Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

Episode 152: Reddit Scary Stories – Terrifying Cult Encounters With Amanda Montell
Release Date: November 20, 2025
Host: Heart Starts Pounding
Guest: Amanda Montell (author of "Cultish" and co-host of "Sounds Like a Cult")

Overview

This episode dives into spine-chilling firsthand accounts of cult encounters sourced from Reddit, with cult expert Amanda Montell providing analysis and commentary. Through personal family history, deep literary knowledge, and podcasting expertise, Amanda discusses the language, psychology, and manipulation tactics used by cults, both classic and contemporary. The episode covers a broad range of experiences—escape stories, cult recruitment, dangerous indoctrination methods, modern-day cyber cults, and a fun look at “non-cult” groups that still feel eerily cultish.

Key Discussion Points & Stories

1. Amanda Montell’s Fascination with Cults

• [02:15] Amanda traces her interest back to childhood stories from her father, a survivor of the Synanon cult—a formative “alternative rehab” program that mutated into a classic exploitative cult.
• [03:00] Synanon’s practices included head shaving, reassigned marriages, and the traumatizing ritual known as “the game,” a truth-telling session fraught with psychological abuse.
• Amanda:

  "My dad spent his teenage years against his will in a cult called Synanon … kids lived separately from their parents and there were head shaving rituals and reassigned marriages and this traumatizing truth telling ritual called the game." (03:00)

• The Manson family and Jonestown tragedies made “cult” a household term, but when Amanda's father joined Synanon, the word was not in the public consciousness.

2. Reddit Story – “My Parents Are Moving Me to a Compound”

• [05:41] Host reads a Reddit post by a 16-year-old whose parents plan to move their five children to a new-age spiritual compound, pull them from school, and cut them off from all outside contact and technology.
• Key warning signs identified:
  • Language around "mind awakening" and being "closed-minded"
  • Cutting off external information (“the Internet is full of lies from them”)
  • Isolation from their biological father (through lies and control)
• Amanda:

  “Freaky parallels [with my dad’s story]. … And the Internet being full of lies…” (09:06–09:19)

• [09:50] Amanda recounts her own father’s experience being forced into Synanon due to divorce, noting cults often prey upon vulnerable family dynamics.

Legal Advice from Reddit

• Courts will consider a 16-year-old’s wishes in custody disputes, and a non-custodial parent can seek emergency intervention.
• [16:02] Update: The poster makes contact with their dad, who wasn’t in support of the cult. Steps are taken to involve Child Protective Services (CPS).

Analysis of Manipulation

• Amanda explains the concept of "heavenly deception"—the doctrine that lying is justified for the greater good of the group.
• Amanda:

  “One of the cult red flags ... is this ends justify the means philosophy ... For example, in the Moonies ... lying needed to happen in order to recruit people ... that was referred to with the euphemism heavenly deception.” (16:36)

3. Reddit Story – Encounter with Scientology

• [20:06] Amanda reads a post from someone nearly lured into Scientology after taking a "free personality test." The account details:
  • Sudden personal attention and concern from staff
  • Taking a 500-question test, being labeled depressed and unmotivated
  • Being pressured into courses, books/DVDs, spending money quickly
  • Indoctrination against family (“maybe you should consider disconnecting from her”)
  • Persistent, years-long harassment via email
• Notable moment:

  “He told me I was extremely depressed ... and I was a waste of talent. Now, this made me very upset, but Alan said he could help me. He gave me about four books and a DVD. He told me to read... and I made plans to totally leave [my mom] out of my life.” (20:06–28:07)

• Both Amanda and the Host share personal brush-ins with Scientology, including marathon personality tests, psychological manipulation, and dogged follow-ups.
• Amanda:

  “I was only willing to go with the bit for so long.” (29:23)

Cult Language and “Thought-Terminating Clichés”

• [35:26] Amanda, a linguist, identifies "thought-terminating clichés"—phrases meant to shut down further questioning (“trust the process,” “do your research,” “act as if”). This special insider language is a key signal of unhealthy groupthink.
• Amanda:

  “…A zingy stock expression that’s easy to memorize, easy to repeat, and aimed at shutting down independent thinking and questioning so that the person at the top can remain in power.” (36:56)

4. Reddit Story – Attempted Kidnapping by “God the Mother” Group

• [43:38] A listener recounts nearly being abducted by recruiters for a group known as “God the Mother” or World Mission Society Church of God—identified as a destructive South Korean-based cult.
• Tactics included:
  • Targeting unsuspecting individuals in college apartments
  • Manipulative “faith-based” pitches and pressure to come to the car for “pamphlets”
  • Physical attempts to direct the listener out of view; refusal to take “no” for an answer
• After escaping, the poster faced online harassment and veiled threats.
• News reports confirmed regional concerns about this group and their fear tactics, especially on college campuses.
• Amanda:

  “A lot of cult like groups target college kids, immigrant communities, stay at home moms. It just depends what you’re after.” (47:28)

Challenge of Prosecuting Cults

• Even when cults cause psychological harm or disappearances, legal action is challenging unless explicit crimes (abuse, trafficking) can be proven.

5. Reddit Story – Cyber Cult “Twin Flames”

• [53:10] Amanda reads a disturbing post about a young woman aggressively stalked online/offline by a much older man obsessed with “twin flames” theology.
• “Twin flames”/“runner & chaser” cult language is used to justify pursuit and harassment.
• After police intervention and restraining orders, stalking and obsessive video content continued for years.
• Amanda:

  “…this roller coaster pattern of emotions he seemed to fly through … He made videos of him crying, saying he forgave his twin flame and that he would give her space. But really there was nowhere in the world she could hide for long because Archangel Michael had showed him that they were meant to be together for eternity.” (59:38)

• Twin Flames groups went largely unchecked by the law, despite negative media and documentary exposure. The cult structure was maintained primarily through online video diaries and community.

Modern Cults & Cyber Compounds

• Amanda:

  “Comment sections are our new compounds.” (49:25)

• Cults now thrive online: QAnon, Twin Flames, and others use digital platforms as their “compounds,” with indoctrination and manipulation happening via DMs, YouTube, and forums.

6. What Feels Like a Cult? (But Isn’t) – Fun Segment

• The host and Amanda discuss a viral Reddit thread: “What’s something that’s not a cult, but feels like a cult?”
• Watch-Your-Back & Live-Your-Life Groups:
  • Marching Band/Drum Corps: Intense time/mind commitment, special language, hazing, rituals, and power dynamics; high “cult vibes.”

    “…But the, the drum corps, where there’s a lot of like, hazing and like, honestly, sexual abuse… Listen to the episode, it gets really dark.” (65:05)

  • Nonprofits:

    “So much labor exploitation justified with, you know, service of the mission. Yeah, that gets pretty dark too.” (66:56)

  • Essential Oils & MLMs:

    “There are so many essential oils mlms that have led to death and destruction.” (67:53)

  • Texas A&M, Sleepaway Camps, Sororities/Fraternities:
    • Intense in-group identity, rituals, “family” language, and profound emotional exit costs.
• Amanda shares the rubric from her podcast:

  "If you have light, us-versus-them dynamics and some ritual and mysticism, that's okay. But if there are severe exit costs and this group is like completely, completely taking over your headspace... that's when it's starting to inch along this cultish spectrum." (71:10)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Amanda Montell: “It’s a little late to try to convince me Santa is real.” (11:45)
• Host (on cult manipulation): “I remember after every sort of personality critique he made of me, he just went, Scientology can help you with that.” (31:19)
• Amanda Montell (on modern cults): “Comment sections are our new compounds.” (49:25)
• Amanda Montell (on essential oils): “I love essential oils, but I also know what they can and cannot accomplish.” (68:57)
• On collective culture:

  “If the smell of my sleepaway camp just hit me right now, I would be 14 years old rehearsing for the final performance.” (74:05)

Segment Timestamps

• [01:56] Amanda Montell’s introduction and cult background
• [05:41] Reddit Story: Forced Move to Cult Compound
• [09:50–16:20] Parallels with Amanda's family and legal discussion
• [20:06] Reddit Story: Scientology Indoctrination Attempt
• [35:26] Cult Language/Thought-Terminating Clichés
• [43:38] Reddit Story: God the Mother Cult Attempted Abduction
• [53:10] Reddit Story: Stalking by Twin Flames Cultist
• [64:10] “Feels Like a Cult” Fun Discussion (Marching Band, Nonprofits, etc.)

Episode Flow & Tone

• The episode weaves haunting real-world stories with psychological and linguistic analysis, maintaining a balance of gravitas, wit, and empathy.
• Amanda Montell’s tone is conversational, animated, and deeply insightful, peppered with humor and memorable turns of phrase.
• The episode closes on a light, relatable segment about cult-like but benign communities, inviting listeners to share their own stories.

Further Resources

• Amanda Montell’s works: “Cultish,” “Sounds Like a Cult” podcast
• Links to cult survivor support services (mentioned in-episode)
• Detailed resources and further reading in episode description

Takeaway

This episode is both a chilling primer on cult recruitment tactics and a lively cultural discussion about how groupthink, ritual, and language shape our lives—for better and, all too often, for worse. Whether dealing with spine-tingling Reddit tales, notorious organizations like Scientology, or the cult-like dynamics of everyday groups, listeners walk away with sharpened critical thinking skills and a healthy dose of skepticism—plus a few laughs along the way.