In the summer and fall of 2016, reports of “killer clowns” lurking at the edges of American towns spread from community to community. This week, Mike and Merinda watch the documentary Clown Panic currently streaming on Hulu to explore that moral panic and ask how it spread. Was it local media, Facebook, Pokémon Go, a Rob Zombie movie, or something deeper about how we form communities around fear and safety?

They also get into how the film treats the rural, Southern communities where many sightings happened, and why one interview subject’s portrayal bothered them. Mike makes the case that the clown panic is part of a larger cultural shift that began around 2013–14, one that also explains our current cult documentary boom.

Plus, Merinda recommends a new podcast, Experts in a Dying Field, and Mike shares his latest grilling obsession.

Links

Zac Morris’s deep dive on the 2016 clown panic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOq7-B207U8

Interview with the documentary’s makers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMFAFc8zn8

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Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.

What justifies calling something a conspiracy, What is "conspiracy" really shorthand for, and How does the term "conspiracy" function for people? In this episode, Mike and Merinda use the documentary Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy to theorize how something comes to be labeled a conspiracy and what this does for the classifier. They also discuss the differences in labeling something a conspiracy vs. a cult. They ask, how is the role of media similar in conspiracy theory documentaries to what we've seen in cult documentaries? Along with this, this episode features a discussion on the implications of oversimplifications and how these operated in the "Just Say No" campaign highlighted in the documentary.

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.

Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance.

The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.

Can there be a cult without a camera pointed at it? Mike and Merinda have asked this question a lot and it is central to this week's documentary. The Cult of the Soulful Journey tells the story of a new age group based in Minnetonka, Minnesota organized around new age teacher and channeler Soulaire Allerai. The documentary depicts Soulaire as a controlling and charismatic "cult leader." But why? Along the way we hear from former members Rik and Bil, who found themselves in the group while helping Soulaire produce a video game. We also hear the story of Rachel Raines who joined as a psychic medium along with her son David. Along with this cast of characters, the documentary gives the audience all the usual cult tropes from brainwashing to interesting beliefs to communal living and weird sex stuff.

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.

Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance.

The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.