Thread by @AWWritesStories

*taps mic* Hello, Adventist Twitter, and welcome to the inaugural Adventist storytime. I invite you to gather ‘round, for today we will be learning about self-proclaimed prophet and attempted murderer, Margaret Matilda Wright Rowen. 1/27

The year was 1916. The place? Southern California (you know how those California Adventists be). 2/27

Our dear Sister Ellen G. White, prophetess extraordinaire, has been dead less than one year when 35-year-old Margaret Rowen enters stage left. I will henceforth call her Mags, because I’m telling the story, and I want to. 3/27

Mags, being an entrepreneurial sort and seeing an open opportunity, decides, "oh hey, EGW is dead, and Adventism is in need of a new prophet. Might as well be me.” Or however those convos go with oneself. 4/27

But, the problem was, no one was buying what our dear Mags was selling. Everyone was still hung up on EGW as the one and only, and I mean she had JUST died less than a year ago. Like, let the people grieve, Mags! 5/27

But no. Mags did not have time for the people’s grief. Mags knew what she needed to do. She needed Sister Ellen to declare her the next prophet… from beyond the grave. Easy enough when you’re ingenious enough. 6/27

So, Mags orchestrates for a forged letter by Ellen White to be added to the official files at the EGW Estate. One of E’s famous, “I have seen!” letters. You know the type. 7/27

And what had Ellen seen? Why, God had shown her that Mags was to be the next prophetess after her death. Naturally. But Mags, in her haste, had made a few mistakes. 8/27

Right away, church leaders were pretty convinced the letter was forged. The type of paper was different, the typeface was all wrong, there was no file number, and the signature was a laughably poor attempt. 9/27

But, how did a fake letter get into the official archives? That was the real question, and it’s not one church leaders had an answer for. And that mystery was all Adventists needed to totally start believing what Mags was saying. 10/27

Next thing ya know, Mags has started her own off-shoot of Adventism since the official church wouldn't recognize her godly channel. Officially they were called the Los Angeles, California, Seventh-day Adventist Reform Church. 11/27

But what a mouthful that is! So, let’s just call them the Rowenites, as they were pejoratively known by the unbelievers in their midst. 12/27

As the years go by, her church is growing. Being a church and all, Mags is collecting tithe. And being a prophetess, she is making predictions. Specifically, that Jesus is coming back on his cushy cloud of glory on February 6, 1925. 13/27

When will Adventist-adjacents learn to stop predicting the end of the world?

*Stares pointedly at the Islamophobic creators of the Nashville Prophecy of July 18, 2020* 14/27

But back to Mags! So, in addition to her end-times prophecy not coming true (I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked), it also turned out that she was spending that tithe on herself instead of the Good Work (whatever that was supposed to be) 15/27

Her merry band of followers were rather disenchanted when Jesus missed his exit to Earth, and began disbanding. But the real blow came when it was uncovered that she’d had her hand in the offering plate this whole time. 16/27

One of Mags’ most ardent believers, Dr. Burt E. Fullmer, discovered her embezzlement – to the tune of $17,000. Being a hardcore supporter, this discovery left him rather morose and reflective. 17/27

His heart heavy with Mags’ betrayal, on March 12, 1926, he confesses to planting that forged letter in an open drawer in the EGW Estate vault. (Seriously, guys, what’s the point of a vault if you’re not gonna lock it?) 18/27

Well, it was shaping up to be a really rough Spring of 1926 for Mags. And as you can imagine, she was rather displeased with our dear doctor. So, she and a couple of faithful followers (yes, she still had a few!), hatched a plan. 19/27

Being a physician, Dr. Fullmer often made house calls. And so late one night when he was called to a nearby hotel to render aid to an alleged tourist, he didn’t think twice about it. He probably should have. 20/27

As he entered the room, he was struck over the head with a pipe. A PIPE. Like, the assailants were playing live action Clue 17 years before the game was even invented. 21/27

Guests heard the struggle and called the police who arrived to find Rowen and her two co-conspirators, Dr. Jacob Balzer and Mary Wade, with morphine, strychnine, a shovel, a burlap sack, and rope. Like, they came PREPARED, y’all. 22/27

After an unsuccessful attempt to flee, she and her pals are arrested for attempted murder, and Mags confesses. But, before she goes to trial, the good doctor dies. Mags gets released after about a year in prison for good behavior. 23/27

So, she's out of jail after just one year and then she... DISAPPEARS. This woman who had made national news, first as a prophetess and then as an attempted murderer, just vanishes. 24/27

It’s assumed she moved to Florida (because, of course), and lived under a pseudonym, before returning to California and picking back up where she left off, but with much less success this time around, before passing away in the 1950s. 25/27

And there you have it. Margaret Rowen, would-be prophetess and murderer, who failed at both spectacularly. May she forever live on in our hearts. 26/27

Sources:

1919 by Michael W. Campbell: amzn.to/2D9m2xK

The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia by Denis Fortin & Jerry Moon: amzn.to/3hurGZY

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_…

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