Hello everyone, the Poet here. I greatly enjoy stories like the Charter family, it is one that honestly inspires much of my own ideas (which may be obvious with my story "When Up On The Hills"). But there is hardly any discussion of it, going more under the radar in comparison to larger family-based cults (like Arnold Herring's cult). There is a different kind of unease that comes from cults like these, as you greatly question how they would even start. How would an entire family fall into this mindset, and create a following based around themselves?
The Charter family was a family from 1912 living in Nearby, Texas. Stephen and Emerald Charter had five children named Anabel, Elizabeth, George, Charles, and Richard (all ages 4-9), and it is no surprise such a life would cause stress for the already struggling family. Otherwise, this family was like any other. Father went to work all day, wife stayed home to manage the kids. The kids went to school, they made friends, they did what any kids would. The mystery that arose however, was when Emerald Charter went to visit family alone.
She traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana for an undecided amount of time in order to be with her dying mother and father. Leaving Stephen and her five grade-school aged children with him. What took place in the period of her absence can only be described as... utterly strange and a horrible tragedy. Delusional thinking. Perhaps the stress of his wife being gone, having to take care of five kids, and the job he also tried to hold together triggered something in his brain. At first it seemed as if this family simply wanted to behave properly, follow mom's rules, and make it clear they did as they should while she was gone. But the behavior Stephen encouraged and developed with his children became ritualistic, dissociative, and fear based. What could be seen as an abusive parent turned into a slowly brewing cult leader.
The process went like this: put the children in environment where they must be stressed and fearful of the consequences they might face for their actions. If mother isn't home, you listen to Father. And Father must strictly enforce what Mother want's or else you will all be in trouble. Father will punish you and don't even think about what Mother will do when she gets home. But when will mother be home? As such young children, what happened to their security on a mother figure? All of this lead to more spiralling- Stephen's slowly crumbling mindset while his wife was gone made him enforce rules that were escalated their Mother to being an untouchable, almost holy, figure. She basically took place of God in what were their already existing Christian religious views.
When did this start becoming a "cult" though? Nearby was an incredibly small town and like many in that area and time was very religious. Like every good family, the Charters attended church, and this would eventually lead to Stephen's ideas gaining interest from others in town. He spoke at the church, going on about his wife and children. The way he talked about his wife, how she was this holy and perfect being who would return home to her wonderful children that practically worshipped her, gained the sympathy of many. Along with parents wanting their own children to see them in such a way. Motherly figures, yearning for a loved one, wanting the best for children... The mindset for many families sounded like the dream. If these Charter kids were so deeply caring of their mother, so well behaved, and so happy... then you would want that too, wouldn't you?
So yes, many regular families started to follow these thoughts. It seemed normal enough, until Stephen's plans got bigger and bigger. Now he was gathering more people, having his followers find others to join them, and directing ritualistic ceremonies with those he lead. Slowly, Emerald as a person was gone. This was about something he made up, and Stephen could not go back. He was too far gone. And little did he know... Emerald was gone. Forever. When she left on her trip, she intended to vanish for good. She hated her life taking care of five children and the stress of their low income. She went missing and no one ever knew of her death until many years after the cult! But this family and its followers never knew, and kept aimlessly following Stephen's prayers and pleas.
Like many cults, there is often an abrupt end. This one was no different. One day when Stephen gathered his people at the local church, he had a breakdown. Nonsensical, rambling, and aggressive. He had brought a gun with him, a small pistol, and after waving it around frantically he shot all five of his children. While his followers were delusional enough to validate his reaction, this shook many who had not followed the psychotic nature of Stephen up to this point. For the most part, anyone who had considered themselves a follower of the Charter family quickly detached and disconnected from the beliefs after this horrible event.
The story doesn't end here though. There was a miracle... The daughter, Anabel, managed to live. While gruesome, the bullet went through her jaw and not her head which allowed doctors to save her even if it meant being disfigured. This is entirely the reason why we have so much information! Anabel herself stayed quite reclusive. The investigation of this cult was incredibly delayed due to Anabel and others involved being in denial or simply wanting to hide the tragedy. Anabel was understandably unwillingly to believe anything she heard relating to Emerald's death. She had hope that her mother would return, but she never did.
There is a lot to take away from this cult. It is unique in its reason for starting. Truly showing the extremes of abuse and the justification created by the abusers. And it also shows how the "normal people" who were attracted to the cult truly were just normal people. The words from Stephen seems reasonable and normal to many until it starts to get more extreme. Witnessing the murder of four children would shock any normal, caring person and it certainly did for practically everyone who sat in the church that day. But it is impossibly hard sometimes to break out of what you were told, as Anabel shows how abuse can brainwash you in ways that are hard to recover from.
If you didn't know about this cult... now you do. I hope to expose this story to more people, as it is incredibly underrated. If you have heard of the Charter family I would love to hear your thoughts.
- The Poet
