Prophet Fred
• Cults , • Superstitious Folly
Rebelling against the aggressive proselytising of Presbyterian missionaries, dozens of villages on the island of Tanna put their faith in a mysterious outsider called John Frum. ...
On Tanna, islanders became convinced that John Frum was an American. They have spent the last 60 years dressing up in home-made US army uniforms, drilling with bamboo rifles and parading beneath the Stars and Stripes in the hope of enticing a delivery of "cargo" again. ...
Two weeks ago, the normally peace-loving movement was shattered when a simmering feud with a rival village erupted into violence in this all but forgotten part of the Pacific.
In a bloody encounter with traditional weapons John Frum believers clashed with the members of a breakaway Christian sect led by a soft-spoken villager, Fred Nasse, who calls himself Prophet Fred. Half a dozen houses and a thatched Presbyterian church were burnt down during a battle which involved 400 islanders.
Cargo cult's feud with Prophet Fred's sect splits Pacific island