Growing up in the large, Taco Bell fueled suburb Chanhassen, Minnesota has its perks. With its abundancy of cute cul-de-sac neighborhoods and beloved Byerly’s (only the nicest grocery store you’ll ever step foot in), it’s no wonder this place is ranked the second safest city in America. However, if you have lived in Chan, you likely know of and have always wondered about its dirty little not-so-secret: the mysterious temple right by Lake Anne. We all know it as Eckankar, thanks to the massive golden gates with the name emblazoned across. If you have lived near Chanhassen, chances are you have done or said these things:

1. "What's That?"

At first sight, Eckankar is quite a spectacle. They own an immense amount of property, and kindly maintain most of it as untouched grassland apart from their GLEAMING GOLDEN TEMPLE OF DOOM smack dab in the front. Seriously, if you have never been in the area go check it out. “Out of place” does not even begin to describe it.

2. Google It

Naturally, a large, pointed temple in the middle of one of America’s safest cities raises some questions. Most people immediately resort to googling this oddity, and leave the website in awe. My personal favorite section is the FAQs, simply for the fact that the very last question used to be “are you a cult?” (with a simple “no” answer), and has since been removed. To give a quick summary, the website will tell you that “God is…light and sound”, “Many people who have never heard of Eckankar recognize [our] Masters from their dreams”, and they are all for gay marriage. Interesting stuff. Read up here for more: http://www.eckankar.org/FAQ/index.html

3. Tried to go there

This one may be less common, as it is only for the truly brave. For a good chunk of time almost every day, those golden gates hang wide open. If you dare, you can enter on through them up a winding road to a vast parking lot (they have conventions for members from all over the world, being the headquarters after all). You’ll park, maybe a little ways from the eerily white front door, and sit in your car contemplating getting a closer look. At least, that’s what my friend and I did until a face materialized in the window, smiling at us to come inside.

4. Take a Tour

This is for the even more brave. If you look on their website, they do offer tours on most days. When Connor and I had parked outside, we weren’t quite sure if we wanted to tour or not. However, that overly friendly lady that appeared in the window would not take no for an answer. We hesitantly followed her through the all-white door into a spacious all-white room. There we were greeted by two men who were smiling just as big as she was, who wore all white robes and no shoes. All three offered us a tour, gesturing to the white-on-white and gold-trimmed hallways and chapel room. They insisted we must take off our shoes first, and at that point we decided we could not handle this and turned around. We weren’t brave enough, but if you are, check it out: http://www.eckankar.org/Temple/index.html

I try to remain unbiased here, and fail pretty miserably. This is due to Chanhassen’s ongoing stereotypes and judgements of this place, along with rumors and most likely my own overreactions to my experience there. Rumor has it they use their 174 acres of grassland to go sacrifice people. Is that true? Probably not. But, it’s crazy to think about. We have our very own quirky temple in good old, safe Chanhassen. And that is pretty cool/terrifying.