WEBVTT - Our Town Chapter 1: Sometimes You Find Silver 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:07.200 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:11.280 Our story starts with a guy and his metal detector. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:15.680 I got it as a Christmas present one year when 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.919 I was young, twelve, thirteens or something like that. One 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.560 of the cheap ones. But I just liked the mystery 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:25.160 of it. There's this open field, nothing around, but here's 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:27.800 a silver coin like that was magical. 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:33.160 Brian Allen grew up metal detecting in his hometown of Gainsboro, Tennessee, 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.360 a teen c town in the foothills of Appalachia. People 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:41.599 call it the Switzerland of the Cumberlands. Lush, rolling hills, 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.559 sweeping vistas, and a lot of history. 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:48.360 I found a lot of moonshine sights, old shotgun show heads. 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:50.800 You can tell modern ones because they have the plast. 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:53.559 During the Civil War, the Confederate Army would post up 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.920 by Gainsboro to seize the Union Army supplies as they 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.240 floated by on the Cumberland River, or stuff for the 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:04.960 right person, horseshoes, It's a treasure trove, axes. 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.320 Just the mystery of just putting something together. I'm a 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.600 very quiet person. If I'm talking about something i'm passionate about, 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:11.399 then I can go. 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:16.479 There was one piece of land that backed right up 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.479 to a curve in the river. Bryant had been eyeing 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:23.760 it for years. Ninety nine acres of farmland. 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:26.600 Was over by the high school. That's the one that 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:27.760 I really wanted to hit. 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.800 A place that's about to produce his biggest discovery yet. 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.360 This is the summer of twenty twenty four. Bryant goes 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.399 digging through public records to get permission from the owner 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:44.679 to metal detect and he realizes it's been sold recently 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.920 to a name he doesn't recognize. Now, Gainsborough is a 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.040 town of one thousand people, many of whom are related, 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.160 so it's a peculiar thing to find a name you've 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:55.920 never heard. 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.600 Of, because most time, you know, he would sell it 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.520 to Jimbob over the hole, so that stays in the family. 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.559 So that intrigued me because if someone local didn't buy 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:06.040 the land, then who did. 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:08.920 I have a very inquisitive mind about things. I have 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.520 far fetched ideas and some of them work outas some don't. 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:15.839 I think that goes back to my metal detecting, Like, yeah, 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:17.920 ninety percent of the time I'll go out there and 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.919 find garbage, but sometimes you find silver. 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:27.600 So he googles some of the details on the property 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.399 record and sees that it was some real estate guy 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.400 who bought the land, and that leads him to a 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:38.320 company one called Ridge Runner USA. He goes to the 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:39.640 Ridge Runner website. 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.520 The first thing you see when it pops up is 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.440 Pioneers in Appalachia. 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:51.200 Pioneers in Appalachia. The website is spare with that single phrase, 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.200 over an image of an open field with a winding 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:58.959 dirt road, and below an invitation to learn more. 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:04.320 Brian clicks ridge Runner is building pioneer communities in the 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:05.919 old American heartland. 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.560 Ridge Runner appears to be some kind of real estate company. 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:14.280 We see rising demand for new types of communities around 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:18.440 a shared vision for local life in America. 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.120 I'm like, hang on, Like that was when. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:22.120 I was like, well, yeah something. 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.959 Bryant searches more and finds that Ridge Runner seems to 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:32.040 be affiliated with a larger company called New Founding. That 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.600 website is packed with even grander pronouncements. 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:42.440 We are forging an alliance to revitalize American civilization, bringing builders, creators, 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:47.240 and concerned citizens together build the America you want to 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:55.240 live in. And it's like, but it's already built. Like, yeah, 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:56.280 that don't sound good. 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:01.160 From what Bryant can discern, New found is involved in 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:06.160 all sorts of things, venture capital, media, and real estate. 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:11.520 That's where Ridge Runner comes in. Both companies, Ridge Runner 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:16.039 and New Founding seem ambitious and filled with big ideas. 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:24.280 Pioneers, frontier, all the words for oppression and conquering. We're 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.120 going to convert these heathens like yet gave me that 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.640 feel like this was their manifest. 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:33.919 Destiny Ridge Runner New Founding those ninety nine acres across 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.000 from the high school. Brian is trying to figure out 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:38.160 what's in front. 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:39.880 Of them, Like what am I missing? 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:50.080 What was happening in his quiet hometown. In the month's following, Bryant, 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.599 who is painfully shy, reveals his discovery to only one person, 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:58.440 a coworker, but he keeps tracking Ridge Runner. The real 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:03.200 estate company finds more Land getting scooped up in and 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:09.080 around Gainsborough. Bryant had stumbled into something the beginning of 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:13.400 an ambitious project to make Gainsborough a new type of 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:19.080 town filled with like minded people. This tiny town would 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:23.039 soon realize it was part of a much larger experiment, 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:27.719 backed by people with powerful connections and plenty of money 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.960 to build the America they want to live in. Starting 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:38.039 with Gainsborough from Bloomberg News. I'm Maraba Knight reporting along 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:42.480 with Susan Burfield, and you're listening to our town. This 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:56.360 is chapter one. Sometimes you Find Silver. A few months 0:05:56.400 --> 0:06:00.440 before Brian Allen, the metal detecting enthusiasts, started snooping around 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.080 about those ninety nine acres, a new face started turning 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:08.200 up at the Stolen Coin restaurant. The Coin, as it's called, 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:09.640 is a local institution. 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:10.880 Are you. 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:15.159 It's owned by Cassie Kessler and her husband who's the chef. 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:20.120 Ryan Allen goes there often as too many day tripping tourists. 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.559 It's right on the town square. The town square, which 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.880 is one square block with an old courthouse in the middle, 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.200 is Gainsborough's social hub. It's where people come to gossip, 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.320 to shop, to pick up a prescription, or you to 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.200 plate the biscuits and chocolate gravy. 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:38.440 It's chocolate gravy. 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:42.800 It's a Southern thing. It's an Appalachian special. It was 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.159 in the midst of all this when Cassie saw that 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.440 new face at a restaurant. A real estate guy. 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:53.279 I had become pretty good acquaintance for you on my 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.960 first name Basis would come in. Anytime you would come in, 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:57.560 I would sit and talk to him. 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:02.360 Cassie is energetic, a fast, urgent talker, flitting from table 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.760 to table in the coins cozy dining room. 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:07.560 Hi, day baby, how are you? I just liked like 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:09.560 a table touch, like to talk to people with a 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:16.640 small town like I know everybody in that restaurant. 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.920 In this new face. The real estate guy, he was 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:23.160 a great customer, very very personal and seemingly interested in 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:26.760 investing in Gainsboro. And Cassie had a hot tip. 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:32.760 My lawyer at the time was looking to sell his spot. 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.800 The building was right around the corner from the restaurant, 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:40.560 right off the town square, a prime location and rare find. 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.160 And I had mentioned it because some of the other 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.840 buildings in town it's very hard for them to come 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:47.160 there pass down through family. 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.000 Cassie had learned this about Gainsborough, that it was tight knit. 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:55.080 She'd moved there about five years earlier from Florida, and 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:56.480 the town had given her a lot. 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.400 I could not have been to this place point in 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:04.080 my life without the support of this town, whether it's 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:08.960 council members, community members, business members, employees, like it has 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.320 just been an effort from everybody. 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:17.280 Cassie is a recovering drug user, sober thirteen years, so 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:20.440 the idea of having this kind of welcome and support 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.040 system to open a business, it meant everything to her. 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.720 It was such a bad person for such a long time, 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.920 and it's really nice to like take that effort that 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:31.920 I used to be into being an addict and put 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.480 it into the good stuff in the community. And like 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.880 helping it just is like, I know it sounds cheesy, 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:39.800 and I say it does. It's better than being high, 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.560 like it really is. It makes you feel good, It 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:46.120 makes you feel valuable, all the opposite feelings you get 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:47.400 whenever you're an addict. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:52.240 Cassie loved helping Gainsborough grow because, like her, it too 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:56.160 had struggled in years past, hollowed out by job losses 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:01.079 and stagnant wages. Nearby factories had closed the shirt factory 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:06.680 Oshkosh Bagosh. Then came the opioid epidemic. But over the 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.840 past decade, people like Cassie had started opening restaurants and 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.800 stores that drew tourists. So when this real estate guy 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.720 showed up in town and bought the building that Cassie 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:21.440 tipped him off to. She was delighted he bought it 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.959 along with his son, who just moved from Texas to Gainsborough. 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:30.079 He was becoming a regular too. His name was Josh Abbatoy. 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.680 Soon he'd started coming in with other men, men who 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.880 also seemed new to the town. She wasn't sure if 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:39.400 they were colleagues or friends. 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.280 As many times as they came into my restaurant or 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.280 did anything, they never would talk to me. 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:50.160 But that didn't deter Cassie from chatting Josh Abbatoy up. 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:54.440 After I'd found out that they had bought it. Josh, 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.600 his father, and another gentleman were sitting at the restaurant, 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.600 and I can remember, I remember his table ten, and 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.120 I was sitting there talking to them about you know, 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.320 what are you guys doing, And oh, it's an appraisal business, 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.520 just very like not putting a direct stamp on it, 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:11.720 like we're still trying to figure out. It's gonna be 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.319 a couple different things. And I was like, Oh, I'm 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:16.280 gonna have to come down and check it out. 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.520 All the Gainsborough business owners were close here. 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.720 In town, like all the businesses on the Square we 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.160 like do so many things together. We just starw each 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:26.640 other's biggest cheerleaders. 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:30.280 But that was not the response she got from Josh Abbatoy. 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:32.920 And I can remember him looking up at me and saying, 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:34.800 we're just gonna have to wait till it's done. We 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:36.240 don't We're not going to let anybody in there till 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.520 it's done. From right then, it was like closed off. 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.560 It went from open conversation to like, now I'm just 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:45.560 not going to talk about what this place is anymore. 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.160 I should have been like, well, what, that's kind of weird. 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.360 Then, a couple months after Abbatoy purchased that building by 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:56.360 the Square, the town would find out why nothing was 0:10:56.440 --> 0:11:01.760 quite the same for Gainsborough after that. More after the break. 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.920 A friend of mine texted me about three o'clock. 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.079 It was a Friday in mid November when Mark Dudney, 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:16.920 a preservation planner an historian for the area, received a 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.679 message from his friend. It was about an upcoming news story. 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.679 Phil Williams was going to have a piece on Monday night. 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.800 Phil Williams is an investigative reporter with news Channel five 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.079 in Nashville, been on the air for decades and has 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.720 a well known series called Confronting Hate. 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.080 New data appeared to reveal a disturbing trend, the rise 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:40.880 of hate in Tennessee. 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.720 And the next story in the series, Mark learned was 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:45.280 going to be about Gainsborough. 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.560 I feel like my blood pressure ramped up. I don't 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:51.960 have an alarmist personality. I'm a really flat line on 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:52.640 an ekg. 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:58.120 Mark had grown up in Gainesboro, then left after high school, 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.120 but had recently moved back. 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.680 Well, this is sort of it getting into personal stuff, 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.400 but I got divorced last year. 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.680 For Mark Lake Cassie, Gainsborough was a place to recover, 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:10.840 to breathe. 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:15.720 My family's been here seven generations. I grew up going 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.200 to a little church right down the road here, very 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:18.800 tight knit. 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.960 Mark's dad had also passed away that year. Doctor Dudney, 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:26.920 he was Gainsborough's beloved local doctor, delivered many of the 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:31.160 town's babies. So Mark had a lot to process. Being 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:34.080 home helped so hat turning off the news. 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:36.640 I was listening to a lot of Almond Brothers, and 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.280 so that was just a pleasure to be back here. 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:42.720 That lasted about six. 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:48.520 Weeks, more specifically until November eighteenth, twenty twenty four. The 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.960 night The TV news story about Gainsborough aired. 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.480 That Monday night. I watched it with my sister. 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:02.000 Tonight, news Channel five investigates special report reveals to Christian 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.560 nationalists who want to turn a small Middle Tennessee community 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.120 into their base of operations. Phil you found that longtime 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:11.480 residents didn't even know this was happening. 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.920 This has very much been developing under the radar nationalist. 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:16.480 I was glued to the television. 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.040 Mark pulled a chair right out to the TV. 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.160 In many ways, the views of some of these people 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:25.480 are not so different from the white supremaisies we've seen 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.840 marching down Nashville streets in the past year, although they 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:33.280 dress up their ideas with intellectual buzzwords and call it Christian. 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:37.280 And they've announced that Gainsboro, the Jackson County seat, will 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.360 be the focus of their efforts to resettle like minded 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:42.319 people from around the country. 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.800 The goal, from what Mark understood, was to turn Gainsboro 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:51.360 into their own type of Christian town. The report focused 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.240 on two newcomers, a pair of podcasters who'd already moved 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:55.920 to Gainsboro. 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.600 They say they quote hate democracy, they're rooting for a 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:03.000 part of dictator, and they think God made men to 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:03.920 rule over women. 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:08.880 Williams described the two podcasters as ambassadors for the larger venture. 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.439 The two Christian nationalists announced the efforts of civil rights 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.679 leader Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in general. 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.320 They celebrate images of whites only diners in the fifties, 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:21.200 and they mock historical. 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.520 As Mark watched, he learned the real estate group running 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.400 the whole venture had already bout one hundred acres right 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:31.400 in Gainsborough and another five hundred acres somewhere in the 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.920 Appalachian Hills, all to build the community. 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:39.560 We were all flat footed. We didn't have a clue. 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:46.280 The report a mere ten minutes, shook the tiny town. Mark, 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:50.280 despite his usual flatline e KG demeanor, was feeling all 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:51.680 sorts of feelings. 0:14:53.360 --> 0:15:02.640 I do remember getting hot. Arrogance is mind blowing. 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.680 There was a phrase in the news report that hit Mark, 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:11.320 especially hard Christian nationalist. With his penchant for constitutional history, 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.000 he was familiar with the term Christian nationalist, though many 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:16.480 of his fellow residents were not. 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:22.040 To me, Christian nationalism is fundamentally an American. Really, this 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:23.720 is just about white supremacy. 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:29.120 One important note the podcasters do not call themselves white supremacists. 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.800 They've called their podcast quote the number one Christian nationalist 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.720 podcast in the world, but one of them told us 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.840 he doesn't describe himself that way, and the guy in 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:44.000 charge of the larger venture says he's not a Christian nationalist. 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:49.000 Christian nationalists believe that America is a Christian nation and 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:53.480 should be led by Christians for Christians, and more specifically 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:59.120 Christian men. Gainsboro the Jackson County seat may have seemed 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:03.360 like a good fit. The county is overwhelmingly white ninety 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:08.360 six percent. It's also Christian and conservative. Eighty one percent 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:13.040 voted for Trump, so it might be easy to stereotype. 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.680 What people commonly think about Jackson County and they think 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.520 we're all backwoods, hateful racist and oh, he's from Jackson County. 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.120 I could carry something around here. 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:24.440 Ryan Allen, the guy with the inquisitive mind and the 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:28.320 metal detector, had also watched the report and felt an 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:30.360 odd combo of emotions in. 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.160 A weird way, like vindication, but he also felt terror. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.200 This can't be real. I guess here we go moment 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.560 like this isn't a fly by nine LLC that will 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.239 be shut down and they're here to I guess homestead 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.040 to make a town, and I didn't know how the 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:47.440 community would react. 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:52.800 The town was practically vibrating, talking, texting, googling. It was 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.120 all the talk at church on Sunday. Days later, Phil 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.160 Williams returned for a follow up story. A sort of 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.400 town hall of the square about forty people came. 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.920 When you hear them talking about coming here to build 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:09.720 a town, what's your reaction? This town is not really. 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:11.560 It was. 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:17.320 The vice chair of the local Republican party spoke up. 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:24.760 It scares me that they are very clear about taking over. 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:29.320 Bryan stood in the back of the room, his mind racing. 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:33.560 It was more like, Uh wow, is this really happening. 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.560 It was all making sense now. He thought back to 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.159 the ninety nine acres across from the high school that 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:44.520 he'd investigated months before. Back then, he'd worried he was 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.960 being a little paranoid. Now he realized he'd been onto something. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:54.399 That real estate company Ridge Runner, the one Brian had googled. 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.879 We see rising demand for new types of communities around 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:02.359 a shared vision for local life in America. 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.400 They were the ones who'd purchased those ninety nine acres. 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:10.080 That land was their start to building their community, to 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.280 remaking Gainsborough. 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:14.000 Build the America you want to live in. 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:21.320 It was all a part of this plan. Inside the 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:25.720 town hall, Bryant was relieved to hear his neighbor's objections. 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.560 What message would you have for these people? 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:34.200 We only be a part of a racialmede. 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:38.240 The bond that formed was almost magical. 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:45.359 This was the Gainsborough he knew. Meanwhile, Mark Dudney, the historian, 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:49.960 sat second row in the town hall, listening and making 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:51.720 all kinds of wild connections. 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.600 Was so close to Halloween. Now, I've been watching horror 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.120 movies and I shot my mouth off and made some 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:00.000 reference about Salem's Life. 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:04.679 Salem's Lot a novel turned film by Stephen King in 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:07.920 which a man returns to his hometown only to discover 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.840 that a strange businessman has also arrived, along with an 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.600 ancient vampire, to take over the town. 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:17.600 And as far as I'm concerned, mister Barlow and mister 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.720 Striker can load up the coffin and get out of 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:26.399 Sytem's Lot. You've got somebody coming in who was trying 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:32.480 to recruit and multiply. And it was not that far 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:34.480 off as an analogy. 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:36.800 The town now believed it was part of a plan 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.040 to build a far right community, that outside money was 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:44.480 flowing into make it, and that podcasters far right Christians 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:49.000 were already here in promoting it. Everything else was still 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:53.040 a mystery. What exactly was Ridge Runner, Who were these 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:58.280 guys and how many were already in Gainsborough. There was 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:00.920 one person at the town hall, standing in the back 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:05.879 near Bryan who had some answers. Cassie Kessler, the restaurant owner. 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:10.359 She'd recognized the two podcasters from the TV report. She 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.960 knew them, they'd eaten at her restaurant. And what's more, 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.080 the real estate guy, the one she'd help find the 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:22.000 building for his son, Josh Abbatoy, who'd moved from Texas. 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.840 He was the leader. He was the CEO of Ridge Runner, 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:27.800 the company behind this whole thing. 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:31.640 Like I instantly shot back to the night of. 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:36.680 The election, the night of the twenty twenty four presidential election, 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.760 just two weeks earlier, the last time Cassie had seen 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.399 Josh Abbotoy. He'd come in for lunch that day and 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:45.359 again for dinner. 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:47.840 We made sure nice table was set up for them. 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.560 You know, Abbatoy's family was that they were all there 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:51.639 with their whole family. 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.280 She and Abbatoy even made a friendly wager. I was like, 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:57.199 who do you think is going to win? 0:20:57.240 --> 0:20:59.200 And it was just like me just being like funny, 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:00.720 Like I can remember him. 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:03.399 Leaning back like this and going, it's gonna be tripe. 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:05.920 He's gonna take it. And I was like, I'm gonna 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:08.560 buy you beer if he went. He's like, Okay, I'm 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:11.240 gonna hold you up to that, and we just, you know, chuckled. 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.560 While Cassie headed home from the restaurant for an early bedtime. 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:19.520 A very different night was ahead for Josh Abbatoy, who 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:21.720 left the Coin to go be on a podcast. 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:28.120 Hello and welcome to contramot him in his election night. 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:30.800 I'm Andrew Asker. This over here is cj Engele. 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.280 The hosts were the two podcasters, the ones who'd already 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:36.840 moved to town to help Josh Abbitoy with the Ridge 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.760 Runner development. To many people in town, they'd become the 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:41.800 voice of the venture. 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:44.760 Awesome, all right, CJ what are your thoughts? I am 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:48.400 ready to doom scrown. Do scroll Twitter all night, all night. 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:51.720 Cassie hadn't seen this live stream when it aired, but 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.399 now after the TV news story, she watched some It 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.520 was nearly nine hours, so I was. 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:00.600 Just very angry, and I knew that I was going 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:01.960 to see them at some point. 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.840 Many others in town now also watched, eager to learn 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.560 what they could about these newcomers. The two podcasters were 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:12.680 matching blue suits and ties thanks to their wives. 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:14.399 Yeah, they bullied us into matching. 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.560 They already seem giddy the pocket square, the podcast square. 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:22.240 They're Trump supporters. Andrew Risker was new to Tennessee. He 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:24.720 said he fled Minnesota for its wokeness. 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:25.520 We will win. 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:28.960 His co host c j Engel left California for the 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:29.679 same reason. 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:34.360 I'm pleased as punch, all right, Well. 0:22:34.160 --> 0:22:37.400 And now here. They were live streaming their podcasts from 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:41.639 Gainsborough from the same building Cassie had tipped Josh Abbatoy 0:22:41.680 --> 0:22:45.320 and his father off to. It was now Ridge Runners Headquarters. 0:22:46.160 --> 0:22:50.680 The name of the podcast, Contramundum, is Latin for against 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:51.280 the world. 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.239 I don't see any reason why things will continue to 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.520 justify women going more and more to college, like women's 0:22:57.560 --> 0:23:01.640 lib liberation or emancipation in the career women, that's only 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:03.720 led to despair, and I think that women are starting 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:05.440 to recognize that, so it will probably. 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:07.359 Be easier to get rid of democracy as a whole 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:09.280 before getting rid of the nineteen of the. 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:12.359 Men, nineteen Amendment, the women's right. 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:15.360 To vote, and when we are basically going to revert 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:20.080 back to their natural station, like a natural order correction. 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:23.640 It's so crazy to me that it's freedom for them, 0:23:24.119 --> 0:23:26.760 but only people that like seem like them. 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:31.239 All their talk about women's natural order, Well, Cassie was 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:35.480 not a mother. She had tried, really tried, but she 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:39.600 wasn't a mother. She was a wife, an entrepreneur, a voter. 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:42.760 She served her community in all sorts of ways. 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:46.199