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At the turn of the century, thousands of Americans believed they had met the messiah: Cyrus Teed, an unassuming doctor from upstate New York.   

In this episode, Liam and Russian Sam explore the dead religion of Koreshanity, a short-lived but influential cult that sought to establish a celibate utopia before the end of days. Fascinating, occasionally frightening, but always uniquely American, Cyrus Teed and the Koreshans are like a skeleton key to understanding this country's spiritual history.  

After an electrifying near-death-experience convinced him that he was bound for greatness and would never die, Teed began preaching an elaborate religious doctrine he called "Koreshanity." Blending Biblical scripture and medieval hermeticism with modern ideas like socialism and feminism, he quickly amassed a devoted following across the United States and promised to build a "New Jerusalem," the largest city the world had ever seen. After his utopian commune ran into trouble in Chicago, Teed and his disciples moved to Florida where they sought to prove one of the central tenets of Koreshanity: that we're all living on the inside of a hollow planet.