Pastor Vanishes -- and Reappears
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May 18, 1926: Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, pastor of Los Angeles’ Angelus Temple, reportedly disappeared while swimming off Venice Beach, prompting authorities to believe that she had drowned. The next day, The Times described the reaction: “At Angelus Temple last night, with Mrs. McPherson’s mother, Mrs. Minnie Kennedy, on the platform continuing the travelogue on Europe where her daughter left off the night before, the tears and smothered sobs of 500 followers belied the oft-repeated words: ‘Aimee will come back to her temple!’ ”
A massive search ensued, and one follower drowned looking for McPherson. A month later, she turned up in Arizona, saying she had escaped from kidnappers. But a story soon circulated that the evangelist had been off on a romantic getaway. The district attorney doubted her kidnapping claim and convened a grand jury to investigate but later dropped the case.
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