Cults part 4

We’re back and we’re preparing for the end. Prophecy, in the form of our recording schedule, warned us that this day would come. Admittedly, our calculations did initially place the release date for this episode as a Saturday afternoon in late 1844. Prophecies are tricky things and arithmetic even more so. Still, this hasn’t dented our faith, and we are now ready to ascend. Or wrap up this series of episodes. One of the two. We’d better sort out this confusion before we do anything too irreversible… Main Topic: Cults part 4 This is the conclusion of our discussion of real-world cults and how they might inspire Call of Cthulhu games. We wrap things up by looking at why people stay in cults, how they might break away, and what could happen to those who do. Once again, the lockdown means we recorded this episode remotely. We hope that we’re getting the hang of making this sound all right. It’s far from the biggest problem current circumstances have presented, but it’s still a challenge. Links Things we mention in this episode include: * Dawn Smith’s TED Talk about her experience in an evangelical cult * Peoples Temple * Heaven’s Gate * Buddhafield * NXIVM * Trail of Cthulhu * “The Dunwich Horror” * The anti-vaccination movement * Qanon * Sunk cost * Why facts don’t change people’s minds * Carlos Castaneda * Amy Wallace * Shared psychosis * William Miller * Seventh-day Adventist Church * The Great Disappointment * Jonestown recording * Harold Camping * Jehovah’s Witnesses and the end of the world *