• Episode 7: The Dorrellite Cult

  • Nov 12 2022
  • Length: 34 mins
  • Podcast

Episode 7: The Dorrellite Cult

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  • Summary

  • In the 1790s, an illiterate former British redcoat named William Dorrell started a bizarre cult in the small town of Leyden, Massachusetts. He declared himself to be the messiah, and taught his followers to practice vegetarianism, nonviolence, and free love. His cult only lasted for a few years, but its brief heyday was in many ways a prelude to the many different unorthodox religious groups that would appear in the United States during the early 19th century.

    For more information about the Dorrellites:

    The History of Leyden, Massachusetts, 1676-1959 by William Tyler Arms

    History of the Town of Bernardston, Franklin County, Massachusetts, 1736-1900 by Lucy Jane Kellogg

    History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association

    An 1831 map of Leyden, made by Hezekiah Newcomb, one of Dorrell's followers.
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