The Happy Hunters

Frances and Charles Hunter are referred to as the “Ozzie and Harriet of Faith-Healing.” They are billed as “The Happy Hunters,” and they present a cheerful, effervescent attitude to their work that makes many other faith-healers look like grumps. Up-beat gospel music, seeming almost sinful in its rousing tempo, fills their services. But then they refer to their meetings as “Healing Explosions.” As investigator David Alexander discovered, there is much more to the Happy Hunters’ activities than just attempting to heal the faithful; they specialize in conducting lessons in how to heal. They say that they do not charge for these services. However, participants are required to read a book published and sold by the Hunters ($5), watch 12 hours of videotapes conveniently sold by the Hunters ($175), and listen to 12 audiotapes also available for sale by the Hunters ($36). Frances is a living testimonial to Charles’s abilities. She says that he rebuilt her heart, liver, and pancreas. The fact that he left these retooled organs in a 71-year-old body makes one wonder. Perhaps when Frances dies, the mortician will have to beat her liver into submission with a stick. Not ordained into any recognized church, the Hunters happily announce that they have been ordained “by God.” This, apparently, is enough to satisfy the IRS, because the Hunters pay no taxes on money raised at their “explosions.” They teach and encourage “speaking in tongues” and perform the Grant leg-stretching trick. I cannot imagine that any person who regularly performs this trick as a demonstration can possibly fail to know that it is a deception. Alexander attended a Happy Hunters meeting in Anaheim, California, in 1987. He was appalled by what he saw and what he learned by following up on some cases. He reported his findings in Free Inquiry magazine. He said that one man, urged to accept a healing that failed to relieve his pain, was taken aside by Frances and scolded for still feeling the pain. He was accused of denying what God wanted for him. Another man, who said he had three herniated discs, was now supposed to be healed. Says Alexander, this man who had been put through the process, and who had then “demonstrated his healing by bending over and touching his toes was [now] leaning against some chairs and looking as if he had been hit by a truck; his face registered great pain.” More seriously, Alexander reported: “A man who had brought his wife for healing was contacted by this writer one week after the service. I was told that the woman had cancer, had slipped into a coma, and was not expected to live much longer.” Alexander also followed up on one Beverley Thacker, of Fresno, California, who had been incorrectly reported in a newspaper account of the event as having suffered a paralyzing stroke six months before. The crowd had cheered as she left the meeting (excuse me, “explosion”) pushing her husband in her own wheelchair. Alexander wrote:Mr. Thacker informed me that his wife had suffered from a brain tumor, not a stroke. She had been operated on in March of 1986, and though she could walk without assistance and a cane, had not completely regained her sense of balance.

In other words, what Mrs. Thacker did was something she could do when she walked into the Happy Hunter Healing Explosion. The Hunters at least have one positive, blatant miracle that one might think offers itself for examination. I will let Charles Hunter, a former certified public accountant, outline this wonderA boy about fourteen years old came to the altar. The glory of God was shining all over him and he was crying with joy he couldn’t contain. We asked, “What would you like for Jesus to do for you?” He stuck out his left hand and said, “Grow me a new thumb.” His thumb had been cut off when he was four years old. It was a peculiar-looking amputation, because it looked like the skin had been pulled together and tied, rather than left smooth. Glory to God! This was our first opportunity to see a cut-off limb grow back! We said, “Stick out your hands!” He did. We commanded it to grow and nothing happened. Frances said, “Put out both arms and put them together.” He stretched forth both arms, side by side, so we could watch both arms and thumbs at the same time. Again we commanded, “Grow, thumb, grow, in Jesus’s name!” In fact, we yelled at the thumb. Our faith was high, because we had just read in the Bible that this had happened with the disciples of the early church. Suddenly, with the whole audience standing, watching to see what the power of God would do, the thumb stub began to grow. Slowly, slowly it moved forward! It grew right out to full size, just like the other thumb! ... We will see cut-off arms and legs grow just that way in this generation!

Hold on a moment, folks. Let’s go back to that regenerated thumb before we start staring at arms and legs. Surely the Hunters recorded the name of this lucky lad. I’m sure they followed up this major miracle, so much above and beyond the ordinary biblical miracles, which do not encompass such organic restorations. Well, maybe and maybe not. Charles Hunter, in his enthusiasm, had quoted a scriptural reference to such wonders. He said that he took his reference from the Living Bible, while I’ve taken mine from the New English Bible. Let us compare the two. Hunter’s version of Matthew 15:30-31:[They] laid [the sick] before Jesus, and he healed them all. What a spectacle it was! Those who hadn’t been able to say a word before were talking excitedly, and those with missing arms and legs had new ones; the crippled were walking and jumping around, and those who had been blind were gazing about them! The crowds just marveled, and praised the God of Israel.

Compare that with what I find in my Bible:... they threw [the sick] down at his feet, and he healed them. Great was the amazement of the people when they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled strong, the lame walking, and sight restored to the blind; and they gave praise to the God of Israel.

In the latter version, there is no mention of restored limbs. But regardless of a perhaps too enthusiastic and inventive interpretation of the scriptures, the grown-again-thumb story fascinated me. Learning of this miracle that supposedly had taken place not far from where I live, I fired off this telegram to the Hunters:Please provide me with the name and address of the church in West Palm Beach, Florida, where a new thumb grew back on the left hand of the young boy. Please also provide the name of the young man, so that I may include this wonder in my new book on faith-healing. You may call me, collect, at the number below if you wish. Thank you for your attention to this request.

On July 13, 1987, I received a reply. The Hunters informed me that they did not remember where that major miracle took place, except that it was “at a Methodist church in West Palm Beach, Florida.” And they “did not get the name of the boy.” Attempting to discover at which church the wonder might have occurred, I telephoned every Methodist church listed in West Palm Beach. Two were disconnected. Three told me a distinct “No.” Three never responded, though I left messages. Two were “not sure” whether the Hunters were ever there. I’m sure that signifies that they were not there, because such a marvel would certainly have been remembered. Again, no evidence was available for a major miracle claimed in print by a faith-healer. The Hunters may be Happy, but I believe they are Unhappy about answering such queries.

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