R. Kelly Is Holding Women Against Their Will In An Abusive “Cult,” Parents Told Police
“You have to ask for food. You have to ask to go use the bathroom. … [Kelly] is a master at mind control. … He is a puppet master.”
Cults
Love Has Lost
Quasi-religious group Love Has Won claimed to offer wellness advice and self-care products, but what was actually being dished out by their late leader Amy Carlson Stroud—self-professed “Mother God”—was much darker.
The Oracle’s Daughter
Sarah Green escaped her mother’s cult 22 years ago. She still thinks about those she left behind.
The Jonestown We Don’t Know
In the wings of this great drama were the unseen. Hidden in the rainforest where the violence was staged, in the eerie aftermath of the tragedy, were three people whose stories cue political contexts in both the US and Guyana crucial to understanding how and why Jonestown may have happened.
My Life Cleanse: One Month Inside L.A.'s Cult of Betterness
A month-long tour inside L.A.’s cultish world of wellness.
Heaven Was a Place in Harlem
On the radical tableside evangelism of Father Divine.
The Dark Side of the Orgasmic Meditation Company
What happened at OneTaste?
The FBI Agent Who Can't Stop Thinking About Waco
Twenty-five years after 82 Branch Davidians and 4 federal officers were killed, the lead negotiator at the scene is still arguing about what happened.
In the Maestro’s Thrall
Inside the disturbing “cult” of young acolytes that catapulted conductor James Levine’s career.
Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive
A jailhouse interview.
Collections Business Sex Travel
The Longform Guide to Rich Kids
Paris Hilton, Princeton phonies, and the prince who blew through billions—a collection of articles on young money.
Bringing Down America's Happiest Christian Cult
How a former member of Jesus People USA exposed its history of sexual abuse.
The Divine Inspiration of Jim Jones
The black messianic leader, known as Father Divine, that Jim Jones admired.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Other Gods"
A tornado causes physical and psychological turmoil in a religious community.
"The next morning, I ran through the streets in my pajamas, screaming for somebody, anybody. I finally found Daddy standing at the edge of the detention pond behind the church. It was full of all sorts of stuff: cars, tree trunks, gas grills, hot water heaters, and two bodies. The bodies were naked, and I didn’t recognize them at first. But then I saw their faces. It was Brother Mack and the second Hillyer girl. They were facing each other, impaled by a metal post from the chain link fence, pushed together like two pieces of chicken on a kebab."
For the Mouth Speaks
After a member of the Church of Wells abruptly left the group (which may or may not be a cult), many held out hope. A week later she went back, and the church’s elders are eager to explain why.
Previously: Sinners in the Hands
The Man Who Saves You from Yourself
Going undercover with David Sullivan, cult infiltrator.
Who's Behind Newsweek?
The secretive group that owns the venerable magazine.
Sacred and Profane
On the FBI's failed negotiations with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco.
Previously: Malcolm Gladwell on the Longform Podcast.
YOU ARE BUT A PILGRIM TRAVELING TO A STRANGE AND HONEST LAND
Strangers unleash a mysterious mantra upon a weary traveler.
"From his glove box he pulled a laminated flyer no bigger than a bookmark. I took it with hesitation and studied the print. The first sentence said DID YOU KNOW HOPE AND DESPAIR ARE SISTER AND BROTHER AND YOU THEIR DISTANT COUSIN? There was a picture at the top of two people tugging a rope. There was a woman and a man and they looked like hieroglyphic people who had been locked in eternal struggle."
Devotions
Memories of the magical, enlightened daughter of a religious leader.
"It was in this moment that we began to wonder when her father might sense these happenings and descend upon us; when we turned to look, he had only just begun his approach, had only just caught sight of his daughter. He betrayed no surprise but drew himself up, preparing to mete judgment, and quickened his step as though eager to commence the necessary violence—"
Shaved Heads, Snipped Tubes, Imperial Marines, and Dope Fiends
The rise and fall of Synanon, an addiction-recovery cult in California, and its charismatic leader, a one-time homeless wino named Chuck Dederich who taught his followers to berate each other for therapy.
A New Prophet Rises from the Ashes of Waco
The Branch Davidians today, 20 years after the deadly standoff.
Dropping in on the Demented Utopia of the Gathering of the Juggalos
A reporter recounts her weekend as an undercover Juggalette.
