Heard
This week I finally caught up on one of my favorite podcasts, Cults by Parcast. I listened to their episodes on Daniel Perez the self-proclaimed “Angel of Death.” Whenever anyone asks about my entrance into cult research I always direct them to this podcast. I have been a fan of Greg Polcyn and Vanessa Richardson (the hosts) for years. Greg and Vanessa do such a great job of summarizing the complex stories they’re reporting on. *This is not sponsored, I just really like the show.
Made
Last week I mentioned that I would be covering the Sherry Shriner UFO cult on TikTok. I created a three-part series on Shriner and her “Orgone Warriors.” In the series, I discuss her theories and connection to Steven Mineo’s death. The final episode in my series is an attempt to understand why some of her followers are so attracted to her conspiratorial approach to politics and religion.
Watch my series here:
Episode 4 (The Followers)
Read
This week I read this fantastic article on Father Divine. I am in the process of preparing a series on Divine and this article was a great entry point into the life of the possible cult leader. I won’t spoil the article for you, but Vince Dixon paints a revealing portrait of a man who claimed to be God and brought heaven to Harlem. After you finish reading, let me know what you thought of the piece.
P.S.
On Tuesday, paid subscribers got full access to “Addressing The Lizard In The Room: Christian Reptilian Conspiracy Theorists.” In that post, I tried to answer these questions:
Where did reptilian-political conspiracy theories come from?
How did Far Right Christians become God’s army in the fight against lizard people?
When I started working on the post, I had no idea Alex Jones would be in court for claiming that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax. I made a video about how Jones’ claims that the judge, opposing attorneys, and the parents were “not quite human” was a dog whistle to his audience. Not unlike Sherry Shriner, Alex Jones has been telling his paranoid followers that many of the people they think are “real” aren’t. While I plan to shift away from conspiracy content with next Tuesday’s post, I hope you will keep everything we’ve learned about the dangers of conspiracy cults in mind.
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