True Crime-Paranormal-Conspiracy Theories Stories Part V #Wattys2023

Cyrus Teed

Cyrus Reed Teed (October 18,1839 – December 22, 1908) was a U.S. eclectic physician andalchemist turned pseudo-scientific religious leader andself-proclaimed messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Teedtook on the name Koresh and proposed a new set of scientific andreligious ideas he called Koreshanity, including a concave, or"cellular", Hollow Earth cosmology positing that thesky, humanity, and the surface of the Earth exist on the inside of auniverse-encompassing sphere.

In the 1870s, he founded in New Yorkthe Koreshan Unity, a commune whose rule of conduct was based on histeachings. Other similar communities were established in Chicago andSan Francisco. After 1894 the group concentrated itself in the smallFlorida town of Estero, seeking to build a "New Jerusalem"in that locale, peaking at 250 residents during the first decade ofthe 20th century. Following Teed's death late in 1908 the group wentinto decline, finally disappearing in 1961, leaving the KoreshanState Historic Site behind.

Biography

Early years

Cyrus Reed Teed was born October 18,1839 in Delaware County, New York.

Teed studied medicine before opening amedical practice in Utica, New York.

Koreshanity

As a young eclectic physician, Teed wasalways interested in unconventional experiments, such as alchemy,often involving dangerously high levels of electricity. In the autumnof 1869, during an experiment he was badly shocked, and passed out.During his period of unconsciousness, Teed believed he was visited bya divine spirit who told him that he was the messiah. Inspired, oncehe awoke Teed vowed to apply his scientific knowledge to "redeemhumanity." He promptly changed his first name to "Koresh,"the Hebrew version of "Cyrus".

Teed denounced the idea that the Earthrevolved around the sun and instead pioneered his own theory of theUniverse, known as the Cellular Cosmogony. According to this theory,human beings live on the inside of the planet, not the outside; also,the sun is a giant battery-operated contraption, and the stars mererefractions of its light.

Teed's ideas, called Koreshanity,caught on with others. Koreshanity preached cellular cosmogony,alchemy, reincarnation, immortality, celibacy, communism, and a fewother radical ideas. Teed started preaching Koreshanity in the 1870sin New York, forming the Koreshan Unity, later moving to Chicago.

Communal leader

One of Teed's fundamental principlesinvolved the gathering of his most devoted followers into communalliving groups. A first commune was formed in Chicago in 1888. By 1902a second Koreshan community was established in that city. Otherfollowers of the so-called Koreshan Unity formed a short-livedcommunity in San Francisco, which lasted from 1891 to 1892. Smallchurch groups existed in other towns.

In 1894 Teed's followers began tocongregate in a small Florida town called Estero, where Teed plannedto form a "New Jerusalem." The two Chicagosocieties, including the group's printing plant, were subsequentlyshut down and moved to Florida. The colony was extensively landscapedand bedecked with numerous exotic tropical plants. The Koreshansbuilt extensively, establishing a bakery, general store, concreteworks, power plant, and "World College of Life" inthe community. They also published their newspaper from the site,called The Flaming Sword.