Maybe kind of the essence of charisma is, once again, it's telling someone, I am going to allow you to participate in history.

If you follow me, you will be at the front of the stage when the world as we know it changes forever.

Joseph Laycock is the author of The Penguin Book of Colts, as well as several other works,

many of which cover different aspects of the satanic panic. So, you know, he's a kindred spirit. He's also the associate professor of religious studies at

Texas State University, and he's here to talk with me today about the way our culture

thinks of and reacts to what we oftentimes incorrectly identify as cults.

Beyond the well-known heavy hitters of the 20th century, his book delves into many

lesser-known examples of new religious movements, from the 18th century into the early

20th century, groups made up of vampires, hollow earthers, and dangerous

yogis, all of which we will be discussing today.

In addition, Joe will help us better understand what a cult is and what a cult isn't, and how,

in our modern context, this label only goes so far in helping us come to

terms with the people who support authoritarian movements. I'm your host, Chelsea Weber

Smith, and this is American Hysteria. I am so excited to be talking today to you, Joe. Thank you for being here. This is going to be a

conversation that I think is going to interest almost every single one of our listeners.

Oh, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

I'm so glad. Okay. So we're talking today about cults, which is, of course, one of the best topics to talk about in the world, but also one of the most misunderstood.

So I wanted to just introduce us to you and to your work by asking you how you got into this like realm of study,

you know, whether it be cults or new religious movements, which is kind of the, I guess we could

say PC term, but that's not really what I mean. But could you just tell us why you decided to

write this tome that you have written and gotten into this line of work?

Sure. So I'm a professor of religious studies and doing these kinds of topics, it's sort of a double-edged sword.

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