Video: 'Rise and Fall of Rajneeshpuram'

(Friday, July 10, 1971) — Little more than a week after he abandoned his once thriving ashram at Poona, India, for one in Montclair, New Jersey, the dedicated followers of cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh purchased a 39-square-mile ranch near Antelope, Oregon, today and named the haven Rajneeshpuram.

Rajneeshpuram, a 64,229-acre Central Oregon property known as the Big Muddy Ranch, was purchased for $5.75 million.

Within a year of arriving, the commune’s leaders had become embroiled in a series of legal battles with their neighbors, primarily over land use.