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Epilogue The Strange Disappearance of Madalyn Murray O’Hair MADALYN MURRAY O’HAIR’S life ended on an appropriately bizarre note, or, as one reporter put it, with “a grisly climax to a life that was, in many respects, the stuff of comic relief.”1 On August 28, 1995 O’Hair (age 77), Jon Garth Murray (age 41), and Robin Murray-O’Hair (age 30), all of whom lived together on Greystone Drive in Austin, disappeared . Some thought they had left Austin for New York to picket the pope’s public appearances. But “the world’s most famous atheist” never arrived in New York, and as to the group’s whereabouts, as one newspaper headline put it ironically, “God only knows.”2 Speculation arose that O’Hair had died, perhaps due to complications of diabetes. It was recalled that a decade earlier, in order to prevent her enemies—Christians—from praying over her body, O’Hair had told her family to burn her “carcass” in her backyard. That being impractical, as well as illegal, she suggested they take her body to the San Antonio crematorium. Some believed that the trio had fled the country due to their financial debt, that they were on a mission, or that they absconded with organization money. A few feared they had been kidnapped.3 The story unfolded slowly. Investigators learned that Arnold Via, who described O’Hair as “like my second mother,” was one of the last people to see her. He reported that the three had spent a quiet week at his home in Grottoes, Virginia, beginning August 11, 1995, but that “they definitely, absolutely had plans to picket the pope in New York on October 2.” They were “in wonderful spirits,” he continued. They toured Civil War sites, talked about searching area records for information on Madalyn’s ancestors, and of possibly moving archival material, 307 even American Atheists itself, to Richmond. On August 5, 1995, O’Hair wrote in her diary about the sites she had seen and the modern amenities —”the miracles”—she encountered. “I have lived a long, long time.” They returned to Austin and, “then, bang, just like that, they disappeared .” Via concluded that they were kidnapped and perhaps killed by one of O’Hair’s enemies.4 On August 28, 1995, recalled David Travis, who was working for American Atheists at the time: “I went to work and there was a letter taped to the door, and it said, ‘We’ve been called out on an emergency basis, and will call you when we get back.’”5 According to the Washington Post, the typewritten note read: “The Murray-O’Hair family has been called out of town on an emergency basis. We do not know how long we will be gone at the time of the writing of this memo.”6 Orin “Spike” Tyson, who had been running the American Atheists’ public access television series, entered their home and discovered that the family “had left in the middle of preparing breakfast, very suddenly.” Un- finished breakfasts were still in the kitchen.7 Tyson, American Atheists new president, Ellen Johnson, and other organization officers continued to receive telephone calls from the trio on Jon’s cell phone. Rather than being in New York City, they reported being on “business” in San Antonio. Johnson, however, reported that “they were being very cagey.” They would not tell her what was going on. “They were lying about a lot of things, that was obvious. I was screaming, ‘What the hell is going on, are you O.K.?’ And they’re saying , ‘Just calm down. Everything’s O.K.’” Everything was not O.K., Johnson suspected. “Robin was totally disturbed, you could hear it in the way she talked.” Johnson talked directly to Madalyn only once: “I’ve talked to her for years. If you were to talk to your mother, you would know when something was wrong. Something terrible had happened .” Their last communication with the O’Hairs occurred at 4:30 P.M. on September 28, 1995. After that, Johnson commented: “They just turned the phone off.”8 Frank Zindler, a former American Atheists board member, indicated that he had daily conversations with Madalyn on her cell phone for about three weeks after she left Austin. “Madalyn said they were fine, they were on some extraordinarily important business that they would explain when they came back,” Zindler stated. Then the cellular phone was turned off.9 308 EPILOGUE...

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