HIGHER THAN TRUTH
[S1E2] MURPHY RANCH—NORMAN AND WINONA
DID NAZI OCCULTISTS BUILD A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR DOOMSDAY MANSION IN LOS ANGELES DURING WWII?
Note: Higher Than Truth is an ongoing series taking deep dives into strange mysteries, conspiracies, and forgotten history. Please refer to the table of contents for all articles in their chronological order.
“My dad Norman Stevens built this beautiful ranch and we lived there during the war…All of this about nazis and a Herr Schmidt is a bunch of garbage, totally made up by some kook.”
—Norma Theanne “Toni” Stevens
In the introductory article, [S1E1] Murphy Ranch—The Urban Legend, I discussed the many rumors and allegations made about Murphy Ranch over the years. Based on numerous oral histories and amateur sleuthing, the consensus seems to be that no one named “Murphy” ever actually owned the ranch, but in 1948 when the property was in decline, it was long reported that the real owners were likely a Norman and Winona Stephens, who were found living above the garage. In the Curbed LA piece, What really happened at Rustic Canyon’s rumored Nazi ranch?—which I quoted from extensively—journalist Hadley Meares went the extra mile and determined:
Official documentation of Norman and Winona Stephens could not be found. But census records from both 1930 and 1940 show engineer Norman F. and Chicago native Winona B. Stevens living in Pasadena and Hermosa Beach during that time.
A comment in the comments section of that same article, written by Norman and Winona’s daughter, Toni, vehemently denied the allegations of Nazi activity on the ranch but, in doing so, confirmed that Meares’ research was correct and it was the Stevens—with a “v” not a “ph”—who owned Murphy Ranch. While there’s no reason to doubt Toni’s sincerity, it seemed to me worthwhile to learn a bit more about the people behind this property that spawned so many rumors over the years, if for no other reason than to put the rumors to bed once and for all.
Norman Ferdinand Stevens was born December 22, 1892 in Rochester, New Hampshire. By 1900, the family had moved to Lewiston, Maine, where Norman’s father worked as a housepainter.
Norman would go on to attend MIT and he graduated in 1917 with a degree in engineering. Upon graduation, he found employment at the Hood Rubber Co. in Watertown, Massachusetts just outside of Boston, but by June of that year he registered for the draft, and on January 8, 1918 he officially joined the military.
A May 10, 1918 Boston Globe article reported:
Captain Lester Watson, aeronautical officer on the staff of General John A. Johnston, today notified 51 more young men of New England, to report May 25 at the Schools of Military Aeronautics at “Tech” or Princeton.
Among the twenty-eight men assigned to “Tech” was one Norman F. Stevens, of Maine. (Only two weeks later, President Woodrow Wilson established the United States Army Air Service, predecessor to today’s Air Force.) This was the beginning of Norman’s long career in connection with the fledgling aviation industry.
Norman’s conscription sent him first to Texas then to Arcadia, California, where he trained with the Balloon Companies at Ross Field. In their haste to establish a balloon school on the West Coast, the Signal Corps failed to take into consideration the high desert winds of Arcadia, which reportedly caused headaches for the Balloon Companies and severely limited how and where they could train. But World War I ended on November 11, 1918 and Norman was honorably discharged just two months later. The Army Balloon School at Camp Ross closed permanently shortly thereafter.
And this is how, at the age of 28, Norman F. Stevens found himself in Los Angeles, an engineer at Salvation Jack and living alone at the YMCA.
Winona Bassett was born almost exactly one year before Norman on December 20, 1891 in Chicago, Illinois. While Norman’s upbringing appears—from what little information there is—to have been relatively modest, Winona’s looks to have been anything but.
In 1877, Winona’s father, Arthur J. Bassett joined his own father at the Chicago Tack Company which, unsurprisingly, manufactured steel tacks. Five years later, Arthur’s brother-in-law, Edward W. Hutchinson, came aboard as well and together they organized the Grand Crossing Tack Company. According to one source (found years ago and since deleted):
Of this successful enterprise, Arthur J. Bassett became president, and continued to hold the office until his death…Mr. Bassett justly merited the respect and confidence of his employees, to whose welfare he contributed in many material ways. His standards were exalted and his generosity unsurpassed. His church also benefited substantially, his gift of singing being an additional happy contribution.
When Winona was five years old, Arthur found himself running for Illinois state auditor of public accounts for the Prohibition Party alongside gubernatorial candidate Hale Johnson, who would later that year also run unsuccessfully as Vice President to the party’s presidential nominee, Joshua Levering.
Winona’s mother, Theophilia, was also politically active in the prohibition movement. While Arthur ran for auditor, Theophilia worked as superintendent of the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement—which also supported women’s suffrage— where according to one source, she was “recognized as a pioneer in the success of the federation.” Additionally, she held memberships in the Civic Club, Shakespeare Club, Daughters of the Cincinnati, and Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1905, Theophilia embraced Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science—one of several metaphysical offshoots of Protestant Christianity at the time—which “was evidence of her emancipated mind, and each succeeding year has strengthened her alliance.”
Perhaps due to Arthur’s failing health, Theophilia became president of the Grand Crossing Tack Company in 1901, a position she would hold for many years. Edward Hutchinson, husband to Theophilia’s sister, acted as secretary and superintendent, while Edward’s brother, Octavius, was treasurer and manager.
Theophilia maintained this position for several years, but after Arthur died in 1902, followed by the death of her father in 1906, it appears she needed a change of scenery. And like so many people at that time, tired of the Windy City’s dreary winters, she set her sights on California.
Theophilia and Winona moved to a comfortable home at 165 North Madison Avenue in Pasadena. In 1910, Winona graduated from Pasadena High School, where she was active in music and theater. Like her mother, Winona considered herself a suffragette, and she combined her passions for equality and theatricality by appearing in a stage show supporting the cause:
After a year of hard, unusual labor which has been the lot of local suffrage workers, a panacea for tired nerves and headaches was given by members of the Politcal Equality League…Winona Bassett and Norvel Horton took the characters of Reuben and Rachel in a farcical sketch of that name. The world old tune, “Reuben, Reuben, I’ve Been Thinkin’,” was used as setting for a charming dance and an excuse for a suffrage argument.
Winona then enrolled at Stanford University, which at that time was headed by the university’s first president, David Starr Jordan. She joined a sorority, Pi Beta Phi, and appears to have made numerous close friends, many of whom she can be seen socializing with decades later. In 1915, she graduated from Stanford—one of the first 500 women to do so—with an AB in economics.
The next few years seem to have been quiet ones for Winona. She pops up a handful of times in the society pages, typically throwing or attending festive engagement parties for her friends from high school and college. And then, suddenly, it was her turn. On March 3, 1920, a small column in The Pasadena Post announced, Wedding Plans Are Made For March 13:
Of great interest to the many friends in Southern California of Miss Winona Bassett, well known musician and popular girl and of her fiancé, Norman F. Stevens formerly of Auburn, Maine, but now making his home in Pasadena, are the announced wedding plans of the young people.
The ceremony will take place at the home of the bride-to-be’s mother…[at] 3 o’clock in the afternoon and only a limited company of relatives and intimate friends will be present.
After April 15 they will be at home to their friends at 200 North Madison Avenue.
The circumstances under which Norman, a recent East Coast transplant renting a room at the YMCA, and Winona, a well-liked and wealthy socialite, came to meet and fall in love have been lost to time. But as different as their economic circumstances may have been, it’s easy to see what they may have had in common. Both were intelligent, studious, and hard working. They were both a bit older than average to be getting married for the first time. Norman was handsome. Winona was beautiful. Whatever it was that caused that initial spark, it worked, and they began to build a life together.
By 1924, they escaped from living directly across the street from Theophilia and moved three miles south to 875 La Loma Road, Pasadena—a six bedroom, six bathroom, 5700 square foot home also owned by Theophilia. Norman began working as a mining engineer, and Winona was busy with their growing family of children: Dale, Carlile, and Toni.
During these early years of their marriage, they attended dinner parties and other social event with the high society of Los Angeles: Chandlers…Haldemans…Hancocks. Winona held charity events for the Pi Beta Phis and Phi Beta Kappas. They registered as lifelong Republicans and attended the First Congregational Church each Sunday. They were wealthy, and they were comfortable, and they were dissatisfied.
How long this discontent had been growing inside either or both of them I cannot say, but on March 24, 1927 Norman took the first step in what would be a lifetime of seeking answers to questions whose origins extended beyond the known universe, beyond time and space, religion, science, and rationality.
Norman joined a cult.
What might this have to do with Murphy Ranch? Find out next, on:
