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Why did Florence Houteff disband her following and sell Mount Carmel?
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Branch Davidian
Flames engulfing the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ending a standoff with federal agents, April 19, 1993.
Florence Houteff disbanded her following and sold the Mount Carmel property in 1962 because she had publicly predicted that a new messianic age would dawn on April 22, 1959. When this prediction failed to materialize, the movement splintered into several factions, and Houteff eventually acknowledged that she had erred in her prophecy.1