Let's Talk About Sects

Synanon began as an addiction support group that gathered in a grimy Californian flat in the late 1950s. It would grow to become a well-funded utopian society throughout the late ’60s and early ’70s, before declaring itself a religion in 1974. This organisation would attract Hollywood stars like Leonard Nimoy and Jane Fonda to participate in its so-called “Game”, and eventually break up married couples, force men to have vasectomies and women to have abortions, amass assets worth tens of millions of dollars, and become entangled in a web of violence.

Synanon’s leader Charles Dederich is often credited with coining the phrase “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

• American National Biography: Supplement — Oxford University Press, 2002
• Self-Reliance — by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1847 edition, Wikisource full text
• Estimating Emerson: An Anthology of Criticism from Carlyle to Cavell — edited by David LaRocca, A&C Black, 1 January 2013
• Charles Dederich, 83, Synanon Founder, Dies — by Lawrence van Gelder, The New York Times, 4 March 1997
• Paul Morantz's website — with extensive writings by the attorney and investigative journalist about Synanon
• The Man Who Fought the Synanon Cult and Won — by Matt Novak, Gizmodo, 27 August 2014
• Synanon's Sober Utopia: How A Drug Rehab Program Became A Violent Cult — by Matt Novak, Gizmodo, 20 April 2014

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2018 marks the 25-year anniversary of a 51-day siege that ended in tragedy, following a shootout between the U.S. government and members of a sect called the Branch Davidians. The gunfire exchange lasted for well over an hour, killing four U.S. agents and six Branch Davidians, and wounding their leader Vernon Howell, also known as David Koresh. Yet this violence was just the beginning of an ordeal that would culminate in an inferno later to become known as the Waco Massacre.

CW: references to manipulative behaviours, suicide, murder, and physical abuse and sexual assault, including of minors. Please consider whether this is suitable for you and those around you who may be listening too.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

• The Sinful Messiah — The Waco Tribune-Herald's 7-part investigative series, 1993.
• The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation — by Dick J. Reavis, Syracuse University Press, 1998
• Breaking through the myths surrounding the 1993 Branch Davidian raid — by Lee Hancock, Dallas News, 27 February 2018
• Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict — by Stuart A. Wright, University of Chicago Press, 1995
• Four Years After the Flames of Waco, a Film Keeps the Doubts Smoldering — by Sam Howe Verhovek, The New York Times, 19 August 1997
• Who was David Koresh: Ex-followers describe life inside apocalyptic religious sect involved in 1993 Waco siege — by Muriel Pearson, Spencer Wilking & Lauren Effron, ABC News, 2 January 2018

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Over recent days, several of the 13 incarcerated Aum Shinrikyo members sentenced to death have been moved to new facilities, prompting speculation that their execution is imminent.

In this bonus episode, a follow-up to our third episode about the infamous Japanese sect, Let's Talk About Sects spoke with a woman who has researched the group for over 16 years, and has also been in direct contact with ex-members. Sarah Hightower (who went by the name Sarah Skibtower) was kind enough to share her expertise and opinions with us ahead of this big development in the “Aum Affair”, which she considers to be one of the biggest tragedies the world has ever seen.

Includes a correction from episode 3 about Aum Shinrikyo.

UPDATE: The death penalty was carried out in Japan in July of 2018. Aum sympathiser Kazuhiro Kusakabe left 8 injured on 1 January 2019 when he drove into a crowd of people in the Harajuku district of Tokyo.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

• Aum Shinrikyo Anime OP (English Subbed) — Aum Shinrikyo anime with the real audio (correction from original episode), featuring the voice of Shoko Asahara
• Japan prepares to execute up to 13 members of Aum Shinrikyo cult — by Daniel Hurst, The Guardian, 20 March 2018

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William Kamm has a 10pm curfew, and is not allowed to spend time with girls under the age of 17. He is prevented from entering the Shoalhaven district of New South Wales, and his movements and communications are monitored. These are conditions of his release after serving 9 years in jail for crimes he committed against two teenage girls – yet his followers still believe that he is the next true Pope, and that the Virgin Mary speaks to him on the 13th day of every month.

Special Guest: Claire Ashman.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

• Claire Ashman's website — where her book 'Lessons from a Cult Survivor' is available for pre-order
• Lessons From A Cult Survivor — by Claire Ashman, 2018 – book pre-sale link
• A WOLF Among the SHEEP: How God's Prophet the Little Pebble Became a Womanising, Millionaire Cult Leader — by Graeme Webber, KeyStone Press, 2008
• The Little Pebble: The Last Pope, A Man of Contradiction, Petrus Romanus, Sinner or Saint? — by William Costellia, self-published, 1999 (volume 1)
• Official website of The Little Pebble
• William 'Little Pebble' Kamm's supervision to continue — AAP, The Illawarra Mercury, 8 January 2016
• South Coast cult leader William 'Little Pebble' Kamm fails to have supervision order lifted — by Angela Thompson, Illawarra Mercury, 14 August 2017
• Cult leader and convicted sex offender William Kamm to be freed within days — AAP, The Age, 11 November 2014

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The Koreshans believed that the earth was hollow, and that humans lived on the concave inside surface of it. They theorised that the moon and stars, and indeed the rest of the universe, was contained within. On the outside? A void. When they formed the utopian community in Estero, Florida that they called the Koreshan Unity Settlement, a common greeting of one member to another was, “We live inside.”

Special Guest: Lyn Millner.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

Links:

• The cellular cosmogony, or, The earth, a concave sphere, Part 1 — by Koresh and Ulysses G. Morrow, The Guiding Star Publishing House, 1898
• The Immortal Manhood: The Laws and Processes of Its Attainment in the Flesh — by Koresh, The Guiding Star Publishing House, 1902
• The Allure of Immortality: An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet — by Lyn Millner, University Press of Florida, 2015
• Author turns over every rock to reveal Estero’s Koreshans — by Dayna Harpster, Spotlight Estero News Magazine, 1 November 2015
• Cyrus Teed, Estero's Koreshans get their due in new book — by Amy Bennett Williams, News-Press, 19 October 2015
• The Teed House at Koreshan State Historic Site — Video uploaded by YouTube user Florida Trailblazer, 15 November 2013
• Koreshan State Historic Site History — page on the Friends of Koreshan State Park website
• Koreshan State Historic Site plans for future — by Maryann Batlle, Naples Daily News, 31 July 2016
• Sr. Marco Pagano's YouTube Channel — Includes a variety of videos about the Earth as a concave sphere, with over 500K views to date

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Carli McConkey was a 21-year-old university graduate when she decided to attend the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney, and came across the stand for Life Integration Programmes. The course they offered sounded like exactly what she needed to get her life on track and realise her potential. Little did she know that this encounter was the start of a 13-year ordeal that would see her estranged from her family, under continued financial stress, a victim and perpetrator of physical assault, working untold hours of unpaid labour, and eventually, medically sterilised.

Special Guest: Carli McConkey.

The opinions expressed in this podcast are not necessarily those of the makers of Let's Talk About Sects.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

• The Cult Effect — by Carli McConkey
• Carli McConkey's website
• Cult Leaders and Ballet Dancers: The Strange Rock School Lawsuit — by Victor Fiorillo, Philadelphia Magazine, 30 June 2014
• Alleged cult leader to settle defamation claims out of court — by Chris Calcino, Byron Shire News, 11 October 2014
• Ex-alleged cult members 'sleep well' with court case over — APN Newsdesk, The Northern Star, 11 October 2014
• LAKAEV v. THE ROCK SCHOOL FOR DANCE EDUCATION et al — PacerMonitor record of libel, assault, slander case – plaintiff's claims dismissed with prejudice 24 November 2014
• 9354/11 LAKAEV -V- THE AGE COMPANY LIMITED & others — Supreme Court of Queensland case file summary

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Ken Dyers passed away 10 years ago this year, but the organisation that he spearheaded with his partner Jan Hamilton lives on. In spite of a few parallels, this Australian organisation, called Kenja, has been listed as a suppressive group by the Church of Scientology.

Jan claims that Kenja has faced decades of persecution by those who want to bring them down, including a member of parliament, and charges levied at the organisation include brainwashing, exacerbation of psychological illnesses with dire consequences, alienation from family and friends, and sexual abuse.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

• Kenja Concert website — Includes Jan Hamilton early biography timeline
• Kenja Communication website
• Kenja Lecture website
• Guilty Until Proven Innocent — A Kenja Communication "theatre documentary" production: "The incredible story of the 15 year-long attack on the reputation of Ken Dyers – in an attempt to destroy Kenja Communication, the organisation he co-founded – which ultimately led to his death at age 85."
• Ken Dyers: Tributes and accusations — Sydney Morning Herald, 4 August 2007
• Kenja Facebook page — Image of the 10th annual full page ad Kenja placed in Fairfax Media publications for the anniversary of Ken Dyers' death
• Ken Dyers YouTube channel
• Beyond Our Ken — Documentary directed by Luke Walker and Melissa Maclean, Scribble Films 2007

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Twenty years ago this year, Japan was to become a nuclear wasteland, according to the leader of a sect who claimed that the only survivors would be his followers and 10% of the major cities. It was in the lead up to this year of the predicted apocalypse, 1997, that he ordered shocking acts that would eventually result in his group being labelled a terrorist organisation, and himself and 12 other sect members being sentenced to death.

UPDATE 2: The death penalty was carried out in Japan in July of 2018.

UPDATE: An Aum Shinrikyo update episode was released on 21 March 2018. It includes a small correction from this episode.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

• Profile: Shoko Asahara — BBC News, 27 February 2004
• A Guru's Journey – A special report. The Seer Among the Blind: Japanese Sect Leader's Rise — by Nicholas D. Kristof with Sheryl WuDunn, The New York Times, 26 March 1995
• Daughters of doomsday cult leader fight to save their 'loving' father — by Justin McCurry, The Guardian, 19 April 2006
• How a Religious Sect Rooted in Yoga Became a Terrorist Group — by Jennifer Latson, TIME, 20 March 2015
• Asahara’s No. 3 daughter writes on life during, after cult — by Keiji Hirano, Japan Times, 26 March 2015
• Former Aum cultist publishes memoir on gas attacks, Asahara — by Eiji Shimura, The Asahi Shimbun, 10 January 2017
• Sarin gas attack survivor recalls near miss on Tokyo subway — by Julian Ryall, South China Post, 19 March 2015

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Ugandan cult The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was one of the deadliest in world history, with the number of casualties similar to the infamous Jonestown massacre. The mastermind behind it? A woman who said she was receiving messages directly from the Virgin Mary.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

• Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs on the Petition by the Orphans of the Victims of the Kanungu Church Infernos — Parliament of the Republic of Uganda, July 2014
• The Kanungu Massacre: The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God Indicted — The Uganda Human Rights Commission Periodical Report, 2002
• Uganda Cult’s Mystique Finally Turned Deadly — by Ian Fisher, New York Times, 2 April 2000
• The preacher and the prostitute — BBC News, 29 March 2000
• Mary’s Flames: The Long Road to Horror in Kanungu — The East African, 8 February 2001
• The power behind the cult — The Telegraph (UK), 2 April 2000
• Violence and New Religious Movements — edited by James R. Lewis, Oxford University Press 2011
• A party, prayers, then mass suicide — by Anne Borzello, The Guardian, 20 March 2000

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There is a 95-year-old woman in a Melbourne nursing home who dotes on a plastic baby doll. You wouldn’t guess it to look at her, but this is a woman who amassed a multi-million dollar fortune, destroyed families, and affected the lives of numerous people giving them ongoing psychological issues, some of which ended in suicide.

Former police detective Lex de Man said of this women to 60 Minutes, “Of all the crimes that I investigated, she is the most evil person that I’ve ever met.”

Special guest: Ben Shenton.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

• The Diaries of Raynor Johnson Part 1 and Part 2
• How to become a successful cult leader: offer love, and then withdraw it — by Mary Wakefield, The Spectator, December 2016
• Creating the family tree — Herald Sun, 16 August 2000
• Bizarrism – Strange Lives, Cults, Celebrated Lunacy — by Chris Mikul, 2002
• Growing up with The Family: inside Anne Hamilton-Byrne’s sinister cult — by Abigail Haworth, The Guardian, 20 November 2016
• ‘Evil, Wicked’: What it was like to grow up in one of Australia’s most notorious cults — by Ange McCormack, Triple J, 3 August 2016
• The Family’s ‘living god’ fades to grey, estate remains — by Chris Johnston, The Age, 17 May 2014

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