Before the cult leader arrived, Antelope, Ore., was a sleepy town: less than a square mile in size, with just 45 residents who were mostly retired or working as ranch hands. But a bling-obsessed guru changed all that.
It happened in 1981, after free-love sage Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh bought a 64,000-acre ranch adjacent to Antelope for $5.75 million. His aim: to create a utopia where followers — many of them Western professionals — could adhere to his teachings. There was naked meditation, chanting and group sex. Soon, some 1,600 acolytes materialized. They built houses and stores and created their own police and fire departments. But the utopia collapsed within three years, amid a storm of power grabs, botched murder and arson.
