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  • The Notebook Taped to a Meter: How a Therapist Escaped a Cult

    The Notebook Taped to a Meter: How a Therapist Escaped a Cult
    2026/10/28
    The Notebook Taped to a Meter: How a Therapist Escaped a Cult

    Fear and methodical detail collide: a spiral notebook sealed in a zip-lock bag and taped to an exterior meter panel contained dates, dollar amounts, and transcribed statements that revealed a woman had lived forty minutes from her home while trapped in a controlled community for over a year - why did she wait four months to tape her only exit to a wall and hope a utility worker would find it?

    In this episode, you will hear the timeline and concrete records that map how a licensed occupational therapist ended up living on Renwick Farm, the rules that governed life there, and the steps she took to leave - could the small details in a hidden notebook be enough to expose a long-running operation?

    Person: Shannon Vogel
    Age: 51
    Event: notebook taped to a meter found February 9, 2019 at 8:17 AM
    Person: Kent Thompson
    Allegation: pleaded guilty in federal court

    - The notebook was hidden in a folded winter coat for four months before being taped to the meter panel.
    - Seven people walked off Renwick Farm within seventy-two hours after events surfaced.
    - Shannon volunteered every Tuesday morning at the Kellfield Public Library for nine consecutive years before moving to the farm.
    - Thompson scheduled threshold sessions at 10:30 PM and set breakfast at 5:45 AM with only a single 90-minute rest period each afternoon.
    - Shannon purchased the spiral notebook during a supervised supply run in October 2018 and began writing dates, dollar amounts, and sleep schedules.

    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.
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    19 分
  • The Pamphlet in the Snow: How a Rack Blew Open a Cult

    The Pamphlet in the Snow: How a Rack Blew Open a Cult
    2026/10/27
    The Pamphlet in the Snow: How a Rack Blew Open a Cult

    Cold wind and a pamphlet rack in eleven-degree snow turned into the first crack in a secretive wellness group - forty-eight bone-dry pamphlets labeled RESTORATION PROTOCOL left upright with no boot prints; what could force someone to place that rack in a frozen field at two a.m., then walk away? Who was Gregory Anderson, why were residents paying up to twenty-two thousand dollars for "restoration," and how did a daughter's three weeks of silence and a pamphlet end with handcuffs?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events that began on January morning 2019 and trace it back to the Hargrove property and the Restored Way Foundation; you will hear how a reporter, a former member's ledgers, and a worried daughter connected the pamphlet to allegations about credentials, payments, restricted contact, and midnight "Clearings" - but what exactly did those records and interviews reveal?

    Person: Gregory Anderson, age 51
    Location: Hargrove property, 112 acres, 18 miles southwest of Fenwick, Montana
    Date: January 2019 (pamphlet found); March 3, 2017 (Darlene arrived)
    Topic: Restoration doctrine, Clearings, and Revitol supplement
    Amount: Residential agreements $12,000 to $22,000; Revitol $68 per month

    - Pamphlet rack held 48 pamphlets labeled RESTORATION PROTOCOL - VOLUME ONE and was surrounded on three sides by unbroken snow.
    - The pamphlets remained bone dry despite overnight temperatures of 11 degrees.
    - Restored Way Foundation purchased the 112-acre Hargrove property in spring 2015 for $214,000 in cash with no mortgage.
    - Residents signed residential agreements ranging from $12,000 to $22,000 for stays of six to eighteen months.
    - Revitol, the proprietary supplement, was sold to members for $68 per month.

    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.
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    17 分
  • The Red Coat on the Pole: Secrets of Camp Cedarline

    The Red Coat on the Pole: Secrets of Camp Cedarline
    2026/10/26
    The Red Coat on the Pole: Secrets of Camp Cedarline

    A small red child's coat hung eight feet up on a flagpole at Camp Cedarline in December 2019, perfectly dry after two days of rain, with a name stitched inside: Becca Norris, Cabin Four - a name and cabin that did not exist. Who put a dry, size six or seven coat where everyone could see it, and why was a fictional name already logged in sheriff evidence months earlier?

    In this episode, we tell the story of Camp Cedarline, the purchase and conversion of a bankrupt summer camp into a closed community, and the events that led thirty-one adults to live inside its fence. How did a man with a construction background create a place where people signed away powers of attorney, and what does the red coat reveal about what really happened at Cedarline?

    Person: Craig Alan Holt
    Date: December 2019
    Location: Camp Cedarline, Claxton County, Tennessee
    Event: Red child’s coat found on flagpole
    Case: Community Investment Agreement with financial power of attorney

    - The coat was discovered by Wade Farrell, a Claxton County Electric meter reader, on the fourth Wednesday of December 2019.
    - The label inside the coat read "Becca Norris, Cabin Four," a name the sheriff's evidence log had listed five months earlier.
    - Craig Alan Holt purchased Camp Cedarline in February 2018 through Intentional Living Associates for $83,000 in cash.
    - By autumn 2018, thirty-one adults lived inside the Cedarline fence, including a retired electrician and a logistics manager.
    - Jennifer Cho was assigned the camp name Becca Norris and was told she would live in Cabin Four, but the property had only three cabins.

    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.
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    21 分
  • The Laminate Card, Forty-One Deeds, and One Quiet Conman

    The Laminate Card, Forty-One Deeds, and One Quiet Conman
    2026/10/25
    The Laminate Card, Forty-One Deeds, and One Quiet Conman

    A volunteer found forty-one signed deeds fanned like playing cards and a laminated card claiming "The house provides. The house protects. The house remains." inside an empty farmhouse that had housed a thirty-one person communal experiment gone quiet - what made so many people hand over land, savings and vehicles to a single trust, and who truly controlled it?

    In this episode, we tell how a February 2009 library talk led dozens to move to a twelve-acre property called Millhaven and sign over assets to the Verdant Circle; we trace the charter language, the notarized documents, and the single clause that changed everything as questions about authority and trust mounted.

    Person: Warren Lewis
    Date: June 14, 2009
    Location: Millhaven, Sycamore Trace Road, Calloway Township
    Event: Founding charter of the Verdant Circle
    Case: Discovery of forty-one signed deeds on November 14, 2011

    - November 14, 2011: Denise Sanders found forty-one signed deeds fanned across a table in an abandoned property.
    - February 2009: Warren Lewis spoke for ninety minutes at Harwick Public Library about shared land stewardship.
    - June 14, 2009: A twelve-page founding charter of the Verdant Circle was dated and signed by original members.
    - Spring 2010 to autumn 2010: Membership grew from twenty-two to thirty-one people who transferred assets into the Circle Permanence Fund.
    - Beverly Crane reviewed the charter with attorney Tom Wasser and flagged a clause naming Warren Lewis as permanent coordinating trustee with sole authority over disbursements.

    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.
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    19 分
  • The Choir That Promised Salvation-and Quietly Stole Her Savings

    The Choir That Promised Salvation-and Quietly Stole Her Savings
    2026/10/24
    The Choir That Promised Salvation-and Quietly Stole Her Savings

    The sense of recognition that makes people stay can also be the tool that ruins them: a forty-three-year-old choir director with silver at his temples built an eight-voice ensemble in a town of just over eleven thousand, and by the time it dissolved one woman had lost a substantial portion of her savings. How did a portfolio of photocopied scores, a burned disc, and a letterhead recommendation convince a small Appalachian community to hand over trust - and money?

    In this episode, we follow the creation and collapse of the Harwell Choir and the Harwell Choir Initiative, tracing the people, the promises, and the contradictions that surfaced over four years. What started as a musical residency grew into a relationship web that left a twenty-two-year-old isolated and a carpenter leaving a notebook at a trailhead to keep a secret out of reach.

    Person: Kent Harris
    Location: Maben Falls, Creston County
    Population: just over eleven thousand
    Organization: Harwell Choir Initiative
    Age: Diane Padgett 22

    - The choir met Monday and Thursday evenings inside a converted three-story Victorian on Harwell Avenue.
    - Kent Harris was 43 years old when Paul Vance met him at a regional arts-funding conference.
    - The trail register showed no visitors since the previous afternoon when Connie Bailey found the manuscript.
    - A forensic examiner estimated the notebook was 30-40 years old while the chrysanthemum tucked inside had been placed that same morning.
    - Three members left within the first six months, leaving five core singers who stayed for the next three years.

    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.
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    21 分
  • The Cabinet in the Creek: How a 'Restoration' Program Broke Nicole

    The Cabinet in the Creek: How a 'Restoration' Program Broke Nicole
    2026/10/23
    The Cabinet in the Creek: How a 'Restoration' Program Broke Nicole

    A medical cabinet with forty-one sealed vials was pressed into a creek and left in the mud-hinges un-rusted, no water inside-and someone drove away without a word. What began as a sponsored post for "cellular restoration" led a practical, medically trained woman into daily, hours-long sessions, a twelve-acre campus, and a missing trail of money and medical care; how did a program that looked like help end up here?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a sponsored social-media post to a laminated warning card inside a creekside cabinet to the Lassiter Recovery Campus outside Braden, Tennessee, and ask how a system that sounded clinical convinced Nicole Sullivan to leave her doctor, her savings, and parts of her life behind. What did Nicole give up, and who put those vials in the creek?

    Person: Nicole Sullivan
    Person: Bruce Powell
    Location: Calhoun Fork (creek)
    Location: Lassiter Recovery Campus, twelve-acre campus outside Braden, Tennessee
    Date: Nicole enrolled in March; daily calls by May; moved to campus in July

    - Forty-one sealed vials were found inside a foam-lined medical cabinet latched and sitting in four inches of creek water.
    - The cabinet measured eighteen inches square and had a red cross embossed on the front panel.
    - Nicole participated in daily "Coherence Sessions" by May, running between ninety minutes and three hours, often at six in the morning.
    - Nicole transferred $14,000 of her savings to the Powell Wellness Foundation and was charged $2,200 per month for the Lassiter Recovery Campus.
    - Bruce Powell claimed credentials from "Aldine College of Naturopathic Sciences" and membership in the "International Registry of Integrative Practitioners," both of which had no verifiable records.

    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.
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    20 分
  • The Laminated Map That Revealed 47 Names - And One Secret Leader

    The Laminated Map That Revealed 47 Names - And One Secret Leader
    2026/10/22
    The Laminated Map That Revealed 47 Names - And One Secret Leader

    A laminated, four-by-three-foot map inside an abandoned factory listed 47 portrait-style photos connected in a precise hierarchy - and it sat untouched for eleven months. Who printed and brought that map to the Vellum Regional Assembly, and what was the chain of meetings and money that led to its creation? Press play to hear how a routine property assessment uncovered a network built from payroll deductions and late-night meetings.

    In this episode, we follow the county surveyor who found the map and trace the records that describe the group's formation, meetings, and financial structure, asking how ordinary workplace trust became something far more structured and secretive.

    Person: Emily Schmidt
    Location: Vellum Regional Assembly plant
    Date: plant shuttered September 2018; map discovered third week of August 2019
    Person: Connie Hill
    Person: Tracy Lawson

    - The map measured four feet wide and three feet tall and was laminated and mounted on a cinder block wall.
    - The map listed forty-seven names and forty-seven portrait-style photographs connected with color-coded lines in tiers.
    - The factory had been unentered for eleven months before Emily Schmidt found the map during a property assessment.
    - Tracy Lawson arrived at the plant in the winter of 2013 and worked the night shift on Line Three; by summer 2014 he proposed the Iron Hour Brotherhood.
    - The group’s contribution structure was formalized in early 2015 as five percent of net weekly pay deposited into the Iron Hour.

    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.
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    18 分
  • The Stones and the Notebooks: How a Literary Commune Disappeared

    The Stones and the Notebooks: How a Literary Commune Disappeared
    2026/10/21
    The Stones and the Notebooks: How a Literary Commune Disappeared

    A notebook left open on a dry patch of concrete, weighted by two river stones, sat among thirty other notebooks on a wet floor - and no one had been in the building for roughly seventy-two hours. What looks like an orderly writer's retreat in rural Ohio becomes a scene of sudden departure and unanswered questions: who placed the stones, why one page remained dry, and why thirty-one notebooks were left arranged in a grid?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the third week of July 2011 when contractor Dawn White discovered the Bellard property to the earlier formation of the Meridian Press Collective, and we trace how daily routines and editorial pressure shaped life inside the commune - but why did the members leave so abruptly?

    Person: Duane Weber
    Event: Discovery by contractor Dawn White
    Date: Third week of July 2011
    Location: Bellard, Ohio
    Organization: Meridian Press Collective

    - A notebook was found open on a dry patch of concrete held in place by two river stones among thirty-one notebooks arranged in a grid.
    - The building had been empty for roughly seventy-two hours when Dawn White called the Cass County sheriff.
    - The property was a twelve-acre site leased under the name Meridian Press Collective, incorporated in 2007.
    - Membership fee for the Collective was $340 per month, covering housing, meals, and editorial mentorship.
    - By month eight of membership, Weber's private records show average nightly sleep had compressed to approximately five and a half hours.

    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.
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    20 分