In 1981, the followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh purchased the 64,000-acre Big Muddy ranch outside Antelope, Oregon. The price tag was $5.75 million, a whopping $15 million in 2015 dollars. A year later, followers voted (unanimously) to incorporate their ranch into the city of Rashneeshpuram. http://on.kgw.com/2GXhYwT
In the early 1980s, there was a takeover of the small Eastern Oregon town of Antelope by thousands of worldwide followers of the Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The group was responsible for the largest bio-terror attack in the United States when they infused salad bars in Wasco County restaurants with salmonella. There were also assassination plots against top Oregon federal and state officials and a newspaper investigative reporter.