Today the empty buildings at Home of Truth, lying on fenced private land, are little-noticed curiosities along Utah State Route 211, seen mainly by visitors to the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park.

The settlement was spread out along Dry Valley, bounded on the north and south by irregular mountain ridges that come close together at the western end, in a place called Photograph Gap.

Utah State Route 211, the road to Newspaper Rock and the entrance to the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, passes through the site.

She was prominent and active in community affairs, working for the welfare of the poor[2] and rising to the presidency of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs.

After the death of her husband, Harry Ogden, in 1929, she sought comfort in spiritualism,[3] soon forming an occult group called the School of Truth.

Ogden was attracted to the idea that spiritualism could allow her to communicate with her dead husband and learn why he died, as well as to find the answers to life for herself.

[4] She briefly joined the early "League of the Liberators" organization of spiritualist William Dudley Pelley, whose esoteric spiritual experiences and millennialist teachings resonated with her.

Claiming to receive divine revelations through automatic writing on her typewriter, Ogden toured the country lecturing and gathering followers.

[6] While on her lecture tour in Boise, Idaho, Ogden announced a revelation directing her to establish a religious colony dedicated to "the truth".

Ogden explained that she had received "a description and a mental picture of the place and knew it was on virgin soil, far removed from city life," as well as in the "intermountain country.

[6] Intending to start a collective farm, the group first tried to buy some irrigated ranch land on Indian Creek, but they could not pay the asking price.

[6] There were at least 23 buildings scattered throughout Home of Truth, most with simple exteriors of unpainted board and batten or tar paper shingles.

[7] In 1934, she purchased the local newspaper, the San Juan Record, made herself editor,[3] and added a column in which she promoted her metaphysical ideas.

They decided to allow the colony to keep it, as they determined it was no health threat, and since a number of people in the area had old Indian mummies found in dry caves.

[7] Over the next two years, as the press continued to publish sensationalized accounts of the events depicting the Home of Truth as a dangerous cult,[3] more than half of the colonists left, disillusioned.

[10] Left nearly alone, Marie Ogden continued to support herself by publishing the newspaper and by teaching piano lessons to the children of Monticello.

[13] A few of her followers continued to live at Home of Truth[6] until September 30, 1977, when the new owners sold the remaining contents of the Inner Portal at auction.