Sinister Societies

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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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