Podcast Summary: Otherworld – Episode 146: Slain in the Spirit

Date: November 17, 2025
Host: Jack Wagner
Guest/Narrator: Allie

Episode Overview

In this episode of Otherworld, host Jack Wagner shares the story of Allie, a woman who, as a child, experienced a harrowing, unexplained event during a religious “slain in the spirit” ceremony at her family’s church. Allie’s account dives deep into the complexities of faith, trauma, and the search for meaning after a life-altering supernatural experience—one that did not bring her peace or clarity, but rather lasting isolation and confusion.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Allie’s Background and Family Crisis

• [04:00] Allie recounts a warm, ordinary childhood on Long Island, full of outdoor games and neighborhood friends.
• The events of 9/11 abruptly disrupt her family life—her father, a commercial pilot, is in the air on 9/11 and later loses his job in the aftermath, shaking the family’s stability.
• Seeking comfort and answers, her family transitions from a mildly religious Episcopal environment to an evangelical, Born Again Christian church, influenced by family friends.
• Allie describes the confusion and struggle of suddenly adopting rules (no Halloween, no Harry Potter) and more intense religious practices she never grew up with.

Memorable Quote:
"I feel like I had to change my outlook on life and like bring in all this really religious stuff at 10 years old when I didn’t grow up with that... Honestly, it was extremely confusing. It was a really confusing time in my life that I think a lot of my friends didn’t even know I was going through." – Allie [06:58]

2. The Slain in the Spirit Service

• [13:30] The pivotal night begins at church with a visiting pastor who is said to have the power to "slay in the spirit" (making people collapse, speak in tongues, or cry due to religious ecstasy).
• Allie, around age 10, joins the youth group at the front of the church for the ceremony, feeling disconnected and only participating to fit in.
• Allie explains the pressure to conform, her skepticism, and her embarrassment at being singled out in front of the congregation.

Notable Detail:
"I was always just trying to...pretend in order to fit in, but I really didn’t. Mentally, I didn’t buy into it at all." – Allie [14:38]

3. Allie’s Unsettling Experience

• The visiting pastor begins to pray over the group. Allie, though skeptical, raises her hands as asked.
• Sudden overwhelming emotion hits her: she cries uncontrollably, feels embarrassment, then everything goes black—she goes rigid, passes out, and is physically moved by others without awareness.

Memorable Quote:
"It was a very overwhelming feeling and it made me cry. It was completely involuntary. I was truly like...almost like watching myself being like, what are you doing right now?...The last thing I remember is wondering why I was crying. And then everything went dark for me." – Allie [17:24]

4. Paralysis and Isolation

• [18:30] Allie regains awareness gradually, first hearing music, then feeling her body on the ground, but is paralyzed except for a painfully rigid arm in the air.
• She is unable to speak, see, or move—any effort causes extreme pain. The only thing she can do is listen and be in her mind, with intense loneliness and embarrassment.
• Despite trying to pray, sing, and reach for comfort, only emptiness responds.

Notable Quote:
"All that was happening to me was just complete emptiness and pain. And me just talking to the abyss was just me realizing I was completely by myself in my own head. It was just emptiness, acceptance, and pain. Very lonely feeling." – Allie [25:30]

5. Coming To & Aftermath

• After what felt like an hour (in reality, about 20 minutes), Allie slowly regains movement. She finds herself on the opposite side of the church, on a velvet blanket, with people around her claiming she was touched by God.
• She feels deeply disturbed—others expect her to have witnessed something beautiful or miraculous. Allie, instead, is traumatized and cannot express what actually happened, intensifying her isolation.

Memorable Quote:
"People were coming up to me. Like, that was the best experience that I'll ever have...Meanwhile, I'm like, if that was God, I never want to meet him again." – Allie [28:28]

• The family’s reaction is subdued, walking silently to the car. Later, her father says, “You’re going to remember this for a long time, and this is really gonna make an impact on your life.” Allie acknowledges he was right, but in a very different way than he intended.

6. Long-term Effects and Reflection

• The event is never discussed again for years, resurfacing in adulthood when Allie describes the experience to her husband and sister.
• Her sister recalls seeing a dark, shadowy figure ("this feels evil") during the incident—validating Allie’s sense that the experience was not divine.
• Allie is left with a complex relationship to faith: she identifies as spiritual but cannot connect with institutional religion after being "let down" by what others insisted was a divine event.

Memorable Quote:
"I've been trying to figure out my relationship with God ever since." – Allie [38:55]

7. Host Reflection and Cultural Context

• [39:12] Jack Wagner reflects on Allie’s account, describing it as both "insane" and uniquely American. He notes that while “slain in the spirit” is often written off as mass suggestion or placebo, Allie, a skeptic, had a deeply negative and unexplainable reaction.
• Jack draws out the tension: critics argue these experiences are either self-induced or fraudulent; some Christian denominations even warn the practice could be "satanic in origin"—which echoes the darkness of Allie’s experience and her sister’s account.
• He notes the power of stories like Allie's to complicate simplistic narratives about faith and the unknown.

Notable Quote:
"Something that I maybe assumed was completely fake at first. Then, after hearing a person's experience, I end up thinking maybe it could be sort of real, but not in the way it's supposed to be, if that makes sense." – Jack Wagner [41:40]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Allie on the Lifelong Impact:
  "Sorry. I'm trying not to, like, cry because it affected my relationship with God so much..." [38:35]
• Allie’s Sister’s Account:
  "She saw a black shadow go across the church. And she remembers being like, this isn't good. This is. This feels evil." [34:50]
• Allie on Feeling Out of Place:
  "It's hard to tell people who really believe in the stuff that you had a much different experience that was like. Would probably scare people." [36:55]
• Jack Wagner’s Summation:
  "Ultimately, this is a story of how something healing to one person can be the complete opposite to another." [42:33]

Key Timestamps

• [03:46] – Allie introduces herself and her background
• [13:30] – Description of the slain in the spirit ceremony
• [17:24] – Allie’s involuntary crying and losing consciousness
• [18:30] – Waking up paralyzed and in pain
• [25:30] – Attempting to pray, but feeling only emptiness
• [28:28] – Coming to, church members’ reactions, and Allie’s internal response
• [34:50] – Allie’s sister recalls seeing a dark shadow
• [39:12] – Host Jack Wagner’s reflective commentary

Summary & Takeaways

• The episode powerfully illustrates how religious ecstasy, expectation, and social pressure can converge in unpredictable, sometimes traumatic ways.
• Allie’s story challenges listeners’ assumptions—she was a skeptic, not a suggestible believer, yet underwent a profound, negative response that nobody in her community could explain or accept.
• The cultural lens of American evangelicalism, the expectation of testimony, and the reality of spiritual isolation are probed both through Allie’s vulnerable narrative and Jack Wagner’s open-minded skepticism.

Quote to Remember:
"If that was God, I never want to meet him again." – Allie [28:28]

Recommended For:
Anyone interested in faith, the unexplained, the intersection of belief and skepticism, and personal accounts of supernatural phenomena.