Theodore Kipperman
Theodore "Ted" Kipperman was one of the Douglas Studios photographers connected to William Branham's famous 1950 Houston "halo" photograph, but his surrounding history links that image to a much stranger network of scandal, crime, and religious mythmaking. Kipperman's business partner and brother-in-law, James Ayers, was convicted in a counterfeiting case in which Kipperman was also named, and the family later became tied to the sensational Leslie Douglas Ashley murder case, where Branham and other Pentecostal figures rallied to help Ashley avoid execution while ignoring his accomplice, Carolyn Lima. Through Ayers' Ashley-Ayers Evangelistic Association, Ashley was presented in prophetic terms during an insanity defense, intersecting oddly with Branham's own Elijah claims and the timeline of the 1963 mystery cloud narrative. Kipperman's later turn as a pawn-shop minister offering free weddings with ring purchases adds another unusual chapter to the troubled circle surrounding Branham's most iconic photograph.
Theodore "Ted" Kipperman was one of two Douglas Studios photographers that captured William Branham’s "halo" photograph in the Sam Houston Coliseum during a 1950 debate between William Branham and F. F. Bosworth and Rev. W. W. Best.[1] His brother-in-law and partner, James Ayers, was a counterfeiter that was caught in the act of forgery. James was convicted and tried unsuccessfully to appeal in March 1952.[2] Kipperman was named in the legal battle, having delivered a counterfeited letter to Mrs. O. W. Tidwell.[3]
After Kipperman's nephew, Leslie Douglas Ashley, was convicted of murder during transsexual prostitution in Houston, the Pentecostal crowd came to the rescue. During the timeline of Branham’s "mystery cloud" event, William Branham and John Osteen,[4] Joel Osteen’s father, held rallies to free the transsexual. Interestingly, they had no interest in freeing his accomplice, Caroline Lima, who was involved in prostitution and murder. Ayers set up the "Ashley-Ayers Evangelistic Association"[5] after the conviction, helping the transsexual pose as "Elijah the prophet"[6] for an insanity plea. Branham, who also claimed to be "Elijah", claimed that he helped Ashley escape the electric chair, and Ashley was, indeed, granted a stay of execution due to insanity.
And someone called me, the one that criticized me about that picture of the Angel of the Lord, the one that took it. I had to go to Houston about his son, for he was going in the death row and was going to be killed in a few days. And he met me in there and throwed his arms around me, said, 'Think, the very man that I criticized comes to save my only son!' The humane society give me what they call an oscar, or whatever you want to call it, for saving a life.[7]
- William Branham
After Ashley was finally granted his freedom, Ted Kipperman opened a "Pawn and Wedding" shop. He became licensed as a minister, and gave customers a unique experience: If they bought a wedding ring at his pawn shop, they got a free wedding to go with it.