WKLF Foundation of the World

Approx. 1948-1958
"One of the most famous cults in Southern California, Krishna Venta's WKFL (for Knowledge, Faith and Love) began as a quiet monastery in Box Canyon in 1948. It was there that Venta taught his followers to set up food services for the poor, offer free room and board to the wayward, and help firefighters and emergency relief groups in times of need. He taught them that smoking was healthy, human beings evolved from space aliens, and that he was none other than Jesus Christ himself. (To prove it, he liked to show his detractors that he was born without a belly button.] His views on casual sex bothered some, however, including two of his followers, Brother Kamenoff and Brother Muller, who placed twenty sticks of dynamite under his compound in 1958 and blew him to smithereens after they discovered that he had seduced their wives." [Paul Young, L.A. Exposed: Strange Myths and Curious Legends in the City of Angels (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Griffin, 2002): 183]

(created 15 December 2002)
SOURCE: Paul Young, L.A. Exposed: Strange Myths and Curious Legends in the City of Angels, New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Griffin, 2002.