California property with
dark ties to 2 cults, including the Manson Family, lists for $6.2M
A promotional video for this
listed California property calls it Xanadu — the fabled city built by Kublai
Khan — but it’s not what many may think.
The massive parcel of wild
land in Box Canyon in Southern California’s Simi Valley, which asks $6.2
million for sale, has a dark history.
For starters, the Spahn
Movie Ranch, a former cowboy movie set where many western films and TV
favorites like “Bonanza” were shot, is a neighboring property. Spahn was
infamously taken over by the Manson Family in the late 1960s.
It was from up there, about
25 miles northwest of Hollywood, that Charles Manson and his followers plotted
two of the most brutal multiple slayings in American history. Collectively
known as the Tate-LaBianca murders, the six victims included actress Sharon
Tate and her unborn child, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and the LaBiancas, an
elderly couple. Charles Manson and several Family members were eventually
convicted of nine murders, including these, but they are suspected in at least
15 more.
That certainly put the
dilapidated Spahn Movie Ranch, owned by George Spahn, in the headlines. But it
wasn’t Manson’s first choice as a place to hang his hat. Before moving a few
miles west over to Spahn, Manson initially wanted to live on this plot of land
in Box Canyon.
Today, this property listed
as 585 Box Canyon Road is a serene 17-acre spread within the hills around the
well-to-do town of Chatsworth. The land has several rental homes built among
shading old oak trees at its lower elevation.
“It is a very unique
property — huge, probably the largest in the area,” listing representative
Chris Johnson told The Post. Johnson and his partner Holly Hatch — of Holly
& Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell Banker Calabasas — are handling the
sale.
“It’s beautiful and
peaceful, unspoiled. It’s like the wild, wild west up there,” he added. “But
you’re very close to Calabasas and you can be in LA in 45 minutes.”
Those are the comforts of
today. Even before Manson came along, bizarre events were already happening in
Box Canyon.
In 1948, a man calling
himself Krishna Venta (real name Frank Pencovic) founded the Fountain of the
World cult, aka the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love), there. It’s not
entirely clear who owned the land at that time or how Venta acquired it. But
smoke and mirrors was Venta’s modus operandi as he spun his doctrine to blindly
faithful followers — one that said he came to Earth half a billion years before
on a spaceship (he was born in San Francisco), and that he was the second
coming of Jesus Christ. Venta also predicted that the human race would be all
but obliterated after a black vs. white race war, also involving the Russians —
it was the Cold War era, after all. The eventual survivors would, of course, be
the Fountain members, who would then rise victorious in an inheriting the
Earth-type scenario.
Venta wielded absolute power
with his charismatic sermons from his pulpit in the Box Canyon compound’s
church. He would make grand declarations, then sometimes miraculously disappear
from the pulpit.
“There’s a tunnel on the
property, which leads from the pulpit,” said Johnson with a laugh. “Apparently,
he’d disappear and pop up and surprise people and say, ‘See, it’s a miracle! I
really am Jesus,’” he added. “There are so many stories about this place it’s
hard to keep up.”
One of them is especially
tragic. Venta had a feud with a couple of men in the cult, who accused him of
sexual interactions with their wives. Those men loaded up with explosives and
blew up Venta in a suicide bombing, which also killed nine Fountain members —
including children.
Apparently, according to
UCLA records, Venta’s right hand man, Bishop Asiaiah, became the cult’s new
leader. Around 1968, the already much-troubled Manson and his followers moved
in, and Manson tried to take over the cult.
The already-mentally
unstable Manson is thought to have admired Venta and is said to have wanted to
emulate the way he had absolute control over his followers. Also, Venta’s
doctrine is eerily similar to Manson’s rantings about a race war destroying the
US, and it is widely thought that the cult leader’s influence steered him onto
his megalomaniacal path.
“Manson seems to have viewed
Krisna Venta as a role model,” Hatch agreed. “The new leader tried to push
Manson out of the way. That’s how Manson and his followers ended up at nearby
Spahn Movie Ranch.”
Apparently, Bishop Asiaiah
may have thought Manson a bit of a loser, and mocked him, saying Manson didn’t
hold absolute power over his followers like he and Venta did. According to
local lore, to show Bishop Asiaiah who was boss, Manson challenged one of his
own followers to prove his loyalty by tying himself to a pole on a nearby rock
formation, telling him to stay there for two weeks.
That cave-like rock, shaped
like a wolf’s skull, is called Skull Rock.
“Yes, Skull Rock is right
there on the Box Canyon property,” said Johnson, who had heard the story. “The
land has so many caves. I grew up in the area and would hike the hills with my
father. The locals called the caves up there the Manson Caves, because the
Manson Family members would use them.
“After the murders,” he
added, “the Manson girls are said to have fled to the caves to hide out. They
would certainly have known about them, so that story is quite likely.”
Hatch agreed: “They knew
where to hide up there because they had been there on the property so much.”
The property includes 11
parcels with several buildings, which date to the Fountain’s occupation,
including the original main lodge.
“Nobody has done much with
the buildings since then. They are lived in, but they need modernization,” said
Hatch.
“The land has three artisan
wells, and there are waterfalls and seasonal creeks,” added Johnson. “It’s
really beautiful.”
Spahn Movie Ranch burned to
the ground in 1970. A couple years after, the Fountain began petering out with
members dispersing to found or join other cults — two members even died in Jim
Jones’ Jonestown mass suicide in 1978 in Guyana.
Only one member of the
Manson Family murderers has been freed from prison; Manson himself died in
prison in California in 2017 at age 83.
After the Fountain folks
moved on, the current family acquired the land and buildings, and it’s been
happily inhabited ever since by many tenants.
Hatch and Johnson are wary
of oddballs being attracted to this listing, but neither thinks the controversy
surrounding Box Canyon will harm the property’s sale.
“There’s so much more to
this intricate property than that controversial side,” Hatch said. “Most people
know it for its incredible landscape. It’s magical; it’s very different. Nobody
says anything negative about it. This would be perfect as a resort or wellness
center with a focus on healing.”
“I don’t think it’s a big
deal, the property speaks for itself,” agreed Johnson. “It’s very creative and
… flowing. It would make a great resort or artist colony. It’s similar to
Topanga Canyon, but Topanga has become so oversubscribed. Box Canyon is still
undiscovered. It’s quiet, untouched and mountainous. It’s the last frontier of
LA.”
A detective magazine story on the bombing.
