New 20/20 tonight: FLDS

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Charlene Jeffs, actual legal wife (of many sister wives) of Lyle Jeffs, warrens brother who now leads the sect, is divorcing him and fighting for custody of the minor kids. I think there are two minors left out of a large brood. Should be fascinating!

[Rescinded and Mended]

Oh good, it's always does my heart proud to see another FLDS wife get out of there, especially since this one is a wife in the Jeffs clan.

I've been waiting for another book to come out written by one of these ladies, but haven't seen anything new yet. I'm hoping Ruby Jessop, Flora's younger sister, writes one soon about her experiences. I know Flora was worried sick about her once she was married off and lost within the system for several years.

[quiversR4hunting]

Oh good, it's always does my heart proud to see another FLDS wife get out of there, especially since this one is a wife in the Jeffs clan.

I've been waiting for another book to come out written by one of these ladies, but haven't seen anything new yet. I'm hoping Ruby Jessop, Flora's younger sister, writes one soon about her experiences. I know Flora was worried sick about her once she was married off and lost within the system for several years.

I always cheer a little when someone leaves this cult- even the dads that finally see the light and try to get their family out.

I would love to read another book about the cult. I have read several different books about the FLDS - the LeBaron clan in Mexico, Carolyn Jessup, Ellisa Wall and Brent Jeffs (he wrote about the Lost Boys, him being one of them).

[quiversR4hunting]

Rescinded and Mended -

Have you read this book that came out last year?

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice – June 17, 2014

by Rebecca Musser

I will need to put it on my reading list.

[apandaaries]

Rescinded and Mended -

Have you read this book that came out last year?

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice – June 17, 2014

by Rebecca Musser

I will need to put it on my reading list.

I'm going to have to put that on my reading list as well. I have a bizarre fascination with the polygamists. Glad to hear more are breaking free.

[ADoyle90815]

Rescinded and Mended -

Have you read this book that came out last year?

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice – June 17, 2014

by Rebecca Musser

I will need to put it on my reading list.

If you haven't read that, it's worth it. Disclamer:

It does have some transcripts of the recordings of child rape by Warren Jeffs.

Still, I'm glad another person is getting free, and I'm also looking forward to more books from survivors. The FLDS were actually my gateway fundies.

[FundieFarmer]

WWR was a really good read. The transcripts were tough to read, but the book was great.

Thanks for posting about this. I hadn't seen it was happening and will definitely record it.

[Jana814]

Saw part of the story on GMA this morning.

[grt42btexan]

Rebecca Musser's book is an excellent read. So scary how so many people are misled and look the other way when clearly women and children are being abused. I cannot wait to watch tonight.

[Rescinded and Mended]

Rescinded and Mended -

Have you read this book that came out last year?

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice – June 17, 2014

by Rebecca Musser

I will need to put it on my reading list.

I have! It was a fascinating read, and very refreshing to read an account written by a former FLDS member who was married to the previous prophet, Rulon Jeffs. I'm glad that Musser is doing well, and am hoping to read another acocunt written by her or another survivor soon.

One thing I've noticed is that if you read enough of the books written by FLDS escapees, a sort of overlap emerges. Sometimes one of them will be given a code name, someone who was usually involved in the never-ending legal wrangling with the cult at the time. For example, Musser is called "Cassandra" in Elissa Wall's account because Musser was still supposed to be off the radar while she provided evidence to the police about the Jeffs family. Other members of the cult might not be named at all, but you can figure out who they are later in other books simply by putting the pieces together.

One book I can highly recommend is The Blood Covenant, by Rena Chynoweth. Rena's account is interesting because she is a survivor of a polygamist cult who demonstrates a remarkable lack of clarity. She wrote the account when she was 30 years old. The youngest wife of cult leader Ervil Lebaron, Rena was ordered to murder rival polygamous leader Rulon Allred when she was 19 years old. Rena shows no remorse for her crime, and spends much of her account taking it in turns to feel sorry for herself, muse on her personal vanity and how attractive other men find her, and in one instance, she actually drags an outsider boyfriend into the cult. Things have a way of happening around Rena, according to her, but none of it is really her fault. Most survivors come away with some sort of learning experience they can share with their audience - at that point in time, Rena was much too self-involved for that.

The book is out of print, but I still see it on ebay and Amazon occasionally. Definitely worth a read. :)

[FundieFarmer]

Thanks for the recommendation, R&M! I'm also always on the lookout for books on this subject. When I was in undergrad psych, I wanted to go into cult deprogramming, and read pretty much every book there was out there on the topic. I'm not in that field now, but I'll take a look for this--it sounds like something I'll love.

[quiversR4hunting]

The episode is really good. It just shows what happens when schooling is controlled by fanatics and closed off to not learn any thing outside the approved curriculum.

Considering the amount of child labor being showed, I wonder if the kids are functionally illiterate.

next up, the former queen of the creek and the town counsel... lots of Jesops on the council.

[freejingerbeth]

Rescinded and Mended -

Have you read this book that came out last year?

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice – June 17, 2014

by Rebecca Musser

I will need to put it on my reading list.

I just recently finished that book, and it's wonderful. I know Rebecca's brother wrote a short novella, refuting some of her claims, but even he did not rebut her basic story. Well worth the read.

[silverspoons]

The episode is really good. It just shows what happens when schooling is controlled by fanatics and closed off to not learn any thing outside the approved curriculum.

Considering the amount of child labor being showed, I wonder if the kids are functionally illiterate.

next up, the former queen of the creek and the town counsel... lots of Jesops on the council.

I had posted the other day in a thread that was archived that at my son's high school(which is almost 100% LDS) I was surprised when they school honored some "lost boys" that had virtually no education until 15-16 and in 2 years were able to finish high school and with excellent grades and all got scholarships.

It made me happy because I see so many of them turn to drugs and drinking that these boys were able to do more then double the coursework with little foundation and now will be able to go to college with living expenses paid for free. I hope that some of these success stories are able to go back and show the boys that have gone down the wrong path that there are options, maybe not easy at first, but options that will give them a real bright future.

My BIL adopted two boys from CC as teens. He had raised his 6 kids and had extra bedrooms and decided he wanted to help. He and his wife are teachers and have been able to bring the boys up to grade level. I'm proud of him because he could have started traveling like he had dreamed of once his kids were out of the house but he put those plans on hold for 5 years when he met these 2 brothers. I wish more families would do this but somehow most local famileis have no issue to say there family history has polygamy in it but would never take in a child or teen with a polygamist background(but they will adopt other races, religions etc).

[DaffyDill]

I always cheer a little when someone leaves this cult- even the dads that finally see the light and try to get their family out.

I would love to read another book about the cult. I have read several different books about the FLDS - the LeBaron clan in Mexico, Carolyn Jessup, Ellisa Wall and Brent Jeffs (he wrote about the Lost Boys, him being one of them).

We don't get 20/20 over here - Is there anywhere online it can be seen?

I'll never forget watching a program on the FLDS, with Flora Jessop visiting this woeful little cemetery somewhere in or near an FLDS compound, with so many sad little graves of infants who had passed away. Just so sad.

Brent Jeffs was interviewed as well - he broke my heart. The pain on his face was so obvious.

[quiversR4hunting]

I had posted the other day in a thread that was archived that at my son's high school(which is almost 100% LDS) I was surprised when they school honored some "lost boys" that had virtually no education until 15-16 and in 2 years were able to finish high school and with excellent grades and all got scholarships.

It made me happy because I see so many of them turn to drugs and drinking that these boys were able to do more then double the coursework with little foundation and now will be able to go to college with living expenses paid for free. I hope that some of these success stories are able to go back and show the boys that have gone down the wrong path that there are options, maybe not easy at first, but options that will give them a real bright future.

My BIL adopted two boys from CC as teens. He had raised his 6 kids and had extra bedrooms and decided he wanted to help. He and his wife are teachers and have been able to bring the boys up to grade level. I'm proud of him because he could have started traveling like he had dreamed of once his kids were out of the house but he put those plans on hold for 5 years when he met these 2 brothers. I wish more families would do this but somehow most local famileis have no issue to say there family history has polygamy in it but would never take in a child or teen with a polygamist background(but they will adopt other races, religions etc).

Wow, your brother is great! I wonder what will wake these people up from the cult and a pedophile the profit is, etc. There is no easy answer.

[quiversR4hunting]

We don't get 20/20 over here - Is there anywhere online it can be seen?

I'll never forget watching a program on the FLDS, with Flora Jessop visiting this woeful little cemetery somewhere in or near an FLDS compound, with so many sad little graves of infants who had passed away. Just so sad.

Brent Jeffs was interviewed as well - he broke my heart. The pain on his face was so obvious.

Check out abc.com tomorrow. I think they post the episodes on the website after they have aired..

[DaffyDill]

Thanks quivers - probably have to get around geo blocking, not that that is hard... :shifty-kitty:

[Rescinded and Mended]

I missed the episode, too, I'll have to look for it now. Thanks for the link. :)

Brent Jeffs is so brave. It gives him such anguish whenever he talks about his experiences at the hands of his uncle, Warren Jeffs. You can tell it tears him apart to talk about it, and still he is brave enough to continue to discuss his experiences.

FundieFarmer, you're welcome. I always like to mention Rena's book whenever the subject comes up. So many accounts are inspirational stories of bravery, while Rena's is mostly a self-examination in vanity and marinading in the kool-aid.

[Geechee Girl]

I watched the show, thanks for the head's up. Did anyone catch how the girl of the older couple escaped from her parents to return to the cult? Was she leaving spy craft messages along the way on the road trip or did she have a phone? The intimidation techniques used by the residents of CC were frightening.

[apandaaries]

I missed the episode, too, I'll have to look for it now. Thanks for the link. :)

Brent Jeffs is so brave. It gives him such anguish whenever he talks about his experiences at the hands of his uncle, Warren Jeffs. You can tell it tears him apart to talk about it, and still he is brave enough to continue to discuss his experiences.

FundieFarmer, you're welcome. I always like to mention Rena's book whenever the subject comes up. So many accounts are inspirational stories of bravery, while Rena's is mostly a self-examination in vanity and marinading in the kool-aid.

Thank you so much for that book recommendation! I thought I'd read everything about the LeBaron cult, but I'd missed that one. I just ordered it. You're right about the overlap in the books; I remember reading about Rena from another wife's point of view. If anyone is interested, my favorite site for books is this little corner of the Interwebz where used bookstores get together to sell their wares. It's abebooks.com (AmericanBookExchange for the abe, if you like to know your acronyms), and it helps keep the little stores in business while competing with Amazon. They had several editions of both books! I have no affiliation with them; I just like promoting small businesses and reading. :D

I'm still waiting to hear about Ruby Jessop, too. Flora lived through hell; she had every reason to be worried about her sister. I wonder how many kids Ruby has now.

[VaSportsMom]

I have Elissa & Rebecca's books in my DropBox (for iBooks) if anyone would like to read them.

[quiversR4hunting]

I watched the show, thanks for the head's up. Did anyone catch how the girl of the older couple escaped from her parents to return to the cult? Was she leaving spy craft messages along the way on the road trip or did she have a phone? The intimidation techniques used by the residents of CC were frightening.

I wondered that too but wonder of they even know how they were tracked, unless she had a hidden phone or tracking device of some sort? I wonder if they will ever find her again

I also wonder how many of these trailers exist that have a girl in complete isolation.

I wish these people helping the ones leave, would tell these parents to bring their children, the brainwashing of this cult is nuts.

[Walking Cat Bed]

I wondered that too but wonder of they even know how they were tracked, unless she had a hidden phone or tracking device of some sort? I wonder if they will ever find her again

I also wonder how many of these trailers exist that have a girl in complete isolation.

I wish these people helping the ones leave, would tell these parents to bring their children, the brainwashing of this cult is nuts.

I remember reading that Carolyn Jessop's oldest daughter went back after she turned 18, thinking she'd be an FLDS princess and her father's favorite again (and was promised that), and was put to work cooking for construction crews and wasn't, at that point, in contact with anyone from her family.

Poor kid.

[lilith]

I wondered that too but wonder of they even know how they were tracked, unless she had a hidden phone or tracking device of some sort? I wonder if they will ever find her again

I also wonder how many of these trailers exist that have a girl in complete isolation.

I wish these people helping the ones leave, would tell these parents to bring their children, the brainwashing of this cult is nuts.

From what I've read about the Mormon polygamous groups (a lot) it seems to be quite common to put a new young wife in a trailer out of the way somewhere on her own til she has a few kids. It keeps the main home more peaceful if the new young bride isn't there, the husband can visit all he likes, and by the time she's got a couple

of kids she's invested in the family and viewed as such by the rest of the wives.

I haven't seen the show and don't know if this girl was married but it seems more likely than a single girl being isolated on her own.