Antelope, Oregon: The Town a Cult Tried to Steal

Antelope, Oregon is a small ranching town in Wasco County, 120 miles southeast of Portland in the dry canyon country of central Oregon. It was a quiet cattle community for over a century. Then, for four years in the 1980s, it became the most infamous small town in America — the site of a hostile takeover by a religious commune that committed the first bioterror attack on U.S. soil.

01Why Was Antelope Founded?

Antelope was established in the 1870s as a ranching community in the high desert of central Oregon. The town served stockmen running cattle and sheep across the vast, sparsely populated canyon lands south of the Columbia Plateau. By the late twentieth century, the population had stabilized at about forty — the kind of place where everyone knew each other, nothing much happened, and that was fine.

02The Rajneeshees Arrive

In 1981, followers of Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh — an Indian spiritual teacher with a fleet of Rolls-Royces and a philosophy mixing meditation with confrontational group therapy — purchased the 64,281-acre Big Muddy Ranch eighteen miles from Antelope for $5.75 million. They began building Rajneeshpuram, an unincorporated religious city intended to house thousands of followers.

Antelope, the nearest incorporated town, became a target. The Rajneeshees began moving members into Antelope to gain voting control. In April 1982, the original residents attempted to disincorporate the town — a legal self-destruction intended to prevent the takeover. The vote failed because the Rajneeshees had already registered enough new voters to defeat it.

The new Rajneeshee majority renamed the town "Rajneesh" and took control of city government.

03The Bioterror Attack

In September and October 1984, Rajneeshee operatives contaminated salad bars at ten restaurants in The Dalles — the Wasco County seat, thirty miles north — with Salmonella typhimurium bacteria. 751 people were sickened. The attack was intended to suppress voter turnout in the November 1984 county elections so that Rajneeshee candidates could win seats on the Wasco County Court.

It was the first biological terrorism attack on American soil. The FBI investigated. Ma Anand Sheela, the Bhagwan's chief lieutenant, was later convicted for the poisoning along with attempted murder and immigration fraud.

04The Collapse

In 1985, the commune unraveled. Internal power struggles, federal investigations, and state land-use challenges converged. Bhagwan Rajneesh attempted to flee the country and was arrested on immigration charges in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sheela had already fled to Switzerland. The commune at Rajneeshpuram dissolved.

On November 6, 1985, the remaining residents of Antelope — a mix of original ranchers and a few staying Rajneeshees — voted 34-0 to restore the original name. The town became Antelope again in 1986.

05What Remains of Antelope Today

Antelope is still an incorporated town. The 2020 census counted about 46 residents. The original ranching character has largely returned. The Big Muddy Ranch, which housed Rajneeshpuram, was purchased by a Christian youth camp organization (Young Life) and renamed Washington Family Ranch.

For visitors, Antelope itself is a quiet ranching town that shows few visible signs of the Rajneeshee era. The Oregon Experience documentary series (OPB) and the Netflix documentary "Wild Wild Country" (2018) brought renewed attention to the story. The Oregon Historical Quarterly published academic analysis of the episode in 2015.