They come to your door, but how much do you really know about Jehovah’s Witnesses? Our animation shows you some surprising stuff (you probably didn’t know) about the worldwide religion. Find out what else we revealed.

YouTube video

Reporter: Trey Bundy
Producer and Director: Michael I Schiller
Editor: Fernando Diaz
Editorial Director: Robert Salladay
Animation and Visual Effects: Naissance
Executive Producer: Amanda Pike
Sound Editor: Jim Briggs
Copy Editor: Nikki Frick

Archival footage, photos and illustrations:

  • jw.org
  • Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc.
  • Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
  • International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, NY, USA
  • The National Archives
  • Shutterstock

Music courtesy of De Wolfe Music

Michael I Schiller has worked for the Center for Investigative Reporting since 2013 as a multimedia reporter, producer, and creative director. His work spans radio, animation, visual design, and documentary film. The Dead Unknown, a video series he directed about the crisis of America’s unidentified dead, earned a national News and Documentary Emmy Award, national Edward R. Murrow Award, and national Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award. His animated documentary short film The Box, about youth solitary confinement, was honored with a video journalism award from the Society of Professional Journalists’ Northern California chapter, a San Francisco International Film Festival Golden Gate Award, and a New Orleans Film Festival special jury prize, and it was nominated for a national News and Documentary Emmy for new approaches.

Trey Bundy is a former reporter for Reveal, covering youth. After beginning his career at the San Francisco Chronicle, he joined The Bay Citizen, where he covered child welfare, juvenile justice, education and crime. His work also has appeared in The New York Times, SF Weekly, The Huffington Post, the PBS NewsHour, Planet magazine and other news outlets. He has won three awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2009, he won the national Hearst Journalism Award for article of the year. Bundy has a bachelor's degree in journalism from San Francisco State University. He is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office.