3. Claimed he personally commanded Upshaw to stand

 

Despite the fact that Branham had already been carried from the platform exhausted, he later claimed to have personally commanded Upshaw to stand, creating a dramatic face-to-face encounter absent from both 1951 accounts.

 

“I said, 'Congressman,' and I felt myself fainting then. Done got me. I said, 'In the Name of Jesus Christ stand up to your feet. God’s healed you.'” [7]

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By inserting himself back onto the platform and portraying a personal command to stand, Branham rewrites the moment of healing in direct conflict with the original 1951 accounts. The scene he describes cannot be reconciled with them and represents another significant alteration of the event.

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4. Dramatized the Physical Demonstration of Healing Over Time

 

Congressman Upshaw’s own account of his healing is notably restrained. He described no public display of agility. After being informed of his healing by Pastor Leroy Kopp, he simply laid his crutches aside and began walking:

 

“I laid aside my crutches and started toward the startled LeRoy Kopp…” [1]

 

There is no mention of running, jumping, touching toes, or performing for the audience. The moment, as Upshaw described it, was deliberate and understated.

 

In Branham’s earliest retellings from 1951, the physical description of Upshaw’s healing remains similarly modest. Upshaw is portrayed as walking normally, without embellishment:

 

“And here he is tonight without his crutches, without his chair, without anything, walking just as normally.”[2] 

 

Within months, however, Branham began to heighten the physical portrayal. Upshaw was no longer simply walking; he was now described as unusually agile for his age:

 

“Here he is tonight, eighty-five-years-old, as nimble as any man thirty in the building.” [8]
 

By mid-1953, the description escalated further. Walking gave way to dramatic flexibility, with Branham claiming Upshaw touched his toes at the platform:

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“…he walked to the platform a normal man, touching his toes to the floor.” [9]
 

Later that same year, Branham added speed and exertion. Upshaw was now said to have run through the building:

 

“…raised to his feet, run through the building, touched his toes, was perfectly made normal and well.” [10]
 

By late 1953 and early 1954, the account reached its most extreme form. Branham claimed the elderly congressman performed a gymnastic maneuver—a handspring:

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“…walked to the platform, touched his feet, turn a handspring, went everywhere…” [5]
 

“Raised up, turned a handspring, and touched his toes, and walked out of the building.” [11] 

 

In later years, Branham intensified the contrast even further by portraying Upshaw not merely as healed, but as physically transformed—“as nimble as a sixteen-year-old boy”:

 

“…touched his toes, and just as nimble as a sixteen-year-old boy.” [12]
 

The progression is unmistakable. What began in 1951 as a quiet act of laying aside crutches evolved, over time, into a high-energy performance involving running, toe-touching, a handspring, and sustained demonstrations of athletic ability.

 

If such feats had actually occurred—performed by an eighty-six-year-old former congressman before thousands of witnesses—they would have been extraordinary and widely reported at the time. Yet they are absent from Upshaw’s testimony and from the earliest contemporaneous accounts. The acrobatics appear only years later, as the event receded into the past and Branham’s retellings grew increasingly dramatic.

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5. Added Conflicting Visions of Upshaw’s Healing

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In the original 1951 accounts, Upshaw makes no mention of Branham seeing a vision or connecting one to his healing.

 

Branham, in contrast, describes a single, complete vision that revealed Upshaw’s identity, childhood injury, and healing—but he does not claim to communicate the vision to Upshaw or command him to rise. Instead, he says he relayed the healing indirectly through Pastor Leroy Kopp:

 

“And one night, I walked into the platform here… I seen the White House… I seen where the man was setting. I seen it was him, seen him get hurt when he was just a little boy… And as I started, Mr. Kopp… run up there. And I said, ‘Go tell the congressman that God has healed him. I seen him, going walking away.’” [2]

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Beginning in 1953, Branham substantially altered this account. Rather than a single vision followed by an indirect announcement, he now claimed to see two distinct visions while on the platform—one of Upshaw’s childhood injury and another of Upshaw walking in a brown pinstripe suit. The second vision is explicitly tied to the healing and culminates in Branham directly addressing Upshaw and commanding him to stand:

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“I'd come to the platform. I happened to be looking down through the audience, and I seen a vision of a little boy playing on a haystack. And he fell and hurt his back… And it left me…and here went that old Congressman… I seen him with a pinstriped suit on; brown and white pinstripe suit, going tipping his hat… I knew he was healed…I said, ‘The Lord Jesus has made you whole right now. Stand up.’” [9]

 

This version directly contradicts both Upshaw’s testimony and Branham’s own 1951 account, which establish that Branham was not on the platform and did not speak to Upshaw at the moment of healing.

 

​In the earliest retellings (1951–mid 1953), the pinstripe suit appears only within the vision itself, and the vision alone is sufficient for Branham to declare Upshaw healed. There is no dialogue with him about a suit to confirm or prove the vision.

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“It’s got to be by vision to see what happens. And as it started out, I seen him in a brown suit going down the street, tipping his hat to people like that. I said, 'Congressman Upshaw is healed in the Name of the Lord.'” [13]

​

“I seen Mr. Upshaw without crutches, or wheelchair, or anything, going, walking just as nimble as he could be. And there that man, after being crippled for sixty-six years, I said, 'THUS SAITH THE LORD.'” [8]

 

“And I looked, and I seen him with a pinstriped suit on; brown and white pinstripe suit, going, walking down across that audience, in a—like a vision, going, tipping his hat… I knew he was healed.” [9]

 

By late 1953, however, the pinstripe suit moves outside the vision and becomes part of a live exchange with Upshaw. Branham now asks whether Upshaw owns such a suit and declares the healing only after Upshaw confirms it:

 

“I said, ‘Do you own a brown pinstriped suit?’
He said, ‘Yes, sir, my son, I bought one day before yesterday.’
…I said, ‘In the Name of Jesus Christ stand up to your feet. God’s healed you.’” [7]
 

This confirmation scene, entirely absent from the 1951 accounts, continues to expand in later retellings, with variations in the suit’s color, pattern, timing, and setting:

 

​“Well then, I said, 'Congressman, have you got a brown pinstriped suit?'…

He said, 'Yes, sir, I have. I just got it a few days ago.'

I said, 'The Lord Jesus Christ has made you well. You can stand up and heal for THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, He has had respect unto you and you are healed.'” [14]

 

“I said, 'Sir, have you got a—a brown suit, dark brown, with a light stripe in it?'

Said, 'Just bought one yesterday.”…

I said, 'In the Name of the Lord Jesus, come up from that wheelchair, and come here.'” [12]

 

“I said, 'You got a pin-striped suit?'

Said, 'Yes, sir, just bought one the other day.'

I said, 'Rise up. Jesus Christ makes you whole.'” [15]

​

Taken together, these later retellings mark a clear narrative shift. What began as a single vision requiring no confirmation thus evolves into a staged exchange in which the healing declaration becomes increasingly tied to Upshaw’s verbal response. The shifting structure, added dialogue, and contradictory details make it impossible to reconcile these accounts with one another—or with the contemporaneous testimony from 1951.

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6. Reversed the Order of the Vision's Occurrence

 

In Branham’s earliest account, the vision of Congressman Upshaw occurred before any personal interaction. Branham does not describe speaking to Upshaw, questioning him, or commanding him. Instead, he says he saw the vision first and then instructed Brother Kopp to announce Upshaw's healing:

 

“And one night, I walked into the platform here. Mr. Baxter had just left the platform. I looked, hanging right out here, and I seen the White House, seen all about it. Begin to speak, and I couldn't tell. And I told Mr. Baxter. In a few moments, It fell and I seen where the man was setting. I seen it was him, seen him get hurt when he was just a little boy. And he'd been a crippled for all...

And I started to leave and the Spirit of God begin to fall...

And as I started, Mr. Kopp here, the... Brother Kopp, the pastor run up there. And I said, "Go tell the congressman that God has healed him. I seen him, going walking away."” [2]

 

In later retellings, Branham reverses this order. He claims to be in direct conversation with Upshaw when the vision appears and describes a dramatic exchange that ends with Branham personally commanding him to stand.

 

“And in a few minutes he’d asked me if he thought—if I thought he’d get well? And just in a few moments I saw him in a vision walking across the top of the people’s head, bowing hisself down as he did as the southern hospitality. And in one minute’s time he was on the platform rejoicing and praising God, after being in a wheelchair for sixty something years, I think.” [16]

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“And I seen that old Congressman with a pin-striped suit on, a red necktie, going down, bowing hisself like this, to the people, just walking right across the people.

I said, “Congressman, Jesus Christ has honored you.

... I said, “THUS SAITH THE LORD.” I said, “Have you got a pin-striped suit?” He—he was wearing a dark suit, with a red tie. I said, “You got a pin-striped suit?” Said, “Yes, sir, just bought one the other day.” I said, “Rise up. Jesus Christ makes you whole.” [15]

​

“And I looked, and I seen him with a pinstriped suit on; brown and white pinstripe suit, going, walking down across that audience, in a—like a vision, going, tipping his hat…I said, 'Seems like, God would’ve healed you when you was just a little bitty boy, when your bones were—were—had calcium in them and not wait till they get old and brittle like this. But the Lord Jesus has made you whole right now. Stand up.'” [9]

​

“I looked going down across the audience and here went that old congressman. Now, he was dressed with a blue suit and a red tie on (which if any of you know him, that was his very way he liked to dress.), but this time he had on a brown suit, light brown with a white stripe in it.

… and I said, “Congressman.” And he said, “Yes, my son.” And I said, “I would like to ask you a question.” He said, “Yes, sir.” I said, “Do you own a brown pinstriped suit?” He said, “Yes, sir, my son, I bought one day before yesterday.” I said,… God has honored you, and Jesus Christ has healed you.”

I said, 'In the Name of Jesus Christ stand up to your feet. God’s healed you.'” [7]

 

The two versions do not match. One places the vision before any interaction with Upshaw and removes Branham from the moment of healing. The other places the vision inside the interaction and makes Branham the commanding figure at the center of the event.

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7. Gave Contradictory Locations for the Vision

 

Branham’s accounts of where the vision of Congressman Upshaw occurred are internally inconsistent and mutually exclusive. Across his retellings, the same vision is placed in entirely different physical settings, which cannot be reconciled as differing perspectives of a single event.

 

In some accounts, Branham describes the vision as taking place “down the street,” detached from the meeting environment altogether:

 

“And I looked; I seen Congressman Upshaw… I seen him in a brown suit going down the street, tipping his hat to people like that.” [13] 
 

In other retellings, the vision unfolds within the meeting, with Upshaw moving across the audience or over the people:

 

“I seen him with a pinstriped suit on… going, walking down across that audience, in a—like a vision, going, tipping his hat.” [9] 

 

“I looked going across the audience, right across the top of the people’s heads and here went the old Congressman…” [14]

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Elsewhere, Branham relocates the vision even further, placing it on the platform itself:

 

“I looked: going across the platform in front of me, and there went that old man with a striped suit on…” [12] 

 

These descriptions are not complementary or symbolic variations of the same scene. A vision cannot simultaneously occur down a street, across an audience, above people’s heads, and across the platform. Each setting implies a fundamentally different spatial context and sequence of events.

 

As with other elements of the Upshaw story, the changing location of the vision undermines its reliability and calls into question whether a single, coherent experience ever occurred.

 

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8. Added lengthy back-and-forth conversations

 

As Branham expanded the vision into a direct, interactive experience, he also began to add lengthy back-and-forth conversations with Upshaw—dialogue that is entirely absent from both 1951 accounts. What had originally been a brief announcement delivered by another minister was transformed into a detailed personal exchange involving questions, confirmations, and dramatic timing.

 

“And he said, ‘My son, how did you ever know that I fell on a hay frame?’” [17]

“And I said, ‘Haven’t you got a brown pin striped suit?’ He said, ‘My son, I just bought one yesterday.’” [17]

“He said, ‘When will I be able to walk, my boy?’ I said, ‘Right now, Congressman.’ And up he jumped from that chair.” [3]

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These conversations could not have occurred. The 1951 accounts show Branham was not on the platform and had no direct interaction with Upshaw at the time of the healing, making the later stories of extended dialogue physically impossible.

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9. Made contrary claims of his knowledge of Upshaw

 

Branham’s accounts of his knowledge of Upshaw are directly contradictory.

 

In his earliest retellings (1951–1953), he speaks as if he already knew Upshaw’s identity and history before any personal interaction:

 

“And as I started, Mr. Kopp here, the... Brother Kopp, the pastor run up there. And I said, 'Go tell the congressman that God has healed him. I seen him, going walking away.'” [2]

​

“I said, 'Well, my brother in Christ, though you have laid sixty-six years on crutches, wheelchairs, and beds, and rushed up, and believed in healing all your life.' 'That’s right.' I said, 'But… And stood for pro—against the evil, refused to become president, because you chose the right thing, God has honored you, and Jesus Christ has healed you.'” [7]

​

In those accounts, Branham speaks to Upshaw as a man whose story he clearly knows—his identity, his moral stance, and his long history of disability are all presented as already known.

 

By contrast, in later retellings (1954–1958), Branham claims he did not know Upshaw at all and only learned his identity through others:

 

“Mr. Baxter said… ‘That old man that you were speaking to is the Congressman of the United States. It’s William D. Upshaw.’ I said, ‘I don’t know who he was.’” [3]

 

“And so Mr. Baxter said, “That’s Congressman Willie D. Upshaw.” I said, “I never heard of him.” [17] 

 

“Said, 'That’s Congressman Upshaw.' I said, 'Never heard of, in my life. I don’t know nothing about politics.'” [12]

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Both cannot be true. Branham cannot simultaneously speak as someone intimately familiar with Upshaw’s history and also claim complete ignorance of his identity and past.

 

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10. Gave contradictory accounts of how he learned who Upshaw was

 

Branham gave conflicting explanations of how he supposedly learned who William D. Upshaw was, shifting between claims of instant supernatural revelation and later admission that he required assistance from others.

 

In one account, Branham insists that he had no natural knowledge of Upshaw and that the Holy Spirit revealed his identity directly to him:

 

“Eternal God… knows I never seen or heard of the man in my life… How’d I know he was a congressman? The Holy Spirit revealed it here.” [2]

 

However, in another retelling, Branham says that he did not know who the man in the vision was until his manager, Ern Baxter, explained it to him after the fact:

 

“Brother Baxter said, 'You know who that was you seen?'

I said, 'No.'

Said, 'That’s… Did you ever heard of Congressman Upshaw?'

I said, 'No, sir.'

Said, 'He’s setting before you. That’s him.'” [13]

​

These two explanations cannot both be true. Either Upshaw’s identity was supernaturally revealed to Branham in the moment, or it was learned afterward through human assistance. The shifting account undermines the coherence and credibility of the alleged vision.

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11. Contradicted himself regarding Upshaw's accident

 

Branham also contradicts himself regarding Upshaw's childhood accident.

 

In 1954, he claimed he knew nothing about it:

 

“My son, how did you know that I fell and hurt myself when I was a boy?”
“I can't tell you, sir. I've never heard of you in my life.” [3]

 

Yet in 1958, he vividly describes the accident in his vision before speaking to Upshaw—the haystack, the doctor, the broken back, and the house construction:

 

“I seen a little boy playing on a haystack, and he fell and hit his back… I seen a doctor with little glasses… I seen them boring holes in the house so that the people walking in, it wouldn't vibrate on the floor.” [7]

 

The contradiction is undeniable: Branham cannot both claim he had no prior knowledge of Upshaw’s accident and claim he learned of it from a vision before speaking with him. One of these accounts is clearly fabricated.

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12. Was Congressman Upshaw ever really crippled?

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Despite all of the above claims of Congressman Upshaw being miraculously healed by God after being unable to walk without crutches for most of his life, the facts and evidence below demonstrate that he likely was not crippled as he and William Branham led people to believe.

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After Upshaw struck a Boston Herald reporter on the head in a lobby of the House of Representatives in 1926, a news story was published in the Gettysburg Times, which states, 

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“By way of interpolation it should be explained that Representative Upshaw uses crutches. Whenever excited, as today in the House, he totally discards their use and runs about as well as any other man.”

Upshaw told Choate he had written a "lie" Choate replied that any member of the House Press Gallery who observed Uphsaw "in action" on Thursday certainly formed the impression that Upshaw could do without his crutches "in moments of excitement." Upshaw insisted he could not do without his crutches.”[18]

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In that news story, which follows, the reporter even regarded Upshaw to be a “faker”, 

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