Crimes, Killers, Cults and Beer: A True Crime Podcast · Dark Pass Productions

152 Sheryl Ruthven and her Doomsday Cat Cult, Part 2

·1 hr 28 min·5 clips

Cheryl required followers to wake every three hours to feed cats and change litter boxes.

1. Crimes, Killers, Cults and Beer: A True Crime Podcast episode 152 covers Cheryl Ruthven and her doomsday cat cult in part two. 2. The hosts are unnamed in the transcript, and they frame Cheryl Ruthven as the central figure because she turned Freedom Fire Ministries into Eva's Eden Cat Rescue. 3. The episode asks how Cheryl used cats, money, and prophecy to control followers and their families. 4. Cheryl tells followers to start adopting cats, and the hosts say she had been reading wiki pages on Egyptian practices. 5. The show says Cheryl rebrands the ministry as a nonprofit called Eva's Eden Cat Rescue, with no private rooms and a cage-free setup. 6. Shelters across Washington send in 30 to 50 cats a week, and members go to pounds at Cheryl's beck and call. 7. Followers take home 15 to 35 cats, feed them, love them, and bring them back to the sanctuary. 8. The hosts say Cheryl ranks cats above spouses, children, sleep, and normal household routines. 9. People are required to wake every three hours to feed cats and change litter boxes. 10. Cheryl turns cat ownership into a competition by tracking who has 20 cats and who has 35. 11. The hosts describe houses smelling like bleach and cat piss, and they say the smell would drive guests out quickly. 12. Cheryl publicly degrades people who refuse the cats and can boot them from the church. 13. She also makes travel, dining out, and even family obligations require her approval. 14. One family leaves for Louisiana after Cheryl forbids a visit to a dying father with Alzheimer's. 15. Another family loses its house, children, and finances after following Cheryl's orders about their money. 16. The hosts say Cheryl and her crew emptied a home in eight hours while the husband was at work. 17. Cheryl later claims to be Mary Magdalene in the flesh after the congregation watches The Da Vinci Code. 18. The episode says she cuts herself, mixes her blood into communion, and tells followers to drink it. 19. The tone mixes true-crime narration with side conversations about cats, vet bills, allergies, and the long Spaceballs 2 opening. 20. Listeners who like cult control stories and cat-related absurdity will get the most from this episode.

As heard by us

A cat cult story that stays grounded in family fallout and the doctrine behind it.

The episode leans into Cheryl Ruthven, the doomsday cat cult, and the family fallout that follows when the belief system starts pulling a marriage apart.

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Why you'd press play

If you want cult chaos, cats, and family fallout, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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