For his 2017 PhD, John Hunter put forward a hypothesis that offers insights into both the “transformational” experiences associated with... more

A little update from Sarah about what to expect with Let's Talk About Sects now that we're winding up the... more

In the last episode of season 5, we looked into a Boulder, Colorado community then known as Divine Madness and... more

Journalist Emma Lehman is the creator of the independent podcast Gooned, which dives into the Troubled Teen Industry or TTI –... more

Harry Palmer created Avatar after his presidency of the Church of Scientology's Elmira Mission ended in the mid-1980s, as a... more

Thomas Parsons joined the Twelve Tribes community in Hiddenite, North Carolina in April 2019, and left in November 2021. With... more

This episode was recorded live at Woodford Folk Festival on 1 January 2024. Many people in the audience would have... more

Matson Browning is a law enforcement officer who, along with his wife Tawni, spent years undercover infiltrating various hate groups... more

Yaakov Aharon and Shula Kirovsky’s lives in Sydney’s famous beach suburb of Bondi were lived largely separate from mainstream society,... more

Rachel Bernstein is an LA-based therapist who has specialized in cult intervention and re-acclimation for over 30 years. She serves on... more