Xanadu, a property in California with ties to two cults, is now up for sale for $6.2 million.
The massive parcel of wild land in Box Canyon in Southern California's Simi Valley, spanning 17 acres, was named Xanadu, a fabled city built by Kublai Khan. It was also named the Spahn Movie Ranch, where many Western films and TV shows were shot. However, the property has a dark history, specifically its ties to two cults, per the New York Post.
The land has 11 parcels with several buildings on the lower elevation, some of which date to the Fountain's occupation. There are also three artisan wells, waterfalls, and seasonal creeks.
The Manson Family
In the late 1960s, Charles Manson and his cult followers took over the Spahn Movie Ranch after they were evicted from the cabin of Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. At the time, the ranch was owned by 81-year-old George Spahn.
"Spahn had owned the ranch since 1948, but by the time the Manson Family arrived, he was 81 years old and blind. George liked Charlie, and they came to an understanding that Manson and the women would work the ranch in exchange for being allowed to stay," James Buddy Day, author of Hippie Cult Leader: The Last Words of Charles Manson, told History.
"The Manson Family moved onto the ranch gradually, first staying at a nearby church, then squatting in the empty shacks along the riding trails from time to time," Day added.
The property later became the site of two of the most brutal multiple slayings in American history. Manson and several family members were later convicted of nine murders, including actress Sharon Tate and her unborn child, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and elderly couple the LaBiancas.
Foundation of the World Cult
In 1948, Krishna Venta (whose real name is Frank Pencovic) founded the Foundation of the World cult. It is unclear how Venta acquired the property or who owned the land at the time. Venta's cult promoted doctrines that claimed he came to Earth half a billion years before on a spaceship. He also claimed he was the second coming of Jesus Christ and that the human race would be obliterated in a war between races. Fountain members, however, will be saved.
Venta later had a feud with some men in the cult, who accused him of having sexual interactions with their wives. The cult followers blew up Venta in a suicide bombing, but it also killed nine other members, including children.
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