Home to many getaway destinations and diverse landscapes, California has also hosted infamous cults over the decades.
A Sept. 23 article from Fodorś Travel, titled 8 Dreamy California Destinations That Were Once Home to Cults, listed a ranch in Mendocino County.
One of the eight destinations is Ridgewood Ranch, located on 5,000 acres of rolling hills, creeks and forests in Willits. The current owner of the property is Christ’s Church of The Golden Rule, formerly known as the cult Mankind United.
Arthur Bell founded the cult during the Depression. Bell — a swindler, especially in real estate — believed the world was under the control of “Hidden Rulers” and “Money Changers” determined to make a “worldwide slave state,” according to the Fodorś article.
Bell convinced many that the only way to avoid this fate was to enter into his cult, Mankind United. In order to join, followers had to give Bell half their possessions and work long hours for low pay in the cult’s hotels, restaurants and ranches throughout the state.
Bell handed over leadership of the cult in 1951 as a result of legal battles and bad press.
Although the cult unraveled, about 100 people stayed and settled on Ridgewood Ranch. The community now “operates a mobile home park, runs (approximately) 200 head of cattle and works with conservation groups like Mendocino Land Trust,” the article stated.
Ridgewood Ranch was also where famous racehorse Seabiscuit died of a heart attack in May of 1947, according to a Press Democrat article from May 21, 2020.
That wasn’t the only Northern California destination listed in the article. Lodge at Marconi, located in West Marin, was a remote location for the Church of Synanon from 1964 to 1980.
According to the Fodorś article, the Church of Synanon has a twisted history. Mickel Jollet, frontman of indie rock group The Airborne Toxic Event, lived on the property as a child. He recounted in his memoir, Hollywood Park, “how children at the Tomales Bay Synanon were taken from their parents at six months old and raised by other cult members in a type of orphanage.”
The Point Reyes Light newspaper “helped expose Synanon as a dangerous cult, winning the paper a Pulitzer Prize in 1979,” the article stated.
Two of the eight destinations listed are in Northern California, but the rest were from the Los Angeles area. These included: Hotel Casa Del Mar, Santa Monica; Al Cove Café & Bakery, Los Feliz; Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens, West Adams; Beachwood Canyon Neighborhood, Los Angeles; Santa Susana Knolls Neighborhood, Ventura County; and Mount Baldy, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.
Find the full list at fodors.com.