The deadliest air crash in the Valley's history gave many people their first look at an unusual cult that lived in Box Canyon, near Chatsworth.

The Standard Airlines C-46 was circling on approach to Burbank after a flight from New York when it crashed in Santa Susana Pass on July 12, 1949. Thirty-five people died at the scene near today's Mesa Drive and Lilac Lane. Fourteen others survived, including an actress who was Judy Garland's stand-in in The Wizard of Oz.

Among the volunteer rescuers were curious-looking men dressed in cotton robes and
sandals with long, stringy hair. They were followers of Khrishna Venta, known to the
law as Francis Pencovic. Some 53 men, women and children lived in his Box
Canyon compound, preaching world peace, universal love and the pursuit of
knowledge. "I may as well say it, I am Christ,'' he once informed his flock.

Venta, who declared that humans came to Earth in spaceships, had
run-ins with authorities over bad checks and nonpayment of child support. His final dispute involved two ex-members who suspected he was having sex with their wives.

On December 10, 1958, an explosion rumbled across the
Valley from the direction of Box Canyon. The ex-devotees
had detonated 20 sticks of dynamite, killing themselves, Venta and six others.