Love Letters From A Cult Leader: inside MOVE's language of control

“I love y’all so much. Ain’t nothing I wouldn’t do for y’all.”
—John Africa (Vincent Leaphart), founder of MOVE

Thanks to a confidential source, we gained access to dozens of private MOVE letters sent to incarcerated followers. At first glance, some of these letters appear warm, loyal, even loving - representative of what MOVE says they are - a chosen "family". But beneath the surface lies a deeply sophisticated system of control.

Using Dr. Robert J. Lifton’s landmark framework for thought reform—developed in his seminal book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism—this episode unpacks the emotional and psychological manipulation embedded in MOVE’s prison correspondence.

MOVE’s founder, Vincent Leaphart (known as John Africa), fused affection with control, cloaking coercion in the language of love. We identify all eight of Lifton’s classic markers of ideological subjugation:

1. Milieu Control – Isolation from outside information
2. Mystical Manipulation – Events reframed as divine guidance
3. Demand for Purity – Eradication of doubt or dissent
4. Cult of Confession – Compelled vulnerability used against members
5. Sacred Science – Doctrine presented as ultimate, unquestionable truth
6. Loading the Language – Slogans replace independent thought
7. Doctrine over Person – Personal experiences denied if they contradict the group
8. Dispensing of Existence – Only true believers are granted moral or spiritual legitimacy

Most disturbing is how MOVE weaponized parenthood. In letter after letter, imprisoned parents were told how strong, loyal, and “revolutionary” their children were becoming when the reality was neglect and abuse. 

These so-called love letters were more than emotional support. They were tools of indoctrination, surveillance, and control, designed to maintain ideological loyalty even behind bars.

To further understand how cults keep their hold through isolation and imprisonment,  check out the works of Dr. Lifton and Dr. Janja Lalich, whose powerful book Bounded Choice explores how seemingly rational people remain devoted to manipulative groups under high control.

The producers of this podcast wish to stress that all individuals reference in this series are presumed innocent unless or until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law in the United States of America.

Chapters

• 0:00 Content Warning & Introduction
• 0:37 Exploring MOVE Member Loyalty
• 2:44 Lifton's Framework for Thought Reform
• 5:07 Decoding John Africa's Prison Letter
• 14:00 Group Letter to Muncie Women
• 27:11 The Manipulation of Children
• 32:28 Closing Thoughts & Next Episode

Transcript

Beth: 0:04

This episode includes discussions of coercive control, indoctrination and references to violence involving children. Please take care while listening. And just a heads up in addition to my narration, you will be hearing AI-generated voices reading aloud from MOVE letters. That was a creative choice on my part because, frankly, I don't think you want to hear me doing all the voices in this one. It also helps distinguish who's speaking and makes it easier to follow.

Beth: 0:37

If you've been with me for a while, through the custody battle, the murder, the fire, the contradictions, then I think by now you've probably had the same question I've had from the beginning why do MOVE members stay loyal? Why would someone remain devoted to a man or to a group that led them to prison or to the loss of their children? It doesn't make sense, not if you're thinking logically or through self-preservation. But this isn't a story that plays by logical rules. You can't just ask a current MOVE member why they stayed. That question goes against their training. They won't answer it. So instead I turned to what they were saying behind closed doors, in private, out of earshot and out of sight of anyone who wasn't loyal to MOVE. Thanks to a source, I was able to get access to hundreds of internal MOVE letters and doctrine pages, and over the past three years I've read, re-read and re-read again page after page written by MOVE members. Then I consulted sources, former members, experts, people who know the language to help me translate and examine them. Before I get to the first letter, I want to tell you a little bit more about the expert whose work I'm using to decode it.

Beth: 2:00

His name is Robert J Lifton and he's one of the most respected voices in the study of psychological coercion. He's a psychiatrist, a professor and the author of more than a dozen books, but the one that matters most here is his 1961 classic Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. Lifton studied people who had survived ideological control under Maoist China. What he uncovered became one of the most important frameworks we have for understanding how cults, authoritarian systems and high-demand groups manipulate belief, not just through fear of violence, but through repetition, emotional dependency, language and control of thought. Lifton's important work helps us understand how thought is reshaped and controlled. His framework for understanding thought reform has eight core criteria.

Beth: 2:54

Number one milieu control. The group controls information and communication. Two mystical manipulation Leaders present events or decisions as divinely inspired. Number three demand for purity Anything outside the group is considered impure or evil. Four confession Members are pressured to admit flaws, sins or past wrongs to reinforce loyalty. Number five sacred science. The group's beliefs are presented as absolute, unquestionable truth. Number six loading the language. Unique jargon replaces critical thought. Number seven doctrine over person. Personal feelings or experiences are invalid if they conflict with the doctrine. Number eight dispensing of existence. Only the loyal are seen as worthy Outsiders. Traitors or doubters are dismissed or dehumanized.

Beth: 4:03

Okay, with those eight in mind, I'm going to read you the first letter. It's handwritten in all caps in blue ink on aged manila-colored lined paper, tattered around the edges with small brown stains of unknown origin. It has been living inside a light pink folder labeled in all caps. I LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH.

Beth: 4:27

As you listen to this letter, I want you to place yourself in the setting of the person or people receiving this letter. Holmesburg Prison, a crumbling, overcrowded facility in Northeast Philadelphia infamous for abuse, medical experiments on inmates and extreme neglect. The walls are stained and when you're cut off like that or in the case of Chuck Sims, just 18 years old you are scared. You are cut off from the outside world. And when you're cut off like that, a letter isn't just a letter, it's a lifeline, a reminder that the outside still exists, a reminder that you are a human being, and when that letter comes from MOVE, you read every word because you've been taught. Those words matter more than anything else. I've taken the text of the letter and put an AI generated male voice to represent the author.

Vincent: 5:37

I love y'all so much. Ain't nothing I wouldn't do for y'all. Don't worry about a thing no matter what y'all do, as long as it is right, y'all safe, because y'all got a strong understanding of MOVE law. And when you got strong faith in MOVE law, can't nobody touch you. So you see, you all are as protected as the sun and just as important, because without MOVE, the sun is incomplete. Without the sun, MOVE is incomplete, mean, ain't it? I love you. Don't worry about them, people up there. They can't hurt you.

Vincent: 6:12

If you think they can hurt you, you are interpreting this activity wrong. Mama didn't put y'all in a position to get hurt. Mama put y'all in a position to stop hurt. And as long as y'all understand this, you won't be hurt. Ain't that right? Don't bother your mind With all that foolishness. Y'all got MOVE power and that is what is important. So treat that as important. Resist the foolishness that still linger in your head from the past. You can't think but one way, and when you are thinking strong, you showing strong because you is strong. Ain't that right? Stay true to MOVE law and the truth will bring you home soon, ain't that right?

Beth: 6:52

This is the kind of letter that could pass through the prison censors no names, no signatures, but it's still doctrine, still control, still belief disguised as comfort. Still control, still belief disguised as comfort. This love letter is from Vincent Leaphart to his followers. All right, let's decode this letter using Dr Lifton's eight criteria for thought reform.

Vincent: 7:15

Don't worry about a thing. No matter what y'all do, as long as it is right. Don't bother your mind With all that foolishness.

Beth: 7:23

These particular lines are an example of milieu control. The message is listen only to John Africa. Nothing else is real. These lines shut out external input. Fear facts prison reality.

Vincent: 7:41

Mama didn't put y'all in a position to get hurt. Mama put y'all in a position to stop hurt and as long as y'all understand this, you won't be hurt.

Beth: 7:50

Mystical manipulation, claiming divine purpose behind events or suffering. Vincent Leapheart is reframing incarceration as divine strategy. Their pain becomes proof of higher meaning, decided not by them but by MOVE God, Mama.

Vincent: 8:08

Y'all safe Because y'all got a strong understanding of MOVE Law. And when you got strong faith in MOVE Law, can't nobody touch you.

Beth: 8:17

Demand for purity. You're either right or you're wrong with us or against us. There's no room for questions. It's only about obedience. If you are obedient, you're wrong with us or against us. There's no room for questions. It's only about obedience. If you are obedient, you're safe. If you're in doubt, you're in danger. Considering that Vincent Lepart is a fugitive right now, I think he's also using this as a veiled threat, because if you're not loyal, you're against him and you're unsafe.

Vincent: 8:42

Resist the foolishness that still linger in your head from the past.

Beth: 8:47

Confession, Pushing members to monitor and reject impure or disloyal thoughts. This is about mental cleansing, a soft demand to reject any leftover thinking from before, MOVE their pre-cult identity and also their pre-cult sense of morality. It's saying that your doubt is betrayal.

Vincent: 9:11

MOVE power, and that is what is important. So treat that as important. Stay true to MOVE law, and the truth will bring you home soon.

Beth: 9:18

Sacred science Group. Doctrine is the ultimate truth. It can't be questioned. The promise of prison release isn't based on law or appeals. It's based on quote-unquote truth, which means strict loyalty to doctrine. Vincent Lepart is writing to his followers who are in prison on third-degree murder charges and it's believed they are about to get sentenced for what they are sentenced with, which is 30 to 100 years in prison. So they are not coming home.

Vincent: 9:51

Because y'all got a strong understanding of MOVE law. And when you got strong faith in MOVE law, stay true to MOVE law. Mama didn't put y'all in a position to get hurt, mama put y'all in a position to stop hurt. MOVE power. And when you are thinking strong, you showing strong because you is strong. Ain't that right? Ain't that right? Ain't that right.

Beth: 10:13

Loading the language, Special words that carry specific meaning only inside of MOVE. These words and phrases all mean something different inside MOVE than they do outside of MOVE. The language is coded and it's closed. It doesn't allow room for new ideas or outside people by using loaded language. They are all agreeing to group thought. Group thought that was written by the leader, Vincent Liebhardt.

Vincent: 10:42

If you think they can hurt you, you are interpreting this activity wrong.

Beth: 10:46

Doctrine over person. If your experience contradicts the belief, your experience is wrong. If your experience contradicts the belief, your experience is wrong. Your fear is the problem, not your situation. And remember activity, that means MOVE, activity. Those are your marching orders that came directly from the leader, vincent Lepart. To me, this confirms that August 8th 1978 was premeditated.

Vincent: 11:14

You all are as protected as the sun and just as important, because without MOVE, the sun is incomplete. Without the sun, MOVE is incomplete.

Beth: 11:24

Dispensing of existence. Only the loyal people matter. Everyone else can be dismissed, disposed of. This is flattery with a purpose. Only MOVE members are seen as essential. Everyone else critics prison guards, outsiders. They're irrelevant, invisible.

Vincent: 11:45

I love y'all so much. Ain't nothing I wouldn't do for y'all.

Beth: 11:49

I love y'all so much. That's what Vincent Lepart, aka John Africa, wanted to convey in this letter. It's also what MOVE wrote on the light pink file folder where they kept the original handwritten page along with a typed all caps copy that credits John Africa as the author and sender. When this letter was handed to young MOVE members in prison during mail distribution, it must have felt like a lifeline, like a hug, like real love. And they were in desperate need of love because they were terrified. They were in cold, overcrowded cells, they were cut off from the world. Some were just 18, 22, 25. And here was a message from their leader, a message that said you matter, you are seen, you are protected.

Beth: 12:40

Vincent Lepart was a middle-aged married man with no income, no children of his own and a criminal record. He renames himself John Africa and declares that he alone speaks for nature, for their God, mother Nature. At this point, eight of his most loyal followers were his own nieces and nephews. Vincent Lepart was safe, he was free, and they were in prison, clinging to a letter that promised protection if they obeyed and abandonment or worse if they didn't. Vincent Lepart was the puppet master, pulling the strings from outside the prison walls. And when the letter ended, his influence didn't. It lived on through the MOVE members inside who read it aloud, reinforced it and policed each other with its words. There was no room to question, no mental space to think for yourself. That wasn't a coincidence, it was by design. In Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism by Robert J Lifton, I think this quote sums up this letter perfectly. The most totalist of all totalitarianisms is that which manipulates love.

Beth: 13:57

This one-page letter that I just shared from John Africa was powerful, but it's not representative of most MOVE prison letters, not even close. In fact, most MOVE letters sent to imprisoned members were long, sometimes 20 pages, written in all caps, without punctuation, and filled with repetition slogans and pressure. That short letter was from Vincent Leapart, himself John Africa, but he didn't always write to his followers directly. Often he spoke through others. He directed MOVE members on the outside, under his control, to be his voice, his proxy.

Beth: 14:37

When writing to those on the inside, they were expected to relay what he wanted, said how he wanted it said, and to do it in a way that reinforced control, loyalty and obedience. These letters were surveillance tools disguised as support. They praised, but they also policed. The next letter I'm sharing is one of those group letters. It was sent to the women imprisoned at Muncie State Prison by MOVE members still living communally at 6221 Osage Avenue. I'm going to read excerpts using different AI voices to reflect the multiple authors. This is how MOVE use the illusion of love and support to keep their followers in line.

Raymond: 15:24

Hello, Hi Sugar. How am I Deb? You love me, Sugar, I love you me Suga.

Beth: 15:39

I love you. Deb is Debbie Sims, aka Debbie Africa, vincent Lepard's niece. The person writing the first part of this letter is Charles Raymond Stokes, aka Raymond Africa.

Raymond: 15:47

Don't I, gal, miss me, gal, I miss you too a whole lot. You are so strong, gal, I'm really impressed with you. I mean it. Suga, listen, suga you and your sisters is making an impression in the MOVE organization that will never be passed by nobody. I tell you, y'all are so strong, so loyal, so committed, so dedicated, so full of MOVE power. It will take a thousand muncies to even so-called tilt y'all's dedication and even then they couldn't tilt it enough for them to notice and would only cause y'all to be even stronger when you straighten back up. So you see, when clearly understood, you can't even be tilted because if you get stronger you haven't gotten weaker, and in order to tilt y'all they would have to weaken y'all. Whenever there is an important activity in this organization to be done, whenever there is a powerful example of dedication to be demonstrated, if the Muncie women can't do it, can't nobody do it. I mean it Nobody. If y'all keep on setting the example y'all been setting, all y'all gonna be naturalist ministers.

Beth: 17:03

Raymond goes on to include the other MOVE women that are in Muncie with Debbie he references Janine, Janet, Merle Wick, which is Alberta, Wicker, Maria, which is Rhea, which is Sue, and Swella, that's Consuela. Raymond's whole point of his messaging is to talk about how the women are much stronger and much more loyal than the MOVE men and when they get out, when they come home, they're all going to be promoted Promoted within the MOVE organization, of course.

Raymond: 17:36

On the MOVE Nilla Wafer, this the big fella here.

Beth: 17:40

There was only one big fella in MOVE, and that was Gerald Ford, aka Jerry Africa. Jerry was well over six feet tall and over 350 pounds.

Raymond: 17:53

It daybreak and would you believe, nick is up here listening to jazz. I can't believe it's happened to me, nick and T is pretending the dogs need walking so they can give each other some sugar. Marriage breeds deception of all sorts, ha ha. Anyway, everybody here been doing real well. Patches be keeping things light, as always, and the dinners we be having, deb, in fact, gal, I really believe if you was here to get some of this D, you'd give up your famous Sims banana wafer, scudden or pudden. It ain't happening, just like you singing. Well, anyway, it won't be long now, for all this special treatment will be over, but until then I'm going to soak it up. See you later, sis, your bro Ernie.

Beth: 18:49

So there's short little notes from somebody named Gertie, from somebody named Doretha, and they are saying to Debbie that they miss her, they're praising her, but that she needs to be honest, caring, maybe even wise. But in cult dynamics phrases like that are loaded. Robert J Lifton would call it a demand for purity, janja Lalic would call it a loyalty check. Either way, it's not about truth, it's about obedience.

Rhonda: 19:24

Hi Deb Ron, here I can hear your voice now. Oh, hi Ron.

Beth: 19:31

Ron is Rhonda Harris Ward, a very early on MOVE member and the mother of the child who escaped MOVE headquarters on Osage Avenue on May 13th 1985, a Wee Wolf Ward known as Birdie Africa pancakes with homemade syrup.

Rhonda: 19:58

Yum, yum, yummy. I must have ate about 10 or more and Jerry about 20 or more. No more, boy. After a while the pancakes was being thrown in the air and we was grabbing for them. Ha ha, bert should have been there. She liked that stuff.

Beth: 20:09

Offer the illusion of joy and warmth in MOVE to someone who is cold, scared and cut off physically from MOVE. For sure, debbie was not getting pancakes in prison and in my opinion, no one in MOVE was getting pancakes out of prison either. They always exaggerate normalcy when they're trying to manipulate people.

Rhonda: 20:30

Now, deb, I wasn't going to say this, but sadistic Sadina is messing with me. You know who, gail.

Beth: 20:38

Gail is Debbie's youngest sister, ha ha.

Rhonda: 20:42

Now remember when Gail Fox, chuck and Den used to mess with you. Well, you came out the best one. You a practicing naturalist, and they are bums, gutter, swills, ha, ha ha.

Beth: 20:56

Debbie and her four siblings, sharon, gail, chuck and Dennis, were all MOVE members. They were pulled in as the first members of MOVE when they were teenagers minors by Vincent Lepart.

Rhonda: 21:12

Just read this to Gail and she laughed trying to mold this off. But she knows it's true. Ha ha Nah, just kidding, gailey, love you Me. To Deb you are a good sister for real, but you know I'm a perpetual liar. Ha ha ha. No, no, for real, deb. You mean, I know you're gonna love this letter. Y'all deserve all the praises in it. Y'all get to. I seen your stinky kids the other day, woogie and Wit.

Beth: 21:39

As in Mike Africa Jr and Wit, who you've heard on this podcast.

Rhonda: 21:43

They some pretty kids, deb. It's a good thing they take their looks from you. Ha ha. Woogie look just like you and Wit look like Mike. Woogie is mean too, of course, because he was born in the slammer Boy. He ain't scared of nobody. He be basing at them perverts, gail said she told you the time. Puga said Gail, if he would have messed with you we would have helped you and I could have kicked him and stomped him with my boots on Boy. I was cracking up when I heard that.

Beth: 22:12

Rhonda's mention of Debbie's children, calling them attractive and fierce, isn't just small talk or a loving update. It's a subtle reinforcement that MOVE has them. MOVE is raising them, shaping them, praising them, and by attributing their strength and beauty to MOVE influence, the message is clear your children belong to MOVE, not to you. The implication is that these kids are thriving because they're still inside MOVE. And by reminding imprisoned mothers that their children are doing well, the letter sends a veiled command Don't question MOVE, don't regret the decisions that landed you in prison. Your sacrifice was worth it. Just look at your kids. But here's the truth behind that lie. These children were being raised without their parents in a closed system controlled by Vincent Leapheart, a man who ordered violence, demanded absolute loyalty and exerted control over every aspect of his followers' lives, including their children. And, for context, at the time of this letter, debbie's daughter Wit would have been four and a half to six years old and Mike Woogie Puga would have been two and a half to four years old. And MOVE is praising his alleged physical aggression.

: 23:34

Long live John Africa. I heard the letter you wrote us about their investigation interrogation about MOVE underground. They can't stop nothing, though. All they can do is hallucinate. Hey, john Africa puts a lot of energy into making sure you all is safe and all MOVE. People know that and that makes all of us real secure, no matter if we're in or out of jail. I love and miss you, deb. Long live John Africa. Be honest, mo.

Beth: 24:06

Mo is Alfonso Robbins. He's been a MOVE member since 1972. He raised five children in MOVE, including Mike Africa Jr's current wife, robin, now Nick, who is Frank James, debbie's biological cousin and, at the time, one of the highest ranking MOVE members outside of prison.

Nick: 24:29

He chimes in Yo Deb, this is Nick again. Long live John Africa. Listen to this. We just received your letter yesterday telling us how you shook up the administration up there and how everything is falling right into place. I tell you, the information y'all put out couldn't have been better. Long live John Africa. So we are hollering and slapping hands while he was running it and the phone rang while we was still reading. Rhonda answered it and couldn't make out what was being said behind all the excitement on the other end. So we all got anxious to find out what was happening. Then Rhonda broke out in a big grin and screamed Long live John Africa. Jeanette has been discharged from the House of Correction, deb. We lifted the ceiling with praise for our coordinator, deb. That Friday. We told the feds directly that we will not have another baby born in jail, and 48 hours later Jeanette was home.

Beth: 25:31

He's writing now, giving Debbie an update on Jeanette, or Nett as they call her. Jeanette, as in Jeanette Knighton, the name nobody seems to bring up when it comes to MOVE, even though it was the name PAM Africa used from 1975 until 1991 in MOVE. Nick is telling Debbie that Jeanette was arrested and charged with contempt of court but thanks to the power of John Africa, she was released. All praises to John Africa. Long live John Africa, the coordinator. This isn't just a casual update. This is strategic manipulation. The message is Jeanette was in trouble. John Africa fixed it. He can make people free when he decides to. If you obey, if you stay loyal like Jeanette, if you keep proving yourself like Jeanette, maybe you'll be freed too. This isn't about the courts, it's not about justice, it's about control, and Jeanette's story becomes the dangling carrot for Debbie. Stay in line and your turn is going to come. Step out of line and you'll stay in prison. That's what this letter is doing. It's not just a correspondence hey, we miss you, it's conditioning. That's why they keep telling her to be honest, Do her MOVE work For the next four pages.

Beth: 26:59

Both sides, multiple MOVE members. Adults go into great detail about the children. They list them by name. Some names you know, like Wit, Catricia, Phil, Netta, Birdie, who goes by Wolf, but other names you've never heard before and I'm not going to use them here because they're minors at the time and they're now adults. They're not participating in MOVE and so they deserve the privacy. The descriptions of the children are all about them being strong and all about them getting physical with each other Very physical and the adults getting physical with them.

: 27:45

For years the coordinator been telling us how strong M kids are and I saw an example of that strength last night. First I know you done heard how hard all the MOVE kids are hitting.

Beth: 27:57

This is physical violence between children, encouraged by adults, and we're talking about very young children under the age of 13.

: 28:08

Well those people been given the kids instructions on defense coordination and they listened. Well too, boy, was I impressed with what I seen. Y'all would have been too. First, let me say this All the kids are heavy punchers. I was told by the time turns 15, he'll be hitting harder than me. But wait, that ain't all the point I want to make. Tree is punching harder than Lorraine Teresa T and Gail Rhonda too. Ain't that bad. What can I say? Long live, MOVE women.

Beth: 28:46

Tree is Katrisha Dotson, and at this time she would have been 12 years old. She's not a woman, she is a child, and she is being made to be physical, punching adults and kids in order to survive.

: 29:02

Tommy was punching in the face regular and hard, but never stopped coming at him and didn't complain either.

Beth: 29:10

This MOVE member continues telling stories about violence between children, violence between adults and children. It's normalized, it's celebrated. Two other MOVE members then describe the physicality of the children, talking about their white teeth and bright skin and their muscle tone. This isn't new. MOVE members have been doing this since the early 70s in Powleton Village. In fact, this is what they did on WPVI in 1976, when they invited a whole camera crew into the MOVE house to show them how healthy and strong MOVE was, particularly the children.

Delbert: 29:53

What they are in is the universal school of productive reality, which teaches them that activity makes them healthy, while stagnation makes them sick. This is Delbert, africa, as you can find out from asking any one of these kids. They'll tell you that activity will make them healthy. These kids aren't sitting around stagnating Muscles, unused, misused. These kids are being healthy.

Beth: 30:13

Just so you have the visuals with this audio. It is Powhatan Village MOVE headquarters. They're outside. There are dogs running everywhere. There's raw meat being fed to the dogs. All of the children are naked. All of the adults are clothed.

Delbert: 30:30

Then show them your teeth again. Now all these kids are like Stop that Chew chew teeth are good.

Beth: 30:42

Now, all these kids are like that. That Delbert, or Africa, has just said she, she. That is his daughter, shida Holloway, who is missing in MOVE, believed to have died in MOVE and been disposed of.

Delbert: 30:50

Come here, show them all them pretty teeth, go ahead. Hey hey, let me see your teeth, daddy. Alright, see how white these kids teeth are. These kids don't use any toothbrush. This comes from the teachings of the founder of this organization, john Africa. These kids eat roots like potatoes, raw, sweet potatoes, onions. They eat fresh fruit, vegetables, all again raw, and these kids are in perfect shape.

Beth: 31:29

MOVE members are insisting that MOVE children are healthy. That's a lie. It's a lie that's been proven. When they were taken out of the MOVE house in Richmond, virginia, and evaluated, doctors found malnourishment to the level of kwashiorkor, a condition that's only seen in famine-ridden countries dehydration, developmental and physical delays, including rickets. This letter, like so many MOVE statements to this day, is trying to rewrite reality. It's not just disturbing, it's a tactic to make the children seem like the proof of the power of MOVE and you've heard that before on this podcast. You can hear MOVE members talking about it now that MOVE children were so strong that they would get down and start doing pushups, that they could run 10 miles. MOVE is lying.

Beth: 32:22

This MOVE letter is stored in a file folder titled Letter to Muncie MOVE Women. What I need you to understand is that these were the nice letters, letters filled with praise, unity, pancakes, descriptions of beautiful, healthy, strong children, a loving, chosen family of revolutionaries who believed in mother nature as their god. It reads like connection, comfort, hope, purpose. But it wasn't hope, purpose but it wasn't. This was love, bombing, coercion disguised as care. In the next episode, I'll share the other kind of MOVE letter, the ones that punish, threaten and break you down. That episode is coming in two days.

Beth: 33:18

The I love y'all so much letter is now up on Instagram and our website, alongside the Eight Criteria for Thought Reform by Dr Robert J Lifton. In the show notes for this episode you'll find links to the work of both Lifton and Dr Janja Lalic essential reading if you want to dig deeper into how cults operate. If you have questions, comments, tips or information related to the unsolved murder of John Gilbride, the disappearance of Shia Halloway, the allegations of abuse inside MOVE or anything connected to MOVE financial dealings, I'd love to hear from you. Message me on socials or email me directly at murder at ryan's run at gmailcom. One way you can help this podcast is by giving the show five stars, leaving a review and sharing it with friends. It really helps people find us in a sea of four million podcasts. So thanks in advance for that and, as always, thanks for listening. This episode was research written, edited, hosted and produced by me, beth McNamara. Additional research by Robert Helms.