Cult of Torture Revisited

When it comes to Netflix’s definitely horror/maybe docu-series Haunted, everyone wants to know the answer to one question: is Haunted real or fake? After all, the series begins every episode with text claiming that the stories are true, but whether or not they actually are tends to depend on how you define “true.” Since the existence of ghosts and demons and aliens is highly contested and nowhere in the realm of accepted, mainstream, scientific truth, there’s a whole lotta room for skepticism when it comes to tales about possessions and vengeful spirits. But Haunted isn’t there to prove the existence of well ghosts or shape-shifting demons. It’s there to give people, purportedly not actors, a chance to tell stories about what they believe happened to them (or, as in way too many of the cases, is still happening to them).

Netflix has a fascinating series called “Haunted” where people share stories about paranormal happenings and other events that have happened in their lives and how those events continue to haunt them to this day.

The current program of Haunted is called “Cult of Torture” had is based upon the real life events of a former church member.

Where Haunted gets into murky territory is when it tells stories that aren’t driven by supernatural means. The “Slaughterhouse” episode in Season 1 stirred up a lot of controversy because viewers were shocked that the show identified a supposedly real serial killer who murdered dozens of people. Similarly, HauntedSeason 2’s “Cult of Torture” episode deals with a very real horror, one that also affected dozens (if not hundreds, if not thousands) of people beyond the main subject. But whereas Google sleuths can’t find any evidence that the events in “The Slaughterhouse” ever took place, “Cult of Torture” is the first episode of Haunted that you can prove without a doubt is based on a very real, very upsetting story.

Is the “Cult of Torture” episode real?

Yes. To summarize–and this description comes with a massive trigger warning for abuse and torture–trauma survivor James Swift tells his story of what it was like growing up in a Christianity-based doomsday cult in Louisiana. His mother joined the church, then known as the Worldwide Church of God, when he was very young. The Worldwide Church of God was founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, a televangelist and the host of a program called The World Tomorrow.

By the time Swift was a teenager, he underwent horrifying torture in order to rid his body of the “gay demon” that was “possessing him.” Church officials pegged Swift as gay before he even knew what gay meant, all because of his effeminate mannerisms, and subjected him to long stretches of total isolation without food. His mother even sexually assaulted Swift in an attempt to make him react to a woman’s touch, which was her way of performing an “exorcism.” When Swift was 15, he was sent to the New Bethany Home for Boys in Arcadia, Louisiana, where he was hosed, kept in a cage, subjected to electroshock conversion therapy, and anally raped. He was kept there for 17 weeks and, after being returned to his abusive home, he and his brother were taken in by his aunt. The church was disbanded, Armstrong was outted as a pedophile who molested his daughter, and the conversion camp was raided and shut down.

Read the entire article here:  “Yes, ‘Haunted’s’ “Cult of Torture” Episode Is About a Real Evangelical Doomsday Cult”