3 | Tree Time

·40 min·3 clips

Elric's secret gay identity unravels the commune's facade and challenges the cops' homophobic suspicions.

This episode of The Red Weather podcast continues host Ryder Strong's investigation into the 1995 disappearance of his neighbor, Anna Trainor, from the Tenderhearts commune. Strong focuses on the commune's enigmatic founder, Elric Light, and obtains ten hours of his recorded lectures. The episode explores whether Tenderhearts was a spiritual group, a criminal operation, or something else entirely. Strong acquires Elric's tapes through historian Howard Trip, who specializes in intentional communities. On the recordings, Elric outlines a unique philosophy inspired by figures like Carlos Castaneda, which includes concepts like "tree time," a perspective scaling human perception to a redwood's lifespan. The official police narrative, from former Sheriff Maldonado, paints Elric as a con man running a polygamous cult fronting a drug operation. Strong receives partial case file transcripts from the current sheriff, which include his own teenage interview where he lied. The transcripts reveal police interrogations fixated on Elric's alibi for the night Anna vanished, which shifted from a group "sunrise seance" to him being absent. A major revelation comes from researcher Howard Trip, who clarifies Tenderhearts originated not as a cult but as an offshoot of a San Francisco women's shelter, the Bavilion House. Elric bought land to create a safe, off-grid community for women escaping domestic violence, including Anna's mother, Lainey. The episode details how the group cultivated a deliberately intimidating reputation, using tactics like "skin bombing" and allowing rumors of a polygamous cult to circulate to keep outsiders away. Financial pressures led the community to grow cannabis, a common but risky practice during the era of the CAMP anti-marijuana task force. The most surprising insight emerges from the police transcripts, where detectives aggressively question Elric about "garden parties" and a man named Lucas Park. Strong and his friend Chris deduce the police were insinuating Elric was gay, which was later confirmed; Elric's solid alibi was that he was with an ex-boyfriend that night. This meant the commune's charismatic, feminist leader was a closeted gay man, a fact he hid from the women, who believed he was celibate. The police transcript includes a homophobic slur from Maldonado, revealing investigative bias. Elric died of cancer in 2001, and the Tenderhearts community dissolved. The tone is investigative and reflective, blending personal narrative with archival tape analysis and dramatic readings of police transcripts. The style is conversational yet meticulously researched, slowly peeling back layers of a cold case and local history. Listeners interested in unsolved mysteries, the sociology of alternative communities, and nuanced true crime will find this episode compelling. Those seeking fast-paced resolutions or clear villains may find the ambiguous, detail-oriented exploration less satisfying.

As heard by us

A skeptical, sideways story about scale that keeps dismantling its own legend.

Episode 3 measures a human life against a redwood and follows that comparison without letting it stay decorative. It starts with a cult-adjacent premise, then strips away the expected tropes by making clear that the familiar version is not true and was built on lies.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a redwood-sized argument that keeps undercutting the obvious cult read.

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