Carter Roy

Formally, it's named the Angelus Temple,

If you've been to LA, it's the giant, curved church building overlooking Echo Park Lake.

The church seats roughly 5,000 people inside big stained glass windows and a 125-foot dome.

Chairs face a proscenium stage where Sister Amy would preach so-called visual sermons that were half evangelizing, half theater.

She'd have sets built, use actors, design costumes, lights, and music, and retell Bible stories.

complete with live camels.

But the spectacle didn't stop there.

Sister Amy also facilitated faith healings.

At one ministry event in San Diego, Amy placed her hands on a woman who'd used a wheelchair for most of her life.

Invoking the name of Jesus Christ, she commanded the woman to walk.

And the woman did.

Over 30,000 people witnessed this supposed miracle.

The wow factor of Amy's sermons grew her following.

She held multiple services a day, the temple so full the line often stretched down the block.

In 1924, the year after she opened the temple, she installed a radio broadcast station and started a regular show, and she continued to travel and preach wherever she felt God called her.

By 1925, Amy's message reached hundreds of thousands of people every week.

The Foursquare Church was a multi-million dollar business, allowing Amy to drive a fancy car, shop at luxury stores, and keep an exotic pet spider monkey.

All this to say, Amy and her family were ripe for kidnapping and extortion.

Here's how she and her mother claimed that happened.

On May 18th, 1926, Amy invited her mother, Minnie, to come work from the beach with her.