Lulu Hurst

Lulu Hurst was born in Polk County, Georgia in 1869 as Lula Hurst, but was more often called Lulu. Mr. W.E. Hurst, her father, enlisted in the Confederate Army of Tennessee, a divided state, when he was seventeen. He was wounded at the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Her uncle enlisted in the Union Army of Tennessee, and the two faced one another in Atlanta on July 22, 1864. Once the war was over, her father returned to Athens, in East Tennessee, where he found that his house was burn down. He moved to Polk County, Georgia, where he met Hurst's mother in Cedar Valley. Lulu Hurst was homeschooled by her mother, a Mary Sharp College alumna, until the age of ten when she moved to Cedartown to attend the public schools in Rome, Georgia. The Hurst family moved five miles outside of Cedartown to a plantation in Cedar Valley where she attended public school. In 1885, Hurst's grandfather, Elder L.R. Hurst, prophesied that the Battle of Armageddon would occur in 1932. == Occult Power Manifestation ==

Hurst proclaimed she obtained occult powers on September 18, 1883, at the age of fourteen, by a raging electrical storm at their plantation in Cedar Valley. The Hurst family invited over twenty neighbors to listen to the sounds the following night. Many believed the noise was a mysterious force. The Hurst Family received visitors from Rome, Cartersville, and Atlanta to witness her occult powers. Hurst made objects shake uncontrollably with her hands. The Hurst Family home entertained hundreds of visitors. Her Baptist father, W.E., disliked the idea of her performing on stage. ==Career==

Hurst emerged in 1884 as the second electric girl. In her first public exhibition, the venue reached capacity, and she earned the title "Wonder." Hurst provided the strong men with innate objects such as a cane, chair, and umbrella. The chair began to vibrate with the pent-up force. The umbrella would gyrate and dart around the room with more force than the chair. Under the stage name the "Georgia Wonder" or "Laughing Lulu", the teenage Hurst specialised in demonstrations of great physical strength. Hurst meet her future husband and manager Paul M Atkinson during her performance in Madison, Georgia. Atkinson introduced her to audiences as the "Electric Maid". Hurst's examination at the age of fifteen results found she was of normal intelligence, five feet four inches, one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and of normal muscular strength. Hurst broke umbrellas and walking sticks with her hands according to newspapers reports. Hurst placed two fingers and a thumb on his hands while he attempted to lift a chair off the floor, but he was unable to get it a foot off the stage. Laflin held a billiard cue in his hands, with his muscle engaged, he began to sway, stagger, and then move violently around the stage. and Chicago. Her last performance was in Knoxville, Tennessee. Hurst left the stage at the age of eighteen. Soon after her retirement, she married her former manager. • Cedartown, Georgia • Rome, Georgia • Atlanta, Georgia: Two Exhibitions at DeGive's Opera House • Chattanooga, Tennessee • Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Private Exhibition to Faculty • Augusta, Georgia: State Medical College Private Entertainment for Faculty and Students • Athens, Georgia: The State University • Madison, Georgia • Augusta, Georgia • Americus, Georgia • Columbus, Georgia • Montgomery, Alabama • Jacksonville, Florida • Savannah, Georgia: Pulaski House Private Exhibition • Charleston, South Carolina: Hibernian Hall • Charleston, South Carolina: Medical College Private Exhibition to Faculty and Students • Columbia, South Carolina • North Carolina • Washington, DC: Metropolitan Hotel • Washington, DC: Volta Laboratory Private Exhibition & Examination • Baltimore, Maryland: Ford Theater • Hagerstown, Maryland • Columbia, Maryland • Patterson, Maryland • Trenton, Maryland • New York City, New York: Wallack Theater • New York City: Madison Square Theatre • Boston, Massachusetts: Globe Theater • Providence, Rhode Island • Troy, New York • Albany, New York • Fall River, Massachusetts • Saratoga Springs, New York: "The Casino" Skating Rink • Newport, Rhode Island • Long Branch, New Jersey • Brooklyn, New York: Brooklyn Theater • Long Branch, New Jersey: Mr. W. Leland Private Cottage • Buffalo, New York: Central Music Hall • San Francisco, California: Metropolitan Hall • Sacramento, California: State Fair • Oakland, California • Butte City, California • Helena, Montana • Anaconda, Montana • Deer Lodge, Montana • Salt Lake City, Utah • Denver, Colorado • Knoxville, Tennessee ==Death==

As Lula Hurst Atkinson, she died in 1950. On her gravestone was her name, Lula. Her husband, Paul, died in 1931. Hurst, Paul, and their children are buried in Madison Cemetery in Georgia. ==Controversy==

Nelson W. Perry proclaimed in 1891 in the Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review that Hurst waited for the stronger person to exert themselves and unexpectedly changed direction to cause the opposing person to become off balance. Popular Mechanics claimed she exercised the "pivot-and-fulcrum theorem of physics." Joe Nickell investigated Hurst and found her use of force deflection was a common use of "physical principles and tricks." Nickell believed she embraced herself as a powerful medium. ==Publication==

Lulu Hurst (the Georgia Wonder) Writes Her Autobiography, and for the First Time Explains and Demonstrates the Great Secret of Her Marvelous Power (1897) ==In Fiction==

The Magnetic Girl: A Novel (2019) by Jessica Handler. ==See also==