1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack

Planning

In 1981, several thousand of Rajneesh's followers moved onto the Big Muddy Ranch in rural Wasco County, Oregon, and later incorporated as the intentional community Rajneeshpuram. They gained political control of the nearby town of Antelope, Oregon, renaming it Rajneesh, but relations with locals deteriorated over land-use conflicts and the commune's expansion. After being denied building permits, commune leadership sought to win two of three seats on the Wasco County Commission and the sheriff's office in the November 1984 election.

Their efforts included a Share-a-Home program that brought thousands of homeless people to Rajneeshpuram to register them to vote, but the county clerk enforced a regulation requiring all new voters to submit qualifications. The leadership then planned to sicken voters in The Dalles, the county's largest population center. About twelve people were involved in the plots, with at least eleven in planning and at least eight spreading the bacteria. Main planners included Sheela Silverman (Ma Anand Sheela), Rajneesh's chief lieutenant, and Diane Yvonne Onang (Ma Anand Puja), a nurse practitioner.

They purchased Salmonella from a medical supply company in Seattle, cultured it in commune labs, and contaminated salad bar produce as a trial run. They also tried to introduce pathogens into The Dalles' water system, intending to use similar techniques closer to Election Day, but did not carry out the second phase. The commune boycotted the election when it became clear the Share-a-Home participants would not be allowed to vote.

Investigation

A multi-agency investigation involving state and federal officials looked into the outbreak. Michael Skeels, who ran the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory at the time, called it the largest food-related outbreak in the U.S. in 1984. The bacteria was identified as Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, and investigators first blamed poor hygiene among food handlers, since workers at the affected restaurants got sick before most customers. Oregon Democratic Congressman James H. Weaver kept looking into it because he thought that explanation didn't fit the facts.

He reached out to doctors at the CDC and other agencies, pushing them to examine Rajneeshpuram. According to Lewis F. Carter's book, many people dismissed Weaver's concern as paranoia or anti-Rajneeshee bias. On February 28, 1985, Weaver gave a speech in the U.S. House accusing the Rajneeshees of tainting salad bar items at eight restaurants. His case was circumstantial but well-reasoned, and it was later backed up by evidence found after investigators entered Rajneeshpuram months later.

Months after that, starting September 16, 1985, Rajneesh came out of a four-year period of public silence and isolation to hold press conferences. He said Sheela and nineteen other commune leaders had fled to Europe. He claimed commune residents told him Sheela and her team had committed serious crimes, calling them a gang of fascists. He alleged they tried to poison his doctor, his female companion, the Jefferson County district attorney, and The Dalles water system.

He also suspected they poisoned a county commissioner and Judge William Hulse, and might be behind the salmonellosis outbreak. He invited law enforcement to investigate, but outside observers were initially skeptical.

Prosecution

David Berry Knapp (Swami Krishna Deva), mayor of Rajneeshpuram, turned state's evidence and gave an FBI account of his knowledge of the Salmonella attack. He claimed Sheela said she had talked with Rajneesh about the plot to decrease voter turnout by making people sick, and that Rajneesh commented it was best not to hurt people but not to worry if a few died. In Miller's Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War, this statement is attributed to Sheela.

According to Knapp's testimony, Sheela played doubters a tape of Rajneesh's muffled voice saying, if it was necessary to do things to preserve his vision, then do it, and interpreted this to mean murder in his name was fine. Satya Bharti Franklin wrote that Sheela had edited discourse tapes over the years to say only what she wanted, and that whatever tapes she had proved nothing. John Jay Shelfer (Swami Prem Jayananda), Sheela's husband at Rajneeshpuram, recalled in 2020 that Sheela was very good at framing issues to invite Osho's approval of whatever she wanted to do, asking general questions and using the answers as authorization.

Two leading Rajneeshpuram officials were convicted on charges of attempted murder and served 29 months of 20-year sentences in a minimum-security federal prison.

Aftermath

The Oregonian ran a 20-part series on Rajneesh's movement beginning in June 1985, including an investigation into the Salmonella incident. The newspaper learned that investigative journalist Leslie L. Zaitz had been placed number three on a top-ten hit list by Sheela's group. Oregon Attorney General David B. Frohnmayer commented that the Rajneeshees committed the most significant crimes of their kind in U.S. history, including the largest mass poisoning.

Michael Skeels stated, We lost our innocence over this, and noted that the first significant biological attack on a U.S. community was carried out by legal residents, not foreign terrorists, and that public health is not ready for more lethal agents. Milton Leitenberg wrote in 2005 that no other terrorist group is known to have successfully cultured any pathogen. Federal and state investigators requested that details not be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association for twelve years to avoid copycat crimes, and JAMA complied.

No repeat attacks or hoaxes subsequently occurred, and a detailed account was published in JAMA in 1997. A 1999 analysis in Emerging Infectious Diseases described six motivational factors for bioterrorism; the Rajneesh Cult satisfied all except apocalyptic ideology. An analysis in Cults, Religion and Violence disputed the link to charismatic leadership, noting that organizational lieutenants played a pivotal role in initiating violence.