Sinister Societies

A former compound in Chile is getting a second life as a German-themed resort. But it was once the home of a notorious religious group led by a Nazi. Hannah and Suruthi dive into the dark history of Colonia Dignidad (“Dignity Colony”), its pedophile leader Paul Schaefer, and his alliance with the brutal dictator Augusto Pinochet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donning a robe and a single gold earring, the so-called “Sinful Messiah” preached doom to hundreds of followers in the 1970s. Hannah and Suruthi analyze the life of Julius Schacknow — how he manipulated women into sleeping with him for the sake of their own salvation, how he created a company worth millions, and the tumultuous end to his bizarre cult. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was supposed to be a return to a purer form of Catholicism. Instead, it led to one of the largest cult-related killings in history. Fueled by messages from the Virgin Mary, Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibwetere preached the apocalypse in Uganda. Then they created one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the winter of 1990, authorities uncovered five bodies that had been buried in a barn. An apocalyptic cult had put them there — convinced that human sacrifice was essential for Jesus Christ's return. Hannah and Suruthi investigate the gruesome murders, dangerous beliefs, and spotted history of the man at the center of it all: Jeffrey Lundgren. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Taylor Helzer was a devout Mormon who was excommunicated from his church in the ‘90s. He toyed with starting an escort group, but ultimately settled on trying to usher in the “perennial reign of Christ.” Hannah and Suruthi discuss everything from his 12 Principles of Magic to the murders he committed during an extortion scheme. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just as America was entering its Satanic Panic era, a group of Devil worshippers led by Robin Gecht abducted and killed over a dozen people — mostly women — for gruesome Satanic rituals. Hannah and Suruthi cover Robin's eerie work history, teenage followers, and the “chapel” he kept in his attic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1990s, an occult group led by Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro had members throughout the world. They embraced New Age philosophy and believed nature's destruction would bring about the apocalypse. Their survival plan included “making a transit” to the star Sirius. But to get there, they'd first have to die. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They were a billion-dollar organization with followers all over the world. At their helm sat Shoko Asahara, who plotted to end the world in nuclear war. Hannah and Suruthi dive into the wealth and biochemical weapons of Aum Shinrikyo — one of the most dangerous cults that ever existed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Founded in the 1950s by a WWII veteran, the Sullivan Institute advanced ideas of free love and non-monogamy. But its leader, Saul Newton, grew tyrannical. Hannah and Suruthi discuss how he went from studying psychotherapy to controlling his followers' lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ervil LeBaron's name doesn't strike the same chord as Charles Manson's. But maybe it should. After he was excommunicated from his church, Ervil led a religious sect where he invoked “Blood Atonement” and taught that breaking God's law should be punishable by death. Hannah and Suruthi discuss the life and twisted crimes of the leader whose name is connected to at least 20 murders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Koresh didn't create the religious group known as the Davidians, but he did come to lead a splinter group in the ‘80s that later became infamous after a controversial and deadly raid. Hannah and Suruthi cover Koresh's sinister “revelations,” pedophilia, and evolution from charismatic leader to militant commander. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the midst of the Great Depression, Arthur Bell wrote a book outlining the good and evil forces at work in the world, pitting the philanthropic “Sponsors” against a cabal of “Hidden Rulers.” It read like science fiction, but became real for thousands of people. Hannah and Suruthi dive into the cosmic cult that eventually caught the attention of the federal government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What started as a church with idealistic intentions to promote racial and economic equality devolved into a cult where 909 people died in a mass casualty event. Hannah and Suruthi discuss Jim Jones and if the people at the Jonestown settlement were devoted followers or actually hostages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sacrifices, suspected murders, and the hidden corpse of a teenage priestess… In the 1920s, May Otis Blackburn and her daughter Ruth led a cult based in Simi Valley, California, that promised eternal life but became infamous for its deathly rituals and disappearances. Hannah and Suruthi dive in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It started as a bookshop, grew into a commune, and evolved into an off-the-grid cult. Aravindan Balakrishnan started the Workers' Institute after joining, then getting kicked out of, the Communist Party of England. His political beliefs attracted a small band of followers, whose lives he quickly began controlling with outlandish claims meant to stoke their fear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Their president? The devil. Their customs? “Horrid impieties.” Hellfire Clubs started in the 18th century as unruly gatherings devoted to hedonism and blasphemy. Most of what we know about them comes from rumors — each more lurid than the last. Hannah and Suruthi dive into the history and legends of this group of secret societies.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Strict rules, “spiritual connections,” and promiscuous dance rituals were the hallmarks of a bible school in Washington that fell deeper into notoriety after a string of deaths and sexual assault accussations. Hannah and Suruthi dive into the life and legacy of Donald Barnett, and the teachings that led one member to murder her child.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two televangelists built a sprawling empire complete with a television network and a Christian theme park. Hannah and Suruthi cover the spectacular rise and fall of Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker, whose fundraising skills made them seriously wealthy... until the scandals brought everything down.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A housewife in the 1950s starts studying the occult, then hosting meditations for a group of like-minded people. It seems harmless enough... until the supernatural battles, bloodletting, and mysterious deaths begin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A polarizing church in Wells, Texas, is known for its aggressive street preaching, the death of a newborn, and members cutting contact with their families. Hannah and Suruthi look closely at the origins and notoriety of the Church of Wells.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

James King was a self-empowerment guru working around Seattle in the 1990s. His ideas about “God-life” and enlightenment attracted a small band of followers who underwent an intense recruiting process. It was later revealed that King used the process to manipulate women into sleeping with him.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The mysterious death of a South Korean business tycoon was the closing chapter of a bizarre saga dotted with the start of a church, maritime disasters, and a mass killing-suicide. Hannah and Suruthi dive into the life of “Little Child” Yoo Byung-eun and his Evangelical Baptist Church.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 2000s, a small Pentecostal sect in Sweden began adopting unconventional beliefs and practices on their way to cult infamy. Hannah and Suruthi discuss Knutby Filadelfia, its leaders — the “Bride of Christ” Åsa Waldau and predatory pastor Helge Fossmo — and how “texts from God” manipulated one vulnerable member into committing murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A preacher and his wife establish the House of David in 1902 after coming to believe they are the fated “seventh messenger” of God. The Purnells relocate to Lake Michigan, get an influx of money from two investors, and prepare for eternal life with their followers… by building an amusement park, baseball team, and the world's largest miniature railroad. But in the 1920s, sexual abuse allegations cause Benjamin Purnell to hide out for years.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One Sunday in 1975, Elbert Eugene Spriggs broke away from his church to form a new one. A few name changes, global settlements, and multimillion dollar businesses later, the group is most infamous for repeated allegations of child abuse.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a restaurateur finds massive success with a natural food cafe in Los Angeles, he changes his name and starts a commune. Suruthi and Hannah take it back to the ‘70s to trace the life of Jim Baker – polygamous practices, occult imagination, doomsday predictions, and all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Since the ‘70s, thousands of people have come together every year for peaceful gatherings in national forests. But these so-called Rainbow Gatherings are plagued by a history of disappearances, deaths, and at least one massive diarrhea incident.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From meditation retreats to murder conspiracies… Hannah and Suruthi limber up to the story of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh — the self-proclaimed “Sex Guru” whose teachings attracted thousands to his now-infamous ashrams in India and Oregon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John Alexander Dowie founded the Christian Catholic Church as well as a commune called Zion in 1896 after performing miracles as a faith healer. But while he lived a lavish lifestyle, his critics called him a fraud. And it wouldn't be long before his followers agreed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1990s, a teenager in Kentucky got into a role-playing game about vampires and the occult. A few years later, he was drinking his friends' blood, adopting an ancient vampiric identity, and planning murder with his vampire clan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's California in the 1960s. LSD is a sacrament, orgies are sacred, and utopia is just one good trip away… at least for the band of hippies led by John Griggs. Hannah and Suruthi drop into the Brotherhood of Eternal Love to explore their vision for the world, and the multi-million dollar business that was going to help them achieve it.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sherry Shriner's conspiracy theories exploded online in the late 2000s with the debut of her YouTube channel, but the seeds of her bizarre beliefs had been planted in her childhood. Hannah and Suruthi cover the cult leader's obsession with the “alien agenda,” Bible Codes, end days prophecies, and the New World Order. And how two tragic deaths spotlighted the dangers she posed to her followers.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Frederick Lenz was a spiritual leader in the ‘80s who believed he was the incarnation of a Hindu god. He called himself Rama, insisted computer programming was a path to enlightenment, and collected millions from his followers. But for all his material wealth, he couldn't save his beloved pup Vayu, and it sent him over the edge.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sometime in the ‘90s a man named Gerald Attrill changed his name to Jessa O'My Heart, claimed he was the next coming of Jesus Christ, and began selling magical elixirs. People drank it up. Hermes Far Eastern Shining became — and still is! — a massively profitable business. But it's also incredibly dubious… to say the least.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a company whose slogan is “Creating freedom through fashion” LuLaRoe is tangled up in quite a few lawsuits. So, how did Mark and Deanne Stidham's legging empire lose its footing? Hannah and Suruthi discuss the boom — and bust — created by the once-beloved MLM.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How does a widely respected drug rehabilitation program turn into a violent cult? Today, Hannah and Suruthi are talking about Synanon — the “revolutionary” group helmed by Chuck Dederich that became a religious society with its own private militia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The proof is in the podiatry? In the 1980s, a man claimed he was the successor to Jesus and Buddha before starting a business that would defraud people out of millions.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They took dangerous amounts of LSD. They stole children from parents outside the sect. They did anything Anne Hamilton-Byrne said because they thought she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. But in reality, she was a yoga teacher who wanted to create a master race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A fraternity of artists, intellectuals and businessmen started in San Francisco in the late 19th century. They bought acres of land so they could commune under the Redwoods, and over the decades, their strange rituals, exorbitant dues, and world-changing impact have shaped a legacy of power and oddity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You probably know how this story ends. A cult concerned with aliens and the apocalypse coordinated the largest mass suicide ever on U.S. soil. But how much do you know about how they got there? Hannah and Suruthi untangle the surprising histories of Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite, and the convictions — around extraterrestrials and ascension, castration and sobriety, and something called “tomb time” — that eventually spelled doom for thirty-eight of their followers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Taking secret oaths. Trashing public spaces. Oxford University's elite dining club has carved its name in infamy, and not even its most powerful members can erase its past. Suruthi and Hannah delve into the Bullingdon Club's most shocking (and shockingly inebriated) antics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's super-secretive, hundreds of years old, and also known as the Brotherhood of Death. Hannah and Suruthi sneak inside Yale University's Skull and Bones society to dissect their strange traditions, famous alumni, and global influence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices