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Best Article Crime Religion

Rajneeshees: From India to Oregon (Parts 1-20)

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his spokeswoman Ma Anand Sheela moved their commune and its thousands of followers from India to an Oregon ranch. The poisoning of a nearby town, election manipulation, and plans to murder government officials and the writer of this story soon followed.

The events chronicled in this original 1985 series are the basis for the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country.

  1. Part 1

    How followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh came to Oregon from India, and transformed eastern Oregon’s Big Muddy Ranch into Rancho Rajneesh.

  2. Part 2

    How a small-town Indian boy became a religious guru that followers compared to Jesus Christ, Buddha and Krishna.

  3. Part 3

    Before coming to Oregon, the Bhagwan built his following in Poona, India, attracting disciples from around the world.

  4. Part 4

    What are the real reasons the Rajneeshees left India for Oregon? Rising tensions with the Indian government and police, and a lot of unpaid taxes.

  5. Part 5

    Tales of smuggling – gold, money and drugs – dogged the Rajneesh movement since the late 1970s, and continued when they arrived in the United States.

  6. Part 6

    Somewhere between India and Oregon, the life-or-death melodrama surrounding Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s failing health dissipated like a contrail against a summer sky.

  7. Part 7

    How Ma Anand Sheela used family ties to help purchase the land for the Rajneeshees’ Oregon commune.

  8. Part 8

    Ma Anand Sheela was much more than the guru’s personal secretary. She was a tigress of the two-minute TV interview, and wielded words like weapons.

  9. Part 9

    To turn Racho Rajneesh from farmland to a city, the Rajneeshees needed to incorporate. It was a blurring of church and state that caught the eye of Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer.

  10. Part 10

    While followers talked about free love, the Rajneeshees armed themselves with assault weapons, grenade launchers and submachine guns, turning Rajneeshpuram into one of the most-heavily armed places in the state.

  11. Part 11

    Followers of the Bhagwan saw their ranch as a place of peace, but the universal bliss was laced with threats of violence and threads of paranoia.

  12. Part 12

    Antics by the Rajneeshees during legal proceedings – including making faces and obscene gestures – confounded lawyers and judges.

  13. Part 13

    Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh hardly led a humble life, with his diamond-encrusted Rolex watches and fleet of 74 Rolls-Royces.

  14. Part 14

    The Rajneesh financial machine reached around the globe, and channeled millions of dollars to its Oregon headquarters.

  15. Part 15

    How a lust for money propelled the Rajneesh movements into the arms of Big Business.

  16. Part 16

    Ma Anand Sheela and other ranch officials kept a tight grip on followers.

  17. Part 17

    Rajneesh used various techniques – some of them strong-armed – to separate followers from their cash, property and jewelry.

  18. Part 18

    Rajneeshees bristled at the word “cult,” but it was clearly one according to religious experts.

  19. Part 19

    Of all the threats to the Rajneesh movement, an immigration fraud investigation that was four years in the making loomed the largest, and focused on arranged marriages and fake relationships

  20. Part 20

    The Rajneeshees took advantage of sleepy immigration officials to sneak followers into the United States. The government then bungled cases, and irritated potential witnesses to the point that they no longer cooperated.

Les Zaitz The Oregonian Jun–Jul 1985 Permalink

The Boy Behind the Mask

“It looks as though someone has slapped three pounds of wet clay onto his face, where it clings, burying the boy inside. But Sam, the boy behind the mask, peers out from the right eye. It is clear, perfectly formed and a deep, penetrating brown.”

Tom Hallman Jr. The Oregonian Oct 2000 1h5min Permalink

The Spy's Kid

The son of Jim Nicholson, a former CIA agent convicted of espionage, follows in his father’s footsteps.

  1. Part 1: Nathan Nicholson follows his father into the spy game.

  2. Part 2: The son begins passing notes from his dad to eager Russian operatives.

  3. Part 3: Nathan jets to exotic locales to collect envelopes stuffed with money.

  4. Part 4: FBI agents are waiting on Nathan Nicholson’s doorstep.

  5. Part 5: Nathan must decide whether to betray his spymaster father.

  6. Part 6: Father and son see each other for the first time in more than a year — inside a courtroom.

  7. Profile: Twice a turncoat, Jim Nicholson sold U.S. secrets to the Russians, then used his son as a courier.

bryan denson The Oregonian May 2011 45min Permalink

Best Article Crime World Religion

Rajneeshees in Oregon: The Untold Story

Twenty-five years ago, a guru from India showed up in rural Oregon with 2,000 followers. Here’s what happened next: they legally turned their multi-million dollar ranch into an incorporated city, imported homeless people to swing local votes, poisoned hundreds and attempted to assassinate the state’s U.S. attorney.

  1. Part 1: 25 Years After Rajneeshee Commune Collapsed, Truth Spills Out

  2. Part 2: Thwarted Rajneeshee Leaders Attack Enemies, Neighbors with Poison

  3. Part 3: Rajneeshee Leaders Take Revenge on The Dalles’ with Poison, Homeless

  4. Part 4: Rajneeshee Leaders See Enemies Everywhere as Questions Compound

  5. Part 5: Rajneeshees’ Utopian Dreams Collapse as Talks Turn to Murder

Les Zaitz The Oregonian Apr 2011 30min Permalink