WKFL Photo Gallery
These photographs cover the decade of 1948-1958 in
California.
Comments By Jon Fisher
This is an aerial
photo of the Fountain, a religious order dedicated to humanitarian service,
located in Box Canyon between San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County) and Simi
Valley (Ventura County), Lat/Lon 34.249989,-118.650858. The canyon is filled with oak trees, and this
is the best property in the hills between the two valleys. The down-side is that fires ripped through
the hills every 5 years. These days the
lunatic fringe camp out all over the hills, and the property belongs to the
State, but they don't even know that they own it!
Headquarters,
W.K.F.L. Fountain of the World, Outercourt of the Aaronic Priesthood and Order
of Melchizedek, Visitors Welcome. The 23
acres was very peaceful, warm, dry and quiet.
We used rocks taken from the washes around the Los Angeles basin to
construct the buildings, ditches and walkways, as you can see in the next
photo. Photographers were allowed on the
property, if and only if, they gave us copies, and non-exclusive rights, of all
photos taken of us or the buildings. And
they were not allowed to sell the photos, but they could use them to publish articles
about us, since any news is good news for a charity organization.
Visitors were required to check in with Sister Muriel, mother of Sister Barbara, seen here leading 2 guests down the steps to the main building. Sister Muriel kept tight reign on every guest, but after she gave them an introduction, she would take them on a tour. However, visitors of members were free to roam the grounds and talk to members, and members could take trips into the 'outside world' at any time. And repeat guests usually had the run of the grounds.
Some artwork by Elzibah in the sidewalk near the nursery
dated 1954. Elzibah (aka Peter) was one of the two suicide bombers that
killed 10 people in Dec 1958.
The wedding of
Brother Alvin and Sister Barbara Barbara.
Sister Barbara made a significant
contribution to this documentary, and she is in her mid-70s! Members were only allowed to marry on the
29th of March, the birthday of Krishna Venta.
And each marriage was 'spiritual', so you could also be married to
someone in the 'outside world', as long as you didn't visit them for any 'sins
of the flesh'. In the next set of photos
you see another couple, Elzibah and Neria, who were rededicating their
marriage. Elzibah then blew up Krishna
Venta. I guess he didn't like the price
of the wedding! In the next picture is a
boy wearing the LTU robe (Love Truth Understanding) of the school age children.
A
typical brush fire in the Santa Susanna Mountains, this one located on the Simi
Valley side of Box Canyon road, sometime in the 1950s. We accidently started a canyon fire because
we were storing cases of empty bottles in a cave behind the nursery. The hot sun treated the bottle like a
magnifying glass, and the nearby grass caught on fire. Our fire department was located across the
street from the Fountain, so we became volunteer fire fighters.
More brush fires from
the 1950s. These fires are extremely
common, and led to our becoming volunteers.
People living in the canyons were required to cut a fire-break around
the buildings, and if they couldn't then the fire department would do it for a
fee. In 1958 the fire department told us
to stop fighting fires because we were barefoot and wore robes, which isn't
much protection from flying embers.
Check out the old
cars near another brush fire. People
used to drive up the canyon road just to see a brush fire. On time, when our canyon was on fire, I
walked up and down the canyon road, visiting with the fire fighters who were
setting back-fires as the flames would approach a house. All the fire-fighters knew barefoot Brother
Jon, and they trusted me to stay out of trouble, so I didn't have to evacuate.
Fountain Choir - June
28, 1955 @ Olive View Sanitarium
Front L-R
Audrey (my mom),
Babs, Patrice, Ruth, Jane, Elesha, Bitzi, Lila, Leta
Rear L-R
Gene, Earl, Asaiah
1957 - Foreground
(L-R) Helena, James, Marjorie Moady, Gene Shoenfelt, x, Muriel, x, Claude,
Walli, Big Ben
Background: Patriark
Wilbur Yates, Elesha, Barbara, Jane
The lady with the
patch was missing an eye, so she had to wear something to cover the hole. This is a pretty typical example of our
membership group.
1955 Sunday dinner, Top L-R: Helena, David, Erma, Claude, Wilber Yates
Bottom: Robert, Ruth Lewis, Anitoli B., guests
The lower dining area was used for meals, and could hold 40-50 people at a time. Then on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons, the tables would be moved outdoors and the hall would be set up like a church. The photo is taken from the stage, which is in the next photo.
1955 Saturday Night
Play, L-R: Babs, Chuck, Ruby, ?, Claude, Muriel
This is a very
typical photo of a Saturday night play.
At the Saturday moring meal the actors would be selected, and they would
then practice their parts during the day.
Most of the plays were about some moral lesson, but they were also very
fun and creative. Two of the plays
became very popular, and we traveled to New York for a 2 week performance
off-Broadway.
Sister Audrey,
Brother Jon's mother, joined the Fountain in 1953. Photo taken April 1958. Mom was not really into religion, and she was
fairly intelligent. Her handwriting was
beautiful, she could do just about any crossword, she could make wedding dresses,
Levi pants and was a terrible cook.
Although she dropped out of 10th grade, she did manage to have 6 kids,
gave the first up for adoption, and kept the rest of us to be raised in a
fruit-cake cult. Ah, but it was fun at
times.
June 1957. Sister Audrey-L, Prince Aaron (son of
Neria)-M, Sister Neria-R. Enjoying a
last warm day in Vista California (at the funeral of my grandmother) just prior
to the move to Alaska (burrrrr). Oddly
enough, my mother dropped out of school because she refused to wear gym shorts. She was afraid that the boys would make fun
of her knees. And this is a woman who
married 5 times!
Sister Marilyn, first
wife of David Smith (2 children). Photo
taken 1957. David and his second wife,
along with their 6 children were killed by Reverend Jimmy Jones. As you can see, Marilyn was not the brightest
of people, not to mention the fact that she was a bit nuts.
Fountain guest – L,
and Mother Ruth - R. Mother Ruth, wife
of Krishna Venta, returned to Alaska after the bombing. Mother Ruth was the warmest and kindest
person on the planet, and she was very intelligent. I have no idea how she got hooked up with KV,
but having 6 kids proves that she did indeed love, or even worship, the guy.
Bishop Asaiah,
Brother Jon's step-father – R, preparing to wash feet of Bishop Nekona –
L. Both Bishop Asaiah and Brother Jon
taught Charles Manson all sorts of religious ideas, including foot
washing. Bishop Nekona on the other hand
did not like the Manson group of psycho-retards, and she told the police that
they had only stayed 3 days at the Fountain.
Oddly enough, Sister Barbara kicked the Manson girls out of the Fountain
after the murders, and at that time we didn't yet know who had done the bad
deed.
Bishop Wallie near
one of the Fountain buildings. The trees
grew in and around the buildings, and we rarely used concrete to make
walkways. So foot washing twice a day
was both neccessary and also a part of our religious practice.
Sister Alice at the mixing bowl,
Priest Helena (mother of Sister Neria) sitting and eating, others unknown. This was one of those rare outdoor meals, at
the request of the photographer. We had
lots of women in the cult, but most of them, like my mom, were unskilled
workers who didn't have a husband or welfare.
Many learned new skills in the Fountain, and were also able to overcome
depression or other personal problems.
When they left the Fountain they were in much better shape than when
they arrived, even if they were a little bit more obsessed about religion.
Priest Mary – L, and
choral group during rehearsal, L-R Sister Erma, Babs, x; Priest Ruth (Babs'
mother), Elesha
Lower dinning area in
main building.
?-L, ?-M, Sister
Muriel-R typing up the Fountain newsletter.
The back area by the fireplace was our Bible study room,
where I sat down with Charles Manson and taught him our weird version of
Christianity. You can read more about
this in the books. Anyway, by the time I
was 15 I had read all of the books in our library, and I started to do odd jobs
for other residents of Box Canyon.
