The Tale of Two Witnesses

Harrison Daily Times:

     
     Many people only knew Keith and Kate Haigler as the people who died on the Little Buffalo Bridge. They were the ones who hijacked the Trailways bus. Others remember they were normal everyday people before this incident happened.

     Keith, 27, was born on October 4, 1955 and was originally from a small town in North Carolina. His father and mother were Nokomas “Nick” Haigler and Anita Todd Haigler. Keith graduated in 1973 from East Rowan Senior High School near Salisbury, N.C.

While he was in high school he lived at Nazareth Children’s Home in Rockwell, N.C. He lived there from 1970 to 1973.

    “We just assisted with whatever he would have needed at the time,” Cheri Peterson, development assistant at Nazareth Children’s Home, said. 

     An acquaintance from high school remembers Keith as “having a flair for comedy.”

    “He could be a tough kid, but he could also be quite friendly,” he said. “I remember him performing some silly comedy song at a student variety show in early 1973. He came to my home one night to rehearse it and try out his material me.”

     Keith enlisted in the Marines on Jan. 7, 1974, and served until April 2, 1976. 

     According to an interview done by the Lodi News-Sentinel, his father said that “the Bible always held a fascination for his son while he was growing up in Charlotte, N.C. Keith spent several years traveling around the country trying to convert people to Christianity and often talked about his frustration because no one would listen to him.”

    “He just new how happy he was with the Christian life, and he wanted to share it with others,” the acquaintance said. “I understand what he was trying to do.”

Keith focused most of his ministry on motorcycle gangs.

     He went to Jasper in 1977 looking for purpose. That’s where Keith met Emory Lamb, aka Daddy F.O.U. Lamb owned a general store that was located on the southwest side of the Jasper square. Lamb had printed several pamphlets that were filled with different verses of Scripture. Lamb charged people a quarter to buy these pamphlets. One day, Keith went in looking at the pamphlets. When Lamb, told him they were 25 cents Keith asked him how he knew it was worth that.

     Lamb let him take the pamphlet. Later on, Keith returned to pay the quarter. Keith swore to Lamb that he (Lamb) was the Messiah. Keith ended up living in a shed behind Lamb’s house. The Foundation of Ubiquity began shortly after.

     The cult met in a church located next to Lamb’s house. The church was made out of rocks carried from the creek that ran behind Lamb’s house and was put together with mortar. At the entrance of the church, there are rocks labeled with the different member’s names.

     Lamb considered Keith to be his spiritual son and, later, considered Kate his spiritual daughter. Keith talked about being one of the Two Witnesses in Revelations 11. He would not disclose who the other witness was but Lamb had said Keith asked him to be the other.

     Keith wanted to travel the United States to tell about the ‘messiah’ that was here on earth. Lamb was not interested in traveling or being the second witness. Keith began traveling, trying to get the word out through national coverage. He made it to California and that is when he met his partner in crime, Kate Clark.

     Kate was originally from the San Francisco area. Her mother, Ellie Clark, was the former mayor of Pacifica. Kate attended Terra Nova High School. She was an active member of the swim team.

Kate arrived in Jasper around 1979. She began washing dishes at the famous Ozark Cafe located on the Jasper square. Customers remember her as being “sweet” and “always doing good.” Many of the people who knew her could not believe something like this would happen.

     She became Keith’s second witness. Lamb joined them together on January 21, 1979. For 1,260 days they traveled together telling bystanders about the foundation and Lamb’s beliefs. The Haiglers told people about what they were planning to do in 1982, but no one believed they would take such drastic measures.

     The Haiglers printed flyers and paid for an advertisement to be put in the Newton County Times on June 8. The advertisement said, “Yep, It’s here. Attention 144,000. Where will you be on the 4th of July? The son of the son of man has risen. Brothers we will ride again. Jasper, Arkansas July 3rd-7th.”

Keith and Kate both dressed in motorcyclist attire, denim and leather adorning their bodies. Keith did not even own a bike but he planned to. Lamb had a Harley since he was 18 and dressed in denim and leather, as did his wife. The Haiglers lived with Lamb and his wife for eight months in 1980. 

    “They were beautiful young people,” Lamb said.

    After the death of the Haiglers, Lamb became isolated from Jasper. He had been asked to stay away from some restaurants; some service station operators said they would not sell him gasoline; and his wife lost her job washing dishes at the restaurant. Lamb received many threatening phone calls and more than 200 phone calls came from members of the news media asking to interview him.

    He tried to explain to the Haiglers that this was a spiritual death. In an interview in the Lodi News-Sentinel, Lamb said, “He repeatedly said the last three years he would be killed in mid-1982. He always said he was one of the witnesses mentioned in Revelations. I’ve always told him that something like that takes place in the mind. It doesn’t take place in real life.”

    Lamb said he knew nothing of the Haiglers’ plan and took no responsibility for their deaths. They had not been in Jasper prior to the plan. They had told Lamb they would be back around July.

    “If they would have told me about it, I would not have approved,” he said. “I am the long-awaited messiah that can let people know about the father that lives within me.”

     In another interview in the Lodi News-Sentinel, Lamb said, “All he told me was ‘Dad, I want some people to come in. The biggest thing in the world is about to happen and I want some people to see it,” Lamb said.

     Lamb closed his general store and isolated himself even more. He remained in Jasper until he died on March 10, 1995. His wife, Shirley Lamb, and his daughter, Angela, moved away. Angela graduated from Jasper High in 1983 and now is happily married in Iowa. Shirley later remarried and now lives in Iowa as well. Her second husband passed away in 2011. Lamb signed the his land over to Michael Morris in 1993. Morris took care of Lamb before he died of cancer. Lamb was cremated at Coffman Funeral Home in Jasper.

    The Haiglers’ last request was granted and their bodies were left on Lamb’s land until the three-and-a-half days were up. After they left the state Medical Examiner for autopsy, their bodies were respectfully sent to their parents. Keith was buried in the family plot at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Charlotte, N.C. Kate’s body was sent to Conway’s Roller-McNutt Funeral Home to be cremated. Her ashes were then sent to her mother in California. 

    In 2008, Keith’s father, Nick, was found dead in a dense part of the woods near Linwood Park in Gastonia, N.C. He wandered away from an assisted living home. For 10 days, more than 50 family members and friends searched for him.

    Keith wanted people to believe. He wanted people to know. But in the end, two young lives were taken for a lost cause. The purpose the Haiglers sought was shot down on a bridge in Jasper.