Wieland: or, the Transformation, an American Tale

One winter's night in 1781, a farmer in upstate New York was reading his Bible when he heard (or thought he heard) a voice speak to him from out of the darkness. "Destroy all your idols," the voice commanded. Without further ado, James Yates left his cosy seat by the hearth in order to break his sleigh and butcher his livestock. But the voice was unsatisfied and demanded further sacrifice. And so Yates (by all accounts a respected, God-fearing individual) went on to kill his wife, his two sons and his infant daughter. He then dragged his surviving child from the barn where she'd been hiding and ordered her to sing and dance for him while he stood there in the cold, measuring his love for her against his love for God. Eventually God won out and Yates – in thrall to a higher power – put his axe through the young girl's skull.