Johnny Bob

Visionary, Man of God, Cult Leader, Fugitive, Inmate,

Patriot.

John R. Harrell of Louisville, IL, far better known as Johnny

Bob, was--rightfully or not--called all those things during his

long, colorful life. A deeply religious, independently wealthy

man, in the 1960s, Harrell was known throughout the Midwest

for his eccentric estate (which included a full-size replica of

Washington's Mt. Vernon) and the rogue Louisville-based

religious colony he founded which many labeled a cult.

In August of 1961, U.S. federal agents stormed his Louisville

property to retrieve an AWOL Marine who had taken refuge on

Harrell's sovereign grounds. This military action, involving

over 100 armed officers, was national news and set off a chain

of events in the U.S. courts, in military tribunals, and eventually

across the United States as Harrell and his family became

fugitives, running from the law.

This book retraces Johnny Bob Harrell's nine decades from his

claims of an early miracle healing to the founding of his

religious community to the '61 siege, and Harrell's subsequent

life as fugitive, federal inmate, and right-wing provocateur