January 2, 2013

"A Martial Arts Cult?" - Russell Johnson

Editor's note: Today's post comes courtesy of Russell Johnson. In the 1980s, Johnson became involved with a martial art called Chung Moo Quan.

From RickRoss.com:
Chung Moo Quan advertises its teachings as "Eight Martial Arts Taught as One," stemming from the "1500-year-old royal line of Chung Moo." Currently there are schools in at least six states, including five in Minnesota. 
City Pages left unreturned messages at three of the Minnesota schools and got the same repeated response "We decline to be interviewed" from the other two. By Russ Johnson's estimate, there are 50-60 students at each Minnesota outlet. There is no way to make an educated guess about school revenues in Minnesota, but a 1990 news report about the ten schools in Chicago area placed revenues there at up to $1.8 million annually.
However, Russell says not all was what it appeared. He sent Fingerprints these two news pieces on what happened next. (Note that the video quality is poor.)





Here is a longer documentary about the organization:




Johnson has posted many documents and photos from his experiences on his Facebook page here. (Warning: Some of them are gruesome.)

Johnson is looking for a writer to help adapt his experiences with Chung Moo Quan for print and/or screen. Interested parties should contact him at his Facebook page here.