People often ask me if “school”, ie. OSG, is still “school”-ing even though Gans died of Covid last year. As persona non grata, honestly, it’s hard for me to know. As it turns out, corporate headquarters, NYC is actively recruiting and indoctrinating. Read all about it HERE in the New York Post, published on July 9th.
Is Boston still going? Hard to say. But feel free to contact me if you know.
Two Things: 1) Sometimes justice does prevail: Sarah Lawrence Cult Leader Convicted of Trafficking and Extortion
2) Sometimes it doesn’t: I left “school” in 2011, largely because my husband found the blog Esoteric Freedom. It exposed the cult con & provided a cyber gathering place for all “disgruntled ex-students.”
Following Scientology’s strategies, “school” sued the site owner. L. Ron Hubbard saw that– ironically– our justice system does not have remedies to protect whistleblowers from parasitic groups with loads of money. Free speech, anyone?
So “school” said, “Hold my beer,” hired a sleaze-bag lawyer & Esoteric Freedom evaporated. During my recent interview on the pod The Cult Vault, the host, Kacey, mentioned that she’d struggled to find information. Recently, some folks contacted me because a “school” recruiter had been courting them.
For what it’s worth, here is a list of online information that I’ll keep on the top of this blog & add to it, as things roll out:
Most recent:
The New York Mystery Machine interviews me and Spencer Schneider , posted August 1, 2022: Surviving a Cult: An Interview with Former Members of the Odyssey Study Group
NYC cult bought $925K upstate retreat, uses “forced labor’ to dig ditches: source, posted July 23, 2022
Inside NYC’s secret cult that ‘forced gay people into conversion therapy’ & brainwashed high-achievers into manual labor, posted July 23, 2022
Odyssey Study Group cult still going strong after death of charismatic leader Sharon Gans, posted July 9, 2022
Sharon Gans’ NYC cult member exposes fight clubs and broken lives, posted July 2, 2022: I learned a lot of stuff I didn’t know about “School” from this article.
A Cult Vault round table discussion: the host, Kacey, interviews me and Spencer Schneider, together: the compare and contrast between corporate headquarters, NYC, and “school’s” poor cousin, the Boston branch.
A Little Bit Culty interviews Spencer Schneider – Page Turner on his book Manhattan Cult Story
Accused cult leader Sharon Gans Horn cut kids from will: court papers
Manhattan cult duped women into paying fee, working for free: lawsuit
Inside the cult that has been operating in NY for decades
Cult Vault Podcast interviews me (part 1)
Cult Vault Podcast interviews me (part 2)
Cult Vault Podcast interview with Spencer
Another podcast: New York Mystery Machine–Cult Following:The Odyssey Study Group
Another podcast: Drinking on the Job–Sharon’s son talks about being groomed for cult leadership
Past reports:
Sharon Gans Cult Report – the most current blog to come out of corporate headquarters, i.e. the NYC branch.
Archived Pages of Esoteric Freedom from The Wayback Machine
Theater group, cult or stage – an article published in The San Francisco Progress, 1978
Sharon Gans left San Francisco amidst scandal in 1978
Comments on “the work” a “fourth way school”
1978 San Francisco Progress article about the Horn/Gans cult
“School” abuse of the court system to shut up an ex-member
Brilliant host, Speaker Kasey, asks this “disgruntled ex-student” insightful questions and connects the dots about how cults & abusers all use the same tactics. Click HERE to listen to her 2-part interview.
Join us live, or via Zoom,
tomorrow night!
For the link, email me at esther@gsrhealingarts.com
Such a shame that I “failed” at my “schooling”. I could be broke, exhausted, miserable and floundering for babysitting and housecleaning gigs, while trying to recruit fellow Target shoppers into the cult. I sucked at the “making new friends” thing.
Instead this “disgruntled ex-student” has a rewarding career, gets to make a lot of music and art with “only life” friends, and is preparing for a book reading and discussion with a fellow cult buster 🙂 If you want to join via Zoom, email me at esther@gsrhealingarts.com.
The ironic thing is that I found what I was looking for from the cult, by leaving the cult. I guess that’s the nature of the beast.
Good morning Readers,
I’m on a little retreat in Vermont, where it’s minus-18 degrees. Good excuse to stay in and write: coffee, fireplace, sunrise:
So, some might find this foodie podcast, Drinking on the Job, interesting. In this episode Sharon’s son talks about being slated to carry the cult forth, and how he rejected this designation.
Instead he sells wine and plays a mean blues guitar. To hear that story, musings about mezcal & some musical samplings click HERE.
Today, I learned what a book plate is … an author’s signature, to be adhered to the inside of the book cover.
And that I’ve been awarded, “angriest blogger”. There must be an Emmy for “angriest blogger” … don’t you think?
Regardless, I’m, appropriately, full of pride!
Thanks, Spencer!
Order your copy now and stop by Spencer’s evil blog to learn how you can get your own book plate!
Interview with Spencer Schneider, author of Manhattan Cult Story
Hi Readers,
Happy almost New Year — I raise my glass to leaving 2021, behind! But, with all that’s gone off the rails, this season still beats the holidays I spent in “school.”
So, I want to let you know about the podcast, The Cult Vault. Brilliant host, Kacey, has turned her attention to our secret little mom & pop cult. FYI, “school”, or “the study”, or OSG (whatever its calling itself now) operates both in New York City, (aka Corporate Headquarters) & Boston (the satellite branch & poor cousin). So, New York has its own “evil” blog, The Sharon Gans Cult Report. There, the hilarious Spencer Schneider cuts through the b.s. And recently he published what promises to be a fantastic memoir, Manhattan Cult Story, as well (hard copy release date, July 5th, 2022).
In this Cult Vault episode, Kacey interviews Spencer and their conversation highlights the following: how “school/the study” leveraged generic language (try Googling “secret school”)to keep “school” in the shadows … we met at “the space”, we studied “the work”, we didn’t divulge last names, or careers. This class, teachers claimed, was dedicated to the work, an “ancient, esoteric, oral teaching, passed down” from teacher to student (blah, blah, blah). We didn’t dilute it with “gossip.” How the cult targeted educated and successful professionals, and that clientele made the group look super good! All secrets & lies, by design.
So, if you’re Boston-based and you want to learn about our New York overlords, start with this interview! Then order a copy of Spencer’s book. If you’re New York-based, Kacey will be interviewing me in February, when we’ll discuss the cult’s poor cousin:-)
Stay tuned for more details! And … Come on, 2022!!
Hi Folks –
This always happens when I wonder whether the cult is culting on …. someone asked me last week and I said, “I have no idea.”
Suddenly, I’m getting messages from people that have been targeted recently. Not only that, sounds like the cult is using the exact same tactics… sigh. You can read about those tactics here …
And remember, a “School”-free holiday season is a happy holiday season!
Enjoy your weekend!
Good morning, fellow “Disgruntled ex-Students” – Exciting news!
My fellow “evil” blogger’s cultic misadventure in “school” NYC (i.e. corporate headquarters) is now a published book!! I got to read a few excerpts pre-publication and can’t wait to read the rest. I’m confident that, true to form, Sir Spence’s beautifully written book, will make me laugh & cry, while demonstrating how one demented woman duped a group of intelligent, high-functioning humans into her staged production of “highly-evolved woman.” Buy the memoir. Compare it to your experience. Something tells me that you’ll relate.:
“We were invisible. We had to be. We took an oath of absolute secrecy. We never even told our immediate families who we were. We went about our lives in New York City. Just like you. We were your accountants, money managers, lawyers, executive recruiters, doctors. We owned your child’s private school and sold you your brownstone. But you’d never guess our secret lives, how we lived in a kind of silent terror and fervor. There were hundreds of us.”
Right under the noses of neighbors, clients, spouses, children, and friends, a secret society, simply called School—a cult of snared Manhattan professionals—has been led by the charismatic, sociopathic and dangerous leader Sharon Gans for decades. Spencer Schneider was recruited in the eighties and he stayed for more than twenty-three years as his life disintegrated, his self-esteem eroded, and he lined the pockets of Gans and her cult.
Cult members met twice weekly, though they never acknowledged one another outside of meetings or gatherings. In the name of inner development, they endured the horrors of mental, sexual, and physical abuse, forced labor, arranged marriages, swindled inheritances and savings, and systematic terrorizing. Some of them broke the law. All for Gans.
‘During those years,’ Schneider writes, ‘my world was School. That’s what it’s like when you’re in a cult, even one that preys on and caters to New York’s educated elite. This is my story of how I got entangled in School and how I got out.’
At its core, Manhattan Cult Story is a cautionary tale of how hundreds of well-educated, savvy, and prosperous New Yorkers became fervent followers of a brilliant but demented cult leader who posed as a teacher of ancient knowledge. It’s about double-lives, the power of group psychology, and how easy it is to be radicalized—all too relevant in today’s atmosphere of conspiracy and ideologue worship.