{"podcast":{"title":"Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation","slug":"trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347","podcast_index_feed_id":1320347,"rss_url":"https://www.omnycontent.com/d/playlist/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f804eed6-dd2f-4bf9-ba37-b2de011a8b27/462fb424-93c4-4e4b-8e00-b2de011a8b44/podcast.rss","website_url":"https://art19.com/shows/trust-me","image_url":"https://www.omnycontent.com/d/playlist/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f804eed6-dd2f-4bf9-ba37-b2de011a8b27/462fb424-93c4-4e4b-8e00-b2de011a8b44/image.jpg?t=1749574865&size=Large","author":"Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts","episode_count":270,"summary":"Trust Me is a weekly interview podcast about cults, extreme belief, and the fine line between devotion and delusion—told through firsthand accounts from the people who lived it. Hosted by two women who’ve been in cults themselves, Lola Blanc and Meagan Elizabeth, the show features survivors from groups like Heaven’s Gate, the Manson Family, NXIVM, OneTaste and more–sharing personal stories of how they got in, how they got out, and everything in between. Each week, they invite these guests alongside experts who can dive deep into seductive leaders, the darker aspects of organized religion, and the subtler shades of groupthink and the psychology of influence. Trust Me explores it all with unfiltered honesty, dark humor, and a lot of heart. This isn’t a sensationalized deep dive into cults—it’s a compassionate, first-person exploration of what it means to believe, to belong, and to break free. At the end of the day, wanting to believe in something bigger than yourself is one of the most human instincts there is.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T16:18:33.645391+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347"},"episode":{"title":"Jasper Hoffman, Part 1 - From Atheists to Mennonites","slug":"jasper-hoffman-part-1-from-atheists-to-mennonites","published_at":"2026-07-08T07:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347/jasper-hoffman-part-1-from-atheists-to-mennonites","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347","url":"https://omny.fm/shows/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation/jasper-hoffman-part-1-from-atheists-to-mennonites","audio_url":"https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f804eed6-dd2f-4bf9-ba37-b2de011a8b27/30eaa630-9b22-4c62-923b-b4800007d309/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=462fb424-93c4-4e4b-8e00-b2de011a8b44","summary":"This week, the girls are joined by Jasper Hoffman, writer, podcaster, and former Mennonite. In part one, she explains how her parents went from a being punk rock atheist and an anthropology major to homesteading, homeschooling, and going to church: first a non-denominational one, and then a Mennonite church that came to town for “Revival Week” when Jasper was a kid. She’ll describe how it then escalated to her family moving to the Midwest, getting rid of all of their material possessions, and committing wholeheartedly to being Mennonites, with redacted encyclopedias and physical punishment in the basement for children who were considered rebellious–and why she was forbidden from going back to school. Plus, stay tuned for part two next week, in which she tells her story of leaving the church. SOURCES The Plain People's Podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.","meta_description":"This week, the girls are joined by Jasper Hoffman, writer, podcaster, and former Mennonite. In part one, she explains how her parents went from a being pu…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3146,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347/episodes/jasper-hoffman-part-1-from-atheists-to-mennonites/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347/jasper-hoffman-part-1-from-atheists-to-mennonites.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}