In 1920s Los Angeles, the mother-daughter duo of May Otis Blackburn and Ruth Wieland ran a female-dominated religious cult. The Blackburn Cult, as it was called in the newspapers of the time, came to the attention of the LAPD after a fraud investigation. But following the clues soon led to revelations of far worse offenses than simple fraud.
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Opening music from https://filmmusic.io. "Dark Child" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Closing music by Soma.
SOURCES
Oregon Daily Journal, August 5, 1917.
“Body of Cult Priestess Discovered Under House.” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1929.
“Police Probing Weird Burial by Cult.” Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, October 7, 1929.
“Priestess Snubs Ex-Swain.” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1929.
“Rhoads is Known at Klamath Falls.” Salem Statesman Journal, October 10, 1929.
“Vancouver Marriage Licenses.” Oregon Daily Journal, May 28, 1915.
Fort, Samuel. Cult of the Great Eleven. Omaha: Nisirtu Publishing, 2019.
Fremont Everett - Facts (ancestry.com)
Ruth Angeline Wieland - Facts (ancestry.com)
93 -Death Most Mysterious, Part Two
92 - Death Most Mysterious, Part One
91 - The Kelayres Massacre
90 - The Red Man of the Tuileries
89 - William Etlinger
88 - The Tichborne Claimant
87 - The Green Bicycle Mystery
86 - The Wheels of Orffyreus
85 - Don't Call It Murder, Call It A Job
84 - The Phantom Stabber of Bridgeport
83 - The Periphery of the Canon
82 - The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser
81 - The Demon of the Belfry
80 - The Smallest of the Small
79 - Helen Eiker
78 - The Phantom of O'Donnell Heights
77 - The Death of Ocey Snead
76 - The Devil's Footprints
75 - Earle Leonard Nelson, Part Three
74 - Earle Leonard Nelson, Part Two
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