Tag: Synanon

Cesar Chavez’s shocking ties to bloodthirsty cult — and how left-wing hero turned extremist before he died

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The backlash against the late California civil rights icon Cesar Chavez has been fierce and widespread since bombshell allegations revealed Wednesday that he sexually abused children. His reputation and legacy, however, had already taken a controversial turn in the final…[Continue Reading...]

Netflix’s ‘Wayward’ Is Inspired by a Real-Life Cult Whose Members Played a Twisted Therapy Game

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Netflix’s hit drama series, Wayward, stars Mae Martin as a detective who moves to the small town of Tall Pines, only to discover that the town and its school are hosting a heap of deadly secrets. In Wayward, which is…[Continue Reading...]

What happened to Charles “Chuck” Dederich? The man behind the HBO Documentary, The Synanon Fix

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The Synanon was a community founded by Charles E. “Chuck” Dederich in 1958. After being a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, a rehabilitation group for people suffering from alcohol abuse, Charles decided to start a community of his own for people…[Continue Reading...]

Synanon rehab center turned from helping to brainwashing with ‘communal living experiment,’ docuseries reveals

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A California rehabilitation foundation for people addicted to heroin transformed into a "communal living experiment" with cult-like tendencies in the 1950s, according to a new documentary series. Charles Diedrich, a former alcoholic, initially founded his storefront rehabilitation center in Santa…[Continue Reading...]

What Happened to Synanon Founder Charles ‘Chuck’ Dederich? All About the Cult Leader Who Died in 1997

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Synanon was the brainchild of Charles “Chuck” Dederich. The infamous cult leader died in 1997, but the story of his reformative-turned-destructive drug rehabilitation organization is now the center of a four-part docuseries on HBO. Titled The Synanon Fix: Did The…[Continue Reading...]

HBO’s The Synanon Fix Explores How a Rehab Program Became a Cult-Like Group

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What happens when a rehab program that is supposed to cure addictions becomes addictive itself? That’s the story of Synanon, an organization that went from providing revolutionary therapy to becoming “a kooky cult,” as TIME put it in 1977. The…[Continue Reading...]

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