Brother XII was a notorious esoteric, "New Age" charlatan, womanizer and confidence trickster who founded a cult, then swindled middle-aged women in Canada's Nanaimo region.

In 1926 in Cedar, British Columbia, an offshoot of the Theosophical Society appeared and eventually morphed into the Aquarian Foundation led by one Edward Wilson, or sometimes Brother XII. This Foundation raised money and built homes for its members. Then wishing to retreat from the prying eyes of a larger society, the Foundation took a sizeable American donation to buy large tracts of land on nearby Valdes and DeCourcy Islands. Later, a cult/colony on was established on DeCourcy Island.

Claiming to be the Reincarnation of the Egyptian Gods Isis and Osiris, Brother XII took, with the help of his mistress Madame Zee, command of the colony and its funds. Madame Zee (real name Amiel Skottowe) was a savage sadist, who beat and berated the members, with the proxy power assumed by her as lover of the cult leader. Increasingly dictatorial, Brother XII ordered members to do construction, acted solefully within the Foundation-without regard for the Foundation's fellow directors-and eventually commanded the torching of the DeCourcy colony's buildings.

By 1933, the colony began to fall apart, and so Brother XII and Madame Zee departed on a ship, with the Colony's cash assets, for points unknown. Afterwards, there was a court case when the Foundation and Donors attempted to recover the remaining assets.

Sources

• John Oliphant. Brother Twelve: The Incredible Story of Canada's False Prophet (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1991).

Fraudsters