Traditional media reporters are so bad at their job that they had to go litigious to get any good sources on James Ray and his death lodge. Yep, that’s right they sued the police for information under the Freedom of information legislation. Everyone else calls them the sunshine laws, but I like the way ‘information’ and ‘legislation’ rhyme.
This is the part where I have a hearty laugh over snide comments about my “sensationalism”. The police reports make my initial articles look like happy, fluffy bedtime stories. It’s probably a real thorn in the side of the traditional media that I went through the trouble of requesting the records myself. Terry Hall over at Bizsayer.com posted scans of the documents, if you wish to read them for yourself. This is a prime example of what traditional media doesn’t understand – the internet is the true freedom of information act.
So what is in these reports? Keep in mind, I’ve never read one of these things before, but it looks to me like there is a boring request for a search warrant and then some long lists of things that were collected at Angel Valley retreat, and then another request and list for James Ray’s office. The lists certainly reference some material I’d love to get a look at, of course there’s the obvious multitude of computers collected from James Ray International. It looks like those were sent to a computer forensics lab so it appears to be in far, far more capable hands than my own.
Also on the list are handwritten journals, a DVD labeled “Firewalk prep”, papers and emails in reference to a Peru trip, an "Administration, Human Resources, New Team Member Training Manual", a letter to James Ray International from the Angel Valley retreat, Practical mysticism fire walk instructions, and folders with information on lawsuits against James Ray. The thought of all that raw data fills me with squee in a way that fully embraces all things nerd.
People keep asking me “Why haven’t the police charged James Ray yet?” and I expect after seeing all this evidence that’s been collected that this question is going to be thrown around even more. I don’t know. I mean, I can guess, but I don’t really know. My guess is that the police are still adding to the list of laws James Ray broke. I keep saying James Ray has been hurting people for quite some time now, because, like, he has been. I don’t think the police can charge him until they have an idea of the full scope of the criminal activity, and I’m sure the police have the same problem I do but more so – every time I do the slightest bit of investigating into James Ray evidence it explodes into another dung bomb of scandal. I’m pretty confident that the Yavapai County police aren’t going to let James Ray squirm out of a series of homicides.
But enough about that, let’s hear more about what was released, because there is some fascinating stuff in there. There’s quite a lot of mention of fire walking, which is probably causing James Ray to weep uncontrollably in the corner of his bathroom. Second and third degree burns leave a kind of permanent evidence that’s supported by hospital records. The DVD and fire walking instructions probably have all sorts of warnings that James Ray ignored so that he could cook people. There are reports of him adding accelerant to these fire walks, and I’m pretty sure that’s a big no-no.
These documents are accompanied with reports of no less than four separate sweat lodges run by James Ray that ended with medical problems. The reports reference pictures from previous years taken by James Ray’s employees at the time and indicate that the pictures show participants in medical distress.
The increase in employees and associates speaking out is pretty much directly due to a phenomenon commonly referred to as “jumping ship”. I totally respect this move and I’d like to take a minute to explain it. People who work in the industry, in any way, tend to immediately think James Ray’s ego is the problem because they are asking the wrong questions. People who tend to self-identify with James Ray’s profession ask “How could this have happened if it were me?” and not “How did this happen to James Ray?” It’s an easy enough slip, and because egos are a common problem in the industry and can cause the odd accident here or there from actual negligence.
The thing is most people don’t want to cause physical harm to others and as we talk about all the horrible “accidents” that have happened at James Ray’s retreats people realize that they weren’t accidents. I hope that everyone keeps in mind as we talk to more and more employees that James Ray is a master at getting people to do things without understanding the full ramifications of the consequences. As the scandal unfolds we must remember that not everybody understood what they were doing at the time.
Despite that, Amy Hall submitted a resignation letter immediately after the death lodge because she completely disagreed with what JRI was doing. She and her husband Terry Hall have since learned of more and more injuries and cover ups and are being very outspoken about safety regulations being started in the industry. They also have been receiving cease and desist letters from one of James Ray’s lawyers.
Another instance where people didn’t have enough information to know that James Ray has been making a habit of hurting people is probably going to be found in the lawsuit folders police found at the JRI office. James Ray deals with civil suits in an interesting manner – he throws money at them until they go away, with the condition of confidentiality legal thingies. Most people take the crap loads of money and figure James Ray has learned his lesson. It takes a while to realize that James Ray views these lawsuits as the cost of doing business to cover up his fetish for hurting people and not as an actual defeat.
After the endless lists of stuff the police found we get to some juicy witness statements. Ted and Debra Mercer were hired to build the death lodge and tend the fire. Ted had assisted on two other James Ray sweat lodges and said that medical personnel should have been called in on the other two sweat lodges as well. The married couple had not wanted to work with James Ray again, but needed to because of financial reasons. I rather suspect it’s a good thing they took the job because it sounds like they were the ones who spear-headed the rescue effort.
The couple was also under the impression that this time James Ray had hired a nurse to oversee things. All accounts that I’ve heard have emphasized that every single medically trained person on site before the 911 call was there as a participant, not an employee. Doctors, nurses, people trained in first aid – these were all lucky coincidences, not safety precautions set in place by JRI.
Ted heard James Ray say several times during the death lodge that “You’re not going to die, you might think you are, but you’re not going to die.” Debra Mercer heard James Ray being informed of the two unconscious people and James Ray said they would be OK, there was only one more round. Except it wasn’t just one more round for those unconscious victims.
Debra continued to explain that after the 4th round two people had to be dragged out of the tent. Participants would drag participants who were in medical distress to the door of the tent. Debra and other people would then drag the participants the rest of the way out. Debra said one of the participants came out of the tent after the 4th round. This participant believed he was having a heart attack and believed he was going to die. He kept saying, ‘I don't want to die, I don't want to die.’ Instead of summoning medical aid, James Ray stated ‘It's a good day to die’.
Yep, James Ray said “It’s a good day to die.” while people were dying, under his orders. Uh, yeah, hold up there Cowboy, you got a little homicidal maniac on your face. This is the part where I start swearing and pacing back and forth whilst shoving chocolate in my mouth to console the utter pointlessness of the deaths caused by this psycho.
Debra talked about problems with the James Ray sweat lodges the two previous years and had actually taken pictures of the 2008 event. I’d like to give her a nice big thumbs up for that one. If you’re reading this and you’ve taken pictures of a James Ray event, even ones you think are harmless and unhelpful, please share them with someone. I mean, the police would probably be the best choice, although I’ll happily accept pictures as well. I’m sure the major media networks would love to get their hands on that type of thing too, although I’m rather inclined to think the nerdy guy with the computer scanner next door is a far better choice. The point is, let’s find this stuff and share it.
Debra said that after the eighth round all of the occupants had supposedly exited. James Ray was sitting in a chair in the shade while she discovered that there were three participants still inside the structure. Debra was able to drag one of the participants out (the report speculates that it was possibly Liz Neuman) and told James Ray that they needed to open up the back of the tent to get them out. James Ray told Debra it would be “sacrilegious”. Debra did it anyway but had trouble getting someone to help her drag the remaining two out. It says in the report that Kirby Brown and James Shore were found holding hands, face down in the dirt. Debra got help dragging Kirby out, but she wasn’t breathing. She got further help to pull James Shore free, and at the point the woman who Debra believed to be the nurse hired by James Ray turned away from Kirby and asked Debra what to do.
Can you imagine that moment of horror? Of having that horrible realization that the people who are trained to deal with a medical emergency are in such a state of incapacitation that they are unable to do something they’ve been professionally trained to do? It sounds like the Mercer’s did the best they could to sort out who was being helpful and who was hindering, but it was such a catastrophe of a scene that they couldn’t stay on top of everything.
The report goes on to say “Witnesses said James Ray sat right next to the door and people would have to crawl past him to leave the sweat lodge. It appeared, based on the interviews, participants thought highly of James Ray and didn't want to let him down by leaving the sweat lodge.”
The report also speaks of the man who fell into the hot rocks while trying to escape the death lodge. This man had also attended the James Ray Modern Magick retreat and had been instructed to break a brick with his hand. He did, but he also broke his hand. He described breaking the brick and his hand as an amazing experience.
The report says that James Ray employee Melinda Martin told detectives that James Ray did not have anyone on staff to render medical aid - which, you know, totally explains why he fired her a few weeks later. Additional former employees talk about Colleen Conaway’s death and subsequent cover up. I basically believe them when they say they didn’t know, but you know who did know? Greg Hartle. Yeah, remember him, the knucklehead who tweeted about Colleen’s death and then lied and helped cover it up? Yeah, that’s going right up there in history with those idiot bank robbers who got stuck in the revolving door.
The report talks about how James Shore helped to save another participants life by dragging them out, but returned to the death lodge. Some of the last words James Shore was heard saying before he died were pleas for help, not for himself, but for Kirby. He died trying to save Kirby Brown while James Ray lounged around declaring that the unconscious people were just fine and it was good they were unconscious.
The report goes on to discuss a tip off that the 2005 Spiritual Warrior retreat also ended with an ambulance, and reports very similar conditions to the 2009 death lodge retreat, except that everyone managed to survive. It’s worthy to note that this retreat is in addition to the three that the Mercer’s spoke of, which makes a total of four Spiritual Warrior retreats with serious medical problems.
The report also talks about the Modern Magick retreat held in Hawaii (although my research shows that it is also sometimes held in California). The report speaks again of the brick breaking and cites several instances of broken bones. The report estimates one James Ray event had up to 16 participants hospitalized for broken bones.
Another death lodge participant, that just happened to be a doctor, talks about James Ray describing the sweat lodge. He didn’t give any medical warnings and worse - a woman asked if she should go in, she was concerned it would raise her high blood pressure and James Ray told her “That’s up to you” but of course, used a whole mess of coercive techniques to make her go in the sweat lodge regardless of what she really wanted to do. After the last round of the sweat lodge this participant was made aware of Sydney Spencer’s medical distress and while assisting with that was interrupted to help with the CPR being performed behind the lodge on James Shore and Kirby Brown. I’d like to remind everyone that this woman was a participant herself and paid to be there, she was not expecting to be on medical duty. The fact that she did help the rescue effort speaks to her own high regard for human life, but by the time she got to them they were in full cardiac arrest and already cyanotic. She could not tell how long they had been that way.
After the personal accounts the report goes on to discuss the evidence collected with the search warrants and gives more detailed descriptions of the items and where they were found. At this point the report references that secret conference call James Ray made to the survivors that I snuck on to and transcribed for y’all.
The detective who served the search warrant reports this interesting tidbit, “Several current and former employees said all documents are now scanned and stored on the server. While serving the search warrant, I asked Josh Fredrickson where the employee contact information was stored. Josh called Megan and asked her where the employee files are stored. I could hear this conversation. Megan told Josh the employee files had recently been scanned into the server and then shredded. Employees and former employees of James Ray International are witnesses in this case. Their identity and contact information is evidence in this case.” Well, look at that, the Fredrickson’s show up again destroying evidence. The Salty Droid reported on them covering up Colleen Conaway’s death as well.
Another interesting development in the James Ray scandal goes back to when I mentioned that James Ray considered Holosync technology an integral part of his program. It was, in fact, required for all James Ray retreat participants to purchase and listen to these Holosync CD’s. On November 13th Duff McDuffee blogged about what binaural beats are and started a discussion on the technology over on BeyondGrowth.net and received a cease and desist email from Bill Harris, the president of Centerpointe Research Institute over the recent holidays. The email referenced a cease and desist request from a lawyer that McDuffee never received and threatened a lot of nasty unpleasant things just because McDuffee discussed the link between Bill Harris, Holosync, Centerpointe, and James Ray.
Now, Duff McDuffee acted calmly and responsibly and gave his post a bit of an edit to be clearer on what was opinion versus fact. He didn’t do anything childish and immature like mention Bill Harris’ name and company a bunch of times in conjunction with James Ray to make sure the search engines didn’t miss it (Bill Harris, Bill Harris, Bill Harris, Centerpointe, Centerpointe, Centerpointe, James Ray death lodge, James Ray death lodge, James Ray death lodge) and he probably would have offered Bill Harris (Bill Harris, Bill Harris, Centerpointe Research Institute, Centerpointe, Centerpointe) a place to speak about his technology and how it can be used responsibly.
Bill Harris of Centerpointe Research Institute could have chosen to follow in Dr. Stanislav Grof’s footsteps and denounce James Ray though, but instead chose to try and stifle discussion. It seems to me that Bill Harris (Bill Harris, Centerpointe, Centerpointe, Holosync, Holosync, Holosync) is practically begging for everyone to take a closer look at his business practices and involvement in this scandal.
As always, please feel free to leave your comments below. My thoughts on the crime scene photographs will be forthcoming.
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Comments
Cassandra,
You do a fine job of writing. As I was reading the request for a search warrant, it occurred to me that much of what was written there had already been reported by you in some fashion. Of course, if I was a conspiracy theorist, I'd make some crazy declaration like you are really Detective Diskin, in disguise.
Anyway, I have to agree with you the Bill Harris (Bill Harris of Centerpointe (Centerpointe) Research Institute and Mr. Holosync, Holosync) and Death-Ray (that would be James Arthur Ray of James Ray International) connection is pretty clear. I also think that it's about time someone put an end to their bullying and intimidation tactics, and I don't see Duff backing down. BZ.
Have some more chocolate...
Very nice job and thanks for the mentions.
Regarding charges against James Ray, it seems that the Yavapai County Grand Jury may be getting the case after the first of the year. If this happens, I think the County Attorney will be requesting murder charges against Ray.There are rumors of a Yavapai County News Black out to avoid "informed jurors" and a venue change with the police reports having been released.
The other seminar injuries Amy & I have knowledge of and want to prevent in the future are financial and emotional damage with the occasional "shattered bones" as mentioned in the witness interviews.
It's our understanding that Melinda Martin was fired along with all JRI Staff except Megan Fredrickson, Josh Fredrickson & Greg Hartel on Nov 2 (see my post "I'd bet the farm the James Arthur Ray Has Laid Off His Staff on bizsayer.com) which was confirmed by later in the week by one of Amy's former coworkers @ JRI.
I am SO glad you are continuing your coverage of this travesty. And, of course, my question also is the one everyone else is asking: "Why has he not been arrested?" Oh, and one thing you mention is that JAR refused to open the back flap of the lodge because it was sacreligious. Ahem.....I have done at least 10 sweatlodges from Washington State to SoCal and NEVER has that been the truth. Real sweatlodges are about honor and respect of Spirit and those participating, not focused on preserving the ego of the one in control.
Again, thank you for your continuing coverage. I don't necessarily believe in punishment, but JAR is truly one who should not be allowed to be in a position to harm others, as has been so evident over the years.
I like how you have been tracking this event steadily since it happened but your articles are far too longwinded. You completely lose my attention span by the 5th paragraph or after I see how much is left, whichever happens to come first. I would even prefer you write more articles of shorter lengths.
Please take it constructively because I would love to continue to read your articles but when a reader gets turned off like that, they will only come back so many times before they give up.
- Mike Renau
My question to you and anyone else: I saw the pictures of James Rays' room and the packed suitcases. Did he just bolt from the scene without even taking his bags? Why do people not talk about that and wouldn't he be charged w/leaving scene of a crime?
You may want to investigate why a close friend and employee of James suddenly left in July. Sheryl Stern was a huge JAR supporter who left abruptly.
Amy corrected my comment. I misspoke about JRI employees being fired (My inner drama queen took over.) The JRI employees were laid off on Nov 2, 2009 and NOT Fired. I'm just saying...
:) You go girl!
cassandra,thank you for your thoroughness and the style in which your write.I find it very entertaining,compelling,and informative,not at all too long winded!My favorite phrase of this article is "dung bomb of scandel" lol.I've been intently following this story since day one,as i had witness this guys evil vibe first hand AT A "FREE" seminar he held days before this happened.You know when you just have a gut feeling about someone,something,and it turns out to be accurate?It compels you to know "the rest of the story".Thanks for supplying the "fix" I think you are a very talented writer AND detective......
Yes,thank you,Cassandra,your writing is great!You provide so much information on this case.I personally believe that Ray wanted to see people suffer and die.Each activity seems carefully orchestrated with the objective of causing pain,suffering and death.He is a textbook "antisocial personality."In his video clips,he is glib,his eyes are cold and he is arrogant.Interestingly,he also appears progressively unhealthy and old.That ugly short-cropped hair, that he began to order for himself and his followers,reminds me of Marshall Applewhite.Speaking of sexually confused cult leaders,have you heard if Ray was intimate with his followers?He seems oddly flirtatious and uses the words "sexy"and "turn you on" in his presentations, which I find neither appropriate nor spiritually-minded!In one clip,where he is taking a picture with an Hispanic girl,he puts his arm around her and says,"Muy bonita". That phrase must have been very useful during his "shamanic" trips to Latin America.
The battle cry of Lakota leader Crazy Horse was "It is a good day to fight: it is a good day to die." In the new age circles, obviously derived from the Native American, when we say "It's a good day to die", it means "it's time to release the old way of being, release the ego, release the past, become real." It's generally said to someone who's upset over some loss, who perhaps voices that "there's nothing left to live for." That's how I've heard it used through the years. I've also heard people say it to express that they've had a wonderful day. I've said it myself sometimes watching the sun go down after a particularly fulfilling day. "Ah yes, life is good, if I died today, I will have died happy. Today is a good day to die."
Excellent reporting again; you're a good detective & journalist. I like that you give the details & include your opinions. Whoever finds you long winded is not your target audience. I don't think Ray did it on purpose, rather that he allowed his focus on other priorities to take precedence. He's not been arrested yet because they're still in the case-building stage. Ray is clever. At the time he departed, his attorney will argue, there was no evidence of a crime and Ray didn't know the extent of the distress & thought the medical persons present could handle what was going on. Ya gotta figure in "intent" and that's a subjective thing and hard to prove. Ray knew to get gone asap. That move bought him time. The real life legal system is not as quick as you see on tv; the actual law is involved. Laws are subject to interpretation, which is what courts are all about. The more charges initially filed, the wider the negotiation range at plea time & more likelihood he'll do time.
Cassandra,
Like so many, we appreciate your reporting and passion. However, you unconscious chatter makes it hard to get to the real points. Self congratulation is also not very appealing. So what if you need chocolate. Just report what needs to reported and let that be gratifying.
Cassandra, great article. I really think they are getting closer to pressing charges against James Ray. With all of these employees jumping ship as you say that should provide some great information to prosecute this freak to the fullest extent. Thanks again! His arrest would make the Happiest New Years ever for alot of people. Thanks for you continued reoprts on all of this, do appreciate it.....
Please take a page from traditional journalism insofar as learning how to write a lead paragraph. You spent so much time touting your ability to ferret out information via FOIP that i lost interest. The headline caught my attention but the article didn't keep it. Good luck with your endeavor, whatever it may be.
I would like to know who Ted and Debra Mercer are. What are their credentials and why did they build such a hideous and dangerous sweat lodge that had no resemblance to the real thing?
Jane said, "My question to you and anyone else: I saw the pictures of James Rays' room and the packed suitcases. Did he just bolt from the scene without even taking his bags? Why do people not talk about that and wouldn't he be charged w/leaving scene of a crime?"
I have a question about that too - I read in an article yesterday, as well as saw an AP video, showing that Ray had two suitcases filled with vitamin supplements, needles, medication for a thyroid condition, energizer-type and human growth products. Does anyone know any more about that?
Hey everyone,
Thanks for commenting! Just a quick note to say that yes, the crime scene photos making their way around the internet are For Realz and I have been combing through them till my eyes bleed. There are roughly a zillion pictures that were released as public information and they are filled with fascinating things. Duff McDuffee over at BeyondGrowth.net posted one with the schedule for the fifth day at the death lodge retreat. I will have an in-depth commentary up soon.
I'm glad you're on about James Ray because he's a self centered snit who fails to understand that our first directive as spiritual beings is service to others.
However, Bill Harris is a good honest guy and his Holosync technology is miraculous. Had you used and benefited from it you wouldn't be so fast to criticize it or its creator. No one is perfect and I don't blame Bill for disassociating from James Ray.
So Cassandra isn't a traditional journalist; I've accepted that. For me that's part of her charm, and it seems to me that she's engaging in self-parody as much as self-congratulations. Her posts are a mix of opinion and information, and I think it's pretty obvious which is which. Regarding those opinions, I'm still not sure I agree that James Ray is a homicidal maniac, but the man definitely seems disturbed -- I mean, even more so than the average hustledork. Anyway, Cassandra, nice job summarizing these latest documents that have come to light. I added this link to my own lengthy JAR post (originally dated Oct. 9).
Great writing. Don't listen to Mike "short attention span" Reanu. I love the way you emote your personal feelings through your words and congratulate yourself. If it's true you have every right to do so. It is very refreshing and shows you have a vested interest in getting the truth out. So to you and others that are hard at work sharing this information. Thank you and keep at it!
I too love the way you write..Very interesting and I like your comments also..I have been following this story since I first heard about it and the more I read and find about this person, the more I see that he needs to be STOPPED!!
Cassandra,wipe... your writing is crap and quit posing as other when everyone knows it's YOU that is doing the phony a** praising! FOOL!!
"Did he just bolt from the scene without even taking his bags?" HELLO?? Maybe because he didn't just leave? Have you even considered that? You are such a lemming... believing only the way this idiot "writer" likes to slant the story in her crazy mind!!
Ted and Debra Mercer seem to be two people trying to save their own asses because Ted built the structure!! ...and he built the other ones for JR in previous years. My question is, if they were so upset with what James Ray was doing in the last few years, why would they keep coming back for more!!?? It is said because Mr Mercer was out of work and he needed the money!! Yeah right. He cared so much about the people's conditions and how Ray was conducting these events--- until he realized he needed more money! Like this was the only job in the world that he could get?! What B.S!! I think Mr Mercer and wifey should be charged with MURDER!!!
I agree with you Brian. All these people that think everything was so bad, but did NOTHING and even contributed. And these Mercers even built the structure at several events for James Ray!
Unbelievable what a dog eat dog world it is!
Cassandra, you seem to be on your 5th or 6th serving of dog, aren't you?
Julia: I don't eat dog because, you know, that's *weird*. Cows are pretty delicious, although I will admit to having vegetarian tendencies.
Florence: The death lodge was built to James Ray's specifications.
Andrea de Michaelis: That phrase could certainly be used in other contexts, but I think it's a pretty messed up thing to say to someone as your killing them... To play devil's advocate to myself, even if James Ray was only being negligent and didn't purposefully kill people, that is a seriously messed up thing to say to someone who is pleading for help to *not* die.
Poser - apt name. Cassandra has enough class to not respond to your idiocy. I don't need class so I'll respond. STFU.
Let's remember that the Sedona participants had fasted for 3 days prior to entering that tent.For some insane reason,they had been left individually in the desert without food,water,or medication.(This is the first I've ever heard of a fast that doesn't allow fluids!!)The combining of dehydration,hunger,and fatigue with a high temp sweating experience,was a recipe for death and injury!In fact,this whole event appears to have been a hodgepodge of activities,terms,and phrases thrown together haphazardly in order to make participants think they were involved in something "Native" or "sacred". BTW Andrea,the phrase,"It's a good day to die!"was the battle cry of Lakota warriors/military, of which Crazy Horse was a leader.It was shouted in order to increase valor.However,Ray used it for the purpose of making others die,not for his own sacrifice.I really hope Ray pays,both monetarily and with a life sentence,for the damages and deaths he has caused,and for falsely representing Native rituals.
Yeah, and on the topic of his prescriptions... JAR was taking a HGH, testosterone, etc.... The guy who tells people to not drink coffee because of its mind/body-altering effects?!
Cassandra,thank you for being thorough in exposing Ray.I was just skimming his blog,Sept09-Nov/06.Nauseating.His ideas are scrambled and lacking logic or support.His ramblings are eerily similiar to those of Charles Manson who was also a self-proclaimed expert on numerous topics including Holy Wars,presidential politics,human relationships,and the melting of the polar ice caps!By the way,Manson never killed anyone.He did, however,set up the conditions and willingness of others that led them to kill for him.It is definitely not a stretch to find parallels between Ray and other magalomaniacs such as Manson.What I don't understand is how so many otherwise reasonable people did not see through Ray?Do they not know the history of religious and spiritual cults? Maybe it is the "Oprah effect" that has led many people to blindly accept her poorly-vetted endorsements of James Ray,fad diet practitioners,medical quacks,and even political candidates.
Hmm, I wonder if Julia, Brian, Poser and Florence = JRI? Or maybe they haven't followed the stories up to this point at all and shouldn't be commenting?
Thank you so much for your continued dedication to this tragic event Cassandra! Keep up the great work!
Personal opinions and thoughts
After reading the “white papers” Mr. Ray has sent to me, It sadly appears Mr. Ray did create and then fail to perceive the risks for the following reasons:
By conducting a fast before the retreat, the bodies of the participants were immediately put at risk. One meal does not allow time for the body to recover its resources before a sweat lodge event which is in itself an already a highly stressful situation for the body. It is common sense that if you break a leg you don’t go jumping around on it. If your body is physically depleted and stressed you don’t then put it through additional stress and depletion.
It is a medical disclosure in the use and sale of most SAUNAs’ NOT to exceed 15 minutes. The sweat lodge was set up to be conducted for almost 2 hours. The participants were not informed that 15 minutes was “reasonable” nor were they informed of risks of going for longer than 15 minutes. Mr. Ray is depending on a signed release but did not give
participants adequate information to make an informed decision. Since participants were not given fair notice of the 15 minutes or educated with the difference between sweating normally and physical distress- they had no idea what to expect, and so they depended on Mr. Ray to discern what was “normal” for the sweat lodge. The human body gives signs of distress long be it shuts down. Mr. Ray gave the impression the physical symptoms of distress were just a part of the normal process (but they were not) and so the participants ignored their own bodies and trusted Mr. Ray’s faulty logic.
“Volunteer” Registered Nurse: Mr. Ray makes an effort to emphasize that there was
a Registered Nurse on duty but the fact the nurse was actually a volunteer brings up several questions. Did the volunteer know she was there in the capacity of emergency medical staff? It appears the nurse being there was a lucky coincidence since Mr. Ray did not intentionally hire or provide for a qualified medical per
How come your articles have been surpressed? It used to be when I typed in teh search engine they popped up- but now they have disappeared.
white pages: “Free to leave” means the participants had full knowledge of what was happening to their bodies and could make a fully informed decision that was not influenced by any party. The participants at the sweat lodge lacked both the information and the “freedom” to leave feeling like exiting the sweat lodge was a failure of their journey. With $10,000 at stake, the relief of all their life problems if they stayed inside; the lack of information that their bodies were in distress from the fast; the lack of information that a sauna of any form was only recommended for 15 minutes not 2 hours; the trust in Mr. Ray that they were safe along with his tremendous psychological influence while he was prompting them to keep going past their physical limits is just a few of the multiple reasons that the deaths do appear to be negligent homicide.
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