Holy Rollers: Murder and Madness in Oregon's Love Cult

by McCracken, Theresa

• ISBN13: 9780870044243
• ISBN10: 0870044249
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Caxton Pr

Summary

This is a story that has the elements sometimes found in modern novels -- sex, mass insanity, the downfall of prominent families, murder, and sensational court trials.

But this story is all true. . . and it happened a century ago!

Corvallis, Oregon leaders weren't terribly impressed with the Salvation Army dropout who appeared in the community in the early 1900s and announced plans to start a new church. While Edmund Creffield may have been unremarkable in the eyes of the city fathers, he became something else to many of the city mothers and daughters.

When Creffield and his "Holy Roller" religious cult made headlines in Oregon in 1903, it was page-one news -- not just in the Pacific Northwest, but around the country. Yet few people in Oregon and Washington today have heard Creffield's name or his story. And the descendants of the people who were involved still refuse to talk about those events 100 years ago.

Robert B. Blodgett spent years sifting through newspaper archives in Washington and Oregon, piecing together the story of Edmund Creffield. Theres

Table of Contents

Illustrations	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
Prologue	xiii
The Seduction	xvii
``Trust me, brothers and sisters''	1	(6)
``God, save us from compromising preachers''	7	(8)
The Flock	15	(10)
Holy Rollers	25	(8)
Housecleaning	33	(10)
Community concerns	43	(8)
Esther: the chosen one	51	(8)
Tar and feathers	59	(8)
Sane people don't go bareheaded	67	(10)
``More beast than man''	77	(10)
``God will plead my case''	87	(8)
Scandal	95	(10)
Calm before the storm	105	(10)
Giving up the Ghost	115	(10)
The People v. Creffield	125	(80)
``I've got my man''	127	(10)
The Widow Creffield	137	(6)
Killer or hero?	143	(8)
The trial	151	(10)
An inherited streak of insanity	161	(12)
Testimony	173	(14)
Two other murders	187	(8)
The verdict	195	(10)
The Madness	205	(70)
Seeking Reconciliation	207	(6)
No remorse	213	(8)
``What can Papa do for you?''	221	(6)
``Human life is too cheap in this community''	227	(10)
Grief	237	(6)
Insanity?	243	(12)
Poison?	255	(10)
Final chapter	265	(10)
Epilogue	275	(4)
Bibliography	279	(18)
Authors	297