John Hendrix and his wife Julia had five children when diphtheria hit their community around the turn of the 20th century. Baby Ethel got sick and died. The family was turned upside down with turmoil. Julia couldn’t cope with her grief so she took the other children and boarded a wagon headed for Arkansas after which John never saw any of them again.
As people often do during a time of trial John began asking God why this was happening to him. He took long walks in the woods of his property praying for understanding. One day while in the woods he heard a thunderous voice promise that if he would sleep with his head on the ground for forty nights he would be shown the future of his land.
So he did it. He went to the woods and chose a spot near a fence row. Neighbors brought him soup and covered him with blankets. One cold morning someone found him with his hair frozen to the ground!
Forty days later John reappeared from the woods and said he had been shown visions of the future. He began to tell these visions to anyone who would listen. While some people were intrigued, others were skeptical and called him crazy.
John said a city would be built on Black Oak Ridge for thousands of people. He said big factories would be built down in Bear Creek Valley where they would be “building things”. He said what was going to be built would help win one of the greatest wars that would ever be. In 1915 John Hendrix died of tuberculosis. After World War I came and went most people forgot about the visions of John Hendrix.
In 1942, this primitive community still without electricity was turned upside down when the War Department demanded possession of their farmland for a war emergency. People who had heard John’s predictions began to say, “I guess ol' John wasn’t crazy after all.” John Hendrix later became known as the Prophet of Oak Ridge.
John Hendrix as portrayed by Jack Mansfield Video courtesy of Secret City Films