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Made in 1927 by an unknown producer named "Clement" and featuring unknown actors, this untitled silent short film dramatizes the kidnapping of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare Church. McPherson's alleged kidnapping in 1926 was a sensational news story and was also the subject of a film produced by Aimee herself. Whether Aimee was kidnapped, staged her own disappearance, or simply ran away to have an affair is still unknown. When she did return to Los Angeles, her disappearance became the center of a highly publicized trial and the subject of a media frenzy. When the dust settled, Aimee continued her work.

The facts of the kidnapping are these: on May 18, 1926, McPherson disappeared from Ocean Park Beach in Santa Monica, California and was presumed to have drowned and her body washed out to sea. According to McPherson's later account, she was approached by a couple who wanted her to pray over their sick child. After walking with them to their car, she was shoved inside. A cloth laced with chloroform was held against her face, causing her to pass out. Eventually, she was moved to a shack in the Mexican desert. When her captors were away, McPherson escaped out a window and traveled through the desert for 11–17 hours and an estimated 17–20 miles before reaching Agua Prieta, Sonora, a Mexican border town. Collapsing near a house, the evangelist was taken by locals to adjacent Douglas where she was hospitalized. McPherson, on her return to Los Angeles, was greeted by 30,000–50,000 people.

More on this: Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson (1890 – 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian Pentecostal evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s, famous for founding the Foursquare Church. McPherson pioneered the use of broadcast mass media for wider dissemination of both religious services and appeals for donations, using radio to draw in both audience and revenue with the growing appeal of popular entertainment and incorporating stage techniques into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, an early megachurch.[

In her time, she was the most publicized Protestant evangelist, surpassing Billy Sunday and other predecessors. She conducted public faith healing demonstrations involving tens of thousands of participants. McPherson's view of the United States as a nation founded and sustained by divine inspiration influenced later pastors.

National news coverage focused on events surrounding her family and church members, including accusations that she fabricated her reported kidnapping. McPherson's preaching style, extensive charity work and ecumenical contributions were major influences on 20th-century Charismatic Christianity.


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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com/