Dragged into the light : truthers, reptilians, super soldiers, and death inside an online cult

As Seen on VICE TV's The Devil You Know, Season 2Ohio housewife Sherry Shriner grew to prominence as a social media cult leader, flourishing in the era of conspiracy theories and the 9/11 Truther movement.She preached the virtues of mysterious orgone energy and Christian prayer as defensive shields against the forces of darkness, including Lucifer and his demons; reptilian shape-shifters masquerading as human elites; the New World Order; cell phone towers; even hostile UFOs that flamed out over her home, visible only as shooting stars.Amazingly, she built a coterie of passionate devotees. The more outrageous the lie, the more fervent their belief.In 2017, she told follower Steven Mineo that his girlfriend, Barbara Rogers, was a witch who would kill him. A month later, Steven was dead, and Barbara was in jail charged with his murder.Steven’s death proved Sherry’s divinity to her followers, but in reality, he was just the latest casualty in a string of online trolling attacks that had left an earlier believer dead of suicide and still more cast into the outer darkness of cyberspace.Journalist Tony Russo follows Sherry Shriner’s cult, digs into its bizarre beliefs, and reports on the shredded lives and reputations surrounding an otherwise nondescript woman who transformed herself into a web-based evangelist.The incredible story is documented in dogged reporting, surviving internet chats and transcripts, and voluminous police records. Ohio housewife Sherry Shriner grew to prominence as a social media cult leader, flourishing in the era of conspiracy theories and the 9/11 Truther movement. She preached the virtues of mysterious orgone energy and Christian prayer as defensive shields against the forces of darkness, Lucifer and his demons; reptilian shapeshifters masquerading as human elites; the New World Order; cell phone towers; even hostile UFOs that flamed out over her home, visible only as shooting stars. Amazingly, she built a coterie of passionate devotees. The more outrageous the lie, the more fervent their belief. In 2017, she told follower Steven Mineo that his girlfriend, Barbara Rogers, was a witch who would kill him. A month later, Steven was dead, and Barbara was in jail charged with his murder. Steven's death proved Sherry's divinity to her followers, but in reality, he was just the latest casualty in a string of online trolling attacks that had left an earlier believer dead of suicide and still more cast into the outer darkness of cyberspace. Journalist Tony Russo follows Sherry Shriner's cult, digs into its bizarre beliefs, and reports on the shredded lives and reputations surrounding an otherwise-nondescript woman who transformed herself into a web-based evangelist in the wee hours of the night. The incredible story is documented in dogged reporting, surviving internet chats and transcripts, and voluminous police records. As Seen on VICE TV's "The Devil You Know" Season 2 A prophet. A dysfunctional romance. A gunshot. A decade before QAnon mushroomed into the headlines, Ohio housewife Sherry Shriner was tilling the same fertile soil. She attracted thousands with feverish conspiracy theories concocted from the New World Order, shape shifting reptilian overlords, and end times Bible prophecy. She kept them hooked by playing into their fears of persecution and she made a tidy living out of it. But paranoia was rampant among her followers, and expulsions from the online cult were common. In the early morning of July 15, 2017, police in Pennsylvania responded to a 911 call and charged Barbara Rogers with the murder of Steven Mineo. Mineo had been one of Shriner's favorites. But Shriner had prophesied his destruction at Barbara's hand. And now he was dead. Journalist Tony Russo follows Shriner's cult, digs into its bizarre beliefs, and reports on the shredded lives and reputations surrounding an Internet evangelist who claimed to be God's mouthpiece on Earth. "When Internet conspiracy theorist Sherry Shriner told one of her long-time followers, Steven Mineo, that his new girlfriend Barbara Rogers was a deadly reptilian agent, Steven broke with Shriner's cult. Two months later, he was dead from a gunshot wound to the head, and Barbara had been charged with his murder. Shriner claimed credit for a true prophecy. But the truth was darker. Journalist Tony Russo's investigation of Mineo's death, along with the earlier suicide of another cult member, led him inside an exotic new form of religion, where true believers assemble in internet chat rooms to stave off the demonic hordes of Lucifer, the New World Order, cell phone towers and reptilian shape-shifters. Dragged Into the Light is a look at how conspiracy cults wield surprising power, and what their growth says about deepening religious and political divides in the U.S."--Amazon