“We were invisible. We had to be. We took an oath of absolute secrecy. We never even told our immediate families who we were. We went about our lives in New York City. Just like you. We were your accountants, money managers, lawyers, executive recruiters, doctors. We owned your child’s private school and sold you your brownstone. But you’d never guess our secret lives, how we lived in a kind of silent terror and fervor. There were hundreds of us.”

That’s a snippet from Spencer Schneider’s compelling and creepy AF memoir: Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival. This isn’t an ad, it’s just the truth: We think you’re going to want to grab yourself a copy before you hit the beach this summer. It’s that much of a page turner. In this episode of A Little Bit Culty, Spencer joins us to share more about what it was like living inside the nightmarish bubble of ‘School’, the ultra-secret Manhattan organization that consumed his life for 23 years. And just in case you’ve not heard of ‘School’, this particular culty shitshow gives us Eyes Wide Shut vibes with sprinklings of Eloise if she lived at The Plaza in the Upside Down. For extra credit, read up on the late Sharon Gans, the eccentric School leader whose cult resume lowlights include: forced adoptions, arranged marriages, twisted displays of public humiliation and conspicuous consumption, and forced labor. Glad you got the hell out of there, Spencer.  

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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Producers: Will Retherford & Jess Tardy

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

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