Earling is a city in Shelby County, Iowa, United States.

[3] Earling had its start 1881-1882 by the building of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway through that territory.

However, there was already a town called Marathon in Iowa, so the name of the town was soon changed to Earling, in honor of Albert J. Earling who in 1882 was division superintendent of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway.

Earling is well known in paranormal circles for being the site of the 1928 exorcism of Anna Ecklund.

Over 23 days in 1928, a Roman Catholic Capuchin named Theophilus Riesinger worked to exorcise demons from Emma Schmidt at the local Franciscan convent.

One of the priests involved wrote an account several years later in which he made a variety of supernatural claims, including that Ecklund flew threw the air during the exorcism and clung to the wall over a door, that locals noticed strange noises and odors, and that the 23 day exorcism resulted in the expulsion of several demons from Ecklund.

[5] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.60 square miles (1.55 km2), all of it land.

36.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

The racial makeup of the city was 99.36% White, 0.21% Native American, and 0.42% from two or more races.

The district serves the towns of Harlan, Defiance, Earling, Panama, Portsmouth and Westphalia, the unincorporated communities of Jacksonville and Corley, and the surrounding rural areas.