Front of Mt. Carmel Memorial
model in 2000.

This
was the south side of the complex, the chapel is in the middle - in
front of
residential tower - and the gymnasium
is on the right behind the chapel.

The northeastern
corner of the building area had a cement swimming pool. The
central residential tower was four
stories
high. To the north of that tower was a room used as a kitchen
(sloped roof).

The front side of the building
again. Here you can see the gymnasium door on the right.

The
model on the stand I made for it for the Visitor's Center Museum
in 2000. As you
might have noticed in some of my photos of the model, an additional
residential
room window
was added later on, as I had mistakenly left this
out (floor one, north side) initially. The actual
building was less symmetrical than it appears upon closer study.
For instance, I put too much
space between the second
story windows above the front door. In reality, those windows
had much less
space between them when compared to the second story windows on the
north end of the building.

The chapel side with gymnasium from the back side view on the
old model stand.

The model was exhibited in two
locations in Lincoln, Nebraska prior to it's six year
exhibit on the Mount Carmel property
outside of Waco, Texas. Above it is pictured
in the Sheldon Memorial Art Museum. The stand I
created here ensured
people saw the building at eye level.

Myself with the model in 1999.
Through
developing observational drawings from video footage and photos
of the complex, I constructed a model of the building to better
understand the layout and function it provided the community, which is
the model pictured in the photos on this web page. I also
designed it to serve as a memorial to those who lost their lives during
the events of 1993. The model was eventually
installed on the Mt. Carmel property where a Visitor’s
Center Museum was created and in operation between 1998 and 2006. The
Visitor's Center Museum was managed by the
survivors and a local supporter up
until March of 2006. During that time it exhibited artifacts from
the building, surviving photos of the life at the center prior to the
siege, donated
photos from family and friends of residents who belonged to the
community, and defense exhibit
photographs of the property and events/agents present throughout the
siege.
Tens of thousands of people traveling through the area have visited the
property since 1993 and continue to visit to this day. My model served
the
survivors
as a historical aid on the property from December of 2000
to September of 2006, much to the thanks of Clive and Edna Doyle who
lived on
the property at the time (Edna passed away in the summer of 2001) and
expressed their desire for a model in
their center. A mutual friend, Rollin, graciously helped in
coordinating the installation process.
Due
to ongoing
differences in religious theology between the survivors and
other
local Branch Davidians that had not been in David Koresh's community,
the survivors relinquished control of the
property
where so many of
their loved ones had died. The property now is managed by a
small
group of Branch
Davidians whose spokesperson is usually Charles Pace who views Koresh's
teachings differently than those who lived and studied with
David. Original materials and the
theme of
preserving the memory of the community under the theology of Koresh at
the Visitor's Center Museum was therefore dismantled by Clive
in the
summer of 2006.
Since that time
the center has been empty.
In September of 2006 I picked up the model in Waco from Clive Doyle to
help him save on storage expenses. In October of 2009, the model was
accessioned by the Wittliff Collections at Texas State Univeristy-San
Marcos where Ashes of Waco author Dick Reavis donated his research
materials. Archivist Joel Minor graciously extended interest and
ability to properly care for the entire model as it had been exhibited
for the six years at the Visitor's Center Musuem on the Mount Carmel
property. He plans to exhibit the model periodically.
In
August of 2008 I received a fellowship to research material holdings
(i.e. records/documents) pertaining to Waco Branch Davidian history as
well as materials pertaining
to the events of 1993. These materials are cared for by the
Texas
Collection, an archival research center in Carroll Library at Baylor
University. While there, I revisited the and took these
photos of the Mt. Carmel
property:

The
crape myrtle trees were still doing well at the time despite
maintenance/water supply removal in
2006.
The bus appears to have been
removed and the house across the street that the ATF used
was completely demolished sometime around 2004.

Opposition to the Trans-Texas
Corridor
project can
be seen posted here, as the sun sets at Mount Carmel.
See Dina Raston's article in
my reference section for more information.
Understanding the history behind the property,
religious communities on it, and the events of 1993, for me, has
involved
reading a significant amount of critical perspective material about the
1993 tragedy; speaking, writing, and visiting with survivors; studying
archival materials, visiting the Mount Carmel site and the
Waco
area, and getting to know other folks who were involved in the events
and have been since 1993. Below is a chart I created from
various
materials in
order
to juxtapose events with the succession of
prophets
on the property as they have been documented, remembered and written
about. This document is not set in stone, as I learn new things every
year that
put some times or events in question. That is why I annotated
the
map with where I found the information. I update it with
new information as I gather it when time permits. Click on
the image for a
down-loadable version that is
readable:

Chart
A: A mapping of events behind the history of the Mt. Carmel property
near Waco, Texas. Click
chart above for readable PDF.
Click the chart to download the readable, annotated PDF file.
Although
the events are complex, I've found every
survivor
that I have met, written or spoken with to be extremely welcoming and
gracious. It is my hope that more attention will continue to
be
devoted to their stories so that this multiracial congregation that was
comprised of people from around the world can be seen for who they
are and/or were,
and not for who the mainstream press often presents them to
be.
Catherine Wessinger of Loyola University in New Orleans has greatly
assisted three
survivors in the process of creating autobiographies. Bonnie Haldeman's
autobiography was released in 2007 (Bonnie was tragically killed on
January 23, 2009 - one of her sisters is being charged with her
stabbing).
Sheila Martin's autobiography was released in April of 2009 and I have
been
working with Catherine Wessinger and Clive Doyle to assist Clive in the
process of creating his autobiography. Survivor Catherine Matteson, a
long time community member who was Lois Roden's assistant and who also
worked with Wessinger to create oral history transcripts (she has
donated her transcripts to the Texas Collection at Baylor University)
passed away October 6, 2009. Please consider
picking up
a copy of their books or look at their interviews to learn about this
community and to support
awareness about the perspectives of
the survivors.

Catherine Matteson in February
of 2009.
Matthew Wittmer
October 2009

The property in February of
2009.

The crape myrtle trees were
still growing strong in their original 1995 placement in
February of 2009.

The inside of the swimming pool
has not held as much water in recent years as it once did.
The 2001 chapel is
now used by Charles Pace and his
congregation since 2006. Charles
was not a member of David's community.
**The
Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos Alkek
Library has received
a Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative grant to
digitize a portion of investigative author
Dick Reavis's research
materials for his book The
Ashes of Waco.
A photo of mine is
featured on a page of the blog that
Archivist
Joel Minor and Processing Archivist Kurt Johnson
set up to follow
this project's progress. This can be located at:
http://alkeklibrarynews.typepad.com/ashesofwaco/2009/02/miles-and-miles-of-texas.html
Referenced Sources
Baily, Brad and Bob Darden. 1993. Mad Man in Waco. Waco,
Tex.: WRS Publishing.
Bresnahan, David M. 2000. Feds Accused of
torturing babies: Waco
lawsuit condemns FBI, Delta Force for gassing women, children for 6
hours. World Net Daily (26 January).
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=408
(accessed 30 June 2009).
Brown,
Peter J. 1993. On
the trial in Texas. ONSTAT:
America's Weekly Satellite Guide (May 24-30):C10-12.
Congressional
Records. Congressional records are fully
restricted for 50 years, however a listing for the Senate's
records (ARC ID#657591 & #657590, both belonging to Record
Group
46) and House of Representative records (ARC ID#1667879
belonging to Record Group 233) that each pertain to the congressional
investigation into the events of 1993 at Mt. Carmel can
be
accessed via the National Archives & Records Administration's
Archival Records Catalog (ARC) at http://www.archives.gov/research/arc.
Culp, Cindy. 2006. Branch
Davidians caught in another power struggle. Waco Tribune-Herald,
(April 20):1A, 6A.
Day 51.
1994. VHS. Directed by Robert Mosley. UTV. Viewable on google videos
at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6765270087708355283
(accessed 30 June 2009).
Department of the Treasury, Report of the. 1993. Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell also known
as David Koresh (September). Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office. [524 pages approximately, including
appendices.]
De Vault, Jack. 1994. The
Waco Whitewash,
San Antonio: Rescue Press.
The F.L.I.R. Project. 2001. VHS. Produced, written, researched and directed by
Michael McNulty.
COPS Productions.
This
program shows how Danforth's re-examination of the
forward looking infrared (taken on 19 April) is misleading and
unreliable because basic details in reconstructing the use of the FLIR
did not use the same weapons and was not conducted in the same
enviornmental conditions that were present on 19 April 1993. This video
also contains FBI footage of agents taking trophy
shots of themselves next to charred victim corpses in the rubble
immediately follwing the fire.
Frontline:
Once upon a time in Arkansas. Vince Foster’s
Journal. PBS Online.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/arkansas/etc/foster.html
(accessed 30 June 2009).
Haldeman, Bonnie. 2007. Memories
of the Branch Davidians: The Autobiography of David Koresh's Mother.
Catherine Wessinger, ed. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press.
Hancock, Lee. 1999. U.S.
Warned to release Waco Siege Documents:
Judge again threatens government with contempt. Dallas
Morning News (03 November). A copy of this article has been
posted on the Montgomery citizens for a safer Maryland website at:
http://www.mcsm.org/waco24.html (accessed 30 June 2009).
Hardy David T. and Rex Kimball. 2001. This Is Not An Assault: Penetrating the Web
of Official Lies Regarding the Waco Incident.
Tinicum, Pennsylvania: Xlibris Corporation.
Written
by one of the three defense attorneys that has represented the
survivors, this book is about how the
governmental agencies involved in the debacle of 1993 reacted and
continue to
respond to this incident. It exposes the tragic accidents and cover-ups
that have shielded the public from adequately seeing what happened
during and after the siege.
Houteff, Victor T. 1931. The Shepherd's Rod: The
144,000
of Revelation - Call for Reformation. Los
Angeles:
Universal Publishing Association.
Inside Mount Carmel. 1993. VHS. Video taken of Mt. Carmel
residents made for
the FBI during the 51 day siege inside Mt. Carmel. Waco, Tex.: Mount
Carmel
Visitor’s Center Museum, 2000.
Kopel, David B and Paul H. Blackman. 1997. No More Wacos: What's
Wrong with
Federal Law Enforcement and How to Fix It. New
York: Prometheus Books.
Lynch, Timothy. 2001. No Confidence: An
unofficial account of the
Waco incident. The CATO Institute:policy
analysis no.
395. http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-395es.html (accessed 30 June 2009).
Martin,
Sheila. 2009. When
they were mine: memoirs
of the Branch
Davidian wife and mother. Catherine
Wessinger, ed. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press.
McLaughlin,
Martin. 1999. Cover-up
of Waco massacre unravels as new evidence
exposes FBI lies. World
Socialist Web Site (4 September)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/sep1999/waco-s04.shtml (accessed 30
June 2009).
Mitchell, Douglas F. 2003-2009. General Association of
Branch Davidian Seventh-day
Adventists. http://www.the-branch.org/ (accessed 30 June
2009).
Moore, Carol. 1995. The
Davidian Massacre: disturbing questions about Waco which must be
answered. Franklin, Tennessee: Legacy
Communications.
This book chronicles details about the ATF who were one of the
central agencies involved in the initial raid as well as the FBI who
were involved throughout the siege. It reveals how these
agencies actions and press briefings lead to the massive
misinterpretation of the Mt. Carmel community.
Mount
Carmel 911 Tape. 1993. Audiocassette, 1-13
hours condensed. Waco, TX: Mount Carmel Visitor’s Center
Museum, 2000.
Nelson, Alan and Sandra Gines. 1988. Crying in the Wilderness:
A religious
commune sets up a dwelling in the woods amid a struggle between rival
prophets. Waco
Tribune-Herald (17 January).
Newport, Kenneth G. C. 2006. The
Branch Davidians of Waco: The History
and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect. New York: Oxford
University Press.
The
Office of Special Counsel John C. Danforth. 2000. Final Report to the Deputy
Attorney General: concerning the 1993 confrontation at the Mt. Carmel
complex, Waco, Texas, Section (e), Pursuant
to Order no.
2256-99. (8 November). PDF file with multiple appendices.
[1604 pages including the appendices.]
Pace,
Charles (?). The
Branch: Our LORD Our Righteousness:welcome to our newly reorganized
church and website. http://the2branches.org/index.html
(accessed 30 June 2009).
Pate, James L. 2000. Waco:
A New Revelation—startling
new video ignites investigations. Soldier of
Fortune (February): 52-55, 72.
Raston,
Dina Temple. 2007. Branch
Davidians see conspiracy in highway
project. All
Things Considered (18 May),
National Public
Radio. http://www.npr.org/
templates/story/story.php?storyId=10243823 (accessed 30 June 2009).
Reavis,
Dick J. 1995. The Ashes
of Waco. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Reporters Committe for Freedom of the Press, The.
2000. Waco
secrecy damaged public trust,
report finds (Summer). The News, Media and the
Law
24 (3): 23. http://www.rcfp.org/news/mag/24-3/foi-wacorept.html
(accessed 30 June 2009).
Robertson, J.J., 1996. Beyond
the Flames: This is the true story of the massacre at Waco from a man
who watched it happen. San Diego: ProMotion Publishing.
Roden, Amo. AMO RODEN HERSELF.
http://www.amoroden.com (accessed 30 June 2009).
Shannon,
Elaine. 1999. Feuding
over Waco: Sects, files and videotape fuel
the
face-off between Justice and the FBI over the Branch
Davidians. Time (13 September):
29-30.
Shappart,
Sharlene. 2000. Take
a moment to picture
this. http://wizardsofaz.com/waco/picturethis.html
(accessed 30 June 2009).
Stone, Alan A. 1993. Report
and Recommendations Concerning the Handling of
Incidents Such As the Branch Davidian Standoff in Waco Texas
(8
November). In The Bill
Smith Collection, Texas Collection, Baylor
University. A 10 November 1993 version of this report that is nearly
identical is available through the PBS website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/waco/stonerpt.html (accessed 30
June 2009).
Tabor,
James. 1995. Why Waco?.
Los Angeles: University of California Press.
This
book was written by a professor who was initially called in as a
religious studies consultant to provide central negotiation strategies
to resolve the initial raid situation after the ATF attack. The FBI,
ATF and directives from Washington did not agree with Tabor's
suggestions. They dismissed
his recommendations and called in other consultants who recommended
forceful tactics to get Davidians to leave the property.
Taylor, Wendi. Branch Davidian
Seventh-day Adventist (B.D.S.D.A.) Online Information.
http://bdsda.com/default.aspx (accessed 30 June 2009).
The Texas
Collection, Carroll Library, Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
Branch
Davidian archival material holdings include the following series:
The Mark Swett Collection
The Joe Roberts Collection
The Robert Darden Collection
The Bill Smith Collection
The Kirk T. Lyons Collection
The Don Marion Collection
The Amo Roden Collection
(For
a review of the contents of each of the collections above, please see
my article listed under Wittmer, Matthew in this list or in
the
index at the beginning of this website).
Thibodeau,
David and Leon Whiteson. 1999. A
Place Called Waco: A Survivor’s Story,
New York: Public Affairs.
A first hand account of the siege
and fire written by survivor David
Thibodeau.
United States Department of Justice. 1993. Report to the
Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas: Introduction (8 October).
http://www.usdoj.gov/05publications/waco/wacotocpg.htm#toc (accessed 30
June 2009).
Valentine,
Carol A. 1996. Waco
Electronic Holocaust Museum. Public
Action
Inc..
http://www.public-action.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum/index.html
(accessed 30 June 2009).
Waco:
A New Revelation. 1999.
VHS. Produced, written and researched by Michael McNulty and directed
by Jason Van Vleet. MGA Films.
This is the sequel to Waco: Rules of Engagement and
focuses more on the
aftermath, questions of wrongdoing, and has interviews of some persons
not in the first documentary. It summarizes the siege quickly and has
information about what was going on with the
intelligence outside the building that the first documentary does not
present.
Waco:
The Rules of Engagement. 1997. VHS: red jacket
director’s cut. Produced,
written and researched by Michael McNulty and directed
by William Gazecki. This version was a joint production between Gazecki
and
McNulty and released before the version that went on to Sundance that
was distributed by Somford Entertainment.
This
documentary received two thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert and began
raising eyebrows at
what was not covered by the media by showing footage taken from the air
by the FBI. This documentary mixes interviews with survivors of the
siege in with the actual footage of the siege and testimony from the
1995 Sub Committee Hearings on Crime investigation. The first version
of this was released on VHS with a red jacket cover
(only about 5000 copies exist) and is longer than the version that won
awards and was distributed by Somford Entertainment. This
documentary takes you through the entire 51-day siege and focuses on
showing the actions of ATF
and FBI agents. The red jacket version has a different narrator,
different editing and different
ending. The Somford version has material not in
the red jacket version.
Wessinger,
Catherine. Professor
of Religious Studies, Loyola University, New
Orleans.
http://www.loyno.edu/~wessing/milpubs.htm (accessed 30 June 2009).
Wittliff Collections. Ashes
of Waco: A blog about the digitization and
online presentation of archival materials in the Dick J. Reavis
Papers. Southwestern Writers Collection, Alkek Library,
Texas State
University-San Marcos. http://alkeklibrarynews.typepad.com/ashesofwaco/
(accessed 30 June 2009).
Wittliff
Collections. Dick
J. Reavis Papers. Southwestern Writers Collection,
Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos. Collection #086, 103
boxes (51 linear feet).
http://alkek.library.txstate.edu/swwc/archives/writers/reavis.html
(accessed 30 June 2009).
The
Wittliff Collections. Ashes of Waco: A Digitized
Archive from the Wittliff Collections. Southwestern Writers Collection, Alkek Library,
Texas State University-San Marcos.
http://ashesofwaco.library.txstate.edu/index.html (accessed 11 October
2009).
Wittmer, Matthew. 2009.
Traces
of the Mount Carmel Community:
Documentation and Access. Nova
Religio: The Journal
of New and Emergent Religions 13 (2):95-113.
Wright,
Stuart A, ed. 1995. Armageddon in Waco:
Critical
Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Mount Carmel Memorial Tree &
Stone Layout:
Documented here as originally planted
by survivors
at the
1995 April 19th Memorial.
(In
April of 2009 the trees were all uprooted and replanted along both
sides of the property's driveway.)
Memorial
crape myrtle trees were planted on the Mount Carmel property directly
in front of
where David's Mt. Carmel building once stood. They were planted by the
survivors and a
supporter named Rick Donaldson during the April 19th Memorial in 1995.
Memorial tree and stone
for Star Howell.

Trees
here are without blooms in the winter.
This photo was taken
in December of 2000.

Memorial trees as they
appeared in August 2008.
These
trees
were later each fitted with memorial headstones that had the
name, date of
death,
age, and country of origin of every community member who was
killed between February and
April of 1993.
David's memorial
headstone as it appeared on
the Mount Carmel property
in December of 2000.
Charles Pace (property resident since at least 1996) uprooted all
of these stones from the trees in
2006 (see Cindy Culp article in references for photo of the original
uprooting - David's stone was
destroyed then). As of April 2009, the stones were stacked vertically
in two piles
under the tree near the front gate.

Here you can see the
name stones stacked
in two piles under the tree near the
property's front gate in February of 2009.
In April of
2009, Charles had the trees themselves each uprooted from
their original
1995 location,
which has effectively erased the survivor's initial memorial layout of
the trees and stones. The trees
appear to have been over-pruned, and have been replanted along the
drive that
leads
from Double EE road to the chapel.

This is how the
trees appeared in April of 2009 - completely
removed from their original placement and over-pruned.
Below
is a map of
how
the survivors planted these trees in 1995 and how they fitted each one
with a stone name
marker.
I made this map, and rubbings from every name stone, in December
of 2000.
Row
one was the furthest from where
Mount
Carmel once
stood and row nine was the
closest to where the front of the building once was.
Now that all stones and tress have been removed, my website is
the
only effort that has
documented the layout of how the trees and stones were initially
arranged by survivors.
See map below.

1995-2009
map of memorial trees and name stones. Click
chart above for readable PDF.
RUBBINGS OF MEMORIAL NAME
STONES
by
matthew wittmer in December of 2000.
Row
1, the furthest from where Mount Carmel stood, south to east (6 stones)





Row
2, south to east (9 stones)









Row
3, south to east (11 stones)











Row
4, south to east (11 stones)











Row
5, south to east (11 stones)











Row
6, south to east (10 stones)










Row
7, south to east (9 stones)









Row
8, south to east (8 stones)








Row
9, closest to where Mount Carmel once stood, south to east (7 stones)







.
.
[Back to index near top of page].
McLennan
County Restland Cemetery Burials
Photos by
matthew wittmer in February 2009

The
following photos are of all of the burial plot
headstones located
in the
McLennan County Restland Cemetery where several of the people
who were killed
at Mount Carmel are buried. The cemetery is
referred to as a pauper's cemetery
by some of the local survivors. It
is directly southeast of Oakwood Cemetery in the
city of Waco.
To
access theses plots go to 9th street near the intersection of Martin
or
Holt Avenue and you will see the gate pictured above. Most plots are in
the ends
of rows 7 and 8 with the exception of Floyd Houtman whose plot
is a couple of rows
northwest of row 7.






















This
is what the row markers look like as you enter through the fence.
Oakwood
Cemetery Burial
Photos by
matthew wittmer in February 2009
Shari
Doyle is buried on the north side of the south end of Oakwood Cemetery.

[Back
to index near top of page]t
t
Mount Carmel Memorial Postcard
|
|
MEMORIAL
MODEL OF MOUNT CARMEL Created by
Matthew Wittmer
Postcards
of the memorial
model are available. They have the address of the property
printed on the them, though the Visitor's Center is no longer
exhibiting the model, photos or artifacts since the survivors moved off
of the property in 2006.
Email any inquiries to me and write WACO POSTCARD
in the subject heading. Cards are one dollar each and 100% goes to the
survivors fund. Look for a new card in the late summer or
fall of
2009. |