Providentia

Better Living Through Radium

Pierre and Marie Curie likely never realized the full impact of what they were releasing on the world.

In their joint announcement to the French Academy of Sciences on December 26, 1898,  the Curies described the years of painstaking work that had led to the discovery of a remarkable new element which they later christened radium.   First extracted from pitchblende,  the new element received its name from the Latin word for "ray" (due to the mysterious rays which the new substance emitted).   Although Pierre Curie had already made a name for himself with the discovery of nuclear energy as well as the Curie Dysymmetry Principle, it was through his work with the brilliant Marie Sklodowska hat he is best known.

In the years that followed, Pierre and Marie Curie would continue their work with radium as well as with another element which they discovered together (named "polonium" after Marie's native Poland).    While Pierre was quick to give Marie much of the credit for their work, forcing the scientific community to recognize her contribution was often an uphill battle.   Even after Pierre's untimely death from a street accident in 1906, Marie Curie often faced considerable opposition from the male-dominated scientific and academic community.  Despite this resistance and her grief over her husband's death, she went on to develop the process by which pure radium could be extracted.  Marie Curie also presided over the first medical research using radium in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.  Her fame as a scientist, the growing public fascination with the mysterious properties of radium, and its value in medical research ensured that a strange new industry would soon get underway.

Marie Curie actually helped launch the radium industry with her decision not to patent the radium-isolation process which she had perfected through her research.  Although she had intended this move to permit scientists to work with radium without legal interference, it also meant that companies around the world could pursue industrial applications using radium without having to pay patent fees.  By 1917, the United States Radium Corporation had patented the first glow-in-the-dark radium-based paint (with the brand name of Undark).   

Between 1917 and 1926, the company employed hundreds of female workers to paint luminous watch dials under uncontrolled conditions.  The workers (later known as the Radium girls) had been reassured that radium-based paint was harmless and no industrial safeguards were in place to limit contamination.   Since the factory workers spent hours in pain-staking work painting watch dials, the brushes that they used to apply the paint often lost its shape and, to keep the brushes sharp and clean, the factory managers encouraged the workers to use their lips and tongues to wipe off the paint.  Some of the workers even went to far as to use Undark to paint their fingernails as an odd fashion statement.  By the time the toxic consequences of radium exposure became apparent, it was far too late for them.

The notion that radium was harmless was hardly limited to that one factory.  The use of radium as an ingredient in patent medications had quickly become big business by the early 1920s.  Numerous radium-laced products soon became widely available (including radium-laced beauty creams, toothpaste, chocolate bars, soap, etc).    Given the lack of real consumer protection legislation, the companies selling the products were free to make grandiose claims about the effectiveness of radiation in curing disease.   It was an interesting quirk of the times that the only companies to bw prosecuted were the ones whose products didn't contain the promised radioactive substances (false advertising was a criminal offense). 

The radium industry managed to lurch along through the 1920s despite disturbing revelations concerning the real health risks associated with radium.  By 1922, the first of the Radium Girls, Grace Fryer, went to her doctor complaining of tooth loss and an inflamed jaw.   Though a primitive x-ray machine was soon used to diagnose serious jaw decay, similar cases began appearing throughout her hometown.  All of the victims were women who had been employed at the same radium paint factory where Grace Fryer had worked.    By 1925, Grace Fryer's unusual condition attracted enough attention that United States Radium began a disinformation campaign against her and other former workers at their factory.   A "doctor" who had examined Fryer and declared her to be in excellent health later turned out to be a toxicologist on the company's payroll.  When former workers began dying, the company was quick to blame the deaths on syphilis (thus further stigmatizing the women who had worked at the plant).  

 When U.S. Radium hired Harvard physiologist Cecil Drinker to investigate the plant in the early 1920s, he provided them with a grim analysis of the factory and its working conditions.   Not only did the company ignore the series of far-reaching recommendations that Drinker made, but they falsified the report that they released to the New Jersey Department of Labor.  Although Drinker was still listed as the author, the altered reported stressed that all of the affected workers were in perfect health.  After Drinker discovered the fraud and published his original report in a scientific journal, the company threatened him with legal action.    With all of  the company's influence, it took years before Grace Fryer was finally able to bring a lawsuit against U.S. Radium on the behalf of all the affected workers.  The lawsuit demanded $250,000 in compensation for each of the plaintiffs.

By 1928, when the case finally came to trial,  the affected women were in such poor health that they were unable to raise their hands which the bailiff attempted to administer the oath to testify.   Grace Fryer was unable to walk and required a back brace just to sit up while several of the other plaintiffs were completely bedridden.   The trial of the "Radium Girls" generated international publicity and even Marie Curie took a personal interest in the case.    She publicly stated that she wished to do all that she could to help but could offer no solution for the deadly effects of radium poisoning. 

Throughout the trial, U.S. Radium attempted to put up roadblocks to delay proceedings for as long as possible.  While it was painfully apparent that the plaintiffs had little time left, the company's lawyers still arranged for the case to be adjourned  since several key witnesses were "summering in Europe" and unavailable to testify until September.   Walter Lippmann wrote a series of damning editorials blasting the judge for allowing the adjournment and nationwide outrage led to the hearing being rescheduled to June. 

Just days before the trial was set to begin, U.S. Radium and the plaintiffs' attorney Raymond Berry agreed to allow U.S. District Court Judge William Clark to mediate an out-of-court settlement.  According to the terms of the proposed settlement, each of the plaintiffs would receive $10,000 and payment of all legal and medical bills as well as an annual sum of $600 for as long as each plaintiff lived.  The fact that Judge Clark was a U.S. Radium stockholder gave the Radium Girls pause but they had little real choice but to accept the settlement.    All of the plaintiffs would be dead after another decade passed and the resulting publicity over the case would spur the passing of the first laws protecting U.S. workers from occupational health hazards.   Of the thousands of workers who were exposed to radium in the years before more stringent safeguards were in place, only those five received anything resembling justice.

While the resulting publicity over the U.S. Radium case led to reform for factory workers, it had surprisingly little impact on the sale of the various health products containing radium.   "Dr" William J. Bailey  was a prime example of the entrepreneurs who dominated the radium industry at the time.     A former employee of U.S. Radium, Bailey founded his own company in 1918 and energetically advertised radium as a cure for a wide range of ailments (including coughs, flu, anemia, and constipation).   A Harvard University dropout with no university credentials  (though he was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science),  Bailey's lack of real academic standing didn't deter him from marketing radium-laced products.   For years, Bailey Radium Laboratories' main product was a patent medicine called Radithor.  Billed as a "cure for the living dead" as well as "perpetual sunshine",  Radithor was basically distilled water with concentrated amounts of radium 226 and 228 as the active ingredients.    Not only was Radithor touted as a cure for a lengthy list of diseases, but it was also billed as a rejuvenating agent that could revitalize inactive glands and force bodies to become young again.

Bailey was hardly the only radium entrepreneur around though.   Numerous newspaper and magazine boasted of the healing powers of radium and how it could combat the effects of old age.  One best-selling hair care product,  Caradium, featured "radioactive water" as its main ingredient and was advertised as a cure for dandruff and gray hair.    Another product, the Radiendocrinator, was a three-inch gold case containing 250 millicuries of Radium.  Patients were urged to wear it nightly over their endocrine glands or, in the case of men, to wear like an athletic supporter directly under the scrotum (the instructions also advised patients to "radiate as directed").    Products such as Radithor were often sold over the counter as well as being prescribed by physicians.   William J. Bailey even offered physicians a hefty rebate for each does of Radithor prescribed and patients soon came to demand it for dealing with assorted ailments.

Patients such as Eben McBurney Byers...

The son of a prominent American industrialist, Eben Byers acquired a well-deserved reputation as an athlete and an international playboy.   After injuring his arm in a 1927 accident, Byers was advised to take Radithor by his physiotherapist, Charles Moyar.   While the pain relief that he received was purely due to the placebo effect, Byers was sufficiently impressed by the benefit of Radithor to begin taking increasingly large doses.    The instructions on each bottle of Radithor suggested that patients consume an entire bottle after each meal but Byers decided that he needed even more.    He began consuming three bottles of Radithor a day and was impressed enough to keep taking it on a regular basis.  

In fact, Byers became a walking testimonial for Radithor.  Not only did he recommend it to all of his friends (including sending them free cases), he also gave it to one of his sick racehorses.  By 1930, he had consumed up to 1400 bottles before the first symptoms began to set in.  These symptoms included severe headaches and jaw pain which an x-ray specialist (who had also treated several of the Radium Girls) diagnosed as radium poisoning. 

Bur it was too late for Eben Byers by then.  The scandal of a prominent socialite and athlete being fatally poisoned by a health drink led to a massive media campaign to ban Radithor.  In a final  interview with a representative from the Federal Trade Commission, Byers  was described as "Young in years and mentally alert, he could hardly speak. His head was swathed in bandages. He had undergone two successive operations in which his whole upper jaw, excepting two front teeth, and most of his lower jaw had been removed. All the remaining bone tissue of his body was slowly disintegrating, and holes were actually forming in his skull."    By the time he died on March 31, 1932, Eben Byers only had six teeth left and both jaws were rotted.  An autopsy turned up 36 micrograms of radium in his body (two micrograms is considered a fatal dose).    He was buried in a Pennsylvania cemetery in a lead-lined coffin. 

Eben Byers wasn't the only Radithor casualty.  A close friend, Mary F. Hill, died of similar causes (remember those cases of Radithor he freely distributed to his friends?)   Despite the adverse publicity and calls for federal regulation, William Bailey was never actually prosecuted for the Radithor deaths.   He defended himself by maintaining that Radithor was only sold by prescription and that Byers had died from natural causes.  He also maintained that he drank as much Radithor as Byers did and never experienced any health problems.   Although the Federal Trade Commission issued an order against his business, that didn't keep Bailey down for long.   He founded a new company, the Radium Institute, and continued marketing radioactive products (including radioactive paper-clips, belt-buckles, and irradiated water).   He also manufactured a line of aphrodisiac tablets which "renewed happiness and youthful thrill into the lives of married peoples whose attractions to each other had weakened"

Although publicity over the Radithor deaths (and Marie Curie's own high-profile death from radium poisoning in 1934) ensured that no more physicians would be prescribing radium-laced products,  the radium industry still managed to lurch along.  William Bailey managed to die a wealthy man in 1949 (of what, I haven't been able to learn) although the same couldn't be said for many of his business competitors.  As consumer protection legislation became stronger (spurred on partially by the Eben Byers case), more stringent protections for consumers helped prevent additional radium deaths.  While radium still plays a role in medical diagnosis and treatment, the history of misuse in the early days following its discovery represents a sobering example of how easily revolutionary inventions can lead to tragedy. 

Especially when gullibility and greed are involved.

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The Moron Problem

On March 19, 1916, Dr. Arthur Holmes, then-dean of the general faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, presented a talk titled "What of the Backward Child" at Boston's Ford Hall.   Already well-known as an authority on "mental defectives" , Holmes was outspoken in his views concerning these children and how common they actually were.  While never as famous as some of the other prominent eugenicists of his era, Holmes had worked with Dr. Lightmer Witmer at the University of Pennsylvania's Psychological clinic doing ground-breaking work on measuring intelligence in children.    The seminal research he and Witmer did together ensured that Holmes'  talks were well-attended, not to mention meriting extensive newspaper coverage.   And it also allowed him to make various pronouncements about mental defectives and the terrible danger they posed to society.

Certainly, he had no problem using terms such as "moron", "imbecile", and "idiot" since these were actually accepted medical terms at the time.  A moron, for instance, was anyone with an IQ score between 51 and 70 (about the mental capacity of a child between the ages of six and twelve).   Anyone with an IQ between 26 and 50 was classified as an imbecile while having an IQ less than 26 earned someone the idiot label.   Though intelligence tests were still in their infancy and were often used in ways for which they had never been designed, this didn't dissuade psychologists and social reformers from applying them wholesale to large segments of society, particularly for immigrants, psychiatric patients, prisoners, and the "backward children" that Holmes devoted his life to treating.   

Despite his career in treating children with mental disabilities, Holmes had no hesitation in speaking out against the "problem" that they posed to society.   "Of feeble-minded people, there are said to be between 200,000 and 500,000 in the United States and these include most criminals", he said in his talk.  "One Ohio judge found that from 20 to 40 percent of those applied for divorce are feeble-minded."  While he stressed that the overwhelming majority of these "mental defectives" were due to heredity, hence the need for "exercising more care in marriage for in such cases, the sins of the parents are visited on the children."   

Still, he magnanimously allowed that heredity wasn't to blame for all of these cases.  He also allowed that some problem children were actually too "forward" rather than backwards and that they were simply acting out because of being raised in restrictive environments.   Then, there were those children who were mentally impaired because of problems with the adenoids at the back of their throats.   According to Holmes, the breathing problems caused by adenoids prevented oxygen from reaching their blood, thus causing an "enfeebling and lethargy of the entire body and mind" which could persist well into adulthood.  

He hardly stopped there, though.  As far as Holmes was concerned, mental defectives also included "people who have a mania for showy costumes and uniforms; women who in person and adornment conform to the simpering, conventional ideals of beauty; men and women who spend money foolishly, and men and women who wish to be divorced may be either morons, imbeciles, idiots, or they may have adenoids that need to be attended to."  

But there was only so much Holmes could say in a talk aimed at the general public.   Anyone wanting to see the full range of his views on mental defectives would need to read his book, The Conservation of the Child: a Manual of Clinical Psychology Presenting the Examination and Treatment of Backward Children, which was published in 1912 (and is still available online).  In his book, Holmes presented various statistics to prove his claim that one in every 500 children was mentally defective which, given the population of the United States at the time, meant that there were at least 200,000 feeble-minded Americans, all of whom could pass their condition on to their children.  While he acknowledged that the total number of institutionalized mental defectives was only around 20,000, the remaining ninety percent  were "pursuing their unrestricted way, some at work, some idlers, tramps, loafers or criminals, and some at school, clogging and diverting its energies from their proper channels in a vain attempt to teach the uneducable unteachable things."  Even more appalling, from Holmes' perspective, were the countless other mental defectives who "roam the streets at will"  and, presumably, posing a terrible danger to the rest of society due to the inferior intellect and risk for violence.

Not only did Holmes' book highlight the dangers posed by these defectives, but he also stressed how easy it was to diagnose them using the tests he described in his book, mainly those intelligence tests used in the University of Pennsylvania Psychological Clinic.   While the Clinic provided groundbreaking work in training teachers and health professionals to deal with children with special needs, many of these same teachers were also charged with assigning those familiar "moron", "imbecile", or "idiot" labels to children based on tests they administered themselves.  That these labels often followed children for the rest of their lives hardly seemed important at the time.

To be fair, Holmes did distinguish between those children he viewed as "curably retarded" and the incurable ones who could only live in institutions.    As he said in his book, "To say that  a child is "backward" or retarded should not allege or imply the existence of a physical or mental disease.  It may, or nearly always, imply some defect or some lack. But that is not always regrettable."  Again, he raised the example of children who acted out because of poor upbringing or having to deal with rigid learning methods.   

Unfortunately, this was a distinction that many social reformers, especially those eugenicists looking for a simpler (and cheaper) solution weren't prepared to make.   Which is why many of these same eugenicists began arguing for the use of mandatory sterilization with institutionalized children, prisoners, psychiatric patients, and other people deemed "unfit."  This was eventually extended to various "problem groups", including immigrants, ethnic minorities, and people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

If anything, Holmes fellow eugenicists were even more explicit about the "danger" posed by genetic undesirables.   In 1919,  Dr. William Hickson, director of the psychopathic laboratory of Chicago’s municipal court said, “Mental defectiveness is hereditary and constitutional, and consequently, not amenable to our preachings, asylums, hospitals, reformatories, penitentiaries, etc. We must ever bear in mind that each year a new quota of defectives is born with statistical regularity.  They pass through the hands of parents, then the pedagogues, the theologians, the physicians, the social workers, the employers, the courts, the prisons and back on society, each one in his turn passing them up to the next, and no one to acknowledge their impotency in the face of mental defectiveness.”   

While the first of these forced sterilization programs had already passed in 1907 in Pennsylvania (closely followed by California and Washington), sterilization rates for anyone deemed genetically unfit were relatively low despite the public outrage being generated by Holmes and other eugenicists.   Still, the entire issue of forced sterilization  remained controversial.  That is, until  the 1927  Buck vs Bell decision in the U.S. Supreme Court which declared that forced sterilization of anyone deemed unfit was constitutional.   

The woman at the centre of that decision, 18-year-old Carrie Buck, had been institutionalized largely due to her "incorrigibility" as well as for having an illegitimate child (later determined to have been the product of rape).   Despite appeals by Buck's legal guardian, the court decision, as well as the famous ruling by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr (yes, another Holmes), sealed her fate and she was sterilized, along with her siblings (none of whom were told what had been done to them).

Following the Buck decision, more than 60,000 people were forcibly sterilized (mostly women) though the entire issue remained controversial.   Many potential candidates for sterilization successfully fought back, primarily prison inmates who challenged the idea of their "genetic unfitness".   While the United States was far from the only country practicing forced sterilization (including Canada, Sweden and Denmark, to name a few), few other countries went as far 

It wasn't until after the end of World War II and the revelations over Nazi atrocities that public opinion eventually turned against forced sterilization.  That the Nazis routinely sterilized anyone they deemed genetically unfit (usually through the use of "eugenic courts" Still, the Buck decision was never overturned and forced sterilization continued in many states until well into the 1970s.   While some states have since agreed to compensation for people sterilized against their will,  most victims of forced sterilization have never been compensated and, in many cases, were never even aware they had been sterilized.   Even today, forced sterilization for the institutionalized continue to be advocated on a case-by-case basis (though the arguments are usually couched in terms of protecting a woman's health as opposed to "genetic unfitness").   While the 2011 Istanbul Convention concerning violence against women formally prohibits forced sterilization,  human rights agencies report that it still remains common in many countries practicing human rights abuses.   

But the legacy of the forced sterilization era remains with us even today.  In one sense, this bygone era has changed our very language with terms like "moron", "imbecile", and "idiot" being relegated to the status of insults with none of the medical authority they once had.   But a more crucial legacy involves the numerous  legal claims that have been and continue to be pursued on behalf of involuntarily sterilized former patients.   Despite the sizeable settlements made in many of these cases, it's safe to say that we will never see real justice for thousands of others, many of whom were never even told they were sterilized or who died before they had a chance to make a claim.   

Whether we've truly learned a lesson from all this tragedy is something only time will tell.

 

Making a Prophet (Part 3)

Continued from Part Two

Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, Jamaica was a stunning contrast of natural beauty and stark poverty.  The twin legacies of slavery and colonialism left the island with a population consisting primarily of former slaves, people of mixed race ("coloured"), and white colonists who, despite beinga small minority, owned most of the land and resources.  While formal independence from the U.K. would come in the 20th century, life in 19th century Jamaica was often harsh for the freed slaves and their descendants. 

It hardly seems surprising that religion would be a major influence among the island's inhabitants.  Not only with the various branches of Christianity, but also more exotic religions based on traditions imported from Africa.  Obeah and Myalism were widely practiced despite attempts at suppression by the  authorities.  These traditions were often incorporated into more mainstream religions and helped fuel the Christian revivalist movement.  The 19th century was marked by religious clashes and spiritual missions that quickly attracted believers.

Which brings us to Alexander Bedward.

He was born in southeastern Jamaica in 1848 into extreme poverty.  His mother had a local reputation as a healer though his father was unknown.  Never having learned to write and with only minimal reading, he had little choice but to work on one of the big sugar plantations in Colon, Panama.  Whatever future he may have planned changed after a massive fire swept through Kingston, Jamaica in 1882.  Following the fire, Bedward began to have disturbing dreams and erratic behaviour that so frightened his family that they tried to have him put away for lunacy.  He insisted that the dreams meant that God had chosen him for a divine mission.  By 1889, Bedward was formally installed as one of the 24 elders of August Town's Native Baptist church and his religious crusade began.

And what a crusade it was!  By October 1891, Bedward had resigned from his plantation job to launch his healing mission.  Using water from a spring on his property near Jamaica's Hope River, he conducted healing ceremonies based on a divine vision that told him that "the water of the Hope River would be miraculously converted into medicine for soul and body".  Along with his healing, Bedward delivered sermons on a large rock overlooking the river and thousands of people gathered every Wednesday to hear him. 

The descriptions of Bedward's crusade were closely followed by reporters from Jamaica's Daily Gleaner.  Although the newspaper dismissed Bedward as "an ignorant black man living somewhere in the Long Mountain", his movement certainly made news.  In one less-than-complimentary account, Bedward's crusade was described as "one of the most painful and saddening [phenomena] that could possibly be witnessed by anyone of ordinary intelligence, who has his country's good at heart …. [T]he seething mass of ignorance … congregates in the vicinity without a blush of shame at the credulity and infatuation which is [sic] on every side exhibited". 

Not only did Bedward's followers gather to hear him speak, they also brought bottles, jugs, and anything else capable of holding the precious spring water to bring back to their homes.  There were also the invalids who came hoping for divine healing including "lepers, people with running sores, the crippled and deformed, blind, consumptive, asthmatic and in fact every complaint known in the medical world".

The local authorities and clergy were especially outraged by the healing sessions featuring nude men and women bathing together by the thousands. Medical doctors denounced Bedward for his outlandish claims and the false hope he gave patients.  Stung by his numerous critics, Bedward remained defiant during his Wednesday sessions and people still gathered at the river for healing.  The Daily Gleaner gave regular editorials denouncing the "Bedward craze" and unsavory hints at his family's previous attempts at having him committed began to surface.  Meanwhile, the "Bedwardites" (as they were being called) were making arrangements to build a temple to honour their prophet.  Colonial authorities were increasingly worried by Bedward's sermons directed against the upper-class Jamaicans who "grabbed the substance of the poor". 

On January 16, 1895, Alexander Bedward gave a sermon denouncing the white minority and predicted the end of the world in which the wicked would be punished and the faithful rewarded.  He railed against the government and the Clergy as "vagabonds, thieves, robbers and liars" and called on his followers to drive out the white population.  That was enough for the government to lay a charge of seditious language against him and Bedward was quickly arrested. His subsequent trial in April of that same year (with an all-white jury) returned a verdict of Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity.  Although Bedward was sent to a local asylum, he was released a few weeks later after a successful appeal.  Bedward returned to his mission and the healing sessions went on as before (though he eventually insisted that his followers be fully clothed when they bathed in the river).

Although skeptics claimed that Bedwardism would eventually "run its course", the movement continued into the early years of the 20th century.  By 1910, Bedward and his followers had built an impressive compound in August Town complete with a chapel.  While Alexander Bedward was still seen as a threat by the colonial authorities, he had enough support to prevent any attempt at arresting him again.  It's hard to say how  far the movement might have gone if Bedward hadn't had one final vision...

In 1920, believing that the millennium was at hand, Alexander Bedward announced to this followers that he would ascend into heaven on December 31, 1920. As you might expect, the Gleaner scoffed at this revelation but thousands of his followers gathered at the compound in hope of being "saved".  Many of these followers sold all their possessions and the tailor shop on site provided simple white gowns for them to wear for the big event.  Due to fear of rioting (and a possible black uprising), a military regiment was sent in to maintain order.  Throughout the day, Bedward's followers were repeatedly told that his ascension was postponed (he had originally promised that it would happen at ten in the morning).  By late afternoon, the followers were told that the ascension would be "spiritual" rather than physical and, by evening, most of the followers went home disappointed.

Although this event broke up much of Bedward's support, he was still able to rally six hundred followers for a "manifestation" in Kingston that following year.  Police took no chances and promptly arrested him and many of his followers.  Once again, he was declared Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity but there was no release this time.  Up until his death in 1930, Alexander Bedward was held in Jamaica's Bellevue Asylum. 

Much like Richard Brothers and Joanna Southcott before him, Bedward's supporters slowly drifted away following his imprisonment and death.  Many of these followers later became part of Marcus Garvey's Pan-African movement as well as the growing Rastafarian religion.  In some circles, Bedward is still considered a martyr and an early leader in Jamaican nationalism.  Leaving aside questions about his mental state, his religious crusade inspired tens of thousands of people at the peak of his popularity.  

Although I have focused on three very different prophets in this series, the similarities among their movements and the people who believed in them seem apparent enough.  So why do some religious leaders launch major movements that continue after their death while others sink into obscurity?  Heaven only knows.

Witchcraft Accusations Lead to Increase in UK Child Abuse Cases

Child protection workers across the United Kingdom are reporting a startling rise in recent cases of child abuse linked to accusations of witchcraft, possession, and black magic.  Cases linked to harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation are also reportedly on the rise.   

While the highest number of cases were reported in Lancashire, Bradford, and Leeds, nearly two thousand child protection cases resulting from matters of religion and belief in supernatural causes were reported nationwide.  This amounts to thirty-eight new cases coming to light each week.   While incidents of abuse linked to faith or belief were less visible in the past, high-profile cases have made social workers agencies better able to identify religious and cultural factors that can underlie child abuse.  

Abuse in these cases often result from a belief in evil spirits that can “possess” children.  Since possessed children are believed to be able to infect others through sharing food, or simply being in their presence, they are often subjected to torture in an attempt to "drive out" the evil.    Other signs of "possession" can include normal rebelliousness, nightmares, or simply falling ill.   Children are also sometimes made into scapegoats due to various family misfortunes including job loss,  financial problems, marital difficulties,  illness, or death.

Among the cases that have come to light in recent years was that of fifteen-year-old Kristy Bamu who died in 2010 during the course of an attempted exorcism by his sister Magalie Bamu and her partner, Eric Bikubi.   Kristy and his sisters had been accused of witchcraft and subjected to horrific torture that only ended when Kristy confessed to being a sorcerer.  He was then drowned and an autopsy found over one hundred injuries on his body.   Bikubi and Bamu both received life sentences.

In a similar case, seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq was deliberately starved to death in 2008 by her mother Angela Gordon, and her partner, Junaid Abuhamza, in a Birmingham apartment.   While the motive for this crime was never made clear, police linked it to the "strong belief in evil spirits" shared by Gordon and Abumhanza.   Both received extended prison sentences.  

But cases of female children as either having had or at risk for female genital mutilation are also at a record high.   In 2018/2019, there were 1000 such cases reported, up six percent from the previous year.    “Rising cases of FGM and child abuse linked to faith or belief are extremely worrying and are destroying the lives of children and young people in communities across the country,” said Cllr Anita Lower, the Local Government Association’s lead on FGM. “Social workers have become better at identifying the signs of FGM and belief-related abuse, but the true incidence rate is likely to be higher as these crimes are under-reported.”

Though FGM remains illegal under UK law, girls ranging in age from infancy to the onset of puberty are often 

Despite the rising number of cases reported, most of which involve people from cultures with a strong tradition of witchcraft and spirit possession, Metropolitan police warn against stigmatizing immigrant communities as belief in the supernatural can be found in all cultures.

For more information

 

 

Making a Prophet (Part One)

We may never know for sure what first inspired Richard Brothers to declare himself "Prince of the Hebrews" but his strange career as a prophet, and the followers who believed in him, makes for quite a story.

He was born in Placentia, Newfoundland in 1757 (on Christmas Day of course) and his father, an English soldier stationed there during the Seven Years' War, arranged for his son to be educated in England.  After graduating from the naval school at Woolwich, Brothers embarked on a naval career and was promoted to Lieutenant before retiring in 1783.  Serving in the merchant marines, he traveled across Europe before settling down and marrying in 1786.  The marriage didn't last long (it ended quickly when he learned about his wife's infidelity).  Whether due to his marital breakdown or growing religious fervour, Richard Brothers began to question whether his oath of loyalty to the British government was consistent with his religious beliefs.  This refusal to swear the oath cost him his military pension.

During this same period, he began an intense reading of the Bible as well as various other religious works (including the mystical writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg).  Losing his pension meant that he had no money to pay his rent and he was forced into a workhouse to support himself (this was mandatory due to the UK's Poor Law system at the time).  For whatever reason, Brothers began to experience religious visions during the six months he spent in the workhouse, most of them focusing on the role that the British people would play in the reclaiming of Palestine and his own unique role as a prophet.  In one of these visions, Brothers heard the voice of an angel proclaiming the fall of London (which the angel called Babylon the Great).  After Brothers pleaded with the angel for mercy towards the city, God reportedly agreed to spare London for a time.  He also reported that a "heavenly lady" would eventually descend from Heaven to shower him with the love and happiness that his religious views convinced him he deserved.

By 1782, Richard Brothers had a new mission.  In addition to being a prophet of the Lord, he also had the gift of healing.  Although large crowds dutifully gathered, his spiritual gifts were never all that spectacular and his "miracles" tended not to impress too many skeptics. For that reason, the doubters were hardly convinced when Brothers announced that he had been chosen as an apostle of a new religion.  As the new "Prince of the Hebrews", it was his responsibility to lead the Jews back to Palestine and reclaim God's kingdom.  As a descendant of the House of David and "Nephew of the Almighty",  it was Brothers who would identify the "hidden Jews" among the people of England ignorant of their true heritage.  Armed with a rod of rosewood that he had carved himself, the new Prince announced that he would use it to work miracles much as Moses had done before.

A pamphlet that Brothers published in 1794 was titled, A REVEALED KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPHECIES AND TIMES, Book the First, wrote [sic] under the direction of the LORD GOD and published by His Sacred Command, it being the first sign of Warning for the benefit of All Nations; Containing with other great and remarkable things not revealed to any other Person on Earth, the Restoration of the Hebrews to Jerusalem by the year of 1798 under their revealed Prince and Prophet (i.e., Richard Brothers). In his work, Brothers declared that the people of Western Europe (and especially the British people) were the descendants of the ten Lost Tribes of Israel and that the "hidden Jews" of England would be part of the new Kingdom of God on Earth.  While he wasn't the only prophet preaching the notion of Anglo-Israelism, Brothers was definitely the most flamboyant.  He actually attracted a quite a following for a while, including  prominent clergymen, politicians, and writers. 

Richard Brothers' crusade was sabotaged by his own lack of good judgment, unfortunately.  Not only did he prophesy the death of King George III, he also denounced the war against France as "many men fighting against the Spirit of God".  After declaring that "God will break the Empire in pieces" due to British colonialism, he was soon charged with "fond and fantastical prophecies" and quickly declared to be criminally insane in 1795.  Still,  the intervention of one of his disciples (who also happened to be a member of Parliament) led to Brothers being sent to a private asylum in Islington instead of Bedlam.  Despite his incarceration, he kept on writing pamphlets and made numerous predictions relating to world events.  Brothers also spent the last thirty years of his life designing palaces, government buildings, and uniforms for the New Jerusalem that would arise after he was revealed as Prince of the Hebrews and Ruler of the World on November 19, 1795.  Suffice it to say, this particular prophecy didn't pan out. 

In writing about his imprisonment in the asylum, Brothers wrote, ""No man must be deemed insane who is inoffensive in his actions, and is civil in his actions, and is civil in his language, who is able to work at any kind of employment for a livelihood, to receive or give instructions, or to take proper care of himself. All men are not born with the same faculties for learning, teaching, inventing or executing; and wisely has God ordered it so, to make the diversity of properties in the mind appear, by the greater variety of ways and improvements for the general good of all."  The fact that he and his followers were considered to be lunatics weighed heavily on him but he never recanted his crusade.

Richard Brothers was finally released from the asylum in 1806 but his followers had largely abandoned him by then.  He died in the home of his last follower, John Finlayson in 1824.  Even after Brothers' death, Finlayson continued writing pamphlets and manifestos describing the new Christian kingdom and generally trying to keep Brothers' crusade going.  Despite his best efforts, Richard Brothers was quickly forgotten although other prophets with a similar message developed followings of their own. 

Next installment on Sunday.

Continue to Part Two

The Case of the Calaveras Skull

In February, 1866, miner Jim Matteson first reported finding an oddly-shaped object in a mine shaft he was sinking on a hill near Angel's Camp in California's Calaveras County.   Once the limestone encrustation was chipped away, the object proved to be a human skull.   Not being an expert on human remains, Matteson then passed his discovery on to Doctor William Jones at Murphy's Diggings.  Along with being a physician, Dr. Jones was also an amateur archaeologist with a reputation for collecting and studying fossils.  

On doing his own investigating, Dr. Jones learned that the skull had been found far deeper underground than human remains had ever been seen before, he immediately alerted Dr. Josiah Whitney.   A professor of geology at Harvard University and chief of the California Geological Survey, Dr. Whitney was probably one of  the most eminent geologists in the country.    Learning where the skull had been found, Whitney rushed to the dig site in an attempt to date the skull from the surrounding strata (which was the only practical method available in an era before carbon-dating).

Based on his careful analysis of the surrounding rock fragments in the spot where Matteson reported finding the skull, Josiah Whitney came to a breath-taking conclusion.  Based on his research, the eminent geologist concluded that the fossil skull dated back to the Pliocene epoch (approximately five million years ago).   Not only did the skull apparently predate any human remains ever found before in the Americas, but seemed millions of years older than human remains found anywhere else in the world, either.  

Given that Charles Darwin had published his seminal work, On the Origin of Species, just a few years earlier, the debate on human evolution was already transforming science.    For Josiah Whitney, the Calaveras skull represented the greatest discovery of his career, something he was sure would  rock his fellow scientists.   And it did, though many others were naturally skeptical.  Had it not been for Josiah Whitney's own professional reputation, they might have dismissed the discovery as an outright fraud.   

Still, despite professional misgivings, the prospect of North America being declared the true birthplace of the human race was far too tantalizing a prospect to be ignored.  And so, the  Calaveras skull was displayed around the country and even crossed the Atlantic to be shown to scholars in Europe.   While many critics suggested that the skull didn't appear to be more than 1000 years old, at best, Whitney and his supporters insisted it was genuine.   

Unfortunately for Whitney, rumours about the actual source of the skull were already being spread in Angel's Camp, not far from where it had been found.   A local bartender named Ross Coon, who apparently had quite a reputation as a practical joker and a "teller of tall tales" began widely hinting about the truth behind the "scientific discovery".   Coon had already gained some literary immortality by supplying Mark Twain with many of the details that went into his celebrated jumping frog story.   Word in town soon began to spread that Coon and another local prankster, J. C. Scribiner, had actually dug up the skull from an old native burial ground and had planted it in the shaft that Matteson had been digging.  

Though Whitney soon learned about this story, which was published in the San Francisco Bulletin just three years after the skull's discovery, he continued to defend his find as being real.  Hardly a stranger to controversy (he was well-known for verbally abusing his scientific rivals), Whitney dismissed all suggestions of fraud up to his death in 1896.   Even into first decade of the 20th century, supporters continued to defend the skull as genuine. 

Ironically enough, however, interest in the Calaveras skull dropped off with the announced discovery of the first Piltdown skull fragments in 1912.  Supposedly discovered by amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson from a gravel pit in Piltdown, England, the skull fragments appeared to be of a previously-unknown hominid with a human-like cranium but with a jaw and teeth more like a chimpanzee.   Dubbed "Piltdown Man" by British geologists, the hominid was quickly proclaimed to be evidence of the long-sought "missing link" between humans and apes.  Though some contemporary experts suspected fraud, Dawson's discovery still became embraced as evidence of human evolution for decades afterward.   It was only with the invention of carbon dating that experts were finally able to announce that Piltdown Man was a deliberate fraud.   The identity of the perpetrator, whether Charles Dawson himself or someone else close to him, has never been determined.

As for the Calaveras skull itself, visitors to the Peabody Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts can still see it on display.   In case you were wondering, researchers finally conducted modern testing  on the skull  in 1986.   According to R. Ervin Taylor Jr., professor of anthropology at University of California, Riverside, results using accelerator mass spectrometry determined the actual age of the Calaveras fossils to be around 720 years (with an error factor of 200 years in either direction).   As skeptics had long predicted,  the pranksters behind the hoax probably dug them out of a Native burial ground originally and planted them in a site where they were likely to be found.

"Our results bolts the door and turns the lock on the skull being anything but a relatively recent Native American,"  Dr.  Taylor said in a 1986 media interview.   Though he acknowledged that nobody today really believed the skull was genuine, formally dating the skull represents a "historical footnote" to a bizarre and little-known episode in the history of science.  Still, while the Piltdown Man fraud remains the most well-known hoax of its kind, the case of the Calaveras skull poses important lessons for researchers as well.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably isn't.

 

 

Curses!

Do curses work?

Belief in malignant supernatural forces causing illness or misfortune is a common tradition in cultures around the world.   The concept of "black magic", the "evil eye", curses, witchcraft, bringing down disaster on unwitting victims has inspired a host of ritual practices designed to protect users from harm.  My mother, bless her heart, has an all-purpose prayer that she uses to protect family members against the malocchio (evil eye).  Passed down in her family for generations, the prayer can only be taught at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve.   While such beliefs seem harmless enough, fear of malignant cursing has inspired horrendous episodes of anti-witch hysteria through the centuries (and still does today).

But is is actually possible for belief in curses to kill victims?  In a now-classic paper titled "Voodoo Death", physiologist Walter Cannon (of Cannon-Bard hypothesis fame) explored that very question.    First published in 1944 in American Anthropologist, Cannon coined the term "voodoo death" to describe the phenomenon of sudden death brought about by emotional shock, especially fear.  Citing numerous examples from anthropological literature, Cannon presented a series of case histories including deaths occurring among Brazilian tribesmen after being cursed by local "medicine men".  One memorable citation from Arthur Glyn Leonard's classic book on the lower Niger described the phenomenon in action:

I have seen more than one hardened old Haussa soldier dying steadily and by inches because he believed himself to be bewitched; no nourishment or medicines that were given to him had the slightest effect either to check the mischief or to improve his condition in any way, and nothing was able to divert him from a fate which he considered inevitable. In the same way, and under very similar conditions, I have seen Kru-men and others die in spite of every effort that was made to save them, simply because they had made up their minds, not (as we thought at the time) to die, but that being in the clutch of malignant demons they were bound to die.

Being cursed was often the result of violating various cultural taboos or otherwise incurring the wrath of tribal chiefs or shamans.   The means by which a curse could be laid could vary from simply applying the "evil eye" to formal rituals such as the use of "pointing-bones" among Australian Aborigines.  Cannon also raised the possibility of chiefs or sorcerers reinforcing their reputation for laying curses through the discreet use of herbal poisons.  Given the herblore available to many traditional shamans, this is not particularly farfetched although many of the cases that Cannon discussed involved curse victims wasting away despite poison or other medical explanations being ruled out.   Even in those cases where an autopsy was performed on the curse victim, no clear medical cause for death could be found (except for the curse victims who wasted away from refusing to eat or drink). 

For victims in the final stage of their illness, only the timely intervention of the sorcerer or shaman lifting the curse could save them from death.   Shamans persuaded to lift their cause often use an elaborate ritual and, in many cases, presented the victim with a visual "proof" of the curse being lifted (usually in the presence of the victim's family to impress them with his/her power).   Once the crisis is passed, recovery is usually rapid and complete.  The involvement of the victim's extended social network seems to be the key in many of the cases that Cannon reported.   Those victims who are cursed typically lose all support as family and friends distance themselves.   

Once ostracized, the curse victim becomes a pariah with no real options besides death or exile.   "Shunning" of curse victims, often perceived as being responsible for their own predicament, is an effective weapon to reinforce the power of the shaman who laid the curse.  Since being part of the greater tribal community remains the cornerstone of the individual's existence in many societies, it's hardly surprising that the loneliness resulting fom being cursed can be so deadly.

But is there a physical basis for "voodoo death"?  Again, Cannon outlined some common characteristics in the cases that he discussed.  The effect that extreme fear and anger can have on the body is well-documented.  Cannon reviewed the "fight or flight" reaction and the opposing roles of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in preparing us to deal with crises.   Arousal of the sympathetic nervous system results in pupil dilation, rapid heart rate, increased lung capacity and respiration, inhibition of digestion, shaking, sweating, and other autonomic responses.   Essentially, the body is prepared for action.  If that action is delayed or if we are unable to respond to the stressful situation in a timely fashion however, we experience exhaustion and become vulnerable as a result.  As Cannon himself states:

All these changes render the animal more efficient in physical struggle, for they supply essential conditions for continuous action of laboring muscles. Since they occur in association with the strong emotions, rage and fear, they can reasonably be interpreted as preparatory for the intense struggle which the instincts to attack or to escape may involve. If these powerful motions prevail, and the bodily forces are fully mobilized for action, and if this state of extreme perturbation continues in uncontrolled possession of the organism for a considerable period, without the occurrence of action, dire results may ensue

Cannon also described research on sham rage produced in decorticated laboratory animals following intense stimulation of the sympathetic-adrenal system.  The rage leads to rapid sweating, rapid heartbeat, heightened emotionality, and motor activity.  Even when the animal appears visibly calm afterward, death can result after a few hours due to exhaustion.  Sham rage has also been observed in humans, especially in cases involving damage to the temporal lobe and associated limbic system structures.  Along with other physiological effects of sham rage, large amounts of adrenaline are also produced.   Prolonged adrenaline release may lead to persistent constriction of the blood vessels which, in turn, leads to reduce blood volume and inadequate blood supply to the body's organs.    Catastrophically reduced blood pressure, in conjunction with reduced food or fluid intake, can be linked to many of the reported voodoo deaths in the medical literature. 

It is probably not surprising that sudden death has also been observed in cases involving severe shock.  Even when other medical causes have been ruled out, death can still occur.  Loss of appetite, sweating, rapid heartbeat, and other signs of autonomic distress can be important signals that the body is on the verge of exhausting its resources.  Cannon described several examples of patients who died of apparently minor injuries following emotional trauma.  While postmortem examinations may turn up evidence of brain hemorrhage, this is usually a consequence of the condition rather than a direct cause of death.    

Ultimately, Cannon didn't attempt to provide a final explanation for why voodoo death occurs and simply suggested a hypothesis for researchers to explore.   He also recommended that physicians monitoring potential cases watch for warning signs of shock including low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, and perspiration.  In (semi) tongue-in-cheek fashion, he ended his paper by saying:

If in the future, however, any observer has opportunity to see an instance of "voodoo death," it is to be hoped that he will conduct the simpler tests before the victim's last gasp.

While voodoo death cases relating to actual curses have become rare (although anti-witch hysteria is still going strong),  research has confirmed many aspects of Cannon's ideas concerning the role of sympathetic arousal on the human body.    In a reevaluation of Cannon's voodoo death paper, Esther Sternberg expanded Cannon's model by stressing the role of the hormonal system, particularly those hormones released by the pituitary and adrenal glands when the human body is confronted by stressors.  These include catecholamines (unknown in Cannon's time) which open calcium channels, including in the heart muscle.  She also discussed the role that the amygdala plays in mediating threat responses (she referred to this as the "vision-to-fear" or "auditory-to-fear" pathway depending on how the threat is perceived).    In cases of abrupt shock, cardiac arrhythmia, chronic wasting, and disease can all occur when the body's own resources are exhausted.  

Cases of sudden cardiac death linked to psychosomatic factors continue to be reported in the clinical literature, especially in patients suffering from preexisting conditions such as chronic depression or anxiety disorders.   The complex relationship between cardiac arrhythmia and emotional stress often forms a "vicious circle" which is potentially deadly.   Increased risk of cardiac failure has also been noted following natural disasters as survivors cope with the stress of dealing with loss.   Although anthropologists still dispute Cannon's interpretation of existing cases (with some arguing that voodoo death should be considered a culture-bound syndrome), Walter Cannon's 1944 paper remains a classic in the field of psychosomatic medicine and psychophysiology and continues to inspire research into the role that emotional factors can affect the body. 

So, can curses kill?  You be the judge.

Do curses work?

Belief in malignant supernatural forces causing illness or misfortune is a common tradition in cultures around the world.   The concept of "black magic", the "evil eye", curses, witchcraft, bringing down disaster on unwitting victims has inspired a host of ritual practices designed to protect users from harm.  My mother, bless her heart, has an all-purpose prayer that she uses to protect family members against the malocchio (evil eye).  Passed down in her family for generations, the prayer can only be taught at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve.   While such beliefs seem harmless enough, fear of malignant cursing has inspired horrendous episodes of anti-witch hysteria through the centuries (and still does today).

But is is actually possible for belief in curses to kill victims?  In a now-classic paper titled "Voodoo Death", physiologist Walter Cannon (of Cannon-Bard hypothesis fame) explored that very question.    First published in 1944 in American Anthropologist, Cannon coined the term "voodoo death" to describe the phenomenon of sudden death brought about by emotional shock, especially fear.  Citing numerous examples from anthropological literature, Cannon presented a series of case histories including deaths occurring among Brazilian tribesmen after being cursed by local "medicine men".  One memorable citation from Arthur Glyn Leonard's classic book on the lower Niger described the phenomenon in action:

I have seen more than one hardened old Haussa soldier dying steadily and by inches because he believed himself to be bewitched; no nourishment or medicines that were given to him had the slightest effect either to check the mischief or to improve his condition in any way, and nothing was able to divert him from a fate which he considered inevitable. In the same way, and under very similar conditions, I have seen Kru-men and others die in spite of every effort that was made to save them, simply because they had made up their minds, not (as we thought at the time) to die, but that being in the clutch of malignant demons they were bound to die.

Being cursed was often the result of violating various cultural taboos or otherwise incurring the wrath of tribal chiefs or shamans.   The means by which a curse could be laid could vary from simply applying the "evil eye" to formal rituals such as the use of "pointing-bones" among Australian Aborigines.  Cannon also raised the possibility of chiefs or sorcerers reinforcing their reputation for laying curses through the discreet use of herbal poisons.  Given the herblore available to many traditional shamans, this is not particularly farfetched although many of the cases that Cannon discussed involved curse victims wasting away despite poison or other medical explanations being ruled out.   Even in those cases where an autopsy was performed on the curse victim, no clear medical cause for death could be found (except for the curse victims who wasted away from refusing to eat or drink). 

For victims in the final stage of their illness, only the timely intervention of the sorcerer or shaman lifting the curse could save them from death.   Shamans persuaded to lift their cause often use an elaborate ritual and, in many cases, presented the victim with a visual "proof" of the curse being lifted (usually in the presence of the victim's family to impress them with his/her power).   Once the crisis is passed, recovery is usually rapid and complete.  The involvement of the victim's extended social network seems to be the key in many of the cases that Cannon reported.   Those victims who are cursed typically lose all support as family and friends distance themselves.   

Once ostracized, the curse victim becomes a pariah with no real options besides death or exile.   "Shunning" of curse victims, often perceived as being responsible for their own predicament, is an effective weapon to reinforce the power of the shaman who laid the curse.  Since being part of the greater tribal community remains the cornerstone of the individual's existence in many societies, it's hardly surprising that the loneliness resulting fom being cursed can be so deadly.

But is there a physical basis for "voodoo death"?  Again, Cannon outlined some common characteristics in the cases that he discussed.  The effect that extreme fear and anger can have on the body is well-documented.  Cannon reviewed the "fight or flight" reaction and the opposing roles of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in preparing us to deal with crises.   Arousal of the sympathetic nervous system results in pupil dilation, rapid heart rate, increased lung capacity and respiration, inhibition of digestion, shaking, sweating, and other autonomic responses.   Essentially, the body is prepared for action.  If that action is delayed or if we are unable to respond to the stressful situation in a timely fashion however, we experience exhaustion and become vulnerable as a result.  As Cannon himself states:

All these changes render the animal more efficient in physical struggle, for they supply essential conditions for continuous action of laboring muscles. Since they occur in association with the strong emotions, rage and fear, they can reasonably be interpreted as preparatory for the intense struggle which the instincts to attack or to escape may involve. If these powerful motions prevail, and the bodily forces are fully mobilized for action, and if this state of extreme perturbation continues in uncontrolled possession of the organism for a considerable period, without the occurrence of action, dire results may ensue

Cannon also described research on sham rage produced in decorticated laboratory animals following intense stimulation of the sympathetic-adrenal system.  The rage leads to rapid sweating, rapid heartbeat, heightened emotionality, and motor activity.  Even when the animal appears visibly calm afterward, death can result after a few hours due to exhaustion.  Sham rage has also been observed in humans, especially in cases involving damage to the temporal lobe and associated limbic system structures.  Along with other physiological effects of sham rage, large amounts of adrenaline are also produced.   Prolonged adrenaline release may lead to persistent constriction of the blood vessels which, in turn, leads to reduce blood volume and inadequate blood supply to the body's organs.    Catastrophically reduced blood pressure, in conjunction with reduced food or fluid intake, can be linked to many of the reported voodoo deaths in the medical literature. 

It is probably not surprising that sudden death has also been observed in cases involving severe shock.  Even when other medical causes have been ruled out, death can still occur.  Loss of appetite, sweating, rapid heartbeat, and other signs of autonomic distress can be important signals that the body is on the verge of exhausting its resources.  Cannon described several examples of patients who died of apparently minor injuries following emotional trauma.  While postmortem examinations may turn up evidence of brain hemorrhage, this is usually a consequence of the condition rather than a direct cause of death.    

Ultimately, Cannon didn't attempt to provide a final explanation for why voodoo death occurs and simply suggested a hypothesis for researchers to explore.   He also recommended that physicians monitoring potential cases watch for warning signs of shock including low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, and perspiration.  In (semi) tongue-in-cheek fashion, he ended his paper by saying:

If in the future, however, any observer has opportunity to see an instance of "voodoo death," it is to be hoped that he will conduct the simpler tests before the victim's last gasp.

While voodoo death cases relating to actual curses have become rare (although anti-witch hysteria is still going strong),  research has confirmed many aspects of Cannon's ideas concerning the role of sympathetic arousal on the human body.    In a reevaluation of Cannon's voodoo death paper, Esther Sternberg expanded Cannon's model by stressing the role of the hormonal system, particularly those hormones released by the pituitary and adrenal glands when the human body is confronted by stressors.  These include catecholamines (unknown in Cannon's time) which open calcium channels, including in the heart muscle.  She also discussed the role that the amygdala plays in mediating threat responses (she referred to this as the "vision-to-fear" or "auditory-to-fear" pathway depending on how the threat is perceived).    In cases of abrupt shock, cardiac arrhythmia, chronic wasting, and disease can all occur when the body's own resources are exhausted.  

Cases of sudden cardiac death linked to psychosomatic factors continue to be reported in the clinical literature, especially in patients suffering from preexisting conditions such as chronic depression or anxiety disorders.   The complex relationship between cardiac arrhythmia and emotional stress often forms a "vicious circle" which is potentially deadly.   Increased risk of cardiac failure has also been noted following natural disasters as survivors cope with the stress of dealing with loss.   Although anthropologists still dispute Cannon's interpretation of existing cases (with some arguing that voodoo death should be considered a culture-bound syndrome), Walter Cannon's 1944 paper remains a classic in the field of psychosomatic medicine and psychophysiology and continues to inspire research into the role that emotional factors can affect the body. 

So, can curses kill?  You be the judge.

Do curses work?

Belief in malignant supernatural forces causing illness or misfortune is a common tradition in cultures around the world.   The concept of "black magic", the "evil eye", curses, witchcraft, bringing down disaster on unwitting victims has inspired a host of ritual practices designed to protect users from harm.  My mother, bless her heart, has an all-purpose prayer that she uses to protect family members against the malocchio (evil eye).  Passed down in her family for generations, the prayer can only be taught at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve.   While such beliefs seem harmless enough, fear of malignant cursing has inspired horrendous episodes of anti-witch hysteria through the centuries (and still does today).

But is is actually possible for belief in curses to kill victims?  In a now-classic paper titled "Voodoo Death", physiologist Walter Cannon (of Cannon-Bard hypothesis fame) explored that very question.    First published in 1944 in American Anthropologist, Cannon coined the term "voodoo death" to describe the phenomenon of sudden death brought about by emotional shock, especially fear.  Citing numerous examples from anthropological literature, Cannon presented a series of case histories including deaths occurring among Brazilian tribesmen after being cursed by local "medicine men".  One memorable citation from Arthur Glyn Leonard's classic book on the lower Niger described the phenomenon in action:

I have seen more than one hardened old Haussa soldier dying steadily and by inches because he believed himself to be bewitched; no nourishment or medicines that were given to him had the slightest effect either to check the mischief or to improve his condition in any way, and nothing was able to divert him from a fate which he considered inevitable. In the same way, and under very similar conditions, I have seen Kru-men and others die in spite of every effort that was made to save them, simply because they had made up their minds, not (as we thought at the time) to die, but that being in the clutch of malignant demons they were bound to die.

Being cursed was often the result of violating various cultural taboos or otherwise incurring the wrath of tribal chiefs or shamans.   The means by which a curse could be laid could vary from simply applying the "evil eye" to formal rituals such as the use of "pointing-bones" among Australian Aborigines.  Cannon also raised the possibility of chiefs or sorcerers reinforcing their reputation for laying curses through the discreet use of herbal poisons.  Given the herblore available to many traditional shamans, this is not particularly farfetched although many of the cases that Cannon discussed involved curse victims wasting away despite poison or other medical explanations being ruled out.   Even in those cases where an autopsy was performed on the curse victim, no clear medical cause for death could be found (except for the curse victims who wasted away from refusing to eat or drink). 

For victims in the final stage of their illness, only the timely intervention of the sorcerer or shaman lifting the curse could save them from death.   Shamans persuaded to lift their cause often use an elaborate ritual and, in many cases, presented the victim with a visual "proof" of the curse being lifted (usually in the presence of the victim's family to impress them with his/her power).   Once the crisis is passed, recovery is usually rapid and complete.  The involvement of the victim's extended social network seems to be the key in many of the cases that Cannon reported.   Those victims who are cursed typically lose all support as family and friends distance themselves.   

Once ostracized, the curse victim becomes a pariah with no real options besides death or exile.   "Shunning" of curse victims, often perceived as being responsible for their own predicament, is an effective weapon to reinforce the power of the shaman who laid the curse.  Since being part of the greater tribal community remains the cornerstone of the individual's existence in many societies, it's hardly surprising that the loneliness resulting fom being cursed can be so deadly.

But is there a physical basis for "voodoo death"?  Again, Cannon outlined some common characteristics in the cases that he discussed.  The effect that extreme fear and anger can have on the body is well-documented.  Cannon reviewed the "fight or flight" reaction and the opposing roles of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in preparing us to deal with crises.   Arousal of the sympathetic nervous system results in pupil dilation, rapid heart rate, increased lung capacity and respiration, inhibition of digestion, shaking, sweating, and other autonomic responses.   Essentially, the body is prepared for action.  If that action is delayed or if we are unable to respond to the stressful situation in a timely fashion however, we experience exhaustion and become vulnerable as a result.  As Cannon himself states:

All these changes render the animal more efficient in physical struggle, for they supply essential conditions for continuous action of laboring muscles. Since they occur in association with the strong emotions, rage and fear, they can reasonably be interpreted as preparatory for the intense struggle which the instincts to attack or to escape may involve. If these powerful motions prevail, and the bodily forces are fully mobilized for action, and if this state of extreme perturbation continues in uncontrolled possession of the organism for a considerable period, without the occurrence of action, dire results may ensue

Cannon also described research on sham rage produced in decorticated laboratory animals following intense stimulation of the sympathetic-adrenal system.  The rage leads to rapid sweating, rapid heartbeat, heightened emotionality, and motor activity.  Even when the animal appears visibly calm afterward, death can result after a few hours due to exhaustion.  Sham rage has also been observed in humans, especially in cases involving damage to the temporal lobe and associated limbic system structures.  Along with other physiological effects of sham rage, large amounts of adrenaline are also produced.   Prolonged adrenaline release may lead to persistent constriction of the blood vessels which, in turn, leads to reduce blood volume and inadequate blood supply to the body's organs.    Catastrophically reduced blood pressure, in conjunction with reduced food or fluid intake, can be linked to many of the reported voodoo deaths in the medical literature. 

It is probably not surprising that sudden death has also been observed in cases involving severe shock.  Even when other medical causes have been ruled out, death can still occur.  Loss of appetite, sweating, rapid heartbeat, and other signs of autonomic distress can be important signals that the body is on the verge of exhausting its resources.  Cannon described several examples of patients who died of apparently minor injuries following emotional trauma.  While postmortem examinations may turn up evidence of brain hemorrhage, this is usually a consequence of the condition rather than a direct cause of death.    

Ultimately, Cannon didn't attempt to provide a final explanation for why voodoo death occurs and simply suggested a hypothesis for researchers to explore.   He also recommended that physicians monitoring potential cases watch for warning signs of shock including low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, and perspiration.  In (semi) tongue-in-cheek fashion, he ended his paper by saying:

If in the future, however, any observer has opportunity to see an instance of "voodoo death," it is to be hoped that he will conduct the simpler tests before the victim's last gasp.

While voodoo death cases relating to actual curses have become rare (although anti-witch hysteria is still going strong),  research has confirmed many aspects of Cannon's ideas concerning the role of sympathetic arousal on the human body.    In a reevaluation of Cannon's voodoo death paper, Esther Sternberg expanded Cannon's model by stressing the role of the hormonal system, particularly those hormones released by the pituitary and adrenal glands when the human body is confronted by stressors.  These include catecholamines (unknown in Cannon's time) which open calcium channels, including in the heart muscle.  She also discussed the role that the amygdala plays in mediating threat responses (she referred to this as the "vision-to-fear" or "auditory-to-fear" pathway depending on how the threat is perceived).    In cases of abrupt shock, cardiac arrhythmia, chronic wasting, and disease can all occur when the body's own resources are exhausted.  

Cases of sudden cardiac death linked to psychosomatic factors continue to be reported in the clinical literature, especially in patients suffering from preexisting conditions such as chronic depression or anxiety disorders.   The complex relationship between cardiac arrhythmia and emotional stress often forms a "vicious circle" which is potentially deadly.   Increased risk of cardiac failure has also been noted following natural disasters as survivors cope with the stress of dealing with loss.   Although anthropologists still dispute Cannon's interpretation of existing cases (with some arguing that voodoo death should be considered a culture-bound syndrome), Walter Cannon's 1944 paper remains a classic in the field of psychosomatic medicine and psychophysiology and continues to inspire research into the role that emotional factors can affect the body. 

So, can curses kill?  You be the judge.

Harry Anslinger and the Phantom Drug Fiend

On Monday, October 17, 1933, 21-year-old Victor Licata carried out the brutal ax-murder of his father, Michael, his mother, Rosalie, his sister, Prudence, and brother, Jose.  Another brother, Philip, was left critically injured (he would later die in hospital).   Police only discovered the crime after being called to the Licata home in Tampa, Florida by worried neighbours who saw no sign of activity aside from Victor wandering aimlessly in front of the house.  Getting no response at the front door, the officers on the scene entered the home through a rear window and quickly found Michael Licata's body.   He had been killed with a single ax-blow to the head.  On further investigation, they found the bodies of Prudence and Jose, both of whom had been hacked to death.   In another bedroom, they found Rosalie and, lying on the bed next to her, the still-breathing Philip .   

After tending to the boy and calling for an ambulance, police then found Victor Licata cowering in a bathroom.   He gave absolutely no resistance as he was taken into custody and charged with five counts of murder (Philip Licata had died in hospital by this time).  Within hours, hundreds of people, including neighbours and relatives of the Licata family, descended on the house where they attempted to make sense of the brutal tragedy.   By all accounts, Michael Licata (nicknamed "the Barber" )  was a well-liked and prosperous businessman who owned two shops.   The rest of the family was well-liked as well, all except for Victor.   

As people who knew the Licata family would tell reporters, Victor Licata had a long history of mental illness and his violent instability had left the rest of his family fearing for their safety.   He was certainly well-known to the police who had attempted to enforce a "lunacy petition"on him one year previously.   The order had later been quashed by a judge after Victor's family testified that they were better able to take care of him than a psychiatric hospital would.  Police also learned that, shortly before killing his family, Victor had gone to a neighbour's house where he tried to borrow a gun.   Though the neighbour refused this bizarre request, he also neglected to tell the family about it.   

When questioned by police about motive for murdering his family, Victor described a bizarre dream he had in which his family members were torturing him.   This had apparently led him to fear for his life to the point that he needed to kill his family in self-defence.   As he told police,  he dreamed that his parents had pulled him from his bed, sawed off his arms with a knife,   and then jabbed wooden arms into his stumps, all while his other siblings laughed at his pain.  After waking up, he grabbed a "funny ax" and began killing his family, beginning with his father.  Doctors asked to examine Victor following his arrest had no hesitation about diagnosing him with Dementia Praecox (later changed to schizophrenia).   Still, what  might have been just another tragedy involving mental illness and
violence soon became much more than that.   

Almost immediately Victor's arrest though, the narrative surrounding the case shifted from his long history of mental illness to the role that drugs had played in the killings.   Since he was known to be a chronic user of cannabis, city, state, and federal drug enforcement officials, all of whom were actively engaged in a "war on drugs", quickly placed sole blame for the violence on Victor Licata's drug use.  On October 19, two days after the killings, local sheriff J.C. Spencer publicly announced a $100 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone possessing or selling marijuana in Tampa.   Not only did he insist that it was marijuana that was directly responsible for Victor Licata killing his family, but he also used the tragedy to justify a wide-scale anti-drug operation to  bring all of Tampa's marijuana dealers to justice.

For all that Victor Licata's crime was being exploited for political gain in Tampa, the real pressure on how to handle the case came directly from Washington, D.C.   In the same year that Victor Licata murdered his family, the passage of the 21st Amendment brought an end to Prohibition and the thirteen-year crusade to ban alcohol in the United States.   Almost inevitably, legalizing alcohol also sparked a major push to ban many other recreational substances, including heroin and cocaine, which had been largely legal up to that point.   As for marijuana, the often-racist diatribes describing it as a terrible scourge on par with much more serious drugs, not to mention its counterculture popularity made it a natural candidate for the "War on Drugs".

But it was the 1929 appointment of Harry Anslinger  as assistant commissioner of the Treasury Department's Bureau of Prohibition that would make the war on marijuana a reality (he became full commissioner a year later).  While Prohibition had remained in force, Anslinger largely ignored marijuana given how widely available it was and the lack of real evidence that it was harmful.   This all changed with the end of Prohibition when Anslinger became an anti-drug crusader almost overnight.   

To bolster the case against marijuana and other drugs, Anslinger and his staff began collecting police reports of crimes across the United States describing horrific crimes supposedly committed by marijuana users.   The "Gore Files" (as some critics dubbed them) became a major component in Anslinger's arsenal as he organized anti-marijuana publicity campaigns across the country.  As you might expect, Victor Licata quickly became one of Ansinger's favourite stories though the actual evidence linking his violence to marijuana was nebulous at best.  For that matter, virtually all of the other two hundred cases in Anslinger's Gore Files had no real drug ties (aside from biased police and newspaper reports).   

Despite the pressure from Anslinger and his political cronies to put him on trial, Victor Licata would remain in the Florida Hospital for the Insane for the rest of his life.   Finally, after four years of legal wrangling, State Justice J. Rex Farrior ruled that Licata, someone he described as "definitely established as insane", would not be charged.   Instead, he would simply remain in the hospital for the rest of his life.

Not that this stopped Anslinger and his fellow anti-drug faction from exploiting Victor for their own political ends.  Even while his fate was being decided, newspapers continued to produce editorials denouncing marijuana use and how it turned supposedly normal people into crazed killers.   In 1936, the movie, "Tell Your Children" (a.k.a. Reefer Madness) was released.   Drawing on Victor Licata's case, the movie portrayed various clean-cut young people engaging in psychotic violence.   Despite its appeal as  a cult film today, the movie helped add to the political pressure to criminalize marijuana along with all other drugs.  

As for Harry Anslinger, he would go on exploiting Victor Licata long after the case was otherwise forgotten.   In 1937, Anslinger wrote an influential article, ""Marijuana, Assassin of Youth"  in which he used the Licata case as an example of the dangers surrounding marijuana use.  In that same year, while testifying before Congress in supporting of the Marijuana Tax Act, he described Victor (unnamed in his testimony) as a "sane, rather quiet young man" who had become a vicious killer due to his marijuana use.   The Tax Act would pass that year and would soon be followed by even tougher legislation criminalizing the sale and possession of marijuana across the United States.  

Victor Licata eventually committed suicide in 1950 (he hanged himself with a bedsheet in his hospital cell), but his story lives on in various ways.   Not only did Anslinger continue to exploit the tragedy well into the 1960s as part of his anti-drug crusade, but marijuana organizations continue to question the official story of Victor's conviction even today.  Available hospital records make no mention of Victor's drug use (his mental illness is described as hereditary) and some defenders have even questioned whether he committed the crimes at all.   

Though mostly speculation, there is some evidence to suggest that Victor's father was actively involved in selling moonshine alcohol (which likely accounts for his wealth).   Victor's defenders suggest that the Licata family was killed in retaliation by mobsters and that Victor, rather than being the killer, was actually the sole survivor of the massacre.  Though few people today actually accept this theory, crime tours of the Tampa area included it, along with visits to the Licata house itself, as part of the Tampa crime experience for decades after the murders.

As for the house where the massacre took place, it's still there at 1707 East Fifth Avenue in Tampa.   Now thoroughly remodeled, no physical traces remain of the Liata family or of the terrible crime that took place there so long ago.  In a real sense, the only real legacy remaining is the harsh drug legislation, still in place in most states and at the federal level, that exploitation of the tragedy helped make possible.

A Tale of Two Books

Since 1258 when Pope Alexander IV first called for the prosecution of witches as heretics, the Church wholeheartedly accepted its role in stamping out witchcraft across Europe. Despite growing Protestant opposition to the persecutions, the Inquisition persisted in the arrest and prosecution of those suspected of witchcraft (usually women). Despite papal bulls and official Church pronouncements, there continued to be active dissent over how witches could be properly identified. It was only in the 15th century, when Heinrich Kramer first wrote what would later be known as the Malleus Maleficarum (the Witches' Hammer), that a true handbook for witch hunters became available. Kramer had been an active witch hunter in Austria whose anti-witch activities had been actively suppressed by the local bishop. Along with his colleague James Spenger, Kramer later arranged for a papal bull in 1484 to support the Malleus and their own witch-hunting efforts.

Many theologians actually opposed the book at first since they viewed Kramer's methods as being unethical and illegal. Although Kramer was denounced by the Inquisition in 1490, his public lectures and widespread popularity of his handbook led to its formal acceptance. We can probably thank Johannes Gutenberg for the popularity of the Malleus since the invention of movable type made the book widely available across Europe. Between 1487 and 1520 alone, it was reprinted thirteen times and the anti-witch persecutions began in earnest.

The Witches' Hammer is divided into three sections: the first section addresses the "mistaken" belief that witchcraft didn't exist. Kramer and Spenger were emphatic in linking witchcraft to sexuality (primarily female sexuality). Since women were more "concerned with things of the flesh than men" and "all witchcraft comes from carnal lust", women were especially susceptible to the Devil's temptations. The second section deals with the powers that witches possess and how they recruit others to join them in their forbidden practices. Witches gained their power by signing their souls to Satan and their actions automatically made them blasphemers who betrayed God. The final section deals with the procedures to be following in "proving" witches and their punishment. Kramer and Spenger laid out a careful description of methods of questioning suspected witches (including different forms of torture), gathering evidence against witches, and the formal charges to be used.

The book provides a thorough guide to the psychological intimidation tactics used against accused witches. Not only did the book recommend telling witches about the tortures they would face if they didn't confess freely, but also promising worse tortures as the questioning continued. As Kramer and Spenger wrote, "And, while he is being tortured, he [the witch]- must be questioned on the articles of accusation, and this frequently and persistently, beginning with the lighter charges-for he will more readily confess the lighter than the heavier. And, while this is being done, the notary must write down everything in his record of the trial--how the prisoner is tortured, on what points he is questioned, and how he answers." Any evidence obtained through torture was perfectly valid and judges were also permitted to lie to the accused by promising them leniency if they confessed. The authors also instructed jailers to stay with the accused witch at all times, otherwise "she will be visited by the Devil and tempted into suicide."

And now we come to the other book...

Reginald Scot was no Heinrich Kramer. Born in 1538, there is very little known about his life except that he came from an old English family and enjoyed caring for his  beloved hop gardens (he also wrote a book on hop farming). While he seemed like an unlikely rebel against the witch mania that gripped Europe, Scot was moved to act when fourteen women in a nearby village were tried for witchcraft in 1582. After researching how evidence was gathered and used against accused witches, Scot eventually published his findings in 1584 as The Discoverie of Witchcraft. Due to the book's controversial nature, Scot was forced to publish it himself.In his book, Scot argued against the existence of witches and and denounced the prosecution of suspected witches as irrational and "contrary to Christian doctrine".  He also raised the novel suggestion that anyone claiming to be a witch was actually deluded and needed to be "guided in their religious faith" rather than executed.

Scot railed against the Malleus Maleficarum and "witch hunters" in general, stating that "because it may appear unto the world what treacherous and faithless dealings, what extreme and intolerable tyranny, what gross and foolish absurdities, what unnatural and uncivil discourtesy, what cankered and spiteful malice, what outrageous and barbarous cruelty… what abominable and devilish inventions, and what flat and plain knavery is practiced against these old women, I will set down the whole order of the Inquisition, to the everlasting, inexcusable, and apparent shame of all witch-mongers”. What made Discoverie even more remarkable was that Scot also denounced various popular superstitions including astrology, divination, charms, and witches' sabbats.He even provided a description of "harmless" conjuring tricks that were often linked with witchcraft. Not only did this make his book one of the first true classics of skepticism, but Scot is also credited with one of the earliest known treatises on stage magic.

It should hardly be surprising that the leading theologians and demonologists of Scot's time denounced his book.  Unfortunately,his greatest critic was King James VI of Scotland (later King James I of England). A Protestant convert who took witchcraft very seriously, the King's reign in Scotland was marked by some of the worst witch hunts in British history (James had personally authorized the use of torture and burnings in dealing with witches). His Royal Displeasure with Reginald Scot's book was all too apparent and, when he became King of England in 1603, James ordered all copies to be burned. It was just as well that Reginald Scot died in 1599 since he likely would have been prosecuted as well. Only a few copies survived King James' purge although the Discoverie would be heavily plagiarized in later centuries.

With critics like Scot being effectively silenced, the Malleus Maleficarum would be the primary reference for witch hunters and judges alike in dealing with accused witches for more than two centuries after it was published. Between 1480 and 1700, an estimated 40,000 (some historians put the number much higher) of convicted witches and heretics (mostly women) were executed across Europe and its various colonies. While it's easy to regard the witch trials as being a thing of the past, episodes of witch hysteria continue to occur around the world. 

The witch hunters aren't out of business yet.

The Brother XII Saga

It all began with a vision. At least, that's what Edward Arthur Wilson told his followers.

Born in Birmingham, England in 1878, Wilson's early life seems to be a mystery. While he drifted from job to job, his chronic health problems made him unable to stay in any one place for long. Whatever Wilson was seeking during his travels, he apparently found it when he first visited British Columbia in 1905. The vision that he claimed to experience there would change his life. Returning to England, Wilson became a pupil of Helen Blavatsky and her fellow theosophists in the 1920s. Drawing on Theosophical teachings, Wilson founded the "Aquarian Society" in 1926 and announced that he had been "translated to the Higher Realms in order to meet the eleven Masters of Wisdom".

Under his new name of "Brother Twelve" (based on the twelve astrological signs of his birth), he made a series of announcements that were published in various English metaphysical journals.It's hard to do justice to Brother XII's philosophy in just a few sentences (the name was usually written in Roman numerals). Not only did he claim to be the reincarnation of the Egyptian god Osiris, but also differed from the other Theosophists of the time in proclaiming the need for a utopian community which would enable a "world teacher" to rise who would transform all human life.

In one essay, titled "A Message from the Masters of Wisdom", Brother XII announced that his new community would be formed in British Columbia and mobilized his followers to make his dream happen. More than a hundred Theosophists followed him to Canada in 1927 and soon raised the money needed to launch his dream. Not only did these followers turn their life savings over to their leader, but numerous wealthy patrons made large donations. The self-sufficient farming commune that he established was named "Cedar By The Sea" on Vancouver Island near Nanaimo.

Whatever the followers expected, it was nothing like the reality of their life in this utopian community. Brother XII developed an elaborate set of prayers and rituals that had to be followed and his rule was absolute. He also introduced new "sexual teachings" to enable his followers to become "the sixth root race". Various females in the community were selected to serve as Brother XII's concubines (regardless of marital status) and the resulting children were to be trained to welcome the coming teacher. While this "free love" philosophy alienated many of his core followers, Brother XII's popular writings still attracted new recruits. At the community's peak, there were as many as four hundred inhabitants (though he would claim far more) .

One of Brother XII's special followers was a woman named Myrtle Baumgartner who had been recruited during one of his fundraising trips. He convinced her that she was the reincarnation of the goddess Isis and was destined to bear the expected world teacher (to be named "Horus"). A separate house was built for their "important work" in conceiving the teacher and Brother XII arranged for another settlement to be built on nearby Valdes and DeCourcy Islands as a refuge for the new "root race".

In reality, Brother XII's bizarre rule had antagonized most of his followers and he decided to establish the new settlement to rid himself of malcontents. It didn't help that the British Columbian government was starting to take a hard look at the group and whether any laws were being broken. The new settlement, known as the "City of Refuge" was established in 1929 so the faithful could wait out the coming Armageddon (Brother XII was big on apocalyptic prophecies). This colony became increasingly isolated with only rumours trickling out about what was happening there. Cedar By The Sea was abandoned completely.

Sadly, Myrtle had difficulty in bearing Brother XII's male heir and suffered a mental breakdown. By 1930, she was replaced by Mabel Skottowe (who was given the name of "Madame Zee"). Mabel and Brother XII ruled over the settlement jointly but revolt began to brew. The Aquarian Foundation finally had enough of Brother XII and a series of lawsuits were filed in 1933 accusing him of misusing funds and "harsh treatment".

In the courtroom, disgruntled followers gave lurid testimony about the abuse they had received from Brother XII and Madame Zee. One follower claimed to have been ordered to kill a Canadian government official using "black magic" while others testified about Madame Zee and her fondness for whips. The number of followers had long since dwindled to only a dozen stragglers (mostly female). In 1934, the court decided against Brother XII but, when the bailiffs went to Valdes Island to collect what was owed, there was a surprise waiting for them.

Most of the buildings had been destroyed and Brother XII's sailboat, the Lady Royal, had been sunk in the harbour (witnesses later said that he used dynamite to blow a hole in the hull). Almost nothing of value was left and Brother XII and Madame Zee were never seen again (neither was the money that they had taken with them). Despite various sightings around the world, their ultimate fate is a mystery. While one report had Brother XII (who was back to being Edward Wilson) dying in Switzerland of a heart attack in 1934, this was never confirmed.

The Theosophy movement is still around but the strange Aquarian cult founded by Brother XII faded into obscurity after his disappearance. Like other believers before them, a few followers went on to live quiet lives in the area (minus their life savings). One of the last Aquarians, Mary Connaly, lived on De Courcy Island until her death in 1947. Nowadays, Cedar by the Sea is a charming oceanfront community that thrives on tourism.

Visitors to the area still hear colourful stories about Brother XII and Madame Zee (and rumours of a fortune in gold hidden in the former commune). That seems to the only surviving legacy of one of the strangest cults of the 20th century.