Chiropr Hist. 1999 Jun; 19(1): 61-73.

Talk of the town in 1921: chiropractic and "talking sickness".

Hart J.

Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic, Spartanburg, S.C.

In 1921 Waukegan, Illinois, there was an eight-year-old girl who had what was called "talking sickness." She reportedly talked constantly for eight straight days and nights. After medical care failed to help, a local chiropractor was called to adjust the young girl, and she apparently experienced marked improvement thereafter. News of the seemingly spectacular recovery reached a fever pitch across the United States in the spring of 1921, in both lay and professional publications. The slightly different versions of this case, from slightly biased sources on each side of the fence (such as Fountain Head News on the one side and The Journal of the American Medical Association on the other), as well as coverage from newspaper reports are explored.