Ruby Ridge Standoff | Visions of Armageddon | 1

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0:24It's the morning of August 21st, 1992, in the remote mountains of northern Idaho. U.S. Marshal Dave Hunt barrels downhill through thick forests, clutching his rifle as distant gunshots echo through the trees. Running alongside him is one of his colleagues from the marshal service. A few hours ago, Hunt, this colleague, and four other marshals hiked into the woods to conduct a surveillance mission. They were scouting a compound owned by a fugitive named Randy Weaver. Man Hunt has been trying to convince to surrender peacefully for months. But the mission went disastrously wrong. The marshals were accidentally discovered by Weaver's family, and a firefight broke out.

1:04Now at least one person is dead, and Hunt desperately needs to summon reinforcements.

1:13Hunt and his colleague break through the brush, reaching a broad meadow. The distant gunshots finally fall silent, and they risk slowing down to catch their breath. Across the meadow is a small wooden cabin. It belongs to Ruth Rowe, one of the Weaver's neighbors, who's been assisting the marshals with this operation. She's standing on her porch, peering at the two men who've suddenly come out of the shadows of the forest. Marshall, is that you? Everything all right? What's all that shooting? Ruth, call 911. Get the sheriff out here now. Ruth nods and disappears inside. Hunt turns to his colleague.

1:50All right, you go get up the road. If the Weavers try to run, cut him off. I'll call Washington. The marshals split up. Hunt's colleague heads across the meadow toward the road, while Hunt hurries toward Ruth's cabin. He dashes up the steps of the small porch and strives through the door. Ruth is in the kitchen, a phone pressed to her ear. Uh, no, he's here now. She thrusts the receiver at Hunt. It's the sheriff's office. Right now he can wait. Where are your kids? You need to evacuate. They're out back, I think. What's happened up there? Well, exactly what I've been trying to avoid for the last year and a half.

2:26Hunt grabs the receiver and puts the phone to his ear. Yeah, hello. This is Marshal Dave Hunt up on the Ruby Ridge. I've got one officer dead and more pinned down. I need help real quick. Yeah, I want the state police. I want all the help I can get. I gotta go. Yeah, as quick as you can. Hunt hangs up and Ruth looks shocked. What is going on? You said someone's dead? Ruth, I've got to call headquarters in Washington, but it is not safe here. Did Randy do something? Him or one of the others, it's not clear yet. that one of the weavers may be dead too. Oh, God. Ruth, I need you to get your things, get your kids, and get out of here.

3:02You understand? Like, right now. Ruth nods, trembling slightly. She turns and heads toward the other end of the cabin, calling out for her kids. Hunt dials his headquarters in Washington. He notices that his fingers are stained with blood and they tremble slightly as he dials. He takes a deep breath to steady himself. Yeah, this is Operation Northern Exposure. We've had a fatality. As Marshall Hunt waits to be connected to his superiors, he stares out the window of the cabin up at Ruby Ridge and tries to imagine what's going through Randy Weaver's mind. His hatred of the government already ran bone deep, but now the feds may have just shot and killed a member of his family.

3:45Hunt doesn't know what's going to happen next, but it's hard to imagine how Randy Weaver will ever come down that hill alive.

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5:44From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal.

6:08In 1992, a deadly standoff at Ruby Ridge in Idaho shocked the nation and forever altered the way many Americans view law enforcement. This 11-day confrontation in the mountains left a legacy of animosity and distrust between the federal government and the most radical elements of the American right wing. It led directly to a surge in militia membership across the United States. And when Timothy McVeigh was apprehended for the Oklahoma City bombing three years later, he cited revenge for Ruby Ridge as a primary motive behind his atrocities. But the man at the center of it all, Randy Weaver, never intended to inspire such violence.

6:47He really just wanted to be left alone. In the mid-1980s, Randy and his wife Vicki Weaver had been driven by their obsessive religious faith to move their young family to northern Idaho. There, the Weavers fortified a ramshackle compound to prepare for the apocalypse in what they believed would be a final battle against their enemies. But in the end, their preparations for the end times became a tragic, self-fulfilling prophecy. In 1991, Weaver failed to show up for trial on gun-related charges, and the U.S. Marshals were dispatched to bring him in. What followed was a chain of misunderstandings and reckless escalations on both sides that led to multiple fatalities.

7:27In the aftermath, there would be criminal trials and congressional hearings. But despite the attempts of government officials to conceal their mistakes, eventually the truth would emerge about what really happened at Ruby Ridge. This is Episode 1, Visions of Armageddon.

7:47It's 1969 at the U.S. Army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at the height of the war in Vietnam. Randy Weaver strides through the sprawling complex, making his way from his barracks to the main administrative building. He's headed to a meeting in the office of his commanding officer, hoping for answers to a question that's been burning him up. At 21 years old, with a fresh crew cut, Weaver looks every bit the all-American soldier. And in many ways, he is. The Vietnam War is raging overseas and is growing unpopular at home. But unlike most of the other young men from his small town in Iowa, Weaver didn't wait to be drafted.

8:25Instead, he volunteered for service, eager to fulfill what he saw as his patriotic duty. He's yet to see any action, but Weaver is proud of his service record. He's risen to the rank of sergeant, received special forces training, and qualified as a sharpshooter with a variety of weapons. Lately, though, he's been feeling disillusioned with the military. The fighting in Vietnam has been dragging on for four years, with no end in sight, and there are anti-war protests raging in towns and cities all across the country. As Weaver watches the endless flag-draped coffins brought back to Fort Bragg, he's started to wonder if those protesters may be right.

9:02But as Weaver approaches the administrative building, his thoughts are on something else. He recently took part in an on-base intelligence operation that led to illicit drugs being seized from his fellow soldiers. Afterward, he was curious about what happened to the confiscated material, but he couldn't find any record of them being turned over as evidence. Weaver wants to believe there's an innocent explanation, but he can't let the issue rest. So now, as Weaver steps into the building, removes his hat, and knocks on the door of his commanding officer, he's hoping to finally get a straight answer.

9:35Inside the room, Weaver salutes and stands to attention in front of the desk. His captain remains seated, and with his eyes still on the paperwork in front of him, he invites Weaver to speak his mind. Weaver begins carefully, explaining he was there when the drugs were seized and saw the hall with his own eyes. He feels it's his duty to make sure the drugs ended up in the hands of the right people, to be booked into evidence and eventually destroyed. The captain looks up from his papers and then into Weaver's eyes. With an even tone, he thanks Weaver for his role in the operation, but says the matter's now closed and no longer Weaver's concern.

10:11But Weaver pushes back. He explains that he stuck his neck out to help with the bust, and he likely made some enemies with his comrades in the process. So he feels like it's his right to know what the end result was. but the captain just tells Weaver he needs to let it go, and if he raises the issue again with anyone on base, he'll be disciplined. Weaver is then dismissed, and as he makes the long walk back across the base to his barracks, the truth hits him. His superiors in the operation never intended to turn over the drugs. They kept them and probably sold them themselves. This corruption makes Weaver sick.

10:46These are men he's meant to follow into battle, to die for, but they're just a bunch of crooks hiding behind a uniform. At that moment, Weaver vows to never put any trust in them again. When his tour of duty is complete, he won't be re-enlisting. Today was the last draw.

11:06A year later, in 1970, Randy Weaver is on leave from the Army and back in his hometown just outside Des Moines, Iowa. There he begins courting a young local woman named Vicki Jordanson. For Randy, it's practically love at first sight. Vicki is a former high school cheerleader and one of the prettiest girls in town. But Randy also admires her religious devotion. She is especially close to her Mormon father, and the two are avid readers of the Book of Revelation, with its account of Armageddon and a new world rising from the ashes of the old. Vicki fervently believes that white Christian Americans are God's chosen people.

11:42And as Randy falls in love with Vicki, he begins adopting that belief himself. When Randy is discharged from the Army in 1971, he marries Vicki soon after. They settle into a comfortable middle-class life in Iowa. By the early 1980s, the Weavers have two daughters and a son, while Randy supports the family with a job at the local John Deere factory. And all through this time, the Weavers still hold their religious faith. As the years have passed, their beliefs have taken on a different flavor, though. The couple now believe evil forces are conspiring against them. The U.S. government, the Soviet Union, the Illuminati, the Freemasons, they are all working together to destroy the Weavers.

12:23But they're not the only ones in Iowa who believe that white American Christians are God's chosen people, or that there are dark outside forces threatening them. Randy and Vicki host a regular Bible study group in their living room, where they evangelize about the coming rapture and share their own stark visions with like-minded believers. And it's after one such meeting, when the group has left, that Randy sits Vicki down in their bedroom to tell her about an especially vivid vision he's had, one he wants to share privately with just her.

12:57Randy takes Vicki's hand. He finds it hard to look her in the eyes, not quite knowing if she'll understand what he's seen. So, honey, you trust me, right? Of course. You know I would only do what I believe was right for the family, what God wanted for us. Randy, what is it? The Lord's given me a vision. I've seen a home in the mountains. For us? Yeah, I see it so clearly, Vic. A two-story log cabin built with my own hands. And it's way up at the top of this mountain, almost among the clouds, where we can see anyone coming from miles away and defend ourselves and our children. But there are no mountains in Iowa.

13:35I know. We'd have to move away to find them. That's right. Maybe to the Dakotas or Montana. I don't know. but it'd be a place for us to be safe in the final days. Randy looks at his wife, but she doesn't answer. Without a word, she rises from the bed and heads over to the dresser, and for a moment, Randy thinks he's made a terrible mistake, that he should have kept the vision to himself. But then Vicki returns to the bed with her Bible in her hand. I've had a vision too. She shows Randy a passage she's underlined. I know the date of the apocalypse. It's all in scripture. The book of Daniel says, blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

14:13And then look here in Revelation, and the holy city shall tread underfoot forty and two months. When you add it up, forty-two months is almost exactly thirteen hundred days. It can't be a coincidence. Three and a half years. God's telling me how much time we have left, and he's telling me where we need to be by then. I think our visions match. I think this This is why God has brought us together. Randy hugs his wife tight, the Bible clutched between them. He starts thinking about all the preparations they'll need to make for the move. There's so much to do. He needs to get started straight away.

14:53As the Weavers begin their search for a new mountain home, they begin feeling less welcome in their existing one. Their Bible study group in Iowa attracts attention from the local police who worry that a dangerous cult is forming in the area. That investigation doesn't go anywhere, but soon it's not just the cops who are taking a closer look at the Weavers. Not long after the police visit, a reporter stops by the Weavers' house to interview Randy about the Bible group. The journalist is eager for a juicy story about religious extremists, and Randy doesn't disappoint. In his interview, he describes his family as Christian survivalists, and he outlines their plan to construct a remote compound where they'll be able to defend themselves from what he characterizes as anti-Christian forces.

15:38Randy refuses to be photographed for the story, so it's run with a provocative drawing of a Bible covered with bullets. The article causes more of a stir than Randy expected, and some of the family's friends and neighbors stop coming around to visit. That upsets the Weavers. The local police are already harassing them, but now the media is misrepresenting them, and their friends are abandoning them too. It all adds urgency to the family's preparations to leave. So Randy and Vicki begin selling most of their belongings and make trips to a nearby Amish community to learn how to live off the land.

16:11These preparations make Vicki's family increasingly concerned. They are realizing the couple's talk of fleeing to the mountains isn't just a fantasy. So one afternoon in early 1983, Randy's father-in-law, David Jordison, stops by the Weaver home for a heart-to-heart talk. As Jordanson parks his pickup truck on the curb outside, he takes a moment to collect his thoughts. Ricky and Randy's talk of Armageddon and their visions of a violent confrontation have him spooked, and he worries that he may be partly to blame. Jordanson is a religious man, too. When Vicki was a child, he would preach to her about the Book of Revelation and its prophecies of Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus Christ.

16:52But as Vicki grew older, she came to see those texts as central to her life, and she began pouring through the scriptures looking for coded messages from God. And once she settled down with Randy, the couple just fed off each other's darkest instincts. Now they appear serious about moving the family into some sort of compound in the mountains, and Jordanson is terrified about what will become of his three young grandchildren. He feels it's his duty to try and stop this madness before something terrible happens. Stepping out of the truck, Jordanson sees that the garage door is open, and Randy is inside, hunched over a workbench.

17:27He heads up the drive, but as Jordanson approaches, he's horrified to see what's on the bench. Randy is cleaning a vast collection of firearms. There must be a dozen in total, rifles and handguns, along with boxes of ammunition stacked high. Trying to remain polite, Jordanson asks Randy where he got all of these weapons. Randy explains that he's just been to a pawn shop. He used the proceeds from selling the family's living room furniture and TV to stock up. He says he'll need them to defend their compound in the mountains. Jordanson gently suggests that Randy should put his faith in God to protect the family.

18:03A hunting rifle or two is fine, but this type of arsenal just seems dangerous, especially with children around. Randy brushes Jordanson off, explaining that God sent him to the military to be trained as a sharpshooter, preparing him to battle those who wish the family harm. The Lord helps those who help themselves, so Randy is really just following God's plan. Jordison realizes he'll never be able to talk Randy out of his fascination with guns. So he tries a different approach, reminding Randy that he has no idea how to build a home suitable for a family. Jordison built the house Vicki grew up in, and it's a lot harder than it looks.

18:39It could take years. The winters up in the mountains are unforgiving. Jordison confides that he's worried about the little ones. They'll be lucky to survive. But Randy just grins, puts down the rifle he was cleaning, and pats Jordison on the back. As soon as the family finds their plot of land, they'll give Jordison and Vicki's mother a call. They can help with the construction, because once again, God has made a path for them, blessing Randy with a father-in-law who knows everything about building a home. Jordison hesitates before replying. He's wary of offering his help, not wanting to give Randy any more encouragement.

19:14Then he imagines his daughter and grandkids out there on top of some mountain in the middle of nowhere, freezing to death in the winter. So Jordanson lets out a deep sigh and agrees to help Randy with the home. He just prays that once the family is settled, Randy and Vicki will come to their senses, put away the guns, and try to give his grandchildren a normal life.

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20:56In March of 1983, Randy and Vicki Weaver complete the sale of their house in Iowa. They're now ready to head out in search of the new home Randy has seen in his visions, a compound in the mountains to ride out the fast-approaching Armageddon. They pack their few remaining belongings into a pickup truck, trailer, and moving van, and head northwest with their three young children. The Weavers don't know exactly where they're going. They only have a vague idea of finding a mountain somewhere in Montana or Idaho. But they travel with faith because Randy has recently had another vision, that they'll find their new home by the biblical date of the Feast of Trumpets, which falls on September 7th.

21:35The Weavers spend weeks scouring Montana for suitable land, but find the prices too expensive even in the most remote areas. So they head further west into Idaho, hoping they'll have better luck there. They do discover that the land there is more affordable, but they still struggle to find a plot to match their vision. And as the weeks drag into months, the weavers begin to have doubts they'll be able to find what they need by the date in Randy's vision. But then, on September 1st, just days before the Feast of Trumpets, they meet a young family at a motel in the small town of Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

22:10The family share the Weaver's belief in the coming end times, and they pass on a tip about a large piece of cheap land available nearby. A few days later, the Weavers follow the family over to the property to take a look. With his wife and children all in the pickup truck, Randy follows the other family on the highway for several miles south of town. They turn off onto a steep dirt road leading up the mountain, and then onto an even more rugged old logging road as they continue to ascend. Feels like they're headed into the middle of nowhere, but as the weavers bump their way up the mountain, they pray that their search is finally over.