Customer Reviews

Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here is the true story of Ervil LeBaron, the "Mormon Manson" as told from the point of view of his sister-in-law, Irene Spencer.

This is Mrs. Spencer's second book about being a plural wife in the LeBaron cult. I've read her first book, Shattered Dreams, as well. That first one was about her marriage to Verlan LeBaron, her jealousy of being one of ten wives, the depressing poverty they lived in as one man vainly tried to support ten wives and 58 children.

In Cult Insanity she discusses the history of the LeBaron cult, how several of the LeBaron brothers believed themselves to be God's prophet on Earth, and how brother Ervil's thirst for power led to murder, violence, and constant fear within the group. Ervil has his followers murder his brother Joel, repeatedly attempt to murder his brother Verlan, murder his own daughter, and kill about 25 people from his death list. The murders went on even after he died in prison as his followers continued to eliminate people from his death list, and then began to turn on one another. It's an amazing story of what can happen when a mentally ill person is able to recruit believers to carry out his evil plans.

Now I have read several books about the LeBarons--these two by Irene Spencer, another by her sister wife Susan, and one by Ervil's wife Rena, who killed for him. Despite all that, sometimes this new book was hard to follow. It was hard to keep track of who all the people were and how they were relatd to one another. With all the plural marriages, you'd have somebody married to one woman whose sister was married to that person's father who was also married to the first person's daughter. Very confusing. Some more charts would have been helpful, as well as more explanations. I had the feeling Irene assumed you had read her first book and remembered a lot of people from that book, which I did, but not as well as she assumed. There was one chart that showed Ervil's wives and their many children. It helpfully indicateded which ones were murdered, which ones were in jail, and which ones had killed themselves. A shocking number had died at their own hands.

My recommendation is that you read this, because it is fascinating. However, you'll get more out of it if you read another book about the LeBarons first. I read Ben Bradlee's book Prophet of Blood after I read this book. I think it would have been better to read them in the opposite order.

I hear that Irene Spencer intends to write more books about her experience with the LeBarons. If she does, I will be certainly near the first in line to read them. It's a fascinating story, but I'm glad I didn't live it.

Cult Insanity is the true-life memoir of the author, a woman who for years was married to one of the LeBaron brothers. To say that this family was simply "crazy" is putting it lightly: several generations of family members hearing voices, being locked up in insane asylums, running around nude in preparation of UFOs landing, and, oh yeah, all the murders places this family in the realms of the seriously mentally disturbed.

I didn't read the first book the author wrote (Shattered Dreams), which tells her life being married in polygamy. I wish I would've read that book first, because at times I was a bit lost with all the wives and the extended family. Cult Insanity focuses more on how the cult started, and on the murders; so there isn't much background on the family itself, except for a few of the LeBaron brothers.

The first two-thirds of the book moves a bit slow; with not much happening except the cult growing stronger and getting wierder. It's not until the last third of the book that it gets truly chilling and disturbing. Also, most of the murders are just a short footnote at the end; don't expect to find a detailed account of all that happened. I wish too the author would've written more what her own emotions were during this time. Often, she comes across as very detached, which certainly makes sense after some of the things she's been through

This book paints a picture of what it is like to spend a lifetime following after an idea that is warped and the slow awakening to the notion that one's entire foundation may be crumbling. A bit slow in the middle...not unlike life. =)

This book got only 3 stars due to the disjointed way it was written, there were too many names thrown around with no explanation of who they really were, it like to drove me nuts reading it. Lets put it this way...this is NOT a smooth read. The subject matter on the other hand was so interesting. I just don't understand the fundamentalists Mormons, the whole time I am readng this I am thinking "any normal, sane person would of walked away" why anyone would subject their children or themselves to this kind of life is beyond my comprehension, I'm sorry, I think this is for sure child neglect if not outright child abuse. I felt no sympathy for the author, not that I believe she was asking for any, I felt no connection, I just kept shaking my head. What a bunch of idiots!! Insanity is too mild a word for this kind of life.

This story has so many tragic details, that it's almost hard to comprehend. There is so much to follow in a book with so many people, yet Irene makes a good effort to reveal all the important and interesting details of one of the most horrifying religious fanatic cults of modern times. Stick with the book, as the first part has some boring, but useful information. Then be prepared to read about many sad and shocking events that are not products of the author's imagination - but really took place in the name of religion. Cult Insanity is better understood after reading Shattered Dreams, and is about the same group written of in Daughters of Zion, and Favorite Wife.

This book was somewhat slow for me to get into, though once I had gotten a basic grasp of the story, it became a real page-turner. Mrs. Spencer's story illustrates one of the scariest things about cults, how most of the members are actually (or at least start out as) pretty normal people who, for one reason or another, were influenced by the promises of a charismatic leader or drawn in by a lifestyle or belief system that seemed to make sense at the time they got involved. In this book, we get to know people like Nephi Marston, Mauro Gutierrez, the author's uncle Dr. Rulon Allred, the leader of a rival FLDS group, and a number of the co-wives in the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, all normal and sympathetic people who would not have thought of themselves as members of a cult. There were a lot of brothers in the LeBaron family, and as Irene was warned prior to her marriage to Verlan, craziness ran in that family, though the LeBaron brother who takes center stage for his craziness here is the creepy, abusive, murderous, insane Ervil. (I loved how a typo rendered his name as Evil near the end of the book!) Even though Joel is the prophet and leader of this cult based in Mexico, before long Ervil gets more and more power and influence, and pulls more and more outrageous stunts, like stealing other men's wives (based on the belief that a pre-existing marriage isn't really valid if the spouses supposedly don't really love one another), taking more and more plural wives, marrying teenagers (several of them very unwilling partners), trying to institute crazy and outrageous rules for everyone to follow, going behind Joel's back to deliver some of his so-called orders and prophecies, sending threatening manifestos to government officials and the leaders of other FLDS groups (primarily Dr. Allred), and ordering hits on his imagined rivals (based on the early Mormon doctrine of blood atonement, which has since been discontinued by the mainstream church). As time goes on, Irene becomes more and more convinced that she and her family need to get away from Ervil, but it's going to be very difficult to do so, because, like most women in these polygamous cults, she has a great amount of children (thirteen), which makes it harder for her to not only leave but to successfully take care of her family in the free world.

Since I didn't read Mrs. Spencer's previous book, though, at times it was kind of hard to follow along with who was who, what with so many sister wives of the main LeBaron brothers and all of the dozens of children they had. This book is also primarily about Ervil and the trail of terror he left in his wake, not a personal memoir like the first book, so I was missing some of the background info on Irene and her family that might have made the story come even more alive for me (for example, I didn't learn all that much about the characters of most of her kids). The narrative was also nonlinear at times, which made it somewhat harder to follow the exact timeframe. Nonlinear narrative can work really well in certain works of fiction, but I don't like it in a work of non-fiction, when it's more important to relay events in the order they happened, instead of jumping back and forth between years. Overall, though, it was a compelling portrait of cult dynamics and what happens when people who are already unhinged are put in positions of power in such groups.

This book is an inside look at the insanity that was Ervil Lebarron written by his former sister in law.

Irene Spencer had been married to Ervil Lebarron's brother Verlan for more than twenty years and had a birds eye view of his decent into madness.

The first time she met Ervil he did not know that she was his brothers second wife. He just thought she had come to Colonia Lebarron to visit her sister who was also married to Verlan. Ervil told Verlan that he had a sign that she was to be his wife instead.

Over the years Ervil said and did some things that Irene and other members of Colonia Lebarron did not agree with, but after he had his brother Joel killed things went down hill.

Irene details the many murders that he ordered over the years.

Not only did he have his brother murdered, he had his step son and brother in law/son in law murder his daughter. He also had his cronies set fire to a colony in Mexico because he though that Verlan and/or some of his wives where living there. Several days before the fire, Irene got a feeling that something bad was going to happen, so she got her kids out. However one of her older sons happened to be staying with his Aunt (who was also married to Verlan) and some of his half siblings when the raid happened. Irene details his heroics during the raid helping put out fires and trying to get people out of harms way during the shooting that happened during the raid.

This book can be difficult to read in parts, but over all it is a very interesting read that is hard to put down

I loved this author's first book and wanted to read more by her but this book is slow-moving and flat. Definitely not up the high level of storytelling in her book Shattered Dreams. It's just OK.

Cult Insanity is a riveting true story of a woman who lived in a Mormon polygamist cult in the 1970s. Unlike the polygamist members you may have seen living a wealthy lifestyle on TV both in fiction and news shows, this cult lived in abject poverty in Mexico. It is an interesting story of the generational hold that this type of cult has on its members. There are quite a few people that you have to keep track of, but that is to be expected when the men had 10 or more wives and dozens of children.

It is an interesting story of self-declared prophets, poverty, abuse, and finally freedom. There are photographs, a map, and an interesting chart with the wives and children of Ervil LeBaron showing which ones were murdered, put in prison, or died by their own hands. The story jumps around a little, and I found it disturbing to read about the author's complicity in keeping a woman locked in a room for years. It was just too simplistic of an explanation to read that this woman "lost her mind" when she found out her husband took a second wife and needed to be locked up.

All in all a very interesting read.

This book was an intense and powerful look at a life I never knew existed. Although the writing was a bit amateurish in some areas, the subject matter and the actual story kept me enthralled with every page. It is the story of Evril LeBaron, the leader of a fundamentalist faction of the Mormon faith. Irene, the author is Evril's sister in-law and lived years in the same compound as Evril, with him being the "Patriarch" of the group. The things Irene describes are terrible and frightening. I am still reeling from this book and I read it over a week ago.

I think in saying the writing was a bit amateurish I need to explain myself. I found a lot of areas to repeat themselves and things moved along in a very choppily and it was hard to get a grip on during some parts. Especially during the climax of the book, she explains her way, then another persons view and then another. Either way this book is worth the read, especially if you are interested in cult societies.

(Believe me when I say, I know my writing is amateurish, as well)