Monday, November 24, 2008

35. Ventura County Star (November 24, 2008) - 1 of 2

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/nov/24/residents-carve-out-life-away-crowds-winding-road/

The above link is to a November 24, 2008 Ventura County Star article entitled "Residents carve out a life away from crowds on a winding road," which mentions Krishna Venta and the Fountain:
The area was also home to a cult decades before the Manson family moved there. Krishna Venta (born Francis Pencovic in San Francisco in 1911) moved to Box Canyon Road along with his cult, Fountain of the World, in the late 1940s.

Known by the initials "WKFL" — Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love — cult members were known for helping others. They dressed in robes and went around barefoot, giving shelter to the needy and feeding the homeless. Some members slept in caves above their Box Canyon home.

"I would see them walking about in their garb," recalled Virginia Watson, 87, who moved to the area in 1952. "They were friendly and always tried to help others."

The group gained national fame when members were the first on scene to help victims of an airliner that crashed into the nearby hills in 1949.

The group fell apart in December 1958 when two former cult members blew up themselves and others, including Venta, in a suicide bombing.

The two claimed that Venta had mishandled cult funds and been intimate with
their wives.
This article appears to lift heavily from the Wikipedia entry yours truly wrote regarding Krishna Venta.

It must also be noted that, aside from the occasional camp out, etc., no surviving Fountain members recall anyone ever sleeping in the surrounding caves with any regularity.

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