Let's Talk About Sects

Let's Talk About Sects is an award-winning monthly podcast focusing on a different cult each episode. Sarah takes a storytelling, deep dive approach, looking at the history of a sect's leaders, the recruitment of members, their experiences, psychological aspects, and notable incidents during its existence.

You can support us on Patreon, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available now.

“A fascinating and well-researched look into cults and the charismatic leaders behind them.” Peter Wells, The Sydney Morning Herald

“A fantastic examination of sects, cults, and religion… a fact-based program that’ll hook you in and keep you coming back for more.” Zach Johnston, Uproxx

“Cleverly named, meticulously researched.” Elena Nicolaou, Refinery29

“The best podcast of its kind – I can’t wait for another episode!” Apple Podcasts review from a US listener

“I study cults and sects and for this reason listen to many podcasts on these subjects. This one is by far the best.” Apple Podcasts review from a US listener

“Best podcast about cults I’ve found.” Apple Podcasts review from an Australian listener

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Episodes

The Workers’ Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought

In October of 2013, the British organisation Freedom Charity received a call on their hotline. The woman on the other end said that her housemate had been held captive in South London for 30 years. At the time of this call, Katy Morgan-Davies was 30 years old, and the period of her imprisonment was her entire life. She, and the women she lived with, believed that an invisible machine called JACKIE could control household appliances, read their thoughts, and would incinerate them if they tried to...

Oct 16, 2018•56 min•Season 2Ep. 10

Synanon

Synanon began as an addiction support group that gathered in a grimy Californian flat in the late 1950s. It would grow to become a well-funded utopian society throughout the late ’60s and early ’70s, before declaring itself a religion in 1974. This organisation would attract Hollywood stars like Leonard Nimoy and Jane Fonda to participate in its so-called “Game”, and eventually break up married couples, force men to have vasectomies and women to have abortions, amass assets worth tens of million...

Sep 18, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 9

Branch Davidians

2018 marks the 25-year anniversary of a 51-day siege that ended in tragedy, following a shootout between the U.S. government and members of a sect called the Branch Davidians. The gunfire exchange lasted for well over an hour, killing four U.S. agents and six Branch Davidians, and wounding their leader Vernon Howell, also known as David Koresh. Yet this violence was just the beginning of an ordeal that would culminate in an inferno later to become known as the Waco Massacre. CW: references to ma...

Apr 17, 2018•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 8

Interview Episode: Aum Shinrikyo update with Sarah Hightower

Over recent days, several of the 13 incarcerated Aum Shinrikyo members sentenced to death have been moved to new facilities, prompting speculation that their execution is imminent. In this bonus episode, a follow-up to our third episode about the infamous Japanese sect, Let's Talk About Sects spoke with a woman who has researched the group for over 16 years, and has also been in direct contact with ex-members. Sarah Hightower (who went by the name Sarah Skibtower) was kind enough to share her ex...

Mar 21, 2018•47 min

The Order of St Charbel

William Kamm has a 10pm curfew, and is not allowed to spend time with girls under the age of 17. He is prevented from entering the Shoalhaven district of New South Wales, and his movements and communications are monitored. These are conditions of his release after serving 9 years in jail for crimes he committed against two teenage girls – yet his followers still believe that he is the next true Pope, and that the Virgin Mary speaks to him on the 13th day of every month. Special Guest: Claire Ash...

Mar 13, 2018•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 7

Koreshanity

The Koreshans believed that the earth was hollow, and that humans lived on the concave inside surface of it. They theorised that the moon and stars, and indeed the rest of the universe, was contained within. On the outside? A void. When they formed the utopian community in Estero, Florida that they called the Koreshan Unity Settlement, a common greeting of one member to another was, “We live inside.” Special Guest: Lyn Millner. Full research sources listed here . You can support us on Patreon or...

Feb 13, 2018•42 min•Season 1Ep. 6

Universal Knowledge

Carli McConkey was a 21-year-old university graduate when she decided to attend the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney, and came across the stand for Life Integration Programmes. The course they offered sounded like exactly what she needed to get her life on track and realise her potential. Little did she know that this encounter was the start of a 13-year ordeal that would see her estranged from her family, under continued financial stress, a victim and perpetrator of physical assault, working...

Jan 16, 2018•58 min•Season 1Ep. 5

Kenja Communication

Ken Dyers passed away 10 years ago this year, but the organisation that he spearheaded with his partner Jan Hamilton lives on. In spite of a few parallels, this Australian organisation, called Kenja, has been listed as a suppressive group by the Church of Scientology. Jan claims that Kenja has faced decades of persecution by those who want to bring them down, including a member of parliament, and charges levied at the organisation include brainwashing, exacerbation of psychological illnesses wit...

Dec 12, 2017•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 4

Aum Shinrikyo

Twenty years ago this year, Japan was to become a nuclear wasteland, according to the leader of a sect who claimed that the only survivors would be his followers and 10% of the major cities. It was in the lead up to this year of the predicted apocalypse, 1997, that he ordered shocking acts that would eventually result in his group being labelled a terrorist organisation, and himself and 12 other sect members being sentenced to death. UPDATE 2: The death penalty was carried out in Japan in July o...

Nov 14, 2017•59 min•Season 1Ep. 3

The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God

Ugandan cult The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was one of the deadliest in world history, with the number of casualties similar to the infamous Jonestown massacre. The mastermind behind it? A woman who said she was receiving messages directly from the Virgin Mary. Full research sources listed here . You can support us on Patreon or Acast+ , with a one-off donation , or grab some merch . Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now . If you have...

Oct 17, 2017•40 min•Season 1Ep. 2

The Family

There is a 95-year-old woman in a Melbourne nursing home who dotes on a plastic baby doll. You wouldn’t guess it to look at her, but this is a woman who amassed a multi-million dollar fortune, destroyed families, and affected the lives of numerous people giving them ongoing psychological issues, some of which ended in suicide. Former police detective Lex de Man said of this women to 60 Minutes, “Of all the crimes that I investigated, she is the most evil person that I’ve ever met.” Special guest...

Sep 19, 2017•48 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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