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168. The Blackburn Cult · Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, delicious friends, and welcome to Who Did What Now?
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Speaker 1: The history podcast That's not your history class with me
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Speaker 1: your host Katie Charlewood, history harlot and reader of books,
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Speaker 1: and at my show in London on Saturday night, I forgot.
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Speaker 1: I forgot that I do this every week, sometimes twice
0:23
Speaker 1: a week, depending on how much I'm recording. But I
0:27
Speaker 1: forgot the whole bit after Delicious Friends, because I was like, hello,
0:33
Speaker 1: delicious friends, and then I was like, Oh, if you
0:36
Speaker 1: don't know me, that's going to sound like a weird
0:39
Speaker 1: thing to say. And so I was like, oh, in
0:42
Speaker 1: the beginning of my podcast, I say this thing, and
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Speaker 1: then I could not remember the line like what. In
0:48
Speaker 1: my defense, I was very tired. I was. It was
0:52
Speaker 1: a calamity of errors. But I had been to an
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Speaker 1: awards and a business awards event the night before. We
1:00
Speaker 1: didn't win, but I was there the night before and
1:02
Speaker 1: I left about two o'clock in the morning, and then
1:07
Speaker 1: I had to leave at like seven for my flight,
1:12
Speaker 1: and then my bus broke down, and then my flight
1:16
Speaker 1: I had to change my flights because my bus I
1:17
Speaker 1: had to change buses. And then when I got to London,
1:20
Speaker 1: the like the pod thing and the airport wasn't working,
1:24
Speaker 1: so I had to take the shuttle bus, which then
1:26
Speaker 1: even later, and then when I was on the tube,
1:29
Speaker 1: the tube got diverted and I had to change tubes.
1:32
Speaker 1: It was just one thing after another. But yeah, it
1:35
Speaker 1: was a very busy weekend and I had a great
1:37
Speaker 1: time in London. And if the Other Palace would like
1:40
Speaker 1: to have me back ever, I would love to come
1:45
Speaker 1: back and be there. It was such a fun time.
1:49
Speaker 1: It was such a good show, and I'd love to
1:51
Speaker 1: come back because I Ah, it was like such a
1:55
Speaker 1: good atmosphere and everyone was so lovely and at one
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Speaker 1: point I'm talking to women about whims. It was really
2:00
Speaker 1: really good time. But I know what you're thinking. You're thinking,
2:03
Speaker 1: Kerry quite your Jebba Jabba, In fact me, in fact you,
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Speaker 1: I will. But first we've got to get our source
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Speaker 1: on the Origin of God by me Otis Blackburn. Cult
2:21
Speaker 1: of the Grade eleven by Samuel Fort Sime Valley, A
2:26
Speaker 1: Journey through Time by Patricia Havens and Bill Appleton, People
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Speaker 1: Versus Blackburn from the California Supreme Court. We also have
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Speaker 1: articles from the Los Angeles Times, the Syracuse Herald, Time Magazine,
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Speaker 1: and the Washington Post. I used it in Comfortably Good.
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Speaker 1: Then let's begin. So the Blackburn Cult. The story of
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Speaker 1: the Blackburn Cult is one that I've wanted to tell
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Speaker 1: for a good chunk of time. Now, Like this was
3:00
Speaker 1: very nearly The La Show. Like it was very nearly
3:03
Speaker 1: that before I ended up picking Mary Astor and the
3:06
Speaker 1: Purple Diary scandal, right, So like it was very it
3:09
Speaker 1: was very close, but like Golden Age of Hollywood is
3:13
Speaker 1: always a bit more like fun, and the Blackburn Cult is, hey,
3:17
Speaker 1: quite a depressing story. You're warned, I'm going to talk
3:20
Speaker 1: about bad things and bad things happening to people, and
3:24
Speaker 1: if you're you're not okay with that, if you're your
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Speaker 1: sensitive in anyway, you're gonna want to exit stage left, Okay.
3:30
Speaker 1: Otherwise stay and enjoy horrible history. And so it was
3:35
Speaker 1: very nearly the La Show. But also there's like so
3:37
Speaker 1: much information that I want to talk about in this
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Speaker 1: that it just wasn't going to fit into that format,
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Speaker 1: And so I've been waiting to like do it. It's
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Speaker 1: been in this book, written ready to go, and so
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Speaker 1: I've been trying to find the right time to talk
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Speaker 1: about it, and with it being my birthday month, and
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Speaker 1: every sort of month recently, I've done a different theme,
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Speaker 1: but this I was like, oh, I'll just to one
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Speaker 1: week per theme, one theme per week. That's it, one
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Speaker 1: theme per week, and this week is all about cults,
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Speaker 1: and so I was like, let's let's get into this, okay.
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Speaker 1: So it all starts with Matilda May Otis and she
4:19
Speaker 1: goes by May. She uses her middle name, probably because
4:22
Speaker 1: her mother was also called Matilda, but yeah, yeah, because
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Speaker 1: she's born on the second of August eighteen eighty one
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Speaker 1: to Matilda and William Otis and that's in Storm Lake, Iowa.
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Speaker 1: And when she's four years old, William dies from what
4:39
Speaker 1: I don't know. I didn't look that up. Now, being
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Speaker 1: a single woman in the past isn't easy, especially when
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Speaker 1: you have a child. And so Matilda remarries, and she
4:50
Speaker 1: marries Edgar p Holt and they all move to Minaesura
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Speaker 1: and apparently, apparently young May she was white to the looker,
5:01
Speaker 1: and in eighteen ninety seven, at the ripe old age
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Speaker 1: of sixteen, she gets married to Augustus John Wayland, a
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Speaker 1: Canadian fellow, and then move from Minnesota to South Dagora,
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Speaker 1: and things are less than peachey Augustus is a gambler,
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Speaker 1: but not a good one. He would lose, get angry
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Speaker 1: and then take it out on me. And May wasn't
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Speaker 1: a huge fan on being the recipient of domestic abuse,
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Speaker 1: so she says, fuck this for a game of soldiers
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Speaker 1: and leaves him when she's several months pregnant. So their daughter,
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Speaker 1: Ruth Angeline Wayland, was born on the twenty fifth of
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Speaker 1: July eighteen ninety nine, and not long after this, May
5:48
Speaker 1: says that she received a letter stating that Augustus had
5:52
Speaker 1: somewhat conveniently been shot during a mining dispute. And after this,
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Speaker 1: May upstick and moves to Minneapolis without baby Ruth, who
6:04
Speaker 1: she leaves with her mother. Granny Matilda is caring for Ruth.
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Speaker 1: Will May is swanning about turning of the Century Minneapolis.
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Speaker 1: It's fun, it's exciting, and lo and behold. May get
6:17
Speaker 1: remarried to Rudolph Schultz on the first of July nineteen
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Speaker 1: oh one. Like all buddying relationships, you start learning things
6:26
Speaker 1: about each other, like you don't know everything straight away,
6:29
Speaker 1: like you get to know each other over time, and
6:32
Speaker 1: like you share parts of yourself in parts of your
6:35
Speaker 1: life and your history. And your hopes and your future
6:38
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. However, May sort of fails to
6:44
Speaker 1: mention to her new husband that she has a child
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Speaker 1: from a previous marriage. And when Matilda and Ruth moved
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Speaker 1: to Washington State, May tries to convince Rudolph to move
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Speaker 1: closer to her mother and the child he doesn't know about.
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Speaker 1: By nineteen oh five, this seems to have worked because
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Speaker 1: they're living in Portland and May is visiting her family
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Speaker 1: quite often. Now here's the thing. Not only has May
7:14
Speaker 1: not told Rudolph, you know, that she has a daughter,
7:18
Speaker 1: May also hasn't told Ruth that she's her mother, because
7:23
Speaker 1: Ruth thinks that her grandmother is her mum, and she
7:27
Speaker 1: thinks that her mum is her big sister. Now that's
7:33
Speaker 1: that's not a good secret to keep, because the truth
7:37
Speaker 1: always will out, Like that's going to come out at
7:39
Speaker 1: some point, you know, and everyone involved is going to
7:43
Speaker 1: feel not a great way about that. So May her
7:50
Speaker 1: second marriage is on the rocks because poor Rudolph earns
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Speaker 1: a mayor one hundred and fifty dollars a month at
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Speaker 1: his job as a waiter at the Portland Hotel, and
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Speaker 1: May well May she liked money, and to be clear,
8:08
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty dollars back in nineteen oh five
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Speaker 1: is around about five and a half grand today, and
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Speaker 1: May demanded one hundred and twenty five dollars out of
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Speaker 1: that one hundred and fifty out of his monthly paycheck
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Speaker 1: every single month, and she spends it like it's an
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Speaker 1: Olympic sport, like that's about forty six hundred, like that
8:35
Speaker 1: she's taking off him every month, leaving him with the rest,
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Speaker 1: like she takes that from him, And so she's she's
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Speaker 1: not really vibing with this anymore. And she tells Rudolph
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Speaker 1: that it turns out that her first husband wasn't dead
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Speaker 1: after all, and therefore their marriage wasn't legit, and so
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Speaker 1: it would be a sin for them to be together
9:00
Speaker 1: because yeah, that money at forty six hundred a month
9:06
Speaker 1: wasn't enough for her to spend on pretty and nice
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Speaker 1: things that she liked. So yeah, she's like, it would
9:15
Speaker 1: be a sin for us to be together, Rudolph, And
9:20
Speaker 1: this may shock you, but May lied because Augustus John
9:26
Speaker 1: Whyland was never dead. Also, legally, it wouldn't dissolve the marriage,
9:33
Speaker 1: like she'd just be a big amist, like from a
9:35
Speaker 1: legal standpoint, like it doesn't make it disappear. She's now
9:40
Speaker 1: just a bigamist, I say, now, just she's also a bigamist.
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Speaker 1: But yeah, Rudolph, he is quite upset and begs her
9:52
Speaker 1: not to leave. But may is already out the door
9:56
Speaker 1: because she had her eyes set on lumber tycoon Fremont Everett.
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Speaker 1: Everyone in this has fabulous names, right, We've got Augustus
10:10
Speaker 1: John Wiland, We've got Rudolph Schultz, we have Fremont Everett.
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Speaker 1: But yeah, she's got her eyes set on this lumber tycoon.
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Speaker 1: She can't wait to get her hands on all that
10:27
Speaker 1: would I regret nothing. I regret nothing. Now there is
10:32
Speaker 1: a small itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow poka dot bikini
10:36
Speaker 1: problem with this, a small hitch in an otherwise feel
10:41
Speaker 1: proof plan, one might say, because Fremont Everett was already married.
10:48
Speaker 1: But then again, so is she. So may otis Wayland.
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Speaker 1: She and Fremont Everett. They embark on an affair and
11:04
Speaker 1: he writes her love letters. But he's not the sharpest
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Speaker 1: pencil in the case, because he does so, signing his
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Speaker 1: own name on the company stationery, the lumber company stationary
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Speaker 1: with his name and everything's there, and May May, May
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Speaker 1: she manages to get a divorce from Augustus, but it's
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Speaker 1: not until nineteen twelve that she manages to get an
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Speaker 1: annulment of her marriage to Rudolph, who, by the way,
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Speaker 1: still wants to be married to her. Darling plays, I
11:43
Speaker 1: love it when you take all my money. Yeah, So
11:46
Speaker 1: he doesn't want an annulment, and she really does, but
11:50
Speaker 1: she manages to get one. So a little while after this,
11:54
Speaker 1: May acquires property valued at fifty thousand dollars, So she
12:00
Speaker 1: is doing quite well. So that's like over one and
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Speaker 1: a half million dollars now, like that's a good chunk
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Speaker 1: of change. So she's got property and it's valued at
12:11
Speaker 1: nearly that much in today's money. And she's still seeing
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Speaker 1: Fremont Everett, who yes, is still married, even though she's
12:20
Speaker 1: managed to do all of her separating. But as she's
12:24
Speaker 1: seeing him and she's reading the paper one day, she
12:28
Speaker 1: says that singer George Bloom had won a settlement from
12:33
Speaker 1: being injured at work, a settlement of three thousand dollars,
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Speaker 1: which I'm doing a lot of in today's money. But
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Speaker 1: in today's money that would be approximately one hundred thousand
12:47
Speaker 1: dollars in today's money, and she's like, that's a sheep,
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Speaker 1: I can flace. Now, don't feel bad for George. Let's
12:55
Speaker 1: not feel bad for George, because George, George Bloom is
12:58
Speaker 1: an oxygen thief, because he had been arrested thrice thrice,
13:04
Speaker 1: I tell you for and I quote contributing to the
13:08
Speaker 1: delinquency of a minor girl and one year alone, three
13:14
Speaker 1: times in one year. But he's got three thousand dollars.
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Speaker 1: So May just so happened to meet him, and what
13:25
Speaker 1: do you know, they hit it off and they get
13:28
Speaker 1: a marriage license to marry George Bloom in like May
13:32
Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen. Now here's the thing. They got the marriage license,
13:37
Speaker 1: but they never actually got married. See here's the thing.
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Speaker 1: He goes to prison for delinquency of a minor girl
13:49
Speaker 1: again and he lists his martal status as single and like, yeah,
13:56
Speaker 1: at this point, she's like listed herself as a real
14:00
Speaker 1: estate agent. Like she's a working girl, but like she's
14:04
Speaker 1: I mean, she's fairly self sufficient considering you know, she's
14:08
Speaker 1: she's muchin and this is I gotta respect women's wrongs.
14:17
Speaker 1: At this point, we're still there, We're still and a
14:20
Speaker 1: little bit of respect. We're gonna lose it soon, but
14:22
Speaker 1: they're still a little bit here because there's not a
14:25
Speaker 1: lot you can do in a world that is like
14:27
Speaker 1: stacked to get inst you. And I'm kind of like, okay,
14:30
Speaker 1: this is fine for now. Meanwhile, baby Ruth is now
14:37
Speaker 1: adult Ruth, and she is, dare I say it, a
14:41
Speaker 1: bright young thing. And so May decides at this point
14:45
Speaker 1: she's gonna start making movies them they're motion pictures. And
14:50
Speaker 1: so May establishes a film company in Portland to make
14:54
Speaker 1: Road the Star. And so Ruth she's performing in these
15:00
Speaker 1: comedy shorts and she airs loved, she's adored, and it
15:05
Speaker 1: is a smash hit in Portland. Now, out with that,
15:12
Speaker 1: it's not really that well received or cared about. And naturally,
15:18
Speaker 1: because there isn't a lot of traction happening, you know,
15:21
Speaker 1: outside of Oregon, Made decides that they really need, what
15:26
Speaker 1: they really need, what's gonna work for them, is that
15:30
Speaker 1: they need to go to Hollywood. But of course she
15:35
Speaker 1: needs someone to stay. You can't just arrive in Hollywood
15:38
Speaker 1: be homeless. No no, no, no no. And so she
15:41
Speaker 1: asks her sugar daddy, Fremont Everett. And of course I
15:46
Speaker 1: love that I'm like, she's self sufficient, and then she's
15:48
Speaker 1: out here like begging our sugar daddy for someone to stay.
15:52
Speaker 1: So Fremont gets her an apartment Philly furnished. By the way,
15:58
Speaker 1: Remember me, she's got ex eventsive tastes and she isn't
16:01
Speaker 1: going to settle for less. So Mey tries to get
16:07
Speaker 1: work as a director, but no studio wants to hire
16:12
Speaker 1: some women who made some comedy shorts in Portland. Right,
16:16
Speaker 1: And what's interesting about this period in Hollywood is that
16:22
Speaker 1: in the motion picture industry, a lot of the forerunners
16:26
Speaker 1: in this a lot of the early people involved were women,
16:30
Speaker 1: and it was really women who built the industry, and
16:34
Speaker 1: then they were removed from it. But it's just interesting
16:37
Speaker 1: that they had so many great, wonderful league parts to
16:43
Speaker 1: play in it. And now we're lucky to have people
16:48
Speaker 1: who can name three female directors, you know, like writers, directors, producers,
16:52
Speaker 1: the whole shabang. Now disheartened, she passes the time reading
17:00
Speaker 1: the Bible as one does. Oh and at some point
17:04
Speaker 1: between husbands, between being a real estate agent and making
17:08
Speaker 1: comedy shorts in Portland, Ruth is informed that May is
17:13
Speaker 1: actually her mother and if she did have an issue
17:16
Speaker 1: with it. She got over it pretty sharpish. So yeah,
17:21
Speaker 1: they're in Hollywood. And while Mama May is perusing the
17:25
Speaker 1: Psalms and all those letters to the Corinthians who never
17:30
Speaker 1: wrote back, would so Will May is just getting like
17:34
Speaker 1: super into Jesus, Ruth is working as a taxi and
17:38
Speaker 1: oriental dancer. Now taxi dancer is not really a thing
17:42
Speaker 1: that's around anymore. Okay, Well, I we don't have dance halls.
17:47
Speaker 1: We don't have dancels. I would love the idea of
17:50
Speaker 1: a dance hall, Like you actually have to know the dance,
17:53
Speaker 1: like the Jitterbug is the first thing that came to
17:56
Speaker 1: my mind, even though that Charleston is right there, Like
18:00
Speaker 1: I would love to learn the Charleston before my body
18:04
Speaker 1: gives out because my back is dodgy. But I would
18:07
Speaker 1: love if I could learn any dance, it would be
18:09
Speaker 1: the Charleston. Like I would love to be able to dance,
18:13
Speaker 1: like I have no coordination And I used to be
18:15
Speaker 1: like sidebar so like apprehensive and scared about going onto
18:21
Speaker 1: a dance floor with anybody. And I hate being dragged
18:24
Speaker 1: onto things like that. I'm like, no, I have two
18:26
Speaker 1: left feet, it's no good. But the Awards on Friday night.
18:32
Speaker 1: I actually I actually let someone pull me onto the
18:35
Speaker 1: dance floor and we were dancing along to like s
18:40
Speaker 1: Club seven or something as ridiculous, and it was just like,
18:44
Speaker 1: I'd such a good time, even though like I dance
18:47
Speaker 1: like the way Phoebean Friends runs, there's just no coordination whatsoever.
18:52
Speaker 1: It skipped me. But yeah, I like the idea of
18:56
Speaker 1: being able to dance and to dance with someone because
18:59
Speaker 1: it's just like and you know, just like a good cute,
19:03
Speaker 1: sweet time. But anyway, taxi dancers, so context, a taxi
19:09
Speaker 1: dancer was a paid dance partner. So men would go
19:14
Speaker 1: to dance halls and they would buy these dance tickets
19:17
Speaker 1: and so they would then take the dance tickets and
19:19
Speaker 1: then give that to whichever gal they wanted to dance with.
19:23
Speaker 1: And these ladies were paid on commission, So the more
19:26
Speaker 1: tickets you had at the end of the night, the
19:28
Speaker 1: more you got paid. So like that's how they would
19:33
Speaker 1: earn their money legally. Now under the table, it has
19:38
Speaker 1: been noted that some taxi dancers, after you know, the
19:42
Speaker 1: dance halls had closed for the evening, they would turn
19:47
Speaker 1: to sex work for some added income. Now in nineteen eighteen,
19:53
Speaker 1: May get married again. Honestly, this woman is just she
20:00
Speaker 1: must be either gorgeous or very alluring and charming, because
20:07
Speaker 1: right she marries this Norwegian inventor, Lawrence Holmes, and he
20:13
Speaker 1: had created and manufactured a folding bed and allegedly's worked
20:19
Speaker 1: with Thomas Edison in his youth. And so Mamma May
20:24
Speaker 1: is married again. And Ruth, she herself gets hitched in
20:30
Speaker 1: nineteen nineteen, so the following year to Edgar Rickenball, a
20:35
Speaker 1: railroad clerk. Rickenball, Rickenbow. You know I'm gonna go with Rickenball.
20:43
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with it. So Edgar, he isn't happy
20:47
Speaker 1: that his wife, who was a taxi and oriental dancer
20:50
Speaker 1: when they met, continued to be a taxi and oriental
20:53
Speaker 1: dancer after they wed. Now he gets incredibly jealous, and
21:00
Speaker 1: so they split. Now they don't divorce because that costs
21:04
Speaker 1: a lot of money, and so they just live separate lives.
21:09
Speaker 1: And me, well, she's still reading the Bible, and when
21:14
Speaker 1: she gets to revelations, well, let me tell you, she
21:19
Speaker 1: has one. And this is where the women really get scheming.
21:31
Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty two, Ruth meets this Field hand. And
21:35
Speaker 1: this field hand, whose name I could not find anywhere,
21:39
Speaker 1: he borrows money from his boss so that Ruth can
21:42
Speaker 1: pay for her divorce. But for why, Well, I'm glad
21:47
Speaker 1: you asked, because I'll tell you. So she told him
21:52
Speaker 1: that she was writing a book with her mum, a
21:55
Speaker 1: book that was going to do four things. This book
22:00
Speaker 1: was going to explain the nature of God, the purpose
22:04
Speaker 1: of man's existence, the origins of the universe, and how
22:10
Speaker 1: to find hidden riches. Right, that's that's what this book
22:15
Speaker 1: is going to do. And so she's telling this field
22:17
Speaker 1: hand and he's like, great, you clearly need to be divorced.
22:23
Speaker 1: And so she quits dancing. She divorces Rickenbag and she
22:26
Speaker 1: and Mamma May they are now telling everyone that they
22:31
Speaker 1: are on a mission from God. They have been commanded
22:36
Speaker 1: by Heaven to crete and no religious auDA centered on
22:39
Speaker 1: the book's teachings direct quote the field hand, This fella,
22:44
Speaker 1: he borrows and borrows and borrows, and he's giving her
22:49
Speaker 1: this money and eventually he's told that he has to
22:52
Speaker 1: start paying it back or he's going to be fired.
22:56
Speaker 1: And so in a panic, he calls his dad, right,
23:01
Speaker 1: and his dad shows up and demands that May and
23:04
Speaker 1: Ruth pay back all the money that is owed to
23:08
Speaker 1: this field hand. Now, the fact that this guy had
23:13
Speaker 1: to get his dad kind of makes me think that
23:15
Speaker 1: he was more susceptible to being like played in the scenario.
23:21
Speaker 2: And May she's not having this, like she's she's not
23:28
Speaker 2: super great with being told what to do, and so
23:32
Speaker 2: in response to this, she calls the field hands mum
23:38
Speaker 2: and says that she will straight up murder the boy
23:42
Speaker 2: if the dad shows up again.
23:46
Speaker 1: And so and so, this young man he gets fired
23:50
Speaker 1: because he can't pay back the money he owes his
23:52
Speaker 1: boss and his parents are like scared shitless of May here,
23:58
Speaker 1: which is fair because she is a scary lady. Now
24:04
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Here's the thing. Like I said, like
24:06
Speaker 1: initially respect and now that respect is gone because she
24:11
Speaker 1: just threatened to murder a boy. But that just seems unfair.
24:18
Speaker 1: So this young man, he's got no other options, and
24:22
Speaker 1: so he does the only thing he can, join the
24:26
Speaker 1: army and get the heck out of Dodge and so
24:30
Speaker 1: Met and Ruth at this point they decide that they
24:33
Speaker 1: need a new game plan, right, and so they returned
24:38
Speaker 1: to Portland for a bit because those comedy shots. Right.
24:44
Speaker 1: So they go back and they move in with Matilda
24:47
Speaker 1: and Matilda's husband, her third husband, Walter Blackbird. Right now, Walter,
24:57
Speaker 1: he has a family as well, like he has adult children.
25:01
Speaker 1: And so these are the Blackburns, and the Blackburns all
25:04
Speaker 1: live together, and may may being me. She is now
25:09
Speaker 1: swornen about saying that as a child, a spiritual dove
25:15
Speaker 1: was with her wherever she went, and it was speak
25:18
Speaker 1: to her in a mental voice, a lovely mental voice,
25:25
Speaker 1: the spiritual dove. And it's hereditary, she says, because Ruth,
25:32
Speaker 1: her darling daughter, Ruth, has the exact same gift. And
25:40
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, the voice became an angel, the angel
25:46
Speaker 1: Gabriel know Less, and Gabriel is a seraphim, which is
25:51
Speaker 1: the highest choir of angels. Okay, And this angel, it
25:58
Speaker 1: spoke to her, And because it the highest choir of angel,
26:01
Speaker 1: it's a seraphim. You know, if you hear the voice
26:04
Speaker 1: of God, it's never God, it's the Seraphims, remember, because
26:07
Speaker 1: they speak on behalf of God. So this angel tells
26:13
Speaker 1: her that the end is nigh and told them that
26:17
Speaker 1: they needed to heed his warnings, and he had them right.
26:21
Speaker 1: His very important words into this special book. So the
26:29
Speaker 1: angel Gabriel was a dove and then became an angel
26:33
Speaker 1: and then said everything is screwed, but this book will
26:37
Speaker 1: answer everything and also save the world and also make
26:42
Speaker 1: you rich effectively. They would go on to claim that
26:47
Speaker 1: they were witnesses of the Book of Revelations and that
26:52
Speaker 1: the angels plural. At this point, the angels Gabriel and
26:57
Speaker 1: Michael dictated the book. Originally called the Seventh Trumpet of Gabriel,
27:06
Speaker 1: it was then changed through the punchier title of the
27:09
Speaker 1: Great Sixth Seal. And you're thinking, we've gone from seven
27:13
Speaker 1: down to sex Well, yeah, okay, So the seventh Seal
27:16
Speaker 1: from Revelations would be broken once the book was published,
27:20
Speaker 1: like this is the big claim, and humanity would be fixed,
27:25
Speaker 1: and there would be eleven queens who would rule the
27:28
Speaker 1: world from mansions, each with eleven kings, and they would
27:33
Speaker 1: know where all of the gold and diamonds are underground. Now,
27:40
Speaker 1: now that's that's might be a lot to take in.
27:43
Speaker 1: So they're saying that each queen had eleven kings like
27:48
Speaker 1: each each so there's like more men than women, and
27:53
Speaker 1: the women are queens and the queens are ruling, but
27:55
Speaker 1: they also have kings and the like, don't. I don't
27:59
Speaker 1: know if they know how monarchies work, but that's that's
28:05
Speaker 1: not quite how that goes. But anyway, this book is
28:10
Speaker 1: supposed to just turn them into like gold and diamond detectors.
28:14
Speaker 1: They're just going to know where everything is. And yeah,
28:18
Speaker 1: it's not quite a doomsday cult because they're like it's
28:21
Speaker 1: gonna be fine and also gold. But yeah, I mean
28:26
Speaker 1: it is kind of a domestic anyway. Anyway, So as
28:29
Speaker 1: cults do, they collect people. They've got Arthur and Minny Knight.
28:35
Speaker 1: They've got Arthur and Jenny Toy, there's a lot of Arthur's.
28:39
Speaker 1: You've got Floyd and Dorothy Miller, Howard and Margaret Scheldt
28:44
Speaker 1: and Martha and William Rhodes. Now Martha, she's an interesting
28:51
Speaker 1: addition to this group because she's a church scientist. So effectively,
28:57
Speaker 1: she was a member of the heard about this, the
29:01
Speaker 1: Church of Christ Scientist, which was founded back in like
29:05
Speaker 1: eighteen seventy nine in Boston by like Mary Baker Eddie
29:09
Speaker 1: and we'll talk about that sometime. So effectively, one of
29:14
Speaker 1: the things that at the core of church science is
29:19
Speaker 1: the use of prayer for healing. So they can just
29:22
Speaker 1: like pray the illness away. And so Martha believed, like
29:28
Speaker 1: she was really into this, she was really extreme, you know,
29:31
Speaker 1: as this goes. So she believed that she could not
29:34
Speaker 1: only heal, but Martha believed that she could bring people
29:38
Speaker 1: back to life via prayer, right, and she believed that
29:44
Speaker 1: she herself had been brought back five times, but also
29:48
Speaker 1: that she had done it, like she had managed to
29:51
Speaker 1: pray herself like necromancy back to life, you know, which
29:56
Speaker 1: is an interesting belief to have. So Martha and William.
30:02
Speaker 1: So William is also involved in this. They have a
30:06
Speaker 1: fourteen year old adopted daughter called Willa. And so this
30:12
Speaker 1: teenager who has been brought along to the cult. May
30:17
Speaker 1: makes her a priestess of the order, and so May
30:21
Speaker 1: says that Willa is the tree of life and the
30:26
Speaker 1: link between man and God. Okay, okay, oh okay. Eventually
30:36
Speaker 1: they amass enough followers to make a charter, the Divine
30:41
Speaker 1: Order of the Great Eleven. Cause remember eleven queens, So
30:46
Speaker 1: it's a Divine Order of the Great Eleven. And so
30:51
Speaker 1: May is sending followers from Portland down to La down
30:55
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles, and she is splitting her time between
30:58
Speaker 1: both while also shagging her stepbrother who's twenty years her junior. Ward.
31:05
Speaker 1: So Ward is Ward Blackburn, he is her stepbrother. He
31:10
Speaker 1: is Walter Blackburn's son. And the thing about Ward is
31:17
Speaker 1: I was looking up information about Ward and one thing
31:21
Speaker 1: that came up quite a lot was the word subnormal. Now,
31:27
Speaker 1: I I'm not entirely sure what is meant by that,
31:31
Speaker 1: because that could mean a whole host of things. But yes,
31:35
Speaker 1: Ward is labeled subnormal. Like that's the distinguishing feature that
31:41
Speaker 1: this man provides. So on the eleventh of January nineteen
31:48
Speaker 1: twenty four, May marries Ward Blackburn and they moved to
31:53
Speaker 1: Los Angeles together. And on the twenty fourth of May
31:58
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty four, so just a couple months later, Ruth
32:02
Speaker 1: Mary's seventeen year old Samuel Rezzo like she's twenty four
32:07
Speaker 1: to twenty five. And these these ladies like a younger man,
32:13
Speaker 1: they clearly do, Like Cyber, I don't think I've dated
32:19
Speaker 1: anyone younger than me. Well, I might have dated someone. No, no, actually,
32:29
Speaker 1: actually no, yes, no I did. I did. I dated
32:35
Speaker 1: a man who was three years longer than me. I did,
32:38
Speaker 1: But I'm I'm at my thirties, right, Cyber and then
32:42
Speaker 1: my thirties and so like someone said to me, like,
32:45
Speaker 1: you need to date like a man in his twenties, Like,
32:48
Speaker 1: you have no idea. They're so amazing, they're so respectful,
32:52
Speaker 1: and they've missed that shitty millennial phase. And as someone
32:56
Speaker 1: who's like consistently dated older, I was like, I'll give
32:59
Speaker 1: it a go, you know. And so I went on
33:03
Speaker 1: a date with this guy who I think he was
33:05
Speaker 1: literally ten years younger than me, and I was right,
33:12
Speaker 1: it was. I was like, I'll try and see how
33:14
Speaker 1: it goes, you know. And I'd suggested we go seeing
33:19
Speaker 1: like whatever Scream movie was out. It's like I don't
33:21
Speaker 1: know if it was the most recent one or the
33:23
Speaker 1: one before that, but we'd gone to go see the
33:25
Speaker 1: Scream movie and as we were sitting down, he was like, oh,
33:30
Speaker 1: I've never seen any of these and I was like, ah,
33:32
Speaker 1: what not one Scream film at all? And I was
33:37
Speaker 1: like okay, which was fine, but it was a clear
33:41
Speaker 1: indication of everything else, like because we were chatting like
33:46
Speaker 1: through the evening, like after the cinema, Like you know,
33:49
Speaker 1: I wasn't talking in the movies. I'm not a dick, right,
33:51
Speaker 1: I mean, I am a dick, but you know, respect
33:54
Speaker 1: for the pictures. Yeah, I love going to the pictures.
33:56
Speaker 1: I love going to the movies. Like it's just a
33:59
Speaker 1: good time for me. I really enjoy it anyway. And
34:02
Speaker 1: so we're chatting after the movie and we have no
34:08
Speaker 1: like connecting communication. There's no there's no references that are
34:13
Speaker 1: are like hidden. I don't know the best way to
34:16
Speaker 1: describe it. It's just like we had so little in
34:18
Speaker 1: common apart from the fact that we lived in a
34:21
Speaker 1: similar area. But I was just like, oh, this was
34:25
Speaker 1: this was not a good idea. This did not work
34:29
Speaker 1: out as I had planned, and it really made me
34:33
Speaker 1: feel sold such an old person. And yeah, we basically
34:39
Speaker 1: hugged and went our separate ways and never spoke to
34:43
Speaker 1: each other again. Like it was. It was awkward and weird,
34:48
Speaker 1: which is wild because like I hang out with people
34:52
Speaker 1: who were like ten years older than me, ten years
34:55
Speaker 1: longer than me, but like we have we have like
34:58
Speaker 1: paths that cross, we have things that connect us. And
35:02
Speaker 1: I think the last people that I had like a
35:03
Speaker 1: really decent conversation with who were like in their twenties
35:06
Speaker 1: were amazing and interesting. But this kind of put me
35:12
Speaker 1: off the idea of trying to date younger people. That
35:16
Speaker 1: being said, people shoot your shot. Anyway. Anyway, back to
35:25
Speaker 1: Ruth and Me, So the Walter J. Blackburn Publishing company
35:33
Speaker 1: starts churning out these pamphlets on the seventh Trumpet of
35:38
Speaker 1: Saint Gabriel. So things are really really cranking up a notch.
35:43
Speaker 1: And then one day Sam Ruth's husband, so Sam Ritzio,
35:50
Speaker 1: he mysteriously disappears after trying to convince Ruth to leave
35:56
Speaker 1: the cult by slapping it out of her. Allegedly's the
36:02
Speaker 1: Angel Gabriel said that he had to be poisoned. His
36:08
Speaker 1: body was never found. And this is just like the
36:12
Speaker 1: tip of the iceberg because me, she's now she starts
36:17
Speaker 1: doing all this crazy shit. So she's working with like
36:20
Speaker 1: con artists to create like fake gold billions, and she's
36:28
Speaker 1: created this sort of atmosphere and Warren's members that if
36:33
Speaker 1: they leave, they'll be smited by God. And like if
36:39
Speaker 1: a couple tried to leave, like a married couple, like
36:44
Speaker 1: she would kick the husband out and then make the
36:47
Speaker 1: wife remarry another cult member in this like coercive game
36:54
Speaker 1: of marital musical chairs and like it is it it
37:00
Speaker 1: sort of spreads the news of this this group, the
37:03
Speaker 1: cult it spreads, and in August nineteen twenty four, two
37:09
Speaker 1: La Times reporters interviewed me. Right there, rive and there's
37:15
Speaker 1: like a bunch of followers are all sat in this circle.
37:20
Speaker 1: There's someone like playing the piano, and Ruth is doing
37:24
Speaker 1: and I quote an Egyptian dance, and so you've you've
37:31
Speaker 1: got Ruth doing this like Egyptian dance, which I have
37:35
Speaker 1: a feeling is like that sort of little egypt belly
37:40
Speaker 1: dance that sort of like vibe. I think that it's
37:45
Speaker 1: just like cultural appropriation, which a lot of these cults do,
37:49
Speaker 1: don't they. It's like, let's le win just a dash
37:52
Speaker 1: of cultural appropriation while we like ruin your lives and
37:57
Speaker 1: take all your money. So she tells the reporters, because
38:02
Speaker 1: they're there to say what, oh the fuss is about?
38:05
Speaker 1: And she tells them that the angels Gabriel and Michael
38:10
Speaker 1: have dictated this book to them, and they've got all
38:14
Speaker 1: of these like stacked like parchment. So they're like, here
38:19
Speaker 1: it is, here is everything. The angels told don't read it,
38:24
Speaker 1: don't touch an apartment. So they've got they've got it, and
38:26
Speaker 1: I'm like, you're not allowed to read it though, and
38:28
Speaker 1: it's like, you're not allowed to read the thing, but
38:32
Speaker 1: isn't this the whole point? And they're like no, no,
38:33
Speaker 1: no, no no, And so they're so like taken aback of
38:40
Speaker 1: this whole situation, right, they do not print the story
38:45
Speaker 1: because that's weird as fuck, because they're like, here's the
38:49
Speaker 1: book that the angels dictated. Watch my daughter dance in
38:55
Speaker 1: a vaguely sexual way in the corner while a piano plays,
38:59
Speaker 1: and I tell you about the angels, but don't read
39:03
Speaker 1: the thing that was written that I'm trying to get
39:05
Speaker 1: people to read but not you get so like yeah,
39:14
Speaker 1: they're just like no. And after this, right, Sammy's sixteen
39:19
Speaker 1: year old brother shows up looking for him and like,
39:22
Speaker 1: so he shows up and they're like he left, and
39:27
Speaker 1: this teenage boy he's like, I don't believe you, because
39:32
Speaker 1: he finds all his stuff there, all of his brothers,
39:37
Speaker 1: his clothes, all of his accouterments, they're all there, and
39:41
Speaker 1: so he just goes to the cops. He's like, this
39:44
Speaker 1: is suspicious. And so the lapd ends up going to
39:52
Speaker 1: the Rizzo family and they're just like, hey, don't cause
39:57
Speaker 1: a fuss, because that's what you want to hear from
40:03
Speaker 1: the police force about your missing brother who's disappeared from
40:08
Speaker 1: a cult. And after this non rush with the law,
40:14
Speaker 1: the cult decide it's time to move. The Blackburn Cult
40:25
Speaker 1: moved to a new house in Los Felis, and it's
40:29
Speaker 1: here that Jenny Toy is told that she must be
40:32
Speaker 1: changed to her bed for seventy five days for reasons.
40:37
Speaker 1: The angel said it. It's like Simon says, but with angels.
40:41
Speaker 1: So if you don't do it, there's smiting. And so
40:45
Speaker 1: in November when the roads arrive in la so they've
40:49
Speaker 1: come down from Portland. When Willa comes in right with them.
40:56
Speaker 1: You know, she's their daughter, so she's come with them.
40:58
Speaker 1: And so when she arrives, she is given seven puppies,
41:05
Speaker 1: like here's seven puppies, teenage girl and it's it's wild.
41:11
Speaker 1: So they give her the seven puppies. And then after
41:14
Speaker 1: a month of being there, Willa is clearly unwell, like
41:20
Speaker 1: she's got this toothache and it's really causing her pain.
41:23
Speaker 1: And it turns out what she has as an absess
41:27
Speaker 1: and what Willa really needs is a dentist. But because
41:32
Speaker 1: of this whole like church science, where they think you
41:36
Speaker 1: can just pray to drain the absess, I guess, so
41:41
Speaker 1: instead of you know, taking her to a medical professional
41:45
Speaker 1: instead of that, Willa dies of blood poisoning on New
41:49
Speaker 1: Year's Day, nineteen twenty five. She was only sixteen years old.
41:57
Speaker 1: Cyber I often get asked like, what period of time
42:01
Speaker 1: would you like to live in? And I'm just like,
42:03
Speaker 1: the one where I wouldn't die from toothache would be nice.
42:07
Speaker 1: You know. I like having rights. I'm not happy that
42:10
Speaker 1: there's a possibility rights can be stripped away from me,
42:12
Speaker 1: but I like having the rights, Like I feel like
42:16
Speaker 1: maybe I would like the fashion of other eras, but
42:19
Speaker 1: you know, not the you know, avoidable death. So Martha rhades.
42:28
Speaker 1: She tries to resurrect Willa, and the keels prise it
42:34
Speaker 1: does not work. Now this is where May steps in
42:39
Speaker 1: and she tells Martha that Willa will be resurrected after
42:45
Speaker 1: one thousand, two hundred and sixty days and after the
42:49
Speaker 1: book is published, but her body had to be preserved
42:55
Speaker 1: in a bathtub of ice, spices and salt. Put salt
43:01
Speaker 1: and ice to get I'm not I'm not gonna get
43:04
Speaker 1: into it.
43:04
Speaker 3: So well, his body is basically and an ice bath
43:10
Speaker 3: with like spices and all this kind of stuff, And
43:13
Speaker 3: I think a lot of that is more about preservation
43:16
Speaker 3: and avoiding the smell more.
43:18
Speaker 1: Than anything else, and a lot of just like dressing
43:23
Speaker 1: and performance and warning it it's about to get worse.
43:27
Speaker 1: You thought a teenage girl dying because they wouldn't help
43:31
Speaker 1: her is bad, It's it's animal lovers are gonna want
43:35
Speaker 1: to skip like ten seconds, the seven puppies that had
43:41
Speaker 1: been given to Ola when she arrived, they had been
43:45
Speaker 1: sacrificed as they were bridges to her heart, and so
43:51
Speaker 1: like it's all part of this, which feels more like
43:56
Speaker 1: they just wanted to add to the drama intention of
44:02
Speaker 1: it all. So things are sort of building up round
44:07
Speaker 1: and round. And on the sixth of February nineteen twenty five,
44:12
Speaker 1: Ruth is questioned by the LA Prosecutor's office because they
44:18
Speaker 1: are very curious about this cult with the crazy pamphlets,
44:24
Speaker 1: and like soon after this, a box full of Fremont
44:29
Speaker 1: Everett's love letters to mayor discovered in a metal box
44:34
Speaker 1: at Topanga Canyon. What misdirection? Who said that? Like a
44:42
Speaker 1: metal box of love letters by Fremont Everett with his
44:47
Speaker 1: name on it on his company's stationery, Love letters that
44:52
Speaker 1: he wrote to May that she had kept hidden in
44:56
Speaker 1: her home are conveniently discovered, like the metal box, Like,
45:03
Speaker 1: why is there a metal box in this canyon? Oh? Look,
45:06
Speaker 1: it's full of these love letters from this very rich man.
45:11
Speaker 1: So now it seems reasonable that May can afford stuff
45:15
Speaker 1: because of the lumber tycoon. Right, you know what this
45:21
Speaker 1: this man had given her all this money because they
45:24
Speaker 1: were having an affair. Yeah, I know that actually seems
45:26
Speaker 1: like a very reasonable option because that's that's where that's
45:30
Speaker 1: coming from. Not embezzling, not embezzling at all. So as
45:39
Speaker 1: speaking of stealing from cult members, Clifford Dabney, like I said,
45:44
Speaker 1: they've all got really good names. So he's the nephew
45:47
Speaker 1: of an oil magnet, and he had given like forty
45:51
Speaker 1: five thousand of his oil rights and a whole lot
45:55
Speaker 1: of chickens, a lot of chickens. Like he wasn't the
46:01
Speaker 1: only one. Like the Shuts they gave like twenty five grand,
46:06
Speaker 1: the Roads gave thirty grand. Nellie Barks was what eleven thousand,
46:13
Speaker 1: and the cult is like it's got over what one
46:15
Speaker 1: hundred new members, and by nineteen twenty five, they're doing
46:20
Speaker 1: all of these rituals at night, which is the most
46:25
Speaker 1: convenient time to do your weird Culti rituals, which is
46:30
Speaker 1: severely pissing off the neighbors. And so they end up
46:35
Speaker 1: moving to Simi Valley where a cult member buys them
46:41
Speaker 1: sixty four acres of land, land specifically in this valley,
46:49
Speaker 1: not buildings, not nothing like that. It's not it's not
46:56
Speaker 1: been developed. And so they're just moving on to this
47:02
Speaker 1: land with like tents and shit, and like, over the
47:06
Speaker 1: course of a year, they build, like they build a
47:09
Speaker 1: road in, they build a temple building and a golden
47:14
Speaker 1: throne temple, and they're told like once they've finished like
47:18
Speaker 1: building all this stuff, they're supposed to build a white
47:23
Speaker 1: Messiah was supposed to appear, just in case they were
47:27
Speaker 1: worried it was going to be a different one. And
47:30
Speaker 1: like May and Ruth, they have a cabin built for
47:33
Speaker 1: themselves called the watch Tower. Right, so there's this going on.
47:40
Speaker 1: They've built like temple things, and they've got the watchtower,
47:46
Speaker 1: and like some people are still living in bloody tents.
47:49
Speaker 1: And it's right about this time that there's a rift
47:55
Speaker 1: in the cult and it's between May and Martha that
48:01
Speaker 1: so may otis Blackburn and Martha Rhodes, Like this rift
48:06
Speaker 1: leads to a schism, and so you've got two groups
48:10
Speaker 1: forming on the Semi Valley in nineteen twenty six, and
48:14
Speaker 1: so you've got the Divine Order of the Royal Arms
48:19
Speaker 1: of the Grade eleven and the Church of the Divine
48:23
Speaker 1: Science of Joshua the Branch the Headstone of the corner.
48:28
Speaker 1: Like those are your two groups. And so the schism happens,
48:34
Speaker 1: and they've they've got their own issues, and like it's
48:37
Speaker 1: actually before this that like the papers don't really bring
48:42
Speaker 1: up this weird cult that's around, and so Clifford Daveney,
48:48
Speaker 1: like he was a big financial contributor to like the
48:51
Speaker 1: La Times for a long time, and so there's like
48:54
Speaker 1: this theory that he, you know, was blocking any sort
48:59
Speaker 1: of bad news beals happening. You know. Now things are
49:04
Speaker 1: also crumbling a bit in this cult because because on
49:10
Speaker 1: the third of February nineteen twenty seven, Lois votes like
49:15
Speaker 1: she goes missing during a rainstorm. She's not in the cult,
49:19
Speaker 1: but she lived like in the Semi Valley, like near
49:22
Speaker 1: the cult, and so there's a rainstorm and like there's
49:28
Speaker 1: this whole thing that she got abducted by the cult.
49:33
Speaker 1: And then there's right, this young man, his parents are
49:39
Speaker 1: in the cult, and the angel Gabriel says that this
49:44
Speaker 1: young man has to be shot, and his parents they're like,
49:52
Speaker 1: I guess that's fine, and they shoot him in the
49:56
Speaker 1: heel and it's like good stuff. Good stuff. Now, if
50:02
Speaker 1: you think that's a bit weird, it's it's gonna get
50:05
Speaker 1: it's gonna get crazy. So one member had a paralyzed
50:11
Speaker 1: sister and May proclaimed that she had bad blood. Now,
50:17
Speaker 1: bad blood was a term for so many ailments. It
50:22
Speaker 1: was like a catch hole that they used from everything
50:24
Speaker 1: from like diphtheria to sdis like just everything you know.
50:31
Speaker 1: And so May proclaims she has bad blood and that
50:37
Speaker 1: she will be cured by baking her. She will be
50:43
Speaker 1: cured by baking her, and so she has the cult
50:48
Speaker 1: build this brick oven, and this paralyzed women is putting
50:58
Speaker 1: this brick oven and is cooked in under an hour.
51:04
Speaker 1: So yes, they cooked a paralyzed women to death. And
51:08
Speaker 1: they were like, she's cured, but no, no, she's just dead.
51:13
Speaker 1: And so this brick oven is taken down and they
51:17
Speaker 1: use the bricks to make paths and they get a
51:23
Speaker 1: corner to sign off on the death as natural causes,
51:27
Speaker 1: which is a weird way to say eugenics. So things
51:32
Speaker 1: are not going well for the cult, right, There's an
51:38
Speaker 1: icy corpse, a box full of murder puppies, a cooked invalid,
51:43
Speaker 1: and a sacred horse named Biff, and loads and loads
51:48
Speaker 1: of debt. So Clifford Dabney who had been like financing
51:53
Speaker 1: this for quite a while, like he had been pumping
51:57
Speaker 1: money into this, like he's the reason that they were
52:01
Speaker 1: able to get this, like this sort of area in
52:04
Speaker 1: the semi valley, like back then it was called like
52:07
Speaker 1: Mortimer Park, it was. It's fairly remote. It's in the
52:12
Speaker 1: Santa Susanna Mountains on the eastern edge of Inchua County.
52:17
Speaker 1: And so he's like, where is my like just desserts.
52:21
Speaker 1: Where is everything that I'm due to get? Where is
52:23
Speaker 1: my treasure treasure, like, where is my you know, spiritual goods?
52:30
Speaker 1: And they're like, oh, it's like it's coming. We have
52:33
Speaker 1: to get published, like we have to publish a book.
52:35
Speaker 1: And it's like it's been a few years published the book.
52:38
Speaker 1: And so he tries to leave, right, And he tries
52:46
Speaker 1: to leave, and May manages to make him sign over
52:51
Speaker 1: an oil least to her, and it's at this point
52:56
Speaker 1: that his uncle, the oil magnet, offers him seventy five
53:01
Speaker 1: thousand dollars to prosecute me. And this is a few
53:06
Speaker 1: years in, right, And people stay in cults a lot
53:10
Speaker 1: of the time because there's a sunk cost, like they've
53:13
Speaker 1: invested so much that they need to have that payoff,
53:16
Speaker 1: like that is what they're waiting for. But here they are.
53:20
Speaker 1: The prophecies haven't come true. There's no gold treasure, there's
53:25
Speaker 1: no white Messiah, and there's no apocalypse, and so people
53:30
Speaker 1: are leaving or they're trying to leave, like they're getting
53:33
Speaker 1: to this point where like it's it's not working. Now.
53:39
Speaker 1: You've got some people who have just like it's just
53:42
Speaker 1: a dissonance, so they're stuck in it. And then some
53:45
Speaker 1: people have, you know, a realization that this is not
53:48
Speaker 1: all it's cracked up to be, and they're trying to leave,
53:53
Speaker 1: but so many are terrified to because they've built up
53:58
Speaker 1: this concept of what will happened to you if you leave?
54:01
Speaker 1: And also some people have literally been murdered, so you know,
54:07
Speaker 1: eventually there is an investigation, the Bunco investigation, but the
54:13
Speaker 1: cops they're they're not that fust really to begin with.
54:17
Speaker 1: But like in October, May and Ruth are charged with
54:21
Speaker 1: fifteen counts of grand theft, and it's reported that cult
54:26
Speaker 1: members had vanished. Then the police receive an anonymous letter
54:34
Speaker 1: about the body of Willa Rhodes under the floorboards of
54:37
Speaker 1: a house in Venice. So they show up, they find
54:42
Speaker 1: the corpse and Martha breaks down and spills the beans.
54:48
Speaker 1: So like, it's not just that, right, So right, they
54:56
Speaker 1: get to the house. Right, there's the body of this
55:01
Speaker 1: teenage girl who has been dead for several years, and
55:05
Speaker 1: she is constantly stored in ice. So she's right. It's
55:10
Speaker 1: this wood box with salt and spices. Well, seven dead
55:17
Speaker 1: puppies were buried in like separate containers like with her,
55:22
Speaker 1: like kind of like like an Egyptian sarcophagus like or
55:26
Speaker 1: a tomb where you'd have like all of these things
55:29
Speaker 1: with you. Like, she's buried with puppies. It's not even buried.
55:32
Speaker 1: She's just in a box. She seasoned in a box.
55:36
Speaker 1: And this was all done like by her father, like
55:42
Speaker 1: by William, who is there with her, right and so
55:47
Speaker 1: like there's an investigation to see whether she was sacrificed
55:51
Speaker 1: murdered by you know, the Divine orderly eleven. Yeah, So
55:57
Speaker 1: like after this as well, a body is discovered, like
56:02
Speaker 1: what was it in this like canyon near like the
56:06
Speaker 1: sand Gabriel Mountains, and so they're like, that is definitely
56:11
Speaker 1: Samuel Ritzio, although like a few days later they're like,
56:16
Speaker 1: oh no, there was an insurance policy found on the
56:20
Speaker 1: man and it's not Samuel Ritzio. So while this is happening,
56:27
Speaker 1: you have like all of these members, Like you're getting
56:31
Speaker 1: stories of people being baked in ovens to cure them
56:34
Speaker 1: of like sickness. You've got people disappearing. There's you know,
56:40
Speaker 1: poison being purchased by members of the cult, and like
56:44
Speaker 1: bodies are just sort of appearing places, and so photographers
56:51
Speaker 1: show up and they take pictures, after which May and
56:56
Speaker 1: Ruth turn themselves in. Right, so May says it's not
57:05
Speaker 1: a cult but a scientific group studying resurrection. Sure, Jan Sure, Like,
57:16
Speaker 1: I mean this is four and a half years this
57:24
Speaker 1: has been running. And Ruth she ends up getting released
57:30
Speaker 1: due to insufficient evidence. Because Ruth like she's released from
57:36
Speaker 1: jail on fifteen counts of grand theft and it's all
57:39
Speaker 1: based on this complaint from Dabney, Like that is what
57:42
Speaker 1: initiated this investigation, while May was arrested and charged, right,
57:51
Speaker 1: So Ruth is released due to insufficient evidence, and like
57:56
Speaker 1: she doesn't want to leave her mum, but some cult
57:59
Speaker 1: members actually have to convince her to leave, and like May,
58:03
Speaker 1: she's in jail, but she's the one who holds the
58:06
Speaker 1: purse strings and she is refusing to really send any money,
58:12
Speaker 1: and so the cult they've got no money and as
58:15
Speaker 1: a result, they're starving. And so this trial lasts what
58:21
Speaker 1: six weeks, it's from like late nineteen twenty nine, and
58:26
Speaker 1: then part of like the following year as well. Like
58:31
Speaker 1: most of like the whole court case, it focuses on
58:35
Speaker 1: like the weird like stuff that's going on, so like
58:40
Speaker 1: the rituals, the sacrificing, the weird services and activities of
58:45
Speaker 1: like the whole organization. But it's not like sacrificial murder
58:50
Speaker 1: was what May was arrested for. She was arrested for theft,
58:55
Speaker 1: for embezzlment, right, And so very little of the case
58:59
Speaker 1: actually like covers that, like I mean, I get it,
59:07
Speaker 1: like the headline of woman lies to men and steals
59:11
Speaker 1: from him. It doesn't exactly like shock you the same
59:15
Speaker 1: way as murder cult, does you know? And yeah, so
59:21
Speaker 1: a jury of eight women and four men, like they
59:26
Speaker 1: deliberate for two days and they they come back with
59:30
Speaker 1: a decision. They come back with a verdict guilty. May
59:34
Speaker 1: is guilty, and so she is convicted of eight counts
59:38
Speaker 1: of grand theft and she has to pay Clifford Dabney
59:42
Speaker 1: forty thousand dollars back. Right, she appeals it. It gets
59:48
Speaker 1: to the Supreme Court and it gets reversed on a technicality. Right,
59:55
Speaker 1: so he manages to get like some money back though,
59:57
Speaker 1: but it's not as much, but he gets like a
1:00:01
Speaker 1: tiny bit back. That being said, no one is ever
1:00:08
Speaker 1: charged with any death or disappearance related to the Blackburn cult,
1:00:15
Speaker 1: like Ruth even manages to get an absentee divorce from
1:00:19
Speaker 1: Sammy Ritzio. And Mary is a barber shop owner. And
1:00:25
Speaker 1: like May and Ward Blackburn, they lived in Hannington Park,
1:00:32
Speaker 1: and some cult members stayed nearby, like that's that's someunk cost,
1:00:37
Speaker 1: Like they're so invested in her, like they stay close. Now,
1:00:42
Speaker 1: some cult members actually end up staying at the compound,
1:00:46
Speaker 1: like they just don't leave, which is a decision that
1:00:52
Speaker 1: they made. Now, in nineteen thirty two, they did try
1:00:56
Speaker 1: to bring it back the case back to the County
1:00:58
Speaker 1: Superior Court, and it was supposed to be like early
1:01:01
Speaker 1: March nineteen thirty two, but they were like, let's not.
1:01:06
Speaker 1: They decided not to pursue it any further. And so yeah,
1:01:09
Speaker 1: she was free. She had no conviction and it was
1:01:13
Speaker 1: set aside and everything was fine, and so yeah, May
1:01:18
Speaker 1: ends up publishing a book four years later, and then
1:01:23
Speaker 1: she's like, she's like her occupation, like in the senses
1:01:27
Speaker 1: like it was it was like real estate agent director,
1:01:32
Speaker 1: and now she's like reader because like, you know what,
1:01:35
Speaker 1: many hats, many hats, and like she ends up living
1:01:39
Speaker 1: a fairly like basic, basic life, and so she ends
1:01:47
Speaker 1: up living a fairly chilled existence by the end of it.
1:01:52
Speaker 1: And May she ends up passing away from a heart
1:01:57
Speaker 1: attack on the seventeenth June nineteen fifty one at the
1:02:03
Speaker 1: age of sixty nine. And Ruth she moved to Sacramento,
1:02:10
Speaker 1: gets divorced, marries again, and ends up becoming Ruth Williams.
1:02:16
Speaker 1: She moves to Lake Tahoe and like the cult is
1:02:19
Speaker 1: still going meanwhile, but she's gone there and she lives
1:02:23
Speaker 1: again a fairly a fairly quiet life after this, and
1:02:28
Speaker 1: Ruth ended up passing away on the nineteenth of December
1:02:32
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight in Sacramento, California, at the age of
1:02:37
Speaker 1: seventy nine. And over the years the culture sort of
1:02:42
Speaker 1: dwindled until it disappeared, and they just kind of the
1:02:46
Speaker 1: ones that stayed on the compound just continued practicing whatever
1:02:52
Speaker 1: they were like legally allowed to do, and then eventually
1:02:55
Speaker 1: it just puzzled out. But that is the store of
1:03:01
Speaker 1: the Blackburn Cult. Now, if you if you liked my
1:03:06
Speaker 1: retelling of this horrible story, feel free to rate and
1:03:09
Speaker 1: review of five stars. If you didn't like it, keep
1:03:11
Speaker 1: your opinion to yourself. And I'm kidding, I'm not, but yeah,
1:03:15
Speaker 1: so if you liked it, I hope you did. I
1:03:18
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about this because I just thought cults
1:03:21
Speaker 1: are so interesting because of how people are sort of
1:03:26
Speaker 1: pulled into them and you don't realize that you're in
1:03:29
Speaker 1: a cult, Like some people never realize they're in a cult,
1:03:33
Speaker 1: and then some people only realize it too late, and
1:03:36
Speaker 1: then you've got all this fear and everything that's built
1:03:39
Speaker 1: up around it, and it is it is wild. But yeah,
1:03:44
Speaker 1: that is the story of the Blackburn Cult. And yeah,
1:03:50
Speaker 1: you can follow me on all the socials. Keep your
1:03:53
Speaker 1: tears pricked for news and stuff happening with touring and
1:03:57
Speaker 1: shows and travels and oh that fun stuff. And there's oh,
1:04:01
Speaker 1: something exciting should be happening this month, but I'm not
1:04:05
Speaker 1: sure if it is this month or next month, but
1:04:07
Speaker 1: it's happening soon and I'm very excited. It is my
1:04:11
Speaker 1: birthday month as well. So if you're still listening at
1:04:14
Speaker 1: this point, there is links in the description down below
1:04:18
Speaker 1: to donate to foedbanks, to the La Foed Bank because
1:04:23
Speaker 1: with snap being taken away from people who need it,
1:04:27
Speaker 1: because people should still be allowed to eat. That's just
1:04:30
Speaker 1: how it is. I don't think people should be starving.
1:04:34
Speaker 1: And so if you want to, if you want to
1:04:36
Speaker 1: donate to that, that would be great. I just think
1:04:41
Speaker 1: we should do something to help. If you actually want
1:04:46
Speaker 1: to get me something, I know some people like to
1:04:48
Speaker 1: do that. I have. I have links for places where
1:04:52
Speaker 1: I buy stuff for myself. Listen. It is mainly underwear. Listen.
1:04:58
Speaker 1: It's the one vice I have that's high quality underwear.
1:05:03
Speaker 1: I just I just I like it and I find that,
1:05:06
Speaker 1: like anything, sort of corsetry is really good for my back.
1:05:10
Speaker 1: It means I don't have to wear like a really
1:05:12
Speaker 1: clunky upsetting back support because I got I got them
1:05:16
Speaker 1: to form spying, you know, and my muscles get a
1:05:19
Speaker 1: lot of pain, especially in the winter. But anyway, that's that.
1:05:23
Speaker 1: If you do want to do that, that's great. If
1:05:25
Speaker 1: you want to just share this and more stuff, that
1:05:29
Speaker 1: would be amazing, engage on the social media's. And I
1:05:33
Speaker 1: am working on Patreon stuff. I know I say those
1:05:36
Speaker 1: diver months, but I am actually working on Patreon stuff.
1:05:38
Speaker 1: I just I just need to actually have a day
1:05:41
Speaker 1: off work to do it because there's so much happening.
1:05:46
Speaker 1: But it's time for recommendation time. Actually actually, yes, Oh,
1:05:53
Speaker 1: I'm going to be booking my flight soon. I'm waiting
1:05:55
Speaker 1: for like there's always like a really good sale like
1:05:57
Speaker 1: around Christmas for like US flights, So I'm going to
1:06:00
Speaker 1: be booking my flights to the US. I know you're like,
1:06:04
Speaker 1: don't come here, listen. I got friends I'm gonna go
1:06:06
Speaker 1: see them. And also I've got a murder she wrote
1:06:09
Speaker 1: festival to visit, so I got stuff to do also, yes,
1:06:14
Speaker 1: and so recommendation time, it's going to do. Recommendation time
1:06:18
Speaker 1: for reading How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Pern. Listen,
1:06:25
Speaker 1: I like my fictional crime. Okay, let me have this
1:06:29
Speaker 1: for listening. Sticking with the crime theme, there is a
1:06:36
Speaker 1: podcast called Crime in Sports. They also do small Town Murder,
1:06:42
Speaker 1: which is great, but sometimes, like, because of how much
1:06:45
Speaker 1: heavy things I listen to, I really can't listen to
1:06:48
Speaker 1: just like murder murder all the time. And so crime
1:06:51
Speaker 1: in Sports because I know so little about sports, it's
1:06:56
Speaker 1: somehow better because they're naming for and I'm like, I
1:07:00
Speaker 1: don't know what that is, and it's super fun for me.
1:07:04
Speaker 1: So Crime in Sports is a really good lesson. And
1:07:09
Speaker 1: you know, because sometimes I do listen to men talk. Sorry, no,
1:07:13
Speaker 1: some of my best friends are men. And for watching
1:07:20
Speaker 1: watch the screen movies. Like the screen movies, watch them
1:07:23
Speaker 1: in order. Don't watch the new one that's coming out
1:07:25
Speaker 1: because screw them for be indexed. But yeah, watch watch
1:07:31
Speaker 1: the original screen movies and then some of the sequels.
1:07:33
Speaker 1: You may as well have some fun. And yeah, that
1:07:36
Speaker 1: is that is this week. So that is I guess
1:07:40
Speaker 1: time to say adios au revoir of ware as them
1:07:45
Speaker 1: my friends, bye bye,