Lake Lure Residents 1990s - Eternal Values Cult Experiences

Did you live in Lake Lure in the '90s and want to talk about Eternal Values? Hi WNC, I'm Jessica Wakeman, a contributing writer for The Assembly, an online magazine about NC politics and culture. I'm reporting on the town of Lake Lure, which appears frequently in two episodes of the new HBO docu-series "Bring Me the Beauties." To distill a cVERY omplicated story into a paragraph, basically there was a cult called Eternal Values that lived in Lake Lure. (They were in a house on the lake, but the house has since burned down. There's a new house in its place.) The leader thought he was an alien living inside a human's body. They moved to Lake Lure because the leader thought the Blue Ridge Mountains would be a safe place to ride out the apocalypse. They ran a construction company called The Lotus Group and also started a company, Lake Lure Tours. They also sold gemstones, which were apparently quite worthless. I'm looking to speak with folks who lived in or visited Lake Lure at the same time Eternal Values was there. Did you know any of the cult members? Did you see them around town? Did you hire (or work for) The Lotus Group or Lake Lure Tours? Buy any gemstones? No story is too small. I can be reached over email at jessica dot wakeman at gmail dot com -- thank you!