What’s going on there? What are they hiding? They’re not like us. It must be something terrible.

That kind of sentiment might come right out of today’s headlines. Actually, it’s the kind of thing people of this area were saying 100 years ago about the sprawling complex of buildings at the Shiloh colony in Durham.

A gigantic temple topped the hill overlooking the Androscoggin River, and several other large buildings became part of the religious community founded by Frank W. Sandford, the controversial leader of the prophetic Christian movement known as the Kingdom. The meteoric rise in converts who flocked to Shiloh led to much ill-informed opposition and distrust.

Farmers sold their land and brought their families to Shiloh. Generous gifts of money flowed in, and at its peak, Shiloh had 600 permanent residents devoted to Bible study and a ritual of 24-hour prayer.

Some 50 years ago, the largest of the empty buildings was dismantled. Some smaller ones, including a chapel, remain today.

What made this evangelical movement and its spectacular presence in rural Maine so controversial? Sandford’s charismatic personality drew dedicated followers to him, but a string of tragic circumstances ensued.

Sandford wanted to take the movement worldwide. He took a few dozen “Shilohites” on a schooner to stops in Africa and elsewhere in 1911.

Eventually, a series of errors left the ship undersupplied. Some people died, and charges were brought against Sandford. He refused to defend himself, and was sentenced to an Atlanta prison. By the 1930s, the Kingdom’s subjects were becoming scattered.

The facts about Shiloh, and alot of sensationalism, can be found in great detail in many books and on the Internet. It’s all fascinating, but there is one published summary of life at Shiloh that is a good starting point to understand life in that enigmatic Durham enclave.

The Rev. Frank S. Murray, Sandford’s biographer and disciple, told about it at a 1967 meeting of the Androscoggin County Historical Society that was covered by Mildred Cole of the Lewiston Daily Sun.

Her account of the lecture said, “The first building was the central edifice with the towers. It was called Shiloh, a word meaning tranquil or restful. Six Bible School students and Mr. Sandford started the structure in 1896 with only one cent in cash and a borrowed wheelbarrow.”

The news story said, “In 1897, a temple was built in Auburn at the corner of Summer and Union streets. It remained there until 1904, when it was moved to Durham, and re-erected on a different plan.”

Shiloh’s first chapel held 300 people, but the temple built soon after could accommodate 700 people.

“The central structure was crowned with a seventh-story turret in which perpetual prayers were said, both night and day for 23 years. As soon as Shiloh proper was completed, it was too small to accommodate the membership, so they had to start building the extension. It was a huge structure described as roughly comparable to the Poland Spring House,” Cole’s story said.

In addition to the central structure, Shiloh owned some 22 farms in Durham, with an acreage amounting to about two square miles.

Murray grew up at Shiloh until he was about 10 years old, when the community was disbanded in 1920. He attended school there and praised the system, Cole said.

Murray’s lecture described the daily routine. He said the night watchman would light the boilers at 3 a.m. At 4 a.m. he would awaken the cooks, and the rising bell for all rang at 6 a.m. After an hour of private devotions, breakfast (the first of two daily meals at Shiloh) was at 8 a.m. At 9 a.m. there was a meeting in the chapel, of which 40 minutes was spent on the knees praying.

Cole’s account said, “Bible School commenced at 10:30 a.m. and would go on indefinitely, sometimes running through the entire day and into the night.

“However, it usually ended about 2 or 2:30 p.m. The supper hour was at 4 p.m., followed by an evening meeting, and lights out at 10 p.m.”

“Murray said that Shiloh involved deeply religious work, with nothing bizarre or outlandish about it,” Cole’s news story said.

Having weathered a painful past, small elements of the movement founded by Sandford, or variations, continue with optimism at a half-dozen locations in the country, including Lisbon where Murray’s son has been a pastor.