Was I In A Cult? - The Mel Lyman Family PT1: “People Get Ready“

Episode Date: October 20, 2021

As an actor and writer, Guinevere Turner understands more than most, that some stories just can't be contrived. Because sometimes life is far stranger than fiction.   As is the case with Guinevere's upbringing.   Not your typical getting out story, it would take years for Guinevere to understand that, no, she didn't grow up on a hippie commune in the 1970s and 80s... she grew up in a cult.   ______  Guinevere's Instagram: @guinevereturner / Twitter: @turnerguinevere  Link to Spotify playlist for this episode:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4OqNnobOP5tj3rB1tBytpC?si=dc2760b11c6f4e57 Please support Was I In A Cult? Through Patreon

It's July 25, 1965, a seminal day in music history. The audience at the Newport Folk Festival eagerly awaited their headliner, Bob Dylan. Now Dylan had played this festival in prior years. But, Mr. Tamarie Man, play a song for me. In the jing-jangle morning, I come following you. But, 1965 was different. With the popularity of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, rock music was captivating the popularity of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, rock music was captivating the younger generation.

But for the beat Knicks at Newport, folk music was still king. And after four days of artists strumming their acoustic piece and love ditties, outwalks Mr. Dillon. In his hand was not his usual acoustic guitar, it was a gleaming, Auburn-colored Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. Some refer to this moment as the night Bob Dylan went electric. His first song, Maggie's Farm. I ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more. And the crowd hated it.

You know, play rock and roll at a folk festival, man. Dylan finishes Maggie's farm to the taunts of 17,000 upset folkies, and then launches Maggie's farm to the taunts of 17,000 upset Falkies, and then launches into like a rolling stone Once upon a time you dress so fine through the bumps of dime in your pride And this time the crowd hates it even more The clearly shaken Bob Dylan finishes his short set and leaves the stage as thousands of dejected fans head for the parking lot. It was anarchy.

Or at least as much anarchy one can imagine from a bunch of stoned pacifists. But backstage, Looking on, was a wiry, little-known banjo player in a Boston-based jug band. Oblivious to the commotion the great lyricist had just caused. His eyes shot towards the heavens as he received, as he called it, a divine message. He said that it was like, and I quote, what Christ had to do before mounting the cross. So the gangly man ambled out to center stage. He pulled from his pocket a harmonica and played an improvised version of the classic

Christian hymn, Rock of Ages. For ten straight minutes. This man was Mel Lyman, and two years later he was referring to himself as God and had over 100 ardent followers living on his numerous communes, including today's guest. Welcome to Was I an occult? He's Tyler Miesum and she's Liz Ayacousy. Welcome to Was I an occult. He's Tyler Miesum and she's Liz Ayakusie. And today we have Who am I? I'm Gwenevier Turner. I'm a screenwriter and an actor. Uh, and a regular old kind of writer. What's that called? A book writer? Don't spare my life. Crucify me.

Gwine of your co-wrote American Psycho, starring Christian Bale. But the first screenplay I wrote was for this film Go Fish. I had never read a screenplay. I was just with my girlfriend at the time and we were mad at lesbian movies and how much they didn't represent our lives. They were always about one woman struggling with her sexuality and sadness and isolation and we were just like partying with our friends and having like regular drama in our queer community in early 90s. I was like, I'm right to screenplay like, wow, how hard can it be?

People walk into a room and they say stuff and they walk out of the room. 25 years later I could say it's a little more complicated than that. Okay, so this story with Guinevere, I totally got into the research of this. I mean, th got th got fingers th got fingers th got fingers that that thage that thuine that thuine thuine thus thus thus thus thus thus, so this story with Guinevere I totally got into the research of this. I mean it's got fingers that reached to Dustin Hoffman and Italian director Michelangelo Antoni and Dick Cavett and Timothy Leary and Andy Warhol and Mo Austin. I mean my obscure film TV art nerdiness just had a heyday with this but worry not I didn't get too deep. Sounds like you may have. And I loved every second of it. So Guinevier- th here. G- thier, G- that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. I's. I's. I's. I's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's the the th. I. I's th. I's th. I's th. I's th. I's th. th. I's th. th. th. I's th. I's that's th. I's that get too deep. Sounds like you may have. And I loved every second of it. So Guinevere, Guinevere's from, well, I'll just let her tell you.

So I don't feel like I'm from anywhere. I really don't. You know, in the way that someone asks you where you're from, they're trying to understand kind of who you are, what your framework is and I feel like I'm from the Lyman family. As in the divinely inspired musician Mel Lyman. I.E., the harmonica playing Newport Folk Festival self-proclaimed Messiah. It's usually the lead vocalist who thinks he's God, but in this case it's the harmonica player. But that is not a place. That is a culture and a really

specific upbringing. And for Guinevere growing up, that culture was all she knew. My mom and dad were, they say they were high school sweethearts. I think they were really just drinking buddies who fucked a couple times, which I think is a cooler origin story anyway. When my mom realized she was pregnant, she told him and he said, I'll marry you and I'll work at my uncle's company and have a life and my mom was like, I'm going to join this cult over here and ditched him. Although at the time, her mother didn't know she was joining a cult because... No one joins a cult.

You know, in the late 60s it was like anything other than the norm, anything anti-establishment. At the time she was joining a community, the Fort Hill community to be exact, located in a then-runned neighborhood of Boston. A watchtower rises from the center of Fort Hill, statuesque, a relic from the original American Revolution. It was... Weirdly phallic. My earliest childhood memory is sitting on a rocking horse, looking at this big tower that was in that park.

And what does that memory evoke for you? This is going to sound a bit abstract. It evokes the feeling of this is going to be a memory. It evokes the feeling of consciousness like I'm going to remember this. I'm like a human being and this is my surroundings. And in this Fort Hill area of Boston, Mel Lyman and his few followers had taken over several empty dilapidated apartment buildings. So in Boston, their compound has five houses. They somehow managed to buy an entire block.

It was like a hippie commune. How very 1960s of them. Except they didn't think of themselves as that. They were very adamant about not being hippies. They were sort of actually anti-hippy. Which is interesting because they seemed to be very... Check all the boxes, hippie-wise. Yeah.

Yeah. So the leader was a man named Mel Lyman, who's a musician from Oklahoma, maybe. He was actually from California and Oregon, and he also had a stint in New York City, but it was in Boston where Lyman had played in a number of folk bands over the years, including this, the Jim Quaskin Jug Band. Let me in there, Hannah, I need so peace. Yeah, I love you still, and I always will. Here is Mel talking about why music is his chosen art form.

See, we're trying to take like our understanding or our perception of truth and put it in a form so that you can hear it centrally like with your ears, like a painter, takes what he knows of the truth and puts it on canvas so the people can dig it in a sensual way with their eyes and music happens to be in here's everything, that's all. Can you dig it? I can th th digging it? I'm digging it too. But after Lyman's existential experience at the Newport Folk Festival, he leaves the ever-thriving jug band world and writes a very modest book entitled autobiography of a world savior, so that kind of tells you a lot about him. He was talking about himself. Jesus, these cult leaders are so predictable. Yes, the not-at-all-a-all-a-sett-o-o-o-o-o-o'-o'-o'-s, th-o'-s, tht, t, t, t, tha-s, thau. thau. thau. thau. But-o, thau, t, t, thau, thau, to-a-s, to-a, to-a, to-a, to-a, but-a, but, to-a, to-a, to-a, to-a, to-a, to-a, to-a, to-a, to-a, to-a, to-a-a-a-a-nit-nit-nit-nit-nit-nit, thau. thau. thau. ttttta-n'-n'-nit-n'-n'-nit-n'-n'-n'-n'-n'-n'-nipe. ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttthau. ttotal, ttau. total, tells you a lot about him. He was talking about himself. Jesus, these cult leaders are so predictable. Yes, the not-at-all bestseller has one whole review on Goodreads.com. It was probably him.

From the grave. Somebody love me, god damn it. The opening page of this says, inspired by Uranus, translated through Mercury, presentation of Neptune by special arrangement with Saturn dedicated to you. This dude had a thing about planets. I mean because of his music I could imagine that a smaller groovy press would publish his book. And in addition to his book, the group published a very popular underground counterculture magazine called Avatar that they would just hand out for free in the streets. This magazine is actually what got Gwenavier's mother initially interested in the group. She was handed one of these brightly

colored hippie papers and shortly after started working for their magazine. I don't think getting paid, I'm not sure. And then slowly just moved in with them and that was her life. She really doesn't like to talk about it, so it's hard to get information out of her. In 1967, Avatar was labeled by a Boston municipal court as being,

quote, obscene, and was banned from being sold. In fact, many of the shops that did distribute the the the the the the the the the their the obscene, the obscene, the the obscene and was banned from being sold. In fact many of the shops that did distribute the paper were also charged with distributing obscene literature. Mostly this was part of Cambridge Mayor Daniel Hayes's celebrated war on hippies. Mayor Hayes what is your objection to the abundance of hippies in Cambridge? The basic objection I have is the the amount of them and the fact that they're moving into our residential areas, causing a great deal of disturbance among our permanent residents. I know that they're influenced by drugs.

There's no question about it, my mind. And as far as I'm concerned, they're sick. Despite the lawsuits, the Fort Hill Group eventually published 24 of these very unique papers. And guess what? Mel Lyman's face was often on the cover. And his writings on the inside. Like this, clever, 1960, beat poetry.

Take it away, Liz. I'm gonna burn down the world. I'm gonna tear everything that cannot stand alone. I'm gonna shove hope up your ass. I'm gonna turn ideals to shit. I'm gonna reduce everything that stands to rubble. And then I'm gonna burn that rubble. And then I'm gonna scatter the ashes. And then maybe somebody will be able to see something as it really is. Watch out. Oh Liz, I can dig it. All you're missing is a beret and a smoking cigarette and a brick wall

behind you and you'd be a perfect 60s beat poet. Thank you Tyler. I'm gonna shove hope up your ass now. I can use a little hope in my life Liz. I hear when it's's shoved up anally, it goes quicker through the blood system. Plus it's less calories. Totally, who wants to eat hope? Moving on. So, with the help of the avatar, Mel's group started to grow. And Mel? They just saw him as the Lord, the Supreme Being,

kind of like a magical creature, like a Christ figure. He believed that he was God, and he called himself God, and his followers called him God. This is him talking with a reporter in 1968. A lot of people want to tell me that they're God too man. That's all right. At least somebody wanted to betell me that they're God too, man. You know, that's all right. At least somebody wanted to be part of what I said I was. If people resent the fact, and people do, of one individual calling himself God using that word,

why do you think they resent it? Because they have the courage to call themselves out. And then move up to it. That's the hard the hard the hard. That's the hard part. His dogma was more twisted than some. The path that he thought everyone should take is something like this. You need to go through hell to reach enlightenment. It was a punishing philosophy.

You have to suffer and you won't know what's happening and you need to feel the void. Perhaps surprisingly, his ideology was not Bible-based. You have to suffer and you won't know what's happening and you need to feel the void. Perhaps surprisingly, his ideology was not Bible-based. It was a mix of Buddhism, like a little Christianity thrown in, a little total gibber-sick makes no sense, and this apocalyptic vision that the world was going to end in 1976, and that we were all going to be taken into a spaceship to live on Venus. A UFO cult, some might say. Mel was likely inspired by LSD, of which the adults indulged in often. More on that later.

As the Lyman family grew, they fixed up the dilapidated Fort Hill buildings they were living in and soon owned multiple structures. But then the real divine message came to Mel in the form of an uberwealthy harmonica player, Jesse Benton. Her father was Thomas Hart Benton, who's a very famous social realist painter. Thomas Hart Benton, born 1889, died 1975, an artist at the forefront of the regionalist art movement that came in response to the 1930s Great Depression. And his paintings and murals are actually quite exquisite. His work often depicts ordinary Americans, the working class, farmers, tradesmen, musicians.

And this mentality could be what drew his daughter, Jesse, to the Lyman family. She was an heiress. So I believe that they probably, for the most part, sustained themselves in the early days with her money. Her trust funds helped to grow the group beyond the land of Red Sox and Duncan Donuts. And soon the family owned homes in Los Angeles, New York, Kansas and Martha's Vineyard. But Guinevere, she lived on the Boston Commune. They didn't even call themselves a commune. They called themselves the communities. And communal living was tight. I grew up with probably like 50 or 60 kids. In all the properties their moneys. their their their their their their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money their money. their money. their money their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. their money. ti. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. communal living was tight. I grew up with probably like 50 or 60 kids. In all the properties, there's like a kid's house where all the kids mostly are. All the

adults would be like in that different house, like having a fancy dinner and playing music and having deep conversations. We were mostly not allowed to go into the adult houses. Or if we were, it was just to like clean it. And like most cults, there is a certain hierarchy. People who were higher up, didn't have to get a job or earn a living. They would just, I don't know, sit around and drink and boss people around. Kind of like a shoddy game of throne situation. But with less dragons. And less incest?

Possibly. Hopefully. Anyway, in the group, the lower echelon people worked and had day jobs come home and stay while night doing acid and freaking each other out and then get up and go back and work. A lot of people had like legit double lives. These laymen would work regular, often white collar jobs. And whatever money they they made, they would hand it over to whoever was in charge of the money for that compound. And with this collective money. Buy groceries for everybody. You know what I mean? Just like put it into the collective funds for everyone to survive. But the group was

still left with little to go around. At various points were on welfare. There was like government cheese and like a tower of brown sugar that was like as tall as me. th. And th. And that. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And thi. And thi. And the the. And the. And th. And thi. And thi. And thi. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their thi. And their their their their their their their their their their theeau. And. And. And. And. And their their and like a tower of brown sugar that was like as tall as me. I can remember being just like a random woman taking me and being like come to the welfare office with me and then I had to pretend to be her kid. I think most of the adult women did that, but just like grabbed a random kid. But money wasn't the driving force of this group of outliers. They were happy people getting ready for the spaceship. And to buy the time, they would occasionally release a musical album.

This is from the Mel Lyman family band, a lovely cover of the Impressions song, People Get Ready. Now mind you, that was a recording from the train to join. But the passengers close to coast. Now mind you, that was a recording from the Mel Lyman family band, but the vocals were sung by a woman named Maria Muldar. She was heavily recruited to join the cult, but she didn't join, and thank goodness because had she joined, she may have never later recorded one of my favorite 1970s AM radio hits, Midnight at the Oasis.

Tyler's soft rock hard on is just growing by the second with this episode. The rock might be the only thing that's soft. Midnight at the Oasis. Send your camel to bed. The Lyman family prided themselves on staying removed from the outside world. But... A crazy seminal thing that happened when I was four was that they allowed a Rolling Stone journalist to come in and hang out with them for a few days.

You know, he was like smoking pot and eating dinner and just being a part of them. But in between the bawling hits and the beans, this Rolling Stone reporter would question Mel's followers. Well everybody who works and maybe is directly affected by Mel Lyman. The community is for one purpose and that's to serve Mel Lyman. He wants to make people be real, as real as they can. He's just casual and real and responsive. He can put himself in control of any situation. He's protected almost.

Get the image of a father figure. Like, a wizard of Oz. Any man that can look at Mel is God, okay? How do we judge whether he is a benevolent god? And who is there to judge if he is God? Only you, man, and you're gonna find out. When the Rolling Stone magazine came out, they put Mel's picture on the cover on the cover of the rolling stone. Oh God, here he go. On the cover of the rolling stone. On the cover of the rolling stone.

Oh, here he goes. On the cover of the Dr. Hook song Cover of the Rolling Stone. On the cover of the Rolling Stone. Want to see my picture on the cover? Yes, he had made the cover, but not for his musical talents. Basically, he just called them a cult and pointed out some of them more questionable things that he witnessed. He talked about this charismatic leader and I think he made fun of how often people quoted Mel Lyman, how there were framed photos of him and you know in every room practically and how the women seemed really subservient. Mel was hopeful this was going to be his big 15 minutes of fame.

And it might have been, just not how he expected. They were shocked about how they were portrayed and pissed. Really pissed. This man, they were just like a piece of liar, and he like deceived us, and he came in here, pretending to be our friend. He sort of made a, drew a hard line in the sand. Like, we are not going to engage with these people because they're deceitful and they don't understand us and they're just here to make fun of us and pray on us.

Some of the kids were in real people school and they took everybody out of school and I didn't have exposure to anyone but these people. We were raised to believe that world people, quote unquote, were evil and could poison you. At one point, Mel actually had a wall built around their commune in Boston. Further isolating the group from the outside world. I guess some charismatic leaders can finish building walls.

So it was really just about, we're reimagining the ideas of family and we're preparing for the end of the world because the outside world is so corrupt that The whole world is going to end because we ruined everything We were so discouraged from attachment bonding with our biological parents. They weren't a commune They weren't a commune filled with intact nuclear families. No, there was just one the family because like all of the adults just had children with everybody like Like people. They were just the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the outside. Because. Because. Because the the outside. Because the outside the outside the outside the outside the outside the outside the outside the outside the outside the outside the outside. Because the outside. Because the outside. Because the outside. Because the outside. Because the outside. the outside. the outside. the outside. the outside. the outside. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the world. the world. the world. the world. the world. the world. the world. the world. the world. the world. the the the the the the one. The family. Because like all of the adults just had children with everybody. Like people would just be in a relationship for a couple years, have a kid, and then they would. Like a mild lemon has 13 kids with maybe 10 different women or something like that. Now you have communal living here. Do you feel that this indicates that you might be living a life of promiscuity here. We don't believe in free love and free sex, but in the highest principles of love, and

that's what we're devoted to. You know, there were dramas where somebody cheated on someone, and there was drama, and there was drama where like somebody got pregnant with someone that was in a different relationship. This is a bunch of people in their 20s. I mean, of course they're going to have sex and have drama and cheat on each other and have fights, but it was all very convoluted. But very normal to me, and we would refer to people as married, even though they weren't married. So my mom had me, and then she had my sister with a different father, who's also in the family,

and who then committed suicide six months later, after my sister was Oh no. Yeah. He was playing a poker game with Mel Liman, got up from the table, walked into the room, and shot himself in the head. That is all we know. Come on. Yeah, and he was in a relationship with my mom at the time. Yeah, she's pretty factual about that. So it was my sister. In terms of the cult hierarchy, there's status and then there's sort of like lowly people. And my mom was kind of lowly. She wasn't like popular or powerful. And when Guinevere was just four... My mom moved to New York to get a job in finance, and so then I really never saw her. They shipped me to the farm in Kansas. So now Guinevere is separated from her birth mother. Both still in the cult, her mother was working in New York, and four-year-old Guinevere was

sent to Kansas to work on the farm. Jesse's father, the painter Thomas Benton, had created a painting of a Kansas farmhouse, and he'd sold it for $42,000. And with the proceeds, he purchased an actual farm. A 280 acre farm in Marshall, Kansas. Life imitating art. The farm in Kansas, they were trying to be self-sustaining so there was all kinds of crops and animals. They basically had a child labor

workforce because you know we would be in fields from early in the morning until it got too hot in the afternoon. Feeding goats, milking goats, milking goats, milking cows, brushing chickens, gathering eggs, plucking the headless chickens and pulling out their guts. Mulching the strawberry field. Laundry, laundry, laundry, laundry, hanging laundry. I feel like half my childhood was hanging laundry on clothes lines. Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, I hated vacuuming.

Those big houses and like, you're little, and it's like the rug would seem like it was 5,000 miles long and a lot of preserving things for winter. So jars and jars and jars of different things can because they were really trying to only go to the store for toilet paper or whatever. So like a lot of our clothes were handmade. Just trying to create a way to recede as much from the real world as possible. There was like one huge giant bed that was built across the entire room with bunk bends on top of it and we all slept there.

They probably like 20 kids in a room. But then there were always lots of babies. We were just like a pile of kids. That didn't have any actual like parent. Right. You know, so like no one person was just looking out for you. And those that were looking out? Well, they were quite young themselves. They were almost all, like, in their 20s. They were really young people who are making it up as they went along, and it's amazing,

that we all lived. Well, I guess you could say that about any parents, right? Yeah, we all make it up as we go along. I have two th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the th. th. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. We are, th. We are, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their go along. I have two kids. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. It was such a dangerous today. I mean like in general I think in that era, you know, no seatbelts, second-hand smoke, like that was everybody's experience of my generation or most people. But then it was extra, you know, knives, machines, axes, so much like tree climbing and just being gone in the woods for days and getting bit by snakes. There were wood burning stoves. And as kids, we would play a game. We'd be chopping wood. And if you found like a really nice piece of cedar, you would say, this is your heart,

and you would put it on the chopping block. And then, whoever's heart it was, it was their job to grab it before the axe came down. We played it all the time and then, you know, where the story is going to go is that eventually a kid had all of these fingers, the upper half chopped off with an axe. Normally the family didn't believe in doctors, but in this particular instance... That kid went to the doctor. Thank God. They sent me out to go get the fingers and put them in a bag. Just another day's work on the farm. But it wasn't all work and severed finger collecting. Even though working in fields

sounds hard and it was it didn't feel like that. It felt like a time when we were all together as kids. When it was quit in time from the fields we would all get to run and go to the the creek the the to to the to to the to to the the to the to the to the to the the the the to the the the the the the to the the the the to to to to to to to to to to the the the the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their their their their their their their the the te. te. te. te. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. te. their their the all together as kids. When it was quit in time from the fields, we would all get to run and go to the creek. And it was really fun and there was like a rock you could dive off of and that was the best part of the day. And singing. Singing and playing instruments. This is really fun. Every single person played an instrument. You kind of had to.

I played the banjo. It was like music all the time. I grew up singing, like the Big Rock Candy Mountain. On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees, the lemonade springs where the blue birds sings in the Big Rock Candy Mountains. And all of these old folk songs that are not attributed to anyone in particular, bury me not on the lone prairie. With the coyote town and the wind blows free.

Down in the valley. That is so now. down in the valley. Mel and his family. Mel and his family were still making music. And my love, my love come rolling down. But in addition to making his own music, Mel would make tapes for his followers. You know, essentially mixed tapes, but they were like on reals. It was Billy Holiday.

Home is Sunday, with shadows I spend it all. And Bing Cosby and Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and the Andrews sisters, you know, all sort of 30s, 40s music, nothing that was contemporary at all. The idea was that all of this music meant something, that it was important music, there was a message in it, and so there was an element of it being kind of a test. Like do you get it? Do you feel the power of this music? And when he made one, then we would have to sit down and listen to the whole the whole the whole the whole the whole the whole the whole th the whole th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiolioli, nothing that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thii. when he made one, then we would have to sit down and listen to the whole thing and write him a letter about what we thought about it.

Dear Melvin, we called the Melvin, I really loved this tape, the song, The Breeze and I reminded me of sitting under a willow tree with the tendrils blowing over me. That is something that I actually wrote. I'm just breathing along with a breeze, trailing the rails, roaming the sea. I remember hearing Ray Charles, I can't stop loving you, and just feeling so moved by it, and for the first time thinking about the power of music. And so to the day when I hear that song, it reminds me of happy times of being a kid.

I can't stop loving you. I've made up my mind. Mel also had weird rules about films. He had a list of movies he called The Lord's List. I've never taken orders from anyone. As long as I live, I'll never take orders from anyone. I'm young and strong and nothing can touch me. The Lord's List, if they were on TV, we had to watch. So this dude would also like, underline the TV got the Lord's List movies if they were playing.

Dark Victory with Betty Davis, To Have and Have Not, with Bogart and Bacol, a night of the lonely hunter, and odd man out of Miss Jane Pittman, which is Sicily Tyson back in the day, I got a great film education as a kid. Like more than most people of my age, I know all those movies and all those movie stars and just that whole world, because that was his generation I guess. This movies he grew up with. I'm hard to get Steve. All you have to do is ask me. You know what you're getting into. It's going to be rough. In between all the movies and the music, they also taught trades to the children. Because what good are seven-year-olds if you can't put them to work?

All the boys were trained to be carpenters and they were just very into building houses and building things. And men doing manual labor, but then being weighted on hand and foot. We girls were learning how to make clothes and cooking, cleaning. As girls, we were kind of never allowed to not be doing something with our hands if we were inside. Those houses are full of like chairs with like hand embroidered seats and so much embroidery. So much embroidery. For education, there was a schoolhouse located on the compound, except... Nobody was particularly qualified to teach. But the thing about these people,

these were like intelligent, educated people, not dummies, but not very structured. They tended to just teach the kids what they were interested in, which is not a bad thing, except it's not very balanced. So I was like way ahead of everyone in terms of English and words, but in math I was like at a fourth grade level because they just didn't show an aptitude for it. So they're like, yeah, whatever, you're not going to need that. Interesting. Because you're going to be here for the rest of your life. Right. I remember one guy, he would th, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, th, thi, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, tho, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I th, I th, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, the, the, the, th, th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. tha. tha. tha. the. tha, the. th. th. I remember one guy, like it was supposed to be history, but he would just smoke and talk,

whatever he felt like talking about. It was totally random. Remember the first page of Mel's book? Inspired by Uranus, translated through Mercury, presentation of Neptune by special arrangement, by special arrangement with Saturn dedicated to you? For an entire year he just taught us about the astrology of the president's, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, but thi, thi, thi, but thi, but thi, but thi, but thi, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but to to to to to to to thi, but thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, the thi, the the the thi, the? For an entire year he just taught us about the astrology of the presidents. Like, both Abraham Lincoln and FDR are Aquarius's and that's why the new deal worked. They were very, very into astrology. Wow. Oh and watch out because your star sign could come back to bite you in the ass.

You're very much your sign. Some of it was scary because you could get in trouble just for like, don't give me that Scorpio rising. And I didn't like have my own birthday. It was just a Gemini birthday. And that was true for all the signs. They'd even call kids by their sign. Instead of David, David, David, Libra. I personally think astrology is funk. their. thiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. th. th. th. thiolk. thiol-a. thiol-a. thi. thi. thi. thiol-a. thi. thiol-s. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe toe. It's toe. It's toe. It's toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe. It's, toe.c.c.c.c.c.c.c.c.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e Libra. I personally think astrology is funk. Our personalities come from a combination of nature and nurture,

not because I happen to be born in November. Such a Scorpio thing to say, Tyler. Sure, said the Virgo. But it wasn't just the stars telling this group what to do. They were really into the Weegee Board and they had spirits that they would talk to and they had logs of what those conversations were, like books and books and books and books of these conversations. And as kids we were only allowed to talk to one spirit.

She was like, the kid's spirit. Her name was Fadra. And so one time, Fedra said that I was lazy. I was not, you know, obviously someone was just fucking with me, but. But I like was devastated that the spirit had told me that I was lazy. I was like fine. I just remember like running around the house, like emptying every ashtray and cleaning it and like just being like, I gonna prove to Fadr that I'm not lazy I'm not lazy. So Guinevere is living on this commune in Kansas. She's a hard-working preteen, trying to live by the rules, purely in the hope. To be good enough to have the spaceships come and take us to Venus, which is about honesty, and knowing yourself and being humble and kind of like shapeshifting best self thing

you know with a 60s flavor to it. Remember when Mel said that the world was going to end? Well on January 5th, 1974 he told all the children to put on their best clothes and wait for the UFOs. This was the night the world was going to end. Spoiler alert, if it doesn't. So he did the standard cult leader excuse and blamed his people for the world not ending. He said the group wasn't ready and that they would need to start from scratch.

When the world didn't end, Melbimon said we were going to start the calendar at zero. It's very confusing because I have these diaries when I was kid and it says like, 00-0-0-1, 02, but it's actually 1979, 1980. So when it world didn't end, Meli-Iman said we're not going to acknowledge daylight savings time anymore. I don't really know what the logic was. So perhaps the year we'd be likedler, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, their, their, their, their, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, was thi, th like world time and our time. And the rules tightened. The rules were kind of ever-shifting. As kids, it was shut up, be quiet, don't lie, stay out of the way. They could be particularly cruel.

The punishment was often being shunned. Nobody's allowed to talk to you. People would be locked in a closet for like an entire day. There was a lot of that kind of punishment. They tried to make us have a year of silence. It didn't last that long, but there was at least a month where we weren't, nobody was allowed to talk, not the adults or the kids. But sometimes the punishment was physical.

We would get up to go work in the fields really early, and so it would be chilly, and the the the the the the the the the the they, and they, and they, and they, and they, and they, and then, and then, and then, they, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, and tho, and thi, and thi, and, and, thi, tho, tho, and, tho, and, tho, tho, and, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, the, theree, theree, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, and, too, too, too, would be chilly and then as the day got hotter you know we would have layers and we would take them up but you know we're kids like we would leave our clothes in the field and so they would collect all the clothes that we left in the field and put them in this box and then on Saturdays it would be the Saturday box and I'd get everybody together and pick a piece of clothing and whose jacket is thigh and th and th and th and th and th and th. th. th. th. th. And their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the. I is the. I is tea. Weaugh is te.eat. Wea. Wea. teat. te. We would would te. We would thea. We would theat. We would then you would have to say that it was yours and you would get paddled in front of everybody. Someone had made a paddle, it's like a wood paddle like this big. But it was such a normal part of life, the Saturday box, and the Saturday box was always full. It didn't make us not do our clothes, yeah.

Me and a couple of the girls. We would put on like 12 pairs of underwear, Saturday and then we would get spanked but we could really feel it but they wouldn't know. This little trick may have helped ease the torment momentarily but it didn't stop it. Gwenevere's childhood was a constant state of fear. The devil was going to take over my soul that I would get in trouble and be isolated. It was kind of constantly scared of being the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their they they their really really really really really really really really their th. We could to really really really really really really really their to really to really to really to really really to really really really to really really really really really really to really really really really to really really to to really really to to to their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the. Wea. We could could thea. We could could thea. We could thea. We could could thea. thea. We could could thi. We could their the soul that I would get in trouble and be isolated. I was kind of constantly scared of being demoted, of being either sent away or shun. And she was often punished purely because of her place in the pecking order. The thing is that almost every one of the kids was treated in accordance to the status of their parent. So there's also like a replicated hierarchy among the kids. It was kind of, you know, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the So there's also like a replicated hierarchy among the kids.

It was kind of like, you know, like Jesse's three kids were obviously more special and magical, and all of the Lyman kids were like the top-tier kids and so on and so forth. She is referring to Jesse Benton. Remember the painter's daughter? Well, she was no longer just a benefactor of the group. She had actually become Mel's wife. Cult leaders pray on the rich. Look at any cult, Nexium, for example. I almost guarantee a trust funder is right by his or her side.

And a trust funder is a perfect target. At times, feeling undeserved of all their wealth, trust fund kids often look for a purpose, a righteous cause to donate their riches to. Because of her mother's lowly status, Guinevere would have been a very low-tier kid. Except for the Darya bought me. Wait, did she say bought her? I think so. What happened was Jesse Benton and Meliman each had a bunch of kids, but they only had one kid together.

Her name is Darya, and she was a wild child who just wouldn't behave, and for some reason I could get her to behave. Daria said to me, like, yeah, I liked you so much, I just asked my mom if I could have you, and she said yes. But it was like a great honor, you know what I mean, that I was chosen. And so I kind of moved up in the ranks really quickly and by the time maybe I was like nine. I had much higher status than my mother. She ain't gonna work on Bell's Farm no more. Here he goes, I can't stop from you guys.

I apologize. This episode has everything. I'm sorry. It's good, actually, pretty good. It's a bell, too, is he? It's not bad. Yeah, all he needs to do is write great lyrics and play guitar and be an icon for a generation. Being in the inner circle of leadership definitely comes with special perks.

For one, you get to travel with Jesse, mostly just as a servant to the princess, really. Cinderella just got handed the glass slipper. Hey, if you're going to be in a cult, you might as well be at the top of the food chain, right? But the tricky thing about cult leaders is you never know when they're going to ask for the princess is just a housekeeper in a fancy dress. Join us next week on Was I Ana Cult for part two of Guinevier's remarkable journey. We were at the kid's house and then somebody called me.

They said you're wanting at the big house, which is the kids house and then somebody called me. They said you're wanting the big house, just the adult house. Everybody was like, that can't be good. Let's just say it's not your typical getting out story. Also, if you guys liked the music in this episode... Oh, they did. They did. I've made a Spotify playlist of all the songs for you. And I made a cassette mixtape.

You can find the Spotify link in our show notes. And you can find the cassette tape stuck in the tape deck of my bitch and Trans Am. Which you don't have. Not yet. I don't think you ever was. One can dream. Thank you all for listening. And until next week, if you're going to write a book called Autobiography of a World Savior, make sure you are one. Don't spare my life.

Crucifer me. Wasa Inocult is story produced and written by Liz Ayakuse. And me, Tyler Miesom. Executive producer is Maya Cole Howard. Supervising producer is Catherine Burke Canton. Audio editor is Chandler Mays. Additional story producer is Ari Bessiel. Special thanks to David Brammer. And the was Iana cult fan of the week is

Denali Calhoun of Alaska. Thank you Denali for sharing our stuff with your your followers. So we get more followers. Through the world. Midnight at the Oasis. Put your camel to bed. I'll be your midnight dancer. Prancer. Prancer. And you can be my chief. That's racist. You can be my chief.

I didn't write it. Cancell it. Cancell that song. All right. Great.