In 1920s Los Angeles, the mother-daughter duo of May Otis Blackburn and Ruth Wieland ran a female-dominated religious cult. The Blackburn Cult, as it was called in the newspapers of the time, came to the attention of the LAPD after a fraud investigation. But following the clues soon led to revelations of far worse offenses than simple fraud.

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Opening music from https://filmmusic.io. "Dark Child" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Closing music by Soma.

SOURCES

Oregon Daily Journal, August 5, 1917.

“Body of Cult Priestess Discovered Under House.” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1929.

“Police Probing Weird Burial by Cult.” Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, October 7, 1929.

“Priestess Snubs Ex-Swain.” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1929.

“Rhoads is Known at Klamath Falls.” Salem Statesman Journal, October 10, 1929.

“Vancouver Marriage Licenses.” Oregon Daily Journal, May 28, 1915.

Fort, Samuel. Cult of the Great Eleven. Omaha: Nisirtu Publishing, 2019.

Fremont Everett - Facts (ancestry.com)

Ruth Angeline Wieland - Facts (ancestry.com)