Panorama: Britain's forgotten cults

[An Aardvark]

"How were the interviews?"

"They were good. Everyone performed pretty well. Of course, the main stuff comes when we get them on-site tomorrow. You want to see them?"

The investigator sighs and sinks on to the sofa, the wooden frame creaking under the weight. "Sure. Let's see what they've got."

The hotel room is small and cosy. A large double bed, a sofa, and a writing desk. The last is barely visible beneath the mass of screens and electronics on top of it. Jane Andrews sits behind it, a stocky, blonde woman in her forties. She pulls up a folder on to her laptop screen, then hesitates. She turns to face the sofa with a frown. "Do we even need to do this? I mean, after that email we got today? Our star interviewee and everything? We'll probably never even use this footage will we?"

"Don't count your chickens before they've hatched. Besides, I'd still like to see what they know."

Jane shrugs and loads up a series of videos. The first one comes up on the screen.

[bramblefoot]

the camera cuts to a large, burly man sitting awkwardly on a chair. his eyes zip around the room, as if expecting insurgents to pop out of the woodwork, and his knuckles have the heavy calluses of a man who fights and wins. he begins his tale.

"it all started one day when a little dog came down to my farm, barking his head off in the rain. i was working on me tractor, as the bloody thing wouldn't start, but i heard the noise and i'd be damned if i wasn't a little curious why a dog was barking, when me farm is 10 miles away from the nearest township. so i finished up me repairs, and tromped over to the gate, where i see a scraggly mutt at the gate."

he pauses, to take a swig from a glass of water, and continues.

"so the dog leads me through a little deer trail. i grabbed me double-barrel and me slicker, as lord knows what's out there in the woods, and blimey, the little dog leads me straight to an old compound. so i enter, and there's just dead people everywhere. now i'm ex-military, and these deaths were prolly poison, maybe cult. so i find a phone, and dial the emergency services line, and the operator sends the whole cop shop out to see whats up. i give 'em my side, and then i get taken to the station to give a debrief, and then nothing for twenty-odd years. then, just this morning, i get a call from you chaps. i say sure, lemme make time in my day to come down"

he sighs. "anything else, chaps? i'm gonna need a stiff drink after this"

[Quivernas]

The screen cuts to a marker that reads "Miles Moore - Interview Highlights," then jumps to a shot of the interview room. The camera focuses on a young man who manages to look old. Despite having an unlined face, his high forehead and receding hairline make him look prematurely bald. An upward tilt to his head and a perpetual squint make him look myopic, and perhaps a little conceited.

[Interviewer] What's the last thing you remember from when you lived in Aighstone?

"The last memory I have of my mother ... it's just an image. We're walking away, I think Dad is carrying me. She's just watching us go, no waving, no crying, nothing. I remember a white dress. I don't think she wore dresses before she joined the Callers. Now she's wearing a very plain white dress.

"There's a tree beside her. Somehow I can't remember where we are - I'm guessing near the Caller's compound, but I don't remember what it looked like - but I can remember the tree. I remember it like a very big Christmas tree, just a big pointed conifer. Mom is ... is gone, but I'm betting that tree is still there. I'd like to find it."

[Interviewer] Is that why you decided to come back?

"Well, no. I didn't originally want to come here, to be honest. I know it probably seems like I've lived my life focusing on what happened with my mother, but it really hasn't been like that. Yes, I've got a Masters in History from SUNY Oneonta, with a focus on minority religions. But I'm in upstate New York, so that's not really surprising. A lot of minority religions started here; Seventh-Day Adventists, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, the Shakers really became the Shakers just outside of Albany.

"So, you know, it wasn't really a big drive in my life. My father and mother grew apart and split up when I was still a toddler; that's one of the most common stories you hear. When Panorama reached out to me, I was going to turn them down because I didn't really have anything to add. That memory I just told you is the only thing I have from her; Dad god rid of anything tangible when we moved to the States."

[Interviewer] What changed your mind?

"Well, it's nothing major. Just - well, my boyfriend is in the sciences. He's finishing up his PhD. One of the last steps for him is going on a research trip for a couple of months, which just happens to coincide with the time that Panorama wanted me to visit Aighstone. I could take them up on the offer, or stare at an empty apartment for the next month. My boyfriend said I should do it, said I'd go crazy by myself, and he's probably right.

"Then ... about the only thing I remember from Aighstone is one of my neighbors. There was a girl about my age, Caroline. We were playmates. After we moved away, we tried to keep in touch. We sent each other letters - you know, big pencil letters on big lined paper. I think I learned to write early so I could send letters to Caroline. We fell in and out of touch over the years, but she just wrote me a month ago. She'd found out about the Panorama program and asked if I was coming with it. She's still in Aighstone."

[Earl of Purple]

Another change of scene, a man of average height, mid thirties, with straight brown hair and hazel eyes, wearing a navy tracksuit, sat on a plastic chair, leaning back with his right ankle resting on his left knee. "So, uh, yeah. Lived here all my life. Can't remember when the Callers or whatever they called themselves moved in, I was right young. Didn't really interact much, to be honest. Well, there's one thing. I got in trouble a lot, when I was younger. I'm trying to get straight, now. Anyway. Trouble, yeah? Bit of burglary, car theft, joyriding, vandalism, graffiti... That kinda thing. Quite a bit of car theft and joyriding, it was the most fun I could get 'round here. I broke into their compound, a couple times. Looking for stuff to pawn, mostly, nosing about to see what weird crap- sorry, uh, see what weird stuff they got up to, y'know? Don't remember finding anything much of interest, but I was always more into not being caught than some. But I did, on one occasion, steal a car from the compound. It's on my record, go ask the cops- they know. Got points put on the licence I didn't have yet for it. It was a landy, an old one- big, brute of a vehicle, built like a tank. It drove through the fence like it was nothing, and the next three, too. Fourth had a ditch on the other side, what I didn't see. Went right in, I did, and I weren't wearing me seatbelt. Whacked my head on the windscreen, knocked meself out, I think. Next thing I know, the cops are pullin' me out, and sendin' me to hospital. Asked me a bunch of questions, too." He gulps and adjusts his position, putting both feet on the ground and leaning forward. "Between me takin' the landie, and the pigs- uh, police- fishing me outta the ditch, someone else had visited the weirdoes. Only, they'd found bodies. I don't know if they was dead when I stole the landie, I wasn't looking for people. I was looking for opportunity, mostly."

Did you learn your lesson?

"I learnt some, yeah. Best was always wear a seatbelt. Also learnt not to have money in yer pocket when you steal a car. If the cops find it takin' you out, they'll assume you stole that, too, and it's harder to prove its yours."

[Kaworu]

Then, the camera changed the scene again.

It was showing a young, 30-something priest in a black robes, glasses and with very short hair. Behind him, there were bookshelves of light-colored wood with numerous books and walls with lime-green wallpaper.

- What had happened there 20 years ago is, actually, a very interesting topic from the perspective of social sciences, even thought we do not have a lot of information and only our speculation – explained the young priest. His voice was kind and subtle, like a breeze on a hot, summer day – It is my speculation (and many of the people who paid attention to the happening), that the Callers were some kind of an apocalypse cult. Actually, it should be called in sociology „new religious movement”, but considering the effect of this particular faith on the fellowship, we could call it even a „sect”.

- Anyway, they were secretive and they committed a mass suicide. It seems that they had some kind of belief that made it the only clear choice in their situation. They could be afraid of incoming apocalypse and wanted to part their ways on their own terms… or maybe they just were promised some kind of pretty afterlife they were desperately longing after? We will never know what happened in their heads for sure, but the details aren’t that important, I believe… and, of course, there’s no way of getting them in our possession

- What is important, I think, is the fact that they as a whole did commit the suicide. They are some cults in which the “guru” is living off their followers and the followers will do anything for them. For such people, it is very easy to overuse the good faith others are committing to them and exploit the trust. But, since even the religious leaders are long dead, it seems to me that it was the effect of a sincerely held belief, and no exploitation of the followers happened. Unless, of course, we count the whole suicide thing.

- It seems to me that the classical mechanism of brainwashing had taken place. In rural area, 20-years ago, it should come to no suprise. Usually, the best education and cosmopolitanism there is available to people, the lesser a chance of getting manipulated in such a way. I would like to think that such massacre would not happen nowadays, but we, the humankind, have a genetic need of faith… and magical thinking is also included in the package. This explains nicely why the mass suicide had appeared… and why it could appear again. The best thing I can say – and lemme stress that enough, especially for the young people – is to read, think and educate yourself. And please, do not believe in anything anybody says “because it is so”. As Buddha once said, believe in reason and facts, not in something that was said or written on a face value. Even if that will make you an atheist. Maybe our Church leaders would not agree with me, but it is way better in my opinion to be alive atheist than a suicedee-theist. If the Callers even believed in any kind of God, which again, we have no data to support any kind of claim.

[An Aardvark]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Space for other interview posts here

The investigator laughs scornfully. "They really don't know anything, do they? I thought one of them would have noticed something at least."

"People tend to find what they look for," Jane says. "I thought that was the reason you got us into this mess in the first place..."

The investigator doesn't rise to the bait. "People also only tend to remember what their minds can process. I wonder how much our actors have chosen to forget about the night. Still, let's not dwell on that. We'll find out soon enough. When's our prodigal daughter coming back?"

"Tomorrow." Jane sighs. "She'll meet us at the compound."

"Straight into the fire. Ruthless as ever, Jane..."

---

Three hours earlier

"And that's it for today folks. Let's wrap up." The director turns to face the rest of you as you sit in the nook of the Horse and Stag, sipping your drinks. She's a stocky woman wearing a tweed jacket. Very country-chic. "I wanted to thank you again for agreeing to come out here and do this. It's your stories that are the backbone of what we're trying to do here." She gives you a careworn smile. "Okay, you should have all got your rooms at the hotel next door. Let's meet tomorrow at six like we planned. I know it's an early start, but we want to have good lighting when we get to the compound."

She moves back to the documentary crew who are dismantling the equipment from the pub floor, next to the fireplace where you shot your interviews. The pub regulars start filtering back into the pub from which they had been temporarily ousted. George gives them a grin as he takes their orders at the bar. No doubt the documentary crew more than recompensed him for the business he would have lost in the hour when you'd taken over the establishment. A few of the patrons shoot you curious glances as they come in. The volume of the place rises as the usual pub gossip resumes.

The documentary crew, on the other hand, begin to drag their equipment out to their waiting vans. An Indian summer has taken over Aighstone and it's still light outside, despite the late hour.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Okay, so you can do whatever you'd like for the evening to start with. You can go back to the hotel, reconnect with some familiar faces, go exploring the village, get to know each other, or just stay in the pub and try to get in on the local gossip

[bramblefoot]

charlie will finish his drink and wander the town for about two hours before retiring. he wants to get a lay of the land, and find any shops that sell things of note

[Quivernas]

Miles looked around, but couldn't spot any familiar faces.

No surprise. I was four, maybe five. No one will remember me, and I won't remember anybody.

Still, it felt like this return ought to be more ... momentous. There should be more of a feeling of returning home. Something more than the mild exhaustion.

I'm getting sentimental. Jacob is going to laugh at me when he gets back.

It was probably just the jetlag. Six in the morning was ... correct for time zones ... screw it, six in the morning was just early no matter what schedule you were on.

Miles nodded to George and headed out the door to the hotel. A shower and sleep would give him the clear head he needed tomorrow.

[Earl of Purple]

Xac stays in the bar for a bit, ordering a pint and wandering over to the locals, watching a sports game and seeing if he knows anyone. He'll only have the pint of beer, but after he'll keep drinking- he just moves on to orange juice and lemonade. He's not really a regular, but he used to be, when he wasn't in prison or trying to keep away from bad influences. Now he's got a daughter, so he can't really stay out drinking as much as he used to.

[Kaworu]

Robert just went to his room after the interview. Drinking wasn't really his thing - never was - plus as a priest, he should give good example. He was also somewhat introverted, so he didn't fancy staying in a loud and crowded space.

He also had a nice book on his e-book reader that he wanted to move forward with.