Morbid - The Blackburn Cult Mini Morbid

Episode Date: March 9, 2020

Tonight's episode is a dive into a cult started by a saucy mother/daughter duo who were sometimes sisters! Come on in for a rapture that never comes, some DIY mummies and some seriously sketchy characters from the 1920s. The Blackburn Cult was not your momma's cult.....it was actually Ruth's momma's cult. Visit our sponsors! Gabi Take two minutes - right now – to see how much you can save on your car and homeowners insurance. Go to Gabi.com/morbid The Perfect Bar  Right now, Perfect Bar is offering 15% off your online order. Just go to Perfectbar.com/morbid. Shop their refrigerated snacks today to get 15% off your order. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm like ash. And this is a mini morbid. Ash-centric, bitch. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, 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. 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 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 we are. 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. I 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 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, I'm Prove, Washington, DC. Monuments! She said it once. She'll say it again.

I love monuments. April 23rd, the Gramacy Theater at New York. Oh, hey, Gramacy, we're coming for you for the Death Becomes Us Festival. Death. Come, it's going to be a true crime fun time. This isn't on the link tree, but P.S., we're going to be in Orlando for CrimeCon, which is the first weekend of May. Hell yeah, we are. And I can't wait to be lit. And also, I looked at the website today and they added more people coming and I was like, wowsers. I'm real excited. Is your boy Billy Jensen coming? Billy Jensen's coming. He's on the thing. Alana sharded 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 came up.

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. My only goal at CrimeCon 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 shut up. 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 going to be a lot of awesome people, guys.

Come to CrimeCon. Yeah, it's going to be Liddy-Titty. It's going to be Wight-It. Oh. I don't know why. Are you okay? I thought you said Wheat-thin for a second. And then I was like, is Wethin going to be there? Wheathings 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 Zanis, Nashville, Tennessee, homie. Nashville, Tennessee, we love you. We added this one. We're going to be in Raleigh, June 2nd at the Good Night's Comedy Club.

Raleigh, we are coming for you. Raleigh. June 3rd, the Comedy Zone in Charlotte, North Carolina. See ya there, baby. Charlotte, we're coming. That just reminds me of like sex in the city, and we watched that movie last night. Do do, do, do, do, dude, dude. We just lost half.

I'm listening. June 11th, we added the show for Chicago. Chicago, we're coming for you. Yeah, it's going to 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. And then we're going to- You're spooky and I can't wait to be in you. In ya.

And then we're going to just stay at home on June 11th and go to the Wilbur Theater and do like kind of a big show. No big deal. It's fine. It's fine. No big deal. Come to the Wilbur, guys. It's going to be awesome. Come if. And 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 going to be a comic. Like, she has to be. She's got to be. She was hilarious from the get-go. So, guys, it's going to be awesome. She's amazing.

And you'll probably want to follow her around on tour after that. Do it. You won't. So you're welcome. 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? Do da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-day. July 8th. Comedy Works. Denver.

Denver. Colorado. Oh, my God, I'm wearing a Colorado shirt right now. She's wearing a Colorado shirt. Spooky, are you listening? I'm wearing the Colorado 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. I'm 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 Patronus's only. That's Tuesday the 10th. It is going to be on pre-sale for Patronus only. We will give them the code.

Shh, 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. Yeah. 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 going to be awesome. Denver's going to be really fun. It is. It's going to be a lot of fun. Well, I think we should just jump right into this because it's a mini morbidus. 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. I love that. You know what you're supposed to. You're just the poster. 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's spooky podcast. Ooh, 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 listen 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, 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. We've 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 end then. These people belong to the royal family of the chosen 11, or the divine order of the royal arms of the Great 11 or the Great 11 Club, or if you want to put it slimply, simply, the Blackburn cult. I'd like to call it, I'd like to put it Swimply. Swimply? 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. 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 going to lose people. I was like, put your seatbelt on.

It's my mini. I'm in. All right. So we're going to rewind a little bit. All right. All right. Yes. I'm rewinding. Matilda May, Otis Blackburn, was Blackburn, excuse me, 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. That's not good.

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. Ooh, 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 Wheland.

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 May ends up hearing that John died. Oh, no. Over a mine argument. That's, that's a bad way to die. You know, mine arguments? Mine arguments can get so heated. Fucking, 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, 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 okay. Yeah, she's young. So after that, May meets a man named Rudolph Shulls, and they get married because always marry a Rudolph. Meet him, marry him. Yeah, meet him. At first, May 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. This is scandalous. It's wild. So 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. 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 May 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, May, 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 Wayland. 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 got to say. He's a bit of a richy rich, if you will. Your name is Fremont. You better be rich. That's what I'm naming my firstborn, boy or girl. Just kidding. Little Fremont. So he's actually married. Bummer. But he's a richy rich. So he sets her up with all these apartments that end up making her like a good amount of money. Oh, okay. 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. She's like, get it, sister. Thanks for the good times. I'll remember you fondly. Ducees. 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 it. Yeah. And at this point, it's like, okay, Mae, we get, we get your pattern. We get what you do. You get married. She uses men, takes their money, gets ahead, leaves them behind. And then marries another one. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Bing, bang, boom. Yeah. All right. So for a little bit of Ruth's childhood, may put together these, like, independent movies that, like, Ruth is involved in. Okay. And at this point,

they're living in Portland. So 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 you do in the apartments.

Doing those apartments. You know, doing apartments. And they head out to Hollywood in hopes of turning Ruth into a stall. We're going to make you a star kid. She was born and May 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. She participated in the no pants kind of dancing. Oh, hey.

But like, it was money. 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, read it out of money. Now she's like dancing for money.

Pantsless. Pantsless dancing, which 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. So, well, then one day out there in 19, 20, to California. You picture it.

I want you to picture this whole thing. 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?

Yeah. Well, they decide to pay May and Ruth a visit. Oh, that's nice of them. So they're like, hey, we know things I 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. end 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, and shut yourselves off to society for the next couple of years while we tell you about the mysteries of life, hell, 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 mini suck because I get really like a little bit off of topic. 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. Those videos terrifying are the scariest shit. Just because I keep picturing like, 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 going to die when 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 time. Yes. Okay. Judgment day. Is that when everybody gets like raptured and shit? 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. So 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. 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 would be 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. Oh. 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. Yeah. Am I right? I hope not. I have to slip that in there.

Well, we can assume that she used some of this money to, like, 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 this. Yeah, I mean, it's cost to me zero money to write a book.

That's the thing, you know. But like 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. All right, we cleared it up. Yeah, look at that. We just, we bring, we. we brain trusted through it. Don't at me. Ruth and May 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 May'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 Mechle. 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. 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. Actually, 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. 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 it'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 May 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. Okay, cool. She also names herself High Priestess. Love that.

Duh. 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 your 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. Yeah.

I think at some point they ditch the robes and they start dancing around naked. 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 May starts restricting what the members can eat and making all these weird fucking rules. So her reasoning of, 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 words. Like this is, it'll make sense in a second. So remember how Gabriel and Michael said eventually they were going to end up on all of 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.

Evil. No. I shit you not. That was her reasoning. That's, I get it. So she did like, she did things like that with words. Like 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 like 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, um, 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, 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. Oh, okay. It's, 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. Ruth is a lot of touch her. May 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 actually daughter, we think. Her sister baby. It's all really confusing. So eventually when the cult mom. eventually down the line, the cult starts to make some money.

And this is just like 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? May 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 comes 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, May 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. Arrangedment. 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 like an arrangement. Yeah, he was also younger than Ruth. So younger than her own daughter sister. Okay. And when they. When they got married, May 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? How old are you? Who are you? A lot of people say that it was very apparent also that May 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 maybe Ward was just a stepbeard. A stepbeard, if you will. I do 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 onto your butts. I am firmly. So Ruth gets together. Ruth is the daughter.

She gets together with this guy named Sam Rizio, who is also considerably younger than her. He was raised Catholic, so he had a lot of doubts about this new religion that May 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, boy, no.

No. So he hits her and then pieces. Like, he hits her and then he leaves, according to Ruth. 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 call 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 the 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. Oh.

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. No. We're going to enter Clifford Dabney.

Hi, Clifford Dabney. Doesn't that like a well-to-do name? That is a very well-to-do. So Clifford-Dabney. was the nephew of the super rich oil magnet is that how you say that word 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 may is like fucking score because obviously he's pretty well off yeah so she ends up getting this guy to fork over 40,000 dollars now 40,000 dollars 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 know there. 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. 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 arc 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 off 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, lit 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 May 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 at all, they build 12 cabins. They build the temple. 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 May 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 happened 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 the row? 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. They loved her so much, 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, Willa ends up with this really bad toothache. Oh. And then her tooth gets infected.

Oh. And then obviously that's like an abscess. Yeah. 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 going to 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, emerald. Like, she emerales the whole thing. Bam, bam, preserve. And then they preserve her. Oh, good on there. 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 well 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 that just like, come on, Willa? This whole thing, the whole time I was researching this, I was like, this is fake. This is crazy.

But it's not. It's fucking real. Like, 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. If it's not a movie, someone make this movie. We're going to do it. TM, we're going to make this movie.

TM, I call it. 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. She was hanging out.

So eventually the road settled 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 have to get May'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 May'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 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 may yeah may's not cool oh fuck you may i'm down on you now yeah so she was

put in this little chamber underneath the bedroom floor like her parents' bedroom floor. There was a trapdoor. 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.

Got all the dog skeletons. So yeah. So now we're going to fast forward a little bit. We're going to fast forward to March of 1928. Okay. I'm there. A woman. This is sad too.

So we're getting it. to the nitty-gritty. Oh, no. Oh, this is really sad. A woman named Francis 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 Maya's like, yes. Oh, fucking May. 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. They put poor Francis in the oven and they leave her in there for two days. Oh. Yep. So obviously she passes away. Yeah, Francis was way over. cooked 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-up and I know that's really fucked up. I know. It's not funny. This is all fucked up. Yeah, it's a cult. It's fucked. Like, we are nervously laughing here. Yeah, I'm just joking my way through this because, woo-wee. Because it doesn't feel real. Because all the way, May is 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? What 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 May pissed off the wrong oil guy's nephew because Clifford goes to police. Oh. And files charges against May claiming that she, she defrauded him of $40,000. She sure did. And then all these other members of the Royal Family of the Trojan 11 are going to the police

and telling them about Willa, the Rhodes family, and Francis, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And also they're like, we donated like a lot of money too. And the seal. People aren't coming back from the dead. Seals not broken. Trumpets aren't coming. What the fuck? The rapture isn't happening.

This ain't what I signed up foe. 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. 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. They open it up to discover a perfectly preserved Willow Rhodes and the remains of the seven dogs. Oh, 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. Oh.

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? What happened to Francis? I don't know. Cults. She was cooked. Oh, so fucked up. 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, May 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's six. Successfully appeals the case. I was just going to 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. Oh, 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. You can't, like, be charged for taking from gullible people. Yeah. So she is free.

Holy shit. And she's a lot. No, I'm just kidding. And she's alive. And she's here right now. This is May. May. Live from New York.

It's Saturday night. Welcome, May. Just kidding. She's not really here. She died. So 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, your, your preserving bodies. you're putting people in 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. The one that her and Ruth were writing, like, never came to. Just never surfaced. Yeah. 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 heard about before, not this one. 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 at this. 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. If Jeroletto comes and extends his hand to you, say no. Shake it though. Shake it. Don't bring it. No, don't. Corona.

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. And I'm pretty sure it's called The Circle. And Mr. Turner is like, 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. That's a great episode 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 loony tunes. At Morbid Podcast. We hope you hit us up on the Twitter. At a Morbid Podcast. Write us at Gmail. If it's rude, we're not going to see it. It's going to go to another folder.

I'm morbid podcast 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.

Don't do it. And don't put people in others. Don't do that.