Episode 6: I’m Just a Teenage Cultist, Baby

In The Cult Queen of Canada from CBC’s Uncover, a tiny Saskatchewan town faces a surreal crisis when a cult leader calling herself “The Queen of Canada” occupies an abandoned school. As neighbours turn on each other, a retired teacher leads resistance in a story about what happens when online extremism spills into the real world. Hosted by Rachel Browne.Crime. Investigation. Revelation. Uncover brings you explosive, high-caliber true crime year-round. From CIA mind control to serial abuse, mysterious disappearances to wrongful imprisonment.More episodes of The Cult Queen of Canada are available wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/CQOCxTDYK

Today we bring you the first episode of the new miniseries - Robert Pickton: The Final Chapter, from Canadian True Crime.Everyone knows about the Canadian pig farmer who confessed to murdering 49 women on his farm near Vancouver. What you might not know is that Robert Pickton was recently murdered in prison in an act of vigilante justice. His final chapter may now be closed, but the story is far from over. The evidence suggests he did not act alone. In this special four-part series from Canadian True Crime, Aussie-Canadian host Kristi Lee traces a disturbing childhood on the Pickton family farm where cruelty was normalized, and morality optional. Moving past the caricature of a lone monster in buddy boots, this series restores the humanity of the women targeted and examines the systems that failed them for so long — leaving their loved ones with many unanswered questions.This miniseries draws primarily from court records, historical news archives, investigative journalism, personal interviews and the Missing Women Inquiry final report.CONTENT WARNING:This series includes graphic details that will be distressing for many listeners to hear, including mention of sexual assault, residential schools, Indigenous issues, child abuse and suicide.Crisis referral services:Free National Indian Residential School Crisis Line: call 1-866-925-4419 toll freeHope for Wellness free chatline - 1-800-721-0066 or using the chat box on the websiteGovernment of Canada Crisis and Mental Health supportResources for Sexual assault survivorsAbout Canadian True Crime - Canada’s leading independent podcastFrom the snowy streets of small-town Canada to the darkest corners of the big cities, join Aussie-Canadian host Kristi Lee as she unearths chilling true crime stories that shook the nation. With meticulous research and a trauma-informed approach, Kristi takes listeners beyond the headlines for a thoughtful deep dive into compelling true crime stories, unraveling some of Canada's most compelling criminal cases and justice system failures. You can listen to the second part of Robert Pickton: The Final Chapter now, just find Canadian True Crime wherever you get your podcasts or visit www.canadiantruecrime.ca

In this bonus episode, Sarah talks to Yvonne Eadon, a professor at the University of Kentucky who specializes in conspiracy theory and online misinformation, about GAYLOR — the online fan theory that claims Taylor Swift is a closeted queer woman.

In this bonus episode, Sarah talks to Professor Bill Ellis who specializes in folklore and urban legends, and they chat about the innate human behaviours that lead us to create panics in the first place.

We travel back in time to 1670s Massachusetts to review the famous case of the so-called Satanic possession of 16-year-old Elizabeth Knapp — which took place twenty years before the Salem Witch Trials. In this bonus episode, Sarah and producer Carolyn Kendrick talk to professor Elisabeth Ceppi to find out more about possession in Puritan America.

Now that we know where we’ve been, where are we going? As the Satanic Panic receded from view, we almost forgot it had happened at all – until it came back. How do today’s moral panics compare to the one we just learned about? And what can we learn from the tragedy at Jonestown?

How did the U.S. legal system allow the Satanic Panic to proliferate as rapidly as it did? In this bonus episode, Sarah chats with journalist Josie Duffy Rice (Justice In America, The Appeal) who has written extensively about prisons, prosecutors and criminal justice.

Though it sounded like a wholesome sitcom premise — four lesbian housemates raise a baby in San Antonio — reality proved anything but. Instead, Liz, Anna, Cassie, and Kristy found themselves caught in a nightmare of a crime drama after being accused of Satanic abuse. They face all the twists and turns of court proceedings, junk science, Satanic allegations, and wrongful convictions — for 22 years.

Dr. Justin Sledge (who you heard from in Episode 6) is a professor of philosophy and religion. in this bonus episode, we learn how his own experience as a teenager implicated in an alleged satanic plot led to an academic career studying esoterica and the occult.

How does a victim of a school shooting become accused of masterminding the whole thing in the name of Satan? When Justin Sledge was 17, a friend of his opened fire at their high school, killing two people and wounding seven others. It was one of the first modern-day school shootings, even before Columbine. Over the next few weeks, their once tight-knit town is embroiled in fear and rumors as people search for a reason for the tragedy — eventually landing on a cult of devil worshippers. Justin finds himself at the center of these rumors, leading to him also being arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder.Check out Justin's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheEsotericaChannel