This episode is sponsored by Better Help.

The press has been perhaps the most crucial third party for world happenings since, well, whenever the press was invented. While there is of course no shortage of fake news out there, the main goal of the press is to keep society honest, investigating everything from corrupt governments to those cute little cliques we like to call cults. 

Robert Gavin has been a news reporter for 28 years, having also worked for two years as an editor. Originally from Staten Island, Gavin began his career by covering the New York City police and fire departments, the NYS Capitol, State and Federal Courts, various murder trials, and cases involving terrorism, the mafia, street gangs, and political corruption. And eventually, Robert’s role in the NXIVM trials and their coverage would play a crucial part in bringing down Keith Raniere, which we’re sure you saw on HBO’s “The Vow.” On today’s episode, we talk to Gavin about his time covering the cult, as well as the aftermath. 

Please note, this series includes details of sexual abuse. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you, or someone who know, is a survivor of sexual assault, abuse, grooming, child abuse, or human trafficking, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers support at 800.656.HOPE (4673).

Learn more about Robert here

Follow Robert on Twitter

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Join ‘A Little Bit Culty’ on Patreon

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help.

There’s certainly no shortage of groups that are A Little Bit Culty. That said, there are some major differences between cults and organized religions, and it’s worth remembering that not ALL religion is bad, per se. 

Our very own producer and editor, Will Retherford of Citizens of Sound, grew up in the Evangelical Church, specifically the Word of Faith movement, and even ventured off to countless missionary campaigns across the globe to spread the good word. He became a worship leader, was on his way to become a priest, and was committed to all things Jesus Christ until he realized that, perhaps, his entire life was built around something he wasn’t sure he actually believed in. 

In today’s episode, Will discusses his time in the church, navigating through toxic groups, leaders and doctrine, his deconstruction, and how he feels about religion today. 

Follow Will Retherford on Instagram and Citizens of Sound.

Please note, this series includes details of sexual abuse. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you, or someone who know, is a survivor of sexual assault, abuse, grooming, child abuse, or human trafficking, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers support at 800.656.HOPE (4673).

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Join ‘A Little Bit Culty’ on Patreon

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help. This is Part 2 of our interview with Vanessa Grigoriadis, an award-winning longform journalist and podcaster who has published profiles on the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Lady Gaga, and Arianna Huffington. So how did she get tied up in NXIVM’s bullshit while also reporting on the cult? Well, the short answer is: anyone and everyone is susceptible to coercive control and persuasion, even members of the press. The long answer? Well, you’ll just have to listen to find out. 

You can listen to Vanessa’s podcast Infamous here. 

Please note, this series includes details of sexual abuse. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you, or someone who know, is a survivor of sexual assault, abuse, grooming, child abuse, or human trafficking, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers support at 800.656.HOPE (4673).

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Join ‘A Little Bit Culty’ on Patreon

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help. Vanessa Grigoriadis is an award-winning longform journalist and podcaster, having published profiles on the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Lady Gaga, and Arianna Huffington. So how did she get tied up in NXIVM’s bullshit while also reporting on the cult? Well, the short answer is: anyone and everyone is susceptible to coercive control and persuasion, even members of the press. The long answer? Well, you’ll just have to listen to find out. 

Make sure to catch the end of our conversation next week, when we drop part 2!

You can listen to Vanessa’s podcast Infamous here. 

Please note, this series includes details of sexual abuse. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you, or someone who know, is a survivor of sexual assault, abuse, grooming, child abuse, or human trafficking, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers support at 800.656.HOPE (4673).

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Join ‘A Little Bit Culty’ on Patreon

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help. If you haven’t heard of the Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult, it is perhaps time to get out from under that rock you’re living under. Also, you should listen to our last episode with Daniel Levin, for which this episode is part two! But essentially, after being released from prison, Ray moved into his daughter’s student residence just 30 minutes north of Manhattan and began terrorizing her friends through physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. This lasted a shocking ten years before Ray was finally arrested and held accountable for his wrongdoings. 

Our guest today is Zachary Heinzerling, the director behind the Hulu docuseries “Stolen Youth,” which depicts the cult’s bizarre development with real footage (which is, by the way, not for the faint of heart). 

Watch STOLEN YOUTH on Hulu. 

Please note, this series includes details of sexual abuse. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you, or someone who know, is a survivor of sexual assault, abuse, grooming, child abuse, or human trafficking, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers support at 800.656.HOPE (4673).

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Join ‘A Little Bit Culty’ on Patreon

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help. If you haven’t heard of the Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult, it is perhaps time to get out from under that rock you’re living under. After being released from prison, Ray moved into his daughter’s student residence just 30 minutes north of Manhattan and began terrorizing her friends through physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. This lasted a shocking ten years before Ray was finally arrested and held accountable for his wrongdoings. 

Our guest today, Daniel Levin, was one of Ray’s victims, and has survived to tell the tale on Hulu’s recent “Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence” docuseries. Today, we’re breaking down exactly what happened, as well as how Levin is healing. Don’t forget to tune in next week, when we’ll be speaking with the director of “Stolen Youth,” Zachary Heinzerling. 

You can learn more about Daniel Levin and his writing, which includes his memoir about Larry Ray, Slonim Woods 9, here. 

Please note, this series includes details of sexual abuse. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you, or someone who know, is a survivor of sexual assault, abuse, grooming, child abuse, or human trafficking, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers support at 800.656.HOPE (4673).

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Join ‘A Little Bit Culty’ on Patreon

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help. Around the same time as Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous arrest, another billionaire was going to court for similar appalling crimes. Naasón Joaquín García, the ongoing leader of the Light of the World non-traditional La Luz Del Mundo (LLDM) church is currently serving a maximum of 16 years and 8 months in prison for the sexual abuse of minors. The self-proclaimed “Apostle of God” was eventually denied bail after setting that bail at $50 million, which according to the California Attorney General, was the highest ever imposed on an individual by the Los Angeles County. The denial came about because prosecutors feared his extremely loyal followers might actually raise the cash. 

We spoke to Sochil Martin who was born into the LLDM and broke away from it after a lifetime of abuse. The outspoken survivor and whistleblower shares her experience–from being raised in church’s clutches and ultimately fleeing, to helping federal agents bring García to justice, and how she’s healing now.

Please note, this series includes details of sexual abuse. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you, or someone who know, is a survivor of sexual assault, abuse, grooming, child abuse, or human trafficking, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers support at 800.656.HOPE (4673).

You can follow Sochil below: 

Instagram

Twitter

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help. It was the early ‘70s and life was weird. War was still going on in Vietnam, and those back in the US of A were struggling with political, societal, and economic changes. One day, Diane Benscoter passed a van where some strangers were giving out bananas. She grabbed a snack and avoided making conversation with the van people. Shortly after, she was on a five-day trek from Omaha to Des Moines with those banana enthusiasts, who were in fact Sun Myung Moon enthusiasts. Next thing you know, Diane’s cut off all of her hair, done some fasting, and has dedicated five years to selling candy and flowers while devoted to the second coming of Christ. 

You can read all about this in her memoir, linked out below. But on today's episode, we’re focusing on Diane’s organization, Antidote, which helps people escape from cults, or to get their loved ones out of cults and extremist mentalities such as those shared by QAnon. Having experienced cult life herself, Diane knows that convincing someone that everything they hold true in their life is a vicious lie can be next to impossible. That’s why she became a master at it. 

Check out Antidote.ngo

Purchase Shoes of a Servant: My Unconditional Devotion to a Lie

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help.

Do you have a million questions about season 2 of HBO’s The Vow? Do you want to be part of a super exclusive club full of people that are rock and roll as fuck? Do you get a buzz out of supporting culty content creators and storytellers? 

Then you should totally join our Patreon, where we unleash a whole slew of bonus content for our nearest and dearest listeners. But while we’ve traditionally reserved our coverage of The Vow for said exclusive cult—sorry, I mean club—we’re making an exception today and sharing some of it with all of our listeners. If you like what you hear, just know there’s plenty more of it available for an extremely agreeable price. If you’re not interested, don’t worry, we still love you! Just less. (Kidding) 

On today’s episode, we’re recapping our feelings about the entire second season with special guest Ayla Fitzpatrick, who previously worked in Albany, New York at News10ABC covering NXIVM, focusing on Keith Raniere’s arrest and the ensuing trial. Even though she’s no longer a journalist, she loves to keep up to date with all things cultiverse—just like you guys!

So what did we think about being featured less heavily in this season? Did NXIVM actually cure Tourette’s syndrome (hint: no!), and was the whole documentation and conversation around this triggering or retraumatizing for us? Well, you’ll just have to tune in to find out. 

Did we mention you should follow us on Patreon? Okay, that is all. 

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help. Hold onto your seatbelt, cuz we’re blasting back to the ‘70s for this one. Here’s the scene: we’re in Brooklyn, New York, at a time when all five boroughs were spiraling into ungovernable anarchy, with crime, violence, and widespread racism leaving the deteriorating metropolis totally ungovernable. If you were Black, you were particularly ostracized and lived in constant danger as a second class citizen (if only this weren’t still true today). And so it’s no real surprise that when people like Jamiyla Chisholm’s father heard about a religious community that would, as Jamiyla put it, protect them from the hellish world and teach them how “they should live as Black people,” they were drawn like moths to a flame. 

While we’ve seen time and time again that cults prey on the vulnerable, this often takes advantage of an individual’s current mental, financial, or even physical state. In this particular case, one leader took advantage of nation-wide racial tensions in order to seduce hundreds of people into his community, which merged practices from Islam, Judaism, and various political ideologies. 

Who was this leader? Well, we don’t want to give it all away…but here’s a hint: the supreme douchebag is serving 135 years in prison for what’s been reported as the largest prosecution of child molestation ever directed at an individual in the history of the USA. 

To find out who we’re talking about, tune in to hear author, journalist, storyteller and educator Jamiyla Chisholm discuss her own experience as a member of this cult, as detailed in her memoir, The Community. 

Jamiyla’s Website

Jamiyla’s Instagram

Jamiyla’s Twitter

Buy The Community: A Memoir

Also…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Other Links:

Check out our lovely sponsors

Join ‘A Little Bit Culty’ on Patreon

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Cult awareness and recovery resources

CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Senior Producer: Jess Tardy

Writer: Mathias Rosenzweig

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.