[1] Although many sources claim that Ann O'Delia Diss Debar was born as Editha Salomen in Kentucky in 1849, no documentary proof exists.

[1] Another commonly reported birth name is Ann O'Delia Salomon[2] which is corroborated by census data[4][5] and a family bible given as evidence in an 1888 court case.

[6] Her alleged father, Prof. John C. F. Salomon, was a Professor of Music at Greenville Female Institute, also known as Daughters' College and now exists as the Beaumont Inn[7] in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

[8] She herself claimed to have been born in Italy in 1854, the daughter of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his notorious mistress, the dancer Lola Montez,[9] and that she was raised by foster parents from a young age.

Diss Debar persuaded the elderly Marsh to give her his townhouse on New York's Madison Avenue,[9][10] for which she was imprisoned on Blackwell's Island for 6 months in 1888.

[9] The magician Carl Hertz appeared for the prosecution at the New York trial, helping to send Horos to jail by duplicating in court the tricks she had used in her séances.

[14][9][10] According to the New York Times, during the trial she claimed not to be the "famous spook priestess" though the article continues to say, "that she is Dis Debar (sic) no one doubts.

She was interviewed in January 1907 by the Detroit Free Press, this time as Mother Elinor, High Priestess of the Flying Rollers of the New Eve—a religious cult.

[10] In August 1909, Diss Debar attempted to start a new religious cult called the New Revelation in New York City, but abandoned the plan at the School of Mahatmas on 32nd Street one week before it was to open after journalists revealed her true identity.