The Allure of Immortality

An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet
2. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-0-8130-8029-1
Verlag: University Press of Florida

Buch, Englisch, 358 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 549 g

Wall Street Journal’s Five Best Books About CultsThe true story of cult leader Cyrus Teed and his hollow earth theoryFor five days in December 1908 the body of Cyrus Teed lay in a bathtub at a beach house just south of Fort Myers, Florida. His followers, the Koreshans, waited for signs that he was coming back to life. They watched hieroglyphics emerge on his skin and observed what looked like the formation of a third arm. They saw his belly fall and rise with breath, even though his swollen tongue sealed his mouth. As his corpse turned black, they declared that their leader was transforming into the Egyptian god Horus. Teed was a charismatic and controversial guru who at the age of 30 had been "illuminated" by an angel in his electro-alchemical laboratory. At the turn of the twentieth century, surrounded by the marvels of the Second Industrial Revolution, he proclaimed himself a prophet and led 200 people out of Chicago and into a new age. Or so he promised.The Koreshans settled in a mosquito-infested scrubland and set to building a communal utopia inside what they believed was a hollow earth--with humans living on the inside crust and the entire universe contained within. According to Teed’s socialist and millennialist teachings, if his people practiced celibacy and focused their love on him, he would return after death and they would all become immortal.Was Teed a visionary or villain, savior or two-bit charlatan? Why did his promises and his theory of "cellular cosmogony" persuade so many? In The Allure of Immortality, Lyn Millner weaves the many bizarre strands of Teed's life and those of his followers into a riveting story of angels, conmen, angry husbands, yellow journalism, and ultimately, hope.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Millner, Lyn

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Regional- & Stadtgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Alternative Glaubensformen Okkultismus und andere religiöse Praktiken

Über Autor(innen)

Lyn Millner is professor of journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University. She has written and produced stories for NPR's Morning Edition, the New York Times, USA Today, the Miami Herald, Oxford American, and others.