# Lyman Family · The Cult Dossier · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow

Source: https://congregationoftomorrow.org/atlas/library/cults/116-lyman-family/ · The Congregation of Tomorrow · the Atlas · language: en
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The Cult Dossier · No. 116 · Syncretic / Other Nrm
Lyman Family
the Fort Hill Community
1966 – present · Roxbury, Boston; Kansas; Martha's Vineyard; California
XII. THE WIDER FIELD — CONCISE ENTRIES
Quasi-religious
### Who led it
### What it worshipped and taught
### Who was in it
### How it ended, or where it stands
### The dead
### Of note
### Its timeline
- 1966 Community forms on Fort Hill.
- SPRING 1967 The underground paper AVATAR launches; it runs until spring 1968.
- 29 AUGUST 1973 Frechette and two other members try to rob the New England Merchants Bank; CHRISTOPHER THEIN is killed by police. Frechette and SHELDON BERNHARD plead guilty, and Frechette gets six to fifteen years.
- 1978 Lyman dies, reportedly in Los Angeles. The community announces the death only in the MID-1980s and never produces a death certificate.
- Present The community continues quietly, running a construction business, largely closed to outsiders.
### Its people
### Mel Lyman
—
Founder, the Lyman Family · 24 March 1938 – 1978 · active 1966–1978
Before the law. Never charged.
Where things stand. Deceased 1978. THE COMMUNITY STILL EXISTS, running a construction business, closed to outsiders — nearly sixty years on.
- 1966 Community forms on Fort Hill.
- SPRING 1967 Avatar launches; it runs until spring 1968.
- 23 DECEMBER 1971 David Felton's Rolling Stone article, The Lyman Family's Holy Siege of America.
- 29 AUGUST 1973 Frechette and two others try to rob the New England Merchants Bank; Christopher Thein is killed by police.
- 1978 Lyman dies, reportedly in Los Angeles; the community announces it in the mid-1980s.
Checked 2026-09-16
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