The Bizarre Cult in Benton Harbor That Ran Its Own Amusement Park

Benton Harbor — The House of David was a bizarre religious cult that was centered in Benton Harbor throughout much of the 1900s, and remnants of it are still standing there today.

Like many religious cults, the members all lived together, followed a very strange set of beliefs, and were led by a man who claimed to be a messenger from God but turned out to be a corrupt pervert. But they were also freakishly good at baseball, built a business empire, and ran one of the most popular amusement parks in the Midwest.

The House of David was first founded by a man named Benjamin Purnell in 1903. He was a traveling preacher from Kentucky who declared himself the Seventh and Final Messenger of God. He preached that 144,000 faithful Israelites could achieve physical immortality if they pledged eternal obedience to him and followed a strict set of rules.

Members practiced celibacy, even if they were married, avoided meat, alcohol, and tobacco and weren't allowed to cut their hair or shave—so all the men had such long hair and beards. They were also pacifists who rejected war and violence and gave up their private property and earnings to the community.

Purnell arrived in Benton Harbor with only a small handful of followers, but the group grew quickly. People came from all over the country and as far away as Canada and Australia to join, and by 1916, the House of David had recruited close to 1,000 members.

Another thing about Benjamin Purnell: He loved to make some money, and he quickly realized that having hundreds of loyal followers all living and working together gave him a pretty incredible business opportunity.

Agriculture was one of their first ventures. They would grow and sell produce before eventually starting the "House of David Jellies and Jams" company. After that, they got into the manufacturing and hospitality businesses, opened bakeries, hotels, and automobile dealerships, and by the 1920s, the House of David had built an entire economic empire.

But by far their biggest and most famous business venture of them all was the amusement park.

Eden Springs Amusement Park opened in 1908, and the entire thing spanned over 125 acres. They had just about everything you could imagine—a zoo and aviary, swimming pool, bowling alley, movie theater, dance hall, restaurants, hotels, a baseball stadium, live performances, and even their own miniature railroad to take you around the place.

At its peak, it was one of the most popular tourist attractions anywhere in the Midwest, completely owned and operated by a religious cult.

But what's really cool is that today, more than a century later, parts of the park are still there. In 2009, preservationists took over part of the old property and began restoring it, and while it's technically no longer affiliated with the House of David, the old miniature railroad is still up and running. You can take a ride on it every weekend throughout the summer and you'd never know the strange history behind it.

And it's not just the railroad that remains. Rumor has it you can also still see where home plate of the baseball stadium used to be. I asked one of the men working at the train station if he could help us find it, and turns out, this guys grandfather was actually a member of the commune!

Not only did he help us find home plate, but he showed us around the entire property and pointed out where all of the other attractions used to be.

A surprising amount of it is still there if you know what you're looking for. He showed us exactly where the zoo, bowling alley, and dance floor used to be and pointed out that an abandoned building on the property was once one of the restaurants.

He also took us inside the little House of David museum, which sits on the property and was filled with old photo albums, products they used to sell, and all sorts of other artifacts left behind from when the park was still operating.

The House of David is also known for their incredibly successful sports teams. They played professional baseball teams all over the country and are even rumored to have beaten players like Chief Bender and Babe Ruth—which our friend at the park confirmed to be true.

The whole sports thing started because Purnell noticed that a lot of the younger men in the colony were pretty athletic and figured that since they were required to be celibate, they could put all of that energy into sports instead. They got really good really fast, and within a few years, the House of David had semi-professional teams traveling all around the country sometimes playing as many as 200 games in a year.

Eventually, sports became much more than just an outlet for the younger men. House of David baseball became an entire entertainment business, and not just because they were so good—the games became a whole spectacle.

There's already something pretty entertaining about watching a group of bearded men run around the bases with hair that's down to their waists flowing behind them, but they leaned into it too and started incorporating tricks and comedy into their games. They developed something called the Pepper Game, where players would make ridiculously fast throws, perform tricks and visual gags, and even pretend the baseball had disappeared into their beards.

People weren't just coming to watch a really good baseball team, they were coming to see the show.

They were great performers in other ways too. There were several different House of David bands that toured all around the country, including marching bands, jazz groups, and orchestras.

By the end of the 1910s, the House of David had become a full-blown national phenomenon. At its peak, they had one of the top amusement parks in the region, wildly successful bands and sports teams, an entire business empire and more than 1,000 members all living in their massive community in Benton Harbor.

But then it all came crashing down.

Beginning in the early 1920s, former members started filing lawsuits against the House of David, and all sorts of horrible accusations started coming out about the man in charge.

As it turns out, Benjamin Purnell was a pretty bad guy. Shocker. It's the same thing every time with these guys.

He was accused of having sexual relationships with several underage girls, forcing marriages among members, fraud, withholding wages, poor living conditions, and several other horrid acts.

Remember, all of this was allegedly happening while the rest of his followers were being told they had to remain completely celibate.

People disagree here about exactly what happened, and House of David supporters have long argued that the press at the time sensationalized or misrepresented parts of the story. But regardless, there were all sorts of horrible allegations flying around about him, and eventually the authorities came looking.

But it would take a lot longer for Purnell to be brought down for good, and this is where the story gets really interesting.

Around 1923, when warrants were issued for Purnell's arrest, he vanished. Authorities and newspapers treated him as a fugitive on the run, and it took them three whole years to finally track him down.

The searches reportedly stretched far beyond Michigan, and people thought he had fled to Canada, was hiding in a different state, or had even died.

But when authorities finally caught him in November 1926, newspapers reported that Purnell had actually been hiding right inside the House of David compound the entire time, while police spent years searching just about everywhere else.

When he was finally caught, Benjamin Purnell was charged with statutory rape, along with accusations of religious fraud, gross immorality, perjury, and obstruction of justice.

But by the time he was arrested, Purnell was already extremely sick with tuberculosis and diabetes, and just over a year later, on Dec. 16, 1927, he died from complications of the illnesses.

Now, if all of those horrible accusations against your leader weren't enough to make you rethink being apart of this commune, surely him dying would be, right?

I mean, the leader of a cult built entirely around the promise of immortality dying seems like pretty solid evidence that the whole thing was a sham.

Well, surprisingly, the failed promise of immortality did not kill the House of David for good. There were even newspaper reports that some followers waited to see whether Purnell would come back to life after his death, and although it's disputed how many members actually believed that, the cult lived on for decades without him.

After Benjamin was gone, a power struggle began between his wife, Mary Purnell, and Judge Harry Dewhirst, Benjamin's chosen successor, over who would take control of the House of David. By 1930, the group had officially split into two separate factions.

Mary left with around 200 followers and created a new community nearby called Mary's City of David. Her group started businesses of its own, including a resort, bakery, vegetarian café, and Mary's City of David Hotel in downtown Benton Harbor. That hotel is still standing today and has been sitting vacant for decades.

The other group remained with the original House of David and continued operating many of its former businesses, as well as Eden Springs Park. Both sides continued operating sports teams too, and Mary's group continued sending House of David baseball teams around the country until 1956.

Over time, the businesses started disappearing and Eden Springs Amusement Park eventually shut down in the 1970s. But what really caused the House of David to die out was much simpler in that they did just that: They died out.

When your cult requires everyone to be celibate, it's pretty difficult to replenish your group of followers. The population shrank more and more over the years, and by the late 20th century, only a tiny number of followers remained.

But the religion itself has never really disappeared. A few new members have joined over the years, and apparently there's still a small number of followers around today, although they mostly keep to themselves now.

Even without the population it once had, the House of David has still left its mark all over Benton Harbor. Shiloh House remains on the original property, Mary's old hotel is still downtown and, of course, there’s Eden Springs Amusement Park.

Visitors will continue to go every summer and step aboard the same miniature railroad that's been making its way around the old House of David property for generations—keeping part of this bizarre story alive.