It all started yesterday at 3:51pm. Parlie wrote about dating a girl from Myspace who was married and in a cult, and 24 hours later, we can’t get enough of the cult talk. You guys asked for a cult post. I’ve done my research, and I’ve got to tell you, after more than two hours of research, I feel really attached to this story. I was hoping to make “I want to be your leader” jokes, but I will leave that to you.
IF you are experiencing depression, feelings of hopelessness, or loneliness, please consider asking for help. It has always been frustrating to me that our culture attaches a stigma to treatment for mental illness and depression, because it’s curable, and everyone deserves to be happy. I recommend local resources like Region X and HELPline (434) 295-TALK. Many insurance companies have greatly improved coverage for counseling, often eliminating the need for hospital referrals/authorization. Now, without further ado, your cult post.
Silmo said he’s heard of three local cults.
One is Synchronicity, based in Nelson County and led by “Master” Charles Cannon. belmont yo has checked out the scene, and caroline used to meditate there. You can read the stated principles upon which it’s founded –intense, vague language– on their website. You’ll also find profiles of community members, an audio sample from the meditation CD, and, because everyone enjoys a well-dressed cult, tee shirts.
As I read the site, I found it hard to believe it’s a cult, save one testimonial that the compound was “as if I had arrived on another planet.” I couldn’t find information about how long people are invited to stay, though there are retreats on the calendar. Both of my parents have gone on spiritual/writing retreats throughout my life, so that doesn’t seem odd to me. (If it should seem odd to me, don’t tell me!)
Silmo mentioned a bartender at Eastern Standard who was purportedly at the center of a cult in town. His name was Haines Fullerton. Dave McNair published his full experience of writing about Fullerton’s life and death on his blog, and I encourage you to read it, or the abridged article that appeared in the Hook in September, 2004. The full story is beautifully written, and it’s fascinating. It’s also a rare insight to Dave Matthews’ inner demons. Said Matthews to McNair:
“This may sound harsh, considering we’re talking about Haines,” Matthews went on. “… but I see [suicide] as a selfish thing to do. The thing is, Haines was so unselfish to the point of wanting to kind of erase himself. I remember jamming with him and he’d come up with some chord progression or fragment of a song I liked and he’d say, here, take it, use it, it’s yours. And I was like, no, it’s yours, I’m not going to take it.”
Hawes Spencer contributed a timeline to the cover story, and I appreciate this excerpt in particular:
“He thought we were all children of God,” says Olsen, who employs the word “transition” to describe his death. “He did not leave us,” she says. “He still has work to do.”
Fullerton formed his band The Deal in 1979, and the group gained popularity throughout the 1980s but broke up in 1988. He became a bartender at Eastern Standard and is credited with helping to give rise to the Dave Matthews Band. McNair describes physical conditions that afflicted Fullerton and members of the community that were close to him, as well as his devolving mental state close to his death. What stood out to me in Dave McNair’s blog (again, brilliant) is that there might be a distinction between a “cult” and a “cult following.” It sounds as though Fullerton had an intensely magnetic personality, and when he began having outbursts and fits with Jesus, people followed suit. Planned meetings and commune-style living really weren’t in the picture– that I know of. In history, we’ve seen great art come with great pain, and vice versa, and the community’s celebration of Fullerton might have made it difficult for him to admit he was struggling with self-doubt, and further alienated him from reality. For the community, it was probably hard to see someone capable of such euphoria as being capable of self-harm. He committed suicide in 1996.
The third cult, I know nothing about, but anyone is welcome to divulge.
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My parents recently joined some new church up in DC. I didn’t get too much info about it, but I did learn that it involves everyone wearing robes. My attention span miraculously ceased immediately after hearing that.
My brothers and I have been suspecting that they have unwittingly joined some cult….. or The Polyphonic Spree.
I want to be your reader.
Not [b]everyone[/b] deserves to be happy. Just sayin’…
Oops - I guess the standard php forum markups don’t work here…
“Everyone who’s not killing, raping, or stealing from people deserves to be happy.”
Donk…its the KKK
I’ve had friends really helped by cults. No, I’m not in one and have no patience for their nonsense. Maybe I’m just lucky, but the friends I know who got culted, generally it was a good thing. I’m talking campus x-tian groups, zen, unity, landmark forum. Not the hard stuff. No scientology or people’s temple. That Buddhist chanting cult, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, is a gray area. They tell unhappy college students to stay up all night chanting for good grades instead of studying. Somehow that seems wrong.
what’s wrong with stealing?
On Wordpress the markups are less-than sign, greater-than sign, not brackets. Bold
just to clarify… i didn’t DATE her. i went on one date WITH her. i called it at halftime, put her back in her crazymobile, and asked her to go be crazy somewhere else. forever.
Please know that Region 10 is swamped just trying to deal with the seriously mentally ill in our community so it is not a good option for those without a major psychosis. There are a ton of really good private therapists in town, many of whom will work on a sliding scale if you don’t have insurance. The best way to pick a good therapist is to ask friends or family who have been in therapy. Word of mouth works better than the yellow pages. And, yes, therapy works!
I really wish there were better funding for Region X and the like. I mean, salaries, facilities, all of it. If you know someone who works at Region X, get them a beer!
Sad that it took the VATech thing to get the legislature to take a look at funding for treating people with mental illness in Virginia.
If anyone ever started a cult surrounding the worship of chocolate, I’d be sooo there. Maybe Gearhart would be willing. It’d be sort of like Wicca, but for chocolate, instead of trees. No hounding people in airports. Just quiet devotion to the dark (chocolate) arts.
ThatGrrl, YES.
You guys, what did I do? Why is everyone so quiet? Too Much Information? Was my depression schpeal a wet blanket?
OK so I got dragged out to Master Charles joint about three years ago… He has these, and I quote, “Dialogues” to introduce new acolytes to his philosophy, which is basically a kind of new age scrapple. My brief report.
Nice spread of land, one big ass building filled with photos of MC with various b-list celebrities and pastel colored affirmations of vague platitudes. A few glassy eyed folks wandering about. I can’t really get the glassines out of my mind. It wigged me. So after a brief tour, we were ushered into a round yurt-like meditation hall. #2Charles, or whatever, came out and gave a brief overview about ancient spiritual synergy and modern technology being fused. All the chairs faced this elevated dias, with litrerally a throne like chair. Then the lights dimmed, and this round screen behind started fading through various mendalas, (every once and a while pausing on the Synchronicity logo). The dias was then back lit and out came MC himself, wearing a very expensive looking silken robe pants suit thing. #2 had told us was going to tell us “whatever was on his mind”. Which, apparently was not very much. “Remember to laugh at yourself - Nauture is nice - Peace is good - ideas from various world religions are tue because they rhyme” At some point there were headphones invovled to aide us meditating on the medalogo screen. The glassies lept his vagueries up like gravy and I just sat there thinking… when’s the “dialogue” part start, cause I got some questions for you bucko.
Then he decended the dias, patting the glassies on the head like little children and left through the side door. Bam. No Q&A at all. #2 then invited us to peruse, I shit you not, the gift shop. This small side shop contained your usual meditation cd’s of bad flute and synth music, about a billion books and incense and whatnot, stuff you’d expect. But there was one item sold which sent chills down my spine. Little river rocks, very amaturely painted with various, and often unintentionally scary, clown faces. Yes. YES! I enquired, especially since they were like 25 bucks. One was supposed to carry one around to remind oneself to laugh at one’s self (like I would ever need help being humbled by the world, let alone by a scary rock-clown).
I did leave with a meditation though. I meditated on buying a cheap dictionary, sticky memo-padding the words “monologue” and “dialogue” and mailing that summbich off to Master Charlie Brown. To you know, help him and his rock clowns and glassies meditate on the difference between the meanings of the words. The only word I was asked to respond to is “Would you like to go to the gift shop?” Dialogue my ass. Test for vulnerability to vaguery, more like it.
He is the classic egomaniac who has claimed to have trancended his ego, while in truth, he is merely so immersed in it, he simply can no longer see it. Totally typical culty type. There’s jillions of ‘em out in Cali. of various scale.
Anyway. I had to write this fast cause i gotta go, but thats my take on synchro.
Also. Folks I spoke with about those articles regarding Haines said they got it way wrong in a few places. They were actually furious about it. I will respect their privacy and say no more, but take that article with a few grains of NaCl.
Gotta run, Im off to my bali-yumyum nihingo aerobical meditation science-ish lesson. You should come wih me sometime…
isn’t there/wasn’t there a cult based out of that crazy castle/house near afton? i always forget the name of that place. a friend and i got chased out of there by some guy in a jumpsuit a few years ago.
also, i dated, rather seriously, a guy who i suspect was involved in some sort of nefarious culty type things. he would go missing every full moon for three days– the night before, of and after the full moon. he came home once and i noticed, as he padded naked to the shower, that there was some sort of writing or markings smudged about his torso. whenever i’d question him, he’d always just say it was “this thing”. just a “thing” he did every month. i let it go at that cause the sex was awesome.
i think in a post a couple of days ago someone mentioned something about Cville’s 3 underground sex clubs…do those count as cults?
So basically, Synch is like reading a bad self-help book? Thank you!
That’s disconcerting about the article… hmm. I think Dave’s a really good journalist, and the Hook’s an ethical paper. It’s so frustrating for journalists when people get upset about news pieces or bios, though, because they’re just putting together the stuff people tell them, about a story they’re told to write or are expected by the community to write. Roebuck said with authority that he was ill, NOT McNair. Sure, the interviewees are, for the most part, skeptical of the “cult-like following,” but that’s a figure of speech we use for pop stars, too. The mother of his child was interviewed and not particularly forthcoming about what was going on in his mind. I mean, what’s a journalist to do? I should keep my nose out of this!
hh, HILARIOUS.
Ooh, that’s Scott’s Castle (of the Stadium Scotts). Some info here. First I’ve heard of a cult, though. Just rich people.
A co-worker got invited to spend a week there and spoke well of it. Apparently, visitation rights rotate among family members, and a friend of a friend knew the relative whose turn came up. Some singer/songwriter type.
He had a great time and mentioned no cults. Of course, it’s possible he drank the Kool-Aid™ without disclosing it to me.
How on earth did you get the trademark there?
I know the Scott of which you speak. She is cool, HOTTTT and talented. Alas she is a complete psycho beeacth
That singer songwriter is Alexandra Scott, and she does have a group of friends up once a year when it is her turn. The KoolAid she serves is most deelish!
Stanley, I don’t think hh was talking about Scott Castle (was it Alexandra Scott, the singer, by the way?{i have a picture of her in my bedroom, but sadly there’s no story there}) but rather Swannanoa which was bought and turned into a pseudo-religious education center for some made-up denomination. its on the south side of 64 as opposed to the Scott’s place (which has its own overpass!) I’d heard there was an accident up there (the Scott’s) involving a boy-scout outing (they used to make the facility available to organizations like that) and that they no longer do so because of it?
I’ve trespassed around a little at Swannanoa also, but never got chased away by any adherents
Lilithâ„¢
Hips, I think you are right, she is talking about Swannanoa, we used to go run around up there when we were in high school, we thought it was haunted and everyone would dare everyone to go in the house. I did! There is a golf course up there too.
Nice one C
I love Alexandra
I guess it must’ve been Alexandra. Sorry I was wrong about the place, though.
Lilith, typing ™ will get you ™.
on a mac it’s alt&2 for â„¢
®
swannanoa!! yes! thats it! that place is pretty awesome, if a bit creepy.
Lil’ The story you linked to was sooo depressing, Takes the fun out of cult talk to put a human face to tragedy
That said, it does exemplfy what I hate about the Hook: Ceaseless DMB-related ass licking
HH Why did you quit your job? Did something dramatic happen???
silm, I couldn’t agree with you more, see my original letter:
http://www.readthehook.com/Stories/2004/10/07/letterWasThatNecessary.html
Great minds… Caroline, great minds
Lil. Re: #18 I didn’t say the reporter was wrong. Just that someone was upset about the article. I personally have no idea. EXcept that I think its children, not child. But what do I know? Not much
I still like the Hook, but I wasn’t here to know how serious Whatever was that happened with Haines. Poor guy! Caroline, that was quite possibly the coolest letter to the editor, like, in the world of letters to the editor, without a context, whatever, I think you rock.
I’m going out, dammit. In sneakers and a shit-ton of make up. I even did my nails.
are you going to come out saturday lilith®
yes amen, caroline…. letting it rest is best.
I fled the scene (ironically, a church parking lot!?!) with bits of glass flying at me through the hole in my windshield but couldn’t drive very far without fear that I was going to kill someone in an accident. I pulled into the lot of a closed business, and who shows up 2 minutes later to finish the job? Exactly! He blocks me in with his truck and starts coming after me! The timely appearance in my hand of a .45 loaded with hollow-points is the only thing that kept blood from being spilled that day. I firmly believe that. One of the cops who showed up said “you should have waited another thirty seconds and then shot him in the face”!?!?
Would have put a whole new spin on family reunions.
I’m just glad I kept my shit together.
Hip..Don’t suppose you do private protection work on the side?
x
Hips, Do you always pack heat?
i’m still trying to figure out where the first half of the story came from.
hips is on heavy medication….
belmont yo reminded me… I’ve been dragged out to Master Charles’s as well. I kinda liked it, but wouldn’t join. The group meditation had a nice energy. And Swannanoa is totally haunted. I’ve heard stories of Ms Dooley (of the Maymont Dooleys, for whom the house was built). Apparently she’s still there, haunting the second floor. No one likes to go up there, not even the cat!
well, then, thank god he has a gun?
i’m kidding, medication is super.
Hips:
I hope you’re being facetious. Cuz that sounds just like a douchey story Army-Hobbit man once told me except it involved him, a gun handy, and a guy trying to get into his Porsch-uh.
Hey, wanna go on a date?
shan, hahaha!
we will see you saturday!
Mmmm…can’t do. Gotta work. But you’re welcome to come by. We have a mutual friend who’s British.
that’s what I meant, we are coming by a certain place i dare not mention here.
brilliant!
parlie, the first part of that story was here:
http://cvillain.com/?p=738#comment-15151
when the dating thread turned into a cult one.
floozy, from what I’ve seen, you can more than take care of yourself my dear.
ss, no. sadly only heat I pack these days is the kind that turns the ladies into quivering, moan-expelling puddles. sadly SO not true
Story is true and accurate, and I’m off cold medicine except recreationally.
and last but not least, nanigans, did you just ask me out? Have I morphed into a complete dick in just a few short posts? Or are you lowering your standards?
i love you’ze guys! Good night
No, just poking fun at you for sounding like a dick. Since you tried to make popping out with a gun sound all macho and heroic and shit.
well I feel much better now for sharing, thanks!
just be careful, because
HE’S WEARING A SMILEY FACE BUT HE DRANK 3 PINTS OF ROBITUSSIN AND HE’S GOT A .45! HE’LL TURN YOU INTO A QUIVERING MOAN-PUDDLE!
silmo– i quit my job because i was over it. in a big way. no big dramas, really no reason to quit, except that i just recieved an inheritance that should allow me to sit prettily for MONTHS before i even have to consider taking another job. also, the wanderlust is back, and i find myself itching to hit the open roads again. as a matter of fact, i am pretty sure i am taking off tomorrow-ish for a week or two–try to scrape the mucous off my brain and what not. we’ll see.
HH.. best sort that itching out before the weekend
HH- and because depending on rednecks’ tips to pay your bills sucks!
p.s. not trying to sound all macho and heroic, just funny that this guy is running a ‘cult’ now, when if things had gotten down to ‘praise the lord and pass the ammunition’ time, he wouldn’t have had a prayer.
Most fucked up thing: I wound up with a ‘brandishing a firearm’ conviction out of the whole thing based on HIS perjured testimony.
Okay, first of all to ThatGirl I don’t see why any self respecting pagan need choose between Chocolate and Trees. As you can see from our group’sevent calendar we do indeed host Chocolate rituals (9th one down)
Regarding Swannanoa, i have one of the strangest stories about that place from an ex-girlfriend. Her mom told her that one night a naked guy came to their door and seem distressed. They let him in because as her mom put it, it was obvious he wasn’t carrying any weapons… they gave him a towl or something and then he proceeded to tell them that he needed to get back up the mountain (Afton) to Swannanoa because he’d just shot someone. Her mom calls the police and they say they’ll be along. A half hour or more goes by and no police. She calls them back and says, “Hey! There’s a potentially dangerous naked guy in my living room. Aren’t you going to send someone?”
“Sorry mam”, the Police officer on the phone says. “There’s been a shooting and all our officers are over there right now”.
“YES, I KNOW” She shouted, “The guy who SHOT him is in our living room!!”
“Uh, be right there….” (and they arrived shortly after)
Anyway, I still don’t know how this guy was associated with Swannanoa but I’ve got every reason to believe that this story is completely true and it continues to be one of the strangest tales I’ve ever heard.
shenanigans is being classist again. get her.
wow, i have had zero experience with cults !
Sorry, somehow the link I tried to add in the first paragraph didn’t work. I was supposed to say “As you can see from our Event Calendar” (http://uucharlottesville.org/naturespirit/Events.asp)
as an immortal, or as a fearless internet blogger?
Thor’s in denial about this blog’s cult status. TELL US WHAT TO DO NEXT FEARLESS LIGHTNING-BOLT THROWER.
</swirly eyes>
this blog’s cult couldn’t mass suicide its way out of a 6-beer buzz.
Hip: I’ll stop hating on you. I’m just mad because my gun-toting uncle just used his to blow his brains out.
Great syory Lonnie. Thanks
There is/was The Monroe Institute off of rt 6 that was all about brain synergy. Right side meet left side, now work together. Dont think it was a cult, but from what I know it could have been.
Hips has a gun?
Yeah, the monroe institute was once listed by Newsweek as one of the top ten new age meccas in the US (along with Yogaville). Didn’t really seem so much like a cult to me, but rather a bunch of excessively rich people with nothing better to do but explore “out of body experiences” and other pseudoscientific nonsense. That said, my mom worked at a speach therapist near there for a while (that’s a funny story too) and I always had a facination with the place. I’d definitely go to one of their workshops just out of curiousity, except I could never afford to spend money on such things.
The Monroe Institute (Robert Monroe) isn’t a cult it’s a place where they explore states of consciousness. I think a lot of these places choose Nelson County for it’s beauty and seclusion. What can I say I’m a Nelson County girl at heart.
So, I was on the mall last night –of course I was– and left some cVillain cards in a few entries-where-I-wouldn’t-be-seen of businesses. Am I creepy? I worry all three people will either (a) be nervous I’ll say something bad (but that’s Thor’s job) or (b) not care, which will make me feel bad about myself. Places, if you’re reading this, it means I like you a lot. MWAH.
The Monroe Institute (Robert Monroe) isn’t a cult it’s a place where they explore states of consciousness.
Are they licensed doctors administering tests on legal people and compensating them for their time? Because if not, to me, sounds SKETCH!
sketch, is a tipsy lady wandering the cold streets at nite putting business cards everywhere….
I wasn’t saying “sketch” is a bad thing in comment 75.
But yeah, definitionally, I’d rather not be “creepy.” Huge difference.
Lonnie, that chocolate stuff might make me go pagan! Eh, who am I kidding. I’m not good with regularly scheduled events.
Lil’ I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to say: “a few entries-where-I-wouldn’t-be-seen of businesses.”
Where can I pick up some villaincards?
Caroline,
While I’m not it Nelson, I’m pretty close. I have to add that while I think many of these things are a bit flakey, that they make an overall positive impact on the local culture. What would Charlottesville be without places like Yogaville? We’re an eccentric area and I’m actually kind of proud of that.
Also, in the larger subject of cults, I should say that anthropoligists and sociologists have dropped the term for being rather unuseful. After all, it’s often used against religious movements that are unfamiliar, while many conventional religions and groups meet much of the same criteria. For example, i can think of several evangelical churches in Charlottesville that fit the definition of a “cult”.
In fact, when my sister was in middle school, she started claiming to be an atheist. My parents, who aren’t terribly religious still couldn’t tollerate that sort of thing in their house so they sent her to a “jesus camp”. At the camp, they wouldn’t let her have any protein and only let them have about three hours of sleep per night. Days were spent doing physically demanding activities and praying. When she returned, she had this glazed look in her eyes and a almost robotic way of proclaiming “Jesus is lord”. Now I know a whole lot of great Christians, but to me this sort of thing totally qualifies as a cult, or nothing does.
thanks lonnie, wow a whole letter to me, woo hoo! I couldn’t agree with you more, and I love yogaville! No jesus camp for me thank you.
Lilith, you are far from creepy!
wow, jesus camp scares the shit out of me. thanks lonnie, it’s good to be aware that those kinds of things go on in “modern” society.
oh, and oh! oh! the creationist museum! http://www.creationmuseum.org/about
we mastered the dinosaurs and used them to plow our fields. it happened during part of the six days, ya heard? educate your heathen children.
parlie, having lived in New Orleans for 4 years, I love anyone who can throw in a good y’heard!
My best friend and I got sent to bible-camp one summer, not for reasons of our faith needing a little shot in the arm, rather because our moms found one that was cheaper than any other camp on earth. I can still recite almost all of the books of the bible in order, but thats about the extent of what I walked away from it with. I wouldn’t do it to my kids, summer camp is supposed to be fun.
[This same friend and I found ourselves meeting regularly with the local chapter of ‘Save the Whales’ (we were maybe 12?) in the basement of City Hall (not c-ville). We were the youngest there by 20 years. Turns out his mom just didn’t want to pay for someone to watch us.]
Go watch the documentary “Jesus Camp” and get freaked out. That shit is insane, but it does have ironic footage of Ted “i do rails of speed off a cabana boys ass” Haggard ranting on the evils of homosexuality. The rest: Blood curdling. Sword of the Lord, indeed.
Bonus tidbit: One of our favorite local bartender’s grandfather helped to start the organization in that very movie. Can you guess who?
Hips, me too! I went to church camp when I was a kid, let’s have a books of the bible contest…..oh shit, nevermind I just said them in my head and only got to Deuteronomy.
B’yo…Jesus Camp the movie scared the shit out of me.
Hey some of the bible aint so bad:
Leviticus 11:43 “Thou shall not make thy self abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth”
I try to keep that one in mind when Im out and a bit tipsy.
Here’s a
Hook cover story about the Monroe Institute.
b yo, yes to Jesus Camp. I missed it at a certain film festival and waited it out at Sneak Reviews for weeks. Cripsy, thanks for the link dude.
Actually, on the subject of good indie films about religion, see The King. I strongly recommend.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396688/
Gael Garcia Bernal is amazing in it, and I’ve got to say, the teen actor from Fast Food Nation and Little Miss Sunshine (the brother) seems to have a very successful career to look forward to.
[…] Given our recent discussion that freaked me out more than anything, I know we are obsessed with cults on this site. Whether it’s a secret fascination with Tom Cruise’s Oprah shocking ability or the idyllic love of benign tree lovers just outside of town, we all have a little place in our heart for these abnormal human associations. […]