Blog 6: The Forgotten Nikon
Turns out, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) raid in 1993 was not the first time Mount Carmel—what the Branch Davidians affectionately called their home near Waco—was under siege. While casually browsing their Wikipedia page on a random Wednesday (as one does), I came across a detail we had not discussed in class: David Koresh was the leader of a siege before the siege. But first, a quick recap. Before he was David Koresh, he was Vernon Wayne Howell, a bullied kid with a lonely past who arrived at Mount Carmel in his early twenties. Howell barely had time to learn everyone’s name before he began an affair with Lois Roden and challenged her son George’s claim to the Davidian throne. After both Lois and her husband, Benjamin, died, George inherited power. Once Davidians, now members of the town of “Rodenville.” Howell wasn’t having it. He left, his loyal band of followers by his side, leaving the Rodenites to fend for themselves. In a desperate bid for...