2 Die in Sweat Lodge Run by James Arthur Ray

Think about spending almost $10,000 for a spiritualist retreat in Arizona. Seeking enlightenment, purification and abundance. At least 64 people did that last week in a retreat run by James Arthur Ray in Sedona, Arizona, and two of them died. Nineteen others were hospitalized, one in critical condition. The final Spiritual Warrior ceremony at the Angel Valley Spiritual Center retreat was a “cleansing” in a makeshift sweat lodge. Not like the ones built by Native Americans who used animal skins and tree boughs so that the lodge could breathe. This “lodge” was covered with plastic and blankets, and was only about four feet high at its tallest point, with steaming hot rocks in the center.

On October 8 as many as 64 people at one time sat around inside the haphazard sweat lodge structure in 104 degree temperatures for up to two hours, until they began to sicken, and two died. Healthy people, like Kirby Brown, 38, who grew up in Westtown, N.Y., and lived part of the time in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Like James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee. Both were in Sedona at Ray’s Spiritual Warrior retreat on a quest for self improvement, as were the others, including the nineteen survivors who were hospitalized, suffering from dehydration, respiratory failure, kidney failure and burns.

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