REWIND: Joann Vaega: Waco Survivor and Former Branch Davidian
Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation
Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
4.5 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2024
⏱️ 67 minutes
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Summary
You're a child living on a remote compound in West Texas. One day authorities show up at your front door and an exchange of gunfire breaks out. Just as you expected would happen. Survivor of the Branch Davidians and the Waco massacre, Joann Vaega, discusses her earliest memories of living on the compound, what cult leader David Koresh was like in person, why she did not feel fear when the siege began, how her mom bravely acted to save her, learning about the fire that killed 76 people, including her own parents, and how she's currently defying how people said she would turn out. Original Airdate: 08/03/2022
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you have your own story of being an occult or a high control group, or if you've had experience with manipulation or abuse of power that you'd like to share, leave us a message on our hotline number at 347-868-6-trust. |
| 0:12.1 | That's 347-8-68-78. |
| 0:16.0 | Or shoot us an email at trust me pod at gmail.com. |
| 0:20.2 | Trust me. Dude.com trust me. |
| 0:20.9 | Trust me. I'm like a smart person. |
| 0:25.1 | Yeah, I've never lied to you. I never have lied. |
| 0:28.5 | If you think that one person has all the answers. Don't. Welcome to Trust Me, the podcast about |
| 0:34.6 | cult, extreme belief, and manipulation from two historians who've actually |
| 0:39.3 | experienced it. I am Lola Blanc. And I am Megan Elizabeth. And guys, we changed it to manipulation. |
| 0:45.4 | We thought it would better capture the broader scope of what we're trying to talk about here. |
| 0:50.3 | It's not just abuse of power. It's also all forms of manipulation. So we did a little name change. |
| 0:54.8 | A little maybe name change. I like it. I like it too. Let us know if you approve. Rate us five stars. |
| 1:00.1 | Today our guest is Joanne Viaga, survivor of the Branch Divideans and the Waco Massacre. We're going to |
| 1:06.2 | discuss her earliest memories of living on the compound in Waco, Texas, what cult leader David Koresh was like in person, and what it was like when the siege began, and why fear wasn't the emotion she felt when she saw all the dead bodies. |
| 1:17.6 | She'll tell us how her mom bravely acted to protect her and get her safely out, even though it went against everything they'd been taught, the terrifying transition period afterward, and learning |
| 1:28.1 | about the fire that killed 76 people, including her own parents. Plus, what her life's like |
| 1:33.0 | now and how she's thriving, despite being told by adults that she wouldn't. This is a very emotional |
| 1:37.9 | interview. Be warned, but she's amazing, and I can't wait to get into it. So we thought, instead |
| 1:42.8 | of doing cultiest thing this week, we would just kind of give a little background on the Brands Divideans because some of you young folk might not be familiar with this at the time very significant culturally. |
| 1:54.1 | The story, 1993, y'all are too young. |
| 1:56.2 | You're born in like 2000. |
| 1:57.6 | Yeah. |
... |
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