Rainbow Family theory

Earthbound Misfit I

Justice for Kimberly Shawn Cheatham
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Working off of GDFamily's post here Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Grateful Dead Fan - Unidentified male died 26 June 1995 in Virginia #2 under the general discussion thread he is talking about Jason Doe's tattoo looking similar to those that many of the "Rainbow Family" have. Similar meaning that they are "crude"

I've been researching the Rainbow Family a bit tonight and found out that on June 25, 1995 or around that time they were having their gathering in Nantahala, NC which I am hopefully posting a link to a google map that shows how you would get to Nantahala from Emporia, VA (Point A on map) to Nantahala, NC (point B) and then to Inman, SC (Point C, drivers home). I find it very interesting indeed. To get to Nantahala from Emporia, you would take US-58 across to I-85 and drop down into NC and then at Durham you could get on I-40 and take it all the way to where the turn off would be to go to Inman, SC or say Michael was going to taken Jason all the way to Nantahala, NC and then turn back and go back to Inman, SC.

Charlotte Observer - June 25, 1995 - 3B METRO

RAINBOW FAMILY CELEBRATES THE '60S AT NANTAHALA They cook over open fires, live under the stars and commune with nature's wild things. Many wear colorful clothing. Others wear no clothes at all. They go by names such as Shanda Panda, Hawk, Rosebud, Song and Uncle Bill. They are members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light, a band of free spirits who hark back to the days of the ``flower children''of the 1960s. Deep within the Nantahala National Forest, some 150 Rainbows have... >> Purchase complete article, of 452 words
 
GDFamily is sorely uneducated about how the rainbow family works. I also wonder if he or she is aware that GDFamily is a copyrighted term. It would not be out of the ordinary to get a ride from the show all the way to the gathering. This is quite common place in grateful dead land.
 
Are you aware that it is against Websleuths TOS rules to attack or call another member names?

GDFamily is sorely uneducated about how the rainbow family works. I also wonder if he or she is aware that GDFamily is a copyrighted term. It would not be out of the ordinary to get a ride from the show all the way to the gathering. This is quite common place in grateful dead land.
 
Sorry I did not see that as an attack, just a demand for honesty. Nor did I call them names. What I said was truth and I have a bit of a reputation in life for being blunt with it , I will remember to try to soften that up next time. To answer your concerns about having a ride to the gathering from the show. No it would not be unusual to get a ride hundreds of miles to someplace from another for free.
 
I prefer to post in this thread since it's about the rainbow aspect to the story than the main thread, although I am touching on GDFamily's posts in that other thread...Hope that's okay.

I have just read through the big threads about GD fan and was fascinated by the story. Early in the first thread there is a mention of a potential Rainbow connection (aw geez, my apologies for that pun) and I kept it in the back of my mind the whole time I was reading, waiting for it to come up again, because it wouldn't surprise me if that was where he was headed.

If I may be so bold as a total newbie here, I have to agree with Mama Cassidy in her assessment of the Rainbow/Dead/tour scene, and strongly disagree with GDFamily, who is stating misinformation as fact. This misinformation will not help anyone figure out this case.

Having spent a couple years engrossed in this lifestyle - following bands, going to festivals, rainbow gatherings, from hooking up with a nice group of kids at a show and getting a ride with them for 2 weeks and then diverging to hitchhike to a national rainbow gathering with total strangers, I've seen a lot of things go down and I am very familiar with the norms of this crowd. And I was in the midst of it in the mid-90s, the same time as Jason Doe. I don't know about Twelve Tribes but I know about the overall Dead scene (incl Wharf Rats), Rainbow (and Phish, btw, which given this kid's age could have been of interest too).


To imply that this kid got caught up in some scene where they burn your social security card and 'endenture' people to the group, gimme a break.That's just fear-mongering and it is wrong. I hope it's okay that I am speaking so plainly in my first post on this site.

Unlike Mama I don't think this story is necessarily a myth. I think stories about bad things happening in the scene are exaggerated sometimes (local news stories about 'oh no those dangerous hippies are going to corrupt our children!' whenever rainbow comes to town), but bad things do happen in life and it seems to me that this is the real deal.

I think there are plenty of valid criticisms of this 'scene' but they are not relevant to this situation. Lots of kids were neither abandoned foster kids nor trust-fund babies. There were a lot of kids (like myself) around that time who just swung burritos or jewelry on the lot to make gas money for the next show, slept at rest areas, spent three weeks partying in the woods for free, and had a good time for a couple months or a year or whatever. And I don't know *anyone* who had an experience like the ones GDFamily is describing.

Everyone is welcome at a rainbow gathering, sure, that's sorta the point. This weird nefarious image GDFamily is projecting of dead shows and rainbow is way off-base.

And I don't think I've ever heard of the star tattoo being a rainbow thing.
 
Good sleuthing, RKnowley! It would strike me that it is quite likely that Grateful Doe was heading to the Rainbow gathering. Asheville Twelve Tribes is another possibility, but I think Rainbow sounds more likely.
Particularly since he didn't make it there, I doubt that we'll be able to get any useful information from any of the attendees or anyone connected with Rainbow.
I think that IF he were heading to either the Gathering or to TT, then this fellow could have been from anywhere. Of course, there appears to be no way to know for sure that he was heading there. The article RKnowley quotes points out that the people tended to go by nicknames. So even if someone met him at a previous gathering, they very likely would not know his real name.
 
I found a well-written, neutral article on whether Rainbow is a cult at www.spiritwatch.org/rainbows.htm. It basically concludes that it lacks many of the attributes of a cult, such as a strong leader, hierarchy of leadership, rules of conduct and dress, common religious beliefs, etc.
 
I'm not so sure about this, what if his family were members of the Rainbow Family and he had grown up a member of the Rainbow Family and he was going to meet his parents or siblings at the gathering there and when he didn't show up at the gathering his family just thought he decided he go off elsewhere on his own to travel about in the world and his family just left and went about with their lives thinking he was just out there somewhere doing his own thing? This of course is all just based on the speculation of IF he were a member of the Rainbow Family.

Good sleuthing, RKnowley! It would strike me that it is quite likely that Grateful Doe was heading to the Rainbow gathering. Asheville Twelve Tribes is another possibility, but I think Rainbow sounds more likely.
Particularly since he didn't make it there, I doubt that we'll be able to get any useful information from any of the attendees or anyone connected with Rainbow.
I think that IF he were heading to either the Gathering or to TT, then this fellow could have been from anywhere. Of course, there appears to be no way to know for sure that he was heading there. The article RKnowley quotes points out that the people tended to go by nicknames. So even if someone met him at a previous gathering, they very likely would not know his real name.
 
There went the Rainbow Family Theory down the drain. I don't believe that is where Jason was headed that fateful day.

Doing a bit more research I found out that the Rainbow Family Gathering that was taking place in North Carolina was coming to an end on the 26th. The day that Michael & Jason were making there long drive to an unknown destination, for Jason that is.

ETA: ...Unless he was going to meet up with someone there..family or friends??? I guess it's time to hang this theory up for now. Move on to another one.

June 16-26
Robinsville N.C regional. Off of hwy 129 to Slick Rock Rd. right up mountain to Bear Creek Hunters Camp starting the 16 of this month and continuing until the 26.

This is from the Rainbow Family Gathering 1995 Calendar of Events
 
I'm not so sure I'd abandon that theory. I get the impression that it's not uncommon for stragglers to hang out for some time after the official end of a gathering. Also, the last day of the gathering is the time lots of people are leaving, so it is the absolutely perfect time and place to catch a ride to the next gathering or the next show.
 
I haven't abandoned it completely, I still would like to know if there was an earlier connection between the driver of the van and Jason. I still think it's a possibility.

I'm not so sure I'd abandon that theory. I get the impression that it's not uncommon for stragglers to hang out for some time after the official end of a gathering. Also, the last day of the gathering is the time lots of people are leaving, so it is the absolutely perfect time and place to catch a ride to the next gathering or the next show.
 
Please correct me if I'm wrong- in my experience with all the people I knew who were involved with the GD, Rainbow family and Wharf Rats, while they considered the people in the group their 'family', none of them had actual biological family involved.
It was more a collection of unrelated people who chose to become family, rather than whole families being involved. I don't know about the 12 tribes- they sound more like travellers or gypsies (as in the show "The Riches") who indeed do involve their entire families.

It seems possible UID knew of RF or WRs, but not that they were involved with 12 tribe.

Oh, and I honestly can't recall any GD people I knew who had tats, though I did see a few butterfly trampstamps on some girls at the show. On the other hand, the ones who had cars sure had a lot of bumperstickers. I was constantly having to peel them off my car, because although I appreciated their generousity, I don't like stickers on my car.

Please let me know if my experience sounds reasonable to you. TIA

SNIPPED=
I prefer to post in this thread since it's about the rainbow aspect to the story than the main thread, although I am touching on GDFamily's posts in that other thread...
If I may be so bold as a total newbie here, I have to agree with Mama Cassidy in her assessment of the Rainbow/Dead/tour scene, and strongly disagree with GDFamily, who is stating misinformation as fact. This misinformation will not help anyone figure out this case....
 
Please correct me if I'm wrong- in my experience with all the people I knew who were involved with the GD, Rainbow family and Wharf Rats, while they considered the people in the group their 'family', none of them had actual biological family involved.
It was more a collection of unrelated people who chose to become family, rather than whole families being involved. I don't know about the 12 tribes- they sound more like travellers or gypsies (as in the show "The Riches") who indeed do involve their entire families. It seems possible UID knew of RF or WRs, but not that they were involved with 12 tribe

From what I am gathering, parents brought their children to the Rainbow Family Gatherings and the children were taught the Rainbow Family ways. They had "Kid Villages", "Mud Baths", etc. for the Children, so, I'd have to disagree with you that the "Rainbow Family" was only a collection of unrelated people. I would have to say that some (and perhaps a good portion) of them were also biologically related. The same goes for The Grateful Dead Followers, some of them traveled with bio family. I can't say anything about the TT because I know relatively nothing about them.


Oh, and I honestly can't recall any GD people I knew who had tats, though I did see a few butterfly trampstamps on some girls at the show. On the other hand, the ones who had cars sure had a lot of bumperstickers. I was constantly having to peel them off my car, because although I appreciated their generousity, I don't like stickers on my car.

Head on over to the Grateful Dead's Fan Facebook page and check out their photos there. There are many of them showing off their tats there.

Also, if you go to dead.net there are some pictures of members showing off their tattoos there.
 
I have pretty strong doubts about the Rainbow theory. While there is some overlap between deadheads and rainbows, what was in Nantahala in '95 was far from the annual gathering. The annual gathering is wrapped around July 4 and in 1995 it was in New Mexico. The last national gathering in Nantahala was in 1987, made famous by the book "Judge Dave and the Rainbow Family," which is a fascinating account of rainbows-meet-lawyer.

What was in Nantahala in 1995 was the Robbinsville regional gathering, and it was just about over (june 16-26). I can't see hitching from a dead show to a nearly-dead rainbow gathering some 10 hours away. Nobody shows up at the end of a gathering, they get stuck with cleanup duty. :)

http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/events/1995calendar.html.

More likely headed home
 

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