Witches, Ghosts, Mysteries, and Cults
Review of July 2024 Episodes
We are right in the middle of summer, and there is nothing better that lying on a beach listening to podcasts. This month we put out some great episodes, and the first had to do with the Cincinnati Witch Wars. When people think of witch trials; they often think about the famous trials in Salem, but these trials happened in many different areas. Historically, early modern Europe lived in a climate of fear after multiple wars, and constant deaths from disease and famine. Without any scientific understanding of why this happened; this created the perfect conditions for people to believe that they were cursed. When these people started immigrating from Europe to the new world, they took their superstitious belief systems with them. This resulted in witch trials moving to new locations around the world.
It was very easy to blame hardship against invisible demons and devils. In many cases, it was also very profitable to make allegations of witch craft. As a result of this; thousands of people were killed as scapegoats. In current times, the descendants of the accused have been working with historians and researchers to try to get these convictions over turned. But sadly; many countries do not want to make this change, due to they don’t want to free a person based on today’s ideology. Personally, I hope that this changes. These people were innocent, and I think that keeping these convictions in place only adds to the pain that these people and their descendants endure.
I love New Orleans. It is not only a beautiful and fun place to visit, but it also embraces its dark history as part of their local culture. Its tourism industry is based on the tales of the ghosts and evil creatures of its past. In the tales I told in our episode released on July 10, 2024; I specifically chose just a few of the creepy stories I heard while taking a ghost tour there. My favourite was the tale of the Sultan’s house. The reason is that I never expected to hear about a Sultan who sent his kill team to murder his brother who stole not just his money, but his title and harem too. Walking past this place, you would have no idea about this buildings unusual past.
On July 17, 2024; we released our episode “Tales that will Surprise True Crime Buffs”. I love doing these types of episodes, because it allows us to tell many of the stories that listeners likely never heard before. It also shows us that history isn’t some sort of neat and clean thing that we store in a box in our memories. It can be dirty, cruel, and dark. Our first case in that episode embodies exactly that. A man born of privilege who was used to getting his own way ends up on the run from the law. Did he kill his children’s nanny while trying to murder his ex-wife, or did the ex-wife set him up like he claimed?
Our next tales was about Dorothy Scott, and Cynthia Hack. Dorothy was found dead after being taken from a hospital parking lot, and Cynthia was found deceased in a ditch near her home. What these two women have in common was that they were being stalked. In the case of Dorothy; her stalker and killer remain unknown. But Cynthia’s case is different. Many believe that she was stalking herself. But the one thing that they have in common is that these two women lived hellish lives, and it ended with their deaths.
On July 24, 2024; we released our next episode: Diseases That Don’t Seem Real. For those of us who worked on front line healthcare; we think we have seen everything. Personally; I have seen so many weird things that I thought that I couldn’t ever be surprised anymore, and then I was. But concerning the rare conditions we spoke about, I never saw any of them except my own. The only reason mine was even discovered was due to a fluke. The condition I have that I spoke about doesn’t affect my everyday life, like the ones we spoke about in our episode. I can only imagine what would happen and how I would feel if I got one of the syndromes that we discussed. I personally think that I would lose faith in the healthcare system for not figuring out what was wrong and how to treat it, but that is not a fair assessment. Medical professionals can only do with what they know and have.
I was diagnosed with a chronic disease (other than the issue we spoke about in our episode) in 2016, and since then - every specialist I see tries to re-diagnose it. It made me feel like no one believed me, and no one wanted to help me. But finally, one doctor put an end to all of this. This specialist told me why the other specialists kept using me as a chemistry lab and a pin cushion. It is because my disease does not present how it should. He told me that in five to ten years that I will be one of the first to have a newly created diagnosis, but until that happens they gave me a sort of over all diagnosis to start attempting treatment. I felt heard for the first time in years. It gave me faith in the medical system again, and gave me hope. I can only imagine those suffering from the rare diseases and disorders we spoke of feel the same way that I did. To all of those who have rare issues: my hearts are with you all.
Our last episode of July 2024 was about The Children of God cult. For those who never heard of it; you may have heard about it since this cult had River Phoenix and Rose McGowan as members. After researching this episode, I had a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine. They called those who get involved in cults “weak minded”, and I told them that this was far from the truth. For many members of The Children of God cult; they were born into this. They were sheltered from the outside world, and not allowed to get an education. Cult life is all they ever knew. As for the others; this cult didn’t say that they were a cult. They claimed that they were a group of god fearing folk, who had the goal of helping others. They specifically targeted people who where having bad times, or who were lost. When you are in either of these situations, it makes complete sense that you would grab on to what you thought was a life line. But with time; these people were trained to think that if you dared think for yourself - you would be punished. If the cult was all you know; this threat would most definitely keep you there.
Now before you all judge me on this one; I can say from personal experience that I know what I am talking about. A member of my family became part of a cult. I will not be giving much information about this to protect my family member who was able to escape, but I will tell the basics without giving any real names. For now; I will call my family member Lola.
When Lola entered high school, we noticed changes in her. Her self esteem became low, and she started doing things to make her feel more accepted. When her parents tried to nip these actions in the bud: Lola started to rebel. By the time she hit the age of 19; she got a reality check after she was arrested for drunk driving. But the thing is, she never took responsibility for this or her other poor behaviours that she was directing at others. She developed a righteous ideology that everyone around her was wrong.
Things started to change when she started becoming involved in various conspiracy based groups. She became distrustful of anyone’s motives, and started talking about what she knew was the truth. When she was challenged on her ideologies, she only pulled away further into this world. Then came COVID; and she (as many were) became isolated. She started living on the internet, and this is where she found the person who became her cult leader. This person was saying things that made Lola feel that she was right in her conspiracy based thinking, and now she found people like just like her. Everyone else were just sheep.
Soon she began working for the cult, and climbed their internal ladder. She became convinced that all the unsubstantiated claims the cult leader made were truth, like she was an extraterrestrial with access to alien technologies that can heal all illnesses and injuries. Lola cheered when the leader said that she didn’t have to pay her bills anymore, and had no issue with giving her cult leader every spare cent she had. After some time in the cult, Lola’s strong personality became her undoing. She started to clash with the leader when she wanted more power with the group than she had. This resulted in Lola being kicked out of the cult. Today she is doing her best to show others what this cult is really about, and the harm it causes.
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…and until next time…