After Prayer, an Invisible Jackass Brays and Drives Away Evil Spirits from a Group of Elders

On the evening of June 4-5, 1831, after the dramatic Kirtland conference where evil spirits had been cast out all day, Levi Hancock, his brother Solomon, Wheeler Baldwin and others were walking home at night. Several felt as though 'the Devil and his angels were hanging about them.'

At a deep millpond, Levi called for prayer. After they finished kneeling in a circle, Levi recorded:

'A sudden bray of a jackass was heard about twenty feet behind us. We looked and could see nothing and nothing in the way. It started toward the pond braying all the time. I never had seen one in my life and I know that there was none about there for I was well acquainted there... This braying continued across the pond and ascended the high hills on the other side until it grew less and less distinct until it got out of hearing.'

Brother Baldwin immediately interpreted the experience: 'There... This proves to me that this work is true, for we all prayed for assistance; the Devil ran away.' The invisible sound moved across the pond and up the hills — physically impossible for any real animal — convincing the entire group that the adversary had been driven off in answer to their prayer.