In the autumn of 2008, federal agents raided a compound in southwestern Arkansas. They freed six girls who'd grown up on self-styled evangelist Tony Alamo's watch. A week later, Alamo was arrested on charges he carried minors across state lines for sexual purposes.
Tony Alamo's "Christian ministry" began about half a century ago in Southern California, when the quirky music promoter became obsessed with promoting himself. With his wife Susan, Alamo established a group initially classified as a religious nonprofit. Its true purpose was to grab cheap labor and make money. Outsiders, and many of the people who left the group, called it a cult.
The story of Alamo's cult, and its effect on children who grew up in it, is told in Debby Schriver's new book Whispering in the Daylight, published by UT Press.
"The bottom line is, [The Alamos] wanted money and power, and it was all about that," Schriver said in an interview with WUOT's Brandon Hollingsworth. "I think they never really believed the 'Christian' part of their message. And they found a way to hook people."
Daily life in the cult's compounds was brutal, Schriver said. People targeted as potential marks would be taken to a compound outside Los Angeles and subjected to a nominally faith-based talk, then intimidated into joining the Alamo group. A six-month brainwashing period would follow. Days and nights were occupied by farm work and construction, punctuated by mandatory religious services. Many of the residents were sleep-deprived and had poor nutrition. Nearly every move was monitored. Paychecks went straight into the Alamos' coffers.
Tony Alamo's behavior worsened after Susan's death in 1982. Alamo became a polygamist, taking on younger "wives," some as young as nine years old. It was that penchant that toppled Alamo. In 2009, the year after the Arkansas compound raid, he was convicted on child sex abuse charges.
Getting the survivors, particularly children, to talk about their experiences was difficult. The Alamos and other authority figures in the cult (called "overseers") had tight control over what was learned, or could be taught. The children freed in the 2008 raid had little to understanding of the outside world, history or current events.
"if you think about it, they didn't have a pre-cult identity," Schriver said. "So every part of them was wired by Tony Alamo's teachings. I really put down my pen and paper, and just tried to get to know them. It took them a long time to trust me."
Alamo died in a North Carolina federal prison in 2017, but the cult that bore his name carries on. The original Southern California compound still exists, and the group still actively recruits new members in other parts of the country, including New York City.
"What we need to remember is, people aren't freed by the cult leader's death," Schriver said. "They're already wired, and their beliefs and values are already there - particularly the ones that were born there."
An edited version of this interview aired on WUOT on Thursday, May 3. In this conversation, Brandon Hollingsworth erroneously says Alamo was a Montana native. Alamo was born in Missouri and grew up in Montana.