Rama and American Buddhism
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 m...
25 Jan 202237min
Hermes Far Eastern Shining
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 ...
18 Jan 202236min
LuLaRoe
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 Suruth...
11 Jan 202235min
Synanon
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...
4 Jan 202246min
Hogen Fukunaga & The Foot Reading Cult
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. Learn more about your ad choic...
28 Dec 202134min
Yoga Cult: Anne Hamilton Byrne & The Family
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...
21 Dec 202145min
Bohemian Grove
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, thei...
14 Dec 202133min
UFO Cult: Heaven’s Gate
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...
7 Dec 202148min
