“The Fall River Cult” Pt. 2 - Robin Murphy

In 1980s London, Colin Batley started a church based on the occult teachings of Aleister Crowley. Batley soon moved his congregation into a quiet cul-de-sac 200 miles away — where, behind the façade o...

30 Nov 202141min

We end our three-part special in Japan, where a yoga teacher named Shoko Asahara preached a violent, apocalyptic dogma. In 1995 his cult, Aum Shinrikyo, used chemical weapons in targeted attacks in To...

23 Nov 202146min

Vanessa is joined by Lanie Hobbs from Crimes of Passion, a Spotify Original from Parcast, as they investigate the life of Michael Roach — Princeton grad, certified Geshe, and so-called king of Diamond...

23 Nov 202145min

How do quests for enlightenment get so sinister? Today, we’re looking at three stories of yoga gurus and guides who were loved — then loathed — for their practices. We start in Romania, charting the r...

23 Nov 202137min

When a psychic who’s been experimenting with ketamine goes missing in 1979, her brother suspects she’s been kidnapped by a cult. Today’s episode on Marcia Moore is from Unsolved Murders, a true crime ...

16 Nov 202140min

Millions of followers. A powerful political ally. And his very own Garden of Eden. Televangelist Apollo Quiboloy spent decades turning his small congregation into a multinational religious empire. Alo...

9 Nov 202140min

After predicting a nuclear war, Hawkins offered salvation to his increasingly isolated followers. But cracks began to appear in his kingdom. By 2008, officials charged him for bigamy and child labor v...

2 Nov 202138min

In the 1980s, a prophecy about two brothers and an ad in The National Enquirer drew hundreds of people into the House of Yahweh — a church in Abilene, Texas helmed by a deeply unsavory and swindling m...

26 Okt 202145min