Media and Internet coverage of Samuel Fort's true-crime book, "Cult of the Great Eleven"
Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast "Cults are certainly not a new phenomenon - in fact one of the strangest ones existed in Los Angeles in the 1920s. The "Blackburn Cult", also known as the "Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven", was the brainchild of a grifter named May Otis Blackburn. She, along with her daughter Ruth, in need of money, suddenly claimed that the archangel Gabriel had visited them with orders to write books that revealed the mysteries of life, death, and a post-apocalyptic world that would be ruled by eleven Queens .
"My guest is Samuel Fort, author of "Cult of the Great Eleven". He discusses some of the cult's bizarre rituals and behavior, and more ominously, the mysterious deaths and disappearances it was involved in - grim events that would eventually be exposed to the country in a sensational trial."
"Many actors wait tables while they're waiting for their big break; May and Ruth Blackburn started a cult. In 1920s Los Angeles, this mother-daughter duo swindled a fortune from their followers while promising them fortune and immortality."
"Started by May Otis Blackburn and her daughter "Cult of the Great Eleven is a true account of one of the twentieth century’s weirdest and and most mysterious cults." Today we are joined by the man who literally wrote the book on The Cult of the Great Eleven. Samuel Fort gives us a great interview and tells us all about the Blackburn Cult."
"May Otis Blackburn and her daughter Ruth were going to write the book that would knock the world's socks off in the 1920s. The Angel Gabriel dictated it to them and in return, he would give them the lost measurements to gold, diamond and oil deposits. Did it matter that their book made no sense or that it never was a book, but more of a scam? Not to their followers who willingly signed over deeds and life savings to follow The Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven. Strange Country Episode 43 is culterrific and includes plans for our very own Strange Country cult...Big shout-out to Samuel Fort for his book Cult of the Great Eleven that was used in this podcast."
"Today we take a short break from the autumnal confines of New England and head towards Golden West to talk about a real-life organization that Keepers can use a model for that most fundamental group of Lovecraftian gaming – the cult...If you simply must know more, there is an ebook on the topic by Samuel Fort – The Cult of the Great Eleven."
"California is known for its unusually large number of cults and dodgy religious movements. The reasons for this may include the lack of an obviously dominant Protestant establishment, an economy based on get-rich-quick schemes and frequently failing businesses, a diverse population of rootless people in a cultural blank slate, or even the heady effects of California weather."
"This true story is so convoluted and weird (and redolent of corpse smell) that there’s not the space to encapsulate it; let me just toss in the fact that oven-baked cult followers are a major part of this nauseating story of abuse-of-the-gullible."
"This week we discuss an oldie, but a goodie. We go over the finer points of romping naked in the woods and exactly how to avoid irritating forest rangers. If you like the glamour of the 20’s, then this may just be the group for you."