Magazine: Free Inquiry
Issue: Summer 1994 (vol. 14 no. 3)
Title: The Waco Tragedy
Author: James A. Haught
Well, the Waco cult trial is over, a year after the tragedy.
But did you know that the story actually began 150 years ago with a
famous fiasco? Since watching weird religion is my hobby, I'II tel
you the tale: In the 1830s, a New England Baptist preacher, William
Miller, computed from obscure prophecies in the Book of Daniel tha
Jesus would return to Earth between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844.
Miller began warning of the approaching apocalypse. By the 1840s, h
had drawn nearly 100,000 followers. When the fateful time arrived, the
"Millerites" prayed and prayed-but nothing happened. Then Miller re-
examined the Bible verses and announced that he had erred; the correc
date would be October 22, 1844. As it neared, many of the faithful
gave away their possessions and waited on hilltops for the heavens to
open. Again, zilch
Many Millerites lost their faith, but a hard core held firm.
Some of them insisted that doomsday actually had occurred on Octobe
22, but it was a preparatory event in heaven that would be followed
soon by Jesus bursting forth onto Earth. This group formed the Sev-
enth-Day Adventist Church
As the Seventh-Day Adventists grew more than 3 million strong,
some members felt that the church wasn't holy enough. In the 1930s, a
Los Angeles Adventist, Victor Houteff, said Jesus wouldn't return un-
til an ultra-pure church was ready to greet him. So Houteff opened a
Waco commune for pure believers, calling them Davidian Seventh-Da
Adventists.
He died in 1955 and the Davidians prayerfully awaited his res-
urrection. When it didn't happen, his widow, Florence, took over.
She proclaimed that the Second Coming would be on Easter Day, 1959.
Hundreds of followers around America quit their jobs, sold their bel-
ongings, and hurried to Waco for the rapture. Wrong again.
Once more, the disillusioned departed, and a hard core per-
sisted. A member named Ben Roden took command and named the survivors
Branch Davidians. He died in 1978, leaving the commune, called Mount
Carmel, to his widow, Lois, and son, George.
Soon afterward, a twenty-three-year old Texas Adventist name
Vernon Howell, a ninth-grade dropout, moved into the compound (and
reportedly became the lover of the sixty-seven-year-old widow). He
had hypnotic charisma, electrifying the others with his revelations
of the coming apocalypse.
He married the fourteen-year-old daughter of a commune couple-
but soon declared that God had commanded him to establish a House of
David, in which he was to have as many wives as King David. He bedde
more than a dozen commune females, one merely eleven years old, anothe
fifty. He gave each a Star of David to wear as an emblem that she had
been chosen by the king
After Lois Roden died in 1986, her son George vied with Howel
for command. Roden won, temporarily. Howell took his followers and
left Mount Carmel, wandering as nomads. Then in 1987, Howell's band
returned to challenge Roden for leadership
Roden proposed an epic contest: From a graveyard, he dug u
the corpse of an eighty-five-year-old woman, and declared that whoever
could resurrect her would be the true prophet of Mount Carmel. Howel
evaded this challenge, and urged police to arrest Roden for corpse
abuse
Then Howell and seven armed supporters crept into Mount Carmel
in after-midnight darkness. Roden grabbed his Uzi machine gun and
engaged the intruders in a firefight. He was wounded slightly in the
hand and chest. Howell's band was charged with attempted murder, an
released on bond.
Next, Roden was jailed for contempt of court because he filed
grossly obscene motions in an unrelated case. While Roden was locked
up, Howell moved his followers back into the compound and took over.
Their subsequent trial for attempted murder ended in acquittals. The
dethroned Roden later killed a man and was put in a state mental hos-
pital (he escaped last year).
Reigning as sole prophet, Howell preached that he was an ange
sent by God to implement the Second Coming. He said God ordained him
to move to Israel and convert the Jews, which would trigger the Battl
of Armageddon and make Earth a paradise for the surviving faithful
Howell visited Israel-but failed to convert the Jews.
Traveling around the globe, the dynamic young prophet attrac
ted converts who sold their possessions, gave all their money to him,
and followed him to Waco to live in the compound. In 1989, he pro-
claimed that all women in the compound were his brides, and the rest
of the men must remain celibate. Some married couples rebelled and
left. Others, utterly dominated by him, obeyed.
In 1990, Howell changed his name to David Koresh and began
preaching that the great doomsday battle would occur in Texas. He
and his lieutenants bought hundreds of guns and machine guns,
ammunition, gas masks, and other war supplies.
Federal agents heard that the commune contained illega
machine guns, and took steps to disarm the cult. You know the rest
of the story.
The Waco saga has entered history, like Jonestown, the witch
hunts, and other bizarre episodes. As we go about our daily lives,
it's unsettling to realize that some people among us are capable of
believing far-out fantasies, enough to die for them.
James A. Haught wrote _Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious
Murder and Madness_ (Prometheus Books, 1990). He is the editor of the
Charleston Gazette.
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