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You're listening to American Shadows, a

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production of I Heart Radio and Grim

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and Mild from Aaron Minky.

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He was reluctant to share his secret.

0:21

The call, though, was too strong. In the secret

0:23

too dangerous. The world

0:25

you see was coming to an end, and everyone

0:28

needed to prepare a

0:31

farmer by trade. William Miller

0:33

had once been a captain in the War of eighteen twelve.

0:36

He had seen a lot during his military service,

0:38

and he attended church well religiously

0:42

in eighteen sixteen, though he no

0:44

longer believed in deism, the

0:46

idea that there is a supreme being whose

0:49

hands off certain

0:51

the real truth was hidden in the scriptures

0:53

he searched until he found it in Daniel

0:56

fourteen, which read unto

0:58

two thousand days, then

1:01

shall the sanctuary be cleansed?

1:04

To Millard, the message was perfectly clear,

1:07

rapture by the hand of God. Excited,

1:10

Miller concluded that doomsday would occur two

1:13

thousand, three hundred days after a revelation

1:15

on creation from the prophet James

1:18

Usher. With time running

1:20

out, he told neighbors and friends. He

1:22

talked about his discoveries at church too,

1:25

and before long locals began

1:27

to believe him. Though he was never

1:30

ordained, he had pained a license to preach

1:32

and took his sermons on the road. He

1:35

published books and produced pamphlets in

1:37

just six months. His message,

1:39

are You Ready to Meet Your Maker? Gained

1:41

followers across the country.

1:44

Of course, not everyone believed him.

1:47

Angry mobs pelted him with eggs and rotten

1:49

food, but their attempts to

1:51

break up his sermons only made him more

1:53

popular. After three hundred

1:55

lectures, followers of what had become known

1:58

as the Millerite movement seated

2:00

fifty thousand, and with

2:02

his shouts that the world would soon end,

2:05

millions more were curious. If nothing

2:07

else, Jesus

2:09

would come for them. He promised he

2:11

would arrive high on a mountaintop sometime

2:14

between March twenty one, eighteen forty

2:16

three and March twenty one, eighteen

2:18

forty four. When that

2:20

didn't happen, Miller admitted

2:22

he may have been wrong and adjusted the date

2:24

to April eighteenth of eighteen forty four.

2:27

And when that date came and went, he

2:29

became certain that the end of the world would happen

2:31

on October twenty two of that year. Despite

2:35

his being wrong multiple times,

2:37

his followers doubled when they

2:39

met for services. Their enthusiasm was

2:41

equal to any big tent revival. Miller's

2:44

popularity sword One

2:48

man, a dairy farmer who believed in

2:50

Miller, gave way all of his cows,

2:53

the reason there wouldn't be anyone at

2:55

the farm to care for them once he had gone up

2:57

ascended. That is, and you

3:00

wasn't the only one giving away their earthly

3:02

belongings. Believers sold

3:04

their land, gave away their jewelry and

3:06

animals. They even busted

3:09

up their furniture that have no use

3:11

for sofas and beds where they were going. Women

3:14

cut off their hair and ripped the ruffles from

3:16

their dresses. Wanting to be properly

3:18

attired for heaven, they began to wear long,

3:20

flowing white garments. In

3:23

the late spring of eighteen forty four, a

3:26

meteor flew across the sky at

3:28

noon, and the cosmic event was

3:30

all the proof the Millerites needed

3:32

the end was near. On

3:36

October one, followers

3:38

put on their ascension robes, and, believing

3:40

that Christ had chosen mount, would choose

3:42

it, climbed to the top and waited.

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Others who were physically unable to climb

3:48

that far, felt that apple trees

3:50

were the next best bet. An entire

3:52

family had perched themselves in the tops

3:54

of trees in a local orchard, and

3:56

when a pair of travelers passed by a

3:59

man in the tree asked if they were aware

4:01

that the world would end by daybreak,

4:04

one a reverend said that the matter didn't

4:06

affect him, as he lived in Boston. The

4:09

second author, Ralph Waldo

4:11

Emerson, told him, the world

4:13

doesn't affect me. I can get along without

4:15

it. As the sun

4:18

set, the Millerites waited, eager

4:20

to meet their maker by

4:22

sunrise, though it became clear he

4:24

wasn't coming. The Millerites

4:26

had just suffered the great disappointment,

4:29

and now that the world wasn't ending, they

4:31

began to suffer great depression that

4:34

had given away everything, and many were

4:36

now homeless and broke. Newspapers

4:39

printed their story, or at least some

4:41

version of it. Many Millerites claim

4:43

that reporters made up the part about the robes. Today,

4:46

though the story is widely accepted

4:48

as fact. But what

4:50

happened? How did so many people

4:53

come to believe Miller Historians

4:55

speculate that it might have been because powerful

4:58

leaders and trusted experts hadn't told

5:00

the public otherwise. No one

5:02

holding a higher authority than Miller had proved

5:05

him wrong, and by the time

5:07

their cognitive biases had hit a fever

5:09

pitch, such evidence was dismissed

5:11

as disbelief and ignorance. You'd

5:15

think that afterward they'd have gone back

5:17

to how things were before Miller came along

5:20

instead of recanting their belief, though they

5:23

came to what they felt was a broader understanding.

5:26

They had just interpreted the signs wrong. The

5:28

world itself hadn't ended because Christ

5:31

had cleansed heaven, not earth.

5:34

But of course this isn't the

5:36

only example of such an event in America.

5:39

Moments of passionate belief that led

5:41

people to do things most would never consider.

5:45

Time may have distanced us from these

5:47

movements, but their shadows are still

5:49

there, painted across the pages

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of history. I'm

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Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to

5:56

American shadows. The

6:05

church goers in the town of Enfield,

6:07

then still part of Massachusetts, or what

6:09

their pastor called stubborn and

6:12

maybe even lacks in changing

6:14

their less than Christian ways compared

6:16

to neighboring towns, and with

6:18

a reputation on the line that wouldn't

6:21

do the church invited

6:23

another preacher to speak. Jonathan

6:26

Edwards accepted the invitation and took

6:28

the task seriously. If his speech

6:30

didn't whip the pastor's flock into shape,

6:32

nothing would. He stood

6:35

before the congregation on July seventeen,

6:38

forty one and read his sermon, Sinners

6:40

in the Hands of an Angry God. He

6:43

had already delivered the speech to his own flock

6:45

not long before, and to great success.

6:48

His vivid descriptions of hell and the evil

6:51

had observed in the real world, coupled with

6:53

scriptures showing that certain behaviors

6:55

were a bee line to Satan's doorstep, had

6:57

the terrified flock gasping and screaming,

7:01

there's nothing that keeps wicked men at

7:03

any one moment out of Hell. Edwards railed,

7:06

but the mere pleasure of God. More

7:09

gasps erupted from the crowd as Edwards

7:11

continued his seething sermon, informing

7:14

them that such sinners deserved what was

7:16

coming to them, that witnessing the

7:18

bad events in life was just a taste

7:20

of the horror Satan had waiting for them

7:23

at any moment. He told them God might

7:25

allow Satan to seize their souls,

7:28

but God had given them chance after chance,

7:30

and now he was furious with them.

7:33

Not only might he rain down his wrath

7:35

on them, he'd let Satan have their

7:37

souls too. The congregation

7:40

cried out for help for counsel. Edwards

7:42

wasn't done, though not by a long shot. He

7:45

continued to quote scripture and blend it

7:47

with story after story at a fierce

7:49

and unrelenting pitch. By

7:52

the end of the sermon, his shouts were barely

7:54

heard over the crowd. This

7:56

type of speech, now referred to

7:58

as fire in Brimstone, is still

8:00

studied today. But what

8:03

made the speech so effective. The

8:05

trouble began between the seventeen thirties

8:07

and forties. New England

8:09

found itself in the middle of the Great Awakening, one

8:12

of three distinct periods of widespread

8:14

spiritual revivals and new denominations

8:16

and religious movements. The devils

8:19

and the details they say, and

8:21

while much of Europe was facing which hysteria,

8:24

many Americans focused on Satan.

8:27

Their fear of the devil was part of what made

8:30

Edward's speech so powerful. Throughout

8:33

history, some sects of Christianity haven't

8:35

taken to the idea of letting judgment day

8:37

just come and go. They've tried

8:39

to fight it by identifying potential Antichrists

8:42

at all costs. The Antichrist,

8:44

to the belief Goes, would cause the end

8:47

of the world with catastrophes and a host

8:49

of other misfortunes. Identify and

8:51

read the world of them, and all would be well.

8:54

Wicked behaviors and even thoughts were

8:56

believed to cause storms, bad crops,

8:59

stillborn, chill, green mental illness, disease,

9:01

and any host of further wicked behaviors.

9:05

In short, the devil fed off the

9:07

impure acts of man, gaining more

9:09

and more power until he could challenge

9:11

God by bringing about Doomsday.

9:14

The devil could hide anywhere, too, a

9:16

cloven hooved man, animals,

9:18

including black cats, and perhaps

9:21

especially women, because

9:23

they were perceived as the weaker sex. Was

9:25

believed women were more prone to the temptations

9:28

of the devil. But the

9:30

deepest pits of hell, Edwards claimed,

9:32

had been reserved for Native Americans,

9:35

they, he claimed were agents of the Antichrist.

9:39

He wasn't alone in his backwards and

9:41

bigoted thinking. In early

9:43

America, some settlers believed the devil

9:46

had a stronghold over the Native Americans.

9:49

Their pagan beliefs and their very existence

9:51

threatened the settler's concept of what Christian

9:54

life should be on their newly colonized

9:56

land. Further, these

9:58

settlers believed that during the colonial

10:00

era, the Antichrist had control

10:02

of the Church and the King of England. In

10:05

short, some of these Protestant Americans

10:07

were certain that non Protestants, immigrants,

10:10

Native Americans, alcohol, and any

10:12

other obstacle that didn't agree with their ideology

10:15

was doing the devil's bidding. If

10:19

the Native Americans wouldn't convert to their

10:21

way of life and Christian beliefs, if

10:23

they didn't surrender land for the betterment

10:25

of mankind, they must be

10:28

killed to save the world. Inane

10:31

and racist, absolutely,

10:34

and it sadly made sense to them.

10:37

The colonists were on a new continent, then

10:40

encountered people unlike them in their speech,

10:42

apparents, and faith. With

10:44

a new land and life came tremendous

10:46

instability and plenty of anxiety

10:49

to go with it. Humans

10:51

across the millennia have looked for ways to

10:53

explain things they didn't fully understand

10:56

in an attempt to feel in control during

10:58

times of uncertainty, Fear

11:01

fueled irrationality and hatred among

11:03

the colonists. Therefore,

11:05

it became their duty to protect the earth

11:08

at all costs until Christ's return.

11:11

They believed that they had been uniquely tasked

11:13

by God to conquer the land so that evil

11:16

would not prevail. And all this

11:18

change brought on a lot of experimentation

11:20

concerning religion. In fact,

11:22

during the American Revolution to religious

11:25

revivals were also occurring the First

11:27

and Second Great Awakenings. Churches

11:30

offered hope in a world that seemed

11:32

more than a little hopeless. But times

11:35

were changing and religious needs

11:37

with them, and along the way

11:40

there were people who capitalized on the

11:42

darker side of belief. Their

11:44

message, however, wasn't one of hope.

11:48

It was one of fear. Grotus

11:57

Lie was just thirteen when she married

12:00

twenty three year old Ira Wakeman in

12:02

eighteen hundred. Over

12:04

the years, they had fifteen children together,

12:07

but Ira was not exactly the

12:09

ideal father and husband. He

12:12

was a big man who liked to throw his fists

12:14

around, especially when drunk, which

12:16

was quite often. Two

12:19

things set Ira off the most wrote

12:21

as attendance at Methodist meetings and

12:24

reading the Bible, and it

12:26

was the Bible reading that brought on constant

12:28

death threats Rhoda believed

12:30

her husband might kill her any day,

12:33

and in he tried

12:35

to go through with it. He had lit a

12:37

fire and sat her in a chair Before

12:39

it, he cursed her and God,

12:41

swearing that the world would never be at peace

12:44

as long as she were part of it. The

12:47

story varies slightly here, depending

12:49

on who tells it. It goes

12:51

either that Ira beat her unconscious

12:53

or that he stabbed her with a piece of burning firewood,

12:57

regardless of how the assault took place.

12:59

Row To later claimed that she died.

13:03

Upon her death, she claimed red eyed

13:05

imps danced around her when

13:07

a bright white spirit emerged. Moments

13:10

later, the imps scattered, and

13:12

that spirit took her by the hand and escorted

13:14

her up into the clouds. Once

13:17

in heaven, she claimed she met both Christ

13:19

and God, but after welcoming

13:22

her as one of their own, the angels returned

13:24

her to earth and then vanished. Rhoda

13:27

took her experience as a revelation she

13:31

was one with Heaven now, and if she had survived

13:33

her husband, it was God's will. After

13:36

all, her husband was an agent of the Devil,

13:38

put on earth to kill her, and he had tried

13:40

to do just that. He had failed,

13:43

though, because Rhoda had been chosen by God

13:46

when she awoke, she left him and went to

13:48

live with her daughter Caroline. Determined

13:51

to spread the word, she began preaching door

13:53

to door. Certain that she had been chosen

13:55

as the prophetess of God, she set

13:57

about convincing others as well. Her

14:00

half brother, Sammy, whom she also lived

14:02

with from time to time, had experienced

14:04

a brain injury that left him more like

14:06

a child than a grown man, and

14:09

Sammy above all, believed every

14:11

word his sister told him.

14:14

Before long, Rhoda and her followers

14:16

paid Ira a visit. They tied

14:18

him up, and Rhoda stabbed him.

14:20

She told everyone that would free Ira of the devil.

14:23

Although he survived the initial attack, he

14:25

died some time later. Rhoda

14:28

claimed she had had another revelation, though, that

14:31

Ira had died when the devil no longer had

14:33

any wicked plans for him.

14:35

Her followers agreed, saying that for

14:38

being in league with the devil, Ira

14:40

got exactly what he deserved.

14:44

The wake Knight's message of doomsday

14:46

continued to gain more followers, but

14:49

Rhoda had high standards for her followers.

14:51

Do and believe as she said and all would

14:53

be well disagree, though,

14:56

and she would expose them as being the

14:58

Antichrist. And

15:00

that criticism was extended to the churches

15:02

full of believers around her. Once,

15:05

after watching people enter one of these churches,

15:07

she openly wept. She woke her

15:10

daughter Caroline in the middle of the night, claiming

15:12

that heavenly spirits wouldn't let her rest.

15:15

They came to her night after night, she said, begging

15:17

her to preach in the churches. In

15:21

eighteen fifty two, though Caroline's husband

15:23

Ephraim dared to speak out mother.

15:26

He said, there is nothing in your doctrines.

15:29

It's all a delusion. And

15:31

with that, Rhoda became convinced

15:34

that her son in law was possessed and wanted

15:36

to kill her. She was afraid,

15:38

she told Caroline, and not just afraid

15:40

of Ephraim. Rhoda claimed another

15:42

of her son in law's, Charles Willoughby, was

15:45

also possessed. According

15:47

to Rhoda, Charles had not only caused

15:49

a winter's worth of storms, but it also

15:52

plagued Sammy with thousands of imps

15:54

that crawled over his head and back. But

15:57

like her husband Ephraim, Caroline

16:00

felt the stories about the imps pushed things

16:02

too far, and she expressed her thoughts

16:04

to her mother. As you might

16:06

expect, Rhoda wasn't at all

16:08

pleased. Don't call me mother,

16:11

she shouted. Anybody that wants to kill

16:13

me needn't call me mother. Rhoda

16:16

would disown Caroline. Then

16:18

she, Sammy and another follower named

16:21

Thankful Hershey moved to New Haven,

16:23

Connecticut. There they found

16:25

a small house by the Grove Street Cemetery,

16:27

practically under the eaves of Yale University.

16:30

They sold fruit syrups and herbal medicines,

16:32

and even boarded children. To earn additional

16:34

income, Rhoda

16:37

preached to nearby farmers and workers, meeting

16:39

with them every Sunday and once more later

16:42

in the week. Charles Sandford,

16:44

fresh from his release at the Hartford Retreat

16:46

for the Insane, joined them in hopes

16:48

that Rhoda could cure him of his mental illness.

16:51

But he wasn't her only new follower. A

16:54

seventeen year old named Amos Hunt also

16:56

joined up and quickly rose to the ranks

16:58

of the wake nights. Some time

17:01

later, Amos and his wife arrived for

17:03

a meeting bearing pies and cakes.

17:06

Rhoda ate a slice of pie, and then polished

17:08

off one and a half of the cakes, all on her own.

17:11

It's probably no surprise that she became

17:13

sick, but Rhoda claimed

17:15

that the sweets had been laced with poison

17:18

and had nearly killed several followers,

17:20

although there's no record that anyone else

17:22

fell ill. For days,

17:25

Rhoda lay sick in bed before visiting her

17:27

doctor, his diagnosis insanity.

17:31

Undaunted, she claimed Sammy was having

17:33

a Yale chemist test the remaining cakes,

17:36

but even before he announced his findings,

17:38

she told her followers that enough poison

17:41

had been found to kill at least ten

17:43

men. The poison in question

17:45

hadn't been arsenic, though she said

17:47

that as a prophet of the Lord, she was immune to

17:49

that. No. She claimed

17:52

the cakes had been made from something worse,

17:54

a concoction of men's brains,

17:56

oil of their bones, the eyes of dogs

17:59

and roosters, basil, topaz,

18:01

copper, sink, platina,

18:04

and toad entrails. Some

18:07

wakem knights thought Hunt and his wife had

18:09

made the poisonous cakes to determine if

18:11

Rhoda was divine or merely human. Hunt,

18:14

though was instantly accused of

18:16

being the Devil's agent. Sammy

18:19

even suggested that Hunt should die for his sins

18:21

against the Prophetess well

18:24

that or pay a cash settlement.

18:27

Perhaps surprisingly, Hunt paid

18:29

five hundred dollars, and

18:31

none of this sat well with the rest

18:33

of the wake Nights. Rhoda's

18:35

disciples began to wonder how the Prophetess

18:38

hadn't seen the betrayal coming. But

18:41

worse than that, they were shocked that she

18:43

had accepted a payoff from a man of

18:45

sin. Rhoda attempted

18:47

to regain her followers trust with more

18:49

lies and fear the world

18:52

would inevitably be destroyed. She told them

18:54

taking the money had placed an evil influence

18:56

on every one of them, not just her,

18:59

for Itightened by the prospect, they wanted to

19:01

know how to save themselves. Not

19:04

surprisingly, Rhoda told them exactly

19:07

what had to be done.

19:19

In December of eighteen fifty five, Rhoda

19:22

and Sammy moved again, settling

19:24

into a small house that was often crowded

19:26

with fellow wake nights. It was

19:28

there that she told the others that the Antichrist

19:31

had left Amos Hunt and had found its

19:33

way to a pistol factory worker named

19:35

Justice Washington Matthews. He

19:38

had attended a few of their meetings, often

19:40

accompanying one of their own, Meritable

19:43

and her sister Polly. Justice

19:46

didn't care much for Rhoda, and the feeling

19:48

was mutual. The damning evidence

19:50

against Justice had been that his wife had suffered

19:53

a convulsion around the same time that Rhoda

19:55

had fallen ill, and the timing,

19:57

she claimed had not been a coincidence. The

20:00

Antichrist had taken possession of Justice,

20:02

and now the wake Nights must wage a battle

20:04

to rid him of the devil. Oddly,

20:08

Justice didn't object to their first attempt

20:10

at exercising the devil from him.

20:12

Maybe he felt pressured, or maybe

20:15

he felt that the tea they wanted him to drink,

20:17

brood from the bark of a witch hazel tree,

20:19

wasn't so bad. Afterward,

20:22

though, Rhoda determined that the tea hadn't

20:24

worked. Believing that Justice

20:27

was still possessed. The wakem Knights began

20:29

to pray over him, but when no

20:31

one witnessed a spirit leaving his body,

20:33

they began to plead with him to give up the demon.

20:36

Rhoda, however, had a different solution

20:38

in mind. Blood On

20:42

December twenty three, she and her followers

20:44

conducted Sabbath worship in an upstairs

20:46

bedroom. All told,

20:48

fifteen people came and went for services

20:51

that day and throughout the evening. By

20:54

ten o'clock, Sammy had a nice

20:56

fire going in the front room. When Justice

20:58

arrived with his wife and sister in law, he

21:01

removed his damp boots in front of the fire,

21:03

and that's when Rhoda screamed, claiming

21:06

the demons were torturing her. She

21:09

wasted no time in instructing Polly

21:11

to blindfold Justice because eye

21:13

contact with a man of sin would harm her

21:15

brother, claiming she feared

21:17

for her safety. Rhoda also asked

21:20

Polly to bind Justice's hands

21:22

behind his back. Not

21:24

wanting Rhoda to be frightened of him, Justice

21:26

allowed it. Those present

21:28

then led him to the day bed and began

21:31

the exorcism. For two

21:33

hours, they alternated between praying

21:35

for his soul and shouting at him to give

21:37

up the devil. Rhoda

21:39

eventually retreated to her room, where

21:41

she claimed the demons continued to torture

21:44

her in the most excruciating of ways. After

21:47

an hour, she said the demons were crawling

21:49

around inside her and that she would soon die,

21:52

and that if she did the world would

21:54

end. Alarmed at her revelation,

21:57

members raced down the stairs. He's

21:59

killing her, they out it, He's killing the messenger.

22:02

The prayers turned into a discussion.

22:06

Two attendees said that it would be better to kill

22:08

Justice than to let Rhoda in the entire

22:10

world die. The remainder

22:13

of the group quickly agreed, all

22:15

except Sammy, who thought they should

22:17

try one last thing. He

22:21

ran out into the yard, and when he returned

22:23

he was carrying a two ft long piece of

22:25

wood. Perhaps, he suggested

22:28

they could beat the devil out of him.

22:31

They secured the doors and shuttered the windows

22:33

to the room, and then turned their attention

22:35

to Justice. The first

22:37

blow struck him in the right temple, knocking

22:40

him to the ground. After that,

22:42

Sammy hit him again and again. Then,

22:46

claiming some unknown influence was urging

22:48

him on, he slit Justice's throat

22:50

with a pocket knife. Not

22:53

satisfied that the job was done, he retrieved

22:55

a large oven fork used to lift

22:57

the stove lit and drove it into justice

23:00

His chest, not once, but twelve

23:02

times, in a pattern designed to make the

23:04

shape of a cross. The

23:06

holes, Sammy said would force

23:09

the demon to leave Justice's

23:11

brother in law, who had been pushed into another room

23:14

during the exorcism, heard gurgling

23:16

noises. He pounded on the door,

23:18

but others pulled him away, insisting

23:20

that if Justice died, he'd be raised.

23:23

The sound of the blows and Justice's

23:25

cries sent a few scurrying

23:27

away to a corner to pray. Another

23:30

hour passed before Sammy finally

23:33

opened the door at

23:35

two in the morning. Sammy's clothes were

23:37

washed into basin. His sleeves

23:39

were so stained that they were ripped from the shirt.

23:42

The floor was then mopped clean, and the

23:44

piece of wood, still caked with Justice's

23:46

hair and blood, was dropped down a hole

23:48

in the front yard. Sammy's

23:51

pocket knife was placed next to the corpse

23:53

to make it appear that Justice had killed himself.

23:56

Then tired from their efforts, the

23:58

wake nights finally slept The

24:02

next day. One of them left, returning

24:05

with Justice's eldest son. The

24:07

sight of his father's blooded corpse sent

24:09

him running to a neighbor, who alerted the authorities.

24:12

Upon their arrival, the police took in the gruesome

24:15

scene and then instantly arrested everyone

24:17

present. Soon enough, they were

24:20

all in court making their statements. Regarding

24:22

the possession. Newspapers

24:24

were quick to report the trial. The

24:26

New York Times called the murder a horrible

24:28

case of fanaticism, adding that

24:30

it was a frightful event of Millerism,

24:34

and by then the American public often

24:36

thought cases of violence or public insanity

24:38

were due to Millerism.

24:40

But on the December Sammy

24:43

confessed and Rhoda's imaginary

24:45

world collided with reality.

24:48

She and the others awaited the grand jury's decision

24:50

from a prison cell. While

24:53

she did, she took to writing letters to various

24:55

ministers and lawyers. Those

24:58

messages alternated between plea and

25:00

threats. She would surely die

25:02

in prison, she claimed, and her death would

25:05

be avenged by God. It

25:07

wasn't her own life that hung in the balance, it

25:10

was the fate of the world that

25:17

Following January, Rhoda, Sammy,

25:19

and the other Wake Nights sat in court once

25:21

more. Rhoda again insisted

25:24

that the world would end if they found her guilty,

25:26

though she might decide to permit everyone

25:29

to live a little while longer. However,

25:31

she could call for judgment day whenever she felt

25:34

like it. The trial

25:36

dragged on until April. Members

25:38

of the community, family and experts all

25:40

took the stand to testify, and

25:43

it was determined that none of the defendants

25:45

were competent enough to stand trial. Rhoda

25:48

and Sammy openly wept, while

25:50

others had difficulty with the court's finding that

25:52

she was clinically insane. A

25:55

New York Tribune journalist sat before

25:57

her and jotted down notes. Despite

26:00

the ruling of insanity, a grand jury

26:02

still convicted the entire group. Sammy

26:05

was found guilty of murder, while Rhoda

26:07

and the other followers were convicted as accessories.

26:09

Before and after the fact, naturally,

26:13

Rhoda was happy to tell her side of the

26:15

story, how her followers

26:17

were simply trying to save her and all of humanity.

26:20

Killing Justice had been the only way to rid

26:22

him of the evil inside him.

26:25

She claimed that sadly, when Justice

26:27

had died, the evil spirit inside

26:29

him had left and had spread far and wide

26:31

into the world. She settled

26:34

back in her seat and offered the reporter one

26:36

last bit of advice for his readers. Those

26:39

who remained devoted to her had no need to

26:41

worry, though. As long as they remained

26:44

free, they would continue to seek out more

26:46

men of evil, and if they

26:48

found them, that each be put to

26:50

death. Until then,

26:52

she cheerfully urged readers

26:54

should brew a strong cup, of

26:57

which Hazel t There's

27:05

more to this story. Stick around after

27:07

this brief sponsor break to hear all about

27:09

it. His

27:14

outfit was colorful. The

27:16

green military frock coat was made from the

27:19

finest cloth, lined with silk, patterned

27:21

with gold braids and of all things

27:23

frogs. His black silk

27:25

vest matched the black leather cap inverted

27:28

like a cone. His sash was

27:30

a deep crimson, and his pantaloons,

27:32

a type of close fitting pant fastened at

27:34

the calf, were either green or black.

27:37

The choice depended on the weather, as did his footwear,

27:40

either sandals or meticulously polished

27:42

Wellington boots. As

27:45

eye catching as it was, none of those were as

27:47

important to him as the fine double edged

27:49

sword he wore, and even that

27:51

paled compared to the iron rod he carried,

27:54

the rod he believed was instrumental

27:57

in ruling the world. Orphan

28:00

at seven and raised by strict elders

28:02

of the Presbyterian Church, Robert

28:04

Matthews spent a brief stint as a

28:06

shopkeeper, a husband, and a father,

28:09

but all that held him back from what he considered

28:11

his true calling and pursuit spiritual

28:14

perfection and religious truth. He

28:17

preached to anyone whould listen, mostly

28:20

about doomsday. Customers

28:22

and then employers found his outbursts

28:24

and fits of violent rage more than a little

28:26

frightening, which, as you might guess,

28:29

made earning a living difficult. Lack

28:32

of employment kept his family in poverty,

28:34

though he was adamant that it was his wife's fault,

28:37

not his, not just

28:39

regarding the jobs either. She was

28:41

his undoing for everything that went wrong,

28:44

and he kept a rawhide strap to beat her

28:46

with. He was certain his wife

28:48

was filled with evil spirits. He

28:51

had tried to join an evangelical Christian

28:53

church in Argyle, New York, but

28:55

like the customers and employers, the

28:57

congregation there found his laziness,

29:00

fits of rage and violence abhorrent. On

29:03

June eighteen thirty, he was arrested

29:06

for disrupting service. After

29:08

his release, he moved to Manhattan, leaving

29:10

his family behind. He preached

29:12

on street corners, asking people to address

29:15

him as the prophet Matthias. His

29:17

message was that of a male dominated

29:19

kingdom of God with him as

29:22

the king on earth. He had learned

29:24

of another prophet, though one with

29:26

a large following so,

29:28

on the first Saturday in May of eighteen

29:30

thirty two, Matthias paid

29:32

him a visit at his apartment on Fourth Street.

29:36

That's where Elijah Pearson the Tish

29:38

Bite lived with his servant, a formerly

29:40

enslaved woman named Isabella Bomfree.

29:44

Soon enough, Pearson became convinced

29:46

that he was Matthias's John the Baptist,

29:48

paving the way for someone greater than himself.

29:52

The following Sunday, Pearson gave a sermon

29:54

to his followers, then turned

29:56

them all over to Matthias, and

29:59

the hand off couldn't have been more timely. Soon,

30:02

Pearson's health began to deteriorate.

30:05

He found himself experiencing nervous fits

30:07

that only worsened over time, But

30:10

Matthias wouldn't allow doctors to treat him,

30:12

insisting that Pearson's problem was an

30:14

infestation of demons that must be vanquished.

30:17

Pearson never preached again, fully

30:19

surrendering his pulpit to Matthias. Determined

30:23

to set up in his own style, Matthias

30:25

convinced one follower named Benjamin Folger

30:27

to give him a plot of land just north of the Hudson

30:30

River. He led his followers to the parcel

30:32

and christened it Mount Zion. There

30:35

he assigned sexual partners as casually

30:38

as dolling out shores. Matthias

30:41

moved in with Pearson and on July

30:44

thirty four, fed him two plates

30:46

of blackberries for his dinner. Immediately,

30:49

Pearson fell violently ill. Once

30:52

more, doctors were turned away, both

30:54

men stating that only prayer would

30:56

save Pearson. That

30:58

night, Matthias left Pearson lying

31:01

in his own vomit and excrement, and

31:03

by morning the man was dead. Pearson

31:07

was autopsied, and doctors determined

31:09

that he had been poisoned. Matthias,

31:11

having quickly been abandoned by his followers,

31:14

found that only two remained loyal,

31:17

Benjamin Folger and Isabella bomb

31:19

Free. In fact, when

31:21

Matthias was arrested, it was Isabella

31:23

who helped secure lawyers for him,

31:25

but Folger had other plans for Isabella.

31:28

He spread rumors that she had once tried

31:30

to poison his coffee, trying to throw suspicion

31:32

on her. Angry Isabella

31:35

retaliated by filing a slander suit

31:37

against him. Foulger didn't

31:39

worry about it much. He was confident

31:41

that no white male jury would believe the word

31:43

of a black woman. But he was

31:45

wrong about that. Isabella one,

31:48

and the court granted her a hundred and twenty five dollars,

31:50

which is roughly four thousand today.

31:53

During Pearson's murder trial, one of the

31:55

doctors unexpectedly withdrew his earlier

31:58

statement of poison, claim ing had

32:00

found no such evidence of arsenic. Without

32:03

enough proof against him, Matthias was

32:05

ultimately released. He quickly fled

32:07

New York and headed west. Isabella,

32:11

however, stood her ground and stayed in New

32:13

York, and she was used to fighting for herself.

32:16

The lawsuit against Fulger hadn't been her first

32:18

either. She had previously sued

32:20

her former owner, a man who had illegally

32:22

sold her son, Peter. A

32:25

white family helped intervene, and together

32:27

they took the man to court to win her son back.

32:29

The case made her one of the first black women to

32:31

take a white man to court and win.

32:35

In eighteen forty three, Isabella found

32:37

a different spiritual calling. She

32:39

became an activist for women's rights and

32:42

a staunch supporter of the abolition of slavery,

32:45

and along the way, she changed her name,

32:47

a name that just about every history book

32:50

includes. Sojourner

32:52

Truth American

32:59

Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum.

33:02

This episode was written by Michelle Muto

33:04

with researcher Robin Miniter, and

33:06

produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor

33:08

Young, with executive producers Aaron

33:11

Minky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.

33:14

To learn more about the show, visit grim and mil

33:16

dot com. For more podcasts

33:18

from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio

33:20

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

33:23

you get your podcasts.