Alien Cults and UFO Religions

Buckle up! We’re diving into UFO cults to understand how science fiction can morph into religion, and why smart, sincere people get sucked in. Charismatic leaders, apocalyptic timelines, cosmic hierarchies—we’re covering it all! 

Trigger warning: This episode contains sensitive content such as suicide, harm to children, and murder. 

We start with The Seekers and the moment a failed prophecy gave birth to the term cognitive dissonance. From there, we trace the rise of Scientology; L. Ron Hubbard’s leap from Dianetics to thetans, secret OT levels, and a controversial cosmic backstory that turned a self-help movement into a global, high-visibility religion. We explore the gentler current of the Aetherius Society, where “Space Brothers” and spiritual energy “batteries” are used for collective healing, blending yoga, karma, and channeling into a unique cosmic practice.

Then we face the hard history. Heaven’s Gate reframed bodies as “vehicles,” Earth as a terminal stop, and Hale–Bopp as a doorway (a narrative that ended with the infamous “away mission.”) The Order of the Solar Temple escalated ritual and hierarchy into lethal tragedy. And Raëlism swapped gods for the Elohim, promoted sensual meditation and human cloning, and drafted plans for an alien embassy near Jerusalem.

If you’ve ever wondered where the line sits between wonder and danger, this conversation maps the terrain with practical red flags: absolute authority, secrecy, isolation, financial pressure, and promises that demand you surrender judgment. Not every UFO belief is harmful, but high-control structures can turn meaning into a trap. Join us to learn the history, spot the patterns, and keep the doors open for those who might need a way back.

If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who loves weird history, and leave a review so more curious minds can find the show.

If you or a loved one is in need of cult interventions, resources, support groups, or recovery groups!

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:03):
Aliens.
Aliens.
Aliens.
Yes.
But maybe no.
All right.
Welcome back to the show.
This is Aliens, yes, but maybeno with Josh and Travis.

(00:26):
I'm Travis.
I'm Josh.
And this is an otherworldlypodcast as ambiguous as our
title.
Okay.
So, Josh, we're just at the endof Spooky Season.
Oh, that's right.
Right?
Last week we talked about littlegoblins.

SPEAKER_02 (00:43):
Yeah.
And I think I didn't believe it,and you did completely, which
was really kind of a switch.

SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Um, I don't think that's true.
Nice try.
You're not gonna get me.
Dang it.
We haven't been recording inlike a month.
Josh thinks he's gonna pull oneover on me.
Not so fast, buddy.
All right.
Next time, I'll get you.
Maybe.
Maybe one of these days you'llget me.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03):
Yeah, we did a cryptid episode, another one.
Or second cryptid, right?
Yeah.
They're fun.
It's just interesting.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
They are fun.
They're interesting.
Yeah.
They're kind of cool.
Yeah, and we did a quiz at thevery end.
Yeah.
But now we're done doing likescary things, right?
Oh no.
Yeah.
We're we're not doing anythingscary.
So what are we going to betalking about today?
Colts.
Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 (01:22):
Alien cults.
Oh no.
Doing research with this, I waslike, this seems dangerous.

SPEAKER_01 (01:28):
It seems dangerous.
So part of our dossier, we hadto watch some and we'll get into
this later in the show.
So spoiler alert for later inthe show, but some Scientology
YouTube videos.
And now I'm worried that I'mgonna be on their like list of
people they're gonna try andproselytize.
So I live in a subdivision, andI was loading up our gear for

(01:48):
the show today, putting in mycar, and it was wild that it
happened this way, and I'm justnow thinking about it.
But I was coming from my garagewhere I keep my gear, putting in
the car.
Car drove by really slow.
It was a man and woman in a van.
They slowed down in front of myhouse.
They looked at my house, lookedat me, parked two houses down.
Whoa.

(02:08):
And then they walked up to adoor and they were going door to
door.
And I was like, oh no, are theseScientologists?
Did that information from 15minutes ago when I just finished
watching this already get tothem?
Are they coming to get me now?
They could.
I had similar fears.

SPEAKER_02 (02:22):
Okay.
Yeah, it's all spooky.
And just hearing rumors aboutScientology, it's kind of scary.
But let's, I mean, let's justhop right into it because cults
are they're fascinating.
They are fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 (02:33):
I actually still don't understand it.
So I co-host another podcast.
It's a movie themed podcastcalled Cinema Roast Bunch, and
we just released an episode oncults.
Oh.
Like our favorite cult movies.
Oh.
Movies that have cults in them.

SPEAKER_02 (02:49):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (02:50):
I thought you were talking like cult.
No, like cult.
Like they feature a cult.

SPEAKER_02 (02:54):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
So that's top of mind for me.
Your worlds are colliding.
Your podcasting worlds.
I don't think they're colliding.
I think they are gently passingin the night.
Yeah.
Like maybe giving each other ahigh five.
What was your favorite?
What was my favorite cult movie?

SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (03:09):
I would encourage you guys to listen to it at
Cinema Roast Punch.
I didn't have a favorite cultmovie.
I like Paul Thomas Anderson'sThe Master, which deals with a
fictional version of L.
Ron Hubbard.
Oh yeah.
There was another one called TheApostle that starred Dan
Stevens, and that is like morefolklore cult type stuff.
So like a lot of talk of like agreen man, very earthy cult.

(03:34):
Okay.
Very old, kind of like druidic.
Interesting.
Yeah.
But cults are fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_02 (03:40):
Yeah.
And today we're not just talkingabout your run-of-the-mill
cults.

SPEAKER_01 (03:44):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (03:44):
We're talking about alien cults where they worship
them, they channel them, theybuild embassies.
We're not talking about whatcults?
Run of the mill.
Because there's tons and tons ofcults out there, but not all of
them focus around.

SPEAKER_01 (03:56):
I wouldn't say any cult is run-of-the-mill.
No.
But they all do have verysimilar elements.
So this is from Wikipedia.
Cult is a lay term for a groupperceived as requiring
unwavering devotion to a set ofbeliefs and practices which are
considered deviant outside thenorms of society.
Such groups are typicallyperceived as being led by a
charismatic leader who tightlycontrols its members.

(04:18):
It is in some context apejorative term, also used for
new religious movements andother social groups, which are
defined by their unusualreligious, spiritual, or
philosophical beliefs andrituals, or their common
interest in a particular person,object, or goal.
But not all cults have an alientheme.
No, but all cults do have acharismatic leader.

SPEAKER_02 (04:38):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Which we're going to be talkingabout this.
Oh, yeah.
I'm actually thinking aboutstarting one.
Oh boy.
No, not really.
The minimalists, they have apodcast.
They're a perfect group ofpeople to have workshops and
have like retreats and stufflike that, but they say they
won't do it because that's howcults are started.

SPEAKER_01 (04:55):
Cults come from like a very fundamental set of
beliefs.
So like it is, and we'll talkabout this with the Heaven's
Gate.
They believe that we arevessels.
I mean, that's not a simpleconcept, but this is basically
what like we're vessels, we'reinhabited by aliens, there's a
ship coming.
There's only one way to get onthis ship, and you can only get

(05:16):
on the ship if you've made thesedecisions.
So they dedicate their entirelife to whatever those
parameters are.

SPEAKER_02 (05:22):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (05:22):
Right?
And that's the way a lot ofcults are.

SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
They start out pretty soft and then they can
get pretty crazy.
They can start out pretty soft.
Which being a minimalist, youknow, that's soft, and people
get really into it, and theycould step it up into the next
level.

SPEAKER_01 (05:36):
And that's another thing, is that they get asked to
give up a lot to become a memberof this cult.
So like the Jonestown, they allhad to move to, I think it was
in South Africa.

SPEAKER_02 (05:47):
Yeah.
Or South America.

SPEAKER_01 (05:49):
But they are asked to, like you said, live
minimally, giving up all oftheir earthly possessions, but
also earthly urges.
Yeah.
Unless you are the leader or ina sex cult.
Yeah.
You're not allowed to have sex.
Hmm.
The what was the cult in Texasthat ended in a shootout and
everybody died?
So that guy was allowed to havesex with everybody, all the

(06:12):
women.
But the men that were there,they would bring their wives
there and they were asked totake a vow of celibacy.
Jeez.

SPEAKER_02 (06:18):
Yeah, and a lot of cults out there are very small,
just little secluded things.
A lot of communes can turn intocults, like hippie communes or
Christian communes, or justreligious communes.
So I've heard of cults beinglike five people, ten people,
but it's still focused around aleader that has a lot of
control.

SPEAKER_01 (06:38):
So Jonestown was in Guyana.

SPEAKER_02 (06:41):
Oh, okay.
Okay.
So these alien cults, there arepeople out there that don't just
believe in aliens.
They worship them, they channelthem, they build embassies for
them, and in some cases, theyeven follow them off the planet.

SPEAKER_01 (06:54):
It's a little light way of saying they unalive
themselves.
They unalive themselves.

SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
Yeah, these UFO cults have full-blown belief
systems with doctrines, rituals,charismatic leaders, and
sometimes tragic endings.
Did you have to say that with aquestion mark?
A lot of them end tragically.
Well, I told you they seemdangerous.
Yeah.
They are dangerous.
They are.
So before we get into all thesedifferent things, I want you
guys to know we're here toexplore, look at the facts.

(07:21):
We're not here to mock or makefun of anyone, but we just want
to explore the religion, thescience fiction, and the search
for meaning that can collide inweird ways.
Sure.

SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
Yeah.
It's a twofold answer becausethese are people that are
honestly looking for something.
Yeah.
Right there, sincerely seekingsomething out and trying to find
whatever helps them make senseof this world.
Also, as you said, they aredangerous and we should be
careful just about what we sayabout these groups.

SPEAKER_02 (07:51):
Aaron Powell Yeah.
We're going to give you thefacts that we have.
We're not going to go beyondthat just because we got to
protect our families.

SPEAKER_01 (07:58):
Aaron Powell And not saying that they're all a bunch
of like protective, murderouspeople.
I'm just No, but some of themare.
Some are, and some are verymaybe not murderous, but they're
very persistent in the type ofmessaging that gets out there,
and they guard that verycarefully, and they don't want
the wrong message to get out.

SPEAKER_02 (08:14):
Yeah.
So to manage this, we're gonnajust focus on just a handful.
There's a bunch of stuff outthere, but we're gonna focus on
the most famous and fascinatingUFO religions.
So let's get in on it.
Okay.
The Seekers, 1953.
They're believed to be theearliest UFO religion.
The Seekers, aka the Brotherhoodof the Seven Rays, began in

(08:35):
1953.
A Chicago woman named DorothyMartin, later known as Sister
Thedra, began receiving messagesshe believed were from a being
named Sananda, a spiritualentity linked to Jesus.
These messages warned of comingglobal catastrophe, a massive
flood that would wipe out largeparts of the United States on
december twenty first, nineteenfifty-four.
But not to worry, flying saucerswould arrive to rescue the

(08:57):
faithful before the destructionbegan.

SPEAKER_00 (08:59):
Phew.

SPEAKER_02 (09:00):
That's good.
Dorothy gathered a small groupof believers who became known as
the Seekers.
They quit their jobs, gave awaytheir belongings, and prepared
to be evacuated by aliens.

SPEAKER_01 (09:10):
Like they were going to be eva like okay.

SPEAKER_02 (09:13):
Like aliens were going to come and save them.

SPEAKER_01 (09:16):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (09:17):
So the group waited all night on December 20th,
1954, ready to be taken aboard.
When no saucers appeared,something strange happened.
Many of the members doubled downon their beliefs.
They reinterpreted the failedprophecy to mean their devotion
had saved the world fromdestruction.

SPEAKER_01 (09:34):
And I think that to me is like we were saying at the
top of the show, you want tobelieve and you're going to
interpret everything throughthat lens.
Like, oh, they didn't show up?
Well, okay, the reason theydidn't show up is because we
saved you.
It's a means to justify theirbelief system.
Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 (09:53):
Yeah, they can dive them down deeper into that
belief.

SPEAKER_01 (09:56):
And that's what can make these groups dangerous.

SPEAKER_02 (09:58):
Mm-hmm.
And get really wacky from thebeginning beliefs to the end
beliefs.

SPEAKER_01 (10:03):
It's cool on wacky talk.

SPEAKER_02 (10:05):
Just the idea of starting simply like, you know,
minimalism, decluttering yourlife to get rid of everything
and come move with me to thisplace because the aliens are
coming.

SPEAKER_01 (10:16):
Well, a lot of them do have that kind of structure.
And we'll see this with all thedynamics of Scientology.
There is that level where youhave to prove your dedication to
these groups.
And the way they do that ismoving you or asking you to give
up all of your earthlypossessions.

SPEAKER_02 (10:32):
Yeah.
These people, when they thoughtthey'd save destruction, they
double down on their faith.
This moment became the basis forthe classic psychological study
when prophecies fail, whichintroduced a concept of
cognitive dissonance, the mentalgymnastics people use when
reality contradicts deeply heldbeliefs.
Which, I mean, you see thateverywhere in all religions, in

(10:53):
all politics.
Yeah.
Though this group eventuallyfaded, Dorothy Martin continued
to channel messages and form newmovements, leaving behind one of
the strangest and most studiedcases in cult history.
We're not going to dive too deepinto the seekers.
That's just kind of like thebeginning, and possibly what
some of these others have beenfounded on.
But we are going to dive intoScientology.
I think that one's going to takea little bit of time to

(11:15):
navigate.

SPEAKER_01 (11:17):
Okay, so Scientology.
What it is.
Just a little basic history onScientology.
It was founded by a sciencefiction author, L.
Ron Hubbard.
And it began as a self-helpsystem called Dianetics that
quickly evolved into afull-blown religion with a
cosmic backstory.
So, Josh, you're younger than Iam, but I grew up watching a lot
of cartoons and Saturday morningprogramming.

(11:40):
And I remember commercials forDianetics.
I don't remember the specifics,but it's like this new book by
author L.
Ron Hubbard, it's gonna help youfocus in on the things that are
really important in your life.
And I remember those distinctly,and I I don't think I'll ever
forget, but they were like theselittle Now that you're saying
it, that sounds really familiar.

(12:00):
I didn't know that.
I'm sure you can look up theseold commercials on YouTube.
Oh yeah.
But uh that was a huge part oflike Saturday morning commercial
programming, at least to mymemory.
And I remember my parents when Iasked them about it, I think
they even recognized that it wasa cult back then.

SPEAKER_02 (12:17):
Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 (12:18):
So at the heart of Scientology is the belief that
humans are actually immortalspiritual beings, but these
immortal spiritual beings arecalled thetans.
They're trapped in physicalbodies and burdened by traumatic
memories called engrams fromthis life and past lives.
The real UFO connection comeslater in the church's secret
teachings revealed only toadvanced members.

(12:40):
So we have a note here in thedossier saying that this is not
publicly taught, and they don'tpromote this origin story that
it's considered confidentialdoctrine.
And a lot of churches will dothat.
They will hold stuff back forwhen you're more open to
accepting these weirder, deeperdoctrines, like Mormons
believing that co-op is a planetthat God lives on.

(13:02):
So you have to get through likethe pajamas.
The I get I don't know what thatmeans.
What does that mean?
The pajamas.

SPEAKER_02 (13:08):
Doesn't the Mormons have pajamas that they are?

SPEAKER_01 (13:11):
It's not pajamas, it's they call them garments.
It's like special undergarmentsthat you wear, but you don't
wear those as you have to turnlike 18 or become an adult
before you get to wear the thecommandments.
And this even that, that's likeodd, deep doctrine type stuff.
So that's like things that youwork through, but in order to

(13:31):
get to a level of understandingfor those things, you have to
start with like be nice topeople, see how nice we are, we
take care of families, we haveour own welfare system, that
kind of thing.
So in order to get to that, youhave to accept things little by
little.

SPEAKER_02 (13:48):
Yeah, but fully.
Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (13:50):
Yeah.
They don't just give you all ofthe information, all of the
stuff that's harder tounderstand right at the front.

SPEAKER_02 (13:56):
Yeah.
Anyway.
Yeah, let's talk about theconfidential doctrine.

SPEAKER_01 (14:00):
So according to these teachings, 75 million
years ago, a galactic overlordnamed Xenu ruled over a
confederation of planets.
Xenu solved overpopulation byfreezing billions of beings,
shipping them to Earth, anddetonating hydrogen bombs inside
volcanoes.
This sounds a lot like this islike Thanos level thinking.
Like overpopulation, I'm gonnado something extremely drastic

(14:21):
to solve this.
Only I know how to solve thisproblem.

SPEAKER_00 (14:25):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (14:26):
So the disembodied souls of these beings, called
body thetans, still cling tohuman bodies and cause spiritual
harm.
Only by progressing throughScientology's operating Thetan,
OT levels, can followersconfront and release these
Thetans.
They are widely classified as aUFO religion because of this
cosmology, though the churchitself disputes the label.

SPEAKER_02 (14:45):
Don't they have machines that can read your OT
levels, right?

SPEAKER_01 (14:48):
I think so.
Yeah.
You go in and like put yourhands on something and they can
And they can test, and then ifyou are I've heard and because
this is so closely guarded, allwe get are like bits and rumors.
Right.
That if your OT levels are off,you have to go and spend time in
like an isolation.
Oh wow.
At their main church facility.
Didn't you say that there was attheir facilities they have

(15:11):
recreations?
They have, I don't know ifthey're museums, but they're
like visitor centers, I guessessentially, and they're
scattered all throughout theUnited States.
And in every single one of them,they have an exact replica of L.
Ron Hubbard's like writingoffice.

SPEAKER_02 (15:26):
Man, that's so creepy.

SPEAKER_01 (15:27):
It's wild.

SPEAKER_02 (15:28):
Yeah.
It's wild.
I wonder if you have to staythere, like on severance.

SPEAKER_01 (15:32):
Well, I mean, like you're not allowed to go into
these offices, even though it'snot like they didn't just chop
his office out of a house andthen plop it down in these
visitor centers.
Yeah.
They just got a bunch of chairsthat were similar to the chair
that he got.
Oh, okay.
Those chairs, and then you justcan't go in and disturb it.
Weird.
It's like roped off.
Scientology is also known forits celebrity outreach, legal

(15:53):
battles, and powerful mediapresence.
Its recruitment tools areeverywhere.
Stress tests, auditing, and freepersonality tests.
It's a rare case of aUFO-related belief system
becoming a major organizedreligion with global
infrastructure.
While most of the groups in thisepisode are fringe or forgotten,
Scientology remains highlyvisible, extremely secretive,
and consistently controversial.

(16:14):
So this is where like my worldsare coming together because I
love Tom Cruise.
I think he's such a dynamicperson.
Yeah, and such a charisma.
I mean, he's not a leader of acult or whatever.
He's one of the, I think, mosttalented and incredible human
beings of our time just becauseof what he is able to do with

(16:35):
his body, holding his breath forsix minutes for a movie role,
learning how to fly a helicopterin three months.
Yeah, he pushes himself to theextra.
He pushes himself.
He has said that doing thishelicopter training for a
mission impossible would takesix months to a year at eight
hours a day.
And he's like, Well, what am Igonna do with the other 16

(16:56):
hours?
And so he just dedicated histime and got helicopter
certified.
He was able to fly a helicopterin three months, which is like
absolutely absurd.
Another mission impossible,there's a scene where he has to
hold his breath for a reallylong time.
He learned how to hold hisbreath for six minutes.

SPEAKER_02 (17:11):
Man, yeah, most people don't have that kind of
dedication.

SPEAKER_01 (17:14):
I don't.
I tried.
I wish I did.
I will like hold my breath whileI'm walking around or driving my
car just to see how long I cando it.
And that sounds prettydangerous.

SPEAKER_02 (17:25):
I wouldn't recommend it.
Yeah.
And if you do do it, don't sayyou learned it from us.

SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
No.
So anyway, and John Travolta,also a member of Scientology, to
less success than I would sayTom Cruise, but he's still out
there promoting whatever.

SPEAKER_02 (17:40):
Yeah, and it seemed as though like when Tom Cruise
became a Scientologist, he wasvery loud and out about it, and
then nothing.
Like he doesn't talk about itanymore.

SPEAKER_01 (17:48):
No, I mean you see interviews with him now, and
it's they're sad.
Yeah.
Like he doesn't have a personallife.
His entire persona is wrapped upin movie making and then
probably Scientology.
He doesn't want, and again, likejust like Scientology S, it
keeps a lot of that stuff closeto your chest.
You don't talk about it.
You don't want to have to tryand chase down some of these
rumors.

SPEAKER_02 (18:09):
The video that we watched that kind of explained
what Scientology actuallybelieves.
It was like a three or fourminute video.

SPEAKER_01 (18:16):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (18:16):
It was actually a pretty well done movie, and they
make it make sense, like whatthey're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 (18:22):
They do.
Which is the scary part.
Well, that's just marketing.

SPEAKER_02 (18:26):
Yeah, it is marketing.
They use very sly wording.
I mean, it's nothing I hadn'theard before.

SPEAKER_01 (18:31):
They're like, Do you love animals?
Do you like being alive?
These are all things that welike too.
So why not come and join us?

SPEAKER_02 (18:39):
Yeah, well, basically they were saying like
you are a soul with a body.
You're not a body with a soul.

SPEAKER_01 (18:45):
Yeah.
They're like, you look at yourhands and you don't say, That's
my consciousness.
You say, These are my hands.
This is my arm.
This is my leg.

SPEAKER_02 (18:52):
Yeah.
They mentioned you can loseparts of your body and still be
you.

SPEAKER_01 (18:55):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (18:55):
And then they said your mind is like an
encyclopedia of just all Whichis not true.

SPEAKER_01 (19:02):
But they're saying that They're like the mind, your
memory is a steel trap, and it'ssuch a wonderful thing.
Everything you see in your mindis in pictures that are filed
away.
And that is not true.
There are I don't remember shit.
There are millions.
Yeah, but there are millions,hundreds of millions of people
out there that do not have thatability.
If I were to describe an appleto you or say, like, picture an

(19:24):
apple, there are millions ofpeople out there that can't
picture an apple in their head,but then there are some that can
create scenarios around thatapple.
Yeah.
You know, like the orchard itwas picked in, and they can
picture all that very clearly intheir head.

SPEAKER_02 (19:37):
Yeah.
So what they're saying withthey're using the mind as being
able to look at something, butthe thing that is looking at it
is the soul.
It's not the memories itself,it's us looking at the memory.
And they're saying that's whoyou are, and we're gonna help
you become more connected tothat part that is looking at
you.
We're gonna make that kind ofyour forefront so that you are

(19:59):
free.
That's basically what the videosaid.
And it was just like, oh, that'sa good idea.

SPEAKER_01 (20:04):
Yeah, sure, that's fine.
I mean, I guess that makessense.
Like if I cut off my hand, I'mstill me.
Yeah.
But how much we're like theknights of knee from Monty
Python where we're just slowlyshaving away the parts of us,
and then yeah, now he's justahead and it'll just bite your
ankles or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 (20:19):
Yeah.
All right.
The Ethereum Society.
It's 1955 to present.
It was founded in 1955 by GeorgeKing, a British taxi driver
turned spiritual channel.

SPEAKER_01 (20:32):
It means he's getting this information through
him.
Okay.
He's channeling the information.
It's a very like Britishdescription.
They have channels, you know,like canals essentially, that
bring water from one part toanother, and he's just helping
move information from space tohere.

SPEAKER_02 (20:50):
Aaron Powell Okay.
The Ethereum Society is one ofthe oldest and longest-running
UFO religions still activetoday.
According to King, he wasmeditating in his London
apartment when he heard a voicecommand.
Prepare yourself.
You are to become the voice.
Uh I think do that better.

SPEAKER_01 (21:07):
Do a voice.
You want me to do a can you do aSean Connery?
I think this would be a greatSean Connery.

SPEAKER_02 (21:12):
I used to be able to do a Sean Connery.
Give it a go.
Hold on.
I have to uh You have to channelSean Connery.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
According to King, he wasmeditating in his London
apartment when he heard a voicecommand.
Prepare yourself.
You are to become the voice ofInterplanetary Parliament.

SPEAKER_01 (21:33):
Nailed it.
Yep.
Nailed it.
I wish Sean Connery was anEverybody's Head.
That would be great.
That would be good.
Mine is always ArnoldSchwarzenegger.

SPEAKER_02 (21:41):
So he soon began channeling messages from Master
Aetherius, a cosmic being fromVenus, and other cosmic masters
from across the solar system.
The Aetherius Society teachesthat these beings are watching
over Earth and trying to helphumanity evolve spiritually if
we're willing to listen.
Cosmic masters include figuresfrom Venus, Mars, and other

(22:02):
planets, though they exist onhigher vibrational planes,
explaining why we can't detecttheir life.
Members perform rituals andspiritual missions to send
spiritual energy into the world,often focusing on global crisis
and natural disaster, which isnice.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (22:18):
So wait, Venus, so it's like a planet of ladies?
Isn't that where ladies comefrom?

SPEAKER_02 (22:23):
Mm-hmm.
So George King claimed to haveclimbed 18 mountains around the
world, turning them intospiritual energy batteries by
infusing them with cosmic power.
The society blends yoga, karma,Christianity, and
extraterrestrial channeling intoone unique cosmic worldview.

SPEAKER_01 (22:39):
So that video that we had to watch for this, do you
think that was them blessing it?

SPEAKER_02 (22:43):
They were charging a battery.

SPEAKER_01 (22:44):
Yeah, that with like hours of prayer.
Yeah.
Which is how they were loggingit.
They're like, now we have 240hours of prayer.
I think this is going to beenough.

SPEAKER_02 (22:53):
They were describing, because there was an
interviewer interviewingdifferent people before, during,
and after the prayer while theywere charging.
And someone described it as thesame energy that you'd get at
like a rave, just a combinedenergy of all these people
enjoying everything.
And that's they said it's notthat, but it's similar.

(23:13):
Like if you've experienced livemusic on a a rave, though?
That's what this person said.

SPEAKER_01 (23:19):
Like the last rave I went to, I was fucked up on
mushrooms, wadaweed, andalcohol.
This is claiming I can get thatjust by going to a mountain.
Them coming together, the energyof them together.
I doubt that.
I don't think these guys haveever been to a rave.
I don't think they know whatthey're talking about.

(23:40):
There's no way.

SPEAKER_02 (23:41):
When I was younger, I went to the mountains with
three friends, and we weresearching for a lost witch city.
This is in the Northwest.
We were younger high schoolers,and we truly believed that this
forest was haunted and there's awitch city there.
And we didn't find anything, butthe energy.

SPEAKER_01 (24:02):
What the fuck?
Why where did that idea evencome from?

SPEAKER_02 (24:06):
I don't know.
It was an old folklore about theforest.
A city of witches?
Like an old town.
But full of witches.
Yeah.
Basically, it was like a littletown full of witches.
I think that's sweet, Josh.
But the energy that we had whenwe were searching for this was
off the charts.

SPEAKER_01 (24:24):
Like our senses were spiked.
I think that's a nice thought.
Picturing a young Josh walkingthrough the mountains looking
for magic.
I think that's sweet.

SPEAKER_02 (24:30):
Yeah.
But I think that with this groupof people, them all believing
and coming together, there isprobably a pretty huge energy in
that crowd for some of thepeople picking up on it.
And I think they're talkingabout that is they're all coming
together and they're going toharness this energy into this
battery.

SPEAKER_01 (24:48):
I just don't like that they compared it to a rave.

SPEAKER_02 (24:49):
Yeah.
But it helped me kind of thinkoutside the box.

SPEAKER_01 (24:54):
It helped a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 (24:55):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (24:56):
While other groups focus on apocalyptic warnings or
mass evacuations, the Ethereumsociety emphasizes service to
humanity through spiritualaction with a pretty strong
sci-fi twist.
And they still meet regularly inLos Angeles and London to charge
spiritual batteries and to honorthe messages of the Space
Brothers.
So that one's a nice one.

SPEAKER_01 (25:15):
I actually think that these first three that
we've covered are nice and forthe most part are harmless.
There's a little twinge of likeaggressive proselytizing that's
done by the Scientologist group,but for the most part, they are
looking at how to like movehumanity forward, right?
Like that's what they want.
They want us to be like acollective and kind of get back

(25:37):
to what is important, right?
Yeah.
You can maybe say that.
So that being said, now we'regonna get into some of the
really dangerous, dark stuff.
Dangerous.
This is we'll get into it.
We're gonna start with Heaven'sGate.
This was founded in the early70s, and I believe there are
still some members practicingtoday, but those people are more

(26:00):
witnesses than they are likemembers of an organized group.
Like a couple of them were leftbehind.
One is named Sawyer X, who isstill a believer and still talks
about it to this day.

SPEAKER_02 (26:11):
Yeah, from my understanding, he was left
behind.
Oh no, Sawyer X, sorry, Sawyer Xwas he left.

SPEAKER_01 (26:17):
There was another uh, or maybe I'm getting the two
confused.

SPEAKER_02 (26:21):
There's one guy that was left behind.

SPEAKER_01 (26:22):
The one guy that was left behind, and he was the
witness.

SPEAKER_02 (26:25):
Heaven's Gate, their end goal was to open the door,
and he was there to keep thedoor ajar for other people and
continue putting information outinto the world.

SPEAKER_01 (26:37):
But there was another guy who left before this
happened in the early 90s.
I think his name was Sawyer X.

SPEAKER_02 (26:42):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (26:43):
And he left not because he was excommunicated,
but he left because he couldn'tfully commit.
He felt like he was strugglingwith the sexy desires of being a
human.
And he couldn't give that up.

SPEAKER_00 (26:56):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (26:56):
So he left because he felt like he wasn't strong
enough.
But he still believes to thisday.
Okay, so Heaven's Gate.
Arguably one of the mostinfamous UFO cults of all time,
and for good reason, the groupbelieved the earth was about to
be recycled.
And that was Marshall Applewhitereleased a video, and it looked
like he just came up with thatthought on the spot.

SPEAKER_02 (27:18):
Who's Marshall?

SPEAKER_01 (27:19):
We'll get to that.
He is looking right down thebarrel of the camera and saying
this is going to be called, Idon't know, Project Earth about
to be recycled.
It's like he just came up withit on the spot, and it's wildly
scary.

SPEAKER_00 (27:35):
Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 (27:35):
So we believed the earth was going to be recycled,
and the only way to survive wasto leave with the aliens.
They referred to the human bodyas a vehicle or plant and
believed that their souls weremeant to ascend to the next
level, a non-earthly realmbeyond human.
And they called it like levelbeyond human, is why.
The scruple's led by MarshallApplewhite, who went by Doe and

(27:56):
Bonnie Nettles, known as T.
So you think of that song fromThe Sound of Music, Do Re Mi
Fasola T, that is where they gotit.
It's like their own version ofAlpha and Omega.

SPEAKER_02 (28:06):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (28:06):
But like a, I don't know.
Like uh musical version.
I guess you could say a musicalversion.
I was going to say somethingelse, but anyway.
Doe believed he was the samespirit that once inhabited
Jesus.
Together they claimed to beextraterrestrial beings in human
form sent to help people ascendbefore the end of the world.
They were also early adopters ofinternet culture.
When they used that to helpspread their message, they still

(28:28):
have a website.
That's www.heavensgate.com.
Their final message created alasting media legacy.
And you can find that messageonline.
On their website.
And just on YouTube.
We watched a part of it.
Yeah.
I'll post it in the show notes.
And that's where he's lookingdown the barrel of the camera.
His eyes are wide.
He looks fanatical.
Yeah.

(28:48):
When you think of a fanatic,this is what I picture.

SPEAKER_00 (28:51):
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
Especially like right before he's deciding to
leave the planet.
They all shave their head.
And so this is him like buzz cuthair just looking absolutely
terrifying.
Yes, I agree.
So in 1997, 39 members of thegroup died by suicide in a
coordinated effort to board aspacecraft, they believe was
trailing the Halebop comet.
Now I'm of a certain age.

(29:14):
I was in high school when thishappened.
And I remember Hailbop beinglike, this is a comet that comes
here every fuck like hundreds ofyears.

SPEAKER_00 (29:22):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (29:23):
We watched this.
I think I went out and there wasrumors of this cult exist, and
so people would go out and tryand see if they could spot a
spaceship behind it.
Nobody really knowing how thiswas going to turn out, but it
became like a big culturalevent.
Everybody was fascinated, notjust by the cult, but by
watching this like heavenlything, this asteroid or this

(29:44):
comet, whatever it is.
I don't know the differencebetween asteroid and comet.
I'll look it up.
Pass by Earth.

SPEAKER_02 (29:49):
I remember watching it with my family at a friend's
house.
I was 10.
I didn't know any backstory oranything like that.

SPEAKER_01 (29:56):
So anyway, that was like a huge cultural thing in
1997.
Yeah.
I'm going to read their pressrelease, which is essentially a
suicide note, and it's datedthree hundred twenty two
ninety-seven.
By the time you read this, wesuspect that the human bodies we
were wearing have been found,and that a flurry of fragmented
reports have begun to hit thewire services.

(30:16):
For those who want to know thefacts, the following statement
has been issued.
Heaven's Gate Away Team andthat's what they refer to
themselves as.
They even had patches.
So Heaven's Gate Away Teamreturns to level above human in
distant space, which is whatthey call the next step, level
beyond human.
Yeah.
Rancho Santa Fe, California.

(30:36):
By the time you receive this,we'll be gone.
Several dozen of us.
We come from the level abovehuman in distant space, and we
have now exited the bodies thatwe are wearing for our earthly
task to return to the world fromwhence we came, task completed.
The distant space we refer to aswhat your religious literature
would call the kingdom of heavenor the kingdom of God.
What's so creepy, like taskcompleted.

(30:59):
It is.
And calling them the away team.
Yeah.
It's like tied into sports.
Like I guess the home team wouldbe us, and they're the away
team, so now they're gone.
Thirty-nine people, and theytook a cocktail of this lethal
dose of something mixed withvodka.
They put plastic bags over theirhead, and then like a purple

(31:22):
towel.
They were all dressed exactlythe same, wearing black Nikes,
laid out in beds in this mansionin California.
Jeez.
They were discovered by this guythat was in that short little
clip that we watched, who wasintentionally left behind to
witness this event and then passon any information and kind of

(31:43):
keep the movement going, or asyou say, the door ajar.
I think that's they mentioned inthe feature that we watched.

SPEAKER_00 (31:49):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (31:50):
While Heaven's Gate no longer functions as an active
organization, it's digitalfootprint endurours offering
insight into one of the mostinfamous UFO religions in
American history.
The website is maintained by twoformer members, believed to be
Mark and Sarah King.
They were reportedly instructedby the group's leader, Marshall
Appwite, to stay behind andmanage the group's online
legacy.
While they do not activelyrecruit new members, they have

(32:10):
been known to respond toinquiries and provide
information about the group'sbeliefs.
Maybe that's a an app.
We will reach out to them.
We could.
Do you have the balls to dothat?
Yeah, I'll join.
You don't have to join.
You just have to reach out and Iask some questions.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (32:24):
I don't want you to join this, Josh.
No, that's fine.
I'll just do an episode where Ijoin each one of these.
Oh man, that would beterrifying.

SPEAKER_01 (32:31):
I don't think you'd like that.

SPEAKER_02 (32:32):
I don't have the balls for it.
I'd be so paranoid.
I would be too.

SPEAKER_01 (32:36):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (32:36):
I'd probably become a leader of one of them.
Honestly, looking at these andlike the characteristics and
some of the things these peoplebelieve, it wouldn't be that
hard to start a cult if you'reenthusiastic enough.
And like I couldn't lie topeople.
Do these cult leaders believeit?

SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
I mean, some believe it so much that they're not here
anymore because they believed itso strongly.
Like Marshall Applewhite or JimJones.
Yeah.
Raalism.

SPEAKER_02 (32:59):
So how do you say it?
I would say raism, yeah.
Because I watched the videos onit and they're still present.
They're still making videostoday, and they're very popular,
but they never said their namein the videos that I watched,
and I never looked it up.

SPEAKER_01 (33:13):
I don't like their symbol.

SPEAKER_02 (33:15):
No.
So this started in 1974.
French race car journalistClaude Vorilhan had a close
encounter of the founding awhole religion kind.
According to him, he was visitedby a small humanoid
extraterrestrial who stepped outof a flying saucer and revealed
that life on Earth was createdby an advanced alien species
known as the Elohim.

(33:35):
They didn't just create us, theywanted us to know, and they
chose Claude, now renamed Rael,to spread the message.

SPEAKER_01 (33:43):
It's a real name.
See what they did?

SPEAKER_02 (33:45):
Oh yeah.
Rail name?
Rael.
It's a Rael name.

SPEAKER_01 (33:49):
Yeah, but they just switched the E and the A.
Mm-hmm.
It's real guys, I promise.

SPEAKER_02 (33:55):
Raelism teaches that Elohim seeded life on Earth and
have been guiding humanitythroughout history.
Figures like Jesus, Buddha, andMuhammad, all messengers sent by
Elohim.
The group advocates for buildingan embassy to welcome the
Elohim's return, ideally nearJerusalem, complete with a
landing pad.
However, Israel doesn'tappreciate the star of David

(34:16):
slash swastika combo thatthey're if you look at this,
that's exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_01 (34:20):
It's the star of David, right?
A six-sided star with a swastikaright in the middle.

SPEAKER_02 (34:25):
Yeah, instead of like the star lines going all
the way to the next point, itcreates a swastika.

SPEAKER_01 (34:31):
Yeah.
It's kind of done in the styleof like a Celtic knot.
I don't know if you know what aCeltic knot is, but that's where
like all these pieces connect.

SPEAKER_02 (34:37):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (34:38):
Very upsetting.

SPEAKER_02 (34:39):
One of their most controversial moments came in
the early 2000s when Rayleclaimed a company affiliated
with the movement, clonade, hadsuccessfully cloned a human
child.

SPEAKER_01 (34:49):
It sounds like they're one letter away from
something that you use to cleanout your colon.
Colon aid?
Yeah.
If you just put an O there.
That's true.
It doesn't sound like atechnology used to clone.
It sounds like a an aid.
Like a medical.
Like a medical aid, yes.

SPEAKER_02 (35:07):
Yeah.
I think I remember hearing cloneaid in school when I was in the
2000s.
Raelians support human cloning,sensual meditation, and a kind
of spiritual atheism, replacingGod with science and aliens.
They even in the video that wewatched, they mentioned, did you
watch that one with the comic,like comic book style?

SPEAKER_00 (35:28):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (35:28):
When this closed encounter happened and it was
just recounting it, it was thewhole conversation that they
had.
And one of the things he's like,so there is no spirituality.
It's all science.
Like when Moses split the RedSea, it wasn't Moses that did
it.
It was our alien spaceship thatsent beams and split it for them
because we were guiding them tosafe passage.

(35:51):
And the video talked about tonsof different things.

SPEAKER_01 (35:53):
Maybe I missed that part, but that's okay.
So it's just co-opting all thesereligious events and saying it
was all aliens all along.
It's aliens all the way down.

SPEAKER_02 (36:03):
Right.
Aliens and science.
So that's where the spiritualatheism comes in.
So Rail often appears in a whitejumpsuit with a sci-fi insignia.
And yes, this group is stillvery much active around the
world.
Their YouTube channel isextremely active.
Raelism has tens of thousands offollowers worldwide and some
very bold branding aroundpleasure, peace, and

(36:25):
post-religious enlightenment.
So that's at UFO Cole.
The videos I watched, they werefairly poorly done.

SPEAKER_01 (36:32):
I liked the graphic of their compound.
I wanted to see that in reallife.
I wanted to see what thisactually looked like, but I
don't even think it's builtbecause they're talking in the
dossier about wanting to buildnear Jerusalem, and Jerusalem's
like Yeah, they have the plansall laid out, like they know
what it's going to look like.

SPEAKER_02 (36:50):
They're basically building a welcome center for
the aliens when they come, andthey have it all ready.
It looks like a party.

SPEAKER_01 (36:59):
Yeah.
Straight cult.
Straight alien cult.
Real quick, I skipped over thepart in Heaven's Gate about Star
Trek.

SPEAKER_00 (37:05):
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (37:06):
So to jump back, the cult included many Star Trek
influences from their uniformedappearance with identical
clothing and Nikes to their useof Star Trek terminology, the
most infamous example beingtheir term for their suicide,
the away mission.
Star Trek even released anepisode about a year after the
suicides in Deep Space Nineepisode 7 titled Covenant.

(37:26):
The basic story of this episodecame from David Weddell, who had
been an investigative reporterand had written about Colts for
the LA Weekly and San JoseMercury News.
Specifically, the episode wasinspired by the Heaven's Gate
cult led by Marshall Applewite.
So one of the big takeaways thatI get before we get into our
next group is how tied toscience fiction these guys all

(37:50):
are.
Yeah, definitely a link.
Like O.Ron Hubbard was a sciencefiction author.
It's wild.
Like the connections they haveto Star Trek.
In fact, one of the videos wewatched the Heaven's Gate
members would just watch rerunsof old Star Trek because they
were looking for clues.
They thought that these StarTrek episodes contained a

(38:11):
message about how to move on tolevel beyond human.
Yeah, it's just wild.

SPEAKER_02 (38:17):
That is.

SPEAKER_01 (38:18):
Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 (38:18):
So yeah, the next one, which is the last one we're
gonna cover, is Order of theSolar Temple.

SPEAKER_01 (38:25):
So Order of the Solar Temple, founded around
1984, up to 1997, which seemslike what a big year for cult
ends.
Big, big ending year, yeah.
The Order of the Solar Templeblended UFO beliefs with
apocalyptic Christianity,Freemasonry, and New Age
mysticism, and ended one of themost disturbing cult tragedies
of the 20th century.

(38:46):
Yep.
Founded by Joseph D.
Mombro and Luc Juray in Europein the 1980s, the group taught
that Earth was corrupt anddoomed, and that true believers
would ascend to a higherexistence on a planet orbiting
the star Sirius.
The only way to get there?
Death.
Seen not as an end but atransition, a transit to the
next realm.
The order was secretive,hierarchical, and ritual heavy

(39:08):
with members wearing robes andperforming elaborate ceremonies.
DeMombro claimed to be incontact with ascended masters
and said he alone couldinterpret their will.
The group acquired wealth andinfluence, attracting educated
professionals, including doctorsand civil servants.
Things turned tragic in themid-1990s.
In 1994, fifty-three members ofthe order were found dead in

(39:28):
Switzerland and Quebec in whatappeared to be mass suicides or
ritual murders.
More deaths followed in 1995 and97, bringing the total to 74
fatalities, which is almostdouble the Heaven's Gate.

SPEAKER_02 (39:42):
Yeah, and some of these fatalities were actually
children.
Eleven of them were children.
And I mean this whole thing gotreally weird in the 90s because
they went one of the leaders hadhis own child when he was in his
50s, and he believed that it wasImmaculate Conception.
And he convinced all thefollowers that this was a holy

(40:03):
child.
Then he started having sex withthe women to curate helpers,
holy helpers, to be servants tohis child.
Yeah.
And then sometimes when familieswould leave, he would go and
kill those families.
And so that's part of those 74deaths, is just murders.

(40:23):
They would tranquilize them.
One of the babies, he told someof the followers that the baby
was the Antichrist, and the onlyway to kill an antichrist is to
stab it in the heart.
And so the parents watched thesefollowers stab this baby in the
heart, and then they stabbed theparents to death because they
left.

SPEAKER_01 (40:41):
I hate this so much.

SPEAKER_02 (40:42):
Yeah.
I mean, it was disgusting.

SPEAKER_01 (40:45):
Victims were often drugged and placed in ranged
positions with some buildingsburned to the ground.
The group believed their deathswould allow them to reincarnate
on Sirius and help humanity frombeyond.
Like Heaven's Gate, they saw thehuman body as a temporary vessel
and their exit as a form ofsalvation.
The Order of the Solar Templestands as a chilling reminder of
how cosmic belief, charismaticleadership, and apocalyptic

(41:06):
urgency can lead to real worldhorror.

SPEAKER_02 (41:08):
And another strange thing is we don't know.
We think that this isn't aroundanymore, but after one of the
bigger mass suicides, the twoleaders were a part of that.
So they don't know who theleaders were after that, but
there were a couple otherinstances from this group of
suicide and murder after thefact.

(41:29):
And then we don't know if theyjust went underground or if
they're still around or if theyare done now.
It's wild.
It is wild.
So, like you were saying, thereare common threads across these
UFO religions.
So salvation from the stars isone.
Nearly every group promisesrescue or transcendence through
extraterrestrial intervention.

(41:49):
Whether it's a spaceship behinda comet, a portal to Sirius, or
an alien-built embassy, they'reall looking for salvation.
Another one is the body as avessel.
Many teach that physical formsare just vehicles or containers.
What matters is the soul,spirit, or thetan inside and
where it's headed next.
And like you mentioned at thetop of the episode, the

(42:11):
charismatic leadership, gottahave that.
From Doe to Ryal to Dimombro,most of these groups revolve
around a central figure withaccess to higher knowledge or
divine alien contact.
And then they all haveapocalyptic thinking.
There's often a looming threat,whether it's Earth's destruction
or a planetary recycling orspiritual collapse that only the

(42:31):
initiated can escape.
And then cosmic hierarchies.
These religions love structure.
You've got the Elohim, thecosmic masters, the Galactic
Confederation, the level abovehumans, and the interplanetary
parliament.

SPEAKER_01 (42:44):
Like they're all there.
Very Star Wars, like theGalactic Confederation.

SPEAKER_02 (42:48):
Yeah.
And then spiritual sciencefiction.
Many of these beliefs reframetraditional religious ideas,
creation, since salvationthrough a sci-fi lens.
It's Genesis rewritten withlasers, basically.
So this is, I mean, if you're atroubled mind, you could use
these common threads to createyour own cult.
What does that say about you,Josh?
I mean, how many times in thisepisode did you say you're gonna

(43:10):
start a cult?
On or off mic?
Like ten.
Yeah, maybe one's on mic.

SPEAKER_00 (43:14):
Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 (43:15):
Gonna do it.
Rewind the tape.
Let's hear it.
So which group's belief systemssurprise you the most?
Uh none of them.
You're just like, yep, checksout.

SPEAKER_01 (43:23):
No, they weren't surprising.
It's the actions that they takebased on those beliefs.
That's what's surprising.
It's how far some of theseleaders took their beliefs.

SPEAKER_02 (43:32):
Yeah, I mean, the Order of the Solar Temple, they
took it the furthest.
You know, they created basicallylike sleeper agents to go and
kill.

SPEAKER_01 (43:40):
I think Heaven's Gate took it the furthest
because he was able like Orderof the Solar Temple, that was
murder.
Like he was going out andmurdering people.
He'd convince people thatwhatever their belief system
was, but these people had todie, one was the Antichrist or
whatever.
Yeah.
And then he killed them.
But with Heaven's Gate, heconvinced them to take their own
life, which I think is that'sscarier.

(44:02):
Like we've always had murderersand and killers in our society,
but convincing not just one ortwo people that they have to
move on beyond this life to getto the next level.
He convinced 39 people to do it.
That is terrifying.

SPEAKER_02 (44:18):
Yeah, I don't get it.
I mean, is there any of thesecults that you get?

SPEAKER_01 (44:23):
Um, the Ethereum I don't get, but it is like the
weirdest, and they're so fuckingsincere.
Like standing on top, shoutingprayers into a battery, and they
all have to strike a pose whereit's like Sounds like a good
Friday.
I mean, and they like you said,uh good times and Yeah, they're

(44:44):
not hurting anyone, they'reactually there to help.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (44:46):
They believe that they're doing good.

SPEAKER_01 (44:48):
Yeah.
I mean, of all the ones we'veread, I think that one is like
the sweetest.
I don't know.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (44:54):
I pretty much don't like any of them, but do you
think that there's a linebetween spiritual belief and
dangerous delusion?

SPEAKER_01 (45:00):
Well, yeah, there's a line.
Yeah, I don't like what is thequestion.

SPEAKER_02 (45:04):
Where do you think that line is?

SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
Uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (45:07):
I'm not a like a spiritual doctor.

SPEAKER_01 (45:09):
Yeah, I'm not a like a philosophical theologian.
So it's like one of those thingsfor me, when you see it, you see
it.
Or when you know it's there, youknow it's there.
I don't know what the line is,though.

SPEAKER_02 (45:21):
Yeah, I just I've known people that have
accidentally gotten into cults,and it is a very slow thing.
Like you said, you know, theydon't go in knowing all this
information.

SPEAKER_01 (45:31):
To put it into like real-world context, like there
are a lot of fundamentalchurches out there.
The LES Church has one andcolloquially refer to them as
fundies, right?
Yeah.
And there's some in the Jewishchurch, Mennonites are a big
one.
We don't really have a lot ofand mean we have a small
Mennonite community here.
Amish, another fundy group.

(45:52):
We had a real life, and maybeyou don't know this, but we had
a real life fundy event happenhere within the last couple of
days.
There was an amber alert.
This family, they were part ofthis fundamental church.
One of the parents who had leftthe church and had had divorced
their spouse wanted to go andget their kids.
They felt like their kids werenot safe.
Went and picked up the kids.
The kids didn't want to leave,but they went with their parent.

(46:15):
And so there was an amber alertput out trying to bring these
kids back to this fundamentalchurch.

SPEAKER_02 (46:20):
Jeez, that's scary.
That happened a couple days ago.
A lot of people don't realizethat they're in a cult.

SPEAKER_01 (46:26):
So it is that slow fade.
Well, and I think a lot of thatcomes from like that definition
that I read at the top of theshow.
It's a pejorative.
Like nobody wants to be part ofsomething that is scorned or
looked upon.
Like they'll say, like, it's nota cult.
Like you don't even know what acult is.

SPEAKER_02 (46:40):
Well, a lot of times cult leaders they'll become so
enveloped in this person's lifethat they end up cutting them
off from the people that lovethem most so that no one can
tell them isolation, basically.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (46:52):
Well, that's why they all have like compounds and
like with Scientology, though,it's they're as far as all these
cults are concerned, veryvisible.
But some of the really dangerousones, it's like in an abusive
relationship.
If you are abusing somebody,you're going to want to keep
them away from people, friends,family, people that will try to
get you out of that situation.

SPEAKER_00 (47:14):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (47:14):
So it's very much an abusive relationship made large.

SPEAKER_02 (47:18):
So here are some signs that you're in a cult.
Absolute authoritarianism.
So the leader's word is law, andthere's little to no
accountability for theiractions.
Like you can't ask questions,which is the next one.
They don't let you askquestions.

SPEAKER_01 (47:32):
Yeah, you can't ask questions, and then it's like,
well, this is good for me, butnot good for you.
So, like we talked about a lotof these cults, and that
includes I'm talking about cultsbroadly, not cults just within
this alien subsect.
You have to take a vow ofcelibacy, but the cult leader
doesn't, because the cult leaderfeels like his seed is so much

(47:52):
more important to spread thananybody else's.
So now you're bringing your wifein.
Well, now your wife has nowbecome part of his harem.

SPEAKER_02 (48:01):
Yeah.
So they have control overmembers' lives, which is almost
always male.
Yeah.
Personal finances,relationships, and personal
choices.
They also do mind control andmanipulation.
They do black and white, rigidthinking.
It usually promotes simplisticviews of the world, often
portraying them as good and theoutside world as evil.
They use fear tactics, emotionalmanipulation, and loss of

(48:24):
individuality.

SPEAKER_01 (48:25):
That's the whole point of the uniforms.

SPEAKER_02 (48:27):
Yeah.
Secrecy, communal living,ideological extremism, so
exclusive truth claims,rejections from outsiders, and
unrealistic goals and promises,financial exploitation.
So they're very interested inyour finances.
But these are just signs.
So since I've known people thathave been in them, a lot of

(48:47):
times they don't see the sign.
So if you're in a group that hasanything like that, whether it
be political, religious,spiritual.

SPEAKER_01 (48:54):
I would say it's more important for people who
have loved ones that maybe havejoined a cult to help get them
out than it is we're not goingto convince a cult member to
leave a cult.
Like that is not going to happenbecause we're just two idiots
with microphones.

SPEAKER_02 (49:09):
Yeah.
You never know.

SPEAKER_01 (49:11):
Well, I don't think so.
That's never going to happen.
I think that the family membersthat can identify that, that's
where you're going to make thechange.

SPEAKER_02 (49:19):
No, I agree.
Definitely.
I would hate to be a familymember who's I mean, we saw
interviews on a lot of thesevideos of family members after
their loved ones took theirlives or were convinced to take
their lives, or basically theywere murdered through the cult
leader's words.
You can see the real, real painthat these people go through.

(49:40):
And it's I could not imaginethat.
That'd be horrible.
To wrap this whole thing up,aliens, yes, but maybe Jesus?

SPEAKER_01 (49:48):
I don't know.
Well that's not even anappropriate question.

SPEAKER_02 (49:52):
No, it isn't.

SPEAKER_01 (49:52):
But these things aren't the same.

SPEAKER_02 (49:54):
Like we said, there's a bunch of other alien
cults out there.
Some, all they're doing is justtrying to contact aliens through
remote viewing.
Yeah.
You know, and I mean that's justwhat it is.
They're not doing any harm,they're not doing really any
good.
You know, they're just doingtheir thing.
It's an intense hobby.
Yeah.
Let me know what your guys'favorite was.
Get a hold of us on Instagram orGmail, aliens yes, but maybe no

(50:18):
at Gmail.
Leave comments and reviews.
So we're on YouTube, Spotify.
You can comment on their reviewson Apple.
We would love to just hear fromyou guys.

SPEAKER_01 (50:28):
Yeah.
Positive reviews, though.
We want positivity.

SPEAKER_02 (50:31):
Yeah, don't be dumb.

SPEAKER_01 (50:32):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (50:32):
That wasn't very positive, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 (50:34):
Don't be a jerk and say, like, you don't like the
sound of our voice.
Sorry, I can't change my voice.
It's going to be annoying intro.
I'm going to interrupt you.

SPEAKER_02 (50:40):
You have a great podcasting voice.

SPEAKER_01 (50:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (50:43):
Okay.
This leads us to the best partof the show.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (50:49):
All right.
Actually, this is kind of a nicelittle power cleanser.
I'm looking forward to this overtalking about cults.

SPEAKER_02 (50:56):
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Oh, don't don't tell me yet.
I haven't opened it.
So we are going to open ouremail that we get.
And this is going to be thetopic for our next episode.
We don't know what it is untiljust now.
We get this.
Yeah, we're learning it withyou.
Now I know.
And what is the baseline quizgoing to be?

(51:19):
Alien species.
Oh yeah.
Oh my god.
I'm excited.
This is going to be cool.
I've only heard from otherpeople.
I haven't done any research oranything like that.
So this will be cool learning.

SPEAKER_01 (51:31):
So we're going to do like xenomorphs and ETs and
avatars.

SPEAKER_02 (51:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (51:36):
Right?
Hopefully.

SPEAKER_02 (51:38):
No, that's your that's your other podcast.
These are all alien species.
Are they?
Let's find out.
So we'll do the quiz.
Avatars.
That's what they're called,right?
The last airbender?
Maybe.
Yeah.
Okay.
So we have a handful ofquestions.
I'm going to read them.
That is from my other podcast,Cinema Rust Punch, if you guys

(51:58):
didn't get that.

SPEAKER_01 (51:59):
Shameless plug.

SPEAKER_02 (52:00):
So I'm going to read the question.
We're both going to answer.
We're going to lock in our ownanswers, and at the end we'll
see.

SPEAKER_01 (52:07):
I already know what my answer is for this first one.

SPEAKER_02 (52:09):
Okay.
So, first question.
How many species ofextraterrestrials are there at
least, according to a recentinterview with Dr.
Steven Greer?
Is it 11?
27?
69.
Boom.
108.
69.
You think it's 69?
Oh, dude, I'm I don't care.
You think Greer's a a freak?

SPEAKER_01 (52:29):
I think he's a dirty, dirty little man.

SPEAKER_02 (52:32):
I'm gonna say 27.
You know space is big, right?

SPEAKER_00 (52:37):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (52:38):
Yeah.
So you're taking with 69?
I'm saying it was 69.
All right.
What do you know, Josh?
Nothing.
Next one.
What species is not commonlyrumored to work with or be
involved in Earth's government?
Is it the grays, the tallwhites, the reptilians, or the
Plaiadians?
Never heard of that.

SPEAKER_01 (52:58):
Okay, not commonly rumored to work with.

SPEAKER_02 (53:01):
Yeah, I'm gonna say the Pleiades, because I've never
heard of that.

SPEAKER_01 (53:04):
So like reptilians they say very involved.
Yeah.
Grays are always like they'relike the tricksters, right?
They're like the abductors.
I'm gonna say the grays.
You're gonna say grays?
Yeah.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (53:15):
Next question.
This alien species is describedas spiritually advanced,
possibly blue skinned, and knownfor telepathic communication and
communal living.
Is it A, the Syrians?
Syrians.
Syrians?
From Syria.
Yeah.
Alien planet.
B tall whites.
C uh Venetians.

(53:36):
Venusians.
Venusians.
Like from Venus.
Or D Arturians Arturians.
I don't know.
I'm gonna say Venusians.
I'm gonna say Venusians too.
Because blue.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
Same color as women.
Yeah.
Blue.
Yeah.
That's where they come from.
And men are from Mars.
It just seems like the rightanswer.
Uh-huh.
Communal living.
Come on.

(53:56):
All right.
Next question.
Where are reptilians said tolive, according to many
conspiracy theories?
Is it the moon?
Underground bases on Earth, deepocean trenches, or a hidden
space station orbiting Saturn?

SPEAKER_01 (54:10):
I'm going to say underground bases on Earth.

SPEAKER_02 (54:12):
That sounds good.
I'm going to say deep oceantrenches.
Okay.
But I feel like you might beright.
But it could be the moon.

SPEAKER_01 (54:18):
I feel pretty strong about my answer, which means
it's wrong.

SPEAKER_02 (54:20):
Oh yeah.
That's true.
Okay, next one.
Which alien species is describedas insect-like, often appearing
during abductions as observersor supervisors?
Oh man, supervisors.
Yeah.
Is it mantids?
Mm-hmm.
Syrians?
Arcturians or tall whites?
Uh I'm gonna say mantids?

SPEAKER_01 (54:41):
I'm gonna say mantids too, because mantis.

SPEAKER_02 (54:43):
Like a praying mantis.
Mantius, yeah.
Easy.

SPEAKER_01 (54:46):
Easy.

SPEAKER_02 (54:46):
Okay.
Next one.
What physical features commonlydescribed in reports of the
grays?
Red eyes with vertical pupils,long antenna with blinking tips,
large black almond-shaped eyes,glowing blue skin.
What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 (55:01):
Large black almond-shaped eyes.
I was just picturing grays in myhead.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (55:05):
I've seen hundreds of pictures of grays.

SPEAKER_01 (55:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (55:08):
Yeah.
The stereotypical alien, notgreen, but gray.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Last question.
Better get it right.
Which group is often associatedwith ancient civilizations and
gold mining and said tooriginate from the mysterious
planet called Niburu.
Is it Anunnaki, Reptilians,Venusians, or Greys?

SPEAKER_01 (55:32):
I'm going to say Anunnaki because you bring it up
all the time.
You're always talking about, andI don't ever Because it's all
real, man.
I don't ever listen.
As soon as you say that word,I'm just like, my eyes, I'm
done.
I can see it, but that doesn'tstop me from talking about it.
I started thinking about how didTom Cruise learn to hold his
breath for six minutes.

SPEAKER_02 (55:50):
Yeah.
All right.
So let's submit.
View our accuracy.
Oh my gosh.
How many species ofextraterrestrials are there?

SPEAKER_01 (55:59):
Oh.

SPEAKER_02 (56:00):
At least, according to Stephen Greer.

SPEAKER_01 (56:02):
What a horny number.

SPEAKER_02 (56:04):
It is 69.
Hell yeah, it is.
So never not guess 69, Josh.
Or 420.
I'm learning that now.
Okay.
What species is not commonlyrumored to work with or be
involved in Earth's governments?
I said Pleiadians.
You said that too, right?
No, I said Grays.
Oh, okay.
Pleiadians.
From Pleiades.
Pleiades.

(56:24):
Pleiadians.
Yeah.
So next one.
This alien species is describedas spiritually advanced,
possibly blueskin, and known fortelepathic communication and
communal living.
The answer was Arcturians.

SPEAKER_01 (56:38):
So right, and I just want to get ahead of this.
I got one right so far, twowrong so far, but scrolling
through, Travis did pretty good.
Good.
Good for you.
Pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 (56:49):
Okay.
So that one is Arcturians.
Arcturians.
Next one, where are reptilianssaid to live, according to many
conspiracy theories?
I said deep ocean trenches.
That's not correct.
And you said underground baseson Earth.
You got it right.

SPEAKER_01 (57:03):
Feeling pretty good right now.

SPEAKER_02 (57:05):
Good.
Which alien species is describedas insect-like, often appearing
during abductions or observersor supervisors?
We both said mantids, right?
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Okay.
Got it right.
Both got it right.
What physical features commonlydescribed in Reports of the
Greys?
Large black almonds shaped.
Nailed in.
Obvi.
And then lastly, which group isoften associated with ancient

(57:27):
civilizations and gold miningand said to originate from the
mysterious planet called Nibiru?
It is the Anunnaki.
I think this might be a longerepisode that we're going to do.

SPEAKER_01 (57:35):
Maybe break it up in two.

SPEAKER_02 (57:37):
I mean the Anunnaki could just be one.
But we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 (57:40):
Because of gold.

SPEAKER_02 (57:41):
Because they like their gold.
Mm-hmm.
Well, the Anunnaki goes back tolike ancient Sumerian texts and
all these other ancientwritings.
What about the Nephilim?
The Anunnaki and the Nephilimare they're the same?
Uh we'll find out.

SPEAKER_01 (57:57):
That comes from Genesis?
Nephilim?

SPEAKER_02 (57:59):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (57:59):
There's biblical context.

SPEAKER_02 (58:01):
Yeah.
There's a lot of from myunderstanding.
I haven't researched them a lot,but from what I've seen and
read, there's a lot of goodevidence that there is a
possibility that this is real.
Just from around the world,different texts saying that
these people came from the sky.
Love it.
I actually ran into someone at astore the other day and was
telling about this podcast, andthey are from a tribe in Alaska,

(58:24):
and they were telling me thatthey have an alignment in their
own like native wording about atime before the moon and their
ancestors came down from thestars.
Yeah.
But yeah, I mean, so all aroundthe world, there's just these
origin stories of beings comingfrom the air.
Yeah.
So cool.
Well, thank you for listening.
And like I said, rate, review,comment, smash that whatever

(58:47):
button.

SPEAKER_01 (58:47):
Yep.
Smash that like button.
Yes.
That thumbs up.

SPEAKER_02 (58:51):
Yep.
Give me that thumbs up.

SPEAKER_01 (58:52):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (58:53):
All right.
And we will chat at you nextepisode.
Yay.
Bye.
Bye.