On November 20th of 1932 in Detroit, Michigan, a man named James Smith was led into a room by a man named Robert Harris.

In that room, where Harris's wife and children, as well as 12 other adults and an altar.

What followed was a ceremony that Smith apparently believed was his initiation into a new religious sect.

He was asked if he would be willing to die for the organization,

and upon confirming that willingness with a nod, Robert Harris suddenly

drove a knife into the chest of James Smith. The shocked and bleeding man didn't die, not right

away. That required Harris grabbing a conveniently located piece of a car axle and bludgeoning him with it.

The neighbors called the cops, and during his confession under questioning,

Harris claimed to be enacting a ritual sacrifice based on the teachings of his spiritual leader,

who promised in return a reward in the afterlife.

That teacher's name was Wallace Fard, and he, along with another senior member of the religious

community, were the subject of a Detroit manhunt.

They denied any affinity for human sacrifice, but after being questioned by a psychiatrist, were installed

into straitjackets and locked in a padded cell. The man who had wielded the knife and the car axle

Robert Harris would five days later be found guilty and, based on his courtroom behavior,

be declared mentally ill. He died three years later in a hospital prison for

the criminally insane. Wallace Fard was released on condition that he leave Detroit and never come back.

His associate, whose name was Ugan Ali, was released on condition he promised to disband the religious sect.

These were the events that would lead Wallace Fard to relocate to Chicago, where he would

officially begin, a hugely influential religious organization today called the Nation of Islam.

It turns out that while he and Ali were confined in their padded cells,

another man named Elijah Poole would lead a group of over 200 in protest at the courthouse,

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