エピソード

  • The Photo Left on the Table: Proof Someone Returned to the Cult

    The Photo Left on the Table: Proof Someone Returned to the Cult
    2026/08/06
    The Photo Left on the Table: Proof Someone Returned to the Cult

    A clean framed photo sat on a dust-covered table in an empty dining room as if placed there within the last two days - the frame showed 31 people holding extinguished candles and a hand-scrawled message: "He was right. We were here." Who returned to leave that photograph at Shepherd's Fold, and why did they write those seven words?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a late-night phone call that led Laura Rafferty to a meeting in Grainer and into a community called Shepherd's Fold, describe Gregory Smith's message of "temporal dissonance" and the group's life on an 18-acre parcel owned by Calvary Ridge Church, and ask whether the photograph is proof that one of the members came back to the empty property.

    Person: Gregory Smith
    Person: Laura Rafferty
    Location: Grainer
    Event: Photograph found on June 14, 2011
    Organization: Temporal Accord Society

    - The photograph showed 31 people standing in a field at sunrise holding candles with smoke rising from each wick.
    - Seven words were written on the mat border in black marker: "He was right. We were here."
    - Russell Bell, a volunteer with Calvary Ridge Church, found the framed photo on June 14, 2011.
    - Shepherd's Fold leased an 18-acre parcel outside Grainer that was owned by Calvary Ridge Church.
    - Gregory Smith was 53 in the year he spoke to the group above a feed store and had claimed a nonexistent doctorate from the Velden Institute for Behavioral Science.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • The Hardware Heist: How a Quiet "Renewal Circle" Took Paula Barrett

    The Hardware Heist: How a Quiet "Renewal Circle" Took Paula Barrett
    2026/08/05
    The Hardware Heist: How a Quiet "Renewal Circle" Took Paula Barrett

    A slow, ordinary confidence swept through Creswell: seed, clarity, renewal - words used so casually that no one asked why a checkbook register from Barrett Family Hardware was found dry in a drainage ditch eleven miles from town. Sixty-two thousand dollars vanished, a woman stopped writing in her garden notebook after April 29, 2017, and a man named Kevin Foster had quietly built a Thursday-night group that changed everything. How did polite language and scheduled meetings become the mechanism for a disappearance and a theft?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline laid out in local records and witness accounts to show what happened from the first meeting of the Renewal Circle to the moment anomalies appeared in paperwork and balances. The episode covers the circle’s growth, Foster’s role, the money that moved, and the first concrete irregularities that alerted members - but who really orchestrated it all?

    Person: Paula Barrett
    Date: April 29, 2017
    Event: Last garden notebook entry
    Location: Belford Road drainage ditch (checkbook register found)
    Amount: $62,000

    - Paula Barrett was 32 years old in spring 2017 and kept two personal notebooks: a store ordering notebook and a garden notebook with four raised beds and twelve rows.
    - A ziplock bag containing Barrett Family Hardware’s checkbook register was found dry in a drainage ditch on the second Saturday of May 2019, eleven miles from the nearest bank branch.
    - Kevin Foster, age 44, introduced himself in late April 2017, attended Barrett Family Hardware as a customer, and twice encountered Paula (including when he drove her home after a breakdown).
    - The Renewal Circle began with nine people in early May 2017 and grew to fourteen by September 2017, meeting on Thursday nights in a rented room above a dry goods supplier on Hartwell Avenue.
    - Keith Doss, age 68, contributed $2,000 to the group’s common fund and later discovered a vehicle title listing a 2012 model with a VIN tracing to a 2009.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    18 分
  • The Dry Cardigan: How a Willow Exposed a Water Cult's Secret

    The Dry Cardigan: How a Willow Exposed a Water Cult's Secret
    2026/08/04
    The Dry Cardigan: How a Willow Exposed a Water Cult's Secret

    A dry pale-green cardigan hung from a willow over the Perris River after two days of heavy rain and dew, noticed by a local fisherman - but what deputies found at the river led them to an 83-acre Tennessee property where extended stays, withheld car keys, and manipulated botanical blends formed a system. How did a simple drainage assessment and a locked office box become the hinge of a scheme that collected $900,000 in recurring fees?

    In this episode, we tell what unfolded from a drainage evaluation to repeated 21-day immersive stays, tracing the pattern of assessments, diagnoses, and automatic billing that kept guests longer than planned and their vehicles inaccessible. What was the role of Perriston Wellness Partners’ intake procedures, the Depth Assessment, and the substances in the tea in keeping people there?

    Person: William Johnson
    Date: April 14, 2019
    Location: Perris River bend, east-central Tennessee
    Event: Dry cardigan observed leading to investigation of Perriston Wellness Partners
    Amount: $900,000 collected over 27 months

    - Ryan Green, a 51-year-old civil engineer, missed weekly dinners with his brother after arriving for a stay in June 2018 and never returned on schedule.
    - Perriston Wellness Partners operated on an 83-acre former cattle property with eight cabins and a hydrotherapy suite.
    - Intake paperwork (page nine) required guests to sign over their vehicle keys, which were placed in a locked office box requiring a co-signed written request to retrieve.
    - Billing records showed a pattern of charges initiated 2-4 days after each Depth Assessment, then recurring automatically in 21-day cycles for every guest without interruption.
    - Laboratory analysis later found valerian root and kava in the “botanical support blend” tea at concentrations higher than disclosed.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • The One-Place-Setting: How a Dinner Table Broke a Cult's Silence

    The One-Place-Setting: How a Dinner Table Broke a Cult's Silence
    2026/08/03
    The One-Place-Setting: How a Dinner Table Broke a Cult's Silence

    A single dinner plate and a glass of water left full in an empty field triggered an investigation that uncovered sixteen people living under one man's direction on a rented 110-acre property - and a disciplinary file from 1993 linked to a different name. How did a routine morning boundary check lead to a dismantling of a carefully built system, and what did that full glass really mean?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the March 14, 2019 sighting on Pruett Road to the arrival of a manila envelope at a local paper two days later, and the questions those discoveries raised about leadership, control, and prior records.

    Date: March 14, 2019
    Location: Pruett Road, Galvey County
    Group size: 16 people (12 adults, 4 children)
    Property size: 110 acres
    Document date: 1993

    - A county surveyor named Wendy Walker found one set table with one plate and one full glass of water in an empty eastern field on March 14, 2019.
    - Sixteen people had spent nearly a year on the Pruett Road property under the direction of one man by March 2019.
    - The lease for the property was signed through an LLC registered by Patrick Sohl and the rent was $1,800 a month.
    - Helen Voss transferred $62,000 to the LLC between August 2018 and March 2019, leaving both of her accounts nearly empty by March 2019.
    - On March 16, 2019, Paula Owens at the Arkansas River Valley Courier received a manila envelope containing a photograph and a disciplinary file dated 1993 from a Bible college in Searcy, Arkansas, with the name Marcus Colvin.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    24 分
  • The Eleven Binders: How a Charm Turned Into Confinement

    The Eleven Binders: How a Charm Turned Into Confinement
    2026/08/02
    The Eleven Binders: How a Charm Turned Into Confinement

    A cold garage, eleven three-ring binders labeled with first names, and handwriting that would become Exhibit Seven at trial-what looks like careful organization hides a system that turned steady people into isolated members of a closed group. How did a supply-chain coordinator who logged fourteen months of volunteer shifts end up surrendering rent, money, and contacts to a man calling his group the Progress Table?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery of those binders and trace how a routine-seeming organization led to communal living, large financial transfers, and a sealed house on Elkhart Road-raising the question of where persuasion ends and confinement begins.

    Person: Carl Sullivan
    Person: Mark Sharp
    Location: Elkhart Road, Pallton, Indiana
    Date: February 11, 2019
    Event: Eleven three-ring binders found in a padlocked, unheated garage

    - Eleven names were written on the binders: CARL, DENISE, MARCUS, PATRICE, OWEN, JUNE, STEVEN, ROBIN, FELIX, DIANE, PAUL.
    - Carl Sullivan moved to Pallton around mid-2016 at age 26 and worked as a supply-chain coordinator.
    - By March 2018 Carl attended every session of the Progress Table; by July 2018 he stopped his food shelf volunteer shifts.
    - Between March and November 2018 Carl transferred $9,040 to Mark Sharp, logged as "Investment in Clarity of Purpose."
    - Carl's binder contained 240 pages of handwriting and became Exhibit Seven at trial.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • The Jar on the Fence: How Eleven Vanished Into a Cult

    The Jar on the Fence: How Eleven Vanished Into a Cult
    2026/08/01
    The Jar on the Fence: How Eleven Vanished Into a Cult

    Cold air at nineteen degrees Fahrenheit, a glass jar with liquid water and a single marigold sitting on a fence post - a small, inexplicable object that led to an empty compound where eleven people once lived and no violence was found. How did a forty-seven-year-old named Brian Larsen persuade ordinary adults to hand over savings, health decisions, and mail until the place looked like a stage set after the actors left?

    In this episode, we tell how the discovery on the Camas County boundary unfolded into a months-long inquiry into a group called The Proving Ground, and we trace the steps from a Tuesday morning at Patsy’s Diner in Medford to a six-hundred-acre ranch renamed The Proving Ground - how routine meetings, specific language, and a daily schedule tightened control and raised the question: what happened inside the First Clearing?

    Person: Brian Larsen
    Event: Jar found on fence post at 19°F with liquid water and a marigold
    Location: Camas County
    People: Eleven residents left the property size: Six hundred acres

    - The jar was discovered by Alice Bishop while walking the east boundary before sunrise and photographed before she called the county sheriff.
    - The air temperature at the fence post was nineteen degrees Fahrenheit, yet the water inside the jar remained liquid and the glass was intact.
    - Brian Larsen, age forty-seven, returned to the property in the cold and left the jar sometime between the last resident leaving and Alice’s discovery.
    - Eleven people had lived on the property known as Ketterman Ranch, later renamed The Proving Ground, and by the time of discovery there were none.
    - The Proving Ground’s routine included a morning session called the First Clearing that met every day at five and involved two hours of structured confession in a room with no clocks.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    23 分
  • The Flagpole Cake: How Lantern Point's "Community" Vanished Overnight

    The Flagpole Cake: How Lantern Point's "Community" Vanished Overnight
    2026/07/31
    The Flagpole Cake: How Lantern Point's "Community" Vanished Overnight

    A quiet morning delivery turned into the last physical trace of a vanished group: a birthday cake perched nine feet up on a flagpole with twelve unlit candles and boot tracks ending six feet short of the base - what happened to the thirty people who lived at Lantern Point, and why was one woman left behind? This episode follows the strange gap between official paperwork and the life inside the fence that ended in a night evacuation and a single unfinished journal entry.

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline and the evidence found after the December 9, 2011 discovery, presenting the people, documents, and sequences that led to the sudden disappearance and the unanswered question about the missing resident.

    Person: Jerry Price
    Person: Brenda Baker
    Person: Michelle Pruitt
    Date: December 9, 2011
    Location: Dearborn County, Indiana

    - A birthday cake was found on a flagpole nine feet off the ground with twelve unlit candles.
    - Boot tracks in the frost led to the flagpole and stopped six feet short of its base.
    - Jerry Price bought Lantern Point in spring 2008, paying in cash and claiming fraudulent credentials.
    - Lantern Point ran a normal camp in summer 2009, then transitioned to a closed residential "Year-Round Vision" with about thirty residents.
    - Thirty people left the property at night within days of a November 2011 newspaper story; one woman, Claire Ostrowski, remained inside with a journal whose final entry was cut off mid-sentence.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    24 分
  • Laminated deed, dated Sept 2019, transferring property to dissolved entity

    Laminated deed, dated Sept 2019, transferring property to dissolved entity
    2026/07/30
    Laminated deed, dated Sept 2019, transferring property to dissolved entity

    A buried deed pulled from a frozen culvert proved to be dated September 2019 and transferred forty-two acres to an entity legally dissolved six weeks earlier - signed with a notary seal whose owner says she never witnessed the signature. How did a deed with a false chain of custody and a claimed notary witness end up in the mud, and who stood to gain from burying it?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a utility-pole flyer in spring 2017 to life at Dunmore Creek and the discovery of the deed, mapping the shifts in control, communication, and legal papers that led to the buried document. What does the cottage-industry language of the recruitment flyer, the community’s strict routines, and the altered correspondence reveal about the motive behind that deed?

    Person: Jeffrey Whitfield
    Person: John Ward
    Date: September 2019
    Location: Dunmore Creek, Harlan Township / Wexler County
    Event: Deed found November 14, 2019

    - The deed transferred forty-two acres of Wexler County land and was dated September 2019.
    - The recipient entity on the deed had been legally dissolved six weeks before the deed’s date.
    - The notary seal on the deed matched a licensed notary in Dellwood, forty miles east, who later said she had no memory of witnessing the signature.
    - Jeffrey Whitfield paid an $11,000 buy-in to the Dunmore Creek community in June 2017.
    - The Dunmore Creek founding charter was a 23-page spiral-bound document with a two-year vesting period for redeemable equity.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    24 分