Surprised no one has mentioned this yet. This is a fascinating 6 part documentary about an Eastern religious group/cult that bought property in the high desert of Oregon in the 80’s and tried to build their own version of nirvana. However, it ended in planned assassinations of federal and state officials, takeover of a small town govt and attempted take over of a county govt, mass drugging of thousands of homeless people (all brought in to vote for the cult in the elections), mass immigration fraud, extensive wiretapping by the cult, and finally, the largest bio-terrorism attack on US soil.
I only remember this because when their leader fled when tipped off of an arrest attempt, he flew across country and was captured in Charlotte, NC, where I was living at the time. It was quite the news then and grabbed the local headlines so I read a great deal then about what was going on out west with this group. Anyway it’s a fascinating story, begins a bit slow with the first episode but rapidly builds.
It consists of archival footage and interviews with a number of key participants - local ranchers, govt prosecutors, local reporters, local govt officials, and a number of members of the Rajneesh religious group. There aren’t really any questions by the film makers that you hear, they just generally let each of the participants speak freely about what was going on (presumably they set a topic for each interview).
Just up the road from me are the Morehousians…also known as the Purple People since all their stuff is painted purple for some reason. I’m not sure if they quite rise to the “sex cult” level, but they’re a polyamorous and sex positive group and also pretty secretive and odd. Though considering the level of harassment they’ve received over the years, it’s fairly understandable.
Having spent a lot of time on the NoCal/Southern Oregon border area, definitely watching this doc. There were a lot of other, more benign, cults/religious groups in the area back in the day. Should be interesting.
I visit The Dalles, OR on a regular basis, the site of the mass salmonella poisoning. Folks there are still quite angry about the Rajneeshees. What surprised me about the documentary is that the initial problems were all coming from the non-cultists. The cultists obviously escalated in unacceptable ways, but it really looks like the problems were originally caused by a bunch of repressed, conservative Christians persecuting them for too much free-fucking.
I think that is a bit unfair. From what I’ve read, the locals were more curious than anything at the beginning, and some even welcomed the additional business. It was only when it was clear that a small agricultural commune was turning into a city in violation of Oregon land use laws that the locals turned hostile and all that went with it came forth. The upfront lying about their intentions did nothing to endear the Rajneesh to the locals, and the county and state governments for that matter.
After watching all six episodes, my primary reaction is this: Ma Anand Sheela is a fucking piece of work, man. She’s unbelievable. If you ever wanted to witness true unbridled megalomania up close, look no further.
I think the world is full of people who’s spirit is “lost” and they are looking for someone else to basically control their lives. True then and true now.
