"It's no secret that America is fascinated with cults and their scamming, grifting leaders. Viewers flock to TV series like Wild Wild Country, The Vow and Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, and elevate con artists like the Tinder swindler and Elizabeth Holmes as antiheroes who've found loopholes in American society and business. Paddison tells Harris' story from its beginning in upstate New York, at the time a hotbed of self-proclaimed seers and prophets, including Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism."
"In a packed public lecture in San Francisco, Chevaillier talked of "Edenic baths given by opposite sexes to each other," and of forced sexual relations in the colony: "Husbands and wives are separated, old men are given to comely young women, and young men to old women, according as Harris directs." For his part, Harris characterized Chevaillier's campaign as "simply the revenge of a scorned, detested, and infuriated female.""
Thomas Lake Harris emerged in upstate New York amid a climate of self-proclaimed seers and prophets. He founded Mountain Cove (later Fountaingrove) and, after its collapse, established another colony on Lake Erie. His teachings attracted devoted followers, including British MP Laurence Oliphant. Accusers alleged ritualized "Edenic baths" and coerced sexual rearrangements directed by Harris. Harris dismissed critics as vindictive but soon left for England, Wales, and Manhattan, where he claimed to have discovered the secret to eternal life before dying. The Brotherhood scandal unfolded through newspapers and broadsheets, foreshadowing modern viral-driven cancellation dynamics.
Read at Kqed
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