Was I In A Cult?

As a young teenager, Darls Centola was searching for something steady in a chaotic world. What she found was the Jehovah’s Witnesses—a religion that felt warm, structured, and safe.What she didn’t expect to find… was him.Not the King of Pop. Not the global icon. Not Michael Jackson. Just Michael. A shy, curious, thoughtful teenage boy looking to her for religious guidance. What unfolds is almost impossibly pure. Two kids hiding behind their school not to smoke pot, but to talk about faith and opening orphanages one day—all while trying (and failing) to suppress feelings they aren't allowed to feel. Because inside their dogma, a crush isn't just a crush. It could get you killed at Armageddon. And as their bond deepens... so does the control. Until the belief system that brought them together… is the very thing that tears them apart.This isn’t a story about fame. It’s not a takedown. And it’s not a defense.It's about first love. And a deeply human, intimate look at a version of someone the world thinks it already understands, set against the very real, very damaging impact of cult abuse.And the uncomfortable truth that both light and darkness can exist at the same time.______________Today, Darls Centola is a licensed clinical social worker, educator and EMDR consultant with a focus on the impact of spiritual abuse and high control systems. She has written a memoir about the innocent and heartbreaking time in her life inside a cult with teenage Michael Jackson from the POV of that young girl. A time that didn't just change her life... but may have quietly shaped his too.Purchase Darls' memoir here: "Finding Truth with Michael: A Memoir of Friendship, Faith and First Love"Find Darls' workbook and other resources on her website: findingtruthwithmichael.com FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWJoin our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If Part 1 was the seduction… this is the unraveling.By now, Celeste is fully in - the "true believer" phase we like to call it. The relationships feel real. The stakes feel real. And the consequences for questioning it? Also very real.Because inside this world, there are rules. Rewards for loyalty. Punishments for doubt. And what once felt magical begins to shift. The cracks start to show. And Celeste is forced to confront a terrifying possibility:What if none of this is real?What follows is a slow, psychological tug-of-war between belief and reality - until one discovery changes everything.After all, the most shocking part wasn't that there were vampires on the internet.It was who was pretending to be them. ______FOLLOW CELESTE → Instagram @celestemott | Tiktok @celestemothFOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWJoin our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At 16, Celeste Mott was alone, grieving, and searching - for meaning, for connection, for something that felt bigger than her small, suburban life.And then she found them.An online world inspired by Anne Rice.Dark. Seductive. Intelligent.A place where vampires weren’t just characters… they were real.Or at least—that’s what they lead her to believe.This was the early 2000s internet— before social media, before real names, before anyone was asking who’s actually behind the screen.Message boards. Chat rooms. Total anonymity. The perfect environment for something to take hold… unnoticed.What begins as a message board for Anne Rice fans, transforms into something far darker. Something that on the surface, sounds completely unbelievable. Except not when you know how cults operate. Because this wasn’t just fandom.This was belonging.This was identity.This was… a promise.And like every good cult—it knew exactly what she needed to hear.This is Part 1 of 2.  ______FOLLOW CELESTE → Instagram @celestemott | Tiktok @celestemothFOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWJoin our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Michelle Dowd was born into a cult that was literally training boys to fight in God’s army when the apocalypse came.It started in sunny Pasadena, California when her grandfather - a former Boy Scout leader - decided the Scouts weren’t strict enough and built his own organization. Boys were recruited young, drilled like soldiers, and raised to believe they were preparing for the end of the world.Michelle grew up inside the group known as “The Field,” running miles before breakfast, enduring military-style obedience drills, selling candy to fund the movement, and eventually living for years on a remote mountain with basically no formal education.What eventually happened is almost unbelievable: a secret college application, a full scholarship, and a cult survivor with no formal education… to becoming a professor teaching critical thinking.Michelle Dowd is now a writer and the author of Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult._____________________________________MICHELLE DOWD LINKS → Instagram @michelledowdz | Subscribe to Michelle's FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTERListen to Michelle's book "Forager" on SPOTIFY FOR FREEPick up a copy of Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult"Michelle’s NYT Modern Love essay: “Love in a Time of Low Expectations”***Tyler’s mascot book mention: Where Are the Fighting Giraffes? by David WinderFOLLOW US For more culty content - follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWJoin our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Star Stone walked into a fluorescent-lit room on Market Street in San Francisco where a man who looked like Mark Zuckerberg stroked a woman's clitoris in business casual while thirty people watched. "This is it. This is what I need," she thought. It wasn't.See, Star didn't join a cult (newsflash, no one does). She joined a sex-positive, orgasm-as-spiritual-practice kind of movement founded by a woman, for women. It was called OneTaste. It promised female empowerment. But what it delivered was sexual trauma. Thanks, Nicole Daedone!Star Stone shares her story with the kind of honesty and dark humor that made us fall in love with her immediately. This isn't trauma porn - this is what happens when groups take your desire for connection, belonging, and sexual empowerment and weaponize it.Star was a joy to have on the show. Be sure to check out her solo comedy show, "Cl*t Cult," premiering this April at New York Fringe. And don't worry... she promised to come back and tell us everything that happened at "the Land" after her show premieres._____________________________________ GET TICKETS TO CL*T CULT April 2–10 at the Wild Project, East Village, NYC FOLLOW STAR For more from Star → Instagram @starstonespeaks | FOLLOW US For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWJoin our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In Part 1, David Archuleta was the church's golden boy - the voice, the fame, the perfect Mormon billboard. In Part 2, that billboard comes down.David goes on a two-year Mormon mission to Chile post fame, confronts the darkest chapter of his life, and finally faces the one thing he spent decades praying would go away. Tyler gets personal about his own loss. And David sings for us again. DAVID'S NEW MEMOIR DEVOUT  is now available. FOLLOW US For more culty content - follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultFOLLOW DAVID@Davidarchie GET THE BOOK DEVOUT by David Archuleta - available everywhere books are sold. Audiobook includes a bonus EP of original songs. (Squeal!)SUPPORT THE SHOWJoin our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988. The Trevor Project is available 24/7 at thetrevorproject.org/get-help or text START to 678-678.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Archuleta was seventeen years old, Mormon to his core, and singing in front of thirty million people on American Idol. America saw the golden boy - the angel voice, the humble smile, the kid who made grown adults cry on national television. What they didn't see was the father who controlled every note, every decision, every version of David he was allowed to be. "I basically was his puppet." Behind the fame was the sweetest kid grappling with his own sexuality because his church told him who he was allowed to love, and who he wanted to love wasn't on their yes list. David believed that if he just prayed hard enough, God would "fix" the one thing about himself he'd been taught to hate. Spoiler: God had other plans.Today is Part 1 of his story... it wrecked us in the best way. Part 2 is available NOW exclusively for PATREON members. DAVID'S NEW MEMOIR DEVOUT  is now available. FOLLOW US For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultFOLLOW DAVID@Davidarchie GET THE BOOK DEVOUT by David Archuleta - available everywhere books are sold. Audiobook includes a bonus EP of original songs. (Squeal!)SUPPORT THE SHOWGet PART 2 of David's story RIGHT NOW a week EARLY by joining our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When you're numbered among the Lord's anointed, you're supposed to feel special, but for Jeremy Tucker, he was just another mindless cog in the machine of the Kingdom of God. It didn't matter though, he would work hard to do his part, until that hard work nearly cost him his life... FOLLOW US For more culty content - follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWRate, review, share. Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] guest producer Lindsay Hansen Park.  https://www.yearofpolygamy.com/https://sunstone.org/sunstone-history-podcast/https://www.tiktok.com/@lindsayhansenpark?lang=enSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Her stepfather told her: "Your child will be a fourth generation Scientologist whether you like it or not." That was the threat. This is the fight.In Part 2, Liz Gale tells us what happened to her brother - and what finally made her walk away from everything. Her family. Her inheritance. Land her ancestors homesteaded on the Oregon Trail. All of it. Gone. Because she finally said… Oh, hell no. You got me, but you don’t get my kids. This episode is a warning. Scientology is still ever-present. They're in your kids' schools. They're hiding behind interfaith councils and "study technology." And the biggest thing standing in their way? Apparently mothers who trust their intuition. Mama bears, this one's for you.FOLLOW US For more culty content - follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultFOLLOW LIZ GALE Find Liz on TikTok → @liz_liz_gale_gale & Instagram. Her book Confessions of an Ex-Scientologist Pothead is available now.SUPPORT THE SHOWRate, review, share. Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we're back on Scientology. And until they stop destroying families and draining bank accounts, we'll keep talking about it.Liz Gale, a third generation ex-Scientologist and author of Confessions of an Ex-Scientologist Pothead, grew up privileged in the church in the 80s and 90s - Scientology royalty, some could say, connected to the Miscavige family, boarding schools, the works. But privilege doesn't protect you when the doctrine teaches your mother that loving you too much is dangerous. That comforting you when you're hurt will damage your soul. That sending you away at eight years old is the most maternal thing she can do to protect you from traumatizing you more. This is a story about what happens when a "religion" crawls between a mother and her child and severs the most primal bond we have.Liz is funny as hell. She's also been through hell. And she's not done talking.This is Part 1 of 2. Listen, then call your kids and tell them you love them.FOLLOW US For more culty content - follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultFOLLOW LIZ GALE Find Liz on TikTok → @liz_liz_gale_gale & Instagram. Her book Confessions of an Ex-Scientologist Pothead is available now.SUPPORT THE SHOWRate, review, share. Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

So… remember that acting class? Well, turns out this “human behavior expert” has her eyes on a much larger prize. I mean, you can’t be the next Tony Robbins while just teaching scene analysis.In Part 2 of Liz’s story, Sandy’s world shifts into trying to become what it’s been after all along: a spiritual self-help empire. Except this one is built on word salad, public humiliation, and the slow, steady squeeze of control. (Spoiler: Her goal never "manifested") In this shift, the class expands beyond Los Angeles… all the way across the world to India. Because when you’re in a class to learn scene analysis, the obvious next step is a spiritual retreat.The language changes. The pressure shifts. And suddenly, “transformation” comes with a hefty price tag. A world where boundary crossing is reframed as growth and the cost of admission is total and complete loyalty. And if you can’t afford it? No worries. Just sell your car. One student did. And if you learn nothing else - as Liz would tell you, when someone slaps you in India, kick ’em in the cooch._______FOLLOW USFor more culty content - follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing - shining a light on manipulation, coercive control, and cultic abuse - please rate, review, and share the podcast.Want even more?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY TO SHARE?If you’ve been part of a cult - we want to hear from you.Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Either Liz finally stepped up to the mic to tell her own story… or Tyler finally cornered her and hit record. Either way — it’s happening.After moving to Los Angeles with a toxic boyfriend, Liz leaves behind the Chicago comedy scene and finds herself nudged into a Hollywood acting class — one he introduces her to via a “free” class that’s anything but. What starts as a supposedly legit acting class quickly earns a reputation as “the place where comedy goes to die.” And yet… it’s somehow worse than that.Because this “class” slowly morphs into a spiritual self-help cult.Yes. An acting class cult.No, she did not see it coming.And neither will you.In Part 1 of Liz’s story, we dive into how this Chicagoan accidentally wandered into the hollyweirdest chapter of her life._______FOLLOW USFor more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing — shining a light on manipulation, coercive control, and cultic abuse — please rate, review, and share the podcast.Want even more?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY TO SHARE?If you’ve been part of a cult — we want to hear from you.Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Four years after we first met her in our studio - just days after her victim impact statement in Alison Mack’s NXIVM trial - Jessica Joan is back.Since we last spoke, Jessica shared her story on the Hulu docuseries “How I Escaped My Cult”, and a lot has shifted: in her healing, in what “justice” means, and in what accountability actually looks like over time.This follow-up conversation was prompted by our recent interview with journalist Natalie Robehmed, host of the podcast “Alison After NXIVM”, where listeners hear Alison speak publicly about NXIVM and her life post-prison. After that episode, it felt important to come back to Jessica - to hear directly from someone harmed by Alison, and to explore the messy questions of empathy, forgiveness, and what we’re really asking for when we say we want “accountability.”FOLLOW USFor more culty content - follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultFIND JESSICAGet your copy of The Untouchable: Jessica Joan & the Downfall of NXIVMCheck out her new website: www.thisisjessicajoan.comInstagram/TikTok: @thesirenandthesunflowerSUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing - shining a light on manipulation, coercive control, and cultic abuse - please rate, review, and share the podcast.Want even more?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY TO SHARE?If you’ve been part of a cult - we want to hear from you.Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

**NOTE: This episode originally aired in 2021**Welcome to the worst cult ever (in our humble opinions). This is a story of incredible resilience, bravery, and inspiration. Being born into a cult always comes with its challenges, but learning how to have an original thought in your mid-20s is a rare struggle that most people are fortunate enough to never have to face. This is just one of many obstacles Angel had to overcome as she ventured out of the cult and into the world.But when you've spent over 20 years of your life in a cult and it's all you know, the real world isn't always as sparkly as you hoped.FOLLOW USFor more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultFIND ANGELInstagram: @whatisangeldoingYoutube: @AngelDeSantisSUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing — shining a light on manipulation, coercive control, and cultic abuse — please rate, review, and share the podcast.Want even more?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY TO SHARE?If you’ve been part of a cult — we want to hear from you.Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A comet. A cultural fever. And a cult’s failed prophecy. In 1973, as the holidays approached and the world felt increasingly unstable, a comet named Kohoutek was predicted to light up the sky in way never seen before… right at Christmas. The media obsessed. The artists sang. And David Berg, an apocalyptic sex cult leader, saw confirmation that judgment was imminent. Christmas would be the end.In this episode, we trace how the Children of God turned a celestial event into The Christmas Monster, sending families fleeing the United States, scattering members across the globe, and quietly erasing the idea of home altogether.We speak with Perry Bulwar, who was recruited into the cult as a teenager and lived inside it for over twenty years. He takes us through belief, fear, failed prophecy, and the moment a pop song cracked the spell.It’s a holiday story - just maybe not the kind you’re used to.___________FOLLOW USFor more culty content - follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultPERRY’S BOOKGet your copy of “Misguided: My Jesus Freak Life In a Doomsday Cult”SUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing - shining a light on manipulation, coercive control, and cultic abuse - please rate, review, and share the podcast.Want even more?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY TO SHARE?If you’ve been part of a cult - we want to hear from you.Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we head to Nashville, Tennessee — where a cosmetology school promising structure, opportunity, and “professionalism” turned out to be something else entirely.Our guest, Sophia, thought she was paying over $20,000 to learn how to do hair. Instead, she walked into a system obsessed with obedience, image, and silence — where being late cost money, smiling was mandatory, and your body, time, and labor were constantly monitored. Add in “motivational” rituals, public humiliation, and unpaid work dressed up as “education,” and suddenly this isn’t just cosmetology school… it’s giving cult.FOLLOW USFor more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultFOLLOW SOPHIAFind Sophia on Instagram & TikTok → @styledby.sophiaeliseIf you’re in Nashville, go get your hair done and TIP WELL! SUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing — shining a light on manipulation, coercive control, and cultic abuse — please rate, review, and share the podcast.Want even more?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations.HAVE A CULTY STORY TO SHARE?If you’ve been part of a cult, high-control group, or something that didn’t look like a cult until way later — we want to hear from you.Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, Liz and Tyler head straight into the sweaty “this-is-definitely-not-a-cult-except-maybe-it-definitely-is” world of Ashtanga yoga. Our guest, Magnolia Zuniga, was one of only 20 women in the world to become a Certified Ashtanga teacher. She spent 22 years inside the system — traveling to India, waking up before the crack of dawn, giving up apartments, and building her entire life around the practice and the man who created it. Then, on her very first day studying with master Pattabhi Jois — the “grandfather” of modern yoga — she witnessed something that shattered everything she thought she knew. What followed was years of confusion, devotion, cognitive dissonance, community pressure, and the slow unraveling of everything she believed Ashtanga Yoga to be.FOLLOW USFor more culty content, nuanced conversations, and uncomfortable truths told with care — follow us on Instagram & TikTok →@wasiinacultFOLLOW MAGNOLIAYouTube: @MagnoliaSezSoInstagram: @magnoliasezsoMagnolia's NewsletterSUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing — shining a light on manipulation, coercion, and the messy psychology behind it — please rate, review, and share the podcast.Want to support our work even more so we can keep bringing you more cult-busting content?Join our Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our eternal gratitude.HAVE A CULTY STORY TO SHARE?We’d love to hear from you.Email us → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When we got the email inviting us to interview journalist Natalie Robehmed about her new CBC + Campsite Media podcast, Allison After NXIVM, we weren’t sure what to do. Talking about Allison Mack — someone who caused very real harm, including to people we’ve had on this show - is complicated. And honestly? We didn’t want to accidentally platform or sanitize that harm.But then we listened. And what we found wasn’t a redemption story. It was complexity. It was discomfort. It was a journalist tracing how someone can be both a victim and a perpetrator.In this conversation, Natalie takes us behind her interviews with Allison: childhood exploitation, Hollywood pressures, the hunger to be “the best,” and the dynamics of NXIVM’s inner circle that turned all of that into something horrifying.We’re not here to tell you how to feel about Allison Mack.But we are here to sit in the space where victimhood and violence blur -the space where a person realizes the monster they were running from is the one they learned to be.FOLLOW USFor more culty content -follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultLISTEN TO "ALLISON AFTER NXIVM" Hear Natalie's full 7-part investigation into Allison Mack (or search Allison After NXIVM wherever you get your podcasts.SUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing - shining a light on manipulation, coercion, and the messy psychology behind it - please rate, review, and share the podcast. Want to be part of our inner circle?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our eternal gratitude for helping us keep these stories alive.HAVE A CULTY STORY?We’d love to hear from you - drop us a line at [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

She survived a violent polygamist cult.She survived a husband who collected wives like property.She survived the blood atonement doctrine that stalked her childhood like a shadow.But this is the part of Pamela Jones’s story where she does the impossible:she runs.In this final chapter of our three-part series, Pamela plans an escape nearly as dangerous as the life she’s leaving behind—nine children in tow, no legal paperwork for half of them, almost no money, and the very real fear that leaving could mean death.This episode isn’t just about leaving a cult.It’s about rebuilding an identity from scratch.It’s about motherhood as revolution.It’s about reclaiming a life she was told she never owned.And it’s the story of what Pamela built on the other side—freedom, love, a business, and a legacy that’s inspiring other women to walk out of the same darkness she escaped.Her transformation is staggering.Her resilience is unforgettable.Her ending is exactly what she deserved.Pamela’s memoir, The Dirt Beneath Our Door, is linked in the show notes._____________FOLLOW USFor more culty content —follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing (and want to help us keep shining light on the dark corners of control and charisma), please rate, review, and share the podcast. It helps more than you know.Want to go deeper down the rabbit hole?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our eternal gratitude for helping us keep these stories alive.HAVE A CULTY STORY?We’d love to hear from you — drop us a line at [email protected] WITH PAMELA JONESYou can follow Pamela Jones — speaker, author, survivor, and all-around badass — here:Her Book: The Dirt Beneath Our DoorWebsiteLinkedInInstagramFacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In Part Two of Pamela Jones’ extraordinary story, the so-called “escape” she dreamed of at fifteen turns into a new kind of prison.After growing up under the violent rule of the LeBaron brothers — a murderous offshoot of Mormon fundamentalism — Pamela marries young, believing it will be her salvation. Her husband David doesn’t just take her innocence — he takes her freedom, her home, and her dignity. She raises babies on rationed potatoes, lives under the threat of blood atonement, and tries to stay safe inside a community run by fear, hierarchy, and men who call their control “God’s will.”But years later, and many sister wives later, something in Pamela begins to shift. A spark. A voice. A quiet rebellion forged from decades of silence.This is the part of her journey where the cracks in the doctrine begin to show… and where Pamela realizes the only person coming to save her is herself.Next week: the escape — across a border, across a belief system, and into a life she was never meant to reach.____________FOLLOW USFor more culty content —follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing (and want to help us keep shining light on the dark corners of control and charisma), please rate, review, and share the podcast. It helps more than you know.Want to go deeper down the rabbit hole?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our eternal gratitude for helping us keep these stories alive.HAVE A CULTY STORY?We’d love to hear from you — drop us a line at [email protected] WITH PAMELA JONESYou can follow Pamela Jones — speaker, author, survivor, and all-around badass — here:Her Book: The Dirt Beneath Our DoorWebsiteLinkedInInstagramFacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

She was born into one of the most dangerous polygamist cults in modern history — led by the infamous Ervil LeBaron, aptly nicknamed “The Mormon Manson,” a man who believed in murder for salvation.Her father had eleven wives, fifty-seven children, and a thousand secrets.This is Pamela Jones.She was six when she became a caretaker.Eleven when she learned to fear bullets.And fifteen when she thought marriage might save her.It didn’t.But what makes her story unforgettable isn’t just the horror she survived — it’s the woman she became after it.In this first episode of her stunning three-part story, Pamela pulls back the curtain on the LeBaron cult and shows us how she found light, power, and freedom in the rubble.Because sometimes, the ones born into darkness become the ones who burn the brightest.FOLLOW USFor more culty content —follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing (and want to help us keep shining light on the dark corners of control and charisma), please rate, review, and share the podcast. It helps more than you know.Want to go deeper down the rabbit hole?Join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our eternal gratitude for helping us keep these stories alive.HAVE A CULTY STORY?We’d love to hear from you — drop us a line at [email protected] WITH PAMELA JONESYou can follow Pamela Jones — speaker, author, survivor, and all-around badass — here:Her Book: The Dirt Beneath Our DoorWebsiteLinkedInInstagramFacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

**Note: This episode originally aired in September 2021. Stick around til the end for a catch up interview with Daniel 4 years later.**With rockstar aspirations, Daniel O'Brien wasn't looking for anything but a good time. But when heartbreak rocked his world, he tripped into something that lifted his spirits and rallied his hopes - the Jehovah's Witnesses. Before he knew it, Daniel had traded his guitar for a green Bible and found himself rapidly rising through the ranks of the religion. A wife, and two kids later, he was a fully indoctrinated, high ranking Elder in the church. But when Daniel realizes that he's part of a life much different than the one he originally signed up for, he knows that he must leave. The only problem is... he can't._____FOLLOW USFor more culty content, follow us on Instagram & TikTok:→ @wasiinacultSUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing — please rate, review, and share the podcast. It helps more than you know.And if you’d like to go a step further, join us on Patreon. You’ll get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our eternal gratitude for helping us keep these conversations going.→ Join us on Patreon.HAVE A CULTY STORY?We’d love to hear from you.→ [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Raidah left medical school in Sydney to spend the summer at what was promise to be an Islamic utopia in Jordan, she thought she was taking a break to heal.Instead, she found herself inside a high-control religious community led by Nuh Ha Mim Keller — an American-born Catholic convert who reinvented himself as a Sufi sheikh and built a devoted following of Muslims living in Western countries.Through his English-language books, lectures, and retreats, Keller promised these diaspora Muslims a spiritual home — a refuge from Western chaos and Islamophobia.But what Raidah found instead… was a cult._____FOLLOW USFor more culty content, follow us on Instagram & TikTok:→ @wasiinacultFOLLOW RAIDAH SHAH IDILFollow Raidah on Instagram → @raidahwritesCheck out her debut novel How to Free a Jinn — available now from Allen & Unwin (ANZ and Asia) and Simon & Schuster in the U.SREAD Storm Without a Port (PDF) — the 77-page survivor testimony compiled by former members of the Jordanian Sufi cult.Visit In Shaykh’s Clothing — a resource for Muslim survivors of spiritual abuse.SUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing — please rate, review, and share the podcast. It helps more than you know.And if you’d like to go a step further, join us on Patreon. You’ll get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our eternal gratitude for helping us keep these conversations going.→ Join us on Patreon.HAVE A CULTY STORY?We’d love to hear from you.→ [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s story isn’t about a reality TV show—though a lot of people think it starts there. In truth, it began long before the cameras, before the matching outfits and the too-perfect smiles.You know the TLC series 19 Kids & Counting—the Duggars and their seemingly perfect world built within the IBLP.But there was another Duggar—of sorts. Not a sibling. The cousin. Amy. Or as America came to know her, “Crazy Cousin Amy.”Except she wasn’t crazy. Isn’t crazy. Not even close. She just wasn’t in their cult—the IBLP. What no one saw, though, was that Amy—an only child—was surviving her own hell at home.Her new memoir, Holy Disruptor, is a story of breaking cycles, setting boundaries, and finding herself in the aftermath. Today, she joins us to talk about her journey—from the quiet terror of her childhood to life in the public eye, through the scandals that shattered her trust, and toward a life built on truth, healing, and peace… even when it means disrupting “family.”And no, she wasn’t in the IBLP, but by the end, she may just find herself wondering… “Wait—was I in a cult?”______________FOLLOW USFor more culty content, follow us on Instagram & TikTok:→ @wasiinacultFOLLOW AMY DUGGAR KINGFolly Amy @amyrachelleking Get her new memoir: Holy Disruptor — available wherever books are sold.SUPPORT THE SHOWIf you believe in what we’re doing — please rate, review, and share the podcast. It helps more than you know.And if you’d like to go a step further, join us on Patreon. You’ll get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our gratitude for helping us keep these conversations going.→ Join us on Patreon.HAVE A CULTY STORY?We’d love to hear from you.→ [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nine years. One strip-mall church. A duffel bag full of cash, a freezing pool full of goldfish, and a pastor who convinced everyone he had a direct line to God.This week, Alisha takes us inside Church of the Harvest — a charismatic California congregation that promised purpose, purity, and a path to the pulpit… but delivered something far darker.Hazing disguised as holiness, unpaid labor disguised as “discipleship,” and extreme control disguised as dating.  Because when your pastor asks you to “volunteer” full-time, pay tuition to do it, and maybe jump into a swamp at 3 a.m. to save metaphorical fish — you might just be in a cult.______________________FOLLOW USFor more cult content, behind-the-scenes chaos, and occasional sermons from our strip-mall pulpit:→ @wasiinacult on Instagram & TikTokSUPPORT THE SHOWThe best way to support our ministry of exposing culty bullshit?Rate, review, and share the pod — it’s free, legal, and no one will ask for your debit card “in faith.”If you do want to tithe a little, join us on Patreon — we promise not to call it “tuition”. You’ll get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our undying gratitude (no altar required).→ Become a member on Patreon.HAVE A CULTY STORY?We want to hear it.→ [email protected] Alisha:  TikTok/IG @Spillingthekoolaid & IG: @EzbakealishaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Last week, we met Paige: a bright-eyed engineer who joined SpaceX believing she was helping to save humanity. In Part 1, we followed her through the seduction — the mission, the 80-hour weeks, the Elon slogans on the walls, the slow loss of self until the job became the identity.This week, the mission meets the myth. Paige helps organize an open letter — a polite but radical act of collective dissent in a cult-like workplace. And almost everyone is too scared to sign it.What begins as a measured plea for change becomes a window into just how deep the fear-mongering and punitive control at SpaceX really run.And soon, Paige learns what every defector from a high-demand system eventually does: that questioning the leader isn’t seen as courage — it’s seen as betrayal.____FOLLOW USFor more cult content, behind-the-scenes chaos:→ @wasiinacult on Instagram & TikTokSUPPORT THE SHOWThe best way to fuel our mission? Rate, review, and share the pod with your people — word of mouth is rocket fuel.And if you want to help keep the mics on (without betting on stock options that never vest)? Join us on Patreon. We don’t drain bank accounts — we just give you ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our undying gratitude.→ Become a member on Patreon.HAVE A CULTY STORY?We want to hear it. → [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

An ex–SpaceX engineer asks our favorite question: when does mission become mindset—and then eventually something more? Paige was convinced she was helping save humanity by working at SpaceX.In Part 1, she traces the seduction: the purpose, the perks, the “Elon Algorithms” plastered on the wall, the complete devotion, the loss of individuality into one group identity, the isolation, the uncompensated labor, the belief that you are better than the rest… it all started to feel less like a workplace and more like… something else.Today, we follow Paige’s journey into the belly of the rocket factory. And next week? The fallout. When speaking up against the culture didn’t just cost her a job… it made her a target.———FOLLOW USFor more cult content, behind-the-scenes chaos:→ → @wasiinacult on Instagram & TikTokSUPPORT THE SHOWThe best way to fuel our mission? Rate, review, and share the pod with your people — word of mouth is rocket fuel.And if you want to help keep the mics on (without betting on stock options that never vest)? Join us on Patreon. We don’t drain bank accounts — we just give you ad-free episodes, bonus content, and our undying gratitude.→ Become a member Patreon.HAVE A CULTY STORY?Whether it’s a startup, a church, or just your weird improv troupe — we want to hear it.→ [email protected] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.