Waco Texas, 15 years after the tragedy
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9_ZVa6V0qwv
pics: http://libertyfight.741.com/waco.html
Waco 15 Years Later- A Visit to Mount Carmel in Waco, Texas; May 2008.
I went to Texas last week and while there, went to visit the location of the infamous WACO tragedy. When I first arrived in Waco after visiting some friends in Austin, I asked some locals where the compound was. A few people pointed me in the general direction, but no one had been there or knew exact directions. One guy remarked that "it's sad that is what Waco is known for".
So I stopped by the local 'Texas Ranger Museum' and went into the visitor center. They had hundreds of brochures on tourist spots displayed, but no mention of the Waco slaughter. I asked the lady behind the desk how to get to the Dr. Pepper Museum and then asked her if she knew how to get to the Waco compound. Surprisingly, she went to retrieve a map of directions to Mount Carmel which they kept behind the counter, and gave it to me.
"MILITARY TRAINING MADE WACO FAMOUS" appears on state plaque
We then drove to the compound. I struck me as a beautiful and serene area of Texas.
CORNER HEADING TO COMPOUND. The property is straight ahead down this road, DOUBLE EE RANCH ROAD, on the right side.
The house to the right is either the caretakers house or the preachers house. The church in the background behind the tree is the memorial church built after the tragedy. The house that was burned was behind and to the left of where the church is. In the foreground is the stone memorials to the victims.
While we were there a local woman drove onto the property with some friends. turns out she was a long time resident and college professor who taught at Baylor college. She said that the stones (pictured below) with the victims names were originally set out in the field towards the memorial church, with a tree being planted for each victim, but were later moved to the front and placed onto each other to form a sort of memorial wall. She said the new leader of the church and self proclaimed 'prophet' is a guy by the name of Charles Pace, and that there has been a lot of division and turmoil among the sect in recent years. She was sympathetic to the victims and disagreed strongly with what the government did. The woman relayed the chilling story of the day of the fire, April 19, 1993; she was teaching at Baylor and saw the fire live on TV in the teachers lounge, and at the same time they saw the fire out their window which was 5 miles away from the compound. She rubbed her arms as she said she still gets chills when she talks about it, the goose bumps visible on her arms as she told the story.
I asked her what the local reaction was at the time; she said it was mixed. some were outraged, others thought the 'cult' 'brought it on themselves' and some kept their opinion to themselves, unlike herself, who she reiterated, was not hesitant to express her disagreement with the government action. I asked her what the current church leadership's position was on visitors to the property and she said they seem to be very open to visitors and she assumed that any visitors to the compound must be viewed as sympathetic by the property owners.
Interestingly, the woman then mentioned that Timothy MckVey visited the Waco compound and was photographed there before carrying out the OKC bombing, and that it was no accident that that occured on April 19th 2 years later. the poor woman did not even seem to know that OKC was yet another government attack. So even those sympathetic to the victims at Waco do not know the whole truth. Mount Carmel is a somber and quiet place and she was there to grieve and honor the victims with her friends, so I did not feel it was the appropriate time or place to talk to her about it.
As we walked up the hill from the front of the property and approached the church, all of the sudden a big black lab started running towards me, chasing me. I ran back towards the car but later ventured back towards the church to take a look at it.
After leaving Mount Carmel we stopped by the Dr. Pepper Museum and then went by the masonic lodge. Below is an example of some Dr. Pepper memorabilia showcased in the museum. Entrance is $6 per person for adults. I've drank Dr. Pepper since I was a kid, but I do not recommend visiting the museum; I found it boring and a waste of money. You can, however go inside and enter the gift shop and the snack bar where you can buy a glass of the original formula Dr. Pepper, made with pure cane sugar. You can also buy bottles, or a six pack of cans of the original formula dr Pepper for less than 5 bucks.
