Cults and Secret Societies

Cults and Secret Societies

Cults and Secret Societies explores hidden groups, secret societies, and controversial movements that have shaped history from the shadows. Hosted by Ben Carter, each episode investigates rituals, hierarchies, psychological manipulation, and the systems of power behind these organizations through a structured, documentary-style approach. Examining historical context, belief systems, and influence, the series uncovers how these groups have impacted religion, politics, and global events. Unlock bonus content and full video episodes: https://www.patreon.com/theforbiddenknowledgenetwork

Episodes

October 30, 2026 • 25 mins
This episode investigates the occult history of Halloween by following the evidence behind Samhain, All Hallows’ Eve, and the modern holiday. It begins with Irish folklore records collected by schoolchildren in nineteen thirty-seven and nineteen thirty-eight, then moves backward and forward through medieval Irish literature, Christian calendar history, Geoffrey Keating’s seventeenth-century account of a Samhain fire at ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Twin Flames Universe began as an online spiritual and relationship community built around one powerful promise: that each person has a destined romantic partner, a twin flame, and that Jeff and Shaleia Divine could help members reach harmonious union. Through online videos, Facebook groups, paid classes, and coaching programs, TFU grew into a largely digital organization for people seeking love, healing, spiritual certainty, or per...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
In late nineteen-sixties and early nineteen-seventies Los Angeles, Jim Baker opened The Source, a health-food restaurant on Sunset Boulevard that became the financial engine and social doorway for a communal spiritual movement. Known to followers as Father Yod and later YaHoWha, Baker gathered roughly one hundred to one hundred fifty members into shared houses, meditation, vegetarian practice, music, labor, new names, and a family ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
This episode examines the first Ku Klux Klan of Reconstruction, not the later organization revived in nineteen fifteen. In Pulaski, Tennessee, around May or early June eighteen sixty-six, a small circle of former Confederate soldiers formed a private fraternity with comic titles, disguises, initiation customs, and secrecy pledges. Within a few years, local dens across parts of the South were linked to intimidation and violence agai...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
In Munich after the First World War, the Thule Society presented itself as a selective association for Germanic antiquity while promoting völkisch racial nationalism, antisemitism, and counterrevolutionary politics. Organized by Rudolf von Sebottendorff, officially chaired by Friedrich Knauf, and rooted in the older Germanenorden, Thule occupied rooms in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, gained influence through publishing, and helped c...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
In Victorian Britain, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn offered a private path into occult study through graded initiation, ritual, symbolism, and restricted instruction. Founded in 1888 by William Wynn Westcott, William Robert Woodman, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, it drew physicians, artists, actors, writers, and patrons, including Florence Farr, Annie Horniman, W. B. Yeats, Moina Mathers, and, later, Aleister Crowley...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Ordo Templi Orientis, or OTO, is often remembered through Aleister Crowley, but it began before him in the early twentieth-century world of European occult fraternities, irregular Freemasonry, Rosicrucian systems, and competing claims to secret initiation. Its formative figures were Carl Kellner and Theodor Reuss. Crowley entered later, bringing Thelema, the religious and philosophical system based on The Book of the Law, and resha...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
In France, on Friday the thirteenth of October, thirteen hundred and seven, King Philip the Fourth ordered the mass arrest of the Knights Templar, one of medieval Christianity’s most privileged military-religious orders. Founded in Jerusalem in the early twelfth century to protect pilgrims and defend crusader territory, the Templars grew into a transnational institution of monks, warriors, estate managers, lenders, and papal ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
In nineteen sixty-nine, deputies entered a remote desert property near Vidal and Blythe, California, connected to Solar Lodge, a small occult initiatory group led by Georgina “Jean” Brayton. The group drew on Aleister Crowley-derived ritual systems, disputed O.T.O.-related claims, communal property, initiation, internal hierarchy, and, according to later insider accounts, LSD used as a sacrament in ceremonies. Its publi...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
On July eighth, twenty twenty-two, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated during a campaign speech in Nara. The accused killer said his anger came from his family’s financial ruin after his mother donated vast sums to the Unification Church, and from Abe’s perceived connection to a Moon-linked peace organization. That killing forced Japan to examine decades of relationships between the church, relate...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
In February nineteen eighty-seven, police in Tallahassee, Florida, found two well-dressed men with six dirty, hungry children in Myers Park. The adults were linked to the Finders, a secretive Washington-area communal organization centered around Marion David Pettie, a former Air Force master sergeant known to followers by names including the Stroller and the Game Caller. Within days, investigators searched Finders properties in Was...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
For centuries, rumors have claimed that presidents, monarchs, bankers, aristocrats, and cultural elites secretly belong to one hidden religion. The historical record does not support that claim. But it does show something more complex: influential people have repeatedly entered initiatory fraternities, esoteric orders, private lodges, and ritual societies built around secrecy, graded knowledge, symbolic transformation, and exclusiv...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Before the modern Illuminati became a symbol of hidden global power, there was a documented secret order in Bavaria. Founded on May first, seventeen seventy-six, by Adam Weishaupt, the Bavarian Illuminati recruited educated and influential men, used pseudonyms and hierarchical ranks, expanded through Masonic circles, and claimed to pursue Enlightenment reform through secrecy and indirect influence. During the Bavarian crackdown of ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
The Order of Nine Angles, also known as ONA or O9A, is not a conventional secret society with a public leader, headquarters, or known membership list. It emerged from the United Kingdom in the late twentieth century through occult writings associated with the name Anton Long, whose identity has often been linked by researchers to British extremist David Myatt, a connection Myatt has disputed. O9A presents itself as an initiatory oc...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Each July, the private Bohemian Club gathers at Bohemian Grove, a secluded redwood retreat near Monte Rio, California. Founded in San Francisco in eighteen seventy-two by journalists, artists, actors, and musicians, the club later became associated with presidents, cabinet officials, military leaders, financiers, media figures, corporate executives, university heads, and other prominent men. Its most famous event is the Cremation o...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
https://www.FKNpods.com
Join us as we delve into the eerie world of UFO death cults, where belief systems centered around alien salvation morph into dangerous mechanisms of control and obedience. In this episode, we unravel the chilling stories of groups like Heaven's Gate and the Order of the Solar Temple. These movements were not merely about extraterrestrial fascination, but about how charismatic leadership and apocalyptic pr...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
https://www.FKNpods.com
The Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh, were a religious group with a deeply apocalyptic belief system. Their understanding of the Seven Seals from the Book of Revelation was not just a theological stance but a living doctrine that influenced every aspect of their lives. As tensions built between the Branch Davidians and federal authorities, these beliefs became the lens through which the group viewed ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
https://www.FKNpods.com
In the 1990s, the shocking discovery of bodies arranged ritualistically in a Swiss chalet shook the world. These were members of the Order of the Solar Temple, a secretive society led by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret. Promising spiritual enlightenment, they imposed extreme control over their followers, leading them to a tragic end. This episode delves into the group's origins, its manipulative hierarchy...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
https://www.FKNpods.com
Dive deep into the world of the Illuminati, a society that began under the guise of enlightenment and rationalism but quickly morphed into a network shrouded in secrecy and control. Explore the documented rituals and alleged testimonies that reveal how this group exerted influence over its members, crafting a hierarchy that demanded absolute loyalty. Through historical documents and firsthand accounts, we...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
https://www.FKNpods.com
The sudden and unsettling discovery of Amy Carlson's mummified body in a Colorado home uncovered the enigmatic world of Love Has Won, a cult that emerged in the digital age. Known as "Mother God" by her followers, Carlson captivated audiences worldwide through constant livestreams and digital sermons. Love Has Won utilized online platforms to spread its unusual doctrines, drawing followers into a controll...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

    Crime Junkie

    Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.

    DISGRACELAND

    DISGRACELAND is an award-winning music and true crime podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. Jerry Lee Lewis's 5th wife? Dead. Sid and Nancy? Both dead. Why? Because musicians are insane, and insane things happen to them. Why did we lose Amy Winehouse at 27? Was Debbie Harry really abducted by Ted Bundy as she claims? Is Patti Smith not just the "Godmother of Punk", but also the "Original True Crime Girl"? What really happened the night of the Jay Z nightclub stabbing? What do the Diddy indictments truly reveal? All these stories and more, on artists from every genre and their true crimes, in our massive 260-plus story archive. The Dead, the Stones, Johnny, Willie, Frank, Kurt, Courtney, Gaga, Lana, Taylor, and too many to name. DISGRACELAND is music history come to life through audio storytelling as you've never heard it before, with revealing facts: yes, assassins are the real reason the Beatles quit touring—reclaimed myths: no, Mama Cass didn't die from choking on a ham sandwich––and constant reckoning between art and artist––all told through the lens of true crime. This is the podcast for the self-proclaimed "Disgos", the musically obsessed and the true crime heads; the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. DISGRACELAND is where host Jake Brennan tells the stories they didn't want told. The kind you'll end up telling someone else. Get ready to uncover hidden truths and buckle up for truly edge-of-your-seat storytelling. New, fully scripted, sound-designed episodes are released every Tuesday. Bonus chat-style episodes where Jake responds to voicemails, texts, and emails from Disgos hit on Thursdays, and "Rewind" episodes from our archive drop on Sundays. DISGRACELAND is not a journalistic podcast. It's an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. Certain dialogue and scenes are dramatized, as is common in scripted entertainment based on real stories. Sources and credits for each episode are available at www.disgracelandpod.com. To unlock ad-free listening, exclusive content, and connect with your fellow Disgos, go to www.disgracelandpod.com to become an All Access member. Rocka Rolla.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.

  • Help
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • AdChoicesAd Choices