could go on and on about this book. But I won’t…after I discuss the last spirit-entity to pick on poor Anna, or Emma, or Mary…it doesn’t really matter.

"Who are you then?"

"I am Judas."

"What, Judas! Are you Judas Iscariot, the former Apostle?"

Thereupon followed a horrible, woefully prolonged: "Y-e-s, I am the one." This was howled in the deepest bass voice. It set the whole room a-quivering so that out of pure fright and horror the pastor and some of the nuns ran out. Then followed a disgusting exhibition of spitting and vomiting as if Judas were intending to spit at his Lord and Master with all his might, or as if he had in mind to unloose his inner waste and filth upon Him.

Finally Judas was asked: "What business have you here?"

"To bring her to despair, so that she will commit suicide and hang herself! She must get the rope, she must go to hell!"

"Is it then a fact that everyone that commits suicide goes to hell?"

"Rather not."

"Why not?"

"Ha, we devils are the ones that urge them to commit suicide, to hang themselves, just as I did myself."

"Do you not regret that you have committed such a despicable deed?"

A terrible curse followed: "Let me alone. Don't bother me with your fake god. It was my own fault." Then he kept on raving in a terrible manner.

So now we find out that Judas Iscariot was present too.

Mina and Judas were the worst offenders against the Blessed Sacrament.

And:

In like manner I would have no one believe that we know for certain that Judas is in hell, just because he claimed that he was one of the damned in the case of possession at Earling. Holy Mother Church has never yet given a decision regarding this matter even though the words of our Savior about Judas are thought- provoking: "It would have been better if that man had never been born."

The silly writer of this silly book provided a pretty good summation:

It has been intimated above that out of the voices coming from the possessed woman, four different ones could be very clearly distinguished. They announced themselves as Beelzebub, Judas Iscariot, Jacob, the father of the possessed woman, and Mina, Jacob's concubine.

However, he has presented tiringly long-winded, comical, and flat out boring conversations with Satan, so I’m a bit surprised that the Big 4 weren’t the Big 5. I almost forgot:

At that very moment the stiffness of the woman's body gave way and she fell upon the bed. Then a piercing sound filled the room causing all to tremble vehemently. Voices saying, "Beelzebub, Judas, Jacob, Mina," could be heard. And this was repeated over and over until they faded far away into the distance.

"Beelzebub, —Judas, —Jacob, —Mina." To these words were added: "Hell—hell—hell!"

4 bad guys, but 3 “hells?” I wonder which one got away. And now for the ultimately ridiculous insult aimed at Judas:

Father Th., who has had nineteen cases of possession under his care within recent years, seems convinced that present indications point to the beginning of a great battle between Christ and Antichrist. He also seems to have learned that Judas will appear as Antichrist in this manner, that a human person, soon after birth, will be controlled and completely ruled by him.

Nineteen cases! And Chris MacNeill had 88 doctors! Please! Now, Judas is the Anti-Christ. Apparently, our Cultic Fraud doesn’t realize that you count the number of the Beast, who may be the same as the Anti-Christ…and according to the incorrect view of the later redactor of The Book of Revelation,

he was Nero. Is there a reason that Nero was chosen? You could choose any anti-Christian emperor. I think Nero was chosen for a specific reason. If the Book of Revelation is regarded as describing some future time of trial and tribulation, with a frightful Divine War breaking out in every corner of the universe, then we may have our answer. Nero was a coward. When it came time to fight against the rebels who rose up against him, he ultimately chose to leave Rome, and commit suicide in the house of a friend. Now the actual story may contain various false elements, but that would appear to be about what happened. Except…maybe it didn’t. There was a claim made soon afterwards that Nero faked his death, and that he escaped to the Parthian king…Rome’s greatest enemy. He was then to raise an army and smash Rome…to smithereens…hahahaha! And, in fact, several pretenders appeared who claimed to actually be Nero, and were responsible for leading rebellions against Rome. Hence the legend of Nero Redivivius…Nero Will Live Again. If we interpret this as the dead Nero will return…then the first great Persecutor of Christians has yet more trouble to cause. The simple fact of the matter is that Nero was, and remained, popular among the people of Rome..well, the commoners. He was a musician, a partier, and many saw him as one of them. He even sported a beard…unheard of for the ruling elite of the time. His pursuits would eventually lead to his ruin, since by the time of the rebellion of Vindex, the support for Nero by the army, the only support that really mattered, had been waning. But Nero was insistent upon the fact that he would be remembered for what mattered the most:

Qualis artifex pereo

What a great artist now dies!

I like the attitude. He was held responsible for the murder of the apostles Paul and Peter. And so, he was one of Christianity’s greatest enemies. And he would return! So it must have been impossible for a later redactor to not enter 666 in the margin of the text. It’s strange that the ghost of Nero didn’t appear and pester Unknown Woman. Judas Iscariot’s name does not add up to 666. There is of course the variant reading of 616, as opposed to 666, found in another manuscript, and another way of writing Nero’s name adds up to that number as well.

I think that several things can be said of the Demonic Possession of Anna Ecklund. First, I can’t imagine how any sillier account of an exorcism could possibly be produced. For so many reasons, as noted above, it reads like really bad, excessively corny, comedy. Every time one thinks that nothing more ludicrous could possibly be said than the thing that preceded it, the opposite is true. Although, speaking of comedy, I think I found the real name of Earling’s famous possessed person:

I always figured it was Miss Twiddle! Be it the Diabolical Auto Accident involving pornographic cars, or macaroni, or tobacco leaves, or the Devil’s unspecified role in Mexican history, or the fact that the Devil was nice to the cook, or the crucifix made of papier-mâché. The most compelling thing, relatively speaking, is the fact that the writer falls into the same mistake of summoning Satan and sticking him into someone. Then he regurgitates the same old mistakes about Baalzebub. Running out of actual demons, he turns Anna’s father and Aunt Wilhelmina into demons. This makes it more like a really bad ghost story. Well, unless you believe that Satan can send evil-doers condemned to Hell back to earth to continue where they left off. We even get the Brats of the Devils; and Dumb Devils.

I am very close to reaching the end of a long, boring essay; something very ordinary. Or not. I would say a few things about Father Steiger, the priest of St. Joseph’s that Riesinger can’t do without. I find it fascinating that the cook was present for the exorcism. But it would appear that another member of the hired help was present. Father Joseph Steiger, lived in Westphalia, Iowa, in Shelby county, where one will also find the towns of Earling and Harlan. He was an immigrant from Bavaria in Germany, having arrived in the U.S. in 1899. In 1920, his housekeeper was Elizabeth Joyce. In 1925, he lived in Earling. He was apparently living with George Haberberger Sr and his wife Barbara. Also living in the house was Theresa Wegerer, an immigrant from Germany who arrived in the U.S. on January 24, 1921, having set sail from Liverpool, England on January 15, 1921. And something that is probably just a coincidence, is that the daughter of George Haberberger was named Wilhelmina C Haberberger. But Wilhelmina was a common name among German-speaking people of the time.

In 1930, Steiger still lived in Earling, and his housekeeper was Theresa Wegerer, born November 17, 1888. Father Steiger had gone on a vacation to Europe around May 1931, and left on August 4, 1931. He was schedule to arrive back in Iowa on August 20, 1931:

On November 8, 1938, Father Steiger died.

He is buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery. In 1940, Theresa Wegerer was living with Mathilda Kramer, in Earling. In 1944, Theresa lived at 2926 Beaver Avenue, Des Moines. She was still working as a maid, and for another priest…Rev. Francis Ostdiek of Holy Trinity Church. On March 18, 1944, Theresa Wegerer died, and joined her former employer in St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Also buried there are the members of the Schimerowski family.  And the Schimerowski family and Theresa Wegerer were important to the story:

"I was a witness to almost the whole period of the exorcism of the Earling possession case and I can truthfully say, that the facts mentioned in Begone Satan are correct. Some of the scenes were even more frightful than described in the booklet. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind, that the devils were present and I will never forget the horrible scenes, vile, filthy, and dirty, as long as I live. All the nuns asked for a change and were transferred the next year.

"The woman came back to Earling over a distance of a thousand miles four months after the exorcism to make a novena of Thanksgiving. This was at the bidding of Christ Himself. During her stay she boarded with the Schimorowsky family. She told me how our Blessed Lord appears to her frequently and encourages her to be faithful."

I find it strange that Steiger’s maid was present for the exorcism. We know the cook was, and the Devil wasn’t mean to him. Or her. What about Theresa Wegerer? Why would a priest take his maid into a convent to witness “almost the whole period of the exorcism?” It just doesn’t make any sense, like so much of the story. I don’t know, maybe she was there to clean up all the vomit.

There was a Schimerowski family living in Earling, Iowa. It was the family of John and Katherine Schimerowski, the father coming from Poland in 1869, and Katherine coming from Germany in 1868. In 1900, John and Katherine were living in Union, Iowa, with four sons: Joseph N; Leo W; Stanley J; and Arthur F. The family still lived in Union in 1910, but John and Katherine now had a foster daughter named Lena Wilke (born in Iowa in 1888).  John, Katherine, Stanley, and Arthur still lived in Union in 1920. In 1917, Joseph Nicholas lived in Texas. Joseph and Leo were living together in Hildalgo, Texas in 1920. In 1930, Joseph Nicholas lived in Los Angles.

John didn’t die until 1950, and Katharine died in 1956. Stanley lived in Union in 1930. The odd thing is that Arthur Frederick Schimerowski died June 16, 1928. The 3-stage exorcism was supposed to have taken place during the period: Aug. 18-26, 1928; Sept. 13-20, 1928; Dec. 15-22, 1928. This would indicate that if this is the right family, and it’s hard to see how it couldn’t be, then Anna Whoever would have returned around April 1929, assuming Theresa Wegerer is actually telling the truth. And I am sure that she is. Why? Because she gives us such a verifiable fact…connecting Unnamed Woman with a family bearing a most distinctive name. I think that Miss Wegerer knew Pseudo-Anna. Possibly, quite well.

Now I could tell a story. It would be a total fiction, and not related specifically to anyone of the people discussed in this essay. But Historical Fiction is based on something real…though the story is simply fantasy. A young girl in Iowa was sexually abused by her father. Her mother died years before. Then her father died. She was now an orphan, and the church arranged her adoption. At some point, the girl began showing signs of psychosis. This grew worse as time went on. Eventually, staying where she was became impossible, as she feared being institutionalized. So, she disappeared. The locals didn’t know where she had gone. Actually, she ended up in Wisconsin. Her mental illness grew worse and worse, and she developed the delusion that she was demon-possessed. That may have been her own creation, or she was pointed toward it by others…Primitive Others who told her that her problems were due to demons. When things reached the breaking point, someone figured out where she came from. And so she was sent back to Iowa. The clerics involved so believed in demon-possession that they became convinced that Unnamed Woman could only be healed by an exorcism. So, they performed one. And like Regan, Pseudo-Anna quickly improved. Why? The book tells us about the issue of Unnamed Woman and sexual abuse on the part of her father. And how could the writer put that in his book? There is only one way. Unnamed Woman told those involved about it. Is that important? It couldn’t be more important. The first step to getting better is to tell someone about the abuse. And that’s what happened. Still, there were, according to the supplement to the 1935 book, later instances of possession…but they were considerably less severe. I think that’s true. But only if I interpret it this way…she carried her mental illness with her throughout her life. And although she had later episodes, they were nothing like anything that preceded 1928. So, Father Riesinger, never understanding the real demon possessing Unnamed Woman, nonetheless created the environment that brought about her dramatic transition to a normal life. Well, relatively speaking.  

 Of course, I admit that there is the issue of Unnamed Woman’s constant vomiting. And we have vomit in the Exorcist. But it serves a different purpose for Regan than it does for Pseudo-Anna. For the non-demon Demons afflicting her…it was a means of trying to drive away those involved in the exorcism. In other words, if we gross out the priest enough, he’ll leave. Well, that’s what the book says. Not so at all in the Exorcist. The most memorable scene featuring vomit happened during Karras’s first visit to see Regan. Regan vomiting on the priest was meant to cause the movie-goer to miss the fact that Regan had no idea what Karras’s mother’s maiden was…indicating that she was lying about what she told him at the beginning of the scene. She does not vomit on him when he visited her a second time, and although she spits a little vomit into Merrin’s face, she doesn’t really vomit on him. What we see is fairly small amounts of vomit on her nightdress in various scenes, which is nothing like the 30 – 40 daily vomit-sessions claimed for Anna. Regan’s vomiting, I have explained, rightly or wrongly, as the result of CVS…Continual Vomiting Syndrome and interpreted it as the result of extreme stress that accompanied her psychotic breakdown. Perhaps this applies to Unnamed Woman too. There’s no doubt that Jacob and Wilhelmina weren’t present in Washington D.C. Yet, if Lamashtu was present, and in the mind of Merrin, she very much was, then perhaps Mina was simply a modern manifestation of the Horrid Lady. Some may find it surprising that no illusions to Baalzebub were made in the Exorcist, though they were in the Amityville Horror. I am not surprised. Any attempt to bring in the Vermin Lord would have made the movie completely disappointing and not worth watching at all. The makers of the Exorcist were simply far too brilliant to do that. Pazuzu? No. But a little Demonic Sleight of Stomach makes everyone reach out and grab him and hold him out as some terrible demon preying on a child. Yet he is quite the opposite.

And what about Judas? If Regan had a piggy-bank, would it contain 30 pieces of silver? Judas wasn’t a demon, though he was demonized in the First Century, rightly or wrongly. The accounts of what became of him are in stark disagreement with one another, and we know that a Christian community existed who saw him as the most important of all the disciples. I can’t help but feel that Judas Iscariot, however one feels about him, would strenuously deny having plagued Pseudo-Anna…or Regan. Perhaps Nero rose again and stalked the attic of Chris MacNeill’s temporary home. Maybe he found the Ouija Board in Captain Howdy’s Bird Box. Still, of everyone or anything you can blame for the experiences of Regan MacNeill and Unnamed Woman…don’t blame Judas. But surely he is to blame for something. Betrayal. Or, that’s what we’re supposed to believe. Judas pointed out Christ when that would seem to be completely unnecessary, at least for the reason we’re given…anyone could have done that. And how many times had this disciple and that disciple brought people to meet Jesus? Wow! What if Judas was betrayed? What if he brought men to Christ…men who lied to him about their purpose? John 12: 20-21 speaks of some Greeks who suddenly appeared one day and, approaching Phillip, said:

Sir, we would like to meet Jesus.

There was no kiss, of course. Had these men arrested Jesus, then Judas would be in the clear, and Philip would be Father Rieslinger’s Anti-Christ who had nothing better to do than hang around Earling, Iowa looking at the pornographic cars. And what of Peter? He denied Christ three times. And despite the fact that Christ specifically told him he would. A bizarre case of Peterian Short-term Memory Loss? So, did Judas sin once and Peter sin three times? And! Judas never denied Christ…he publicly acknowledged him. Yet another disciple, Thomas, adamantly refused to believe that Jesus did exactly what he promised Thomas he would do. You can’t be serious! No one comes back from the dead! I don’t care what the guy said! I suppose a kiss might be a very odd sign of betrayal. Still, I suppose it could be a great way of greeting someone who means more to you than anyone else. So many different things can be made of a kiss. What if Judas betrayed someone else as well? It seems odd that there would have been a Christian community built around the figure of Judas, complete with its own gospel, if he was such a Diabolical Traitor. Perhaps Judas betrayed…the other eleven guys. He did not commit suicide, and did not drop dead. Could it be that he, like the others, went on the road after the death of his master…spreading the message? Did he claim to be the only disciple who understood the message of Christ? I’m sure that, if true, the other eleven guys might believe that he betrayed them. Let’s not forget John’s annoying habit of claiming that Christ loved him more than the others. There may have been much animosity between those who followed Christ. Ask Paul about James. Ask Peter about Paul, or ask Paul about Peter, or rob Peter to pay Paul, although I’ll bet you’d be on the outs with Peter. Ask John, and he might say…I’m the only one who mattered. Ask the others, and you’ll hear something different. The Gospel of Phillip records that Judas wasn’t the only one who had kissed Jesus…another one of his followers had. And she was one who at least The Eleven, if not The Twelve, sought to drive away. Perhaps there were Thirteen Disciples. If so, we would have to add Mary Magdalene to the list. Phillip says that Jesus kissed her. And Phillip says that the others complained that Christ loved her more than them. I’ll bet she never denied Jesus! Not even once…much less three times! I wonder why the Gates of Heaven are not manned by Saint Mary Magdalene…it seems to me that she is far more deserving than any of the others. Still, never were there two such maligned kisses, or possibly, misunderstood. Perhaps there never was a special group called the Twelve Disciples. It would be strange if they created that myth. Perhaps the real group could be called the Disciples Without Number. A Great Man surrounded by not-so-great-men is something that can be found throughout history. Alexander the Great would have been much saddened by what befell his empire after his death…silly wars fought between petty men who learned nothing from him. What should be the final conclusion about Judas? Who can say? Maybe one day I’ll be able to ask him…but for right now…I’m still waiting for Nero to show up.