In the 1920s, Los Angeles was a hub of cult-like groups. Though it was known by the names Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven, or the Great Eleven Club, The Blackburn Cult was host to many odd rituals, odder rulers, and a long-game con scheme.
May Otis Blackburn was born on August 2nd, 1881, in Iowa. From a very young age, May claimed that she could hear voices in her head. She also described an hallucination that followed her around as that of a spiritual dove.
When she was four, May’s father passed away. Shortly thereafter, her mother remarried, and moved the family from Iowa to South Dakota. Not much is known about May’s life during this time of her life.
May’s history picks back up on October 3rd, 1897, when she married a Canadian man named John Wieland. In the early days of the marriage, May learned that her husband had a severe gambling problem, and money was always running low. If she tried to hide money for bills or necessities, he would get angry and violent. A year after they got married, May learned she was pregnant. And her husband left her.
May’s baby daughter Ruth was born on July 25th, 1899. Shortly after Ruth’s birth, May received a letter stating that her husband, John, had been shot and killed over a mining claim dispute in California. Though not very devastated over John’s death, May was devastated at the prospect of being a young widow with a child.
May travelled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where her mother and step-father were, and implored them to take in her child. She wanted them to raise Ruth as their own, as she felt she wasn’t capable of doing so herself. May’s mother and step-father took Ruth in, no questions asked.
In July of 1901, May married a man named Rudolph A. Schults. He was aware that his wife was a widow, but did not know that his wife was a mother. May told her new husband that Ruth was her “sister”, whom she adored dearly.
When May’s parents took Ruth with them to Washington state for an employment opportunity, May begged Rudolph to follow them. May and Rudolph ended up moving to Portland, Oregon, in 1905 to be closer to Ruth, who was now 5 years old. Ruth did not remember May, and the two had to be re-introduced as “sisters”.
Rudolph found employment at the Oregon Hotel, where he earned $150 a month. May kept $125 for herself, leaving Rudolph with $25 after the fact. Rudolph was so smitten with May, that he either didn’t notice, or barely minded that she was manipulating him out of his money.
May had vowed to herself that she would never find herself in a position of poverty at the hands of a man ever again.
In 1906, May claimed to have received a letter from an acquaintance of John Wieland, stating that May’s first husband was still alive. She announced to Rudolph that she felt guilty being married and living with a man when her first husband was alive. She then announced that she aas leaving Rudolph to look for her first husband.
May never found John, if she had even looked for him at all. By 1909, May had been granted a divorce from John Wieland, and began a relationship with married Portland lumber tycoon Fremont Everett. May made it no secret that she was attracted to him because of his money. May was set – Fremont had purchased several apartment buildings in her name, guaranteeing her an income.
However, Rudolph kept pursuing May, trying to convince her to come back to him. She returned his affections by having their marriage annulled formally in 1912.
That same year, May’s step-father passed away. In 1913, her mother married Portland grocer Walter Blackburn, who brought his 12-year-old son Ward Sitton Blackburn to the marriage. May didn’t think much of the child. At the time.
On May 27th, 1915, May, then 34, married 27-year-old George Bloom. She had recently read in the newspaper that he’d won $3,000 in a lawsuit, and May wanted a cut of the action. The marriage did not last long. There are no official accounts in regards to what transpired, though Bloom had officially described himself as “single” in government records in 1917.
By this time, May was finding it difficult to con men out of their money. However, she had a plan.
Ruth was young, beautiful, and vivacious. She was 18 years old, and ready to take on the world. And just like her mother, she claimed to have heard voice recite poetry, or sing to her from an early age.
Ruth loved to perform, and had danced ballet from a young age. Ruth loved to be on stage, and thrived in the limelight. May saw her opportunity.
May had saved up a hefty nest egg from the apartment buildings that Fremont had bought for her. She decided to use that money to bankroll two films, starring her daughter. (It’s unclear if Ruth ever discovered the truth of her parentage or not.)
May immediately began production on a feature film, called “Nugget”, and an accompanying short film. May figured that the films would bring Hollywood calling, and the pair would be able to live comfortably off of Ruth’s earnings from acting.
May took advertisements out in every paper in town, boasting about the films being the first feature and accompaniment ever produced in Portland. The press ate it right up, and soon everyone was talking about it. The biggest theatre in town was so enthused, they installed a new organ, worth $20,000, so that the score of the film could be played in the rough.
However, the theatre only ran the films for a week, and though Ruth had won over Portland, the calls from Hollywood never came. May’s plan had failed. But she wasn’t deterred. If Hollywood wouldn’t come to her, she would go to Hollywood.
In 1918, May and Ruth packed their bags, and moved to Los Angeles, California. Ruth auditioned daily, but could only find work as a background extra. May had not found work at all. Instead, she stay home, growing more and more despondent.
Ruth supported herself and her mother through work as a “taxi dancer”, and an exotic dancer. While Ruth worked, May would sit in her chair, and read her Bible over, and over, and over again. May poured over the pages, the words, committing the content to memory.
In 1919, Ruth married a jealous, abusive man, from whom she separated in 1921. The divorce was not finalized, as neither of them could afford the fees. In 1922, Ruth met a man from Indiana named Arthur Carl Osbourne. The two began seeing each other, and Ruth seemed happy.
By this time, May was well and truly immersed in her own universe. She never left the apartment she shared with Ruth, and kept reading through her Bible over and over. Then, one night, both women claimed that they heard beings call their names, and appear to them in a bright, white light. The women knew who the being was. He was the angel Gabriel, come down to inform them that, as per the Book of Revelation 11:3, they were the “two witnesses” chosen to spread the message about the end of the world.
May and Ruth believed that they were appointed to write a book of divine knowledge. The book, titled “The Seventh Trumpet of Gabriel”, then later changed to “The Great Sixth Seal”, would bring about imminent apocalyptic events upon its publication. The book would also contain the locations of hidden riches, oil deposits, and lost treasures.
May knew what she had to do – she had to spread the word about the Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven. The “Great Eleven” referred to the eleven queens who would rule the world from eleven palaces after the end of the world, on Olive Hill, in Hollywood. The eleven queens would be granted gold, jewels, and harems of eleven kings for each queen. But they needed to spread the word.
By this time, Arthur was working hours away as a ranch hand, and he was missing Ruth dearly. Ruth wrote to him often, claiming that she was ill. She told him that if she could just get a little money – just a tad, it would help her. She claimed that the money would help her publish the book her and May intended on writing, and that the book’s publication would sell millions. Arthur took out a loan from his employer.
Ruth demanded more money from Arthur. Arthur was refused a further loan from his employer. His employer then demanded that Arthur pay back the loan in full, or lose his job. When Arthur demanded that Ruth send him pages of the book, she couldn’t – neither she nor May had written a word, despite claiming that they were taking strict dictation from the angle Gabriel.
Arthur lost his job at the ranch, and went looking for Ruth, only to find that she and May had moved without providing a forwarding address. Washing his hands of the experience, Arthur enlisted in the army, and never spoke to, or of, Ruth again.
May and Ruth had, in fact, returned to Portland in order to gather followers for their Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven. May spoke loudly, and confidently, about having a direct line with the angels.
Though both women claimed to be in direct contact with the angel Gabriel, a large part of their ‘theology’ was rooted in New Thought Christianity. New Thought held the belief that faith could, and should, lead to health and material wealth. Many of May’s ‘teachings’ diverged from this, but this philosophy was held at the root of the Great Eleven Club theology.
In 1924, May and Ruth had amassed 15 followers, but they knew they needed more. They also knew that they needed more funding. May needed to speak to a wider audience. May, Ruth, and their followers returned to Los Angeles, and got to work.
May began recruiting from Christian Science groups. Christian Science groups were of the belief that healing could be achieved by asking and praying for help, rather than seeking medical attention. They also believed that death was an illusion, and that the dead could be resurrected. May latched onto these themes, and, along with her doomsday and New Thought themes, her ‘theology’ began attracting more followers.
As followers came to her, they realized that they could not have jobs outside of the Great Eleven Club. If they owned businesses, they were encouraged to turn over ownership to May. May would provide everything for her members, she said – including food and shelter. In exchange, members would need to renounce all sources of money from the material world, and then turn over their cash and paycheques to May.
In a ritual, new members would place their money on the ground, where it would be picked up. May was loathe to touch anyone other than Ruth, growing more and more phobic of human touch. This appealed to the members, as it made her feel more ‘divine’. Then new members would be made to rub butter on their feet, and eat alfalfa sprouts.
May would also go on to explain that when Adam and Even ate from the apple in the Garden of Eden, every human being’s heavenly name had been stripped away. By joining The Great Eleven Club, May could bestow upon them their returned heavenly name. May’s was “The North Star”, and Ruth’s was “The Grand Royal of the Water of the Father’s Blood”. May, however, also went by Queen May, The Heel of God, and Mother.
May also enforced rules upon her followers. She saw apples as the ‘eye of God’, and banned members from eating them, as well as walnuts, Hellman’s mayonaise, and T-bone steaks. (These were all luxury grocery items, and as May was providing for her followers, it was likely she was just being frugal on the grocery bill.)
With promises of wealth and power, May recruited her step-brother, Ward Sitton Blackburn, and her step-father, Walter. She coaxed them with lengthy, hyperbolic, metaphysical gibberish. Ward and Walter were promised great rewards for publishing the book May and Ruth were writing, “The Great Sixth Seal” – the book that never actually existed.
Walter sold his grocery store in Portland, and invested in a small printing shop in Los Angeles. May had also inked a royalty agreement that guaranteed her share of the proceeds from her books, after fees were deducted, and $5,000 a month to be donated to The Great Eleven’s treasury.
In 1924, May married her step-brother, Ward. She was 43, and he was 23. The child she’d so often ignored was now her lawfully wedded husband. He was two years younger than her own daughter.
The arrangement suited them, it seemed. Though never proven, rumours around Portland were that Ward was a pedophile. May figured that Ward would never wand a physical relationship with her, which suited her just fine, as she was growing ever more adverse to touch.
By this time, Ruth had managed to divorce her abusive husband, leaving the beautiful 25-year-old free to date. She soon struck up 17-year-old Sammy Rizzio. They married in May of 1924. Sammy would prove to be no better than Ruth’s furst husband.
In July, Sammy had struck Ruth after an argument. He stormed out of the house, and was barred from entering upon returning by May and other members of her cult. Ruth would never see Sammy again.
May decided she wanted to have a conversation with the cult’s druggist, Eleanor. She told Eleanor that “Gabriel” had informed her that Sammy needed to die. She demanded Eleanor provide her with poison. Eleanor refused. A month later, she was summoned by May again.
This time, May insisted that Sammy only needed to perform a symbolic death, as a ritual. He wouldn’t actually die, as May just needed to sprinkle the poison around Sammy as part of the ritual. Eleanor was not convinced, but provided May with a bottle of chloroform, which was legal, and a bottle of coloured water. Eleanor told May that the bottle contained a potent illegal poison. Eleanor then fled the cult with her husband before May could figure out the truth behind the bottle of coloured water.
May was not deterred. She summoned Sammy, took him to a beach in Santa Monica, performed her “ritual”, and then sent him on his way. Sammy was never seen by anyone else ever again. May told Ruth, and the other bult members, that Sammy was living in exile.
While May and Ruth had been in Portland, they recruited a family of their most ardent followers. Martha, William, and Willa Rhodes were Christian Scientists. Martha had even claimed to have resurrected the dead successfully five times. As their beliefs aligned with May’s, they were easily swayed to join The Great Eleven Club.
May was immediately taken with the 15-year-old Willa, and immediately proclaimed her a “high priestess”, and a future queen. It didn’t take much to convince the family to move with May and Ruth back to Los Angeles.
When Willa began complaining of a sore tooth in 1924, Martha did what she thought best – she prayed, rather than go to a doctor. On New Year’s Day of 1925, Willa died from what was later determined to be an abscessed tooth. May reassured Martha and William that Willa would be resurrected in 1260 days, but it had to be kept secret from the rest of the cult. The rest of group were told that Willa had gone on a trip out of town. They didn’t question it.
Martha and William went about preserving the body. They placed her in a bathtub full of ice, replacing the ice every day to prevent decay. They placed flowers over her in the bathtub. They also sacrificed seven puppies that had been given to Willa as a gift by May’s mother.
Fourteen months later, William and Martha moved into a cottage in Venice. They dug a crawlspace under the floor of the cottage, which was to hold Willa’s body. May placed an herbal rub over Willa’s skin, which would act as a preservative. This would do nothing for Willa’s internal organs. Willa was placed in an open-face, copper lined coffin, along with another coffin containing the puppies, beneath the floor of the Venice cottage.
Any day now, Martha and William expected their daughter to get up, and walk out of the coffin.
Clifford Dabney was the nephew of an oil magnate, and a very rich man himself. He was charmed by May, and the premise of eternal life. He gave May a loan, as well as cash up front, that would allow himself and his wife, Alice, “concords” – a term May sometimes used to mean special titles bestowed upon individuals by the voices in her head. In return for his very generous donation, May promised that Clifford would see her book, “The Great Sixth Seal”, ahead of publication.
On top of that, Clifford also financed 164 acres of land in the Simi Valley in Ventura County. The land was divvied up in 40-foot by 60-foot parcels for the cult members to build their own cabins. The land had no electricity, no running water, and was nearly inhabitable. The land was no where near the roadway, and members had to hike miles in order to transport basic survival supplies, and construction supplies. Of course, May was sitting cozy in her own home, which all of the necessary amenities of modern life.
As construction began, the compound was named “The Work”. The members set to work building rough hewn cabins, and a sprawling temple. The temple housed a solid gold throne.
In the evenings, the cult members would don robes, gather in the temple, and perform rituals. According to some accounts, the members would dance in the nude, and sacrifice animals. It was also alleged that a cult member was led to believe they would be healed if they were placed in a hot brick oven, with the temperature slowly rising. The cult member didn’t make it.
In 1927, Clifford convinced May that The Great Eleven should be incorporated. It would make it easier for them to pay taxes, buy property, and run businesses as subsidiaries. Clifford proceeded to incorporate the cult, naming himself as its president.
He was also growing more and more desperate to become an eternal being. Clifford would demand secrets from May about the knowledge that “Gabriel” had bestowed upon her. His demands would send May into fits of rage. If Clifford threatened to pull out financially, May would threaten to withhold the information, and withhold his eternal divinity from himself and his wife. This would make Clifford back down.
Later in 1927, Clifford received a rude awakening. He received an auto repair bull that he could not pay. Clifford Dabney was flat broke. He had one oil lease left, which earned him a comfortable monthly income, but nothing nearly as affluent as his accustomed lifestyle. He realized that he’d given everything he had ever owned to May Otis Blackburn, an approximate total of $50,000.
Clifford resigned as president of the corporation, and attempted to keep his lease to himself – to provide for his wife. They attempted to leave, but May reeled them back in.
At it’s peak, The Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven had around 100 devoted members. And Clifford was trying to dwindle those numbers down.
In January of 1928, May summon Clifford and Alice to her side. She demanded that he sign the oil lease over to her. When he hesitated, May turned to him and stated: “Refuse, and death will surely come upon you.” Then, she turned to Alice and said: “And perhaps you too, dear.” Cliffford signed over the lease.
However, other cult members were grumbling in displeasure and dissatisfaction. They’d been promised eternal life, and “The Great Sixth Seal”. May was not living up to her promises. She was living large in a house, while her followers were in the middle of the Simi Valley in horrible living conditions. More and more, the members were turning to the New Thought Movement for guidance. They’d lost faith in May’s dialogue of metaphysical gibberish. It was growing too occult-like for their tastes.
In March of 1928, Clifford and a few other members incorporated The Divine Science of Joshua, an offshoot of The Great Eleven Club. May welcomed them in with open arms. She knew that to decry the rebellion would only incite others to follow suit – and she was relying on them to pay the bills.
In another odd event, May ordered William Rhodes to take a “body-shaped box” up to Black Bear Lake and bury it during the summer of 1929. William feared May, and did as he was told.
Desolate and desperate, Clifford was approached by his uncle. His uncle offered him a hefty sum to rid himself of May Otis Blackburn once and for all. In July of 1929, Clifford and Alice accepted the deal, and left the cult once and for all.
Clifford, with the help of his uncle, and with other members of the cult, filed charges of fraud and theft against May Otis Blackburn, for a total of $200,000 (roughly $3.1 million in today’s funds).
As the investigation was underway, police found the body of Willa Rhodes beneath the floor of the Rhodes Venice cottage. Police were unable to determine whether Willa truly had died of her toothache, as her parents had stated, of if foul play had been involved. Other rumours of disappearances and deaths could not be substantiated. Sammy Rizzio was never found.
Of the 15 charges officially laid against May, she was convicted of 8 counts of grand theft in 1930. She was ultimately sentenced to 14 years in prison for each count. Her attorneys immediately launched an appeal.
In 1931, The California Supreme Court overturned the conviction against May Otis Blackburn. The ruling claimed that the evidence used in her conviction had failed to establish that May knew she was defrauding the members of her cult. The ruling went further to declare that May’s victims were of sound mind when they accepted her teachings, and gave her their money.
May Otis Blackburn was exonerated, but the publicity of the trial, and her conviction, had decimated her following.
In 1936, May finally published a book titled “The Origin of God”. The book did not do well.
May Otis Blackburn died in Los Angeles in 1951. Her daughter, Ruth, died in 1978. Both published various propaganda until their deaths.
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Sources:
The Blackburn Cult – Los Angeles Almanac
The Blackburn Cult – Jason Lucky Morrow – Historical Crime Detective
Blackburn Cult: The Hidden Mission of Self-Styled Messengers of God – Richard Spence, Ph.D. – The Great Courses Daily
The Weird and Twisted History of the Blackburn Cult – Orrin Grey – The Lineup
Cults podcast – “The Blackburn Cult” – May Otis Blackburn – Part One – Part Two