TECUMSEH, Mo. _ Nestled amid several dozen hilly acres in Ozark County, in what would later become Trump's America, 16 people once banded together to help spread socialism.
Decades later, the East Wind community is the largest it's ever been, with 73 members sharing more than 1,000 acres.
But despite a long history in this county on the Arkansas border, where Trump received 80 percent of the vote, East Winders are outsiders.
The Ozark locals regard them with a sense of suspicion and sanctimony.
Peggy Williams, 44, who was raised and still lives in this county, said those at East Wind "don't bother nobody."
"Least they're not going out killing people, least I know of," she said before pausing. "Might be a pile of dead bodies back there."
Other rumors past and present hold that East Winders, wearing dark cloaks, perform rituals to drink the blood of babies; that they engage in weekly orgies; that they are all bound for eternal damnation.
"I know they all run around naked," one man said nonchalantly while pumping gas at Tecumseh's only station.
Betty Killion, a grandmother and frequent churchgoer, believes East Winders lead immoral lives.
"From what I hear, they're way off the grid from being Christians," she said.
East Wind lies at the end of a two-mile gravel road off a winding highway. Many Ozark locals can give precise directions to its entrance, but considering how few of them drive down it, the road may as well stretch hundreds of miles.
