Taylor Kitsch did a tremendous job in his portrayal of Koresh, but there was much more to the man; Waco merely scratched the surface.

If you haven't yet seen Waco, the Paramount miniseries now available on Netflix, you need to dedicate a day to binging all six episodes. It centers on David Koresh, the cult leader of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and his community's struggles with the FBI and ATF. Taylor Kitsch did a tremendous job in his portrayal of Koresh, but there was much more to the man; Waco merely scratched the surface.

The real David Koresh had several interesting aspects of his life that further add to the intrigue surrounding him in Waco. In reality, there could easily be a miniseries focused solely on him, as this man was interesting in more ways than one. Here are 10 things you might not have known about the star of Waco, David Koresh.

10 Vernon Wayne Howell

David Koresh was born Vernon Wayne Howell. His mother, Bonnie Sue Clark, gave birth to him at 15, which is touched upon in Waco. His father Bobby Wayne Howell, left his mother during her pregnancy in order to pursue a relationship with yet another teenage girl.

Koresh never met his father until later in life, and his mother lived with an alcoholic boyfriend early on in his childhood, before leaving him in the care of his grandmother for a few years. Not the best upbringing for young David Koresh, née Vernon Howell.

9 Dyslexia

Apart from his trouble at home, David Koresh also had struggles in the classroom. He often had trouble studying and competing schoolwork, which might have been caused by his dyslexia.

Koresh was placed in special education classes due to his learning disabilities, and was often ridiculed by his fellow classmates. He dropped out in the middle of his junior year at Garland High School.

8 Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Koresh latched onto the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which his mother was a part of, a few years after dropping out of Garland High School. He was a bit of a lover-boy throughout his life, and he soon fell for a girl that he probably should have stayed away from; the pastor's daughter. Not knowing how to approach this situation, he asked God for guidance.

While he was in the middle of praying, he came across a Bible open to the book of Isaiah. Specifically, it was open to a verse that read "none should want for her mate." He took this sign and ran with it, assuming it meant that God wanted him to wed the pastor's daughter. The pastor did not agree with this interpretation, however. The pastor expelled Koresh from the church for his consistent advances towards his daughter.

7 Lois Roden

David Koresh joined the Branch Davidians in the Mount Carmel Center outside Waco, Texas in 1981. At the time, the group was led by Lois Roden, whose late husband, Benjamin, founded the group in the '50s. David Thibodeau, a survivor of the Waco disaster whose book helped inspire the miniseries, opines in A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story that Koresh had a relationship with Mrs. Roden, who was in her 60s at the time.

She eventually let Koresh teach his message about "The Serpent's Root." This caused controversy within the Brand Davidians, particularly with Mrs. Roden's son, George Roden, who considered Koresh a threat to his eventual supremacy in the cult.

6 George Roden

The aforementioned George Roden eventually had enough of the up-and-coming David Koresh. He felt that he had the majority of the Branch Davidian community at his side, so he used his strength in numbers to force Koresh and his followers out of the Mount Carmel Center at gunpoint.

Koresh and his group of between 20 and 30 followers moved to Palestine, Texas, where they scraped by and slowly built up their following.

5 Reviving Contest

By the time David Koresh had accumulated enough followers to take back Mount Carmel, George Roden was not in a good place mentally. Desperate to prove his superiority to Koresh, he challenged him to a contest to see which of them could revive a dead person. He was serious too; the man dug up a corpse so that they could both try to bring it back to life.

Koresh did not partake in this ridiculous competition, but saw it as an opportunity to have Roden legally removed from Mount Carmel, for it is illegal to exhume a corpse. In an attempt to acquire evidence of the dug-up body, a gun fight broke out between Koresh's group and Roden's group. They were charged with attempted murder, though Koresh's followers were eventually acquitted, while Koresh benefitted from a mistrial.

4 Cyrus the Great

Vernon Howell did not choose a random name when he changed his to David Koresh in 1990. David represented his alleged lineage to King David of the Bible, who the Messiah is said to be descended from. Koresh is the name given to Cyrus the Great in the Bible.

Cyrus the Great is also considered a messianic figure due to him freeing the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity. All in all, the name David Koresh signified that he was sent by God to free people and lead them to the light.

3 24 Children

David Koresh had a lot of kids with a lot of different women. Like, a lot. His teachings of the House of David stated that he needed to have 24 total children with specific women of his community that were worthy of carrying his children.

His children were destined to rule over the world left by the Messiah after his death. Koresh had 16 children (reportedly) at the time of his death, at the age of 33, so he didn't quite get to that magic number of 24.

2 Camaro

David Koresh had a few hobbies, one of them being classic muscle cars. Koresh's 1968 Chevy Camaro suffered some minor damage during the FBI's raid of the Mount Carmel Center, but it still drew a healthy auction price when it was sold for $37,000 in 2018.

Its new owner is Zak Bagans, who you might recognize as the paranormal detective and host of Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel.

1 Loyal Following

David Koresh's mother buried him in an inconspicuous grave in Tyler, Texas. Although some present-day Brand Davidians have denounced Koresh's teachings, there are many who believe that he will one day return, along with the other Branch Davidians who were killed in the raid of Mount Carmel.

Either way, the Branch Davidians are still waiting and preparing for the Apocalypse.

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