Ramtha and her kitchen god

1946 Judith Darlene Hampton (aka JZ Knight and Ramtha), American woman who claims to "channel" the spirit of a 35,000 year-old (Cro-Magnon?) male spirit-warrior named Ramtha (7 feet tall, with "black dancing eyes"), who first appeared in Knight’s kitchen in Tacoma, Washington in 1977.

Ramtha inexplicably speaks in accented semi-Jacobean English, which perhaps he picked up on the way from Atlantis via Lemuria, two of 'his' former residences. (Or perhaps he got it from the angel who gave Mormonism founder Joseph Smith the tablets, as they exhibit the same linguistic quirk – note that Hampton is not the first such charlatan, nor will probably be the last, to invoke the language of the King James Bible and Shakespeare to impart a ring of authority.) Hampton is also known for adopting physical poses that look something like the characters on pyramid walls.

Hampton has thrown together a hodge-podge of all the usual essentials of phoney New Ageism: a bit of gnosticism, add some Edgar Cayce and Madame Blavatsky, mix with some UFO alien stuff (Hampton was born in Roswell, NM, after all), stir with high school science, add a pinch of ersatz Egyptology and roast in a moderate brain. Ramthaism is perhaps not as dangerous (yet) as some cults such as Jim Jones's People's Temple (Jonestown), Marshall Applewhite's Heaven's Gate and L Ron Hubbard's Scientology, but it has to be one of the silliest, and somehow is making Hampton a very rich Cro-Magnon man: it has been estimated she's raking in $10 million a year from seminars and merchandising.

As if to underline Hampton's contempt for the credulity of her thousands of dupes, it has been asserted that Ramtha revealed in September, 2004 that [wait for it ... drum roll!! ...] a sugary kids' snack called Hostess Twinkies contain an ingredient that can prolong life. Apparently Twinkies are selling well in Yelm, Washington, where Hampton's followers have congregated ...

Tagged: fraud, religion, hoaxes, cults, new-age, usa