25 Years After the Rajneesh (Portland, Salem: buying, living, law)

[karlsch]

A strange chapter in Oregon history recounted by the Oregonian: Rajneeshees in Oregon: The Untold Story - OregonLive.com

[Minervah]

Boy do I remember them. A friend of mine went to check them out and almost got converted. She said the Rajneesh and his cronies were mesmerizing. A very scary group of people. They took over what Antelope Oregon where the people who were already living there were not at all happy.

In the city of Portland itself, there were lots of Rajneeshees and Hari Krishnas on the streets begging for money on just about every corner. The Rajneeshees were pretty agressive.

Thanks for sharing this. I am going out and buying an Oregonian.

[Nell Plotts]

I recall a friend who had family in that area. The Rajeneesh were scary. I reminded him that these groups historically implode, just hang in there and take the long view.

[Metlakatla]

Oh...I remember those whackaloons. I was living full time in Alaska and came down to visit; my sister was a law clerk at the appellate court during that time and was working on a state of Oregon case against them. At that time I wore a lot of "sunrise colors" and she advised me not to wear them around her Salem colleagues.

[Minervah]

At that time I wore a lot of "sunrise colors" and she advised me not to wear them around her Salem colleagues.

Same here. I had a magenta colored jacket and I wore red a lot. People here in Portland advised me not to.

[Nell Plotts]

I interacted with a couple INS idiots from time to time during that era. If they had been as interested in investigating those folks as they were collecting hard working undocumented farm workers the Rajanishees wouldn't have had time to change their underwear.

My $0.02.

[karlsch]

A must watch: Coming March 16 on Netflix.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBLS_OM6Puk

[wolfdog]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

I interacted with a couple INS idiots from time to time during that era. If they had been as interested in investigating those folks as they were collecting hard working undocumented farm workers the Rajanishees wouldn't have had time to change their underwear.

My $0.02.

Were the Rajneeshees American citizens?

[Metlakatla]

For the most part, no. A bunch of them finally got deported, but only after that nasty little bioterrorism incident.

[Luckystrike1]

25 years??? Is that all? Seems longer ago than that.


In the mid-80's, at a disco joint in Beaverton, there was a group of Rajneeshees all dressed in their red-purple clothes. All higher than a rocket, and I literally observed one of the men preying on a stupid girl who appeared to leave the premises with him. This group loved to dance. A few hours later I noticed a couple of them weren't so high anymore. Unbelievable.


And to answer poster #8's question: These people at the dance hall were all white people from 20's to maybe 40. There were a lot of young, gullible whites in the cult as well as some East-Indians. Photographs will show you that.