Oh, the trouble this church has seen. Few houses of worship in Maine have had such a cloudy past. The scene looks relatively bright now, but if you visited about a century ago, you would have had to wade through federal officials to reach the front door. They were after Frank Sandford, the man who built this chapel in 1896 on eighty acres alongside one of the state’s major rivers. Sandford constructed the soaring tower as part of the Holy Ghost and Us Bible School, but it eventually adopted another moniker, a name that would live in infamy. The school became part of a “Kingdom” that included a hospital and 520 rooms to house the one thousand-some followers who the autocratic Sandford amassed. The Bowdoinham-born man considered himself a prophet — “the Restorer of all things” — and abided no breach of his rules. The feds became interested in him when word leaked out about people being held against their will, child abuse, and worse. Two men were eventually killed in a shootout, and Sandford was sent to prison for manslaughter. The church was closed in 1920 due to child-custody lawsuits, and the compound became a farm. Today, it’s a church again, but one whose motto emphasizes humility. If you can identify this scene, send us a note at P.O. Box 679, Camden, ME 04843; whip off an email to editorial@downeast.com; or post a comment at www.DownEast.com.