The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 217 - Edmund and The Holy Rollers
Episode Date: November 7, 2016Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine Edmund Creffield and his amazing cult. SOURCESTOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH - Based on "Holy Rollers: Murder and Madness in Oregon’s Love Cu...lt" by T. McCracken and R. Blodgett
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You're listening to The Dollop. This is a bi-weekly American History podcast each
week. I, Derek Reynolds, read a story from American History to my friend. Dave
Anthony who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. This is our Halloween
episode.
Do you want to look who to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary
Gera. Dave okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is
not gonna become a tickly quad guy. Okay. You are Queen Fakie of made-up town. All
hell, Queen Shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle. And do
my thing. I want to do this story for a while and I finally decided to do it.
Kara Douse helped me with the research. And the reason I held off on it is
because there's some sex stuff in here. But I read deeply into it and
there's no, there's no, I mean it's a fucking crazy story. So what? Back then the
age of consent was lower. It's not like, when I looked at the age of
consent, okay in Delaware it was seven. So we don't really, sorry, sorry. So we
don't really go that low. Sorry. Seven? Seven. Most dates at this time the age of
consent was 10 or 12. Oh my god. But most of the women in the story were at
least in their older, some were in their later teens. Which was a
marrying age back then. So I decided to do it. Like what is later teens? 16, 17.
Okay. All right. That's still creepy. But that's when people got married back then.
Yeah. That's not as creepy as say, I don't know. Some people were tossing around
the number seven earlier. Well, yeah. I don't know why Delaware is still a state.
They should have been abolished after that. Yeah. How deli dare they? So anyway,
eventually a campaign got started to change the age to 18. Right. Prop no
brainer. Mostly are now. Currently in Oregon it's 18. So that's exciting. That's
fun. That's great. 1873. Edmund Creffield was born somewhere in Germany. He may have
studied to become a priest and immigrated to America around his 20th
birthday perhaps to avoid military service. None of that is really known.
Okay. What is known is that Edmund was in Portland, Oregon in 1899 where he
preached as a soldier in the Salvation Army. He preached as a soldier in the
Salvation Army. Yeah. So yeah, he was in the Salvation Army. He was a soldier and
then he was one of the preacher guys. Go around and preach. They're a
Salvation Army. They're not a regular Army. The Salvation Army being the
Salvation Army. Yeah. But they used to just go around and spread the word of
God. That was their thing. Yeah. Okay. That's why they're called the Salvation
Army. Yeah. And now they just sell shitty clothes for Halloween. At first he was
seen as a rising star in the organization but soon he was complaining
about how much important was placed on donations. Well, you know, that's kind
of the adolescence of piousness. Yeah. Right. For sure. The phase where you sort
of wake up and you go, you know what? I do need money. And I want a lot of it.
Then in 1901, Edmund said the Holy Ghost directed him not to solicit for money
and to leave the Salvation Army because quote, its people are not entirely of
God. Okay. So he's they're not. So this is God telling him the Salvation Army.
The Holy Spirit. Yes, God told him. But the Salvation... The Holy Spirit or God?
Well, the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was like, talk to God. Yeah. He, look, the
Salvation Army is great, but is it enough? The money things are bummer. The money
things are really let down. And these people because they're into the money, they mean...
And by the way, God wishes he could be here his lunch went late. Right. His lunch
went super late. I know. He's very sorry. He really loves your work. He loves the work.
He will be on the phone Friday. Yes. Thank you. For sure. Yes. So he's more
godly than the Salvation Army at this point. Sure. Right. Yeah. He's bringing a
full God. He's an army of one. Edmund resigned from the Salvation Army and went
to study with a Pentecostal group in Salem, Oregon. Good. And now I think we're
eliminating the fear that this group might not be religious enough. I'm sure.
Right. Right. They taught a literal interpretation of the Bible, which is
always good. Always good. Always a good sign. Always good. They rejected worldly
temptations and held evangelistic meetings every night. Okay. Every night. Yep. This
is before TV. Yeah. So just going to church for them on Sunday wasn't good
enough. No. 24, 7. There's still religions like that. Yeah. I know. In late 1902,
Edwin made his way to Corvallis, Oregon, which is just a little south of Portland.
He picked Corvallis to preach the new doctrine that had been revealed to him. Oh
so. Okay. It's going on his own. But now this doctrine was given to him from
above. Sure. Yeah. No, it's yeah. He's bringing it. It's his. Oregon was a place
people migrated to because of the agricultural possibilities. Corvallis
was a small farming community where everyone knew everyone else's business.
For example, from the times in October 1901, a swift journey on a bicycle was
made Saturday by Frank Hurt. Okay. He went from Corvallis to Oregon City in
six hours. It is not likely that the trip was ever made by wheel in such a
short time. So this is a small town. And from the Gazette, Frank Hurt is said to
be doing exceedingly well in his position as shipping clerk at Answorth
Dock in Portland. He's well spoken of by his employers. What? Sorry. This I mean
these are. That's in the paper. There's slow news days and then there's no
news that's that's some that's a big news day and in this town. Mrs. Clark has
bowel movement. I didn't want that in the paper. Extra extra. Bell movements are
going well at the car. Leave my house at the Johnson residence. My house and my
property. I was sick. This lady in front of me had a great be I'm read about it.
No, please. Edmund began his new preaching career in the town by preaching
each evening to soldiers he knew from his Salvation Army days. Sounds very
different from his previous position. At first he said nothing outrageous and
used Salvation Army hymns. So what has he done? He just stole their bit. Then as
everyone got more comfortable, Edmund said that God had come to him and had
spoken to him. Good. Hi, how are you? And God wanted him to reveal the divine
truth. Good. And not wanting to sound like the drunks who claim they had a
direct line of God. Right. The fools. Edmund told his followers that they too
could speak to God. And if they achieved this connection their name would
be inscribed on a holy roll in heaven. So tickets to heaven. Get yourself on the
holy roll. Right. The holy roll. That's that's what that lady was using. The
holy roll. Did we stop? The holy lady uses the holy roll after a huge BM.
Just please stop. This is such a huge story, ma'am. Why is it the front? Do you plan on
having more? No. Oh wow. Lady retires from BM after the biggest one ever. But the
roll had limited space so they had to act fast. This is so heaven's a nightclub.
Well that's what it is. I mean the man who created everything who lives in the
clouds would probably I mean you could probably see from the whole galaxy. You
gotta get it. It's as expansive as anything could be. If you don't get in they shut it
down. But the bouncer has a little hand clicker. It's like any other list. St.
Peter's just there. He's like look you gotta wait for two to exit then I can
let you guys in. Oh no the hot girls you come on. Yeah ladies come on up here.
Excuse me. Have you sinned? I'm kidding. Get on in there sweetie. You ladies get up
front. Nellie's in the back. Nellie's dead and in the back. Nellie died.
We just killed Nellie. Nellie's dead. Being sent a picture. Cool. Well I mean
that's probably maybe something you could hold off on figuring out right? We
have any dog and it picks up objects and carries them all over the house. Sure.
Is that dog behavior? Yeah. So right so so they all went for it. They were all
in. After a while they were repeating Edmunds chance. God have mercy. God will
have victory tonight and they prayed for an hour. Edmund made them beg forgiveness
for their sins. One hour turned into two then three then four. Edmund passed hands
over one woman saying all ills could be cured by laying on of hands. More time
passed. Five, six, seven hours. By now the chanting was loud. Pushed on by Edmund
who preached that sin must be washed away and on and on it went for ten hours.
Edmund was still going strong. The group began pleading for forgiveness.
Finally Edmund said anyone who thought they had sinned or thought they hadn't
needed to ask, needed to seek forgiveness by lying on the floor and
rolling over and over again until their sins have been atoned for. The
followers began rolling. Some beating their heads and feet on the floor and
praying loudly. They rolled and prayed and clapped and rolled and prayed. Then
twelve hours later exhausted with head spinning they heard it. God spoke to
them. Ordinary people. Edmund then told them. Weird scene. They were like God's
elect. They had made it onto the holy roll. Now they trusted Edmund and his
link to God. They hadn't experienced anything like this in the Salvation Army.
So they left and joined Edmund. The holy rollers were born. Oh boy. The holy rollers.
Yeah. Okay. Nice. Their nightly meetings got louder and more annoying to
neighbors. Oh yeah. By the summer of 1903 the city of Corvallis forbade Edmund
from holding meetings within the city limits. Edmund told his flock that he
got a message from above to hold a meeting on Kieger Island. A small uninhabited
island on the Willamette River three miles out of town. He told them to bring
family and friends because if they didn't get their names on the holy roll
they'd be doomed to an eternity in hell. So he was trying to get everybody else.
Right. Yeah. Edmund started calling himself Joshua. Okay. I'm not gonna call him
Joshua. Okay. You'll call him Edmund but he's been going by Joshua. Yeah. You get
super confusing but now he's calling himself Joshua. Sure. Edmund was small.
He was about five foot six inches 135 pounds. Okay. Or 61 kilograms. He had
pale blue eyes and long hair. He was not ugly and he was not attractive but the
ladies dug Edmund. Okay. Yeah. Well he's talking to God. And he's God's buddy.
Yeah. He's a bro. Yeah. Bros with God. Yeah. Wingman. Yeah. Totally. That's funny.
You know my buddy God. Sorry. I don't mean to name drop but my buddy God the
other day he was he was sort of talking about that he's created he created
everything. Yeah. And you know he was just talking to me about how stressful it
is and I said to him I said I said God I said God but I call him but I said I
said but God you know what you need to remember is you're all seeing you're all
knowing but sometimes maybe you don't know you. Hi. Yeah. And he was like oh
yeah anyway. I'm gonna take off my skirt. Yeah. Get your skirt off. You know God is
he's a he's a pal. We have secret handshakes and the underpants and we
have you know great handshakes. I'm just gonna take mine off too. Yeah. You know
we're what we love what we I'll tell you what we love to do is we love to watch
old old movies. Be a God. You know we love a good. I would have dropped my
underwear off too. And I'm inside and God God's God's God's like you and me in a
lot of ways. He really is. He's he's down to earth while he lives in the
skies. All right. And there we go. And yeah he's a great pal and this is good
and all right. Do you smoke. Oh what. Huh. What happened. Nothing. Anyway you
should probably get out of here. God's coming by. So he invites the
families which worked. So wait they all went to heaven. Awesome. So what was
surprising about the women particularly who came to the island that summer was
that they were from good respectable God fearing families. There were several
families on the island that summer. They were the Mitchells Esther 15 and her
older sister Donna. Donna was married and brought her two young children. All
four of the Sealy girls between 16 and 27 years old. Interesting fact about the
Mitchell and Sealy girls both had their mothers die when they were young and
their fathers abandoned them. It's weird that they fell in with some Molly
Sandell and her sister Olive 26 were from a Methodist family. Molly was
engaged to Frank Hurt 21. We know Frank right. Yeah Frank the guy you can't
stop biking has a great job. He left his job to go to the island. Oh wow. His
sister boy that must have been huge in the paper.
Luck leaves town. His sister. The man who's been making all the headlines
continues to thrive. His sister's Maude 23 and May 16 were there as well as
their mother Sarah. Sarah's husband OV Hurt a respectable gentle kind
Christian man joined them. There were some men Samson Levins and Lee Campbell. He
was engaged to Sophia Hartley who was the daughter of one of the richest men in
town. They weren't religious before Edmond came long but now we're full in.
Sophie's 44 year old mother Cora joined them. So he had a solid group of people.
We had a big group. Right. Edmond was in his early 30s at this point. He now
declared that the world would soon be destroyed and begin anew. Yeah right.
Of course. Edmond said he would lead the flock back to Jerusalem where the
restoration would take place. Sure. Literal Jerusalem. I think yeah I think
there's a journey ahead of him. Quite a hike. But for now they went about their
daily business which were 24 hour rollathons 12 hours was considered to
be a short service. They're basically just rolling and banging their heads and
praying for at least 12 hours a day. Sounds really super normal. Sounds really
fine. They were physically and mentally. God's maybe a little weird. Like why
does he keep asking us to roll and just hit our heads. I don't know. This is what
he's into. My head is killing me. Fuck it hurts so bad. We just did 30 hours in a
row. I just want to wear a helmet. And that's what you heard. You saw his face when I
suggested. Oh he's so mad. Yeah he was mad. God. I don't know. It's hard. But God's
weird though I think. Yeah I think he might be. But the guys up the road have
snakes. I don't want to. Yeah no I hate snakes. So yeah so they're physically
and mentally exhausted at the end of every day. They only ate peaches. They
stole from a nearby orchard. Because that's all the food they had. Oh God. And I
like peaches. But what a nightmare. Oh my god the diarrhea. Can we have something
that isn't a peach. I have stores in my mouth. The diarrhea alone. Oh Jesus. You
can't just eat peaches. Excuse me Edward. Yeah. I was wondering if God would let
us eat anything but stolen peaches. Cool. He said no everyone. See it roll time.
Oh cool. He's rewarding us with more rolling and banging. String. Fill up on
peaches now we've got a long session ahead. Strangely eating only peaches made
them all very weak. So so weak. I mean that's really the experiment. What
happens when you put a room full of people near a peach orchard. And that's
all they eat. This week on life's a peach.
Maude Hertz fiance James came to the island to visit after a few weeks. The
rollers. You all smell a lot like peaches. Hi there. Oh this is weird. You're all
very yellow. The rollers told them they had received a message from God. They
were going to build a new. Oh you didn't hear. No God makes us roll and eat peaches.
We're all hearing the same thing. And that's. And that's. We lost pasta. We
don't we. Pasta is all we talk about when we're not rolling. We're very pasta.
We would love pasta. Edward won't let us say the P word. The Holy Rollers told
them they were going to build the new Tabernacle. And when James James asked
where they were going to get the money to buy it the flock said you. Apparently
this is what Edmund had told them. But Edmund are Edmund. I was saying Edward.
Oh no Edmund. But Edmund already owed James money for from a loan. Fortunately
Edmund had been told by God that the loan was cancelled and he no longer owed
the debt. Well that's official. That's yeah that's better than a notary. That's
how I mean that's Bank of America. That's God takes takes that they'll accept
that is a mortgage. Yeah. Oh my mortgage is done. I heard from God last night.
Well I understand your policy. Let me throw God on the phone. Hello BOA. This
is the Lord and Savior God. I want you to wipe away all Edmund's debt. I don't
believe I created everything except loans except for loans. Those are invention
of you. Now knock it off. Edmund told them James to Edmund tells James after
Edmund says the loan is cancelled. He tells James that he has to sell all his
valuables quit his job and devote himself. Was he settled at this point or was
this still pretty fresh off the boat. James just came by for a visit. He just
was like hey what's up everyone. Did you hear I don't know anything you're
building new structures. Sell all your stuff. Care for a peach. James had just
bought a new car but Edmund told them to get rid of it. You got to get rid of
that. World possessions and all everything. James was not down with this plan.
Edmund told James that God would smile would smite him for not giving him the
money. Different. So this is getting weird.
Mod then told James. That's kind of like eliminates the free will to decide
what to do in your life. Really. So Mod then broke off the engagement with James.
Good. Because God commanded it and James left the island. So this was a super
shitty vacation for him. But also arguably the hero of the story. So far.
Oh he's coming back. God also demanded that Sophia Hartley and Lee Campbell call
off their engagement as well. Edmund was now railing. God wants all the women to
be really single and horny for me. Super single. Maybe topless. God doesn't like tops.
God hates bras. So Edmund is now railing against fornication demanding
personal purity from the flock. As Corinthians 7 1 says it is not good. The
only thing that should be banging is your head. It is not good for man to touch
a woman. At the same time God gave him a new message.
Every woman in the flock. You've got mail. Is that how this keeps happening?
Every woman in the flock had to take part in a ceremony
with him which would quote endow them with the grace of love.
It would take place in his tent. He and the woman would quote
engage in a long prayer service. Uh huh. There was a laying on of hands.
At the end he told the woman to put her arms around his neck and kiss him.
Okay. And then they would be told to submit themselves
to the lust of other men in the flock. If any woman refused to take part in the
ceremony they would be denounced and declared
carnal and of the devil. Okay. So he takes women one by one into a tent.
Praise with them. Long time yeah. Makes out with them.
And then says if they say no to fucking any of the men
they'll go to hell. Yep. Cool guy. It's one way to do it.
They were all quote anointed in front of each other for the members etc.
When you say anointed you mean they're just having like an orgy.
And when I say orgy I mean like a rapey orgy. I mean I think yeah I think they're
having orgies. The reason they went for it was because
Edmund said God wanted a new Mary for the restoration and it was up to Edmund
to choose her. So sorry there he's America's Got Talenting
the flock of women in a fuck competition. Yeah it's a it's a hot fuck comp
and they're trying to pick the new Mary. This is how Jesus tonight we will find
out who is our new Mary. I've never really read the Bible but
I'm pretty sure this is how how Jesus did it. Totally. Totally.
No one brought that up I guess this didn't happen in the can I make the point that
the Mary synonymous with virginity. Well I mean so and he's just being like yeah
yeah yeah but I gotta see what's going on in there.
Yeah but he he don't want an amateur.
So then he named all of his female followers the brides of Christ.
Sure sure sure sure. Although the male followers are not supposed to be
a part of the anointing one guy accidentally walked into one of Edmund's
private ceremonies. Wait aren't the men the men are oh
that's the anointing the sex is something. No Edmund is basically having
sex with women while all the other women watch.
But aren't the guys also no it's only Edmund that can sleep with them.
No they all can sleep with them. Oh right.
But he's doing the the special ceremony. His anointing ceremony which is the
private tent time yeah where he's kissing them and then he is.
Well he's doing it. Okay right. This this isn't the private
tent time now they're now he's screwing the women in front of each
other. Okay this is all the other women are
watching you do it and the men are outside and the men are not allowed to
walk in to yeah well that kind of busts up the energy a little.
One guy accidentally walked in and one of Edmund's private ceremonies he was
chased and beaten by the flock. The guy went back to Corvallus and told
everyone in the town what he had seen. Now rumors of free love and nudity
spread. Burgess star started to have doubts so
Edmund announced Burgess uh
that shouldn't say announced there was a change so whatever he kicked Burgess out
and he shunned as were all the other men in camp. All the men were?
The exception of three other guys Frank Hurt, Lee Campbell and
Samson Levin so all the other guys who were there are kicked out except these
three dudes and the other men were shunned even
the ones that are married to the. To these women who are now and the
and the women and the the brides of Christ to obviously
choose Christ over these guys. That's correct that's what I would do.
Yeah of course. Now he's got it all. The Salvation Army
got wind that things were not going as planned with their man Edmund
and sent in Captain Charles Brooks to save the women in the situation.
All right. So the captain's coming in. Uh-huh. We're
sending in a ranking officer. And he's a ranking officer in this church of
Salvation Army. That's correct. Okay. That didn't go as
planned either. Within days Brooks was crying that he was covered in
snakes and had been visited by the devil. Okay. He tore off his clothes and
threw them into a fire before passing out. Okay. So they sent a good guy to go
do this. Well how's it going there Brooks? Well I'm
naked and snakes are all over me. I can't come back.
Brooks quickly became Edmund's most trusted disciple.
So that didn't work out at all. Let's not send anybody else down there.
Captain's susceptible. Do you want to go? No. All right.
You've heard my name. Rain came at the end of the summer and since they had not
gotten that loan to build their tabernacle they needed to move.
They could not move into the city. They're basically just on a fucking
island. There's no buildings. Yeah. Okay great.
So they're just stranded on an island where the women can't say no.
They roll around and bang their heads and all they do is eat peaches.
And then fuck. Yes. They could not move into the city limits because of the ban.
Maude and Sarah Hurt stepped up. They invited Edmund 19 of the flock
to move into the Hurt family home. It was just across the river from the town
and outside the city border. There are now 20 people rolling around
OV Hurt's house. Okay. They prayed so loudly that they could
be heard by people a quarter mile away. Oh wow.
It's fucking screaming. How far away is heaven? That's probably not live.
That's like a half mile. Oh it is. Okay. Edmund began to regulate every
detail of his father's lives. They couldn't use candles. They had to
sleep on the floor. Wait. Right off the bat.
Insane. Can't use candles. Well the light comes from
God-provided light. Not at night. Yeah then you shouldn't be
you know. Okay. I'm not even gonna. They could only eat what
Edmund had touched. That is. Edmund!
Edmund did you touch this hand? No. Hold on. Here we go. You're gonna eat
this? Yeah. Let me get my hand all over it.
There we go. Okay. There we go. Have you washed them in a while?
By the way, I have to lick some of these too.
God came down earlier. He told me that the hand isn't enough so I'm just
gonna give this hand a lick. I totally get it.
Oh god. Wow. Okay. And he also said I should probably eat some of it.
So I'm gonna just take a bit of this before you eat it. Okay. Whatever. That's falling off the
bone. That's delicious. And then he said I gotta put it down my
pants real quick.
The flock was only allowed to communicate with each other.
This meant O.V. whose house it was, who was a Christian, who'd open up his house
to these people, mostly kept, mostly to keep an eye on his family, right,
was snubbed in his own house and called the Black Devil
by everyone, including his wife and children.
Black Devil coming through. I know. I'm going to the bathroom. Here comes the devil.
Excuse me, Black Devil? I'm not. That's not my name.
Can I eat some of these eggs? Yeah. Thank you, Black Devil.
Stop calling me that. My name is O.V. Do you guys want an omelet?
The Black Devil is going to let me use the eggs. I'm not.
Is the bedroom, are you enjoying, is the room nice? Yeah, it's great.
Okay. Yeah. Screw you, Black Devil.
Dada Star refused to even shake hands with her husband Burgess when he came to
visit. Warren Hartley came to the house,
only to have his mother and sister lie on the floor in a translate state.
Come on, just say something to me. Lord is great, Lord is great, Lord is great,
Lord is great, Lord is great, Lord is great, Lord is great.
Coral, Coral Hartley. I brought some brittle.
Your favorite brittle from town. Coral Hartley told her husband to go away
or she would face eternal damnation. I guess it worked because on October 28th,
O.V. joined the Holy Rollers. Oh, God, what an awful, all right,
let's do this. This is the part of the movie where you're like, come on, no, no.
All right, I'm in. He quit his job. A sign was posted on the front. What are you
going to do for work instead of this, O.V.?
Uh, look, I just want people to stop calling me the devil,
I gotta be honest. It's so taxing. Could you imagine waking up and you're
like, I'm just going to go get a glass of water and there's like nine people
going, here comes the Black Devil. I was ready to fucking kill myself,
so I'm in this bullshit, right? I'm just in for now,
but I just, I just, I can't, I can't, you know what I mean?
Well, you'll be missed. Okay.
Uh, a sign was posted on the front door that read, positively no admittance
except on God's business. That's like what a kid does.
Can't enter unless you're a friend. No girls allowed.
O.V. stopped dressing nice and started wearing rags and grew a beard.
Hey, you know, man, look, sometimes you just got to say screw it.
Let it out, man. You know what? If I'm not going to have a job,
I'm just going to fucking let shit hang. Yeah. You know, I'm tired, tired of
shaving. Yeah. Edmund ordered all the
furniture and possessions taken from the house and set on fire.
Hey, uh, hey, uh, just uh, look, I'm all in to the
health. I told you, I put my job. I'm in. Um, and I'm happy to do all this.
I'm thinking, why don't we do this? Right. Just to make, let's hedge our bets.
Okay. Let's take all the furniture. Let's put it in the garage and we'll just
leave it there. Set the garage on fire? Nope. No, no, no. That's an idea.
Let me, let me, I think we're going to set the garage. Actually not. Let me finish
my pitch, please. We're actually not. What I'm saying is let's put it in there.
Right. Let's put it in there and then let's let it, let's sit on it for maybe,
let's think about it for a couple of weeks, years, maybe. I don't know.
You know, it's just the whole, the whole, they don't make a lot of that stuff
anymore. So if one of those pieces goes, you got to
rebuy everything, not that I like possessions. I don't care about possessions.
I'm just saying, you know, as far as, uh, the table is, is, is handcrafted. It's
been in my family for a while and I just, you know, that'll,
you know, yeah, I'm fine. We can throw it on the lawn. What do you want to do? Just burn
it all at once? I guess everyone's looking at me real crazy and I don't want to be
the black devil anymore. So I just, what do I need to do? Set it on fire?
Yeah. Why don't you do that? Let's get it out of here. Let's get it out of here now.
Let's move it fast. The garage too. I like the idea of burning that garage down.
This included photos, heirlooms, utensils, a bike, a guitar, shotguns, dishes, shotguns.
We're burning guns. Baby buggies and a stove. After that, they burned flowers, a grapevine,
20 chickens, a cat and a dog. Oh God. Rumors spread. As I'm petting my little baby.
In town that they had tossed baby Martha hurt on the fire too, but this was not true.
Okay. During that fire, Cora and Sophie Hartley then went to their house, smashed all the family
China and carried as much as they could to put on the fire. What? Thankfully, they didn't have much
to carry as they had already sold most of their stuff. Good. They then went over to Sophia's
brother's place and stripped it of things. Hey, how are you guys on the fire? Hey, what are you
doing? What are you doing with all my stuff? Those are my pictures. Come on. See you later.
You're welcome. Those are all my doobie brother records. Yeah, we're going to get into heaven.
Right. So they do that. The brother was not down. He grabbed his gun and went over and was about to
kill some of the flock when his friends stopped him. A second fire started at the stars place and
more carnal goods were set on fire. The next day, 2000 of Corvallis's 3000 citizens lined the way
to the Hurt House. OV's friends tried to talk to him, but they were not allowed in. The sheriff
and two deputies then came and demanded to be let in. Edmund said, quote, I will consult God about
it. Give me a minute. Let me talk to the man upstairs. Then he paced back and forth on the porch
staring at the sky while everybody waited. Okay. Uh huh. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
No, I'll hold. I can hold. I'm sorry about that. Yeah. So what's happening over there?
The cops. Oh, don't let them in unless they have a warrant. Okay. Flush all the weed too. Oh,
really? Yeah. Yeah. And you're going to want to have sex with a bunch of the women today.
Okay. And make sure they roll around and bang their heads again too. You got it. Are you still
letting furniture on fire? Yeah. Yeah. That's a good man. That's a good man. You told me. Okay.
Well, I should get moving. I have a four o'clock. Yep. Hey, so I talked to him.
We're not gonna, we're not down with what, you know, you coming in and stuff. And I got a bunch
of ladies to fuck. So if you guys could just, you know, scoot. What do we do, Sarge?
He's talking to God. You saw it. Hey, he's got, he's got more powerful than the captain.
Who do we listen to? Who out rakes? Who? Does it go sheriff? God or God sheriff?
So the two lawmen were allowed in and inside they found most of the holy rollers lying on the floor
and laughing, crying and praying. The sheriff had no idea what to do. There was no law against
burning possessions or animals for that matter. But there were other laws. Edmund and Brooks
were taken into town to have their sanity tested. Whoa. Most of the flock followed.
Well, that, I mean, come on, the flock, the hell they're supposed to do. This was when,
Well, stay here. That's not, you failed. That's not at all what flocks do. This was when insanity
was used to lock people up who were socially or economically a problem. But both of the men
were found to be sane. And as the rollers returned to the house, one father took advantage of the
situation and grabbed his daughter, took her home and tied her to the bed. He walked in, he was
like, perfect, you're so you're down. Edmund shouted that God would smite him. The news of
the holy rollers was now big news across the world. But usually the reports were totally inaccurate.
Human sacrifice was reported. Corvallis had become a laughing stock. People in town were being asked
by friends if they had joined Edmund's church. Enough is enough. A few Corvallis men took matters
into their own hands. They went to the house one night and banged on the door. From inside,
they were shouted at quote, God have mercy, God will have victory tonight.
God wants me to sleep right now. God, the men then started throwing rocks and smashing the windows,
only to hear the holy rollers yell, it's either holiness or hell.
No. After a while, the men just gave up. What? They just were smashing the rock and they're like,
they're not these guys are fucking crazy. They're 10 minutes? I think they're there a while, but
they're like, these guys are nuts. Okay. Three of Edmund's men then went to town and asked if
anyone would be prosecuted, or if they could get anybody for protection against guys on rocks in
the window. Yeah. And the sheriff said he would provide it, but couldn't guarantee their safety.
What? If Edmund left town, however, he said there would be no need for it.
Okay. So I think he's given him a little get the fuck out of town weirdo.
And the next day, Edmund Brooks fled Corvallis. Brooks was seen peddling his bike as fast as he
could. So great. This guy's great. But their fleeing didn't last long. Days later, they were
back in the herd house. Now, OV was done and wanted out. Okay. He had a good run. Yeah,
he had a good run. The whole he clearly just didn't want to be called the black devil.
Yeah. And then he was like, you know what, I mean, I had a great job.
The Holy Rollers found a new tabernacle in Frank and Molly's house on the Willamette River. So
OV kicks him out. Now they go to Frank and Molly's house. Edmund was then, Edmund then named his
new Mary. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. The moment is upon us. Here we are. A queen has been picked.
Esther Mitchell, 16 years old. One of the younger contestants on the show.
Yeah. He announced that he was going to marry Esther. Okay. But that apparently worried her
sister, who had Esther committed to the Boys and Girls Aid Society, which was for homeless and
abused children. So her sister went and grabbed her and had her fucking locked up. You know,
the good thing is I don't think that was the Mary. Yeah, what's great about the Aid Society is that
they have locks on the wall. You can put people in. It's perfect. Esther continue rolling and
communicating with God in the Boys and Girls Aid Society. So they bring her there and she just
rolls around. Right. Does her thing. Then on July 4th, 1904, Edmund was seen naked on the banks
of the river surrounded by women. Hello. Hi there. Morning. Having a great time. I'm having a blowjob.
The men for God. And of course, Val has heard about this. And now they were done.
Yeah. And that's a little brash. Yeah. Nudehuck thinning. The girls in the flock wouldn't admit
to anything sexual because they didn't want to shame their families, but it was pretty obvious
some shit was going down. Right. That evening, 20 men who called themselves the White Caps got
on a ferry and headed for Frank Herd's house. There they captured the four men, Edmund, Brooks,
Levins and Campbell and took them back to Corvallis. They marched them down Main Street and the
sheriff did absolutely nothing. Edmund said, quote, Lord, forgive them what they are about to do.
And then Edmund and Brooks were stripped in the street. What kind of a punishment is that for
those two? They're like, perfect. Got any naked ladies? What are we doing, boys? Classic Wednesday.
I fuck bros if they're godly enough. Excuse me? I said I fuck bros if they're godly enough.
I was giving you a chance to say something different. Let me put the God in you. All right.
Have you ever heard God? No, but no, I can make it happen. I'd rather not have you in me.
I don't know. No, I know. I do not know if that's. I'm not trusting your philosophy. I see a weird
twinkle in your eyes. No, that's anger. Yeah. I don't know. You're about to hear God. What?
I'm going to be inside you. No, no, no, no, no. I'm going to do a missionary. You want to do it.
We can do a missionary. I don't want to do it at all. And I'd not. No, I'm not into
figuring that out with you. Let's figure that out. Nope.
So they're stripped. Now, this is when the great secret was revealed.
All right. Wait, let me reveal the great secret. Edmund had a monstrous penis. Oh, boy. 13 inches long.
Oh, shit. Listen, now I'm starting to see this religion a little better.
I just had a big... But that's why when he's naked, you're like,
okay, yeah. So you do know God, obviously. God is a good friend of yours. I mean, look at that
hog. Holy moly, this guy. Oh, boy. I believe in miracles. Holy God Almighty. Wow, that is a...
That is quite a dick. That is quite the God stick you've got there, my lord.
The God has provided. It is a crucifix between thine legs. So Edmund and Brooks were then
covered in tar. Does it get bigger? Yeah. Oh, God. Edmund and Brooks were then covered in tar.
Okay. Edmund got two layers and then they were feathered.
Levins and Campbell just had the tops of their heads tart and feathered. I don't know how that...
Like, maybe they were at a tar, like they didn't have that much tar. Oh, shade. What are we going
to do? We're low on tar. What about these guys? And you guys were just going to do your heads.
Like a tar hat? No, it's a form of punishment. We pre-arranged. So I can just shave off my
hair and I'll be fine. Well, yeah, but don't please. Have you seen his dick? It's hard to
look away from. I am not going to lie to you. That is Holy Moses. That is...
Right? Follow him. You know what I mean? Well, it's hard to not follow him. I can't...
Yeah. Yeah. The Lord mixed a man with a donkey. I swear. This is offensive. It is
offensively large. What are we saying? It is hard to look away from. He accidentally
hit it into me and it hurt. I think it bruised my hand. Yeah, it is... I saw him dent a car. Oh,
God. Yeah. Peace. So they were all, all four of them were warned to stop or the next time it
would be worse. We've covered this, but it's hot tar. It's hot tar. It hurts. It hurts really
badly. It's pain. It's very painful. What is it? I mean, but does it burn your skin? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I don't think it's like... It's not like third degree burn. It's not third degree, but it's...
Yeah. It's first degree burns. At least. Blistered. At least. Yeah. Yeah. You're not...
And then the way... How do you get it off? You get it off by like... I don't remember,
but there's ways... I mean, obviously, you try to get it off before it cools completely,
but there's ways, I think, but it's a very painful process. That is such a barbaric.
Yeah. So then they released them. The next day, Edmund went to the courthouse. The first time a
guy pitched that, people were like, what? What? I know. I got a great idea. Since he broke the law.
Yeah. Let's pour a bunch of hot tar on him. Then we put feathers on him, like a bird.
Okay. But you're the same guy who wanted to put syrup and gravel on people?
Yeah. Gravel cakes. Okay. Why don't you come back with another idea?
I have a lot more pitches. I'll come back. Okay. All right. Jesus Christ. That guy's a fucking idiot.
The next day, Edmund went to the courthouse. Gravy needles. I'll see you. That's not ready,
Fred. That's not ready. He went to the courthouse, right? Yeah. The next day. Because he was there
to get married. He married his second choice. That is so messed up. Married too, right? Yeah,
but that is really messed up. Who's the second married? If God is so involved in all this,
well, the first one got locked up. The first one was like a test or something. Yeah,
but it's not like replacing a cashier. We're talking about marriage. That's exactly what
it is. Oh, okay. So he chose Maude Hurte, right? OV's kid. They were married in a private room
of the courthouse. That night, the white caps went because they told them to stop. Yeah,
they said they didn't want to marry her. They went to Frank Hurte's house that night when
Frank left with two women. They went in looking for Edmund and Brooks. But Edmund and Brooks had
been dressed in drag and they were actually the two women who left with Frank. Oh my God.
Well, good luck finding them, boys. We'll see you later. Edmund was in a dress? Yeah.
They were not seen. Edmund was in a dress? Yeah. Edmund and Brooks were both in a dress.
He's got to be standing there like, don't get hard, don't get hard, don't get hard,
don't get hard. It's like a Fairleigh Brothers movie. Yeah. Yeah, truly. They were not seen.
But his penis was probably poking out of the dress. Oh, ridiculous giant penis on that lady.
Oh, yes. I was born with a third leg that I don't put a shoe on. Well, good day, gentlemen.
Oh, my penis. I mean, nothing. They were not seen in Corvallis again. Edmund moved
his church to Portland and declared himself the second savior. Maude moved back with O.V.,
which is a weird marriage, by March 1904, three months later, it seemed Corvallis had seen the
last of the Holy Rollers. Burgess star moved to Portland and took Donna with him. Now that Edmund
was there, she fell back under his spell, and Burgess was furious. Now, why did you go back
there? What are you doing? Why did you move closer to him? Yeah. He filed the complaint with the D.A.
accusing Edmund of committing. I ran into Edmund earlier. What? Uh, so, uh, excuse me.
So he files a complaint with the D.A. that his wife committed adultery,
which was a crime then, right? And Burgess wasn't alone. 12 other men then filed the
same complaint. Oh, boy. So they're coming out of the woodwork for big dick churn. Right. Yeah. Right.
Right. But they had no proof. Donna was then forced to sign an affidavit that she had had sex with
Edmund, and Edmund took off. A $350 reward was put on his head. A description was circulated
throughout the state. Quote, Edmund's given name. You've got to put in the description of the hog.
He's got a big dick. He's got a huge hog on him. Oh, so it looks like he's got an anaconda in his
corduroy. The underside pot is like a mule. Edmund's given name is Edmund instead of Joshua,
which later he adopted when pronouncing himself a holy roller. Edmund is described as being about
30 years old, a very light complexion, white hair, white whiskers, unless. The biggest penis you've
ever seen on a man. Huge dick. He weighs about 135 pounds. 138 with the dick. 5 feet, 6 inches. 6
2 with the dick. Wears number five and a half shoe, tiny feet. Whoa, dude. That's blowing up the
hole. Yeah. You know what? Yeah. You know what they say, guys with tiny shoes, get to pick the next
Virgin Mary. That's right. He has a good black suit and may be wearing blue colored blouse with
belt run through it. Also wears brown leggings. He's sure to have a Bible. Legans. That's terrible
for that. I mean, people are like, whoa. He's sure to have a Bible under his arm or in his pockets.
17 of the flock moved back to Frank Hertz' place where they rolled and prayed the days away. They
also stopped eating meat and started gathering their food. Then they started eating only one type
of food per meal. Oh boy. Coral Hartley, who was taken home, spent most of the spring praying in
a dark closet. Maud stopped calling OV father because there was only one father and he was in
heaven. She called her dad the old man hurt. You know, I'm getting a little sick and tired
of the nicknames. You want to go back to the black devil? No, I don't. Okay, old man hurt.
Can you call man hurt? Call me by my name. Call me dad. Black devil. Call me black dad. Please
meet me. Old man devil. How big is your dick? It's not very easy. It's not big at all. That's
why mom was fucking him. All right. She fasted for days at a time and turned the pictures to the
wall because they reflected vanity in the world. Right. Yeah. So she would also run into a crowded
room, fall to her knees and pray for the salvation of everyone there. That helps. So she's great
at a party. That's good. Yeah. Meanwhile, the brides of Christ would go out in public barefoot
and wearing thin brown colorless dresses that had a drawstring in the front. Wow. So they're
they're out there in this time. That's called a ready to go outfit. Yeah. They also didn't have
hats, which was pure fucking insanity. Then one paper wrote saying people don't go around bald
headed. There's so many other reasons. So many other reasons. The sane people. They were driving
the town crazy. So the holy rollers were sent to the Ascension Asylum. Maude and May Hurt and
their mother Sarah, Frank Hurt and his wife Molly, Florence Sealy, all committed. The others
were taken home and watched by their families. They're just going to enjoy the padded room.
They're going to be like, this doesn't bruise us as bad. It's great. I can roll around here. On May
29, 1904, Edmund was found. Turns out, and this should not be very surprising, he had been under
the Hurt's house the whole time under the Hurt's house. He was found one day by Ovi's adopted son
when he went looking for worms. Our hero. Edmund was emaciated, barely able to stand. Can I have
some of those worms? Had a huge beard and was ghostly pale. Hello. He looked about 60, even though
he was just about 31. He had been in a hole six feet long, two feet wide and a foot and a half
deep for four months. Oh, oh, my God's plan is getting weird. So weird. That kid probably thought
he found the biggest worm ever. He's like, I got a real winner here. Oh my God. What if he reached
us down and he just grabs his penis? Oh, look, it's getting hard. I'm going to pull it out until
it leaves. No matter how many times I got a tug on it. Oh God, the flock was smuggling him supplies,
but after they were locked up, he still lived in the hole for another month. Oh my God.
Awful. This is going to work out. This is going to work out. I'm all in. So all in. I'm all in.
As he came out, he held out his arms and proclaimed, I am Elijah. Elijah was a prophet who told the
king he had to repent but ended up hiding in a stream where birds brought him food. Oh my God,
I am Elijah. All right, that's enough out of you. He's the best. I'm Elijah.
A newspaper said he looked more beast than man. Hello, I'm Elijah. He was taken to jail and kept
away from the crowds who wanted to see the quote, semi-human creature. Nice people offered to kill
him for OV, but OV just wanted to get on with his life. Please just don't talk about it anymore.
And don't say, don't say. You know, don't say. Black devil? What? Why that? It's catchy. Edmund
was taken to Portland to face the adultery charge. He declined a lawyer saying God was his attorney
and then he pled not guilty. Okay. The judge asked Edmund if he knew people thought he was insane,
and Edmund replied that God hadn't mentioned that. No. Of all the stuff he's told me. Not our last
phone call. He's told me everything. He's told me so much stuff. He never said that. So that's not
a thing. Nope. Edmund had to wait in jail for six weeks. His fellow inmates despised him at first,
but soon he became very respected. No. He's got away. No. As the trial got going, the huge crowd
was disappointed when the state presented a short case. People had come to hear the dirty
fucking stories. Just a few witnesses took the stand, like Donna Starr, who confirmed their
adulterous relationship. The prosecution actually had plenty of dirt, but didn't want to bring
any more shame on the girls' families. Edmund called no witnesses. He told... You mean God
called no witnesses. He told the jury that his laws were the Ten Commandments and he had broken
none of them. He quoted passages from the Bible and admitted to having, quote, purged Donna Starr's
flesh from sin. Yeah. And I made her come. Yeah. When the judge asked whether he was admitting to
adultery, Edmund replied, quote, yes. In the eyes of the world, I am guilty, but God is on my side.
In the eyes of your law, yes, I am guilty, but in the eyes of God, I'm innocent. He should be here.
And while you may lock me in my prison cell, I can still cry glory to God and rest secure in the
knowledge that when my time comes, God will plead by case. I spent the last half a year in a hole.
Prison's going to be a mansion. Suck on that. Okay. Edmund was found guilty and sentenced to two
years in prison. He cried, God bless you to the jury while smiling as he was being let out. Oh,
boy. He could have been prosecuted for the crime of having sex with teenage girls because OV had
learned what Edmund had done with his daughter, but OV didn't want to hurt his daughter's reputation,
so he kept it secret. Right. Edmund did 17 months and was released on December 13th, 1905.
He went up to Seattle. That's where Frank and Molly now out of the asylum were trying to rebuild
their lives. All the holy rollers have been released from the asylum at this point. He sent for
I'm getting the band back together. We got a van. I'm Elijah now. He sent for Maude who was living
with OV and had been forced to divorce Edmund. She came and they were remarried on April 3rd,
1906. OV is like, all right. You know what? We're done. We are through. This is it. I'm so over
this shit. I'm done. Sarah Hurt joined them. So OV's wife is, Jesus. Edmund then told them they
were setting up a new Eden on the Yachts River on the Oregon coast. He also said he was very angry
with the Corvallis, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco. Yeah. He said they were modern sonoms
and called the wrath of God on them. It worked. A few days later, a 7.8 earthquake hit San Francisco
destroying 80% of the city. Oh God. So they are so now fucking in. So validated. They are so in.
So validated. I'd buy it. I'd be like, all right, dude. I'm listening. This is a little weird.
I'm listening. Edmund took full credit. His flock all headed down the Oregon coast. Donna
Starr left her home in the middle of the night, bailing out her kids and stealing $3.50 from
her husband. Well, live like kings. She walked 80 miles to get to her Joshua. Esther Mitchell also
returned to Edmund. Women began to stream through the nearby town with the Oregonian reporting,
quote, Edmund, the holy roller, is accumulating another stock of lunatics who sooner or later will
have to be taken care of by the state. The capturing care of his misguided followers cost the state
several thousand dollars two years ago. And from the start is he is making it is not improbable
that will be another big bill of expense to foot in the near future. So he gets to them. It's all
about money. Yeah. The paper took a swipe at the fathers and brothers of the women saying
that they lacked balls because they let Edmund live. Okay. So there's a little context here
because when when I've been researching Oregon stuff, I have repeatedly found that in Oregon at
this time, men who slept with married women were being gunned down. And then juries will let them
off. And this is a huge thing in Oregon. So guys could shoot the the guy who was committing adultery
with their wives and get off because people would feel and and then it became like a thing like
that. Right. That's what we do. Right. Okay. So killing killing the guy who sleeps with your wife
is legal. Yeah. Basically. So I mean, they would be tried but then always found right. Right. So
Lewis Hartley took this taunting to his heart. He found out about his wife and daughter's plan
to head to Edmund. So before Edmund arrived in his new Eden, Hartley took a train to a town 50
miles away and walked the rest of the way. And then he waited for them. As the flock were boarding
a ferry, Hartley approached, whipped out his pistol and pointed it at Edmund's head and pulled the
trigger five times. Oh, shit. Was it okay? Now it turns out, Hartley's friend had sold in the gun
and didn't want him to get in trouble. So he put the wrong kind of ammo in it.
What kind of ammo did he put in? Kind of doesn't shoot when you pull the trigger. He put in like
blanks. I don't know what he put in. It just said he put in a kind of ammo that wouldn't work. He
put in the kind that's going to make it seem like Edmund is a miracle. Well, that's right.
Well, I told you, I predicted the earthquake on my head's bulletproof. Take care, Charlie.
Edmund told his flock, no one can kill Joshua. So now he has made an earthquake.
Yeah, yeah. And he can't be killed. The Holy Rollers. He's got the hugest penis.
The Holy Rollers were now flying. That's the Holy Trinity. He caused an earthquake. He's
bulletproof and he's got a hog under his little moo moo. At the new camp, Edmund said they should live
like Adam and Eve without clothing. The guy who owned the land was not down with this idea and
told them to leave. Come on. Come on, guy. They ended up moving into a cave on a beach. Oh, this
will be perfect. Scavenging shellfish to survive and sharing a total of four blankets. God's plan
is great, huh, everybody? Wait, if God, if you can make an earthquake and survive a shooting,
can you get like boxes or more blankets, pillows or whatever?
Can I eat something other than shellfish and fucking peaches?
You know, I'm gonna be honest. The diet is pretty much what God wanted. So if you want
some more raw oysters and a peach, we can make that happen. Plus, we're starting a band called
Muscles and Peaches. Muscles and Peaches, yeah. Edmund said he was gonna find another place for
all of them. Then Edmund and Mon went to Seattle and rented an apartment. Oh, God. What's the new
Garden of Eden? Esther then joined them. How are people still buying it? He's got his first and
second wife and everyone else is living in a cave. He's a shellfish. He's in an apartment in Seattle.
I got an Airbnb. Well, on Monday, May 7, 1906, Edmund was outside of a grocery store when
George Mitchell, brother of Esther and Donna Starr, shot Edmund in the back of the head.
He fell dead at Maud's feet. So the taunting by the newspaper of all the men who were related to
it worked pretty well. Right. Right. Two guys in like a few days. Yeah. When police arrived,
George was just standing there smoking a cigar. How's it going, guys? Hey, what's up,
you guys? I shot this guy. He's all over the pavement, his brains anyway. That's my sister,
he fucked. He's got a cigar? Yeah, it's good. Cuban. I saved it for this moment when I shot
this guy in the head. I was like, I'm going to shoot this guy in the head and then I'm going to
light this up. He fucked my sister. Sarge, I kind of love this guy's style.
Maud quietly kneeled beside the body. George was taken to jail and given every comfort they
could give him. No one thought he would be convicted of murder. It just wasn't the way
then. As the Seattle Daily Times reported, according to legal bookworms, the killing
of Joshua Edmond by George Mitchell yesterday morning was murder in the first degree. According
to the fathers with families and to the brothers with defenceless sisters, it comes within the
same category of the law as killing a mad dog. George Mitchell was a hero. 30,000 was raised
for his bail. Wow. Back then. Yeah. Crazy amount of money. The district attorney, and it was a
Kickstarter, they did it online. They did it in like two days. The district attorney in Portland
wrote to the Seattle prosecutor, quote, when a man infringes upon the common decency of society to
the extent that this man did, and there's no statute under which he should be, he could be
prosecuted, and he has so grossly debauched families, I think the taking of the law in one's
own hands under such circumstances to meet out summary justice is almost excusable. That's
the district attorney. All right. So I'm the voice of reason. Ma did not wear black at Edmond's
funeral because she was sure Edmond would be resurrected. Obviously. Quote, in four days,
Joshua will be in our midst again. Okay. And Satan will be rebuked. Okay. Some local tradesmen found
the brides of Christ still living on muscles and clams in their case. Oh, God. How's their health?
Oh, the smell. Hi. They refused to believe Edmond was dead and would not leave. OV was told where
they were and finally went down and brought them back. Come on. Come on, you guys. Come on. Let's
do it in my place. Let's do it in my place. Black doubles here. Let's just go to my place. Get out
of the cave. No, put down the muscle. Let's get a couple road clams. If we make this in a movie,
it's gonna be called road clams, road clams. George Mitchell pled not guilty saying he was
temporarily insane. The prosecution's case lasted just six hours. Wow. This time the defense gave
the crowd that came all the dirty details of what was going on inside the cult. There we go. They
made the case that any man whose sisters were quote or ruined would have gone bonkers too.
Okay, right. OV hurt Burgestar and Lewis Hartley testified for the defense. The state calls the
great devil. The jury took an hour and declared him not guilty. What? Yeah, that's great.
As George, because he fucked his sister. I know, but I thought it was going to go the other way.
No, no, I was starting to think. You can still get away with that. I was starting to think this
was the sister bang bang. It's called the bang for a bang. As George prepared to go home a
couple days later, another brother was trying to get Esther to forgive him and to say goodbye to him.
She'd refused up until now, but showed up at the train station. And just before the train left,
she walked up holding her code and softly said goodbye to her brother. Then she pulled out
a pistol and blew his brains out. Oh, God. Quote, I killed them because he killed Joshua. We were
commanded to do it. Maude called the police when she heard he was dead, assuming she would be wanted
to. And she was. She had helped plan it. She had bought the gun with the pay she got for being a
witness at George's murder trial. She got paid. She was bribed to be a witness. She was paid to
be a witness. And she used that money to kill to get a gun to kill her brother. That's pretty
because a guy was pretty interesting twist. There was a backlash against how easy it was to get guns
as well as. Okay. How long did it last? As well as the jury who had let George walk.
Clearly, the killing of people having sex with young women had to stop in the northwest.
Modern Esther were found. Maybe it's easier to just try to stop the sex with people so young.
Cut the head off the hydra, if you will. It didn't even matter if they were young or not.
If a woman was 23 and not married, they would. Oh, no. Yeah, there's nothing to do with age.
You just, if you were, you just couldn't. You're not allowed to bank someone's sister or
daughter or whatever. A woman, a wife, a woman, a lady. Yeah, I believe there's a
a larger umbrella we can hang it under. Right. There was a backlash against how easy it was to
get guns as well as the jury to let them go. Clearly, the killing of people having sex with
young women had to stop in the northwest. Modern Esther were found to be insane and were in jail
ready for, ready to be transferred to an asylum. When Mod took Strick Nine on November 17, 1906
and died, her cousin, a former, a former bride of Christ had just visited her. So her sister
gave her the. Yeah, her cousin gave her. Esther spent two years in prison before being released to
OV. She stayed there five years. Then she took Strick Nine and died in 1914. Wow. That is insane.
Totally normal story. That is so crazy.
Doesn't it just seem, it almost feels like it just, it just started cult. That just seems like a,
you can just make people do anything you want so easily if you say you have a phone to God.
But I've thought about this and like, I don't understand how these people do it. I don't
understand how they get like, I just don't have that kind of language. Also the time you have to
put in. Well, look, I mean, if you're the second coming, it's, it's a 24 seven job, bro. Yeah,
but how do you convince people? But that's the thing, right? I mean, that like, you could still
do it now, but back then it was way easier. But, but people still, people still do it now. Like,
there's a fucking actor who started a fucking cult out in Venice. Although they're probably listening
out and they're going to kill me. Yeah, but he started a cult out there. Like, there's just,
there's just people that, I don't know how you figure out to talk that way. Well, you have to,
you also have to, I mean, you, you know, you really do wonder, I think, like, because obviously, it.
Okay, so just before you go on, I'm going to show you the picture of Edmund. Oh God.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do we have here? What? This? That's it.
God. That is crazy. I mean, he's insane. He did. He is off his test. Like, that's like
Charles Manson looking motherfucker. Yeah. It also looks like he has to wait his crotch down with his
arms. Yeah, well, he did have to hold it down a lot. Wow. Great penises, you know what I mean?
Great penises. Bangalike. You've been listening to great penises. I want to say my buddy Luke has
really been enjoying the Suffolte plotline on the dollop lately. The Sofollop. Don't go to the
Los Angeles Salvatel hotel unless you want to be kicked out of the middle of the night and almost
die on the streets. That would be my recommendation to you because they just randomly throw people
out of hotels for no reason. They have keys to the room. And they make them sleep in cars,
which reminds me, we sign those. We do sign cars. You have something else to say?
No, I'm done. Oh, well, we could have just ended there in a nice punch, but instead you're just
checking the pictures. What are you doing? Sorry, my wife sent me in. Yeah, but we can end the podcast,
then you can look. I mean, I have a phone here. Oh, look at all these missed events. Oh gosh,
they're swamped. Well, there's my night here. I'll be cleaning up this mess. I missed a lot of
notifications. We sign cars.