Elizabeth Clare Prophet claimed to be a messenger from the “Masters,” frequently issuing predictions for nuclear attacks that never came to pass.

False Prophets

How an investigation into a Mormon murder spree led one author to uncover the lurid world of America’s New Age movement—cult leaders, reincarnation, QAnon, and all

By Leah Sottile

In my long career reporting on the subcultures of the western United States, and on the political and religious extremists who thrive here, a lot of the strange details I found during my reporting didn’t make it into the stories I wrote. In the case of my new book, Blazing Eye Sees All, however, one sparkling crystal I’d discovered in my research into a Mormon doomsday cult triggered the entire project.

In 2022, I wrote a book, When the Moon Turns to Blood, about the horrific tragedies surrounding Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow, a married Mormon couple who believed themselves living prophets—and left a trail of dead bodies behind them.