Elohim City, Oklahoma
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Elohim City is a private community in Adair County, Oklahoma founded by Richard G. Millar in 1973. Millar, a Canadian immigrant and charismatic religious leader, moved his followers to the site from their former location in Ellicott City, Maryland[1] in 1973, after previously having established a church in Oklahoma during the 1950s. Its 400 acres are known to be frequented by Christian Identity followers. The community gained national attention for its supposed ties to members of the Silent Brotherhood in the 1980s and with convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in the 1990s, although the link has been dismissed by the FBI.
In 1986 a Canadian woman and her children sought refuge in the city, contravening a court order awarding custody of the children to her husband. Officers attempting to arrest the woman were met by a show of arms, although the community was not known to be particularly firearm-obsessed or violent.
The remains of former Elohim City guest Richard Snell were released to Elohim City residents following his April 19, 1995, execution in Arkansas. Snell taunted jailers that something drastic would happen the day of his execution. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was destroyed by a bomb in the hours before he died. Earlier criminal proceedings had produced evidence that Snell and other affiliates had visited the Murrah building to examine it as a possible bombing target in 1983.
Elohim is a Hebrew word for God.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Known as "The Camp", it was located on Route 144 about one mile west from the intersection of Route 29 in Howard County, at the former location of a Catholic Abbey. "The Camp" was rural in the early 1970s and has since been developed into a suburban housing community.
