Arizona Sweat Lodge turns deadly
 

PRESCOTT, Ariz.

The deaths of two people during a sweat lodge ceremony led by self-help expert James Arthur Ray are being investigated as homicides. Sheriff Steve Waugh said the deaths of Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown N.Y. and James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee were not accidental.

Ray led more than 50 people into a makeshift plastic sweat lodge at a retreat outside Sedona, Ariz. on Oct. 8. They engaged in a 36-hour fast during a "vision quest" in the nearby wilderness and were served a breakfast buffet before entering the sweat lodge.

After about two hours, Brown and Shore were pulled out of the sweat lodge. Nineteen other people were taken to hospitals and ailments included kidney failures.

The motivational speaker, author and self-help guru offers clients the promise of both spiritual and financial wealth if they sign on to his programs. The five-day "Spiritual Warrior" course during which the deaths occurred had about 50 participants who paid more than $9,000 each. Ray is believed to have collected over $500,000 for the event.

A traditional sweat lodge is generally built with great care and with respect to the environment and to the materials being used, normally wood, skins, and other natural materials. A traditional sweat lodge (also called sweat house, medicine lodge, medicine house, or simply sweat) is a ceremonial sauna and is an important ritual used by some North American First Nations or Native American cultures. Due to the high heat, no metallic objects (jewelry) or synthetic materials are allowed in the construction (tarps), flooring (carpets, linoleum, etc), or clothing of the participants .. loose cotton clothing is the acceptable dress and cotton towels w/o synthetic blends.

The subject lodge was unlike a traditional lodge and is believed to have been a greedy attempt to make money at the expense of others. The reports state that the killer lodge had been constructed with plastic sheets and various other materials not usually used in the construction of a sweat lodge, mainly a giant plastic tent. This was not the first time that Ray had built a lodge and had called for emergency services in the past.

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