Cults are terrifyingly good at getting people to accept things that would horrify most outsiders. Through constant reinforcement and pressure from the group, members can end up doing and believing stuff they’d have never signed up for on day one. Looking back after leaving, a lot of ex-followers are stunned by how much they went along with without ever questioning it.
In a recent post, one Threads user asked former cult members to share the weirdest things they experienced that everyone pretended was normal. They replied with lots of eyebrow-raising stories. Find them below and upvote the ones that shocked you the most.
#61
My mom thought whatever was wrong with me was just because I was a starseed. (We're pretty sure it's ADHD).
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13points
#62
Having 12 y/o girls dress up in their mothers' wedding dresses to take pictures as a youth activity. The boys got to play laser tag.
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13points
#63
My grandparents had huge jars of grapes soaked in wine because that was the only food they would be able to eat when the world ended.
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13points
#64
The wealthy pastor of our church asking members to donate their entire paycheck on “Paycheck Sunday” to “keep the church out of the red” for the fiscal year. We were food and housing insecure and she gave him the money. Spoiler: we didn’t receive any extra blessings for our sacrifice. Unless you count powdered milk and government cheese as a blessing.
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13points
#65
I was raised Jehovah’s Witness. When I was about 16, my dad and I started butting heads a bit. (Normal, right?) He used to buy and sell cars, and one day he waved a big stack of money in my face playfully after selling a car. Eager to be playful with him and have a break from all of our fighting, I said “thankyaverymuch!”, grabbed the stack of money and ran up to my room with it. A few minutes later I brought it back downstairs and gave it to him. I had never counted it.
A little while later, he came upstairs and knocked on my door. I opened it and he said, “Alright, where is it?” And I said, “Where is what?” He said, “The rest of the money.” I thought he was joking, trying to prank me. I laughed, but he said, “I’m serious. $300 is missing. Where is it?” I stared at him in shock, waiting for his expression to break into a smile, and a “I’m just messing with you!” It did not. I said, “Dad I didn’t take any, I just put it down and then brought it back to you.”
He flew into a rage, called me a liar and a thief and told me I better find the rest of the money. I knew I had not taken it. He kept telling me, “There’s only $2300 here, and there was $2600 when you grabbed it.” But I had never counted it. I absolutely had not taken it, would have NEVER stolen anything, especially my father. I was terrified of him, for reasons that would require many more stories to fully explain. He started tearing my room apart, ripping drawers out of my dresser, dumping.
A little while later, he came upstairs and knocked on my door. I opened it and he said, “Alright, where is it?” And I said, “Where is what?” He said, “The rest of the money.” I thought he was joking, trying to prank me. I laughed, but he said, “I’m serious. $300 is missing. Where is it?” I stared at him in shock, waiting for his expression to break into a smile, and a “I’m just messing with you!” It did not. I said, “Dad I didn’t take any, I just put it down and then brought it back to you.”
He flew into a rage, called me a liar and a thief and told me I better find the rest of the money. I knew I had not taken it. He kept telling me, “There’s only $2300 here, and there was $2600 when you grabbed it.” But I had never counted it. I absolutely had not taken it, would have NEVER stolen anything, especially my father. I was terrified of him, for reasons that would require many more stories to fully explain. He started tearing my room apart, ripping drawers out of my dresser, dumping.
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12points
#66
Wasn’t allowed to wear pants unless it was below 38 degrees. Had to wear makeup. Played the drums but they didn’t want me to cover my legs.. that were open. They loved to do the silly little miracles. One time they brought this guy from a different country bc he said he made diamonds fall from the sky. I was excommunicated for wearing Sperrys bc they were a male shoe. They actually tried to make me turn a bottle of water into a bottle of wine.
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12points
#67
The leader getting angry that someone else used his massage technique and claimed he invented it, while simultaneously claiming to be VERY humble, then other members standing to say how “Leader is the MOST humble man I’ve ever met!”.
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12points
#68
My Grandad telling me I made the angels cry when I listened to rock music.
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12points
#69
The prospective groom was required to sort out 5,000 grains of rice (The more, the better). Selecting only the most intact ones (neither short nor broken) and placing them into a special cloth bag. By that time, I had already left the cult, but I didn't say anything out of fear. I performed the task for my wife's sake, not for "God."
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12points
#70
Hi, (ex)Mormon here. One that comes to mind, aside from the endowment ceremony in the temple, would be something we call “the Hosanna shout”. We do it only during special occasions (or any time the prophet instructed us). You take a white handkerchief and wave it from side to side above your head chanting “hosanna, hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to God and the Lamb.” Repeat three times.
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11points
#71
Being taught that paying tithing was “fire insurance”- if I paid my full and honest tithe to the church, I would not burn on the great and dreadful day when the lord returns with fire and vengeance.
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11points
#73
church wanted to buy this 2 billion dollar (2011) new building to expand so they asked the congregation to agree to tithe above their usual tithes and made everyone commit publicly by signing an agreement with the amount they would be contributing then the people placed the agreement in a gold treasure box on stage in front of the pastor. I turned and looked at my ex. We just watched this whole weird money ritual happen. Sandals Church in So Cal.
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9points
#74
I felt so inadequate in my pentecostal Holy Roller church that I never spoke in tongues or went slain in the spirit. I attended so many "revivials" where folks were jumping/dancing/running while singing/praying/crying with joy of the lord. I never felt that, and thought I was defective.
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9points
#75
3x per year we had a ritual dinner that consisted of mystery beef paste on a dinner role with two slices of pickles on the side (always bread & butter, never dill).
I grew up thinking it was just a cost effective way to feed a large group of people, but no—that exact menu had been passed down by cult elders for decades and was considered a tenant of the religion.
I grew up thinking it was just a cost effective way to feed a large group of people, but no—that exact menu had been passed down by cult elders for decades and was considered a tenant of the religion.
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9points
#76
Hard to explain succinctly, but, how every bad thing was somehow the same. They would give lip service to the idea of say, m****r being worse than stealing a chapstick, but then, even as children, we were told that even if someone lived a perfect life with ONE single wrongdoing like telling a white lie, or swearing once, or stealing something small, they were doomed to the same hell as m*******s. It was all somehow the same. And it REALLY messes with your sense of right and wrong.
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9points
#77
If you were in “ministry”, you were not allowed to have a beard, go to the movies, have a tv, or listen to secular music. They also heavily judged people wanting to do things like get a degree or by a house. The weddings weren’t allowed to have more than three attendants for the bride and the groom and they had to be on Sundays and function like a regular church service, complete with an altar call so your sinner guests could come to the lord.
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9points
#78
My dad being disfellowshipped for repeated infidelity but our entire family being considered bad-association.
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8points
#79
The funniest one to me is at one of the locations, we'd all clap in unison to the location's theme song anytime the founder's picture was the main focus and yelled "hip hip hooray" at the end of every event.
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8points
#80
Girls camp songs, going on the trek in 2009 was brutal also, men being able to be sealed in the temple to multiple women for time and all eternity but never the reverse for women… the normalization of getting married at 18 … I could go on and on.
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8points