The Screamers: the controversial cult that operated out of Donegal for nearly two decades
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Researching for a new book is one of my favourite parts of the creative process. But, writer beware, it’s also a danger zone. I’ve lost weeks only to realise I haven’t written a word. I allow myself one month for research before I put finger to keypad and begin my messy first draft. Whether it’s location, time or person, it’s important to me to be as accurate as possible. Equally important is balancing research with my writer’s imagination. It is fiction, after all. Then, during the editing process, I return to research to fine-tune the uncharted waters my characters have led me to.
In my latest novel, The Nowhere Girls, my central character, Vega, is an investigative journalist determined to solve the 30-year mystery of two little girls abandoned at a train station in Dublin in 1995. Vega’s search for the girls and their parents plunges her into the dark, controlling and coercive world of cults and communes in America and Ireland, putting her life, career and relationships in jeopardy.
So why did I choose cults for this story?
Like many others, I’ve been fascinated by them since my teens, sparked by a Stephen King short story, Children of the Corn. When a teacher introduced a discussion on a kibbutz, a collective community founded on socialist ideals of shared labour, resources and property, I got the attraction. It appealed to my young, idealistic mind, I suppose.
Countless documentaries, autobiographies, books, films, TV shows and podcasts have been dedicated to exploring cults and communes, asking the same questions I wanted to answer in The Nowhere Girls: what attracts people to live in a community isolated from the wider world, and what are the consequences of choosing such a life?
I began my research with no clear agenda. I had a rough idea of how a cult would fit into my story. But the image was sketchy, and I needed to fill it in. I fell down several rabbit holes, and in each I learned something new to share with my characters. A couple of things jumped out, though. Those who choose to join a cult or commune are seeking a sense of purpose and belonging. They often have personal difficulties, which, of course, make them more vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation by cult leaders.
In addition, as they become isolated from other forms of social and financial support, it becomes nearly impossible for them to leave. Importantly, members often state that they didn’t realise they were in a cult until they were in too deep to leave.
Cult is a controversial label. The word conjures up images of coercive, high-control groups under the spell of a charismatic and narcissistic leader. Many cults are disguised as religious movements or churches. As early as the 1800s, several experimental communities emerged, motivated by religious fervour and philosophical ideals. One of the first was the Shaker communities, established in 1774, known for communal living, gender equality, craftsmanship and celibacy.
It’s also important to distinguish cults from communes, which typically foster community and shared living, rather than mind control, isolation and exploitation. History has taught us, though, that the lines between the two often blur, and I was particularly keen to explore this in The Nowhere Girls.
I decided to focus my research on the 1960s onwards, where there was a major peak in the prevalence of cults and communes. Tens of thousands of young Americans distanced themselves from their parents and the government to explore alternative world views and lifestyles, experimenting with collective living, sustainable agriculture and free love. This was fuelled primarily by opposition to the harrowing Vietnam War. I decided to bring Vega’s search in The Nowhere Girls to Vermont, which had become a haven for hippie communes in the 1960s and 1970s. As many as 35,000 hippies lived in Vermont between 1968 and 1974, in communes that included Quarry Hill in Rochester, Earth People’s Park in Norton and Total Loss Farm in Guilford. A plot point in The Nowhere Girls was inspired by the New Hamburger Commune in Plainfield, which was formed by merging two separate communities, thereby allowing me to alter the relationships and dynamics among my characters. But I can’t say any more about that. No plot spoilers here!
And then I turned my attention to Irish cults. While hippy communes were beginning to wane in America, they were still growing in Ireland and the UK. I spent time with The Two by Twos, a church formed by William Irvine in 1987 in rural Ireland. Irvine’s movement grew rapidly and spread worldwide, reaching the United States by the early 1900s. It still exists today, shrouded in allegations of child sexual abuse and a FBI investigation. I looked at The Children of God in Limerick, The House of Prayer in Achill, The Moonies in Dublin and The Blue Marys in west Cork. But it was The Atlantis Primal Therapy Commune in Donegal, nicknamed The Screamers by locals, that fuelled my imagination.
It was founded in 1974 by the charismatic Jenny James from Kent, England, the daughter of communists, who had been living in a hippie commune in London. Along with her daughter Becky, 30 members lived in Jenny’s home, Atlantis, in Burtonport, Donegal. Jenny was influenced by Arthur Janov’s 1970 book The Primal Scream, which argued that screaming could expunge repressed emotions and release deep-rooted childhood fears and trauma. She also followed the ideals of Wilhelm Reich, a radical Austrian doctor of medicine and psychiatry, who coined the phrase “the sexual revolution”.
Read more https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2026/02/02/the-screamers-the-controversial-cult-that-operated-out-of-donegal-for-nearly-two-decades/
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