THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

The Isaians were an apocalyptic cult whose beliefs were based on a literal interpretation of the Book of Isaiah.  They believed that Isaiah had prophesied that the impending apocalypse would begin on remote islands, and that those who inhabited them, enduring their privations, would form the vanguard in the battle to establish Heaven on Earth.  A group of twenty adults and ten children inhabited the outermost Fryup Island, St Olaf, for sixty days in 1998.  The testimonies of a small group of Isaians who managed to escape convinced authorities to raid the island, where they found six cult members, including the group’s leader, Solomon Sprule, dead by gunshot wounds or poisoning.

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