Just when I think I’m getting warm and fuzzy towards religion, I encounter testimony like this. Poet Kate Gale grew up in a cult, and the whole creepy Philip Garrido incident gave her a bit of deja vu :
It reminds me of growing up at High View Church Farm School which was regularly investigated for child abuse. They never found anything while I was there, but finally because of the constant scrutiny, the cult was moved to Canada. Cults in the U.S. can only be closed down for stockpiling weapons and child abuse; you can’t just be closed down for being weirdos.
When New Hampshire officials would come to investigate, Gale recalls the role of strawberries in the ordeal:
[W]e smiled and clapped our hands. We were well trained. When the investigators left, we were given strawberries. The strawberries were good, and sometimes when we ate them, I couldn’t sit down because I’d been beaten to that point. But the strawberries were tasty.
would like to contact you. My family has been torn apart by 40 plus years involvement in this place run by nutjobs!! Finally considering a lawsuit (maybe civil) for the rampant abuse. Shouldn’t have too much trouble finding witnesses.