THE PANACEA SOCIETY
In 1918 a vicar’s widow called Octavia came to believe she was Octavia, the Daughter of God - a messiah with the power to bring an end to suffering in the world. Her followers began to flock to live with her in Bedford, buying houses in the Castle Road area and knocking down garden walls and fences to create a communal space which they believed was the site of the original Garden of Eden.
The Great War had claimed their husbands, brothers and sons but God had told them that womankind would bring salvation - a panacea for all disease and despair. The answer lay in a mysterious box sealed by prophetess Joanna Southcott more than a century earlier. She had specified that it could only be opened at a gathering of all 24 bishops of the Church of England. When they refused to take part, the Panacea ladies began a campaign to persuade them, printing pamphlets on their own press and taking out adverts on billboards and buses across London calling for them to ‘OPEN THE BOX’. The Society also sent healing to many thousands of people all over the world - posting small squares of linen which had been breathed on by Octavia.
Believing that they would enjoy eternal life, there was shock in the society when members began to die. Their houses were sealed up exactly as they had left them, ready for the day that they would return to The Garden with Jesus.
Even after Octavia’s death in 1934 the Panacea Society began to attract new members. In the 1940s there were 80 living in Bedford and more than 130,000 worldwide.
When the last resident, Ruth Klein, died in 2012 the society became a charitable trust and a museum was created on the site. The public are now able to visit Octavia’s house and her Garden of Eden as well as exhibitions about the Panacea Society and similar religious groups.