4. The Disappearance Of Rose Cole
In 1958, Charles E. Dederich founded a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program in Santa Monica, California called Synanon. As the years went on, Synanon expanded beyond drug treatment and attracted people interested in an alternative lifestyle. By the 1970s, it had devolved into a dangerous religious cult.
It got to the point where anyone who joined Synanon was forced to turn over all their assets to them and become a lifetime member. Anyone who tried to leave the cult would face serious consequences. By the time the 1990s rolled around, Synanon was shut down by the Internal Revenue Service for financial misdeeds, and some of its members were even convicted of attempted murder. One unresolved mystery which surrounded Synanon was the disappearance of a teenage girl named Rose Cole.
In 1972, Rose was 15 years old and ran away from home. After she was found, Rose told a judge that she used and sold drugs, so she was sentenced to a court-ordered stay in Synanon’s treatment program. Months later, Rose Cole vanished without a trace. The story goes that Rose ran away from Synanon at some point. SEE ALSO: Celebrities who suffered TRAGEDY in the occult (With Pictures)
Her family received two letters from her, where she claimed to be living on the streets of San Francisco and suffering from a kidney infection. In her last letter, Rose expressed fear that Synanon officials would find her, and said she would not write again until she turned 18 and became a legal adult. Rose’s family never heard from her after that, though there were unverified rumors that she contacted her father sometime during the 1980s to confirm she was still living on the streets.
While there’s no evidence that Synanon caused Rose Cole’s disappearance, the organization’s shady history has caused much speculation.
Discussion about this post