Hulu will re-examine the history of the polygamous Ervil LeBaron cult that Ervil LeBaron established in the 1970s. Titled Daughters of the Cult, the series will explore the LeBaron family and their religious background. The five-part documentary series would also offer details about the alleged religious group and its illegal activities. The series will air on the streaming platform on Thursday, January 4, 2024.
The LeBaron family has a long history of practicing polygamy, which started with Alma Dayer LeBaron Sr. moving to Mexico and starting a farm called Colonia LeBaron. The community allowed sexual abuse of women and young girls. When Alma passed away, his son, Joel, became the community leader in 1951. However, in 1972, Joel and his younger brother, Ervil, had a fall out when the latter started the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God. He rose to power and became a powerful figure. As a result, he did everything in his power to keep his influence intact.
According to reports, Ervil ordered the murders of his competitors and also followed the religious principle called Blood Atonement. Apart from allegedly killing his competitors, it is widely reported that he also ordered the murders of his own family members. By the late 1970s, authorities linked Ervil LeBaron to 30 murders. Despite the accusations, he continued practicing polygamy.
In June 1979, authorities arrested Ervil for his crimes and extradited him to the US. The court convicted the cult leader for killing another Mormon and sentenced him to life imprisonment at a prison in Utah.
Daughters of the Cult: How many children did Ervil LeBaron have?
As mentioned above, Ervil LeBaron practiced polygamy and reportedly abused many women and young girls. According to BBC, he had 13 wives and more than 50 children. The leader of the alleged cult made his children believe that they were celestial children and that Ervil was their prophet. His children did everything that Ervil told them, including injuring his competitors. In 1989, the authorities found evidence that some of Ervil’s children might have been involved in the murder of Daniel Ben Jordan, a polygamist cult leader.
In 1989, the investigators told Deseret News that they were looking forward to filing murder charges in the case. Additionally, they were sure that certain sons and daughters of Ervil LeBaron were responsible for Jordan’s murder.
Did any of his kids escape Ervil’s polygamous cult?
But not all his children turned out to be evil. One of Ervil’s daughters, Anna LeBaron, escaped his family’s dark past and wrote a book titled The Polygamist’s Daughter: A Memoir about her experiences with the alleged cult leader.
While speaking in an interview with BBC, Anna noted that Ervil LeBron used his children as “unpaid labor” in the appliance repair shops. She also revealed that her siblings received physical punishments if they showed attitude. Anna said, “I watched siblings of mine receive horrific beatings for any type of attitude. And these are young kids. They’re kids. How much work can you really get out of a 10-year-old, or an 11-year-old, really? You can get work out of them if you are beating them.”
Anna also confirmed that her father groomed young girls to become wives of polygamist men. She added, “We were groomed to accept that and to know that that’s where we were headed, when we became of marriageable age.” Anna escaped his father at the age of 13 and will be featured in the Hulu docuseries Daughters of the Cult.
