The Reference Desk

How much would you be willing to pay for a bag of dirt that could rid your body of toxins? How about a personalized vitamin regimen backed by Donald Trump? In this second part of our MLM series, Katie covers the viral sensation of Black Oxygen Organics, an MLM that sold literal dirt to thousands of crunchy moms who were convinced they were healing their families. We also dive into Donald Trump’s relationship with the MLM industry, from his ad placements on The Apprentice to his use of MLM-approved selling tactics in Trump University and beyond. Plus, we have some tips for you on how to turn down MLM sales pitches without ruining friendships and some media and book recommendations for those who want to learn more about this fascinating cult-like phenomenon. 

All books shared in this episode can be purchased at our Bookshop!

Recommended reading:

Fiction:

Broke Georgia Goes Multi-Level by Donna Fernandez
Confidence by Rafael Frumkin

Non-fiction:

Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing  by Emily Lynn Paulson
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
 
Other Media:

LulaRich Docuseries [Amazon Prime]
Betting on Zero Documentary [Roku Channel, Tubi, Plex]
On Becoming a God in Central Florida [Showtime]
Life After MLM Podcast hosted by Roberta Blevins
The Dream Podcast hosted by Jane Marie

Sources:

Episode sources

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In this episode, Katie is bewitched (more like deeply bothered) by multi-level marketing.

MLMs are synonymous with #bossbabes, promises of easy money, and uncomfortable sales pitches that make it hard to say no. But below the pyramid, er, surface, MLMs are far more insidious. In this first episode of a two-part series, we cover the history of multi-level marketing from its connection to direct selling, the genius of Brownie Wise, and the birth of Amway. We also take a look at the structure of MLMs, including how the promises in glossy onboarding pamphlets play out in actual income, what the top tier folks are really selling, and why it’s so easy to get caught up - and then trapped- in the MLM world. Finally, we’ll put it all together with a look at the horror story that is LulaRoe, an MLM leggings company that made billions in profits before they lost the trust of their consultants and customers with moldy clothing, pressure to lose weight, and financial manipulation. 

Staff picks:

Katie: The Free People’s Village by Sim Kern

Hailee: Scamanda [Lionsgate Sound, hosted by Charlie Webster]

Sources:

The Tools Cult: History of the Amway Motivational Tape Scam

All other sources

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In this previously- Patreon-only episode, Katie is bewitched by the psychic megastar Sylvia Browne. 

What's worse than a bogus psychic hotline charging people hundreds of dollars for mediocre advice? How about a TV psychic that predicts the death of children?

In the early 2000s, Browne was a daytime TV darling and was charging up to $700 for a half-hour psychic reading. One of her signature moves was to predict the fate of missing persons, often incorrectly. In 2004, she told the mother of Amanda Berry that her daughter was dead. Sylvia's prediction would have intensely harmful effects on the investigation and the victim's family. 

Sources:

All That's Interesting: Sylvia Browne 

Sylvia Browne Wikipedia page 

Ariel Castro Wikipedia page 

Psychic Who Said Amanda Berry Was Dead Silent After Berry Is Found Alive 

Sylvia Browne: Is She For Real? 

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In this previously-Patreon-only episode, Hailee is bewitched by the List family Murders. 

If you have listened to our episode on The Watcher, you will know that those creepy letters the Broaddus family received were hardly the only terrible thing to happen in the town of Westfield. Here is a brief overview of the List Family murders, which took place in Westfield, NJ, in 1971.

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In this previously-Patreon-only episode, Katie shares the story behind the African Cemetery located at Higgs Beach in Key West. 

In 1860, three slave ships were intercepted en route to Cuba and diverted to Key West. While most of the African refugees onboard were eventually transported to Liberia, 295 died in Key West. Their graves now comprise the only known cemetery in the U.S. of African refugees during the international slave trade. 

Sources:

• Lincoln's Evolving Thoughts On Slavery, And Freedom: NPR
• The American Colonization Society - White House Historical Association
• How a Movement to Send Formerly Enslaved People to Africa Created Liberia 
• The African American Experience at Fort Jefferson, 1847-1876
• Slavery at Fort Taylor & Fort Jefferson
• Africans in America/Part 1/The Slave Deck
• The Slave-Trade: The New York Times
• Floridian Businessman, Politician, Marshal
• Burial Ground Marks Slave Rescue Effort - The Washington Post
• More AFRICAN CEMETERY 1860 | MelFisher.org
• African Cemetery at Higgs Beach

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In this very special season 4 spooktacular,  we are bewitched by haunted houses and the Nazi-fighting New Forest Coven.

It took less than a hundred years for haunted houses to go from a vague spooky story concept to a half-billion-dollar yearly industry inextricably linked to the Halloween season. Katie explains the humble Great Depression-era origins of the haunted house, why they always seem to be Victorian-style mansions, and how the neighborhood haunts evolved into modern massive money-makers.

In one of the most unique World War II stories we've featured, Hailee introduces us to the New Forest Coven, a group of Wiccans who decided to take on Hitler and his Nazi war machine. On August 1, 1940, the coven met near midnight in a forest clearing to create a Cone of Power aimed at Hitler's brain to change his plans of invading Britain. Did it work? We'll let you decide.

All books shared in this episode can be purchased at our Bookshop!

Staff picks:
The Great Halloween Fright Fight on ABC (TV show)
The  Overnight Guest  by Heather Gudenkauf

Recommended reads:
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
The Family Plot by Cherie Priest
Within These Walls by Ania Ahlborn
The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike
The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero
Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones
The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

Sources:

The Great Depression Origins of Halloween Haunted Houses
A Brief History of the Haunted House
Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween
How Victorian Mansions Became the Default Haunted House
Why the Grand Guignol Was So Shocking
Historical Halloween Pranks
McLean County Jaycees Architects of Haunted House Concept
Knock-Knock-Knocking on Hell's Door
The Science of a Good Scare
The Architecture of Fear
An ‘extreme’ haunted house requires a 40-page waiver
The Coven of Witches That Fought the Nazis During World War II
Operation Cone of Power: When British Witches Attacked Adolf Hitler
How Britain's Witches Cast a Spell on Hitler

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This week, Hailee continues to be bewitched by the strange case of Patricia Hearst! Patty has been held captive by a small radical political group called the Symbionese Liberation Army for over two months when she shocks the world with an announcement: she has changed her name to Tania and is joining her "brothers and sisters in the SLA.

This is our last episode of season three! Thank you so much for being a patron of our show! We absolutely will be back, and will be posting some patron exclusive content during our break.

As Michale Scott would say, we will catch you on the flipity flop!

Staff Picks

• The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
• The Last of the Moon Girls by Barbara Davis

Recommendations

Media

• The Radical Story of Patty Hearst - CNN
• Patty Has a Gun: The Life and Crimes of Patty Hearst

Non-Fiction

• American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffery Toobin
• Rescuing Patty Hearst: Growing Up Sane in a World Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
• Every Secret Thing by Patricia Hearst with Alvin Moscow

Fiction

• Trance by Christopher Sorrentino
• The Stand by Stephen King

If you are interested in any of the books we talk about in this episode, please consider purchasing them through our affiliate link with Bookshop.org.

Sources

• Patty Hearst
• Whose Side Was She On? 'American Heiress' Revisits Patty Hearst's Kidnapping
• Radically different
• Social Science and Coercion as a Defense in Kidnapping Cases Patricia Hearst: Kidnap Victim to Criminal?
• The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army
• APRIL 3, 1974
• Patty Hearst Trial (1976)

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Patty Hearst - Early Access!

In this episode, Hailee is bewitched by Patty Hearst. The nineteen year old granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, the powerful newspaper publisher who owned a media conglomerate, was living a mostly normal life, engaged to be married, attending classes at UC Berkley. But everything changed when she was kidnapped by a radical political group who called themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army. In this episode, learn about the life of Patricia Hearst before the kidnapping, the details of that terrible night in February of 1974, and the demands the SLA gave the Hearst’s for Patricia’s release.

Staff Picks

• The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
• The Last of the Moon Girls by Barbara Davis

Sources

• Patty Hearst
• Whose Side Was She On? 'American Heiress' Revisits Patty Hearst's Kidnapping
• Radically different
• Social Science and Coercion as a Defense in Kidnapping Cases Patricia Hearst: Kidnap Victim to Criminal?
• The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army
• APRIL 3, 1974
• Patty Hearst Trial (1976)

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This week, Katie concludes the unbelievable tale of James Strang, the Mormon king of Beaver Island.

After crowning himself as king, Strang lands himself a seat in the Michigan legislature, survives a public trial, and finds new messages from God inscribed on brass plates buried on Beaver Island. But his Strangite followers question his new decree that polygamy is just and faithful and grow weary of his ever-tightening control over all aspects of their life. When Strang begins inflicting cruel punishment on those who break his rules, a group of men begins to wonder if their prophet has gone mad with power and decides on his assassination, possibly with the help of the government.

Recommended reading:

Those Who Prey by Jennifer Moffett

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

Non-fiction:

The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch by Miles Harvey

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer:

Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism by Chris Jennings

Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia by Thomas Healy

Sources:

The King of Confidence by Miles Harvey

James J. Strang Papers Collection

The Coronation of James J. Strang and the Making of Beaver Island Mormonism

Anti-Mormon Violence

The Book of Mormon summary

The Strangite Church

Beaver Island Historical Society

Strang’s Letter of Appointment from Joseph Smith

Some of Strang’s news articles

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Did you know there was once an American monarch who ruled over an island in Lake Michigan? 

This week, Katie is bewitched by the story of James Strang, the Mormon King of Beaver Island. In the first episode of this two-part series, we meet a confidence man who leaves a trail of fraud in his wake before claiming to be the next prophet and church leader following Joseph Smith’s death. While Brigham Young convinced most Mormons in the Midwest to follow him to Utah, James Strang established his own sect of the church on a small, wooded island in the Great Lakes. Strang employs the help of a handful of other very questionable characters, including a fake doctor and an actor whose stench was more memorable than his performances. Still, his plan to establish a Mormon nation reaches its peak when Strang is crowned ‘King’ in a coronation that is equal parts hilarious and horrific. It’s a story rife with antebellum restlessness, deception, unwavering faith, and murder. 

Staff picks:
Jury Duty on Freevee (Amazon Prime)
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones & the Six  TV series (Amazon Prime)

Sources:
The King of Confidence by Miles Harvey 

James J. Strang Papers Collection

The Coronation of James J. Strang and the Making of Beaver Island Mormonism

Anti-Mormon Violence 

The Book of Mormon summary 

The Strangite Church

Beaver Island Historical Society 

Strang’s Letter of Appointment from Joseph Smith

Some of Strang’s news articles

Support the show