The Cult in a Boarding School

(wind blowing) (chimes ringing) - [Narrator] Thursday. (dramatic music) (chimes ringing) Wayne Kernochan was stuck at home during an excruciatingly long winter. He was what his parents believed to be a problem child.

Experiencing nightmares, arguing with the seven siblings, and getting in trouble at school. His parents' method of punishment wasn't the best. Having gone on record to state that his father beats him with hockey sticks.

It was undeniable that their humble abode in suburban Connecticut was less of a place of refuge for him and more of a cell of torment. (dramatic music) (phone ringing) The phone rings in the kitchen and his mom answers. It's from a school up north called Elan.

The man on the phone says that Wayne should come right away and that they'll have a private jet waiting for him at Danbury airport. His mom tells him not to worry and that it's more of an outdoor camp type thing that'll make them better. According to the flyer she read, it was proven with a 95% success rate and their alumni were all leaving as better people than when they first arrived there.

Counselors, psychiatrists, activities, friends, Elan had it all he was told. And so Wayne packed up his stuff that night. Eager, sure, nervous, yes.

(dramatic music) But absolutely awaiting the things to come. (plane rumbling) The plane touches down in Portland, Maine. Two men greet him.

(dramatic music) After embarking for the school 30 minutes north in Poland his escorts inquire on why he was sent there. - [Man] Drgs? - [Narrator] Nope.

- [Man] Court order? - [Narrator] No. - [Man] So why the hell are you going?

- [Narrator] They joke. And then things get quiet. It was at this moment when Wayne began to question whether he was going to the place he thought he was.

Something didn't seem right, but he was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. The two pull off a back wooded road into a clearing. "Looks like a camp" he thinks.

However, when he exits the vehicle, he isn't greeted with a silent serenity of nature, but instead with screaming. (muffled, distant yelling) (gentle music) The 1970s were an interesting time. Across the United States, a rise in for-profit behavior modification facilities were in action.

Now called the troubled teen or tough love industry. It seemed to be a money machine aimed at altering and stifling troublesome behavior in adolescents. The exact data is hard to gauge due to the widely varying nature of the names, motives, and specialties of each of these schools, but they were widespread and only became more so throughout the eighties.

It's widely believed that the parental reception to the era's youth were the catalyst for facilities like this. Given that this was the decade following the rise of the hippie subculture authority was and had been challenged for years resulting in a sort of panic among older generations. Resultingly in early 1970 a psychiatrist named Gerald Davidson alongside investor David Goldberg, and a man named Joseph Ricci would band together to create a school named Elan, a private co-ed behavior modification program geared from grade eight to beyond high school.

Ricci built the facility as one that would correct bad behavior by teens without punishment, while painting himself as a genuine mentor that could help make that happen. Sitting on 33 acres of land off of Number Five Road in Poland, Maine, Elan's main campus was highly secluded and a long shot from any outside civilization. With numerous facilities in place the school was well equipped to handle a student body in the hundreds and within the span of just one year they'd eventually meet that metric.

Numerous alumni, much like Wayne, have gone on record to stage that their initial outside impression of the school was that it was like a summer camp in the Maine woods. However, upon arrival reality would paint a different picture. Allegedly, the final minutes of the trip there were unforgettable with Elan being shrouded down a long dirt road in the middle of the wilderness and made up of rundown trailers and buildings, giving it a frightening feeling of dread.

Furthermore, some have stated that once they exited the vehicle expecting a lively campground they're instead faced with a sight much stranger. Some students were spotted wearing degrading signs, some shackled in handcuffs, some being yelled at and bizarrely everyone would just pretend it's normal. At this point it's been noted that some students attempt to flee.

They weren't entirely sure what the Elan school was, but it was clear to them that it wasn't good. These escape efforts were always futile though, as Elan station guards around the campus to chase and subdue outliers that would attempt this. Considering how the school was marketed, touting itself as an altruistic institution genuinely concerned with helping troubled teenagers get better it was clear from the outside that those claims were a reach.

But just how far would they take that? (gentle music) What most students were unaware of was that behind their back a deal was made on their behalf. (gentle music) With nothing but a simple signature and payment, parents could sign their child's life over to Elan, which advertised itself as a positive reaffirming center of growth.

According to an excerpt from an early 2000s archive of their website, we can observe the vernacular they used to appeal to each parent. Dear parents, we're very aware of how lonely and confused you must feel as you sit down to read this. if you're like the parents of most of our students, you're faced with an adolescent whose behavior is out of control, and you don't know why.

A youngster who's been given everything and is throwing it all away is difficult to understand. But you can see that this process is progressive. The most saddening part is knowing that your offspring is ruining his or her future.

Your own pain is difficult, but your pain for your child is unbearable. By coming to Elan, you have come to a truly different school. We can't offer you miracles, but we can offer you hope.

We know that your journey to this point has been painful. We hope Elan can change its course. On top of this school staff were known to hand out flyers to parents while persuading them that their child just might be troubled.

It's been noted that Joseph Ricci was somewhat of a salesman. He was charismatic and excelled at convincing parents of all the good that Elan could do for their kids. The good that as we'll soon find was all a lie.

I'd like to let it be known that Wayne's Elan admission story was on the lighter side. For most of the other students, things were handled a bit more violently. Instead of a plane school alumni have gone record to state that they were transported by van.

Reportedly once your parents agreed to send you off to Elan and pay the $50,000 tuition fee, they designate a time and date with Elan's so-called teen escort service. They wouldn't pick you up during the day though. Instead in the middle of the night when you're fast asleep they would bust through your door and kidnap you.

In years past Elan staff have stated that since the child has no say in attending their capture hinges on the element of surprise. According to a blog named Suzuki's thoughts, the abduction process involves two men breaking into the teen's bedroom, physically subduing them, tying them up with plastic handcuffs, throwing them into a van, and then driving them to Poland, Maine, where they'd be handed over to the Elan school. Such experiences often traumatized the teens who were abducted.

For all they knew at first they were being taken by criminals to be held ransom, tortured, or worse killed. For the girls it was even more terrifying. Some girls later recalled that they believed that they were going to be.

- [Man] Raped, sexually assaulted. - [Narrator] And murdered by their abductors. One certainly can't blame the kids for thinking this way.

Such practices had all the hallmarks of a violent kidnapping. This practice became notorious around the United States. Eventually earning its nickname, the Elan snatch.

If this were any indication, it was clear that morality wasn't the school strong suit, but that ultimately begs the question, would it stop there or was their torment only just beginning? (gentle music) Day one. Students would typically arrive to Elan during the early morning hours of the day.

Due to the nature of their transport to campus, they were often known to resist their escorts. It's been noted that their capture was designed this way, utilizing their escape attempt against them as a tool to convey that no matter what they're not getting out of there. And with this came the first steps of dehumanization.

Instilling the feeling that their basic rights have been robbed of them, in turn making them feel like less of a student and more like a prisoner. This sentiment was taken even further when they're physically taken inside the school. Often the first stop would be the dormitory showers, which served as a tool in robbing each student of their sense of individuality.

Reportedly students are thrown into them with absolutely no privacy and are demanded to remove all of their clothing and valuable items. After complying they're given what Elan calls no image clothing, which as the name implies, simply includes a bland colorless shirt and pants. Effectively forcing them into a state of conformity.

Following this each new student will be taken into a common area where they're assigned what Elan calls a big brother. This in essence was a tenured student designated to be a guide. On paper they were told to help their students adjust to their new life on campus.

Someone like a peer while educating them on how great and effective the program is. In reality though, this relationship was far from friendly. It's been reported that big brothers would often try to deceive their newer counterparts, enticing them to run away or to break the rules.

If the student had to ever agreed or attempted to listen to this their behavior would be reported to school staff resulting in punishment. As we've seen in studies like the Stanford prison experiment, I'm sure you can see why this would be a bad idea. Oftentimes big brother figures, much like staff would take great pleasure in exerting their superiority over the newer students.

It fulfilled them in a way that was almost cult-like. (birds chirping) - You just want to feel (yelling). You're doing it.

You and everybody else has to. Get it right. - You know it's lack of quality.

You know it's crap. You know this will not be tolerated. - Nobody every thinks about getting their grip on a man.

Nothing's your responsibility. You never clean the bathroom this morning. - Maybe you should remember next time you'll do this off the wall.

You'll get to clean off the showers too. You and every one of them uses a shower. You're just being irresponsible.

- If you wanna act like a baby, you get screamed at, if you wanna act as a more mature adolescent, you get talked to. (yelling) (gentle music) - [Narrator] Speaking of cults, the social hierarchy at Elan is structured in a way that heavily resembles one. At the school students are immediately placed into two categories.

Strengths, which were tenured obedient students that were a few steps up the totem pole. And non-strengths, the newer ones who typically resisted treatments. Strengths were allowed to talk to fellow strengths and non-strengths.

Non-strengths on the other hand were only permitted to communicate with strengths. If a non-strength were caught communicating with a non-strength, harsh punishment would soon greet them. (gentle music) The Elan school as we've established thrives on the feeling of hopelessness.

Throughout students' tenures there, they were forbidden to contact anyone from the outside world unless they've earned the privilege through good behavior and compliance. Every single phone line from campus would run through a single switchboard located in this small trailer. And it was heavily guarded because of that.

If a student were to gain the privilege of contacting their family, it's been reported that they're heavily monitored, only permitted to praise the school for all the good it's done to help them during their time there. If they ever were to be caught telling the truth or revealing the atrocities that occur behind the scenes, they were quickly disconnected, reprimanded, and robbed of any future potential to use the phone lines ever again. (gentle music) On top of the phone manipulation, every Elan resident was required to write what the school calls a guilt letter, which as you might expect as an explanation of how great the Elan school is for them, all the great activities they do there, and how well they're progressing through the program.

These letters would be heavily scrutinized before being mailed out to their parents. Effectively this tactic's goal was twofold. To allow an Elan's facade to remain in place and to entice their parents to spend more money on their treatment in turn keeping them there even longer than they had ever planned to.

In reality, students were helpless, being abused, and in most cases verbally tortured at the pleasure of the Elan school staff. It was clear to students that they weren't getting away from this anytime soon. And after realizing this, their minds would often pivot away from rebellion and towards compliance in hopes of powering through the program.

This drove most of them to become somewhat brainwashed, ultimately stuck in a system that will do everything it possibly can to make their escape, impossible. (gentle music) As you might expect the rules at the Elan school were immense. Exerting nearly totalitarian control over everything that happens.

Joe Ricci's set of rules, which he called guilt was gargantuan and needlessly meticulous. As a student at Elan you would be expected to refrain from doing the following. Having any image, reading as a non-strength, not completing learning experiences, writing without permission, being sideways, looking at security zones, non-strength interacting, talking too loudly, talking too softly, looking at the opposite gender, being attracted to someone, any physical contact, looking out windows, unauthorized drawing, not listening to higher ranks, pretending to sleep at night, thinking of running away, being in the bathroom for too long, wearing dark clothing, being manipulative, being lazy while working, listening to music, talking too much, showering for more than three minutes, not talking enough, making facial reactions to orders, negative body language, pretending not to have guilt, over sleeping, under sleeping, smiling, and the list goes on and on.

Clearly these roles were not designed to be followed, causing harsh penalization to become commonplace. To help enforce these individuals known as expediters were designated by the school to stand on watch with clipboards. Primarily they were known to catch those that broke three rules, being attracted to members of the opposite gender, looking at the opposite gender, and making prolonged eye contact with anyone else.

Since expediters too were required to fill their clipboards with names and infractions at the risk of their own punishment, they frequently and unapologetically made assumptions and accusations that were a lie. (gentle music) As you'd expect punishment varied pretty heavily at Elan and not in a good way. One example involved requiring a group of students to live in a dumpster for over two weeks.

The expediter watching them was tasked with ensuring compliance and preventing any attempt to escape. If their subordinates acted out however, the expediter on duty would be forced to live in the dumpster with them while being monitored by yet another who is up to the task. Another major tactic at Elan was humiliation.

They figured that by breaking down their social barrier, forcing students into extreme embarrassment, they could drive them to a point of total compliance. Those who tried to escape were often labeled as a split risk and their punishment for doing so was confiscation of their shoe laces and the requirement to wear a bright yellow t-shirts and short pink shorts. The school figured that without laces, their shoes were effectively useless in turn preventing any ability to move any faster than a walk.

A more extreme example of a split risk punishment is shown with this student. Instead of a t-shirt and shorts though, he was forced to wear a bright pink rabbit suit with cuffs around his legs. It's unclear if this is a repeat offender, but it raises the question as to how far Elan would actually go with this tactic.

Students that smiled out of place where punished by wearing dunce caps and reduced to work that the school calls shotdown. These involved repetitious, dull tasks like mopping floors, scrubbing the insides of trash cans, and even cleaning toilets with just a single toothbrush for hours and hours on end. If you had to use the bathroom during shotdown, it's been noted that approval by sometimes six or more superiors was required before you were able.

And even then an escort had to watch you while you were in there. This on top of a myriad of other degrading punishments like humiliating sign and diaper wearing it's clear that Elan kept an iron grip on their daily operations. Their daily operations that took up most of the daily schedule and those that were deceptively named by the Elan school themselves as their treatment.

(gentle music) But I will say all of these punishments are relatively tame compared to what we're about to talk about. Let's just say if you pissed off a staff member, they could start something called a general meeting on you. And trust me, you wouldn't want one.

(dramatic music) There seemed to be no standard for them. They would just happen at random multiple times each day. If staff were annoyed or felt like targeting a specific student for some reason, they could call a general meeting at any time.

Once these words were uttered, everyone in the building would be required to gather in front of the students in whichever room they were in. Get your feelings off the administrator screams. And following this each student in the room would begin screaming at and berating the students, firing off slurs and obscenities for nearly an hour long.

No matter how much the student pled for everyone to stop, no matter how much they broke down, no matter how much they cried general meetings would not end until the admin said so. (yelling) And when it finally did, the victim would lay there, often crying and exhausted of the relentless abuse that they'd just endured. It's clear that general meetings aren't designed to reprimand.

They're designed to completely break each and every student that's the subject of one. And with this we can effectively put the points together that Elan was doing nothing more than running an operation that commanded total compliance. Any self thought or sliver of independence that students thought they had was gone.

They were merely reduced to weapons. Weapons that at a moment's notice could just as easily be used against them. (dramatic music) (bell ringing) 7:00 PM.

(dramatic music) Contrary to its focus on academia in outside marketing school time within Elan was secondhand to the student's treatment. Typically the timeframe for learning was seven to 11:00 PM, but sometimes could run longer. As you might expect there were no extracurriculars, no physical education, no projects, no legitimate exams, nothing.

Instead, students were required to grade themselves on work that they were self-assigned with absolutely no direction. The structure of class typically involved a staff member supervising a room full of children. Each night of learning involved completing work out of freshmen level textbooks, which unsurprisingly for a group of teenagers would be immensely uneventful.

Given that class time was after a long day full of verbal abuse, monotonous tasks, and a hierarchy system that does nothing but suffocate the lower classes, students dozing off and losing track of their work was expected. Curiously school time too was regarded as a privilege at Elan. Joe Ricci has gone on record to state that the class schedule itself was designed this way on purpose.

Allegedly, he believes students were easier to control while sleep deprived and utilized even this as a medium to work against them. By 11:00 PM if a student makes it through a night of work without issue school hours then draw to a close. They're quickly released from class and escorted to their dorms which were often in the form of uncomfortable, impersonal military-style bunk beds.

Sleep was known to be difficult as designated students named night owls were assigned to stand guard with flashlights. In regular intervals they'd shine them on the sleeping students to both ensure that they hadn't escaped and to secure the fact that they're actually asleep. A requirement that as we can recall was also in the list of Elan's rules.

And if one actually manages to calm their nerves, dozing off into their only time of tranquility, that would allow them to effectively place the cap on a day in the nightmare that is Elan. (crickets chirping) - [Man] House, wake up. - [Narrator] And then you get to do it all over again.

(dramatic music) A notorious aspect of Elan among everything else that happened there was something called the ring. Considered the highest level of punishment Elan staff could make the call to start the ring at any time. The structure was set up similar to that of a general meeting and was typically commenced when school staff believed that the punishment wasn't harsh enough for a specific student.

In the ring, a student is designated as a bully and is outfitted with a face guard and gloves. Surrounding them are troves of others that are commanded to scream and yell obscenities at them. While this is taking place specific students will be chosen to compete against the bully in numerous fistfights until school staff decided that they were sufficiently injured.

No one was safe from the ring either. Some wore preexisting injuries, some were much smaller than their opponent, and some were even pregnant. Even worse, things seemed to be treated like a game with superiors commentating on the matches like they were on TV.

In reality though this was the furthest thing from TV. This was handcrafted abuse. Elan was meticulous about orchestrating fights for the ring too.

It's been noted that certain students would regularly be punished for another's actions, effectively engineering anger between them. This was often noticed between big brothers and their subordinates as they'd be punished for the actions of their newer counterparts. And once they were angry enough, a ring fight would commence often injuring students so badly that they'd sustained permanent brain damage, PTSD, and even death.

(gentle music) - It costs $17,400 to send the average youngster to Elan for one year. Even at that price, there are judges, social workers, and parents who consider it a bargain. Elan's defenders claim it has the most consistently effective program for salvaging young people who are too difficult for other facilities to handle.

So many states want to use Elan that there's a waiting list. But on the other hand, one state agency in Massachusetts will no longer send their youngsters here because they object to the way the children are treated. One reason is the use of physical punishment.

Joe, you make no bones about it. There is corporal punishment here at Elan. Tell us about it.

What are the stages that comes in, who's it administered by? - Well, it's, it's administered by the kids. First of all, and corporal, it's a harsh term.

Okay, what it is, is we have the ring. Okay, which everybody misinterprets. It's, it's not a boxing ring, it's a ring of human people.

The bully is introduced as what he is. In this corner is the bully who's trying to turn this facility into a detention center. Okay, and in this corner is the house champion who's gonna show him why it can't be done.

And that's exactly how it does. And we never allowed the bully to win. - Girls get put in the ring too.

- Well girls bully as well as boys though. I mean, you know, it doesn't, you know, we're, we're a equal rights facility. We also use spanking, which is symbolic.

And again, it's the last resort. Okay, and it's, and it's one resident spanking another resident and it's done with a ping pong paddle. Okay and usually a person won't get spanked more than once or twice, but it's a symbolic thing, which is if you're gonna to act like a baby, you should be treated like a baby.

- [Narrator] On December 27th, 1992 a 15 year old Elan student named Philip Williams was placed into the ring. He wasn't the largest kid there, but he was known to do what he could to put up a fight. He had grown up in a family of division, regularly witnessing his father physically abuse his mother.

With this there was an anger within him, a sadness that Elan noticed and wanted to exploit. And so that evening a ring session commenced with Phil as the bully. There was fight after fight after fight.

In the end it's been reported that he was beaten up so badly that he fell flat on the floor and it took an entire 20 minutes before an ambulance was called to help him. 20 minutes or so they called the ambulance. They took Phil and they never saw him again.

His sister claims. I thought it was a wonderful place. I thought they were helping my brother.

I thought he was coming home. He came home alright. In a box.

Elan's official response was that he had regularly faked headaches. The cause of death, a brain aneurysm, and no charges were ever filed against them. (gentle music) It's been clear to us from the beginning that Elan is not a place of good.

From humiliation to beratement, to physical abuse Elan's tactics were archaic and inhumane. For a school that markets itself on academia, on helping students get their lives back on track, it's crystal clear that this has never been the motive. What I find interesting now is that Elan wasn't even the first to utilize this type of therapy, this attack therapy.

In fact it has its roots in a cult that found its footing all the way back in the mid 1950s. That cult is one by the name of Synanon. - [Newscaster] Howdy, with a warrant to investigate reports of child abuse.

- [Woman] In recent years Synanon began calling itself a religion. - [Guy] He's 52 years old. He's deaf in one ear, he's an egomaniac, but one of the wisest person that I've ever met in my life.

He knows how to get people moving. He creates turbulence. - [Anchor] Gentlemen, until further notice, no member of the California Department of Corrections is permitted on Synanon property, unless he has the permission of Charles Dederich, chairman Synanon.

(yelling) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] In early 1958 a man by the name of Charles Dederich Senior would found the group in Santa Monica, California. It was intended to be a drug rehabilitation program aimed at delinquents. However in the years that followed, it appeared to stray from that mission entirely.

The distinguishing form of therapy employed by Synanon was something called the game. Which in today's terms, it's more commonly known as attack therapy. The focus of the game was to break down the social construct of an individual's mind by first allowing them to open up about themselves before commencing an aggressive beratement session much like we discussed earlier with general meetings.

The primary goal was to recreate someone's personality and sense of self by completely demolishing everything they know about themselves before rebuilding them as a newer subjectively better person. It hinged on the brink of legality while being entirely immoral and unsurprisingly by 1991 the cult would disband due to criminal convictions that caught up to many of their members. The founder also died just six years later, leaving behind a dark legacy that to this day is known as one of the most dangerous and violent cults that America has ever seen.

This is of course the abridged history. To be honest with you, I can make an entire hour long video on the operations and practices of Synanon, but that's a story for another day. If there's one takeaway tonight though, it's that it unknowingly served as an inspiration and blueprint for other institutions to follow.

One of those being Elan and by utilizing similar practices, they appeared to carry the torch that Synanon was forced to abandon. They knew they had to keep up appearances too, thriving off an immaculate public image spearheaded by the charisma of Joe Ricci. Before the age of the internet, admittedly this was easier to do.

Television documentaries like in NBC's For the Child's Own Good were seemingly the only inside look that the public was allowed to gain. However even they failed to convey the true extent of what happened there. The hush hush foundation that Elan was built upon initially seemed to be unbreakable.

However, due to a rise in public attention that would soon find its way there, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the cracks beneath that very foundation work merely beginning to form. (dramatic music) (birds chirping) (dramatic music) Through the late seventies and into the early eighties reports of the true nature of Elan began to spread by word of mouth from former students. Authorities in Maine reportedly visited the school upwards of 12 times to investigate, however returned with absolutely nothing to show for it.

Frustratingly, the operation that Joe Ricci was running was completely and entirely legal. There were no laws in place for facilities like this. So it was allowed to remain an operation without issue.

As we touched on the media was the primary in for outsiders at Elan. However even they failed to communicate the extent of their operations. While they showed select parts of it, unfortunately Joe Ricci was given enough airtime to convince the public and the news crew that it was nothing more than their treatment taking place.

By dehumanizing the students, emphasizing their delinquencies on national television, he was able to use this notoriety to his advantage ultimately swaying the public opinion into believing that what he was doing was entirely good. On top of the growing number of alumni though, came an increase in escapees, which only furthered Elan's unwanted infamy. Over the years, three students, a 16 year old unidentified individual, a 15 year old Brad Glickman, and a 17 year old Dawn Birnbaum would all escaped successfully.

However would meet wildly differing fates. For the 16 year old it's been reported that he ran over 15 miles through the wilderness in the middle of the night. He was eventually caught by an officer Max Ashburn and after hearing the boy's story and observing his physical condition, he helped him return home.

For Brad Glickman, he was shot. In 1990 after escaping Elan's search parties he made his way into a house in a small town. Authorities believed that he had a connection to the girl that lived there.

However, the homeowner opened fire, ultimately killing him. And for Dawn Birnbaum, she too had escaped the clutches of Elan, eventually finding a trucker named James Cruz, who was willing to take her home. A few hours down the road though, Birnbaum would find that Cruz's true intentions weren't quite so virtuous.

As it turned out he sexually assaulted her on the side of the highway before strangling and abandoning her body between routes 26 and 550 in Pennsylvania. She was discovered by another motorist with a yellow rope tied around her neck and without clothes from the waist down and from her corpse were tire tracks resembling that of a semi-trailer. Since Birnbaum had crossed state lines, an FBI investigation was commenced for her.

And after cross-checking with numerous similar cases that have happened in the area, the truck belonging to James Cruz was deemed as the culprit. Upon catching up to him and searching his vehicle authorities were able to find but a single blonde hair that belonged to Birnbaum, effectively leading to his arrest. Much to the school's displeasure these cases successfully gained ample attention.

Joe Ricci resultingly paid off numerous judges and journalists in hopes of drowning out the negative press. However outsiders were beginning to catch on that these students were running for a reason. (dramatic music) But why?

(crickets chirping) (dramatic music) On the night of October 30th, 1975, a 15 year old girl named Martha Moxley was out with her friends participating in what they call mischief night. This typically involves tee peeing houses, ding dong ditching, typical teenager antics. Later that night Moxley found a liking to a Thomas Skakel, eventually kissing him before the pair decided to venture off.

To the other friends in their group seeing Moxley fall over the Skakel's backyard fence with Thomas was the very last time that they would ever see her alive. The next morning the Moxley family awakens as usual. They go about their morning routine, however notice that Martha is missing.

Upon searching the house for her, they notice a body lying by the tree out in the backyard. They approach it and discover a grim scene. Martha is laying lifeless with her pants down.

Her body appears to have been visibly beaten and a few feet away from the body, broken remnants of a six iron golf club. This club was eventually traced back to the Skakel family. Autopsy reports claimed that she was bludgeoned and stabbed to death all by that six iron.

And since Thomas Skakel was the last person she was spotted with that night he was the prime suspect in her murder. Due to a lack of sufficient evidence however, he among the other suspects were eventually absolved. And as a result the Moxley case frustratingly went cold.

(dramatic music) Three years later. (dramatic music) Thomas' 18 year old brother named Michael Skakel is arrested for drunk driving. His punishment, admission to Elan.

While there Skakel was known to be problematic and outspoken. According to Elan students at the time, he would regularly boast about a girl named Martha and how he sexually assaulted and killed her. One student named Gregory Coleman recalls this vividly recounting how Michael had gone on record to state that I'm going to get away with murder.

I'm a Kennedy. The Kennedy reference was alluding to his relation to Robert F. Kennedy.

Something that would prove pivotal in launching his eventual trial to the national spotlight. At the time of his confession though nobody could do anything about it. Given the overbearing nature of the rules set at school, any student that tried to tell someone about this was quickly reprimanded.

It would take an entire 22 years before Skakel's actions would reach the public eye. In January of 2000 he was arrested and charged with the murder of Martha Moxley and due to his relation to the Kennedys it was a case that commanded the airwaves. Since Skakel's primary vehicle in bragging about his crimes was Elan this by proxy had also thrust the school into the national spotlights.

Dozens of students took the stand exposing the callousness that occurred there. The humiliation, the general meetings, the beatings, the ring, the deaths, all of it was brought into the public eye. Realizing this Joe Ricci did everything he possibly could to keep discussion about his operation to a minimum.

He eventually took the stand downplaying any mention of Elan, touting its high success rates and doing everything he possibly could to divert the attention back to Skakel and Skakel only. But this was only marginally effective as this was in the 2000s, an interconnected era of information catalyzed by a little something called the internet. Michael Skakel was eventually found guilty of the murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

After serving just 11 years behind bars, he was granted a new trial in 2013 in which he was let go after posting a $1. 2 million bond. Today, he walks a free man.

But back then the cat was out of the bag. The inhumanities committed at the Elan school were documented in one of the most high profile cases in decades. And because of this, people began talking, theorizing, and investigating, effectively marking the beginning of the end of Joe Ricci's iron grip on the hundreds of students that were helpless beneath him.

(dramatic music) But with his weakening grasp on the media surrounding his operation came a different hurdle that Joe Ricci would soon have to overcome. In June of 2000, he was diagnosed with lung cancer caused by his well known addiction to cigarettes. And just six months later on the 29th of January, 2001, Joe Ricci would pass away in Portland, Maine at 54 years old.

As a result, his second wife Sharon Terry would take over operations at Elan. It was clear though that due to the increased publicity among the rising alumni testimonies, the idea of Terry having a lot of PR work on her plate was putting it lightly. (dramatic music) Throughout the years numerous changes would be put in place in response to outside criticism of the Elan school.

For instance, the ring was eventually forbidden from being used as punishment. And while this was substantially a good thing, the other cruelties would remain. What Sharon Terry was unaware of though, was that due to the rapid rise in technology, namely the internet, even her reign over Elan would soon meet its demise.

When the water settled following the Skakel case, mentions of Elan or made on various forums throughout the next few years. They would get people talking. However, it wasn't quite enough for definite action.

By 2010 though, something would change. A website that we all know very well would help spearhead one of the most effective exposed stories in the history of the internet. That website was Reddit.

On November 26th, 2010, a man named Jeff W who went by Gzasmyhero would make a post titled even skimming this once will blow your mind. Most probably think it's made up, but you'd be dead wrong. Within it he explains that he was an Elan student in 1998 before outlining in detail the reality of what took place there.

They're mostly points that we've already covered and explored in great detail tonight. But back then these claims were unbelievable. The school was very much still in operation.

So some initially had a tough time wrapping their head around the fact that a place like this actually existed. But then came the comments, the other stories from other alumni with their own experiences. Gzasmyhero's post carried weight, it was real.

And these atrocities needed to be known. Eventually this thread would rack up over 2,000 likes and 1,400 comments. While this may not have caused Elan's closure outright, it aggressively reopened old wounds.

2010 was not 2000. The internet user base was exponentially larger than it had been. And resultingly the effectiveness of this new found attention caused a massive amount of backlash that the Elan school had never before experienced.

(dramatic music) Four months later. On the 23rd of March, 2011, the Elan school announced that it would soon be shutting down. Sharon Terry blamed the call on what they deemed to be libelous remarks made about them online.

The school has been the target of harsh and false attacks spread over the internet with the avowed purpose of forcing the school to close. The school unfortunately has been unable to survive the damage. And on the 1st of April, 2011, the Elan school would close its doors for one final time.

Officially they blamed it on declining student numbers in hopes of diverting the attention away from the actual cause. But on the outside, everyone knew the real reason. For students this was unbelievably good news.

However the damage they endured was something that would remain everlasting. It's been reported that numerous suicides have occurred as a result of attendance at Elan. PTSD with alumni is rampant.

And it's clear that the school had done nothing but damage people. A filmmaker and former student named Todd Nelson creator of a fantastic Elan documentary named the Last Stop has gone on record to state that as a student, he was helped by their unconventional tactics, but he knew the majority of others weren't quite so lucky. Today hundreds of stories remain online about the cruelty committed at the Elan school, about the facade they upkept for 41 years.

Reading through these are eyeopening, and you can find them on nearly every piece of media and documentation that exists about Elan online. To all of you that have shared your stories, that have opened up about the torment you went through, your voice is the reason that Elan ceases to exist today. This video would not exist without you.

And I wish I could say that I feel your pain. But I don't. (gentle music) While there are and have been other facilities like this throughout history, those are another story for another time.

The legacy that Elan left behind is a dark one. Knowing the true history of what occurred off Number Five Road is haunting. And no matter if it forever stands physically, the psychological destruction that it left behind will very unfortunately forever remain.