Branch Davidians

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

2018 marks the 25-year anniversary of a 51-day siege that ended in tragedy, following a shootout between the U.S. government and members of a sect called the Branch Davidians. The gunfire exchange lasted for well over an hour, killing four U.S. agents and six Branch Davidians, and wounding their leader Vernon Howell, also known as David Koresh. Yet this violence was just the beginning of an ordeal that would culminate in an inferno later to become known as the Waco Massacre.

CW: references to manipulative behaviours, suicide, murder, and physical abuse and sexual assault, including of minors. Please consider whether this is suitable for you and those around you who may be listening too.

Image of Mount Carmel Center on episode webpage header by Lorie Shaull.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, you can find support or donate to Cult Information and Family Support if you’re in Australia (via www.cifs.org.au), and you can find resources outside of Australia with the International Cultic Studies Association (via www.icsahome.com).

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention website at www.iasp.info.

EPISODE LINKS

• The Sinful Messiah — The Waco Tribune-Herald's 7-part investigative series, 1993.
• The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation — by Dick J. Reavis, Syracuse University Press, 1998
• Breaking through the myths surrounding the 1993 Branch Davidian raid— by Lee Hancock, Dallas News, 27 February 2018
• Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict — by Stuart A. Wright, University of Chicago Press, 1995
• Who was David Koresh? — by Ashley Fantz, CNN, 14 April 2011
• Four Years After the Flames of Waco, a Film Keeps the Doubts Smoldering — by Sam Howe Verhovek, The New York Times, 19 August 1997
• Branch Davidian children's drawings foretold deadly Waco fire, psychiatrist says — by Spencer Wilking, ABC News, 4 January 2018
• Who was David Koresh: Ex-followers describe life inside apocalyptic religious sect involved in 1993 Waco siege — by Muriel Pearson, Spencer Wilking & Lauren Effron, ABC News, 2 January 2018
• The children of Waco — ABC News documentary, 17 April 2003
• Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas, goes up in flames — ABC News television coverage, 19 April 1993
• Prophecy of doom — Graeme Craddock, as told to Konrad Marshall, The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 2013
• WACO DOCUMENTARY REWRITES THE RECORD — 1998 Spring Issue, Intelligence Report, 15 June 1998
• Indicting The Feds For the Siege At Waco — by Stephen Holden, The New York Times, 13 June 1997
• WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT — film review by Roger Ebert, 19 September 1997
• Sacred And Profane – How not to negotiate with believers. — by Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, 31 March 2014
• Truth and Lies: Waco — ABC News Special, 4 January 2018
• The Shadow of Waco — RetroReport, The New York Times, 12 July 2015
• Memories of Waco Siege Continue to Fuel Far-Right Groups — Retro Report by Clyde Haberman, 12 July 2015
• The Siege at Waco — Crimes of the Century, CNN, 25 August 2013
• Two Decades Later, Some Branch Davidians Still Believe — by John Burnett, Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR, 20 April 2013
• BIOGRAPHY: David Koresh — Frontline, PBS
• The Devil's Party: A History Of Charlatan Messiahs — by Colin Wilson, Random House, 2011
• The Messiah of Waco — by Barbara Kantrowitz, Newsweek, 14 March 1993
• Warning of Violence Was Unheeded After Cult Leader's Gun Battle in '87— by Adam Nossiter, The New York Times, 10 March 1993
• Cult planned sham marriages for members: Former wife says Howell forced her to ‘wed’ member so he could stay in U.S. — by Marc R. Masferrer, Waco Tribune-Herald, 6 March 1993
• Waco siege 25 years on — A Current Affair, 31 January 2018
• Former dispatchers remember 911 calls from Branch Davidian raid — by Seth Kovar, KXXV, ABC, 1 March 2018
• U.s. Agent Tried To Stop 1st Waco Raid – Mole Tells How Bosses Rebuffed His Efforts — by Linnet Myers, Chicago Tribune, 25 July 1995
• How the 1993 Waco standoff began with a bloody gunbattle that federal agents now regret — by Lee Hancock, Dallas News, 25 February 2018
• Conway C. LeBleu ATF Fallen Agents Biography
• 51 days under siege: A timeline of the Branch Davidian standoff — by Lee Hancock, Dallas News, 27 February 2018
• Koresh and Followers Intended to Surrender, Lawyers Contend — by Sue Anne Pressley, 26 July 1995
• FBI Skeptical of Koresh Surrender Plan, Officials Say : Waco: Proposal from the Branch Davidian leader's lawyer was given little credence, they testify. The offer 'was just another delaying tactic,' one says. — by David Willman and Glenn F. Bunting, Los Angeles Times, 27 July 1995
• Siege at Waco, Doctor Murdered in Pensacola — by Leonard Zeskind, Searchlight Magazine, 31 March 1993
• Timothy McVeigh at Waco | Oklahoma City — Segment from PBS' Oklahoma City documentary, 2 February 2017
• Government Cleared in Deaths at Waco — by Jim Yardley, 21 September 2000
• Autopsies: Children At Waco Were Shot — The Washington Post, 14 July 2000
• ‘Waco’ Through the Eyes of a Former Branch Davidian — by Alex Hannaford, Texas Monthly, 24 January 2018
• 48 Hours — Peter Van Sant, CBS, 29 December 2017
• 8 Branch Davidians Get Sentences of 5 to 40 Years in Prison — The Washington Post, 18 June 1994
• The Real Story Behind the Waco Siege: Who Were David Koresh and the Branch Davidians? — by Melissa Chan, TIME, 24 January 2018
• The Branch Davidians: Oh, My God, They're Killing Themselves! — by Nancy Gibbs, TIME, 3 May 1993
• Right-wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort — Chip Berlet and Matthew Nemiroff Lyons, Guilford Press, 2 November 2000
• 22 years after the Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy McVeigh remains the only terrorist executed by US — by Ryan Gorman, Business Insider Australia, 20 April 2017
• Waco and Ruby Ridge: the 1990s standoffs haunting the Oregon takeover, explained — by Dara Lind, Vox, 5 January 2016
• 10 Things You May Not Know About Waco — by Sarah Childress, Frontline, 28 February 2018
• War in the West — 2014 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center
• Flashback: Waco Cult Showdown Ends in Disaster — by Eric Killelea, Rolling Stone, 4 January 2018
• Teenager Tells Waco Panel of Koresh's Lust — by Sue Anne Pressley, The Washington Post, 20 July 1995
• SERIAL KILLERS: The Psychosocial Development of Humanity's Worst Offenders — by William M. Harmening, Charles C Thomas Publisher, 1 September 2014
• Eric Robert Rudolph Fast Facts — CNN Library, updated 8 September 2017
• For Rachel Koresh and Kin, a Deadly Devotion — by Sue Anne Pressley, The Washington Post, 28 April 1993
• Gruesome Contest to Raise Dead Led to Koresh's Takeover of Cult — by Mary Jordan and Sue Anne Pressley, The Washington Post, 7 March 1993
• Relative: Suspect has ‘mental’ problems — by Rich Flowers, Athens Daily Review, 27 January 2009
• A prophet for profit? Branch Davidian leader took his followers for all they had, former cult members say — by Darlene McCormick, Waco Tribune-Herald, 6 March 1993
• Life After Waco — by Robert Bryce, The Austin Chronicle, 23 June 2000
• LOST IN THE CHAOS – Branch Davidian tragedy at 25: How the story overtook the storytellers — by J.B. Smith, Waco Tribune-Herald, 24 February 2018
• 5 Years After Waco Standoff, The Spirit of Koresh Lingers — by Sam Howe Verhovek, The New York Times, 19 April 1998
• A Journey to Waco: Autobiography of a Branch Davidian — by Clive Doyle, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 25 July 2012
• Girl Tells Of Molestation By Koresh — by Linnet Myers, Chicago Tribune, 20 July 1995
• Timeline: How the siege unfolded — Waco Tribune-Herald, 20 April 1993