Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Oregon Antelope Rajneesh Invasion Plaque

Rajneesh Invasion Plaque

Post office plaque commemorates local resistance to a cult invasion.

Antelope, Oregon

Added By
Dylan Thuras
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
  Tequask
  TravisL
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

A small metal plaque can be found outside the Antelope, Oregon, post office. It reads:

Dedicated to those of this community who throughout the Rajneesh invasion and occupation of 1981-1985 remained, resisted and remembered….

What sounds vaguely like something from a science fiction movie is in fact a testament to a very real cult invasion. For in the early 1980s, the small town of Antelope, Oregon, started to get a lot of new neighbors, and all of them wore red. 

These neighbors, who grew to be some 7,000 strong, were members of the Rajneeshee cult and had built their commune a short 15 miles away from Antelope. As the red-wearing cult outgrew its commune, it maneuvered to gain control of local politics. One casualty was Antelope, Oregon. 

On September 18, 1984, enough cult members had moved to Antelope, a town of only 75 people, that they were able to outvote the local community government by a vote of 57 to 22. They changed the town name from Antelope to Rajneesh, the name of their cult leader. They were officially in control.

However, the change was short-lived. The cult committed the first and largest bioterrorism attack in the US, poisoning some 751 Oregon locals (no fatalities). The cult leadership, under investigation, then fractured and fled the US. The commune utopia fell apart, and the cult followers drifted away.

Antelope was returned to the locals; in 1986 they voted to go back to the name Antelope, but it turned out they didn't need to. The post office had never officially registered the name change. 

Related Tags

Disasters Cults Plaques Disaster Areas

Community Contributors

Added By

Dylan

Edited By

Martin, erjeffery

  • Martin
  • erjeffery

Published

December 21, 2012

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Rajneesh Invasion Plaque
45404 Main Street
Antelope, Oregon, 97001
United States
44.909964, -120.722601
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Erickson Aircraft Collection

Madras, Oregon

miles away

Sherars Falls

Tygh Valley, Oregon

miles away

Painted Hills

Mitchell, Oregon

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Oregon

Oregon

United States

Places 208
Stories 31

Nearby Places

Erickson Aircraft Collection

Madras, Oregon

miles away

Sherars Falls

Tygh Valley, Oregon

miles away

Painted Hills

Mitchell, Oregon

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Oregon

Oregon

United States

Places 208
Stories 31

Related Stories and Lists

Every Major Trope of the American West Can Be Found on One Ranch

disasters

By Adrian Shirk

Related Places

  • Plaque

    Boston, Massachusetts

    Great Boston Molasses Flood Plaque

    The site of one of the strangest disasters in history—a wave of deadly molasses traveling at 35 mph.

  • The hypocenter and surrounding devastation immediately after the detonation of the bomb

    Hiroshima, Japan

    Hiroshima's Hypocenter

    A plaque marks the site directly below the mid-air detonation of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

  • The slide scarp.

    Sunshine Valley, British Columbia

    Hope Slide

    The morning of January 9, 1965, over 46 million cubic meters of earth, rock, and snow broke free, obliterating a section of the highway below.

  • Memorial plaque.

    Kingman, Arizona

    Kingman Explosion Memorial

    A memorial to the firefighters who died in an industrial disaster is housed in a small public park.

  • The site today.

    Maricopa, California

    Lakeview Gusher

    Remnants of the United States's largest accidental oil spill still mar a California valley.

  • The angel backdropped by a sea of stars.

    Chornobyl, Ukraine

    'Monument of the Third Angel'

    The biblical sculpture honors those who lost their lives, homes and communities to the Chernobyl disaster.

  • The stone marker, with replicas of the company’s original jars.

    Somerville, Massachusetts

    Emerson’s Pickle Factory Plaque

    This unassuming stone commemorates a condiment factory gone up in smoke.

  • Carmen Tower.

    Tlalpujahua, Mexico

    Carmen Tower

    This lonely tower survived the landslide that devastated much of a Mexican mining town.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.