Eli’s KW Legacy Ranch Testimony
2007
If you want your kid to have no self-worth, send them here. The stories of abuse are real and have lifelong consequences. If your kid is there, pull them out immediately. If you don’t, you will have to face up to the fact that you intentionally and irreparably harmed your child in ways that they will likely never recover from.
I was sent there when I was 17. I am now 33. It has taken me until now to even begin to think about confronting what happened to me. I have permanently suppressed the worst incidents of abuse. I still can’t remember much of my time there. That should give you some indication of the intensity of the trauma.
I was in the first “class” in 2007. I was only there for nine weeks. I can’t imagine surviving if I were there any longer. Luke was a sadist. I can remember a couple of “therapeutic” experiences. I was forced to shoot a cat. I was placed on the back of an ATV at high speeds as Luke tried to shove me off.
Random “bed checks” at night, a complete loss of identity. Being thrown into a pen with a charging llama (he thought it was hilarious) and left out in the desert till sundown with no water in the summer. I had to prevent one of my fellow camp members from committing suicide with a knife from the kitchen he had hidden. Restriction of food and humiliation were the norm. There was never a moment of therapy that I can remember. It was a forced labor camp masquerading as treatment.
I mustered the courage to look up others’ experiences at the ranch online. Generations of kids have been gobbled up and subsumed by the darkness of this place. I suffer from PTSD, OCD, severe depression, and anxiety. If you don’t want to believe me there are plenty of other experiences to draw your conclusions from:
https://www.manta.com/c/mxjvp17/k-w-legacy-ranch#reviews
“For punishment, you’re sent under the Nevada sun on a hay bale or hard metal chair. Most times, it’s for around a day; while for others, up to a week. You’re under silent treatment while sitting, and you’re afforded bland meals with staff sometimes neglecting to even provide sunscreen. During the night, you sleep on the kitchen floor with night staff looking over you. Upon morning, you’re again sent out there. Their practices are abusive and ineffective. Out of my group of patients, one has committed suicide, while others have severe PTSD–myself included ”
https://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/comments/kybheb/kw_legacy_ranch/
” On one of the visits home our son mentioned concerns with one of the staff that happened to be Luke’s brother. I brought it up with Luke after our home visit and they punished my son by having him sleep outside for several days in the hot summer in Nevada feeding him only dry ramen noodles and frozen peas. I had no idea this happened until years after when he felt safe enough to tel us. He was frightened we would send him back there. The fear they instill in these “troubled” kids is heartbreaking. They go in with their problems no doubt, but all they get in return is a mountain more of problems. As the years pass, more and more stories are being shared. The deaths that have happened on their watch, and the suicides that have happened after leaving the ranch, the sexual abuse of the girl “patients” by the owner Luke should be enough to shut this place down forever. I will do everything I can to be an advocate for these kids that have attended this place. It is the only thing I can do to help my son heal from this awful place we sent him to”
“a student actually died due to the neglect they showed. His name was Matt Hose and he died in front of many kids.”
This place needs to be shut down. There needs to be a lawsuit. Anyone interested?