The Heel of God
And I will grant my two witnesses power to prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days
The archangel Gabriel appeared once again. A she awaited trail, he visited in jail, letting her know everything would be fine. She would be acquitted of $50,000 worth of grand theft charges. And while it was far from her first brush with the law, she would ultimately walk with God on her side.
As divine predictions go, Gabriel missed the boat a bit. May Otis Blackburn was convicted on eight of 15 counts and ultimately released on $10,000 bail. Thankfully, even a year into the Great Depression, money wasn’t too difficult to come by.
It could, perhaps, be argued that the archangel was partially to blame for some of this. At very least, it seems, he help send her down a path that landed her behind bars. Both he and fellow-archangel Michael first visited Blackburn and her daughter Ruth eight years prior. They were, the beings reasoned, the pair outlined in the Book of Revelations 11:3, “And I will grant my two witnesses power to prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”
Michael and Gabriel’s visit couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Having recently arrived in California, Blackburn’s attempts to break into the film industry had fallen short. She had managed to build some momentum in the Pacific Northwest, with a series of films in which Ruth had played central roles.
She founded the production company Starlight and directed 1917’s A Nugget in the Rough. The silent film is believed by some to have been Oregon’s first, largely funded by bilking a married lumber baron out of a sizable chunk of his fortune. The move to Hollywood was less successful, as studios had no time for woman directors. Despite moving to the heart of the burgeoning motion picture industry, Blackburn would not direct another. Film work also proved elusive for Ruth, who found a gig as an exotic dancer.
It was Michael who first suggested the book. He and Gabriel would dictate, and – on publication – The Seventh Trumpet of Gabriel would open the Seventh Seal, ushering the Apocalypse foretold in Revelations. It’s a lot of pressure for a pair of first-time authors, but the mother and daughter were convinced they were up to the task. Michael assured them they would be rewarded for their effort, as two of the 11 queens tasked with ruling the world from a set of 11 mansions in the Hollywood Hills.
Though she was unable to talk her way into a production job, Blackburn possessed the necessary charisma for recruiting followers – many of whom were enticed by the prospect of ruling status from the now self-proclaimed “Heel of God.” The group became the "Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven,” Blackburn being the greatest of all.
She married her step-brother, a strange man with odd facial hair, five-inch long finger nails and an offensive odor from wearing the same suit for days at a time. He became “North Star of the World.” Ruth was named a “Queen of the Divine Order.” She married, as well, though her husband would ultimately disappear under mysterious circumstances after reportedly striking her in anger.
He wasn’t the only member of the Divine Order’s orbit to vanish. Most notable among them was Willa Rhodes, the 16-year-old daughter of two members. Blackburn had deemed the teenager one of the 11 queens, demanding she move from Portland to Los Angeles as “The Tree of Life.” Rhodes was gifted seven puppies from Blackburn’s mother-turned-follower. They were named for the tones of the musical scale.
On Christmas Day 1925, Rhodes developed a toothache and a resulting infection. By New Year’s Day, she was dead. A police investigation for four lost Divine Order members – including Ruth’s husband – happened upon the Rhodes’ body 14 months later, covered in spices and salt and surrounded by the bodies of Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La and Ti.
Seeking Blackburn’s guidance following her death, Rhodes’ parents had placed her in an ice-filled bathtub, with the promise that their tree of life would return in 1,260 days. Ultimately, she was buried in a metal coffin beneath a trapdoor in her bedroom floor.
An attempt to cure another member of her paralysis also failed when she died after spending two days in a brick oven built by the group.
The money Blackburn amassed paid for bodyguards and a chauffeur, along with a 164-acre estate in Simi Valley that featured an 800-pound gilded gold throne and a furnished temple that was sealed off for Jesus’ return. Continued expenses were paid for by members’ day job picking tomatoes in a nearby shed. At night, they held rituals, donning purple robes, slaughtering mules and dancing naked around the outdoor amphitheater.
Blackburn’s imprisonment marked the beginning of the end for the Divine Order, her influence waning amid scandal. The case would ultimately end up in the California Supreme Court, which noted in regards to the disappearances,
We feel, as did the District Court of Appeal, that the evidence as to both of the events above adverted to, must have prejudiced the defendant in the minds of the jury to the extent that the testimony offered in her defense could not have received the deliberate consideration that the law accords to all persons charged with crime. All other matters of importance have been properly disposed of in the decision of said District Court of Appeal. The judgment and order are reversed.
Blackburn and Ruth would never finish work on The Seventh Trumpet of Gabriel.
Sources:
"The Heel of God" and "Mother" https://www.samuelfort.com/may-otis-blackburn.html
Divine Order’s Tale Smacks of Cult Fiction https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-may-23-me-40217-story.html