Did David Koresh experience an Alien Abduction on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem? Watch WACO: Madman or Messiah to find out!

WACO: Madman or Messiah

25 years after the horrific events unfolded live across television screens all over America, the survivors of WACO speak about what they had experienced.  They tell their personal and intimate stories about their leader, David Koresh. Koresh was a self-proclaimed “Prophet of God”. To his believers, he was the literal human incarnation of God. To government officials, he was a “con-man” and a threat. President Clinton called him “Irrational and possibly insane”. Waco: Madman or Messiah offers a look at both sides of the story, including 247 recorded conversations between David Koresh and government agencies, most of them never broadcast before.

In Waco Texas, at a place called Mount Carmel, a group of religious zealots called The Branch Davidians lived together for generations on a compound. They believed that the end of the world was coming soon, like any day. Their leader, David Koresh, claimed to be the second coming of God on this planet. David claimed that he was visited by God during a pilgrimage to Israel. Koresh said that he was taken to heaven in a chariot.  He was taken beyond “Orions Belt” and given infinite knowledge about The 7 Signs and his destiny. This is where I had my Geek/Ancient Alien theorist interest peaked! First, “The Seventh Sign” was an awesome  movie from the 80’s starring Demi Moore. Check it out. We will review it someday. It’s a scripture from Revelations about 7 seals that when “opened” will bring about the “Second Coming”. David’s description of  his angelic abduction is very similar to the accounts often heard of by “Alien Abductees”. Not to say that’s what happened. It could have been angels, or it could have been…Aliens? Koresh could have read or seen Erik Von Däniken’s “Chariot’s of The Gods?” and repeated what he had learned about already established ancient alien theory. That book was published in 1968. However, be that as it may, I did have that “Aliens?” moment.

Things went south for Koresh and the Davidians, when Koresh began to take underage wives to father his “divine children”.  Who he had prophesied would help rule the world. The government investigated child molestation allegations made by Marc Berault, a Branch Davidian who had become disenchanted with Koresh. After interviewing members of the compound, authorities did not find anything to support Marc’s allegations. According to the Davidians, they would make extra money by customizing, buying, and selling automatic weapons. A delivery driver alerted authorities to a shipment of dummy hand grenades he had made to the compound. The Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms got involved. The ATF inserted an undercover agent into the compound to gather more information. The discovery of a large cache of weapons and David’s preaching of an “end” coming, the ATF decided to intervene. This helped lead to one of the longest and deadliest stand-offs in US History.

It was interesting to hear both sides of the story. I was disappointed at the cold, almost over the top aggressiveness of the ATF agents still today. The “trained to kill” mentality shows little remorse for the death of over 90 people, 19 of them children. In a botched attempt to “smoke out” the Davidians with tear gas, the ATF accidentally sparked a fire that eventually consumed the compound with most of its members trapped inside. WACO: Madman or Messiah does an excellent job in showing and giving both sides of the story. The audio tapes are heartbreaking at times.

Equally surprising is the devotion that Branch Davidians still have for David Koresh. David’s family and the surviving followers talk about him as a young man and boy. Koresh was said to get kicked out of churches for questioning the elders about parts of the bible. They were often not being able to answer his questions or argue his theories. His family talks about David being dyslexic and his habits of long hours of prayer as a child. David’s Aunt says that he predicted in his youth that “the government was going to kill him someday.” Super bizarre and chilling!

The show delves deep into the religious aspects to what David Koresh was professing. Koresh spoke a lot about the book of revelations and the 7 seals. The mental health and religious experts interviewed on the show, were involved with the standoff. The experts try to explain what Koresh was thinking and why things went wrong.

WACO: Madman or Messiah is a shocking introspective look into the life of the Davidians and the miscommunications that led to the tragic death of innocent people on both sides of the standoff.

Tune into A&E’s two-night event WACO: Madman or Messiah on Jan 28th @9pm.