The Business of Marketing,

Entrepreneurship, and Architecture of

Communal Societies in the 1960s and
1970s Rahima Schwenkbeck
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The Business of Marketing,
Entrepreneurship,
and Architecture of
Communal Societies in the
1960s and 1970s
Rahima Schwenkbeck
 The Business of Marketing, Entrepreneurship,
and Architecture of Communal Societies in the
1960s and 1970s

“Schwenkbeck provides an intriguing and engaging analysis of three African-­

American communal groups in the 1960s and 1970s. The book offers a lens to
exemplify a much larger trend in the formation of utopian communities in the
United States at the time. Based on in-depth empirical research, Schwenkbeck
weaves her three cases into a highly readable narrative connecting categories of
race, business, community and entrepreneurship in the context of an increasingly
volatile economy, political tension and blatant racism.”
—Martin Lutz, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
 Rahima Schwenkbeck

The Business
of Marketing,
Entrepreneurship,
and Architecture
of Communal
Societies in the 1960s
and 1970s
Rahima Schwenkbeck
Business Historian
Las Vegas, NV, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-88353-9    ISBN 978-3-030-88354-6 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88354-6

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For my mother, Ruth L. Schwenkbeck, who taught me two very
valuable things:
always spread kindness and question authority
 Acknowledgments

In editing this, I am reminded of the many wonderful moments spent in

coffee shops, airports, airplanes, ho(s)tels, apartments, picnic tables,
cramped bus rides, the Metro, various restaurants, my family’s home, and
work writing this. Writing the acknowledgments section is the most diffi-
cult part since I am thankful to know so many wonderful people and have
such little space here to celebrate them. I am thankful for my husband,
Sean, and his quiet brilliance and sense of adventure. Without my sister,
Sharifa, her husband, Chris, and my brother, Aziz, this would not have
been possible. I am eternally grateful to them, their kindness, selflessness,
surprise clowns, love, and charcuterie boards.
I’ve been very fortunate to receive several research and travel grants to
help fund my research, such as the Jeffrey C. Kasch Foundation Grant, the
James and Sylvia Thayer Research Fellowship, the Michael K. Schoenecke
Travel Award, the Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. Travel Grant, and the Center for
Communal Studies Research Travel Grant. I am forever indebted to the
very warm welcome, guidance, and support of Jennifer Greene, Dr. Casey
Harison, and Dr. Donald Pitzer at the Center for Communal Studies.
I’m also very appreciative of the millions of small acts of kindness I’ve
received, such as bus drivers that waited for me, very understanding gate
agents, and the freely given train passes, books, bread, wine refills, drinks,
laughs, stickers, seat upgrades, burritos, how-to videos, great plane fares,
films, public parks, parades, parties, theater, beautiful flowers, beaches,
rides, comedy shows, tickets, artwork, high point markers, gardens, friend-
ships in many forms, and so much more I’ve so enjoyed over the years.
The world is a wonderful place. Let’s share it.

vii
 Contents

1 Introduction  1

2 The Founding Ideologies of Soul City, Stelle, and Twin

Oaks 21

3 Pioneers in the Middle of Nowhere: Land and Space 63

4 No Hippies, Please: Members and Membership Policies 89

5 Commune, Inc.: The Perils and Benefits of

Entrepreneurship137

6 Some Hands on Deck: Labor Politics and Practices185

7 Selling the Dream: Advertising Community and Business213

8 Everything Has Its Price: Financing a Community239

9 The Invisible Hand, or Crushing Fist, of the State285

10 Conclusion: Meandering Toward Utopia323

Index331

ix
 Abbreviations

CCS Center for Communal Studies, University of Southern Indiana

(Evansville, Indiana)
KKP Kat Kinkade Papers. Special Collections Library. University of
Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia)
SCC Soul City Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections
Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill,
North Carolina)
UNC Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
UNCCF University of North Carolina Clipping Files (North Carolina
Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina)
UV University of Virginia Library (Charlottesville, Virginia)

xi
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Floyd McKissick wanted to rebuild Black communities. A group of people

thought the world was ending soon but through innovation they could
continue humanity. A splinter organization read a book about an idealized
society and wanted to create the same community. During the mid-to-late
1960s, thousands of individuals acted on their vision and joined a com-
munal society. While there are numerous, and sometimes salacious,
accounts of communal societies that formed, there are only a handful that
focus on their financial aspects. Yet, how does a doomsday community (as
locals deemed) make money? How does a hippie commune living in a barn
turn into a multi-million-dollar business? Why did Nixon help fund a Black
utopia? This work focuses on entrepreneurship and community building.
These groups offer new ways to reconceptualize labor, architecture, and
community design, as well as to examine the blocks in our current socio-
economic systems that we continue to perpetuate. Although none of the
communities ultimately reached their planned goals, their formations
demonstrate how society grapples with the pains of capitalism, and how
each community developed their own concept of a moral economy.
This work offers an in-depth history of three communities—Soul City,
Stelle, and Twin Oaks—with an emphasis on their financing, marketing,
and entrepreneurship processes. Twin Oaks, featuring members much like
the young, free-love hippies, typically thought of as communards; Stelle,
which had largely white and middle-to-upper-middle class members; and

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2021
R. Schwenkbeck, The Business of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and
Architecture of Communal Societies in the 1960s and 1970s,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88354-6_1
2 R. SCHWENKBECK

Soul City, composed of mostly middle-to-upper-middle-class African

Americans. The study begins during the boom of the communal move-
ment in 1967, when Twin Oaks was founded, and follows through to the
end of the 1970s, as the United States experienced an unprecedented
period of stagflation and structural economic shifts. These communities
reflect the diversity of people who were dissatisfied with the direction
American society was headed in—often underpinned by concerns over
racism, sexism, the environment, and capitalism—and decided to take the
radical approach of joining a communal society. While these societies
hoped to carve out a space for members to fully live their values, as they
operated within the United States, they were not able to escape the hold
of state policies, nor of capitalism. While some communities felt they failed
for participating in a capitalistic society—sometimes to remarkable suc-
cess—it is important to understand that “market processes cannot be set
in opposition to extra-economic cultural and social forces.”1
The concept of moral economy offers an excellent vantage point for
examining communal societies. First, it explains the development of varied
ideologies about justice, fairness, and relationship to work and society—
different moral economies—as they occurred within communities. There
is a great deal of debate on the meaning of the moral economy, but for the
purposes of understanding the moral economy as a response by communal
societies, Elizabeth D. Mauritz defined it as, “the community based
response, arising from a sense of common good, upheld by custom or
tradition, to an unjust appropriation or abuse of land, labor, human dig-
nity, or material goods, with the objective of producing social arrange-
ments that promote just relations between unequal persons or groups
within a community to achieve long-term social sustainability.”2
Communes were a space that participants used to develop a moral econ-
omy in response to injustice they saw occurring in society.
Secondly, the moral economy lens also explains how these communities
remained “intertwined with and inseparable from actual practices of pro-
duction, exchange and reproduction.”3 In other words, the economy is

1
Jamie Palomera and Theodora Vetta, “Moral Economy: Rethinking a Radical Concept.”
Anthropological Theory 16.4 (2016): 413–432, 418.
2
Elizabeth D. Mauritz, “Moral Economy: Claims for the Common Good.” A Doctoral
Dissertation submitted to Michigan State University, 2014, page 5.
3
Palomera and Vetta, 420.
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

embedded within economic and noneconomic practices.4 Many commu-

nal societies idealized and wished to emulate the pre-industrial, non-­
capitalist-­based societies. In an attempt to achieve that, they moved to
isolated, rural areas and physically built a community from the ground up.
Several studies of moral economy focus on uprisings or riots to highlight
the schism in ethics, or sense of common good, between an oppressed
group and the state, elites, or market forces.5 Similarly, the breaking away
from society to create a new communal organization was no less rebel-
lious, and also done en masse. Upward of a million Americans joined a
communal society sometime between 1960s and 1970s. While these com-
munal societies individually were much smaller than the bread riots of
eighteenth-century England that E. P. Thompson discussed, they show a
deep tension between the morals, and deeply embedded market practices
of society. Communes functioned as a pressure valve, a means for dissatis-
fied Americans to escape some social confines of society, but the economic
dictates of the market remained deeply embedded.
This work investigates the complex reasons why these, and thousands
of other Americans, felt it was necessary to join a communal effort. Their
decisions were fueled by racism, economic issues, a desire to flee the con-
crete, lifeless infrastructure of cities, to find genuine connection with oth-
ers, or in search of a place where gender was not so terribly confining. The
varied grievances drew each person to a communal society to try and live
a more ideal life they felt was not possible within the confines of normative
American society. Each of these individuals found like-minded others with
the same moral assumptions to create a new societal approach. However,
their efforts bumped up against deeply embedded economic forces.
Attempts to experiment with new architecture, to build multi-family hous-
ing, to create a communal purse, to run a fairly priced grocery store, or
simply to create a fair environment for Black-owned businesses to operate
in were stymied by the boundaries of capitalism, systemic racism and

4
Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time
(Boston: Beacon, 2001), 77; Karl Polanyi, “The Economy as Instituted Process,” in
Economic Anthropology: Readings in Theory and Analysis, Edward LeClair and Harold
Schneider, eds. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968), 126.
5
The two most cited sources in this vein of moral economy research are E. P. Thompson,
“The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century.” Past and Present
50 (1971): 76–136. https://www.jstor.org/stable/650244, and James C. Scott, The Moral
Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1976).
4 R. SCHWENKBECK

paternalism. Although many communal members initially viewed them-

selves as pioneers on the edge of a new society, they often became disillu-
sioned because they could not escape market forces.
Investigating the financial aspects of utopian communities offers a
unique way to demystify the market practices of a variety of Americans
during the late-60s through the 1970s as the economy underwent radical
changes. It reveals ways people holistically imagined their lives, their labor,
and their ideals, and demonstrates the way their goals and the confines of
capitalism interact. It sheds light on the individual and collective decision-­
making practices that envisioned an ideal economy.6 What better way to
understand the hinderances to society as a direct result of capitalism than
through studying the formation of utopian communities?
The term “utopian community” has floated around for quite some
time. Robert Hine defined it as a “group of people looking to establish a
new social pattern based upon a vision of an exemplary society and who
have withdrawn from mainstream society to embody that vision in experi-
mental form.”7 Some scholars, such as Lyman Tower Sargent, argue that
a utopian community is one looking to be “better, perhaps significantly
better” than current society, but does not need to represent an ideal or
perfect society since it does not exist.8 It is well understood that utopia
refers to a nonexistent place, as any entity with more than one person will
inevitably lead to a compromise and the loss of the ideal utopian vision.9
Rather, the term “utopian communities” in this work refers to the fact
that these three communities were an attempt to develop an idealized
society.10 Though some communities, like Twin Oaks, eschewed the label,
their project was to create a more idealized version of society with hopes
of spawning similar communities across the United States. The idea of
utopia thus serves as a guiding vision, and in this work manifests in three

6
Narotzky, Susana, and Niko Besnier. “Crisis, Value, and Hope: Rethinking the Economy:
An Introduction to Supplement 9.” Current Anthropology 55, no. S9 (2014): S4–S16, S4.
7
Robert Hine, California’s Utopian Colonies (New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1966), 2–3.
8
Lyman Tower Sargent, “Theorizing Intentional Community in the Twenty-First
Century” in The Communal Idea in the 21st Century, eds. Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Yaacov Oved,
and Menachem Topel (Leiden: Brill, 2013): 53–72, 69–70.
9
Vernon Louis Parrington Jr, American Dreams: A Study of American Utopias (New York:
Russell & Russell, Inc., 1964), 4.
10
Richard Fairfield, ed. Utopia, U.S.A.: The Modern Utopian (San Francisco: Alternatives
Foundation, 1972), 6–8; Alex G. Stach, “Hippie Communes U.S.A.: Five Case Studies,
1970” (PhD Diss, University of Minnesota, 1971), 31–39.
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

different forms. In their initial plans, Stelle was a religious utopia, Twin
Oaks a behaviorist utopia, and Soul City offered the dream of a Black
utopia.11
The 1960s were a tumultuous time in US history, with ruptures giving
way to a variety of intentional communities. From the mid-1960s through
the mid-1970s, the United States experienced its greatest wave of inten-
tional society formation to date. Previous upsurges of community forma-
tion were in the “low hundreds,” but the 1960s brought an explosion of
communities, “thousands—probably tens of thousands—of them, and an
incredibly diverse lot at that.”12 The idea of a hippie commune was,
according to communal historian, Timothy Miller, “created largely by
sensational media coverage,” but remains thought of as the common com-
munal experience.13 As Miller argued, communes were “enormously, end-
lessly diverse” that challenged a lot of perceptions: most had screened
memberships, rejected heavy drug use, and many were religious in nature.14
Communes are small microcosms of society that provide an excellent
vantage point for understanding social development in a variety of ways.15
This work offers an in-depth history of three communities, Soul City,
Stelle, and Twin Oaks, with an emphasis on their attempts to become
financially solvent, typically done through a mix of grants, donations, and

11
Donald F. Klein, Psychology of the Planned Community: The New Town Experience (New
York: Human Sciences Press, 1978), 8.
12
Miller, Timothy. The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse
University Press, 1999), xiii.
13
The term, “hippie” is quite generic and the actual ideologies and lifestyles of people
nestled under the umbrella of “hippie” varied greatly (Yaacov Oved, Globalization of
Communes and Cooperatives (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2013), 62–63).
Hippie was thought to have “been rendered meaningless by overuse” by the early 1970s
(Sara Davidson, “Hippie Families on Open Land,” in Communes: Creating and Managing
the Collective Life, ed. Rosabeth Moss Kanter (New York: Harper & Row, 1973), 339);
Oved, Globalization of Communes and Cooperatives, 95.
14
Timothy Miller, “The Sixties Era Communes,” in Imagine Nation: The American
Counterculture of the 1960s and 70s. ed. Peter Braunstein and Michael William Doyle (New
York: Routledge, 201), 327–328; Richard Fairfield, Communes USA: A Personal Tour
(Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, Inc., 1972), 63–65.
15
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. “Preface” in Communes: Creating and Managing the Collective
Life (New York: Harper & Row, 1973), xiii. Even when not motivated to join a commune,
many people felt that “social institutions had grown too large to be managed” and smaller,
decentralized approaches might be best to solve some of society’s problems (Immerwahr,
Daniel. Thinking Small: The United States and the Lure of Community Development
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015), 16).
6 R. SCHWENKBECK

entrepreneurship. The primary goals of this work are: to create a compara-

tive history of these different archetypes of communal societies to offer a
more holistic view of the largest communal wave in US history; to provide
a comprehensive look at the business practices of each community; to
examine the impact of location and physical development on community
development; to highlight the role that the state played in communal for-
mation; and finally, to discuss African American participation in these
communal societies, another facet often missing from communal studies.
Along with analyzing the intentional communities themselves, the work
also examines the impact that other communes, neighbors, members and
interested parties, vendors, the media, and governments at local, state, and
federal levels had on the development of Soul City, Stelle, and Twin
Oaks.16 A deep dive on these varied components of communal formation
helps shed more light on the moral economy, an approach that allows
proper weight given to both the moral, as well as the material, lens, by
emphasizing the various impacts of social, geographic, temporal, ecologi-
cal, as well as economic, impacts that each of these communal societies
were responding to. Each community had a different response to the pre-
vailing market society.17
Although each attempt to create a unique alternative to mainstream
society, all three of the communities in this study were quickly pulled back
into a normative business structure by the state, from federal institutions
down to individual citizens. Each community began, for example, by filing
as non- or for-profit corporations to become intelligible to the state, which
also necessitated filing charters, utilizing specific accounting principles,
and more, which shaped community evolution. Each community intensely
feared being forced to disband, which helps to explain why they clung so
closely to traditional business structures. Members were unlikely to be
jailed for participating, but their community could be regulated out of
existence. On a local level, Soul City, Stelle, and Twin Oaks each ran afoul
of local zoning laws which restricted how each could design and build
their community. Local law enforcement and citizens surveilled communi-
ties and sought to normalize them. Control also took place in the form of

16
Maureen A. Bourassa, Peggy H. Cunningham, Jay M. Handelman, “Marketing as a
Response to Paradox and Nor.ms in the 1960s and 1970s” Historical Research in Marketing
5.1 (2013), 51.
17
Luc Boltanski, Eve Chiapello, and Gregory Elliott. The New Spirit of Capitalism.
London: Verso, 2005, 10–11.
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

mandated tax returns, incorporation requirements, visits from the FBI,

refusal of financing by banks, and even policing by internal members of
social norms.
Both formal and informal institutions were used to disperse the power
of the state. For example, in each case study, the local populace was con-
cerned about the incoming intentional community imposing unfamiliar
new conventions. However, once each community established a business,
specifically a successful one, they gained legitimacy with surrounding com-
munities by becoming a recognizable organization operating within the
larger economic structure of the United States. In other words, rather
than a strange, unknown force in the community, the commune became
understandable as a business. In this way, we see communes—functioning
as varied critiques of society—unable to break away from the economic
component of society they are responding to. The critiques become
absorbed by capitalism and resold to consumers, even by the communes
themselves.
Communes offer a way to pull apart power structures and examine the
relative agency individuals have within it.18 While each community wished
to become larger, more influential and, in some cases, spawn similar devel-
opments, their growth and more revolutionary aims were stymied by the
state. However, this is not to say that communes were a failed experiment.
While each community was prevented from full realization, sometimes
due to their own failings, they offered alternative forms of social organiza-
tion that contested traditional forms of economic and community
development.19
To best grapple with the complex narratives of each community, the
work is broken up into nine chapters. “The Founding Ideologies of Soul
City, Stelle, and Twin Oaks” explains how each community formed.
“Pioneers in the Middle of Nowhere: Land and Space” examines how the
built environment both shaped and was shaped by the ideology of each
intentional community. “No Hippies, Please: Members and Membership
Policies” examines the membership policies of each intentional commu-
nity. “Some Hands on Deck: Labor Politics and Practices” details the

18
Powell. Walter W. “The New Institutionalism” in The International Encyclopedia of
Organization Studies (New York: Sage Publishers, 2007), 5. http://web.stanford.edu/
group/song/papers/NewInstitutionalism.pdf.
19
Ventresca, Marc J., and John W. Mohr, “Archival Research Methods” in The Blackwell
Companion to Organizations, Joel A.C. Baum, ed. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 13.
8 R. SCHWENKBECK

labor policies and practices of each community, with a special emphasis on

gender roles. “Selling the Dream: Advertising Community and Business”
discusses marketing practices and the ideological complications that arose
from them. “Everything Has Its Price: Financing a Community” analyzes
the different methods that each community used to fund itself, and its
impact on development. “Commune, Inc.: The Perils and Benefits of
Entrepreneurship” details the several types of businesses each community
pursued, the rationale for each, and their successes and failures. “The
Invisible, Hand, or Crushing Fist, of the State” sheds light on an issue that
deeply shaped each community: state regulations. It highlights govern-
ment intervention, through Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits, for
example, as well as unrecognized intervention, through providing free
manuals, films, and training.

A Brief History of Communal Societies

in the United States

The practice of communal living is “ancient and universal” and has long
been a presence in the Americas.20 Many Indigenous communities across
the United States practiced communal living. Later communal societies of
the United States largely formed in waves. The first wave occurred between
1620 and 1776 during the colonial period and was typically composed of
groups fleeing religious persecution in Europe, such as the Shakers and
the Amish, so much so that the second wave was directly attributed to the
growth in Shakers between 1790 and 1805. The third wave was between
1824 and 1848 when several utopian socialist organizations developed
into communities such as Brook Farm and the Oneida. The fourth major
wave between 1890 and 1915 was primarily of socialist and anarchist com-
munities like Llano Del Rio.21

20
Philip Abrams, Andrew McCulloch, Shelia Abrams and Pat Gore. Communes, Sociology
and Society (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976), 1. Also see: Jason L. Shedd,
“Sustainable Construction Practices of Intentional Communities: A Pilot Investigation in
Loudoun County, Virginia and Frederick County, Maryland” (MA Diss, Mississippi State,
2012), 20; William Hedgepeth, The Alternative: Communal Life in New America (New
York: Collier Books, 1970), 28.
21
Kraushaar, Otto F. “America: symbol of a fresh start” in Gairdner B. Moment and Otto
F. Kraushaar, Utopias: The American Experience (Metuchen, NK: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.,
1980), 5–6; Forster, Peter Michael and William James Metcalf, “Communal Groups: Social
 1 INTRODUCTION 9

Smaller waves occurred between these periods as well. For example,

after the Civil War, many African Americans began their own communi-
ties. Eatonville, Florida, forever memorialized in Zora Neale Hurston’s
work about her hometown, was incorporated in 1886 as the first “all-black
town.” Many other similar Black communities such as Nicodemus, Kansas;
Edgefield, Tennessee; and Langston, Oklahoma formed as well.22 Over
twenty-five communities began in Oklahoma alone; many featuring a vari-
ety of lodges, benefit societies, bands, sports teams, and clubs. The com-
munal starts were a small part of a larger movement of African Americans
combating the system of apartheid that sought to keep them in the rural
South as agricultural workers and disenfranchised from the political pro-
cess.23 Unfortunately, while African Americans created flourishing com-
munities as safe spaces, they still were within the unsafe boundaries of the
country. Sadly, most of these Black communities were destroyed by racist
mobs, policies, or both. For example, nearly 1100 Black residents of
Oscarville, Georgia, were expelled in 1912 by racist mobs, who drove out
families in the night, often burning the homes, possessions, and even the
pets of Black families in the area.24
The largest wave of communal living in the United States occurred dur-
ing the mid-1960s through the early 1970s. Susan Love Brown argued
that the American way of solving problems through “optimism, individual
ingenuity, and hard work” was eclipsed by increasing scenes of violence
against African Americans, of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the
Vietnam War, and of the emptiness of conformity.25 The back-to-the-land

Laboratories or Places of Exile?” in Communal Societies: Journal of the Communal Studies

Association 20 (2000): 1–25.
22
Oklahoma was considered a refuge for many African Americans from the South as a place
to create new communities. William Loren Katz, The Black West: A Documentary and
Pictorial History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the United States
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 168–169; 250–261.
23
The focus on creating Black communities and cooperatives went into a lull between
1940 and 1960 as the focus shifted to Civil Rights. Julian Ellison, “Cooperation and
Struggle: African American Cooperative Tradition” Communities: A Journal of Cooperative
Living (Jun/July 1980), 13; Foon Rhee, Visions, Illusions and Perceptions: The Story of Soul
City. Honors thesis, Duke University, 2017. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.
net/10161/14163, 18–19.
24
Patrick Phillips. Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America (New York:
W.W. Norton & Company, 2016).
25
Susan Love Brown, “Community as Cultural Critique” in Intentional Community: An
Anthropological Perspective (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 161;
10 R. SCHWENKBECK

communal movement was part of a “revolt against post-industrial

urbanism.”26 It reflected Americans feeling disconnected—physically and
financially—from society.
Historians such as Howard Brick found there were two clashing groups
that met in the communal movement: the radically disenchanted and the
“conservative backlash” looking for a way to restore “old bourgeois values
of self-reliance and social order.”27 As David Shi argued, it was part of a
larger cycle of American history to wish to return to nature, and the “sim-
ple life,” which drew many communards to rural areas in order to remake
society.28 Pastoralism celebrated the mythological “agrarian ideal,” which
“provided an image of Americans as upright, self-sufficient and
independent.”29 Leo Marx found the sentimental idealization of the “sim-
ple, rural environment” pervasive throughout American culture. Members
of Twin Oaks, Stelle, and Soul City, despite how different their communal
projects were, often described themselves as “pioneers” building a new
society on the “frontier.”30
A prominent national culture helped the communal movement grow
tremendously. Communes became regular news fodder, inspiring others
to join their ranks, or regard them as a source of derision or fear. National
publications, such as Life, Look, Time; small and large local newspapers,
like the New York Times; and numerous underground presses covered
communal life. Movies such as Easy Rider, filmed near the popular Taos

Benjamin Zablocki, Alienation and Charisma: A Study of Contemporary American Communes

(New York, Free Press, 1980), 31–40. Susan Love Brown, Intentional Community: An
Anthropological Perspective (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 6–8. Hugh
Gardner, The Children of Prosperity: Thirteen Modern American Communes (New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1978), 1–3.
26
Gardner, The Children of Prosperity, vii.
27
Howard Brick, Transcending Capitalism: Visions of a New Society in Modern American
Thought (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006), 221.
28
David E. Shi, The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture
(University of Georgia Press, 2007), 258–259.
29
Diane Barthel, “The American Commune and American Mythology” in Qualitative
Sociology 12(3), (Fall 1989), 248; Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform (New York:
Random House, 1955), 24.
30
Hine, Community on the American Frontier, 233–234; Fairfield, Utopia, U.S.A., 4;
Howard Covington, “Soul City Beholds Its Dream Deferred” Charlotte Observer (June 30,
1979), UNCCF; Miller, The 60s Communes, 151; Tom Fels, Buying the Farm: Peace and War
on a Sixties Commune (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012), 5–7; Robert
V. Hine, Community on the American Frontier (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,
1980), 18.
 1 INTRODUCTION 11

commune in New Mexico, brought communes to the big screen. Several

musicians like Joni Mitchell, Jefferson Airplane, and Grateful Dead explic-
itly touted the communal lifestyle. Notable figures such as Paul Goodman,
Charles Reich, and Buckminster Fuller wrote about communes, and aca-
demic research on them helped launch the careers of scholars such as
Rosabeth Moss Kanter.31
Communes were far from an insignificant phenomenon, with some-
where between 2000 and 30,000 communes reported as existing some-
time from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. The wildly large gap in
numbers is partly due to the two organizational types: unstructured anar-
chistic or freeform groups, and structured communities. Some of the anar-
chist communities viewed themselves as temporary gatherings of “refugees
not from physical oppression, man, but from the psychic oppression of
American society” and thus more difficult to nail down.32
There were three typical types of ideologies undergirding these new
intentional communities: religious, politico-economic, or psycho-social.
Yet, Yaacov Oved found it would “be impossible to describe all, or even
most, of the communities that sprang up in the late sixties.”33 Similarly, as
upward of a million Americans joined various communal movements,
Donald Pitzer pointed out it was not a monolithic movement, but rather
many people forwarding their agenda on a smaller scale.34

31
Miller found reporters were the demise of many communes because media interest in an
idyllic lifestyle brought dozens to thousands of seekers, as well as curious onlookers (Miller,
The 60s Communes, 25); Ryan H. Edgington, “The Rest of Us Are Still Here: History,
Business and the Counterculture in the Revitalization of Madrid, New Mexico, 1970–1989”
(MA Thesis, The University of New Mexico, 2003), 3. Also see David Garber, The Age of
Great Dreams (New York: Hill and Wang, 1994); Thomas Frank, The Conquest of Cool:
Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1997), 13; Gardner, The Children of Prosperity, 17–18; Hine, Community on
the American Frontier, 233.
32
Lewis Yablonsky, The Hippie Trip (New York: Pegasus, 1968), 95.
33
Oved, Globalization of Communes and Cooperatives, 66.
34
Donald Pitzer, “Developmental Communalism: An Alternative Approach to Communal
Studies” in Utopian Thought and Communal Experience, Dennis Hardy and Lorna Davidson,
eds (London: Middlesex Polytechnic, 1989), 72; Dolores Hayden, Redesigning the American
Dream (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2002), 240; Susan Love Brown, “Community as
Cultural Critique” in Intentional Community: An Anthropological Perspective (Albany: State
University of New York Press, 2002), 165–166; Yablonsky, The Hippie Trip, 316; Eric Raimy,
Shared Houses, Shared Lives: The New Extended Families and How They Work (Los Angeles:
J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1979), 11.
12 R. SCHWENKBECK

Scholars often categorize intentional communities as rural or urban.

While there were thousands of urban communes, it is generally under-
stood they were “far less innovative forms of social experimentation”
because they relied on established social, economic, and other frameworks,
as members typically held traditional jobs and pooled resources together
to support a shared household. They typically lived in an established home
in a community and had less opportunity to explore new building and
architectural styles. Urban communes often required less commitment
since members who became disinterested or problematic could leave easily.
Although it was quickly realized that the concept of utopia was not
attainable, communes offered a laboratory to experiment with developing
a better world, which extended far beyond communes after many of them
did fold. Communes were often seen as potential sources of instilling con-
fidence, a new set of skills, and a greater sense of fulfilled self, particularly
for women. Having to rely on oneself and a small group of others to pro-
vide living necessities led to a greater sense of appreciation for community,
natural resources, and the need for conservation.35 Miller credits the com-
munal explosion with various changes to our social fabric: the organic and
healthy food movement, a new variety of spiritual organizations, socially
conscious business practices, new egalitarian forms of feminism, environ-
mentally friendly technologies and the many social workers, teachers,
computer programmers, organic farmers, midwifes, artists, and social
activists who were positively affected (virtually none regretted their experi-
ence) by their life in a commune.36
Yet, by the mid-1970s, the communal boom was largely over. According
to Hugh Gardner, the end of the Vietnam War, coupled with the eco-
nomic crisis, led to the drop in interest. Americans without a financial
safety net were far less able to explore a communal life.37 Remaining com-
munes sought ways to legitimize and strengthen themselves for the long
haul. In general, it resulted in communes that were more structured, less
chauvinistic and more open to nontraditional gender roles, more devel-
oped in ideology, cleaner, more self-sufficient, more selective about

35
Zicklin, Countercultural Communes, 6–7, 22; Lynn, “Country Women,” 33; Miller,
“The Sixties Era Communes,” 347–349; Turner, From Counterculture to Cyberculture, 6;
Lynn, “Country Women,” 67–71.
36
Oved, Globalization of Communes and Cooperatives, 99–100.
37
Oved, Globalization of Communes and Cooperatives, 191–193; Gardner, The Children of
Prosperity, vi; Magaziner and Reich, Minding America’s Business, 203–215.
 1 INTRODUCTION 13

membership, and increasingly looked to build bridges with their local

communities.38

Case Studies
The work examines three intentional communities that demonstrate the
diversity of communal experiments in relation to political leanings, race
and ethnicity, education, ideology, and location as they are situated in the
Midwest and South. I do not include communities where members are
not free to leave at will.39
In 1967, Twin Oaks broke ground in Louisa, Virginia. The community
began from a series of conferences, meetings, and newsletters by people
interested in developing a community like that outlined in Walden Two,
the novel written by behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner. Once on the
ground, Twin Oaks quickly began to change shape, as, without the seem-
ingly infinite financial resources in Walden Two, the members could not
create a world of behavioral psychologists, spotless cafeterias, or a cutting-­
edge child rearing program. Members shifted focus toward community
survival, challenging gender norms, and navigating the racial mores of the
deep South. To support themselves, members developed a surprisingly
successful million-dollar hammock business, supplying major retailers like
Pier One, REI, and LL Bean.
Floyd McKissick was an African American World War II veteran on the
frontlines of leadership in the Civil Rights movement as a leader of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). He left CORE in 1967 to pursue
Soul City, his dream for a Black utopia inspired by the Marshall Plan. After
incorporating Black capitalism into his proposal, he earned various federal
and state grants and loans, but due to bureaucracy and racism, he did not
receive the funding on a reliable basis. He experienced a great deal of
backlash from North Carolina politicians, namely Representative

38
US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United
States, 1992, page 450; Oved, Globalization of Communes and Cooperatives, 96; McLaughlin
and Davidson, Builders of the Dawn, 100–102; Raimy, Shared Houses, Shared Lives, 9; Joseph
C. Manzella, Common Purse, Uncommon Future: The Long, Strange Trip of Communes and
Other Intentional Communities (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC- CLIO, LLC, 2010), 22.
39
John Curl, For All the People, Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative
Movements and Communalism in America (Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2009), 8; Corinne
McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson, Builders of the Dawn: Community Lifestyles in a
Changing World (Walpole, NH: Stillpoint Publishing, 1985), 106–108.
14 R. SCHWENKBECK

L. H. Fountain and Senator Jesse Helms, who mired Soul City in numer-
ous audits. Admittedly, there was some sleight of hand when it came to
funding, disbursement, and allocation, but government audits largely
found Soul City in the clear. Among other things, Soul City demonstrates
how difficult it was, and is, for Black-based intentional communities to
exist in the United States.
Stelle has often been characterized as a “doomsday” cult. The Ultimate
Frontier, written by community founder, Richard Kieninger, explained
that the end of the world was approaching, but through karma and prepa-
ration, followers could carry civilization on in the world to come. Some
readers were so moved they relocated to Chicago to work directly with
Kieninger in planning the community. Located in southern Illinois, Stelle
was described by one reporter as a stereotypical small town that rose out
of a cornfield, with a doomsday clock ticking in the background. Members
were meticulous inventors and entrepreneurs, and Stelle became an inno-
vative space for developing sustainable technologies, such as some of the
first iterations of an ethanol engine, a reverse osmosis water treatment
plant, and a solar powered telephone company.

A Note on Terminology
Community is a very complex notion; it ranges from people sharing a
geographic space to abstract ideological principals.40 Scholars like Daniel
Immerwahr have found “community” difficult to get a handle on because
“a warm, glowing aura surrounds the word.”41 During the late 1960s
through the 1970s, the term “commune” was most often used and under-
stood to mean a range of intentional communities that emerged.42 The

40
Susan Love Brown, Intentional Community: An Anthropological Perspective (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 2002), 2–3. Stephen Vaisey, “Structure, Culture, and
Community: The Search for Belonging in 50 Urban Communes.” American Sociological
Review 72.6 (Dec 2007), 851.
41
Immerwahr, Daniel. Thinking Small: The United States and the Lure of Community
Development (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015), x.
42
Fairfield, Communes USA, 2. Eric Raimy, Shared Houses, Shared Lives: The New Extended
Families and How They Work (Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1979), 5–6; Ron E. Roberts,
The New Communes: Coming Together in America (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
Inc., 1971), ix–x; Gilbert Zicklin, Countercultural Communes: A Sociological Perspective
(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983), 5–6; Timothy Miller, The 60s Communes: Hippies
and Beyond (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1999), xxi–xxii; Timothy Miller, The
Quest for Utopia in Twentieth Century America (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press,
 1 INTRODUCTION 15

term “communities movement” was largely adopted by participants and

referred to the communal wave during the 1960s–1970s. Community,
which has been defined as “a gathering of individuals whose certain shared
goals and values create, for each, a real feeling of personal involvement for
the common good” is broader than communes, which are often portrayed
as a group where three or more people live together, sharing housing,
income, and other aspects of life, typically under some shared ideology.43
The terms are quite porous, and the distinctions generally are not clear.
Some have argued that “there is more sharing in a commune than a col-
lective and more sharing in a collective than a cooperative.”44 Terms like
experimental community and intentional community have also been used.
In some instances, specific terminology such as “New Town” was used,
referring to the federal funding designation under the New Communities
program for entities like Soul City. Twin Oaks stated, “we tend to avoid
the word ‘commune’ because of its misleading connotations, and gener-
ally use the word ‘community’ instead, but for an income-sharing group
like ours, both terms apply.”45 Donald Pitzer referred to communal societ-
ies as “small voluntary social units.”46 Part of the reason for this shifting
and vague terminology was that “commune” became an undesirable term
during the mid-to-late 1970s. Middle-class and more affluent participants
preferred the new term of “community.”47 By the 1990s, the term “inten-
tional community” emerged to shake off the flower-child image and make
it more of a “viable alternative.”48
For the purposes of this work, I will be using the terms communes,
communities, and intentional communities interchangeably. This flexibil-
ity is afforded by the lack of consensus on defining the concept, the

1998), xviii; Jason L. Shedd, “Sustainable Construction Practices of Intentional Communities:

A Pilot Investigation in Loudoun County, Virginia and Frederick County, Maryland”
(Master of Arts diss, Mississippi State, 2012), 2; Delores Hayden, Seven American Utopias
(Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976), 3.
43
Hedgepeth, The Alternative, 18.
44
Fairfield, Communes USA, 1.
45
Kat Kinkade, Is it Utopia Yet?: An Insider’s View of Twin Oaks Community in Its Twenty-­
Sixth Year. 2nd edition (Louisa, VA: Twin Oaks Publishing, 1994), 4.
46
Pitzer, Donald. “The Remarkable Origin and Formative Decades of the Center for
Communal Studies.” Paper presented at the Communal Studies Association Annual
Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2016.
47
Oved, Globalization of Communes and Cooperatives, 138.
48
Craig Wilson, “Communes anew // More find a home in ‘intentional communities’ //
Still havens for security, spirituality.” USA TODAY, October 15, 1991, LIFE 1D.
16 R. SCHWENKBECK

terminology change over time, and reflection of the diversity of communal

experiences over time and the unique way that each characterized itself.49

A Note on Sources
As Tim O’Brien wrote, sometimes a gulf of difference emerges between
the “happening truth” and the “story truth.”50 The “truth” remains ever
elusive, hidden by various viewpoints, lost over time, shaped by nostalgia,
and destroyed by missing archives. This work primarily uses archival
sources to offer a historical narrative of three communal societies, with an
emphasis on their financial aspects. In addition to official archival sources,
newspapers, best-selling books, oral histories, FBI files, accounting
records, textbooks from the era, magazines, stalled out documentaries,
and much, much more are utilized to better understand and represent the
historical context of these communal societies.
Organizational texts emerge from each community in a variety of for-
mats: official, regularly printed newsletters, internal newsletters distrib-
uted within the community for the community, board of director notes,
housing covenants, invoices, accounting ledgers, and bulletin board
notices, among numerous other things. These texts offer insight on how
each of these communities imagined and worked to enact a specific way of
life, along with the external and internal forces that altered the course.51
The archive is not a perfect source, and there are many political and
social issues that result in incomplete and contradictory information.52 For
historians, in which research is built upon past interpretation of archival
and other evidence, face potential feedback loops in which one conclusion
is drawn over and over again.53 As Winifred Breines described the phe-
nomenon, “it is precisely those white, male, former new leftists who are
writing, reviewing, and being written about in books on the New Left,

49
Judson Jerome, Families of Eden: Communes and the New Anarchism (New York: The
Seabury Press, 1974), 7.
50
Tim O’Brien. The Things They Carried (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010).
51
Ventresca and Mohr, 24.
52
A significant issue facing the archive is sexism. Many voices are missing from the archives
(Ventresca and Mohr, 13); Also see Wendy Anne Warren, “‘The Cause of Her Grief’: The
Rape of a Slave in Early New England,” The Journal of American History (2007) 93 (4):
1031–1049. https://doi.org/10.2307/25094595.
53
Scranton and Fridenson, Reimagining Business History, 215.
 1 INTRODUCTION 17

thus eerily reconstituting the male voice that predominated.”54 Studying

communal life on a micro-scale can help avoid the issue, especially if the
individual voices of minorities and women are carefully attended to. This
study seeks to bring out experiences of communal participants that are
often glossed over, particularly African American voices, but that too is
deeply impacted by the availability of sources.
Communal archives are particularly difficult to access since many were
ephemeral and threw away what records they had. Other communities
actively destroyed their archive, like Stelle which burned their records
upon dissolution.55 Thanks to the efforts of members like Carroll English
and Joanna Carnahan, items were rescued from the perils of the rain, the
trash and “burn piles.”56
Soul City was difficult to get accurate information on because of mul-
tiple conflicts of interest. Soul City had to comply with government
reporting which required accuracy, but also needed to make the commu-
nity look successful to appeal to potential residents, investors, and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which financed
Soul City. As a result, conflicting internal accounting, financial statements,
company records, statements of interest, and other reports emerged.
Adding to the haze of the archive, names and details on potential investors
were not given, even at the request of board members. It is likely that in
some cases, the potential investors did not exist but were fabricated to get
a potential investor to speed up their process by creating false pressure.
Among other things, Soul City offers an interesting example of how flex-
ible generally accepted accounting principles are.
One issue with the archive that replicates itself in this work is the
amount of space each community receives. Twin Oaks has much more
available, both in terms of archival material and scholarly work, than Stelle
or Soul City. Twin Oaks documented itself in incredible depth to encour-
age others to emulate their community, but even they did not keep full
records of everything, particularly of their businesses. Twin Oaks admitted

54
Breines, Winifred. “Whose New Left?” The Journal of American History 75, no. 2
(1988): 528–545, 531.
55
Marilyn Thielman, Carroll English and Joanna Carnahan, “RE: Article Regarding
Koreshans” 3/19/09,” email correspondence. Also see Tim Wilhelm and Marilyn Thielman,
“Stelle Archival items,” November 15, 2008,” email correspondence. Stelle Group
Files, CCS.
56
“Stelle Group Membership: Covenants, 1976,” Folder 554-7, The Stelle Group
Files. CCS.
18 R. SCHWENKBECK

they had “scant records” on the hammock business until the early 1970s,
due to the inexperience of the community, and their apathy for all things
that smacked of business.57 Much of the reflection on Twin Oaks was pro-
duced by one of its founding members, Kathleen Kinkade (also known as
Kat Kinkade, Kathleen Griebe, and Kathleen Lodgson). In addition to
publishing several books and articles about Twin Oaks, collections of her
personal writings are housed at the University of Virginia, and in the Twin
Oaks archives. Kinkade is a complex and openly flawed narrator, which
helps to interpret the conflicting policies Twin Oaks developed, particu-
larly in its early days around race and class. However, the immense amount
of her writings remains strong against other members’ voices that slowly
fade out of the archive, often because members left and took their writ-
ings, and experiences, with them. While the archive is not perfect, examin-
ing voices in the archive reflects which ones had staying power on shaping
the community and its narrative.
Each community put out a public newsletter to drum up interest in the
community and to communicate current events. While these are valuable
sources, they too are not perfect. For example, Twin Oaks used The Leaves
of Twin Oaks (abbreviated as Leaves), to communicate the experiences of
Twin Oaks.58 However, of the early issues of Leaves, Kinkade wrote, “We
kept putting out shakily optimistic newsletters, telling people about the
cheerful things that were happening, leaving the problems unaired.”59 A
similar issue arose in the book about the first five years of Twin Oaks, The
Walden Two Experiment, by Kinkade. She was careful in how she pre-
sented the community, and purposely did not have a “chapter on sex, love
and marriage” and Kinkade “deleted all references to the actual struggles
[Twin Oaks] had with keeping drugs out of the Community” in order to
protect “the Community from local persecution which might arise out of
admissions made in the course of the book about [their] private lives.”60
Although Twin Oaks and Stelle developed internal newsletters, which
offered a somewhat different perspective than public newsletters, these

57
Steven, “Our Hammock Business.” 1974, 2. Twin Oaks Community Papers, Box 3, No
9840-Q, Income Council: Products-Hammocks, 1971–77, UV.
58
Leaves No. 44, Spring 1977, 4.
59
Kathleen Kinkade, A Walden Two Experiment: The First Five Years of Twin Oaks
Community (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1973), 32.
60
Letter to Mr. James Landis from Kat Kinkade, December 30, 1971. Box 4, No. 9840-Q,
Outreach Council: A Walden Two Experiment, 1971–74. Twin Oaks Community Papers
Collections, UV.
 1 INTRODUCTION 19

too were subject to editorial interests, space constraints, and other limita-
tions. Information about the relationship between communes and their
neighbors is even more elusive.61 Reports that discuss the neighbors or
other influences of the locals typically simply refer to them as “the locals.”62
Regional reactions to the communities sometimes appeared in local news-
papers—if the surrounding area was large enough to support one.
While newsletters, accounting ledgers, letters, and other pieces of com-
munal history alone are not able to give a full portrayal of a community’s
experience, in tandem, and in conjunction with the history of other com-
munes of the same era, provide a complex, nuanced history and highlight
their financial aspects, a facet often not explored.

Jerome, Families of Eden, 13.

61

George L. Hicks, Experimental Americans: Celo and Utopian Community in the

62

Twentieth Century (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press), 35.

 CHAPTER 2

The Founding Ideologies of Soul City, Stelle,

and Twin Oaks

What were these communities all about? What did they offer to the people
willing to uproot their lives and move across the United States to join?
This chapter gives insight through an overview of the founding ideologies
and analyzes how they changed over time as the community moved from
abstract plans on paper to physical development. Stelle, Twin Oaks, and
Soul City offer three, very different examples of the ideology of inten-
tional community making. The ideological changes often reflected gov-
ernmental requirements and financial pragmatism.

Stelle: A Doomsday Community

In 1963, Richard Kieninger filed a non-stock, nonprofit corporation, The
Stelle Group. Later that year, he filed a copyright on his work, The Ultimate
Frontier.1 Kieninger released the book under the name Eklal Kueshana,

1
Three years later, The Lemuria Builder, a newsletter for the Lemuria Builder organiza-
tion, was also published and disseminated. The names are taken from The Lemurian
Fellowship, operating out of Ramona, California, “a religious, non-profit California corpora-
tion organized to teach a philosophy of life and action based upon Christian Principals and
Universal Law.” The Stelle Group directly admits taking its name from Dr. Robert D. Stelle,
the author of The Sun Rises, a work associated with The Lemurian Fellowship. Richard,
Richard’s first wife, Dorothy, and the then wife, Gail, all took the roughly $120 course from
the organization. However, when asked directly of the relationship, The Lemurian Fellowship

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 21

Switzerland AG 2021
R. Schwenkbeck, The Business of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and
Architecture of Communal Societies in the 1960s and 1970s,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88354-6_2
22 R. SCHWENKBECK

his name in a secret, ancient language, meaning “The Harbinger of

Aquarius.” The Ultimate Frontier introduced a religious philosophy
through the autobiography of Kieninger’s life.2 In the work, Kieninger
says, in 1939, he was visited by a man named Dr. White on his twelfth
birthday, who anointed Kieninger and gave him a secret name and non-­
secret titles, such as the Harbinger of Aquarius, Judge of Israel, Builder of
Lemuria, and the Fountainhead of Christ. Dr. White visited Kieninger
throughout his life, giving him instructions on how to become a leader
and spread knowledge of The Ultimate Frontier. Kieninger’s relatively
undistinguished and transient set of careers were said to be due to Dr.
White’s interventions in his life. For example, shortly before Kieninger
was to graduate from Northwestern University, Dr. White advised
Kieninger to drop out of college and instead familiarize himself with a
variety of people and occupations to better prepare for upcoming tasks.
Kieninger followed his advice, dropped out, and worked as an assembly
line worker, a machine operator, a salesman, a waybill clerk, and a die
marker. At one point, he established his own cabinet making shop, as his
father had done, but it went bankrupt due to a supply shortage.3
The Ultimate Frontier was widely available at bookstores, particularly in
the Chicago area. It was a fairly popular book, selling 200,000 copies by
1978, and went through several printings. Members saw ads for the book
in The New York Times, heard about it from friends, colleagues, a therapist,
or saw others reading it. Some found it in bookstores and found the cover
or its discussion of metaphysics compelling. Members said that the book
answered a lot of questions they had about life, the state of the world, or
certain types of beliefs they held, particularly about karma or reincarna-
tion. As one member said, “Richard had anything and everything in that
book to grab someone’s interest.”4 Since the ideology incorporated Jesus

responded, “the Lemuria Builders, the Stelle Group, THE ULTIMATE FRONTIER, or any
of the Keininger [sic] sponsored endeavors are not in any way affiliated with the Lemurian
Program as carried forward by the Lemurian Fellowship, nor are they in keeping with the
Great Work of the LEMURIAN BROTHERHOOD.” Mrs. Stout, “The Builders of
Lemuria: A Contemporary Sect” (Dissertation, Northwestern University, 1971), 15.
2
Kueshana, The Ultimate Frontier.
3
Stout, “The Builders of Lemuria,” 21.
4
Ragland, Josh. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 3/17/15. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-44-josh-ragland/; Parthe, Stu. Interview by Daniel
J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 1/13/15. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-39-stu-
parthe/; (Livingston, David. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 3/3/15.
http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-43-david-livingston/; Arnold, Bruce. Interview
 2 THE FOUNDING IDEOLOGIES OF SOUL CITY, STELLE, AND TWIN OAKS 23

and some other Christian concepts, it was understandable and approach-

able for many readers, and served as an easy way to introduce The Ultimate
Frontier to others.
The teachings of The Ultimate Frontier were best described as, “a phi-
losophy that weaves geophysics, prehistory and mysticism with Christianity
and early American virtues.”5 It also had Greek and Egyptian mythology
sprinkled in, with some scientific traditions vaguely referenced, particu-
larly in astronomy and geology, to tie past events with predictions for the
future demise of the world. The idea of karmic law, in which one advances
morally through hard work, kindness, and positive thought and action,
was a foundational aspect of The Ultimate Frontier. The work was very
American in that it foregrounded the United States’ role in advancing
society. The “founding fathers” and other predominantly male figures like
Thomas Edison were said to be “Initiate[s] of the Brotherhood.”6 One of
the key concepts was the idea of the Brotherhood: “many years ago, Christ
formed the wisest Egos of our planet into groups called the Brotherhood…to
help the rest of mankind on our planet advance,” including providing
“facilities for the instruction of worthy candidates” and to “garner all
knowledge of the truths of existence” in order to advance humanity.7
According to Kieninger, The Brotherhood was “composed of the finest
men and women of every race, and for thousands of years these individuals
have functioned in perfect harmony and close cooperation.”8 However,
upon closer inspection, Kieninger plagiarized a great deal of the

by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 7/14/15. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/

ep-47-bruce-arnold/; Arnold, Bruce. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience.
7/14/15. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-47-bruce-arnold/.
5
Rogers Worthington, “Faulty foresight troubles town built on doomsday prophecy,” The
Chicago Tribune, January 12, 1986, Section 3: 1, 4; Stout, “The Builders of Lemuria,” 6.
6
Greg Maloney, “Work Ethic vs. Leisure Ethic,” Stelle Letter, December 1972, 1. Similarly,
the official community newsletter, The Stelle Letter, and unofficial internal newsletters fre-
quently contained references to figures like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison when
extolling the virtues of hard work; Eklal Kueshana, The Ultimate Frontier (Quinlan, Texas:
The Stelle Group, 1984), 14–40; Also see Stout, The Builders of Lemuria,” 17–18.
7
Kieninger, Richard. “Overview of our Life Wave.” The Ultimate Frontier. http://the-
ultimate-frontier.org/history/Overview%20of%20Our%20Life%20Wave.htm; Also see “The
Founder of the Lemurian Fellowship—Dr. Robert D. Stelle.” http://the-ultimate-frontier.
org/history/Dr.%20Stelle.htm.
8
Charles E. Betterton, “An Introduction to The Stelle Group,” Stelle Letter, March
1981, 10.
24 R. SCHWENKBECK

philosophy of the Lemurian Fellowship, an organization focused on cos-

mic law, operating out of Ramona, California.9
The most defining characteristic of Stelle was that it was labeled a
doomsday community. Members believed that on May 5, 2000, a specific
planetary alignment would cause massive tidal waves, floods, volcanic
eruptions, earthquakes, and other natural disasters that would cause most
of the world’s population to perish. Members were to develop an aircraft
capable of keeping the community approximately fourteen miles above
the Earth’s surface to

protect them from the choking fumes and dusts which [would] occur as
thousands of volcanoes and earthquakes open[ed] up and reapportion the
tectonic plates of the world. Being raised into the air during these events
seemed the best way to assure safety from the extremely high winds, the
multitudinous dusts and gases, the three-day shaking of the earth, and the
resultant ocean tidal waves.10

9
Carnahan, Malcolm. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 3/18/14.
http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-11-malcolm-carnahan-part-1/; Kieninger had
plagiarized a great deal of writings throughout his life. It was well known among communal
members. As Carnahan stated, “there’s no question that he was a plagiarist, the issue is just
how much of it is plagiarism.” Carnahan, Malcolm. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle
Experience. 3/25/14. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-12-malcolm-carnahan-
part-3/; Also see Cox, Walter. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience.
4/29/2014. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-16-walter-cox-part-2/.
Kieninger knew of and referenced the Lemurian Fellowship, and according to The Ultimate
Frontier, he was supposed to enroll in the Lemurian Fellowship program and work directly
with Dr. Stelle. However, he did not do so, and then Dr. Stelle had died. Some members
have illustrated Kieninger’s changes in various editions of The Ultimate Frontier to obscure
this information (see Kathleen and Kelly Greenlee, A Closer Look at The Ultimate Frontier:
Tasks Un-Fulfilled, pages 9–12, and see pages 58–67 for communication between Kieninger
and The Lemurian Fellowship about his plagiarism (http://www.danieljglenn.com/the_
podcasts/Stelle/Documentation/Tasks%20UnFullfilled%20by%20Kelly%20and%20
Kathleen%20Greenlee.pdf). One person who read The Ultimate Frontier as a teen was told
to learn from the Lemurian Fellowship in Ramona, California. This community told the
person that Kieninger was misappropriating some of the teachings, and that he had tried to
start a College of Christian Minds and other religiously based organizations in the past
(Heinrich, Jerrold. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 3/22/16. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-51-dr-jerrold-heinrich/).
10
Carroll English, “A Thumbnail Sketch of Stelle,” in “Stelle Group: Manuals, Papers,”
Folder 554-7, Stelle Group Files, CCS, 2.
 2 THE FOUNDING IDEOLOGIES OF SOUL CITY, STELLE, AND TWIN OAKS 25

Stelle members believed that the special aircraft would lift them out of
danger and to a small island, Philadelphia, where they would use their
skills to build The Nation of God.11 One member wondered if animals
would be a part of the airlift. However, Kieninger quickly shot down the
notion, save for “certain types of hybrid farm animals” and that “Stelle is
not going to have a Noah’s art sort of thing.”12 Those that prepared men-
tally, physically, and educationally would survive, but “the unredeeming
civilization which presently flourishes in our world…must be wiped away.”13
All members were “to establish a culture that transcends the mediocrity
of mass-man. Stelle is envisioned as a cultural and educational mecca for
the men and women who aspire to personal greatness” since only indi-
viduals able to “develop their minds to perfection” were advanced enough
to settle the world to come. The Ultimate Frontier focused on individual
development; people could “become one with God,” but it was up to each
individual to take initiative.14
For the world to come, The Ultimate Frontier offered plans for a uto-
pian communitarian economic system like that in Looking Backward:
2000–1887 by Edward Bellamy. With industry nationalized, Dr. White
tells of a world where the government seeks out the best producer of
goods using “precise cost-accounting.” The economic system offered
“the impossibility of inflation or depression. In the Kingdom of God,
prices will not fluctuate for thousands of years at a time. Therefore, money
saved by Citizens will have the same purchasing power when withdrawn as
when deposited even though a lifetime has passed. Panic-makers and spec-
ulators have no place in the Lemurian scheme.” There would be no own-
ership of natural resources: “God created the Earth and all its bounty for
the benefit of all men equally.” Similarly, “during a man’s life he can rent
the use of fine homes and luxuries without having to buy them; so he will
still be able to enjoy any surroundings he is wont to desire with less expense
than actual ownership entails.”15 The commonwealth would own major
assets like factories and land because

11
Charles Chamberlain, “Sect believes world’s end near, but meanwhile it builds a model
town,” The Courier Journal, October 8, 1978, G4; Also see Rout, “Illinois Town Girds for
Upheaval Soon, Catastrophe in 2000.”
12
Richard Kieninger, “Monthly Discussion,” Stelle Letter, March 1974, 4.
13
English, “A Thumbnail Sketch of Stelle,” 14.
14
Eklal Kueshana, The Ultimate Frontier (Chicago, The Stelle Group, 1963), 282.
15
Ibid., 138, 157, 163.
26 R. SCHWENKBECK

It is much fairer that every young man start from the same starting point. If
a man uses his brains and energy, there is no limit to how far he can
rise…Until mankind learns that no one can long retain anything for which
he has not personally compensated, men will strive to grasp for sorrowing-­
engendering advantages.16

The goal for the Kingdom of God, the world after the Apocalypse, was to
develop an

economic system where the amount of time worked for gainful employment
will be twelve hours per week—two days at six hours each—whether in
industry or agriculture or governmental services…There are several reasons
for the drastically reduced hours required to earn a good living: (1) elimina-
tion of all interest payments (2) no taxation (3) elimination of middlemen in
the distribution chain (4) elimination of unemployment and its associated
welfare payments (5) a minimal budget for national defense (6) stabilized
styling of goods and (7) manufactured items designed and built to last over
the life-times of several generations.17

The end goal was to reduce labor time and increase leisure time by eradi-
cating capitalism as it was known.
While building up interest in The Ultimate Frontier, Kieninger lived
with his wife, Gail, and daughter in a fourth-floor apartment in the Rogers
Park neighborhood of Chicago. Membership grew from a series of
monthly discussions, open to the public and held on the first Sunday of
the month, and an undetermined number of closed meetings. Kieninger
primarily recruited through The Ultimate Frontier because, as one reporter
noted, “[i]f Mr. Kieninger is to lead mankind into a new era, just about
everybody here agrees it won’t be through charisma. Short, slightly round-­
shouldered and plain-looking, Mr. Kieninger speaks colorlessly of his
dreams for Stelle.”18 One member described him as “not a dynamo look-
ing” individual.19 Despite his less than inspiring manifestation and lack of

16
Ibid., 159.
17
Ibid., 303.
18
Rout, “Illinois Town Girds for Upheaval Soon, Catastrophe in 2000”; Stout, “The
Builders of Lemuria,” 1, 25.
19
Arnold, Bruce. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 7/14/15. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-47-bruce-arnold/.
 2 THE FOUNDING IDEOLOGIES OF SOUL CITY, STELLE, AND TWIN OAKS 27

charisma, in The Ultimate Frontier, Kieninger claimed in past lives he had

been King David and Akhenaton, the Egyptian Pharaoh.20
There was a bit of a “cultish aspect” to Stelle since Kieninger held a
“preeminent position in the community…what he said carried undue
weight in the minds of those who participated.”21 Yet for one member,
“Richard was looked at like a teacher” not a cult leader.22 Some members
admittedly “hero worshipped” Kieninger.23 Yet others were “not a Richard
fan.”24 Kieninger not only preferred but expected to have members defer to
him. Yet, although he was author of The Ultimate Frontier, members would
often refer to The Ultimate Frontier as the ruling text over Kieninger’s
word.25 Members were encouraged to think and question things.
On April Fools’ Day in 1973, Stelle was founded by the Stelle Group
on 240 acres of farmland in a very rural area of southern Illinois. The com-
munity would flourish into many beautiful single and multi-family homes,
a school, a water treatment facility, a greenhouse, a store, multiple success-
ful businesses, and industrial structures, in a perfectly planned community.
Members built the landscaped community from the ground up, and were

20
John Spano, “A Comfortable Wait for Doomsday,” The St. Louis Globe Democrat East,
April 27, 1977, E1-2.
21
Cox, Walter. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 5/13/2014. www.
thestelleexperience.com/ep-17-walter-cox-part-3/; Kathleen and Kelly Greenlee, A Closer
Look at The Ultimate Frontier, 36.
22
Livingston, David. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 3/3/15. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-43-david-livingston/.
23
Kieninger. Ragland, Josh. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 3/17/15.
http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-44-josh-ragland/.
24
Waggoner, Kermit. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 8/3/15. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-49-kermit-waggoner-part-1/; Amick, Harry. Interview by
Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 4/1//15. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/
ep-45-harry-amick/.
25
Blackman, George. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 12/30/14.
http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-37-george-blackman/; Especially after Kieninger’s
removal from The Stelle Group, members began to separate Kieninger from The Ultimate
Frontier, focusing on the work versus Kieninger. (Ring, Walter. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn.
The Stelle Experience. 1/6/2015. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-38-walter-
ring/); Alexander, Leslie. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 9/23/14.
http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-30-leslie-alexander/; English, Carroll. Interview
by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 9/9/14. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/
ep-28-carroll-english-part-1/; Wachtel, Barry. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle
Experience. 7/21/15. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-48-barry-wachtel/.
28 R. SCHWENKBECK

encouraged to try innovative, sustainable techniques to get the remote

community up and running.
Stelle’s arrival was a source of concern for residents who purposely
chose to live in the isolated area for the quiet life it offered. Neighbors
kept a close eye on Stelle, fearing it was cult emerging in their backyard,
which could cause trouble and lower home values.26 Neighbors living on
a farm approximately a mile away from Stelle were surprised to see the
“curiosity” turn into “nice, well-kept homes typical of a city suburb,” and
were astounded by “the amount of publicity that places gets.”27 Dennis
Dyrby, the mayor of nearby town, Cabery, said of Stelle’s arrival, “We
were not worried in the sense of being afraid of it, but there was some
concern when it first started. On our part, it was something that we just
sat back and watched.”28 Stelle kept “its more esoteric aims quiet so as not
to upset its conservative neighbors. In time, though, rumors spread that
were more upsetting than the truth.” There were claims floating around
the region that Stelle was building rocket ships and/or nuclear technol-
ogy, which led to a lot of locals probing the community and drunken
teenagers driving through hurtling beer bottles and curses. One member
recalled “shots being fired at the community from passing cars” and felt
that one of Stelle’s “biggest challenges has always been prejudice.”29 As
The Ultimate Frontier argued, “The world cannot stand excellence and
will seek to tear down whatever shows them up as lessers.”30

26
Even before Stelle had physically established itself, the community had formed into sev-
eral detailed organizations to improve the overall functionality of the community, ranging
from a Board of Trustees, an Economic Planning Council, the Construction Coordinating
Committee, the Stelle Woodworking Committee, the Book Sales Promotion Committee,
Stelle Food Planning Committee (responsible for planning the meals workers ate while
working on site on Stelle during the weekends), among sixteen others (Stout, “The Builders
of Lemuria,” 30–34). Some friends and family of members were concerned that Stelle was a
cult, and at least one member had friends that were going to “extract” him from Stelle, but
the member said they were there willingly and that anyone could visit (Arnold, Bruce.
Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 7/14/15. http://www.thestelleexperi-
ence.com/ep-47-bruce-arnold/; Haeme, Jon. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle
Experience. 3/15/14. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-04-jon-haeme/.
27
O’Daniell, “Stelle: A refuge for a dream of the future,” E1.
28
Robert K. O’Daniell, “Stelle: A refuge for a dream of the future,” The News-Gazette,
November 22, 1987, E1.
29
Louise Kieman, “It’s not end of the world, just Stelle, Ill.,” Chicago Tribune, August 2,
1992, Chicagoland, 3; Wilhelm, Tim. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience.
3/15/14. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-02-tim-wilhelm/.
30
Kueshana, The Ultimate Frontier, 142.
 2 THE FOUNDING IDEOLOGIES OF SOUL CITY, STELLE, AND TWIN OAKS 29

Members were law abiding, both by Lemurian and US laws, and felt
they adhered “to the spirit of the Constitution better than anyone else.”31
Members were described as a “practical, a chosen people, whose lives are
based on a system of accountability and responsibility” where even exces-
sive noise was “considered an invasion of personal privacy.”32 The com-
munity was spotless (e.g., organized sidewalk cleaning by children was an
after school event), and education was a key tenant. Children had to attend
school until age twenty-one, with the option of attending college or con-
tinuing classes in the community. The Ultimate Frontier described Stelle as
an ideal place that valued educational, advancement, cleanliness, and other
such values to create a high-quality community.33 Stelle mostly stayed out
of politics, but in one column, Kieninger noted, “Idealistic young people
rebelled against our country’s insane destruction in Viet Nam and the
arrogant policies of the ‘Establishment’ as it expresses itself through the
industrial-military complex and a national exploitativeness of the resources
and people of the world.”34
To avoid negative attention, Kieninger insisted members follow his
strict dress code of neatly trimmed hair, wearing formal clothes at all times
outside of the home, not to have premarital sex, or engage in other actions
that could cause scandal. Members were only allowed to smoke inside
their home, as smoking was considered an unhealthy and weak habit. A
few members faked marriages to live together. There were also several gay
and lesbian members, but they kept a low profile, as Kieninger was afraid
that it would attract negative attention from surrounding neighbors.35
There was no church, but members were free to attend churches else-
where if they wished. Some members held Bible readings in their home.
Yet, Kieninger’s wish for Stelle to blend into conventional society back-
fired: Stelle members stood out for their uniformity of neat haircuts and
formal dress, even wearing dress shoes and slacks when doing yardwork.36

31
Stout, “The Builders of Lemuria,” 48.
32
“Group Readying for Year 2000: Surviving doomsday their aim.” Stelle Group
Files. CCS.
33
Kueshana, The Ultimate Frontier, 170.
34
Richard Kieninger, “Observations,” The Stelle Letter, November 1972, 5.
35
Cox, Walter. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 5/13/2014. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-17-walter-cox-part-3/.
36
Amick, Harry. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 4/1//15. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-45-harry-amick/.
30 R. SCHWENKBECK

One the most defining features of Stelle, and one that turned many
away, were the proscribed gender roles. Kieninger asserted the Brotherhood
wanted a patriarchal society because “a purely matriarchal society stands in
the way of spiritual development of the individual and prevents technical,
rational progress.”37 In 1979, a front-page article in Stelle Letter, the pub-
lic community newsletter, critiqued the “46.4% of all married women
[who] work outside the home. The culture of America now defines a ‘ful-
filled’ woman as one who has a child, sets up child care for him, and then
rejoins the work force to ‘fulfill’ herself outside her home.”38Aside from
failing to recognize women also were interested in career development
and personal growth, it did not consider the financial reasons why mothers
rejoined the workforce. Even young girls were subjected to constraining
gender roles: concerns over “tough-acting and inconsiderate children”
were raised only for girls because they would be “not fit to raise the suc-
ceeding generation into capable, industrious and reliable citizens.”39 Men
and boys were not subject to role constraints. The overall role of women
was restrictive enough that a researcher named her commitment to wom-
en’s liberation and an organized church as disqualifying her from even
considering, or being considered, for membership.40
While Stelle’s ideologies were not welcoming to feminists, they were
positioned against the “extremists of the right” considered to be “vocal,
self-righteous and domineering regarding sexuality and abortion, not only
for themselves and their own family, but for all peoples everywhere.” Stelle
members preferred the dissolution of incompatible marriages instead of
forcing disharmony in the home, and thus in the community. Married
couples were highly discouraged from having children until they had
cohabitated for at least three years. As reincarnation was a central belief of
The Ultimate Frontier, there were no restrictions on abortion because
souls did not enter a body until its first breath. All children were to be
wanted and valued by the parents and the community when the marriage
had proven stable enough to handle the additional stress of child rearing.
No one should bring an unwanted child into the world, or as the
Brotherhood teachings stated, “no Ego has a right to impose its presence
upon its parents, nor, conversely should a parent not nurture their child’s

37
Richard Kieninger, “Observations,” The Stelle Letter 13.4, 1978, 3–4.
38
Cynthia Foreman “Socio-Sexuality Perspectives” Stelle Letter 14.6, 1. CCS.
39
Kueshana, The Ultimate Frontier, 173.
40
Stout, “The Builders of Lemuria,” 11.
 2 THE FOUNDING IDEOLOGIES OF SOUL CITY, STELLE, AND TWIN OAKS 31

Ego fully.” Reincarnation was so ingrained that young children who

“locked horns” with their parents often found their parents say, “In this
lifetime, I’m the parent. Next time, maybe you will be the parent and I will
be the child.” Parents were expected to “lavish great amounts of time on
the education, training, and nurturance of their children.”41 Children in
Stelle attended a special school that began at age 2.5 years, which helped
them learn to read at an early age.42 From some accounts, it appears that
the experience of children in Stelle was positive. A former member said
growing up in Stelle “is what it felt like to be raised in an environment
where you are universally loved and accepted…you felt like everybody in
your immediate world really cared about you, and were there to help you,
or to provide support for you, in any situation or circumstance.”43
Prophesies were a large part of The Ultimate Frontier and a source of
Kieninger’s power. He continually made predictions about the worsening
economy and used those to encourage donations to the Stelle. For exam-
ple, he projected:

The economic situation of the world, particularly the United States will have
difficulty in making ends meet because of our inability to compete in the
world market. This will increase our world trade deficit and we will have to
devalue our money somewhere along the way. That, of course, means that
the world’s faith in the security value of the dollar will have the bottom drop
out. There will also be natural disasters…

The continued stream of impending catastrophes, with Armageddon

looming in the year 2000, motivated members to give to Stelle to build a
haven they could retreat to.44
At one point, Richard Kieninger predicted the United States would not
observe its 201st anniversary. When this did not occur, Kieninger said he
was thankful and admitted he was not sure how to interpret the informa-
tion he gathered from the Brotherhood. Not everyone was pleased, and it
led to an exodus of members. Those that remained tried to rationalize his
incorrect prediction. As one member argued, their “tendency [was] to

41
English, “A Thumbnail Sketch of Stelle,” 2, 4, 5.
42
Chamberlain, “Sect believes world’s end near,” G4; Also see Popenoe & Popenoe,
“Stelle,” 20–23.
43
Alexander, Leslie. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 9/23/14. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-30-leslie-alexander/.
44
Diane Howery, “Monthly Discussion,” Stelle Letter, December 1972, 2.
32 R. SCHWENKBECK

believe that the 200th birthday is on the anniversary of the ratification of

the Articles of Confederation,” so Kieninger’s prediction would come
true in 1981. The varied dates meant the remaining members of Stelle
were even more vigilant and worked dutifully in preparation for the
Apocalypse. Members who were exhausted by Kieninger justified their
continued involvement through the greenhouse and other projects, which
offered self-sufficiency and stability in face of economic hardship or end
times. Some believed, such as the president of The Stelle Group, Malcolm
Carnahan, that the US dollar would devalue so much that it would be
“rejected worldwide,” and unemployment would be more than 25%,
despite President Carter “trying to do a good job” but could not prevent
larger catastrophic forces.45
Kieninger’s failed predictions and hypocrisy caused a lot of tension
within the community. The Ultimate Frontier proposed a Board of
Governors of thirteen people, elected by the people, rather than a single
leader for the world to come. Yet Kieninger had maintained a colorless,
unyielding, authoritarian grip on Stelle. He also had several “liaisons with
women,” which he explained as “merely teaching them to love more
fully,” but male members in particular felt the power Kieninger wielded
was at the very least, “very disruptive to community life…as men felt that
their affection for their wives and girlfriends could be easily overridden by
their respected leader’s interest.”46 Women who refused Kieninger’s
advances were placed on his “obstructionist list.”47 Kieninger had affairs
with multiple women in the community, but when members found out he
seduced a seventeen-year-old girl, it was the last straw. Stelle offered him
the opportunity to either take advantage of specialized therapy from peo-
ple familiar with The Ultimate Frontier or leave the community. Kieninger
met with the psychologists who determined he clearly needed help. This

45
Rout, “Illinois Town Girds for Upheaval Soon, Catastrophe in 2000”; Amick, Harry.
Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 4/1//15. http://www.thestelleexperi-
ence.com/ep-45-harry-amick/; Greenhouses Stelle Letter 12.6, 1977, 3. Also see Richard
Kieninger, “A Statement on Predictions,” The Stelle Group Files, CCS; Chamberlain, “Sect
believes world’s end near,” G4.
46
One of the victims “had a bit of a falling out (intentionally under stated) when he
[Kieninger] started sleeping with [his] wife.” (Correspondence of Marilyn Thielman, Folder,
Stelle Archival items, November 15, 2008, CCS; English, “A Thumbnail Sketch of Stelle,”
15; Kueshana, The Ultimate Frontier, 166.
47
Arnold, Bruce. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 7/14/15. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-47-bruce-arnold/.
 2 THE FOUNDING IDEOLOGIES OF SOUL CITY, STELLE, AND TWIN OAKS 33

enraged Kieninger, and he claimed that Malcolm Carnahan and other

community leaders were looking to take over the community and its
finances. He refused to undergo any more therapy.48
Over the course of three days in April 1974, a panel hearing of seven
people with several witnesses took place to determine if Kieninger had
violated community bylaws and would be removed. Stelle came to a stand-
still as the fate of its leader hung in the balance. The panel ruled that
Kieninger’s behavior violated the by-laws, and he was forced to leave
Stelle. During this time, Kieninger reported running into teachers of The
Brotherhood who chastised his philandering ways but assured him that he
could help guide Stelle from afar. According to Kieninger’s account in a
later edition of The Ultimate Frontier, he was removed from Stelle because
he wanted to set up a better system of self-government. Community docu-
ments show that he clearly violated several Lemurian laws and was voted
out of the community.49 As one member stated of Kieninger’s actions:

a lot of what he would share would be other people’s ideas. Some of the
things he did were because he wanted to manipulate people, or the way
things should go, or he wanted people to perceive him or what was going
on…in a highly functioning community people have to be able to trust
people in leadership positions. People have to be able to trust what someone
is saying is sincere and genuine and coming from a place of…looking at
what in the greater good of all concerned versus what do I need to say or do
to in order to get what I want? And so that is where Richard really fell down.
Is that he would talk the bigger picture. He would talk the way the future
needs to be, but, um, he wasn’t able to walk it. He didn’t do the personal
work. He wouldn’t go through the personal changes, the personal healing
he really needed to find his voice.50

48
Carnahan, Malcolm. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 3/18/14.
http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-11-malcolm-carnahan-part-1/; Grondine,
E. P. He Walked Among Us: An Entirely True Account of the Amazing Life of Richard
Kieninger. 2014, 62–63. http://www.danieljglenn.com/the_podcasts/Stelle/
Documentation/He%20Walked%20Among%20Us%20Part%201.pdf.
49
English, “A Thumbnail Sketch of Stelle,” 16; Kueshana, The Ultimate Frontier,
271–276; Kathleen and Kelly Greenlee, A Closer Look at The Ultimate Frontier, 68–70.
50
Wilson, Bill. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 3/15/14. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-06-bill-wilson/. Also see Cox, Walter. Interview by Daniel
J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 4/29/2014. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/
ep-16-walter-cox-part-2/.
34 R. SCHWENKBECK

Kieninger left with two female members and fled to Adelphi, a new com-
munity he began in Texas. Once a month he appeared in Stelle to offer
spiritual guidance, but he otherwise lived in Adelphi. However, so much
animosity developed against Kieninger that the trustees issued “an edict
that Richard could not thereafter set foot in Stelle or talk to any members
except [for two].”51
Richard Kieninger’s wife, Gail, remained in Stelle for approximately
eight months, but after Kieninger floated the idea of returning to Stelle,
Gail and thirty other members left for Wisconsin to start another com-
munity. That community folded after a few months, in part because they
expected Stelle members to tithe to them. Kieninger was briefly allowed to
return to Stelle, but then he was permanently banned after he was caught
stealing donation checks. Unfortunately, the Kieningers and other depart-
ing members ransacked the community’s treasury, adding more strain to
Stelle. The remaining members of Stelle had to reconfigure the govern-
ment and identity to some extent. There was a wide range of emotions
among members; some were angered they were not asked to join the new
community, while others were glad to have the distraction of the Kieningers
51
Popenoe, “Stelle,” 10. One was his wife, Gail, and the other was a member named
James. The report from the November 1975 Stelle Letter offered some restrained detail
about his leaving and highlighted that the changes were “necessary to the development of
self-reliance on the part of citizens of the Stelle community.” The report noted that Kieninger
stepped down as the president of both Stelle Industries and The Stelle Group, leaving James
E. Howery in charge, and Gail in charge of admissions to the community, after his departure
on April 1, 1974, at the Founding Day Ball. Kieninger tried to return later that month, not-
ing that the Brotherhoods said he was still responsible for Stelle, but he was barred from
having any contact with members from Stelle, except for two members, and his family. He
left, but then a few months later, on September 28, 1974, he appeared, unannounced at a
monthly meeting “because of disturbing trends in the direction the group was taking.”
Kieninger tried to advocate for a “‘grass roots’ participation in the decision-making process.”
Eventually Kieninger would be expelled from membership in The Stelle Group, and a second
panel, hearing his appeal, also recommended that he remained expelled from the group on
April 19, 1975. The community further split when half of the members wanted to see the
original trustees appointed by Kieninger via proxy of the Brotherhood, remain in power,
while the other half, eighty-one members, wanted to see an election of new trustees. This was
resolved by the five original trustees who all resigned on August 12, 1975, allowing for the
election of five new trustees. For the most part, the resigned trustees remained in The Stelle
Group (The Board of Trustees of The Stelle Group, “Trustees’ Report: A Brief History,”
Stelle Letter, November 1975, 2–5); Haeme, Jon. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle
Experience. 3/15/14. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-04-jon-haeme/; Grondine,
He Walked Among Us, 63; Rout, “Illinois Town Girds for Upheaval Soon, Catastrophe
in 2000.”
 2 THE FOUNDING IDEOLOGIES OF SOUL CITY, STELLE, AND TWIN OAKS 35

gone. Some left because they were not sure how to handle the loss of a
spiritual leader.52
For many intentional communities, the departure of the leader will
cause the community to flounder if not immediately disband. Yet, for
Stelle, it was not Kieninger that bound the community, but rather a set of
values. After Kieninger’s departure, the remaining members of Stelle
focused on the “Golden Rule of 12 great virtues: Charity, courage, devo-
tion, discernment, efficiency, forbearance, humility, kindliness, patience,
precision, sincerity and tolerance.”53 Members were united in their vision
to continue to build their community, which had done so much in advanc-
ing technology, sustainable agriculture, and early education. As one mem-
ber noted, “If we can’t grow as a people, we won’t deserve to live in
Philadelphia.”54 Another referred to The Ultimate Frontier, which stated
that Kieninger should not be the leader of Stelle, but rather the mouth-
piece.55 It helped that Stelle had grown into a high-quality community
with several amenities that members built themselves, including a water
treatment plant, greenhouse, numerous homes, a school, and a growing
set of businesses in woodworking, plastics, metal part manufacturing, and
a small piano shop.
After the removal of Kieninger, a fight for leadership did not occur;
instead, elections for the Board of Trustees happened regularly, and often
resulted in incumbents returning to their positions. Stelle members col-
lectively agreed to create open elections for a committee of three members
to oversee aspects of the community, such as the admissions and expul-
sions process. Members could introduce a referendum process to speed up
action on an issue or appeal a decision. The changes were in response to
leadership under Kieninger, who refused to consider the opinions of oth-
ers and offered no recourse. By 1977, the community had “organized

52
Alexander, Leslie. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 9/23/14. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-30-leslie-alexander/; Arnold, Bruce. Interview by Daniel
J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 7/14/15. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-
47-bruce-arnold/; Grondine, He Walked Among Us, 88; Wachtel, Barry. Interview by Daniel
J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 7/21/15. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/
ep-48-barry-wachtel/.
53
“Group Readying for Year 2000: Surviving doomsday their aim”; Rout, “Illinois Town
Girds for Upheaval Soon, Catastrophe in 2000.”
54
Rout, “Illinois Town Girds for Upheaval Soon, Catastrophe in 2000.”
55
Betterton, Charles. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 12/9/14.
http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-35-charles-betterton-part-1/.
36 R. SCHWENKBECK

itself into small groups of 12 persons each,” which allowed all residents to
voice their ideas and concerns. To keep ideas fresh, every thirty days new
groups were selected “as a further dimension to the democratic process
being developed in Stelle.”56 The community held monthly town hall
meetings to address issues. Instead of a police force, “facilitators” inter-
vened to end disputes.
The change in leadership improved the relationship between Stelle and
the surrounding community as well. While nonmembers were not allowed
to live within Stelle, the community’s offerings were opened to locals.
Some non-members worked in the factories, and others sent their children
to attend Stelle’s school, which had twenty-five students in 1977.57 Stelle
also held a series of open houses, which allowed curious locals the oppor-
tunity to tour Stelle and learn how various technologies they developed,
such as the reverse osmosis water plant, worked.
Stelle announced the removal of Kieninger in Stelle Letter, but other-
wise did not publicize it. The November 1975 issue of Stelle Letter began,
“during the past eighteen months, many changes have taken place in
Stelle.”58 To assure members, investors, and interested parties, the
abridged story of Richard Kieninger’s removal was juxtaposed with a vari-
ety of photos showcasing the growth of Stelle, highlighting the
20,000-square-foot addition to the Stelle Woodworking Plant, a new veg-
etable stand, and photos of the new Trustees. The new Stelle offered
women much more opportunity. The new Board included a female among
its members. More women were depicted working in Stelle Industries in
its newsletters, including a woman doing carpentry, and another working
in plastics.
The ideology remained unchanged. Members remained steadfast in
their belief and preparation for the catastrophic end of the world. In an
issue of Stelle Letter dedicated to technology, members laid out explana-
tions for how the Earth’s position in relation to other planets would lead
to an apocalypse. The issue also discussed the pressing need to develop an
aircraft capable of “airlifting of at least 250,000 persons to an altitude of

56
Stelle Trustees, “Trustees’ Report,” Stelle Letter 12.3, 1977, 2; Worthington, “Faulty
foresight troubles town built on doomsday prophecy,” 1, 4; “Results of the Trustee
Election,” The Stelle Letter 13.5, 1978, 5; Grondine, He Walked Among Us, 65–66; Spano,
“A Comfortable Wait for Doomsday,”, E1-2.
57
Spano, “A Comfortable Wait for Doomsday.”
58
Board of Trustees of Stelle Group, “Trustees’ Report: A Brief History,” Stelle Letter, The
Stelle Group files, CCS.
 2 THE FOUNDING IDEOLOGIES OF SOUL CITY, STELLE, AND TWIN OAKS 37

approximately 14 miles for roughly 14 days in special vertical take-off-­

and-landing” and that it was “apparent from even this very basic outline
that the task assigned to Stelle by Brotherhoods is quite a formidable one
to be accomplished in the 22 years remaining in this century.”59 The issue
claimed that by 1980, Stelle would grow to 10,000 citizens, so the com-
munity had to move quickly to be able to accommodate a 5000% increase
in population in under two years. The following year, 1979, Stelle kicked
their self-sufficiency campaign into high gear, launching a three-pronged
plan to achieve financial, agricultural, and energy self-sufficiency, which,
among other things, included a food processing business.60 Financially, the
community wanted to start a reserve fund to protect the community from
economic issues, and planned to invest in gold or silver.
By the late 1970s, most communal societies were struggling for mem-
bers since the movement’s momentum had largely extinguished, so Stelle
opted for a lax membership policy. Stelle differentiated itself from other
intentional communities by labeling themselves as an “alternative alterna-
tive” arguing that their intentional community, individual economic pur-
suits, high-quality community amenities, beautiful construction, and quest
of innovative technology set them apart. They hoped to appeal to the
average American by offering a remarkably high quality of life. By 1980,
Stelle opened its doors to any interested residents. By 1982, Stelle finally
dropped the membership policy and became an open community.61

Twin Oaks: A Utopian Experiment in Behaviorism

Inspired by communal societies of the nineteenth century, and friendship
with esteemed communal historian, Alice Felt Tyler, led behaviorist psy-
chologist B. F. Skinner to write a novel detailing his own utopian plans.

59
Timothy J. Wilhelm, “Technology and Stelle,” Stelle Letter 13.1, 1978, 3.
60
“The Great Plan of the Brotherhoods: A Closer Look,” Stelle Letter 13.1, April 1978, 5;
“The Stelle Group: 1979,” Stelle Letter 14.1, 1979, 2. Also see, The Board of Trustees of
Stelle, “The Board of Trustees’ Report for 1979,” Stelle Letter 14.9 (1979), 1.
61
Amick, Harry. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 4/1//15. http://
www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-45-harry-amick/; “Stelle, Dawn of a New Age City,”
pages 6–7, undated manuscript, Folder 554-Stelle Group Folder, CCS; Phillip Zonkel,
“Green Fields,” Chicago Tribune, Saturday, April 11, 1998, New Homes, 4; Trenda, Renee.
Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle Experience. 11/4/14. http://www.thestelleexperi-
ence.com/ep-33-renee-trenda-part-1/; Parthe, Stu. Interview by Daniel J. Glenn. The Stelle
Experience. 1/13/15. http://www.thestelleexperience.com/ep-39-stu-parthe/.
38 R. SCHWENKBECK

Skinner penned Walden Two, a novel in which a small group of people visit
a utopia of approximately 1000 members. The protagonist and antagonist
battle about the practicality and ideology of the utopia throughout the
novel, as the group is skirted around the community to showcase its high-­
quality, immaculate kitchens, art rooms, libraries, personal rooms, a lovely
outdoor setting, and encounters with well-dressed and mannered mem-
bers. At its heart, Walden Two was the story of somewhat isolated, egalitar-
ian community of people living collectively under behaviorist principles.
They worked four hours a day and spent the rest of their time enjoying
leisurely pursuits, especially in the music and arts. Members underwent a
complex membership process to join but were free to leave at any time.
Skinner did not offer any detail on how the community would physically
develop or financially support itself. Rather he focused, given his profes-
sion, on child rearing and implementation of behavioral engineering.62
Behaviorism was the backbone of Walden Two. While there are various
offshoots, at heart behaviorism is the theory that human and animal
actions are best understood by analyzing behavioral events, rather than
emotions or feelings, which are subjective. Walden Two highlighted posi-
tive reinforcement as a tool to free people of the social ills resulting from
competition and greed.63 As a part of their education, children learned
how to cope with and control impulses. In the work, Frazier, the scientist
founder of Walden Two, explains, “[n]othing comes from a general froth-
ing at the mouth…What is Walden II but a grand experiment in the struc-
ture of a peaceful world?”64 Walden Two took place in the United States
with members that voted in the elections and had some relationship to the
outside world, but rather than try to change the government, Walden Two
suggested developing a series of smaller communities, which made it easier
to pursue polices most beneficial for the community and its environment;

62
BF Skinner, The Shaping of a Behaviorist: Part Two of an Autobiography (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), 292; BF Skinner, Walden Two (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing
Company, 1976), v–xi, 7. Interestingly, Skinner never imagined himself being allowed to live
in a community like Walden Two because his wife expressly abhorred the idea. Hilke
Kuhlmann, Living Walden Two: B.F. Skinner’s Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental
Communities (Champaign: University of Illinois, 2005), 5.
63
Pomeranz, “From Fiction to Reality,” 45; Hilke Kuhlmann, Living Walden Two:
B. F. Skinner’s Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities (Champaign, IL; University
of Illinois Press, 2005), ix.
64
Colleen Cordes, “Easing toward perfection at Twin Oaks.” APA Monitor 15, No. 11,
November 1984, 1, 30–31, CCS.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 — Ne t’inquiète pas de ça, commanda-t-il, et fais comme je fais. »
Et il nous montre comment il faut placer ses doigts sur la table,
sans que les mains se touchent et, sans appuyer. Bon ! On attend un
petit moment : rien ne se passe. Muller observe :
— Je vous dis que la table est trop lourde. Et puis, c’est des
blagues.
Et je le vois qui essaie de pousser, pour rire. Mais la table était
trop lourde, en effet, et Tassart l’attrape comme du poisson pourri :
— Si tu essaies de pousser, je te fais faire la marche à pied, cette
nuit, à côté de ton chameau, ton barda sur la tête. C’est sérieux !
Et alors, subitement, nous nous sentîmes très émus, sans savoir
de quoi. Nous attendions… La table craqua.
— Avez-vous entendu ? interrogea Tassart à voix basse.
Nous avions entendu, et nous fîmes « oui » de la tête.
Muller serrait les lèvres, peut-être pour ne pas claquer des
dents : ce qu’avait dit le père d’Ardigeant l’impressionnait. Moi, pour
me donner une contenance, je posai une question :
— Mon adjudant, si des fois la table veut causer, à qui voulez-
vous causer ?
Tassart ricana :
— A qui, à qui ?…
Il n’y avait pas songé. Il dit tout à coup :
— Eh bien, nom de Dieu, au Diable ! Puisque le père prétend que
c’est son patelin, ici… Un coup pour oui, deux coups pour non ! »
Juste à cet instant, la table leva un de ses pieds, lentement, et le
baissa, lentement. Plus lentement, je l’aurais juré, que si ce pied
était retombé tout seul. Nous étions un peu saisis, vous comprenez.
Tassart seul eut un mouvement de fierté satisfaite : l’expérience
réussissait ! Mais il avait aussi un petit tremblement dans la voix en
demandant :
— C’est toi ?… Celui que nous avons appelé ?
 — Au lieu de répondre, au lieu de frapper encore un coup, voilà
que cette table, ce monument de table, cet immeuble par
destination, se met à danser, à danser ! Parfois elle glissait, ses
quatre pieds à terre, comme pour une valse ; parfois elle en levait
un, ou deux, peut-être trois, je ne sais plus. Elle avait l’air de faire
des grâces, de faire de l’esprit, de suivre un air qu’on n’entendait
pas. Elle pressa la mesure, et ça changea : des nègres, des nègres
qui dansent, avec leurs sorciers, leurs danses de démons. Elle
cavalcadait, cavalcadait ! Et avec un bruit ! C’était comme des sabots
cornés qui frappaient le sol de la terrasse. Les sabots d’un être
malin, perfide. Nous nous essoufflions à la suivre, et nous étions
obligés de la suivre : nos doigts étaient comme collés sur elle. Une
idée qu’on se faisait, ou la vérité ? N’importe : nous étions
convaincus qu’on ne pouvait pas les décoller.
A la fin, pourtant, elle resta tranquille un moment, comme pour
reprendre haleine elle-même, et Tassart lui cria courageusement —
oui, hein ? c’est bien courageusement qu’il faut dire ! — mais avec
une voix toute changée :
— Si c’est toi, parle, au lieu de faire des bêtises !
Ce fut comme s’il avait touché un cheval de sang avec un fer
rouge. La table se cabra ! Je ne trouve pas d’autre mot. Elle se
dressa sur deux de ses pieds, les pieds du côté où se trouvaient
Tassart et Muller, et marcha, par bonds furieux, de mon côté, le côté
où j’étais tout seul ! Une bête féroce ! On aurait dit qu’elle avait des
mâchoires. Et ce qu’il y a d’incompréhensible, ce qu’il y a de stupide
et de mystérieux, c’est que je tenais toujours mes doigts posés sur
elle, les bras en l’air, maintenant, sans pouvoir les détacher.
Elle avançait, elle avançait toujours, et me poussait vers le bord
de la terrasse, vers le vide. Tassart hurla :
— Retire-toi donc, retire-toi, imbécile ! Tu vas tomber !
Et j’essayais de crier :
— Mais retenez-la, arrêtez-la, vous autres ! Vous voyez bien
qu’elle veut me f… en bas !
 Je sentais déjà un de mes talons ferrés grincer sur l’extrême
rebord de la terrasse. De mes doigts toujours si absurdement liés à
la table, j’essayais de la rejeter vers Tassart et Muller. Autant lutter
contre une locomotive ! Les deux autres, Coldru et Malterre,
suivaient le mouvement sans pouvoir l’empêcher. Nous poussions
des cris qui devaient s’entendre à dix kilomètres. Les goumiers
arabes qui s’étaient couchés dans la cour intérieure du bordj ou
dehors, sur le sable, s’étaient réveillés, levés. Ils dressaient les bras,
ils n’y comprenaient rien. Ils croyaient que les blancs se battaient
entre eux, voilà tout.
Du reste, ils n’auraient pas eu le temps de monter : encore une
seconde, et ils n’auraient plus qu’à ramasser mes morceaux, en bas.
Je tournai la tête, pour voir… On veut toujours voir, malgré
l’épouvante, à cause de l’épouvante.
Je vis les grandes dunes pareilles à des ice-bergs sous le clair
de lune, et, entre deux de ces dunes, le père d’Ardigeant qui se
pressait. Je ne sais pas ce qu’il fit : un signe de croix, une
conjuration ? Il était trop loin, je n’ai pas pu distinguer… Mais la table
retomba sur ses quatre pieds, si fort qu’elle en resta toute
tremblante, avec un air, on aurait dit déçu, irrité. Et, en même temps,
mes mains purent se détacher.
Tassart murmura tout haletant :
— Eh bien, par exemple !…
Moi, je m’essuyais le front. J’étais tout pâle ; je tombai sur une
chaise, le cœur démoli.
Le père d’Ardigeant regarda, constata sans doute que tout était
rentré dans l’ordre, et ne daigna même pas monter. Il s’occupa, avec
son boy, de démonter sa tente et de la plier : on devait repartir à trois
heures du matin, en pleine nuit, pour finir l’étape, avant que le soleil
fût trop chaud.

Et l’on repartit. Personne, d’abord, ne parla. On s’en voulait, on

se trouvait bête, et on avait peur, peur ; on ne voulait pas se
rappeler, et on se rappelait. On était dégoûté de soi, de ce qu’on
avait fait, et on avait peur, je vous dis, et le froid de la nuit, avec cette
peur, vous tombait sur les épaules. Puis on vit, à l’orient, une petite
clarté pâle, et bientôt ce fut le soleil, et bientôt une chaleur qui nous
parut bonne. Les chameaux marchèrent plus vite. On commença de
se rassurer. Muller, qui ne peut jamais garder longtemps la même
idée dans la cervelle, se mit à chanter. Il me dit à la fin, en clignant
de l’œil :
— Tassart, t’en a fait une bien mauvaise, hier soir !
Les autres rigolèrent. Personne ne voulait plus croire qu’à une
sale farce que Tassart m’avait jouée. Moi-même, je ne savais plus…
Le père d’Ardigeant mit son chameau au petit trot, et rejoignit
l’adjudant. Je l’entendis qui murmurait :
— Je vous l’avais bien dit, que c’était dangereux !…

… Cette singulière expérience de Barnavaux, il m’arriva un soir

de la conter à mon amie Anna Mac Fergus, que vous rencontrerez
encore au cours de ces pages. Peut-être alors me risquerai-je à
tracer son portrait, vous la verrez et la comprendrez mieux. Je n’en
dirai rien pour l’instant, sinon qu’elle est Écossaise : pleine du bon
sens le plus immédiat, même le plus terre à terre, et magnifiquement
superstitieuse : j’imagine que les primitifs, les vrais primitifs, devaient
être ainsi.
— … Votre ami le soldat, dit-elle, a vu, et n’a pas cru. Je ne m’en
étonne pas : il est Français. Les Français ont trop d’imagination.
— Belle raison ! L’imagination, au contraire, devrait leur servir à
voir même ce qui n’existe pas !
— Vous vous trompez. Elle leur sert, devant un fait, à s’en donner
des explications puisées dans le domaine de l’expérience, dans les
précédents, dans tout ce que vous voudrez que l’on connaît déjà : à
raisonner. Vous autres Français, vous raisonnez toujours. Les
Anglais ne raisonnent pas, ou très peu. Ils laissent agir leur
sensibilité. C’est pour cette cause qu’ils voient ce que vous ne voyez
point, plus fréquemment. On voit le diable, en Angleterre, ou des
fantômes, cent fois pour une en France.
— Et vous en avez vu ?
— Non. J’ai une sensibilité de second ordre, sans doute, une
sensibilité qui ne réalise pas… mais je crois à des forces, je sens
des forces. Je crois que l’amour, la haine, l’horreur, toutes les
passions, tous les sentiments intenses, créent dans le lieu où ils se
sont développés une ambiance qui continue à régner, à emplir ces
lieux. Et il se peut alors que ces forces se matérialisent… Moi, je
vous le répète, je n’ai jamais fait que les sentir.
« Trois ou quatre fois dans ma vie au moins. Je ne veux pas vous
ennuyer : Voici l’histoire d’une seule de ces fois-là.
« A cette époque, j’étais encore jeune fille, et j’allais passer assez
souvent le week-end — vous savez, les vacances du samedi au
lundi — chez une de mes amies nouvellement mariée. Le jeune
ménage avait loué, aux environs de Londres, une assez jolie maison
de campagne, très vaste, ni absolument vieille ni absolument neuve,
banale, en somme, et qui ne se distinguait de n’importe quelle autre
maison de campagne que par le loyer, qui était d’un bon marché
extraordinaire, et une énorme salle de billard. Eh bien, vous ne me
croirez pas, mais c’est un fait : cette maison était envahie, pénétrée
par la haine. Elle suait la haine ! Je sais parfaitement que cela vous
paraît absurde, mais c’est vrai, c’est vrai ; je vous jure que c’est vrai !
Je l’ai fréquentée durant plusieurs années, et mon impression
d’inquiétude alla toujours en grandissant.
« Vous me direz que j’étais malade, nerveuse. Est-ce que j’ai l’air
d’une malade ? Et à cette époque, je me portais mieux encore que
maintenant ; je me sentais à l’ordinaire heureuse, heureuse…
Heureuse comme seules peuvent l’être les jeunes filles qui ne
savent rien de la vie et qui en attendent tout. Et ce jeune ménage
était charmant. Je l’aimais, j’éprouvais le plus grand plaisir à me
trouver avec le mari et avec la femme. Cela n’empêche pas qu’à
partir du jour où ils s’établirent dans cette abominable maison, ce ne
fut qu’avec la plus grande répugnance que j’allai les voir. La salle de
billard surtout m’inspirait d’horribles frissons par tout le corps. Au
bout de quelques mois, je n’y serais plus entrée pour un empire. Et
quant à ma chambre, la chambre qu’on me réservait d’habitude !…
Les mensonges que j’ai inventés pour échapper à l’horreur d’y
passer la nuit ! Remarquez que je n’avais jamais eu la plus faible
idée qu’il pouvait exister, là ou ailleurs, le moindre « phénomène ».
Je ne crois pas aux fantômes et je suppose que je n’en verrai
jamais. Seulement, je ne pouvais dormir dans cette chambre. Je m’y
trouvais à la fois épouvantée et irritée… plus qu’irritée : exaspérée,
méchante.
« Je vous ai dit que, nous autres Anglais, nous n’avons pas
d’imagination. Je songeai donc : « Ce doit être le drainage qui est
out of order. Comment appelez-vous drainage ?
— Le tout-à-l’égout, traduisit quelqu’un, obligeamment.
— C’est moins joli ! fit-elle pudiquement… Alors je demandai au
mari de mon amie s’il n’y avait pas quelque chose de désorganisé
dans le drainage. Mais il me répondit qu’il l’avait fait entièrement
remettre à neuf avant d’entrer dans la maison. Il était bien l’homme à
ça : jamais je n’ai vu d’Anglais aussi Anglais ! Il avait encore moins
d’imagination que moi. Et pourtant cette maison était hostile.
Hostile ! Je ne trouve pas d’autre mot. Tout le monde s’y détestait.
Aussitôt que j’y avais pénétré, moi-même je perdais le contrôle de
mes nerfs. Lui, le mari, si calme, si parfaitement indifférent à ce qui
n’était pas les pures matérialités de l’existence, y devenait
insupportable, injurieux. Sa femme, que j’avais connue parfaitement
bien élevée, modérée, réservée dans tous ses gestes, dans ses
moindres paroles, y semblait sans cesse hors d’elle-même. On n’y
pouvait garder aucun domestique. C’était l’enfer, je vous dis, l’enfer !
« A la fin, je commençai à penser qu’il avait dû se passer quelque
chose de tragique dans cette maison. J’interrogeai le mari. Il me
répondit, en haussant les épaules, qu’elle avait appartenu dans le
temps à un « colonial » qui avait même fait bâtir la salle de billard,
parce qu’il aimait particulièrement ce jeu. Ledit colonial avait « mal
fini ». Je n’ai jamais pu en savoir davantage. Dans l’esprit de cet
homme-là, cela pouvait représenter les pires aventures et les pires
abominations, ou bien simplement qu’un soir il s’était allé jeter à
l’eau dans un accès de delirium tremens, après avoir bu trop de
whisky. Et c’était au nouveau propriétaire absolument égal. Il se
pouvait qu’il n’en sût pas plus qu’il n’en disait. On lui avait dit ça
comme ça, quand il avait loué la maison, et il n’avait jamais eu la
curiosité de prendre de plus amples renseignements. Pour moi,
j’étais trop jeune et trop bien dressée pour insister.
« Ne pensez pas, du reste, que je lui révélai mes soupçons. Je
sentais, je sentais « quelque chose ». Mais quoi ? J’aurais été bien
embarrassée pour l’expliquer, et j’avais autant de soin de ma
réputation d’être « comme tout le monde » que tout le monde. Si je
lui eusse avoué ma pensée de derrière la tête, il aurait certainement
conseillé à mon père de me mener chez un spécialiste pour
maladies mentales. Il se contentait de rentrer chez lui chaque soir de
fort bonne humeur, et de devenir immédiatement furieux et
malheureux, ne rencontrant que fureur et folie. Mais il n’a jamais
cherché à établir le moindre rapport entre cet état de choses
singulier et cette demeure, où nul n’entrait sans perdre la raison.
« Car au bout de quelques années, lui et sa femme avaient perdu
tous leurs amis : moi-même je m’écartai. Je ne pouvais plus, je ne
pouvais plus !… Tous deux se brouillèrent avec leurs parents, ils ne
virent plus personne. Et alors, restés seuls avec des serviteurs qui
changeaient tout le temps, ils finirent par se brouiller et se
séparèrent. Le plus curieux, c’est que la femme, une fois sortie de
cette maison, est redevenue ce qu’elle était auparavant :
parfaitement douce, équilibrée, de l’humeur la plus égale. Lui, la
dernière fois qu’il en a franchi les portes, ce fut pour entrer dans une
maison de santé. Il était fou, complètement fou !
— Mais, interrogea-t-on, le colonial ? Qu’est-ce qu’il avait fait, le
colonial ?
— Je vous répète, affirma-t-elle, que je vous ai dit tout ce que je
savais. Parfois, quand j’étais dans ma chambre, à frémir de tous
mes membres, et à rouler en même temps des idées d’assassinat, je
me figurais que c’était là qu’il s’était pendu ! Alors, je lui en voulais
de tout mon cœur. Je me disais : « Pourquoi n’est-il pas allé faire ça
autre part ! » Je lui en veux encore…
— Enfin, dear Anna, dites la vérité ? Que croyez-vous ? Était-ce
lui, ou le diable, qui hantait la maison ?
— Ni lui, ni le diable ; des Forces, je vous dis, des Forces !
— Anna, il en est de cette chose-là comme du mot « chemise »
que vous ne voulez pas prononcer : ce qui ne vous empêche pas
d’en avoir une.
— Vous êtes improper !
 LE MAMMOUTH

Il s’appelait Moutou-Apou-Kioui-No, c’est-à-dire « Celui-qui-sait-

où-sont-les-phoques ». Il faut prononcer « Kioui » comme s’il y avait
la moitié d’un s qui serait aussi un t entre le premier i et ou : mais
n’essayez pas, c’est très difficile. Dans le courant de ce récit, nous
dirons Moutou-Apou, « Celui-qui-sait », tout bonnement, pour
abréger, et aussi parce que c’est comme ça que le nommait à
l’ordinaire le métis qui, au jour à jamais mémorable que M. Nathaniel
Billington fit sa connaissance, servit d’interprète entre lui et ce
membre infortuné de la Société royale de géographie de Londres.
Moutou-Apou était un Inuit. Nous autres, nous dirions un
Esquimau, mais nous avons tort. Ce sont les Indiens de l’Amérique
du Nord qui infligèrent à sa race, il y a bien des années, ce
sobriquet, injurieux car il signifie : « mangeur de poisson cru ».
Moutou-Apou, ignorant le langage de ces chasseurs rouges, ne
comprendrait pas. « Inuit » veut dire simplement « les Hommes »,
parce que les Esquimaux se sont cru bien longtemps les seuls
hommes qu’il y eût sur terre — les hommes par opposition aux
phoques, aux baleines, aux ours, aux bœufs musqués, aux morues,
à tout le reste de ce qui vit et respire sous le ciel ou au sein des
eaux salées. Et pourtant, ils n’ont peut-être pas toujours habité ces
régions effrayantes, enfouies six mois dans la sépulture de la nuit
polaire, le soleil n’apparaissant à l’horizon que pour redescendre au
même instant sous l’horizon : où la courte durée de l’été,
l’extraordinaire intensité du froid en hiver, qui couvre le sol d’une
épaisse couche de glace et de neige, ne permettent qu’à quelques
plantes chétives, des bouleaux nains, une herbe misérable, de
croître sur ces étendues désolées. Selon l’hypothèse de quelques
distingués préhistoriens, il y a vingt mille ans ces mêmes Inuits
vivaient sur le sol de la France, alors envahie presque à moitié par
les neiges et les glaciers, et, dans la chaude saison, transformée en
grands steppes herbeux où paissaient les rennes et les mammouths.
Quand le climat s’attiédit, les Inuits suivirent leur gibier, qui remontait
vers le nord. Ils ne comprirent pas que, sous cette température plus
douce, ils allaient jouir d’une existence dont la facilité leur eût
semblé un don de Manéto, le seul génie indulgent aux hommes que
connaissent leurs sorciers, encore aujourd’hui…
C’étaient des conservateurs, ces Inuits ; ils ne pouvaient
concevoir la vie autrement qu’ils l’avaient toujours vécue, les
conditions de la vie autrement qu’ils les avaient toujours connues. Ils
mirent une énergie farouche et dérisoire à fuir le bonheur qui
s’offrait, et qu’ils méprisèrent, mais aussi une sorte d’héroïque et
triste ascétisme : car il y a de l’héroïsme et de l’ascétisme à ne point
vouloir ni savoir s’adapter… C’est l’histoire de tous ceux que nous
appelons « des conservateurs », je vous le répète.
Moutou-Apou était né tout en haut de la rivière Mackenzie, à
l’extrémité la plus septentrionale de l’Amérique, une des régions les
plus sinistres du globe, où pourtant les blancs plus tard accoururent,
sur le bruit qu’on y trouvait de l’or.
Il était petit, trapu, avec des membres gros et courts, et un beau
ventre bien arrondi, malgré sa jeunesse, à cause qu’il buvait
beaucoup d’huile de poisson. Ses cheveux noirs fort abondants,
gras et rudes, lui couvraient les oreilles. Il avait le visage rond, aplati
vers le front, des yeux petits et noirs enfoncés dans l’orbite et
remontant du nez vers le haut des tempes, un nez écrasé, de
grosses lèvres, une grande bouche aux dents assez régulières, les
pommettes élevées et le teint couleur d’un chaudron de cuivre mal
récuré. Enfin, c’était un véritable Inuit, nullement mélangé de sang
indien ; les femmes de sa tribu le trouvaient agréable à voir. Aussi
fut-il, dès son adolescence, distingué par l’une d’elles qui le prit pour
deuxième époux, car les Inuits ont au sujet du mariage des idées
assez larges. Les hommes qui sont riches, c’est-à-dire disposant de
plusieurs canots de pêche et de nombreux harpons, possèdent
plusieurs femmes ; les femmes riches, je veux dire celles qui ont eu
la sagesse d’accumuler une bonne provision d’huile de phoque, ne
se contentent pas d’un mari. Les Inuits trouvent que les choses sont
fort bien arrangées ainsi : c’est ce que Moutou-Apou expliqua fort
innocemment à M. Eriksen, le pasteur norvégien qui tenta de
convertir sa tribu, mais n’y parvint point parce que le sorcier vendait
des charmes pour faire prendre beaucoup de poisson, tandis que lui,
cet Européen qui se moquait du monde, prétendait qu’il faut là-
dessus se borner à invoquer le Seigneur.
Comme tous les siens, Moutou-Apou avait deux morales : une
morale d’été et une morale d’hiver. En hiver, il convient de vivre tout
nu, au fond de larges caves creusées dans la neige, où les grosses
lampes à huile, taillées dans la pierre de savon, entretiennent une
chaleur presque excessive qui rend insupportable le poids des
vêtements de fourrure. Les deux sexes, dans ces caves, vivent
mêlés, mais chastement, sans se toucher, en frères et sœurs. Il est
recommandable de se remuer le moins possible, de manger le
moins possible, de dormir autant que possible, afin d’épargner les
provisions. En été, au contraire, la coutume veut qu’on reste au
grand air, ou bien dans des huttes faites d’ossements de baleines,
recouvertes de peau, et vêtu, car les nuits sont fraîches. Mais, le
poisson et le gibier étant abondants, il est licite et même obligatoire
de manger beaucoup — chaque jour quatre ou cinq livres de viande
— et de faire l’amour autant qu’on peut, dans l’intervalle des repas.
Toutefois, au cours de la saison d’hiver. Moutou-Apou, sans
doute à cause de sa jeunesse, avait peine à dormir autant que
l’exigeait l’usage. Alors, sur des os de cétacé ou bien l’ivoire des
défenses de morse, à l’aide d’un fin burin de silex il gravait de
nombreuses images. C’était l’histoire de ses chasses et de ses
pêches, des espèces d’idéogrammes où on le voyait portant sur son
dos le kayak de cuir qu’il dirigeait sur les eaux du Mackenzie ou
même de l’océan Arctique, — car la tribu allait parfois jusque-là dans
ses migrations, — capturant des phoques, tuant un ours. Ou bien
c’étaient les portraits, fort ressemblants, tracés avec un art ingénu,
de ces animaux ; ce qui paraît bien prouver qu’en effet il gardait dans
les veines le sang des vieux chasseurs de l’époque de la Madeleine,
qui nous ont laissé en France, dans les grottes où ils célébraient des
rites mystérieux, des preuves si émouvantes de leur talent de
peintres et de sculpteurs. Comme eux, Moutou-Apou n’aimait guère
figurer que des choses qui ont vie et qu’on peut tuer pour se nourrir.
Voilà pourquoi certains livres du pasteur norvégien, l’évangélique et
mal récompensé pasteur Eriksen, l’intéressèrent. Quelques-uns
étaient illustrés, les uns représentant des hommes et des femmes en
costumes bizarres, ou presque nus, — à l’époque de la morale
d’hiver, croyait-il, mais en réalité c’étaient les personnages de
l’Ancien et du Nouveau Testament — les autres habillés comme
monsieur le pasteur, et portant le même magnifique chapeau de
haute forme dont, même aux environs du pôle, celui-ci se coiffait, les
jours de cérémonie.
C’étaient là des hommes et des femmes en vie, mais on ne les
pouvait tuer pour se nourrir, et par conséquent moins attrayants, aux
yeux de Moutou-Apou, que les bêtes dont les effigies peuplaient un
autre des ouvrages de la bibliothèque de M. Eriksen. Plusieurs
semblaient d’une taille monstrueuse, d’autres affectaient des formes
bien étranges. Il ne faut pas s’en étonner : c’étaient les
reconstitutions de la faune antédiluvienne, telles qu’on les pouvait
contempler dans cette traduction anglaise de la Terre avant le
Déluge, de M. Louis Figuier, vulgarisateur scientifique un peu oublié
de nos jours, mais dont les honnêtes travaux ne sont pas sans
valeur. Dans l’esprit de Moutou-Apou, ces animaux devaient être
sûrement ceux qui se rencontraient dans le pays du missionnaire,
aussi communément que les ours blancs et les morses dans la
patrie des Inuits ; et cela lui fit une grande impression. Quel paradis
que celui où l’on pouvait chasser ces montagnes de chair, ces êtres
singuliers et gigantesques ! Il en rêvait dans la grande cave aux
parois de neige, il en gardait la figure dans sa mémoire.

Juste comme le printemps polaire commençait, le pauvre M.

Eriksen mourut, n’ayant pu résister aux rigueurs de ce climat
épouvantable. Moutou-Apou le regretta sincèrement : il avait nourri
l’espoir de l’accompagner lors de son retour dans ces régions du
Sud, afin de contempler et de tuer, si possible, ces proies si
avantageuses. Du moins, il aurait bien voulu garder le livre où il s’en
repaissait par l’imagination ; mais le sorcier des Inuits, considérant
que le pasteur était un autre sorcier, et son concurrent, exigea que
sa bibliothèque fût enterrée avec lui. Il fit donc entasser les livres
autour de son cadavre, sous de lourdes pierres qui formaient une
sorte de grossière pyramide, ou plutôt un tumulus. Seuls, ses
vêtements et sa batterie de cuisine furent partagés entre les
principaux de la tribu, et Moutou-Apou n’eut rien parce qu’il n’était
que le second mari de sa femme.
Cependant, l’image des chasses profitables qu’on devait faire
dans ces régions du Sud continuait de hanter sa cervelle. Quand le
printemps fut plus avancé, que le soleil se maintint quelques heures
au-dessus de l’horizon ; que même, chose presque incroyable, les
petites sauges qui étaient restées vivantes sous la neige montrèrent
des fleurs, Moutou-Apou fit, en grand secret, ses préparatifs de
départ. C’est-à-dire qu’il mit en état les quelques harpons qu’il
possédait en propre, et vola à sa femme une assez belle provision
de chair de phoque séchée, d’huile de poisson, et un kayak, Puis il
s’enfuit, un soir de lune.
Moutou-Apou mit plusieurs mois à descendre la rivière
Mackenzie. Tout d’abord, il fut obligé d’attendre l’émiettement des
grands barrages de glace que le soleil n’avait pas encore fondus, et
la débâcle. Puis il eut à porter son kayak sur ses épaules, afin
d’éviter de redoutables rapides où il se fût sûrement noyé, bien qu’il
nageât comme un saumon. Lorsqu’il était ainsi forcé de s’arrêter, il
pêchait, chassait, augmentait la quantité de ses provisions de route.
C’est de la sorte qu’il tua des rennes et des élans. Il ne connaissait
encore ces animaux que par les images qu’il en avait vues dans le
livre du pasteur Eriksen. Cela ne manqua point de l’affermir dans la
croyance que, plus loin, il trouverait certainement les autres. Il en
éprouva une grande joie dans son cœur, ou, comme il disait en son
langage inuit, son ventre.
Le jour, la nuit, dormant, éveillé, il pensait les apercevoir ; il
imaginait comment il les pourrait mettre à mort, par sa ruse et par sa
force ; et sur des os de renne, surtout celui des omoplates, ou bien
l’ivoire des défenses de morse, comme pour se débarrasser de cette
hallucination en la fixant, tirant son burin de silex d’un petit sac en
peau de renard tannée à la cendre et graissée, où il mettait les
choses les plus précieuses qu’il possédât, il retraçait adroitement
ces formes démesurées et désirables, telles que les avait fidèlement
gardées son souvenir.
Enfin, plusieurs mois plus tard, il arriva sur les bords de l’océan
Arctique. Les anciens de sa tribu étaient parfois allés jusque-là ;
mais Moutou-Apou y trouva un spectacle qu’ils n’avaient point
connu ; les Blancs étaient arrivés.
Dans ces solitudes affreuses, une grande ville venait de naître :
vingt mille Européens s’y pressaient, avant de partir pour les régions
désertes et fabuleuses où l’or, à ce qu’on disait, se cache sous la
neige et la boue glacées. Il y avait des bars innombrables, où l’on
vend, au poids de cet or, des breuvages violents qui échauffent le
sang bien plus encore que l’huile de poisson. Il y avait des chapelles
aux murailles de bois, aux toits en tôle ondulée, au sommet de quoi
de curieux instruments, des sortes de chaudrons de cuivre
renversés, animés par une espèce de marteau du même métal, font
entendre une musique inouïe, délicieuse. Il y avait des magasins où
l’on trouve des nourritures inconnues, savoureuses, et des objets
étonnants d’où s’échappe une autre musique argentine lorsqu’on
tourne une manivelle ou qu’on les caresse avec un outil brillant
introduit dans leur ventre. Moutou-Apou ignorait les boîtes à
musique et les réveille-matin. Ils lui parurent des miracles, des
manifestations d’une sorcellerie toute puissante ; il en eut peur et
désir. Mais tout cela se payait avec de l’or, et il n’avait point d’or ; il
n’avait même pas l’idée que ce métal pût servir de moyen
d’échange. Il proposa d’abord, contre un de ces admirables réveille-
matin, un de ses harpons, et ne fut accueilli que d’un refus
dédaigneux. Il tira alors de son sac en peau de renard tout le reste
de sa propriété, mettant de côté, comme n’ayant aucune valeur, sauf
pour lui, ces omoplates de renne, ces ivoires qu’il avait patiemment
gravés…
 Ce fut à cet instant, cet instant d’entre les instants, qu’il fut
aperçu de M. Billington.
M. Billington n’est pas seulement un très distingué géographe ; il
s’est consacré, depuis deux ou trois lustres déjà, à la solution des
vastes problèmes qu’offre la préhistoire. Cette science est encore
pour une bonne partie conjecturale ; elle a tout l’intérêt, tous les
dangers aussi, du plus fabuleux roman. On ne sait jamais, avec elle,
si l’on reste installé sûrement dans le domaine de la vérité, ou si l’on
entre dans les espoirs illimités du rêve. Des faits y apparaissent,
mais comme, dans un immense océan, ces îles qui marquent les
plus hauts sommets d’un continent disparu, d’une Atlantide
submergée, dont on ne saura jamais plus rien : la préhistoire est
l’opium des savants… Ceci doit servir à expliquer pourquoi lorsque,
pénétrant dans la même factorerie, M. Billington distingua les objets
que le pauvre Moutou-Apou venait si vainement d’étaler sur le
comptoir, cet honnête et très éminent préhistorien eut peine à
réprimer un cri d’étonnement, de joie purement scientifique, de folle
espérance d’une découverte qui pouvait à tout jamais illustrer son
nom ! Que ce sauvage, — un Esquimau, à n’en pas douter, par son
costume et tous ses caractères somatiques, — eût gravé ainsi, avec
un talent incontestable, des rennes, des élans en pleine course, il n’y
avait pas lieu d’en être absolument surpris : ces mammifères qui, à
l’époque de la pierre brute, et des chasseurs de la Madeleine en
particulier, parcouraient les plaines de la France, ont suivi le retrait
des glaciers ; ils ont émigré vers le Septentrion, où ils existent
encore. Les Esquimaux, les Indiens des terres arctiques les peuvent
connaître, ils les chassent, ils les piègent. Mais ce gigantesque
animal, représenté sur une omoplate de phoque avec tant de
réalisme et d’exactitude, cet énorme et placide pachyderme à la
trompe qui se repliait en touchant le sol, à l’épaisse et rude fourrure,
aux défenses formidables recourbées en lame de cimeterre : c’était
un mammouth, aucune hésitation, aucune discussion n’étaient
possible, un mammouth ! Et l’on sait bien que les mammouths ont
survécu jusqu’à la contemporaine époque géologique. Le cadavre
de l’un d’eux n’apparut-il pas au jour, au début du XIXe siècle, sur les
côtes de Sibérie, si bien conservé dans la glace d’une banquise
échouée que les pêcheurs indigènes se purent nourrir de sa chair
frigorifiée, et que l’on conserve, au musée de Saint-Pétersbourg, un
fragment de sa peau ? Toutefois, ici, il y avait davantage, selon toute
apparence : cet Esquimau avait vu un mammouth, un mammouth
vivant, puisqu’il l’avait figuré, ressemblant et en acte, sur une plaque
osseuse !
M. Billington fut généreux. En échange de ce qu’on pourrait
appeler l’album de ses gravures d’histoire naturelle, Moutou-Apou
reçut de lui, avec le réveille-matin auquel il avait cru devoir
modestement borner ses désirs, une boîte à musique, une véritable
boîte à musique qui jouait Plus près de toi, mon Dieu, et aussi O
mon Fernand tous les biens de la terre, ainsi que God save the King.
De plus, M. Billington lui fit comprendre, par signes, qu’il l’attachait à
sa personne avec promesse de lui donner à manger toute la
journée : le savant géographe avait lu que la voracité des
Esquimaux est sans bornes ; mais il était résolu à ne point épargner
la dépense pour s’attacher le témoin d’une survivance zoologique
destinée sans nul doute à faire époque dans l’histoire de la science.
Ce marché conclu, il entreprit de faire interroger Moutou-Apou.
Cela ne fut point facile. On ne trouva dans toute la ville, comme
interprète, qu’un métis d’Esquimau et de Peau-Rouge qui ne
comprenait qu’à demi ou au tiers le langage des Inuits, n’étant lui-
même, et encore par sa mère seulement, qu’un Petit-Esquimau, de
ceux qui habitent le Labrador. Moutou-Apou mit cependant la
meilleure volonté du monde dans ses explications : il était aussi
désireux que M. Billington, — je pense l’avoir fait comprendre, — de
voir un mammouth, et croyait que ce blanc le lui ferait rencontrer. Et
quand on lui demanda où il avait vu celui qu’il avait dessiné si
exactement, il l’avoua sans aucun détour, mais l’interprète ignorant,
ne saisissant que fort mal ses paroles, y entendit à peu près ceci :
que Moutou-Apou avait vu ce mammouth dans le pays où il était né,
et que c’était un sorcier extraordinaire qui le lui avait montré.
M. Billington s’empressa de consigner ce témoignage « oculaire »
dans un rapport circonstancié qu’il expédia sur l’heure à Londres, où
il fit grand bruit : tout paraissait prouver qu’il subsiste encore des
mammouths, en tout cas un mammouth, dans une région
hyperboréenne située aux environs des sources de la rivière
Mackenzie, et qu’un Esquimau connaissait.
Des listes de souscription, pour organiser une mission
scientifique ayant pour objet d’aller sur place étudier les mœurs de
ce pachyderme, dont la race avait été jusque-là considérée comme
éteinte, et le rapporter en Angleterre, mort ou vif, se couvrirent sur-
le-champ de signatures. Le généreux lord Melville, grand chasseur
et curieux des choses de la préhistoire, versa dix mille livres sterling,
annonçant de plus qu’il prendrait part à l’expédition. Mais il y eut
aussi, dons de petites gens, mineurs du Pays noir, potiers du
Staffordshire, clerks et calicots des banques et des boutiques de
Londres, des souscriptions d’un shilling et de six pence. Dans toute
l’Angleterre, on ne parlait plus que du mammouth.
L’expédition, présidée par lord Melville, arriva au printemps
suivant à Seattle, où les attendaient M. Nathaniel Billington et
Moutou-Apou devenu magnifiquement gras, ainsi que
l’indispensable et insuffisant interprète, le métis du Labrador. La
municipalité de Seattle, et les mineurs qui se préparaient à partir
pour les placers, offrirent une grande fête à tous ces éminents
représentants de la science anglaise. On y but beaucoup de
champagne à vingt dollars la bouteille et plus encore de whisky.
Moutou-Apou se grisa superbement : il était entièrement convaincu
désormais de la supériorité des breuvages du Sud sur l’huile de
poisson. Par surcroît, il connaissait maintenant la manière de s’en
procurer, ayant acquis un assez joli sac de poudre d’or à reproduire,
sur tous les os de bœufs, de moutons, et même de lapins mis à sa
disposition, l’intéressante silhouette du fameux mammouth, que les
mineurs enthousiastes se disputaient.
La mission se mit en route. Le voyage fut long et pénible.
L’infortuné lord Melville mourut du scorbut, victime de la science et
de sa généreuse curiosité. Trois autres membres de l’expédition
eurent le nez gelé. Mais M. Billington avançait toujours, insensible
aux frimas, soutenu, comme intérieurement échauffé, par l’ardeur de
son rêve et du mirage de l’éternelle gloire qu’il attendait. Moutou-
Apou, enfin, le conduisit un jour, ainsi que tous les survivants de la
mission, les estropiés et les autres, devant un tas de pierres et leur
dit, avec un paisible et joyeux sourire :
« C’est là ! »
M. Billington, qui n’avait jamais eu froid au cours de ces quatre
mois de marche à travers un pays désolé, sentit subitement son
sang se glacer dans ses veines. Le mammouth était-il mort, l’avait-
on enterré ? Sa déception, hélas ! fut plus amère encore… A grands
coups de pics et de leviers, on démolit, on éventra le cairn élevé par
les Inuits. Complètement gelé, le corps de M. Eriksen y reposait,
intact, entouré de ses livres. Moutou-Apou en prit un, le feuilleta
d’une main assurée, et, triomphalement, du doigt, montra le
mammouth. Il était bien là, en effet, entre la page 220 et la page
221, tel que l’a ingénieusement reconstitué l’imagination de
l’illustrateur de M. Louis Figuier, d’après les travaux
paléontologiques de l’illustre Cuvier… Moutou-Apou avait eu
simplement de la mémoire, l’admirable et fidèle mémoire des
artistes, des enfants, des chasseurs.
Il ne comprit jamais pourquoi M. Nathaniel Billington s’abattit
brusquement sur le sol, anéanti, pleurant à chaudes larmes, — puis,
se relevant, lui logea un magnifique coup de pied au derrière. Peut-
être pensa-t-il que c’était là « manière de blancs », un rite de leur
religion quand ils exhumaient un de leurs frères. En tout cas, il avait
été bien nourri, bien payé. Il s’estima fort satisfait de l’aventure, et
continua de dessiner des mammouths à ses heures de loisirs.
Cette invraisemblable histoire est rigoureusement vraie. Vous
pourrez en retrouver tous les éléments dans les journaux anglais d’il
y a trente ans.
 LE MANTEAU DE PLUMES

En avril 1918, me dit le capitaine John Birchwood, l’hélice de

mon petit vapeur s’enroula autour d’un câble que des idiots avaient
laissé à la traîne entre deux eaux, dans la rade foraine d’Apia, le
principal port, le seul, pratiquement, des îles Samoa : ce qui fait
qu’elle cassa net, comme de raison ; elle ne valait plus grand’chose,
et déjà il m’avait fallu la rafistoler moi-même, devant les Fidji, par les
moyens de mon bord. Mais un vapeur américain me prit en touage
— à la remorque, comme vous dites plutôt, vous autres Français —
et j’accostai comme je pus.
Fort heureusement, l’arsenal d’Apia avait été largement
approvisionné par les Boches, ses anciens propriétaires. De sorte
que je pus me procurer une hélice, et moins cher que je n’eusse
payé à Glasgow.
Le temps de démonter les débris du vieil outil, de poser le
nouveau, de faire gratter mes tôles, qui commençaient d’en avoir
besoin : j’en avais bien pour un mois ou six semaines. Je n’en fus
pas trop fâché ; les marins sont toujours heureux des occasions qui
se présentent de rester quelques jours à terre. N’empêche que je ne
fus pas long à trouver les délices d’Apia un peu monotones… Quand
les vahinés des Samoa sont jeunes, elles sont gentilles, mais c’est
extraordinaire ce qu’elles développent de corpulence en prenant de
l’âge ! Dans ce pays-là une dame de cent kilos est une sylphide. Je
n’exagère pas ! Et, si vous voulez le savoir, ça n’est pas mon goût.
Alors je pris mon fusil, j’achetai un cheval, et gagnai dans cet
équipage Toutouila, qui est l’île la plus au nord de l’archipel. Le
cheval ne me servit à rien du tout, mais vous savez que la première
chose que fait un marin, quand il est à terre, c’est de monter à
cheval, ou du moins de se figurer qu’il va monter à cheval : c’est une
idée de magnificence. Je n’eus qu’à me louer, au contraire, d’avoir
emporté mon fusil. Toutouila est le paradis des oiseaux, et même
des oiseaux de Paradis, ou du moins d’oiseaux qui leur ressemblent
beaucoup : à peine moins brillants de plumage, avec une queue en
forme de lyre. Avant que nous fussions venus vendre aux Samoëns
nos cotonnades de Manchester en échange de leur coprah et de
leur nacre, les femmes de Toutouila tissaient, tressaient, brodaient,
je ne sais comment dire — c’est une fabrication si singulière ! — les
plus beaux manteaux de plumes qui se pussent trouver dans toutes
les îles du Pacifique : des miracles, des choses sans prix ! Les belles
dames de Londres qui paient mille livres un manteau de zibeline me
font rire ; elles ne connaissent pas le manteau de plumes des
Samoa. C’est de l’or, des émeraudes, des rubis ! C’est mieux,
même, plus plaisant à l’œil : plus brillant et plus doux à la fois, avec
des dessins, des tableaux, comme si on voyait en rêve des fleurs,
des palmes, des lacs et le ciel… Il fallait deux ans aux Samoënnes
pour finir un de ces manteaux : rien d’étonnant ! Vous pourriez en
donner cent à vos tisserands de Lyon, ils y renonceraient. Je ne
vous conte pas d’histoires sous prétexte que je reviens de loin, et je
suis sûr de ne pas me tromper : à force de bourlinguer, je suis arrivé
à savoir la valeur des choses.
Il y a tout de même un point qui ne me paraissait pas clair. Il en
faut, des oiseaux, des plumes d’oiseaux, pour un seul de ces
manteaux : des centaines et des centaines. Comment faisaient-ils
pour les tuer, les Samoëns, à l’époque où ils n’avaient pas de fusils ?
Et ils ne connaissaient pas même l’arc : rien que des sagaies, et un
bâton de jet, qui ressemble un peu au boomerang des sauvages
d’Australie, plus l’ordinaire casse-tête, bien entendu ! Vous
comprenez que ça m’intriguait, et quand j’ai découvert la vérité, elle
m’a paru si invraisemblable que je n’ai pas voulu y croire.
Elle me vint sous la forme d’un grand vieux, sec comme une
planche d’acajou, et de la même couleur, sur lequel je tombai un
jour, dans la montagne. Il n’eut pas l’air d’abord bien content de me
voir, et me fit signe de ne pas bouger. Entre leur pas et le nôtre,
quelque soin que nous y mettions, il y aura toujours autant de