Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret.
Have you heard of Wondery Plus? With ad-free episodes and one week early access, it's like having an all-access pass to our lighthearted nightmare.
So come join us on the dark side and try Wondery Plus today.
You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.
Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar.
Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking.
Listening can lead to positive changes in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall well-being.
Audible has an incredible selection of over 1 million audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals all in one easy app.
Find the genres you love and discover new ones.
Explore bestsellers like my sister's title. new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time.
I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.
And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk, and I am absolutely loving it.
I I love Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen.
Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free.
Visit audible.com slash morbid. Happy Egg believes in spreading happiness through the simple pleasure of high-quality and delicious eggs.
And when I say delicious, I am not joking you.
They're... eggs are the highest quality eggs that have ever, ever come into existence, in my opinion.
They're free-range farming standards, working with small family-owned farms to raise their Happy hens outside on a pasture, coupled with the care and treatment that their hens receive, lead to tasty, tasty, ridiculously tasty, yummy orange yolks. that are rich and full of flavor.
Happy egg hens spend their days outside and they're better for that.
They have those deep orange yolks that just look incredible if you're like You know, you want to put that on your food Insta.
That's the kind of egg you want on your Insta.
And you want that egg in your body as well because it just tastes so yummy, yummy, yummy.
Taste the difference and look for that yellow carton at the store near you.
Visit happyegg.com to find a store near you.
Hey weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm like Ash. And this is a mini morbid.
Ash centric, bitch. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini morbid.
Mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbid. And it's so tiny small.
It's actually five pages long. Whoa. All right.
Homie went to town. I'm in. I'm back from town, but I went there.
See, this was going to be an Elena mini morbid.
It was supposed to be. Mm-hmm. But Mama had like 13 pages of research for West Memphis 3.
Yeah. And I'm a little burnt out. And Mama had to work.
Yeah, and I had to work. So Ash... stepped up to the plate and was like, let me do it.
And I was like, girl, I love you. It's like high school and I was like, put me in, coach.
I'm ready to play. And he was like, go sit down, you idiot.
But you... You gave me a chance. I did.
I gave you a chance. I was like, yes. And I slapped you on the ass and I sent you into the field.
Exactly that. That's exactly how it was.
And here we are. currently i'm excited for this one because i know what it is because you told me i told you you told me it's not a surprise it's not but it'll be a surprise to all of you It's moderately obscure.
I'd never heard of it before. Love that.
I love moderately obscure things. Seems.
Should have named this podcast Moderately Obscure.
That'd be awesome, actually. Well, what's not moderately obscure is the fact that we're going to be... We're kind of on tour, I guess.
We're kind of touring, guys. We're... We're touring.
We're slightly touring. We're so annoying this episode.
Okay, so April 14th, Punchline Comedy Club in Philadelphia.
What up, Philadelphia? April 15th, the DC Improv, Washington, DC.
Monuments! She said it once, she'll say it again.
I love monuments. April 23rd, the Gramercy Theatre, New York. oh hey grandma c we're coming for you for the death becomes us festival death come it's gonna be a true crime fun time this isn't on the link tree but p.s we're gonna be in uh orlando for crime con which is the first weekend of may hell yeah we are And I can't wait to deal it.
And also, I looked at the website today and they added more people coming and I was like, wowzers.
I'm real excited. Is your boy Billy Jensen coming?
Billy Jensen's coming. He's on the thing.
Elena sharted about that. Also, Dr. Catherine Ramsland is going to be there.
And if anyone remembers back to the BTK Dennis episodes...
She wrote an amazing book about BTK and she communicated with him through letters and I took a lot, I used a lot of her research for those episodes. mentioned her a lot because she's fucking awesome.
So I can't wait to meet her and be like, hi, I love you.
Let's talk. That's going to be so awesome.
It's going to be amazing. That's literally what I'm going to say. is to take a picture between keith morrison and nancy grace and then put it on instagram and caption it mom and dad Hey, did you guys know that?
I've said it once. I'll say it again. The theme of this podcast is Ash never shuts the fuck up.
Oh, also, Sarah Turney from the Voices of Justice podcast is going to be there and I'm excited to meet her.
I'm very excited to meet her. there's gonna be a lot of awesome people guys come to crime con yeah it's gonna be litty titty it's gonna be wife it Oh, I don't know why.
I thought you said wheat thin for a second.
And then I was like, is wheat thin going to be there?
Wheat thins are great. So I hope they're there.
Alabama, May 6th. Stand up live. See you then.
What up, Alabama? May 7th. early show, late show, zanies.
Nashville, Tennessee, homie. Nashville, Tennessee, we love you.
We added this one. We're going to be in Raleigh.
June 2nd at the Good Nights Comedy Club.
Raleigh, we are coming for you. Raleigh.
Raleigh. June 3rd, The Comedy Zone in Charlotte, North Carolina.
See you there, baby. Charlotte, we're coming.
That just reminds me of like Sex and the City and we watched that movie last night.
We just lost half our listeners. uh june 11th we added the show for chicago chicago we're coming for you yeah it's gonna be great you asked we delivered see you there June 12th, we're going to be at the Chicago place again at Talia Hall.
Hey, Talia Hall, we're coming. You're spooky and I can't wait to be in you.
Yeah. and yeah and then we're gonna just stay at home on june 11th and go to the wilbur theater and do like kind of a big deal it's fine it's fine no big deal come to the wilbur guys it's gonna be awesome cometh and to guys The comic stylings of one Emily Walsh will be at that show.
I love how you say that. And let me tell you that Emily Walsh.
And I have been bros since eighth grade.
So this is someone who has known me since eighth grade.
Emily has embarrassing stories. It is certainly worth your while to come see not just us but emily walsh because she's fucking hilarious i knew when i met her in eighth grade i was like this bitch is gonna be a comic Like, she has to be.
She's gotta be. She was hilarious from the get-go.
So, guys, it's gonna be awesome. She's amazing. and you'll probably want to follow her around on tour after that.
Do it. You won't, but you better. I just want to say you're welcome to everybody for bringing her to you.
You're welcome. You're welcome. And a show we have added, not yet on the link tree.
Big time news, baby. A lot of you have asked for this.
Ready? July 8th. Comedy Works. Denver. Denver.
Colorado. Colorado. Oh my god, I'm wearing a Colorado shirt right now.
She's wearing a Coloradical shirt. Spooky, are you listening?
I'm wearing the Coloradical shirt that I got with you.
And I know that I've seen a lot of people ask for Denver, Colorado, so I am so excited that we get to come for you.
Me too. And one of my best friends lives there.
So see you there, spooks. And this is going to be coming out when tickets will be going on pre-sale.
For Patreons. For Patronuses only. That's Tuesday the 10th.
It is going to be on presale for Patronuses only.
We will give them the code. Shh, don't share it.
And then it's going to be on sale for everyone else, all you other lovely, beautiful human beings. two days later on Thursday the 12th.
Yes. So keep a lookout because we will be throwing all those links at you.
But if you're not on social media or, you know, you're just listening to this right now, go to morbidpodcast.com.
We're going to have all that stuff right there. and you can buy your tickets do it it's gonna be awesome denver's gonna be really fun it is it's gonna be a lot of fun Well, I think we should just jump right into this because it's a mini-morbid.
I'm glad you chimed in because I was trying to open my Google Doc and talk at the same time.
I know you were, so I was vamping. we all know I can't multitask.
All right, let's do this. Okay. So I like to say my sources before I start.
Just love that. You know what you're supposed to.
You're just supposed So I read a really good book.
It was called The Beast from the Abyss, written by a man whose family was actually involved in what I'll be talking about.
I love the way you said you were like written by a man.
I'm like men write books. It was written by a man.
And then I listened to an episode. I found a new podcast today.
I'm obsessed with them. You're going to be obsessed with them.
Oh, love it. That spooky podcast. oh i already love it that's spooky in the beginning they recrap recrap they recap drag race wow yeah i'm in yeah You've hooked me already.
It's great. And then I listened to the podcast that's just called Cults.
Nice. I've heard of that one. I listened to those podcasts and I read that book.
Awesome. All right. So what are we doing today?
Well, picture it. I'm picturing. I'm going to put you in the scene.
Right now, I just have an abyss in front of me.
Well, that's where they're from. Just kidding.
Okay, it's around 1924 and about 100 people are outside building cabins. setting up a little community in Santa Susanna Knowles.
Did we have said what this is? No. Oh, okay.
I'm telling you. Okay. Twelve cabins, to be exact. and a temple inside that holds an 800-pound wooden throne with a lion head top. and paws for legs, and then... Edit out the and then.
These people belong to the royal family of the Chosen Eleven... or the Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven, or the Great Eleven Club, or if you want to put it simply, the Blackburn Cult.
I'd like to call it, I'd like to put it Swimply.
Swimply. Perfect. Well, you know what? Fuck you.
Oh, I'm excited for this cult. All right.
So we're talking about the Blackburn cult.
Blackburn. cult like that you were like what the fuck are we talking about and i was like i'll get there because i was like i feel like we're gonna lose people where i was like put your seat belt on it's my mini i'm in all right so we're gonna rewind a little bit all right all right yes i'm rewinding Matilda May Otis Blackburn was born in Iowa on August 2nd, 1881.
Good for her. Yeah. Okay. Shortly after her father died, she began hearing voices.
That happens. She was like four. Wow. And she interpreted these voices as the messages of God.
At four. Eventually. Probably not at four.
I was like, well, that's some higher thinking.
I mean, I don't know. Maybe. Damn. Your kids are smart.
They are pretty smart. Well, as a young adult, she had a way with manses.
And she always tried to find the ones with the money.
I love it. Who doesn't? Just kidding. Around 17, she marries a man named John Wayland, and together they have a daughter named Ruth Wayland.
Cute. So... Shortly after Ruth is born, John heads out to the mines to try to get rich.
Always heading to the mines. Because you know it was 1898 and that's just what you did.
Yeah, they just all went to the mines. But Mae ends up hearing that John died.
Oh, no. Over a mine argument. That's a bad way to die.
You know, mine arguments. Mine arguments can get so heated.
Fucking heated. So heated. I try my hardest to stay out of mine arguments.
I do the same thing. I'm just, they always worry me.
I know. Well, so now she's like, shit, I'm screwed.
And I can't raise this baby by myself. So she sends Ruth to live with her mother and her stepdad.
I mean, people have done it, but OK. Yeah, she's young.
The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.
The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.
His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.
Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.
I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.
As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties I would like to address you all.
Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, and magic.
Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mare exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery+.
Start your free trial in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or the Wondery app.
So after that, Mae meets a man named Rudolph Schulz, and they get married.
Always marry Rudolph. Meet him, marry him.
Yeah. Meet and marry. At first, Mae tells Rudolph that Ruth is her little sister.
But eventually she fesses up and she's like, yeah, Ruth is my kid.
Let's get her back. Let's get married and let's be a cute little family.
Ooh, a la Ted Bundy. And he's like, okay.
Cool. So they do that for a quick minute.
And then May alleges that she gets this letter saying that John Wayland is still alive. plot twist and that she wants to go make up with him and since she never actually divorced john her and rudolph's marriage isn't even legit anyways wow Wow, this is scandalous.
It's wild. Big scandal. The reason that I said she alleged that she got this note is that she never actually gets back with john wayland which is weird so did he live though nobody actually ever heard from him again i bet he's just dead it's very fishy very fishy I think that Rudolph wasn't really pulling in the dough that Mae wanted and she wanted to get rich.
And she was like, I have this theme in my head.
I got this letter the other day that said like, Hey, Mae, what's up?
It's your girl, whoever. It's your girl.
What's up? How's life? It's 1800s. Let's chat.
I sent this to a pigeon. And then she got this idea in her head and was like, you know what?
I'm going to tell Rudolph that the letter that I got was from my not dead husband so that I can piece the fuck out of this.
I mean, yeah. Pigeons. pigeons after that so she leaves rudolph she's left john whalen she's left a few people in the dust well she meets broken hearts behind her i know She meets this guy named Fremont Everett.
Well, she's getting better and better with the names, I gotta say.
He's a bit of a Richie Rich. I mean, your name is Fremont.
You better be rich. That's what I'm naming my firstborn, boy or girl.
Little Fremont. So he's actually married.
Bummer. Oh, but he's a richie rich. So he sets her up with all these apartments that end up making her like a good amount of money.
Oh, OK. So she's like, you know what, Fremont, I'm actually really not that into you.
You're married and I have your money now, so I don't really need you.
Wow. And she leaves him in the dust. Wow.
Get it, sister. She's like, thanks for the good times.
I'll remember you fondly. Wow. So then she gets married again after Fremont, but I didn't look too further into it because nothing really came out of it.
So she just got married and then it didn't work out.
So really, who cares? Fuck. yeah and at this point it's like okay may we get you we get your pattern we get what you do you get married She uses men, takes their money, gets ahead, leaves them behind.
Then marries another one. Yes, exactly. Yeah.
Bing, bang, boom. Yeah. Alright, so for a little bit of Ruth's childhood, Mae put together these, like, independent movies. that Ruth is involved in.
And at this point, they're living in Portland.
It was like she was in these movies and Portland made a big deal of like producing them.
They bought like this like expensive piece of equipment to project the movie onto or some shit.
Fancy. And but like Ruth or not Ruth. May thinks that like Ruth is a star and that they're headed for Hollywood and like it's going to be great.
But like that doesn't exactly happen. No.
Because like nothing exactly happens for May.
Nothing really goes her way. So they're not ready to give up on their dream yet, and Ruth's getting a little bit older.
So they take the money that they have left from all the apartments that she was... like doing renting out i don't know what she was doing doing those apartments you know doing apartments and they head out to hollywood in hopes of turning ruth into a star We're going to make you a star, kid.
She was born and Mae was like, a star is born.
A star is born. And then Lady Gaga came out.
So it doesn't work out. So now, like I said, Ruth's getting older.
It's like not panning out. It's like whatever.
So she becomes a taxi dancer to make some money.
All right. It's also alleged that she participated in the no pants kind of dancing.
Oh, hey. But like, it was money. Pantsless dancing.
Make money. Whatever you need to do. Like, all the power to you, sister.
Yeah, hustle, girl. So... Everything is just like a little bit sad.
They're like running out of money. Now she's like dancing for money.
Pantsless. Pantsless dancing. She's just throwing out all her pants.
You know. They're all gone. I don't even know if they could wear pants back then.
Probably not. So, well... then one day out there in 1922 california you picture it oh i want you to picture this i'm picturing it something bananas happens i see a lot of bananas okay well you know gabriel and michael The archangels?
Oh, yeah. I know them. Do you know them?
Yep. Well, they decide to pay Mae and Ruth a visit.
Oh, that's nice of them. So they're like, hey, we know things haven't really panned out this far, but get ready for a full 180 spin, ladies, because guess what's up?
You are the two witnesses and you're about to be enlightened for the next 1,260 days of prophecy.
Well, shit, that's a stroke of good luck.
They're like, all you got to do is write this book, The Great Sixth Seal. uh and shut yourselves off to society for the next couple years while we tell you about the mysteries of life health heaven and earth that sounds awesome And after the seventh seal is opened, which I guess that's like a religious thing.
And basically that's like when the sky opens up and the angels start trumpeting and like the world is fucking over.
That sounds absolutely terrifying, by the way.
Wait, okay. Side note. I know that my minis suck because I get really like a little bit off of topics.
They don't suck. Thank you. But do you remember when there was like horn music playing from the sky like a few years ago?
That rash of like, and people were thinking it was like the trumpets coming.
They thought. that it was the seventh seal videos terrifying are the scariest shit just because i keep picturing like i i don't even know what i picture But I just think of trumpets.
Impending doom. Trumpets in the sky are nothing I want to deal with.
No. Nothing I want to deal with nope so when somebody says the sky is going to open up and then all these angels are just going to start like just blowing trumpets all at me that sounds like a goddamn nightmare and i like well it is because we're all gonna die i'm not shitting on like anyone's religion here or anything like that if that's what you believe like that's terrifying No, it's very scary.
Like, I don't want to believe that. From what I understand, the seventh seal opening is like... um doomsday like the end yes okay judgment day is that when everybody gets like raptured and yes oh exactly that's like the final seal because rapturing scares the shit out of me too I think so, from what I gathered.
Because I'll be stuck down here. Yeah. Yeah, you will.
Yeah, so that's a bummer. Well, not Ruth and May. because they Gabriel and Michael told them that after the seventh seal is open, don't worry about a thing.
As long as you do this after the seventh seal opens and everybody dies, you guys are going to come back to life.
With these nine other queens who are going to run this motherfucker and live in these gorgeous, huge houses in Olive Hill in Hollywood.
Wow. It's chill. It's casual. It's fine.
What a gig. So Ruth and Bae get to writing.
Yeah. I would. When this all happened, Ruth was technically still married, but she was separated from her husband and couldn't afford to get divorced.
And she was seeing this guy named Arthur on the side.
And it wasn't really on the side because she was pretty much separated.
Yeah. And she convinced him to give her money to pay for the divorce.
And she was like, oh my god, Arthur, thank you so much for this money and also goodbye. wow i don't love you anymore wow like mother like daughter am i right i hope not Had to slip that in there.
Well, we can assume that she used some of this money to continue writing the book with her mom.
But they're about a year into writing the book at this point and they're out of money.
Oh, shit. Writing books is hard, guys. Okay, I get that it's hard, but I'm really confused about why it would cost so much money to write a book.
Yeah, that I don't get. I'm sure somebody will email it and explain to us that.
It's cost me zero money to write a book.
That's the thing. But maybe back in the day it was like... costly yeah i guess it's costing a lot of money and like stress but not actual fiscally money Yeah.
Well, that's the thing. I mean, back then I get, well, back then it's not like they had a, they could sit on a laptop.
You had to buy like paper and ink and stuff.
Yeah. So that kind of, that makes sense. right we cleared it up yeah look at that we just we bring we brain trusted through it don't at me Ruth and Mae decide to go back to Portland since they're out of money.
Like I said, they lived there for a while.
And I'm pretty sure that's where Mae's mom and her stepdad lived.
So, they go around, they go back to Portland, they go around telling people about their lunch date with Gabriel and Michael.
And how they have to write this book and do this teachings.
I'm sure people reacted really well. Yeah, totally. well actually they did awesome they end up getting like a decent amount of quote donations well shit quote quote uh and about 15 quote followers wow All right.
That's doing pretty well. Honestly. For like a baby cult.
Yeah. I mean, just walking around talking about having lunch with archangels.
That's a pretty good... I don't know if I'm remembering this right, but I think the spooky podcast called them a baby cult.
But I don't know if maybe I just said that and now I think that I'm copying them.
So maybe they called it that. If they did, it was funny.
Let's just give them credit anyway. If they didn't, I said it and it was funny.
Either way, it's funny. I'm going to give them credit and I'll give you credit too.
Perfect. Everybody. So they head back to California, and that's how the fucking cult was born.
Love that. So Mae names the cult... the divine order of the royal arms of the great 11.
That's really long. That's cumbersome. It shortens over time.
OK, cool. She also names herself High Priestess.
Love that. I would want, I want to be High Priestess of something.
You're High Priestess of Morbid. Am I High Priestess of the podcast?
Let's be real. Love that. You know you're High Priestess.
Oh my, I'm into that. And Ruth is, this is who I want to be.
No, it's not. The Grand Royal of the Water of the Father's Blood. nope that's what you are like i don't even understand what that means i don't either but that's you So no, there's this big initiation party where everybody dresses up in purple robes and they dance around.
I think at some point they ditch the rose and they start dancing around Nakey.
Oh, hell yeah. It's fine. Cults. It sounds harmless, doesn't it?
Sure. It sounds like in a spot. well all cults sound harmless in the beginning Elena yes they do The problem is the money starts to run out and that's when Mae starts restricting what the members can eat and making all these weird fucking rules.
So her reasoning? of um like her reasoning for most things has to do with the way that she interprets words So like an example.
That seems to be the way with all. It's but no, it's like specific word like this.
It'll make sense in a second. So remember how Gabriel and Michael said eventually they were going to end up on Olive Hills in Hollywood?
Oh, yes. So May preaches that not apples, but olives are the forbidden fruit.
She said that the olive tree was the tree of knowledge and not to eat olives because it's going in an olive.
If you space that out when it's going in, it reads, oh, live.
But I really like olives. I don't. But backwards, it's evil.
Oh. I shit you not. Evil. Oh. I shit you not.
That's that was her reasoning. That's I get it.
So she did like she did things like that with words like she she used them to her. for her reasoning misinterpreting things tends to cause a lot of issues sure does she also wouldn't let anybody touch her Which sounds a lot like you.
I was just going to say, so far I'm understanding this lady.
The only person that was allowed to touch her was Ruth.
And she now referred to Ruth as her – like, they referred to each other as sisters at this point.
Oh, that's weird. Which is confusing. Yeah.
And also, if you look at the timeline – the book that I read, the author was talking about this.
If you look at the timeline of like when Ruth was born and like when may claimed that she had her he wonders if like documents were forged and he wonders if may was actually a lot older than she said she was oh okay Because she claimed that she was 17 when she had Ruth, but it seems like she might have been like 26.
It's very confusing. It was a little too involved for my peanut brain.
So yeah, she won't let anybody touch her.
She's calling Ruth her sister. My sister, baby.
Ruth is allowed to touch her. Um, Mae also had messengers who would hand out her notes to people and when they came back with like the answer or like the mail or whatever, they would have to place it next to her without touching her. i love it also everybody has to refer to her as mother That's weird.
Except Ruth, which is weird because Ruth is her daughter, we think.
Her sister baby. It's all really confusing.
So eventually when the cult money eventually down the line, the cult like starts to make some money.
And this is just a little example. But she would be driven around.
And one time, these kids touched the car that she was being driven in.
And she got out of the car and made these kids like slap themselves, like made them slap their knees or something as punishment.
Wow. Wild. That's wild. But before that time, the money was tight.
And May and Ruth claimed that they were working on this book, The Great Sixth Seal.
But no one was ever allowed to see the book or touch it.
So probably because it didn't exist, but who am I to say?
Mae ends up needing more money. So her original stepdad that she had sent Ruth to live with, he was, like, gone.
So I don't know if he died or something, but her mom got remarried to this guy named Mr. Blackburn.
Okay. So that's how Blackburn ends up being the name.
So she's running out of money and she asked her stepdad, Mr. Blackburn, to sell his grocery store.
That's a big ask. It is. But he complies.
Wow. And with the money that May and Ruth get, they buy a print shop to, quote, work on scripture.
Okay. Again, probably not. Oh, and also Mae decides to marry her stepbrother, Ward.
It's getting a little culty here. It was starting off pretty culty, but it's getting real culty now.
So this is like my personal pondering here.
I kind of wonder if she had to marry Ward as like payment for her stepdad selling his grocery store.
Like if that was like some kind of. Arrangement.
You know what I mean? I could see that. Because Ward was a straight up garbage human and this didn't benefit her in any way.
He literally like didn't shower. He smelled like actual garbage.
And also he was accused of child molestation.
Oh, that's terrible. Yeah, that sounds like it was probably an arrangement.
Yeah, he was also younger than Ruth, so younger than her own daughter sister.
And when they got married, Mae lied about her age.
She said she was, like, much younger than she was.
Which is another reason why people are led to believe, like, was she 17 when she... Yeah, because she was already lying about her age anyway.
Did she lie? Like, how old is this fucking woman?
It's scary. How old are you? Who are you?
A lot of people say that it was very apparent also. that Mae was interested in women and their beauty.
Oh, get it. Particularly young girls, which is creepy.
Okay. But nothing is alleged other than her, like about her acting on it.
So. All right. Maybe Ward was just a step beard.
A step beard, if you will. I do, I like that.
Okay, so now marrying your stepbrother is wild.
A little bit. It's about to get even wilder.
Oh, boy. I hope you're still holding on to your butts.
I am firmly. So Ruth gets together. Ruth is the daughter.
She gets together with this guy named Sam Rizzio. who's also considerably younger than her.
He was raised Catholic, so he had a lot of doubts about this new religion that Mae and Ruth were putting together.
And his doubts led to a lot of arguments between him and Ruth, obviously.
Yeah. And then one of these arguments led to him allegedly hitting her.
Oh, that's bad. No bueno. No. um so he hits her and then pieces like he hits her and then he leaves wow according to that sucks yeah it does So he comes back and apologizes and he's like, you know what?
I'm ready to convert. I don't know what made him change his mind, but he was ready to convert to this like religion.
And Ruth is like, that's cool, but we have to kill the old you and have this, like, rebirth fake death festival because it's a cult and that's what we do.
Yeah, that's fine. I think they actually referred to it as a symbolic death ritual.
Oh, that sounds fine. So Sam is like, Sure, cool, let's do it.
So they go through with this symbolic death ritual.
Oh boy. And Sam heads out afterwards. Oh, so he didn't actually die.
But he was never seen again. Oh, so he did die.
Probably. Okay, cool. Yes. Do you know who was seen, though?
Ruth. Buying poison before this fake death festival.
That was a real death festival. Yeah. So she definitely killed him.
Like mid-Somar. that's what i was thinking oh my god y'all y'all i want to see that i still haven't seen it So now we're going to enter a new character because there's not already enough in this fucking story.
We're going to enter Clifford Dabney. Hi, Clifford Dabney.
Isn't that like a well-to-do name? Very well-to-do.
So Clifford Dabney was the nephew of the super rich oil magnate.
Is that how you say that word? Magnate. magnet um you're gonna get shit about that i get shit about everything i say it's fine so he decides he's super into this whole deal so Mae is like, fucking score, because obviously he's pretty well off.
Yeah. So she ends up getting this guy to fork over $40,000.
Now, $40,000 then is probably like, I don't know, like a fucking million or something today.
Yeah, it's like it's huge now. to get somebody to fork over $40,000.
I don't know anybody that would just hand me $40,000.
I don't either. And so according to her, it's so she can buy like all this land and these houses and build that temple that I started this whole thing off with.
Yeah, we need a temple. That I wanted you to picture.
I pictured it. So to make good on this loan, she's like, listen, when I'm one of these 11 queens, I'll hit you up with those measurements I'm going to get.
Because she was also going to get these measurements to all the gold in the world.
Oh, wow. It's also like a biblical thing.
Apparently... It has to do with Noah's Ark and there was these measurements on the bottom of the Ark that that led to all the gold in the world.
I could be really wrong, but that's what I gathered.
That sounds awesome to me. So, well, it sounded awful awesome to Clifford too.
I bet it did. I'm like so excited to tell this story.
I just can't talk. I was like late getting this together.
I can tell. So she's like, listen, you're going to get the measurements to all the gold in the world and the debt is obviously going to be like over repaid.
Obviously. And Clifford's like, cool, amazing.
My life is awesome. So we're back to where I started you on this journey.
The members are building those cabins. and the temple with the big 800-pound lion throne.
Oh, I want that. So then when the temple is finished... they seal it up because it's their belief based on everything that Mae is telling them that when the seventh seal is opened, jesus is going to come back and that throne is for him so like oh i thought that throne was for me no damn it it's for jesus So all in all, they build 12 cabins.
They build the temple and then there's two houses.
Is it 12? Because was there 12 disciples?
There were, but I don't know if that had anything to do with it.
Okay, look at me knowing stuff. Maybe. Look at me.
Girl, look at me. So these two houses were, one was for May and her step husband Beard.
And Ruth. And then another one was for this family who had been with Mae since the beginning of this all.
Okay. So that family was the Rhodes family and they were with May the whole fucking way.
All the way May. Oh, my God. Great fucking movie.
It is. Look it up. They also happen to be really fucking rich.
So I'm sure they gave her a lot of money and helped her. because why else would she give them a house for their own?
That's true. She also really loved their daughter who was adopted.
Their daughter's name was Willa. Oh, that's a cute name.
It is a really cute name, isn't it? I thought this the whole time.
Don't get too attached. uh they loved her so much uh may did so she called her the tree of life that was her name oh And she even pronounced her a princess and gave her seven puppies.
Oh, shit. You get seven puppies? Like, talk about a godmother.
That shit's awesome. So, huge bummer on Christmas 1924.
Woola ends up with this really bad toothache.
Oh. And then her tooth gets infected. And then obviously that's like an abscess on a dentist.
And I can kill you. And it does kill her.
Oh no, Willa. Yeah, she dies a few days later.
Man. Which is really sad. So William and Martha Rhodes call for May, who actually has great news about this whole thing.
Oh, good. She tells them. It's fine, guys, because when the seventh seal is opened, we're all gonna come back from the dead once that whole show is over. all you have to do is preserve her body and it will be fine that sounds legit so they take her body to the tub they pack her in about 600 pounds of ice they like put some other shit in there that is supposed to preserve a dead body a dash of this a little sprinkle of that yeah you know like um emerald She emeralds the whole thing.
Preserve. And then they... preserve her.
Oh good on them. Perfect solution. So the only problem is that the Rhodes family moved around a lot from here to there.
So when they did have to move, they would just prop Willa up in the backseat of their car until they were ready to lay her back on the ice wherever they were moving to.
I kind of love that. What? I mean, I love it in like the spookiest way possible.
Can you just imagine? They're just like, come on, Willa.
This whole thing, the whole time I was researching this, I was like, this is fake.
But it's not. It's fucking real. This sounds like a bonkers movie.
Yeah, it does. Also, I don't understand why it's not a movie.
Also, I don't know that it's not a movie. so if it's not a movie someone make this movie we're gonna do it tm we're gonna make this movie tm tm i call it uh so that's fucking weird and people like reported they were like oh yeah like we saw the Rhodes family and their daughter like long after she died oh boy but she was propped up and looked fucking alive as hell Hanging out.
So eventually the roads settle down in this one area and they're like, you know, we can't keep leaving Willa in the bathtub because it's really... getting weird and probably a little off putting to the guests using our bathroom.
It's getting weird. It was okay at first, but it's getting a bit odd.
It's getting a little weird. So they get, they have to get Mae's permission for this and they're like, can we like bury her like somehow but still preserve her?
Yeah, would that be cool? So Mae's like, yeah, totally.
So they end up preserving her, like she's still being preserved, and they put her in a copper-lined coffin.
They pack the coffin with ice. And then like a sarcophagus.
Yeah. Yeah. They like bam, bam, bam. Emerald style.
The things that are going to preserve her.
And then I don't really know how the seven puppies died.
I think that they might have been sacrificed.
What the fuck? Because May was known to kill.
And sacrifice dogs. Mae! Yeah, Mae's not cool.
Oh, fuck you, Mae. I'm down on you now. Yeah.
So she was put in this little chamber underneath the bedroom floor, like her parents' bedroom floor.
Telltale heart style. There was a trap door.
Shit. They packed her in ice in the sarcophagus.
They... like nailed it shut essentially and then they put all the dogs around her oh yeah god the dog skeletons um so yeah so now we're gonna fast forward a little bit we're gonna fast forward to march of 1928 okay i'm there A woman, this is sad too, so we're getting into the nitty gritty.
Oh, no. Oh, this is really sad. A woman named Frances Turner, she was paralyzed and she was nonverbal.
Oh, God. She got brought to Mae by her sister.
And the sister's like, what can we do? Is there anything we can do?
Like, I love my sister so much. And Mae is like.
Yes. Fucking me. We actually have this giant oven on site.
Oh, along with these huge refrigerators to preserve these bodies of my people for, you know, like when the seventh seal is opened.
I think that if we put your sister into the oven, it'll cleanse her and God will have restored her.
No, it'll cook her. Correct. I know this.
Yes. I cook. So the sister is like, okay, I believe you.
Oh, sister. And I wrote in my notes, I wrote, Elena, I would haunt the shit out of you.
Come on. They put poor Frances in the oven and they leave her in there for two days.
Oh. Yep. So obviously she passes away. Yeah.
Frances was way overcooked. Way. And when the sister asks why it didn't work, Maya's like, you know what?
This was God's plan. Otherwise, he would have restored her.
So this was supposed to happen. No, I think it's because you put her in the oven.
I think that's why it didn't work. Probably.
Yeah. Typically that's when it goes wrong.
Yeah. So now this talk is starting to circulate that may put a fucking woman in an oven.
She's not a casserole. And essentially killed her.
That's fucked up. It's true. She's not.
I just keep thinking Easy Bake Oven and I know that's really fucked up.
That's really fucked up. I know. It's not funny.
This is all fucked Yeah, it's a cult. It's fucked.
Like we are nervously laughing. Yeah, I'm just joking my way through this because woo-wee.
Because it doesn't feel real. because all the way may because may has gone all the way past all the way oh hell yeah she has okay so now like i said they're starting to talk because she put this lady in an oven she killed her Now it's getting weird.
They start asking about these other people that disappeared.
Like, where the fuck did Sam go after his fake death ritual?
Why hasn't Willa come back to life yet? When is the seventh seal happening?
I hear no trumpets. What's going on? And Clifford Dabney is like, homie, where are my fucking measurements at?
Yeah. When am I getting my money? I want my gold.
Give me my measurements. Give me it. Bitch better have my measurements.
I bet that's what he said. Yeah. So did Rihanna.
So May pissed off the wrong oil guy's nephew because Clifford goes to police.
Oh. And files charges against May claiming that she defrauded him of $40,000.
She sure did. And then all these other members of the royal family of the Chosen Eleven. are going to the police and telling them about Willa, the Rhodes family, and Francis, etc., etc., etc.
And also they're like, we donated like a lot of money too.
And the seal's not broken. Trumpets aren't coming.
What the fuck? The rapture isn't happening.
This ain't what I signed up for. So the police are like, what the actual fuck?
Police are like, we are wildly unprepared for this.
They're like, it's about late 1920s, something like that.
I don't understand. I don't know if we're...
I would say we're ill-equipped. Ill-equipped.
Ill-equipped. So they head out to chat with the leader of the Blackburn cult.
Absolutely. And they actually end up arresting her on the fraud charges.
Good. They also stop by the Rhodes family home and head straight to the trap door. um they open it up to discover a perfectly preserved willow roads and the remains of the seven dogs all the puppies So, while they're searching the whole area, they come up with, like I said, a ton of dog bones and mule bones.
But no human remains other than Willa. Wow.
And an autopsy is done on Willa, and it's determined that she really did die from the infection of the tooth.
Like, there wasn't any foul play. Well, shit.
So they can't get May on any murder charges.
Except Sam. Well, nobody knows where the fuck Sam went.
And she did it. What happened to Francis?
Like, where's Francis's body? I don't know.
Cults. She was cooked. Oh, so fucked up.
I know. Well, so there's no body. So they're like, this is all, like, fucking... Like, they're like, this is crazy.
This is hearsay. Yeah. Who knows? So... They do throw her in jail for the fraud.
Between all the angry ex-cult members and Clifford Dabney, Mae is charged with $200,000. in defraudment and she's found guilty on eight counts of grand theft wow so she ends up going to jail for a year Because she successfully appeals the case.
I was just gonna say, that doesn't seem right.
I repeat, successfully appeals the case.
How? because it ended up going to the California Supreme Court, and the judge ruled that the money was given to her willingly, and because of religious freedom, there's not much he can do about it.
I mean, it's true. I can't meddle in your religion.
You guys gave her this money. She didn't steal it from you.
Yeah, you willingly gave it over. So... there's nothing i can do technically you can't like be charged for taking from gullible people yeah so she is free holy shit and she's a lot and i'm just kidding And she's alive and she's here right now.
And this is Mae. Mae. Live from New York.
It's Saturday night. Welcome, Mae. Just kidding.
She's not really here. She died. She did.
But before she died, a lot of people left that cult.
Good for them. Because they were like, you know what?
Nothing is coming of this. I've never seen this book you said you wrote.
You're... You're preserving bodies. You're putting people in an oven.
What happened to Sam? I regret this decision.
Yeah, it just didn't work out. Some people did stay, though, and apparently they all moved out to Lake Tahoe.
And in 1936, May published The Origin of God.
Is that the book she was writing? it's like a book she was writing but it's the the one that her and ruth were writing like never came to surface yeah um other than that she wasn't heard from again wow yeah And then so she died in June of 1951.
Oh, shit. And then Ruth, who actually published a shit ton of things, died in 1978.
Wow. And that is the case of the Blackburn cult.
That's a crazy one. I know. I was so excited to have found out about that because I'd never heard about it before.
Me neither. And a lot of the cases I cover, I've like heard about before.
Nothing. not this one i have not heard about that and i looked in our emails to see if anybody suggested it nobody wow so i hope that this is the first you've heard whoa look you heard it here first baby you did that was really good thank you loved it hope you guys loved it too yeah we'll do more cults too we were talking about that today cults are fun yeah cults are fun so we'll do some more not fun to join Fun to cover fun to cover and to learn about that's right.
You don't want to be part of them no don't do it and if you are it's fine i forgot to tell you leto comes and extends his hand to you say no shake it though shake it don't bring it no don't corona um i forgot to tell them what inspired me to do this episode oh yeah Boy Meets World, the episode where Sean Hunter enters a cult.
Yes. Yes. And I'm pretty sure it's called The Circle.
And Mr. Turner. He gets in a motorcycle accident.
And then Mr. Matthews throws the cult leader up against the wall at the hospital and he's like, You can't have Sean.
And George Feeney is ready to fuck shit up.
Oh, that's a great episode. So I was like, I really want to do an episode on cults.
I love. And so I did. I love that thought process.
You're welcome. That is the most Ash thought process I will ever give to you.
Oh, Boy Meets World, guys. Yeah, Disney Plus saved my life.
The best. Well, so we hope you can find us on Instagram if you want to see pictures of fucking all these crazy Looney Tunes.
At Morbid Podcast. We hope you hit us up on the Twitter.
At a Morbid Podcast. Write us a Gmail. If it's rude, we're not going to see it.
It's going to go to another folder. morbidpodcast at gmail.com and we hope you join the facebook page do it morbid colon a true crime podcast facebook group it's awesome in there Another hope of ours is that you keep listening.
And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you join a cult.
And don't put people in heavens. Don't do that.
Thank you. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.
Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com.
