In June 1985 police raid a small 80-acre hog farm in Rulo Nebraska after being tipped off about a potential doomsday cult isolated at the residence. Agents were not faced with resistance during the raid due to the cult’s leader Mike Ryan already being in custody.
Police were repeately told by neighbors of the farm that the cult was responsible for the sounds of automatic fire that could be heard after midnight. According to the Lincoln Journal Star one neighbor said, “Sometimes you’d swear the National Guard was up there becuase of all the shooting.”
Mike Ryan claims that he was under the influence of Yahweh (God) and that he was personally chosen to lead his troops through the Battle of Armageddon that was rapidly approaching. Mike Ryan claimed to his flock that he was a former Green Beret and CIA agent, he was telepathic, and that he was also the reincarnation of Michiel the Archangel who can speak to Yahweh through the right arms of his believers.
Mike Ryan’s cult was based off the teachings of James Wickstrom, a neo-nazi, ultra-right wing, anti-tax extremist who made an appearence on the Phil Donahue and Larry King Live show. The movement, which still exsist today, was called the Posse Comatatis and claimed to be Christian while praticing antisemitism and the destruction of any race other than the white anglo-saxons.
While on the farm Mike Ryan sadistically murdered two followers: 5-year-old Luke Stice and 25-year-old former Mennonite James Thimm.
Mike Ryan was arrested and convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death on September 12, 1985. However, he died of brain cancer at the Tecumeseh State Correction Institution while on death row on May 24, 2015.
