North carolina-born William Penn Patrick claimed to be the ultimate bootstraps success story, becoming a millionaire in a year via his cosmetics line, holiday magic. but in 10 years he was dead, leaving behind strings of lawsuits, deaths, and abuse claims. how on earth did that happen?

Resources

• A not so magical holiday with Holiday Magic Cosmetics, from The makeup museum

• Lawsuits Threaten Millionaire Promoter of Pyramid Sales, from the NYT

• 'Fraud of the decade': The incredible implosion of the Bay Area's biggest pyramid scheme, by Katie dowd at SFGate

• Sell-Shocked: The Pyramid Schemer Who Convinced His Targets to Climb Into Coffins, by jake rossen at mentalfloss

• Excerpt: The pit: a group encounter defiled, by Gene Church and Conrad D. Carnes, from cameron freeman

• A Creative Animation Documents What Happened When a 1970s Self-Help Seminar Turned Into a Nightmare (NSFW)

• Circle of power/brainwash movie on youtube

EPISODE DRINK: