Krishna Venta
Encyclopedia
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
religious group. In the late 1940s, Venta founded the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love) Fountain of the World cult in Simi Valley
Simi Valley
Simi Valley is a synclinal valley in Southern California in the United States. It is an enclosed or hidden valley surrounded by mountains and hills. It is connected to the San Fernando Valley to the east by the Santa Susana Pass & 118 freeway, and in the west the narrows of the Arroyo Simi and 118...
, California.
The Fountain of the World became famous in the press in the 1940s and 1950s for uniformly dressing in robes, going barefoot, and requiring its male members to grow beards and wear their hair long. The Fountain was marginally controversial because one of the requirements for membership was that one donate all worldly assets to the group prior to joining. For most who joined the Fountain, however, this was irrelevant since few had much in the way of possessions anyway.
The group was responsible for a multitude of positives, including fighting wildfires, offering shelter to those in need, and feeding the homeless. The group first gained national exposure in 1949 when the newswires picked up the story that Fountain members had been among the first on the scene to offer aid to the victims of Standard Airlines Flight 897R, which had crashed into the Simi Hills, killing 35 of the 48 persons on board.
Pencovic, who stated in April 1948, "I may as well say it: I am Christ. I am the new messiah," and who claimed to have led a convoy of rocketships to Earth from the extinct planet Neophrates, legally changed his name to "Krishna Venta" in the California Courts in 1951.
He died in Chatsworth, California on December 10, 1958 in a suicide bombing instigated by two disgruntled former followers (Peter Duma Kamenoff and Ralph Muller) who, although never offering any documentary evidence to support their claims, charged that Venta had both mishandled cult funds and been intimate with their wives.
A branch of the WKFL Fountain of the World cult was also established in Homer, Alaska
Homer, Alaska
Homer is a city located in Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population was 5,364. One of Homer's nicknames is "the cosmic hamlet by the sea"; another is "the end of the road"...
in the years prior to Venta's death. Fountain membership at both sites declined rapidly following Venta's death, and the cult had ceased to exist entirely by the mid-1970s.
Pencovic/Venta is also remembered because of the child support
Child support
In family law and public policy, child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other relationship...
case Pencovic v. Pencovic, 45 C2d 97, Cal Sup Ct (1955).
External links
- Krishna Venta website created by a former child member of the Fountain of the World.
- Brother Asaiah - Biography of senior Fountain member.
- My Search for Krishna Venta (online blog)
- Krishna Venta at CharlieManson.com
- Article regarding Krishna Venta from International Cultic Studies Association library
- Pencovic v. Pencovic (1955) 45 C2d 97
- Krishna Venta information archive
Photo Gallery (Public Domain, use freely, donated by ex-Fountain members)
Front L-R, Audrey, Babs, Patrice, Ruth, Jane, Elesha, Bitzi, Lila, Leta, Rear L-R Gene, Earl, Asaiah