All language subtitles for 4gghrtutyidydity

A Florida woman will
face a trial on charges

she murdered her boyfriend
last month in Monroe County.

Rogers says Mineo asked her
to kill him because

he had gotten threats
from an online cult.

[Tony] Five years before
Stephen died,

there was another follower
of Sherry Shriner's...

had a tragic death.

Her name was
Kelly Pingilley.

I know that Kelly was
struggling with her faith,

and she found
Sherry Shriner.

It didn't stop after that.

According to
Sherry Shriner's writings,

they started to have a
bit of a falling out.

"Mom and Dad, I'm off
to fulfill my destiny.

I love you all."
Signed, Kelly M. Pingilley.

"Kelly's dead!"

I think Sherry Shriner
is a predator,

and, like,
the epitome of evil.

♪

♪ [electronic]

♪ [electronic]

♪

[bang!]

When we think
of cult leaders,

we think of the Jim Jones',
you know,

we think of these guys in
robes with long beards and

a lot of followers around.

We, we think of retreats.

We think of people
approaching the authors of

self-help books and
asking for more guidance.

That's not how
things are anymore.

Right now, if we want
to know about something,

we go online.

♪

♪

[static]

People didn't go
looking for Sherry Shriner,

they went looking for answers,
and she provided...

a silver-bullet solution
to all of their problems.

And that, if anything,

is what made her so attractive.

[typing clicks]

♪

[laughs]

Pretty much everything
we know about Sherry,

we know because she told us.

Sherry started her online
ministry early on in the 2000s

and, over the years,
she grew it.

She has several twists on
tedious conspiracy theories,

but then all of these people
are dying, you know,

and why does anyone care
what Sherry Shriner says?

Depending upon who you ask,
Sherry is this evil cult leader,

or she's this con artist,

or she's literally
the daughter of God.

You know, toward the
end of her career,

she talked a lot about
how she was this poor,

backwoods girl
from central Ohio,

but it's not how
she started out.

Everybody comes
from somewhere...

so, I decided to
look a little deeper.

♪

I received a phone
call that asked me,

"Hey, did you see the story
of what happened

with Sherry Coberly?"
And, dude, I'm like...

I-- my brain couldn't even
fathom what I was

seeing online with what
I knew as Sherry.

I mean, it just,
there's certain things,

you know, people change...

then there's some people
that, like, whoa!

My name is Randy Sumner,
and I knew Sherry Coberly,

which was her maiden name
before she became

Sherry Shriner, during our time
together as classmates

at Liberty University
in the mid '80s.

I grew up in Ohio,
not terribly far

from where Sherry grew up.

The same kind of
Baptist fundamentalist

kind of background.

Exceptionally conservative.

We don't go to movies...

we don't do any dancing.

That was just
kind of the culture,

particularly inside
of Christianity

in that part of Ohio.

Sherry came from a very
devout family who were

very serious about
being in God's word,

living a Christian lifestyle.

Never in my wildest dreams
could I have ever seen

where she turned along the way.

It's completely
out of alignment.

It just doesn't
make any sense.

[bell chimes]

Liberty University,
when we first arrived,

had gone from a school that
started with 21 people

in a classroom to,
15 years later,

already having
2,500 students.

They came from
all 50 states,

came from over 100
countries around the world,

all gathered in one place,
all with a singular goal

in mind to go change
the world for Christ.

[bike bell chimes]

It was an exciting,
exciting time.

At that particular time,
Jerry Falwell,

who started the school,
was on the air.

He was a leader in
the Moral Majority.

Every Sunday morning,
you flipped on the TV,

you saw the Old Time
Gospel Hour, Jerry Falwell.

[Jerry Falwell] And whatever you
need to be set free from today,

God can do it.
Our country is in trouble.

Big time trouble.

From the highest level,
we've gone bananas.

Any church that's
doing God's work,

God's way will be
in constant trouble.

Satan is alive and well.

He was a firebrand
preacher though.

I mean, he had strong
political convictions,

and he was not shy
about sharing them.

The White House is a zoo.
And the courts.

Yesterday, the Massachusetts
court ruled that

two lesbians can adopt a child.

Now, you've gotta
be a gross idiot.

I don't know where you went
to law school, Your Honour.

That little child is doomed,
simply because of your ruling.

That passion for Jesus,
I think,

was a seed that was planted
in her younger years.

But, it was watered
while she was at Liberty,

under Jerry Falwell.

Because of the television
ministry that was global

at the time, the broadcasting
at Liberty was so unique.

And we had the opportunity,
while we're still in school,

to be part of some
operations that were being

broadcast around the world.

It is my sincere
prayer that this video,

which you are now watching,
will be a great blessing to you.

Because, we have received
literally hundreds of letters

through the years
from people like you,

whose lives have been
totally changed

as a result of watching
messages like these.

Ah, good evening.

[audience] Good evening!

I pray tonight God will just
flood your soul

with blessings from above.

At this moment in time,
this was a special place,

where you felt like you
could take over the world,

and do it in a way where
you're showing love and

showing what
Christianity's all about.

♪

When Sherry arrived
on campus at Liberty,

she came in with
this big, blonde hair,

the '80s blonde hair,
and she had this

big, sunny disposition.

She stood up
immediately, said,

"Hey, I wanna be news
director." Just like that.

I mean, the first person
to really kind of speak up

while we're all still
trying to figure out,

how do you run a
radio station,

or a student TV station?

She knew exactly
what she wanted.

She wanted to use her voice,
and she wanted to

take her voice, and be able
to change the world,

and let them
see Jesus first.

Obviously, she took it
a direction that most

evangelicals would
not have fallen.

[Randy] Sherry thought it
was all about herself.

"I've got a special direct line
and understanding from God.

If you listen to me, you don't
have to pay attention to

what the Bible says because
I'm going to tell you

what the Bible says."
The second you make that

move over, it becomes about
a person instead of God,

that's when it
gets dangerous.

What I can tell you is
the heresy that Sherry was

presenting on her websites,
her podcast,

is 100% counter
to the gospel

the way that she
learned it at Liberty.

[laughs]

♪

When we were at Liberty,
we were considered outsiders.

Most of the rest of academia
across the United States

would lean much
more towards the left,

as opposed
towards the right.

And we were about as far right
as you could possibly come.

You find yourself ostracized.

They'll pre-judge you,
based on the fact

of a particular ideology
you happen to follow.

"Fundamentalist
Christianity",

just those words, they evoke
emotions in everyone.

[laughs]

When I knew Sherry, politics
was her driving force.

Now, she had a
Christian component to that,

but it was clear
what she wanted.

She had strong convictions.

She wanted to be a voice
that would change the world,

on a news network like CNN.

[Crew] Standby. Ready, three,
take three.

Ready camera three,
one center up.

Good evening,
I'm David Walker.

And I'm Lois Hart.
Now, here's the news.

[Randy] And that was her
ultimate goal from the time

she was at Liberty,
and tried to pursue that.

The fact that she was never
quite able to land that big job,

it clearly had
a big impact on her,

and probably
changed her perspective.

Because, here's the thing,
when you're young,

you feel like you
can take on the world.

Then, suddenly, it becomes
obvious you're not

going to be able to
fulfill that dream.

Suddenly, now,
you start questioning

a lot of different
things in your life.

She wanted to work for CNN,
she wanted to be in the news,

and it didn't happen.
This is something that,

I think is,
it's not uncommon.

Country girl goes to the city,
fails, goes back home.

♪

She gets married,
she has a couple kids.

And I think it was a kind of
life that she thought that

she could escape
by going to college,

and by getting a straight job,
and things like this.

And, it just
wasn't meant to be.

My name is MJ Banias.

I'm a journalist
who covers cults,

conspiracy theories,
and fringe subcultures.

As someone who
covers cults...

you eventually stumble
upon Sherry Shriner.

And it's almost like falling
down the rabbit hole.

At the time, mid '80s,
early '90s,

you would have had
already a landscape of

rampant conspiratorial beliefs.

Roswell, a location of what
some believe is one of the

most significant UFO
sightings ever made...

[Host] On my Area 51 line,
you're on the air. Hello.

[Caller] What we're thinking of
as, as aliens

are us, they're
extradimensional beings.

A kind of a reptoid race,

and they're not
really friendly to us.

That's what I want to
say to the viewers is, like,

if you've got the remnants
of your religions,

pull 'em out.
This is the time for it.

[MJ] And they would have
explained to her, you know,

"The reason why CNN
didn't hire you

is because you're not
one of them."

♪

She's realized that
the world is cutthroat.

CNN didn't want her, and...

maybe there's
something wrong with CNN,

maybe there's something
wrong with the media.

And so, she's stewing there,
up in Ohio.

She had 4 kids, and she
wanted to make a living.

"What can I do from home?
What are my options?"

And, she hit upon
this blogging thing,

and this was right when
blogging was super hot.

And that was kind of how she
started to gin up her following.

I think it's not unreasonable
to say that she was

looking around for, how can
she make some money online?

You know, this is
where everybody is.

More ears, more dollars,
more attention.

[Sherry] Hello, caller,
you're on the air.

[Caller] I don't know
how you get

people to open
their eyes, Sherry.

If I say anything to 'em,
they think I'm crazy too, so...

[Sherry] People do think you're
nuts, but just keep talking,

keep planting seeds,
and let the Lord handle it.

[Caller] My husband turned
off the computer

'cause he thinks I'm crazy
over all this.

They seriously said that
they will put me in for

therapy or something,
talking about all this.

When they come to
get 'em, I'll say,

"I told you so."

[Sherry] Alright, well,
thanks for calling in.

- Oh, man...
- Interview, take two...

- Just blow your mind.
- AB mark.

- Do not disturb.
- That's great.

I'm Shane Pettman and,

I'd consider myself a
renaissance man.

The things that I study are
things that are typically taboo,

things where
you talk about it and,

instantly, people sort
of lose their marbles.

Like, "What, oh? What are you,
some sort of a

tinfoil hat conspiracy
whack job or something?"

Most people just
spend hours every night

watching television,
or drinking beer,

or doing whatever it is they do.

My escape was to study,
to grow my mind,

to get lost in
the information.

And so, I started studying
about a lot of different

conspiracy things,
you know, cryptozoology,

aliens, demons,
fallen angels.

I've always craved
all that information, but...

with the advent
of the internet, it,

it opened everything up
for people to be able to

research as much
as they wanted.

People are going
through things,

but they feel like
they can't talk about it.

Like, demons, as an example.

They're plastered across all
the television and the movies...

but you're not allowed to
ask these questions

to your pastor.
Why is that?

Why are you so
scared to talk about it?

People are starving,

and they're hungry for
this information.

So, approximately,
I would say 2008 or 2009,

I probably heard some
of the first things

I heard of Sherry's work.

I had some friends who were
really close with Sherry,

and they're like, "Hey, you
should come in this group,

and hang out, and you can
maybe learn some stuff."

And so, I, said,
"Sure, why not?"

I think one of the first things
that I, that I came across

probably had to do
with reptilians.

That's one of those things
where people are like,

"Oh, reptilians, pfft,
come on, buddy."

A normal human could go
through a process

to be inhabited by one
of these things.

They remember everything
that happened in your life,

they're able to
carry on as you,

but they're now in
the driver's seat.

They look like people,

but they can transform
into a reptilian form.

Yeah.

Yeah, I really, I really
do believe that

these reptilians are--
It's, it's either...

fallen angels or a,

a bloodline of Lucifer,
himself.

Christians lose their
mind when you talk about it.

And then, you start looking
into ancient civilizations,

and archeology, and there's
these reptilian creatures

that are carved in
all these petroglyphs,

in all these separate
societies all around the world.

Like, why would they take
the time to carve in these

crazy, ornate petroglyphs,
if there's nothing to it?

There's too many unanswered
questions to be like,

ah, I don't know.

I've had family members
that have just blocked me,

all a sudden, gone,
never talked to me again.

Because of the information
that I researched.

One of the things that I
saw from the beginning...

was that this is

a really easy story to tell in,
like, a big way.

"Reptiles, and aliens,
and crazy people," and

I wanted to stay away from
that temptation because...

the story has gotta be more
about what draws people,

why are people
drawn to this?

So, Blog Talk Radio was
where she said the stuff,

but she would put
the shows on YouTube.

Sherry said the aliens were
something like 90% of people

you see on TV.

Really anybody you don't know
in person could be an alien.

And it's interesting because
that sort of feeds into

more mainstream conspiratorial
beliefs that don't say that

people on TV are aliens,
but it does say that

they're evil, conspiring elites,
or they're out of touch,

they have nothing
in common with you.

The problem with conspiracy
theories isn't that

they're wrong, the problem
is that these people

know that something's wrong.

And they don't know
how to address it.

♪

"You know, the government's
lying, religion is lying.

I need someone who's
gonna tell me the truth."

People who have
had really, really,

really shitty lives
can't explain it.

But then, if you say,
"Well, the devil is making it

his full-time job to
make your life garbage.

Your life is awful because
you're so important."

It's easier to get up
in the morning.

I think that Sherry's
particular genius was

she was able to take all of
these different beliefs,

all the conspiracy theories,
and tie them together

under one umbrella and solve

everyone's problems with orgone.

So, whatever ailment
you think you have,

orgone is the cure and...

Sherry's got a
little bit of,

enough for you to
be excited about.

♪

Sherry Shriner offers a
very simple solution

to a very complex world.

As a journalist who
started researching Sherry,

the first rule is
you can never trust...

the person you're
writing a story about

to tell their own story.

So, I began reaching out to
some of the individuals

who were part of her movement.

A lot of them
wouldn't speak to me.

They knew I was
a journalist,

they wanted
nothing to do with me.

I contacted an orgone seller

who was friends with Sherry,

they worked together
producing orgone and

they sold it as part
of their mission.

I posed as a buyer.

I explained that
my family was

being harassed by
some sort of force and,

my wife and my daughter
were scared.

And they explained to me
that this would definitely

keep my family safe
from reptile aliens,

from demonic forces,
from the devil himself.

This person was
trying to sell a product.

That's what's
offered in these cults.

It's not trying to
really fix the problem.

It's trying to oversimplify
the problem into one idea

that's easy to
swallow and digest,

and, and go to war with.

But they're being
manipulative and they're,

obviously, they're
playing a dangerous game.

The Orgone Warrior aspect
of Sherry Shriner's ministry

can't, can't be overstated.

These are people who feel
like they have a mission.

These are people
who are in an army.

And it's research
during the day and then,

and then
fighting it at night.

It's an empowerment
that these people

would not otherwise have.

In Sherry's group,
there was,

there was a variety of people
from across the world,

to be honest with ya.

Single moms, dads,
seniors, young people.

People you would never
guess, right?

I guess the key thing that
united all them is that

they were willing to
just search out

some of this deeper information.

♪

People are curious and,

I think the chat room was
where you just kinda...

you sort of sat
at Sherry's feet.

Absolutely nothing
is off limits.

And I think that Sherry
put her life at stake

to get this
information out there.

She was tortured on the sly
with electronic harassment

and a lot of other really
radical stuff because Sherry

had some really deep,
nasty information that

they didn't want
getting out there.

I think Sherry was right on
with the New World Order.

They're doing gigantic,
worldwide Satanic rituals

right now, on purpose,
to usher in the New World Order.

I learned a lot from
Sherry, seriously.

And if you're
searching for the truth,

she had a lot of keys, and I
don't think those are

gonna go away until they
shut down the internet,

shut down social media,
and take that away.

There is a time coming in
society very soon

where those people asking
those critical questions,

they gotta go, because
I've seen too much and

I know too much, but...

I just want to be honest.

There's gonna be a massive
roundup of people like myself...

and, other people who are
asking critical questions.

They will come to collect me
and put me in a van,

and that'll be it.
I'll be gone.

♪

When you look at the
attraction to Sherry Shriner,

what did she have
to make otherwise nice and

normal people
embrace such...

hate, you know,
and embrace this...

world of madness
and paranoia?

Just so that they could be
part of this woman's group.

Like, there's this constant,
"They're coming to get us.

They're coming to get us.
They're coming to get us."

And, for me, I couldn't
imagine anyone...

embracing that.

♪

Sherry was fearless.

She wasn't scared to
call people out on awful,

hideous things that are
going on in this world.

I was probably Facebook
friends with Sherry for

about five years, and I
spent about a year

in the chat rooms.

Then, one day,
I got a little sassy.

I think I might have
been having a bad day,

to be honest with ya.

And decided to ask some
really tough questions.

It could have
been over Paul.

Sherry didn't really believe
that Paul was legitimate.

Basically, if you want to
throw out the apostle Paul,

you're cutting 13 books
out of the New Testament.

And, I just wasn't
willing to go there.

And, I was just like,
"Well, while we're at,

what about this question?

And what about this?"
And, I hammered it a bit.

So, one of Sherry's
best friends told me that,

you know, this sort of
behaviour's unacceptable,

and you're gonna
have to leave,

she's asked that
you leave the group.

Like, I can't
believe this right now.

This person was so
cool in so many ways,

and then, pow.

[Tony] That shunning thing?
Brilliant.

Brilliant move on her part.

You know, if you're
committed to a cult,

you're committed
until you leave.

That, of course,
is why

Sherry Shriner
gets that cult tag.

♪

Because, being in her
good graces was the

most important thing to
any of her followers.

This isn't just
Sherry saying,

"I don't wanna be your
friend anymore."

This is Sherry sending a message
like she's a mob boss.

"I don't want to be
your friend anymore,

and this is what happens to
people who displease me."

We saw it with Stephen Mineo.

You realize the mental
torture she gives people.

I had suicidal thoughts,
and I wanna prevent

other people from
getting into that crap.

We saw it with
Richard Brown.

Guess what?

I'm not a damn clone,
and I ain't in hell.

Do you see me
choking like a reptilian?

We saw it with
Kelly Pingilley.

Expelling people is
what Sherry does.

This is part of
her ministry.

This is part of
her business plan.

Cults, 30 years ago,

were very different
than they are now.

What we're seeing now is
these charismatic leaders

use social media to
promote themselves,

promote their brand,

promote the product
that they're selling.

And, in exchange,

you don't need
to leave your family.

You can sit in your basement
or your living room,

and engage with the cult,

without the obvious signs that
you're being removed.

The problem with this is
it's much more insidious.

Anyone, for free, can start
an Instagram page,

or a Facebook page,
or a Twitter account,

anyone can start a
YouTube channel,

it costs nothing.

It's really important to
understand that when we are

talking about people
who are joining cults,

there is this price,

often times a literal price
of participation,

so that you have to
purchase goods,

or you have to pay
to attain a

the next level of
spiritual attainment.

And in that dynamic,

when you have the
charismatic leader,

and you have followers who
are really revering that person

in a spiritual or almost
god-like way,

that really paves the way to,
to pretty gross exploitation.

As you grow followers,
that's when the mon

money starts to come in, right.

That's when you
monetize your content,

and all a sudden, you're,
you're a full-fledged

cult leader, earning a
profit from people

who you've sort of
slowly brought in.

[Joe] Those people are often
very vulnerable

to being controlled and coerced.

And so, I think we see some
of that evidence within the

Sherry Shriner cult,
that she's really

manipulating her followers
to buy her goods,

and to revere her as
this exulted figure.

[Kelly] It's hard to quantify
how many followers

Sherry Shriner had, just because
they didn't have a

physical compound, and they
didn't have membership cards.

But, we can sort of estimate
from things like fundraisers

she had online that she
had a lot of supporters.

[MJ] Sherry's Go Fund Me
campaign was very successful.

For someone who had a,
a small following of maybe

about 20,000 people,
she generated

over $774,000 over
a 10-year period.

The fact that she was able to,
to generate so much revenue...

is astounding, It, it's...

it's actually mind-blowing.

Sherry might have believed
what she was selling,

and she might have
had some sort of

religious conviction, but she
still profited from it.

She still monetized
her YouTube channel.

She still put advertisements
on her website.

She still sold
orgone to earn money.

[Tony] I think that
she found her...

her niche and... path,
and followed it along.

But, it was the talking,
and the idea of having

her followers more than,
more than the belief.

It was, it was the
adoration and the money.

♪

There's criteria for a cult.
And it's that

someone has an unreasonable
amount of power over you.

There's a list.
I don't think it matters.

I don't think that there
are enough cult boxes

that Sherry doesn't
check to not count.

It took a special
combination of personalities

to make it dangerous,
but it was always there.

Sherry Shriner is not new.

This is the same thing
that happens all the time.

Someone wants money,
or power,

and the only way they
know how to get it

is through fear
and intimidation.

Sometimes it's gangs and

sometimes it's
internet preachers.

♪

It's easy for me,
as a believer

and former classmate
of Sherry's,

to have a great deal of
empathy of her

as she got further down
that path where she would

espouse these things
that are counter to what

she had known in her
younger years was the truth.

It's a tragedy of
epic proportions,

based on the Sherry that I
knew and the Sherry that,

that we all saw in the end.

A lot of people would have
called Sherry a cult leader.

I think that
was preposterous.

To me, a cult leader
is someone who

is doing nefarious things.

They're trying to lead
you in a certain direction.

They want you to
sell all your stuff,

and move to the wilderness,
drink the Kool-Aid,

you know, buy the
white sneakers,

and kill yourself.

Sherry never
asked any of that.

If you wanted to share
Sherry's information, fine.

If you didn't want to
share her information,

okay, that's your business.

It's unfortunate that
some people passed away,

but I don't think
Sherry had any part of that.

She didn't do this stuff
to slap you in the face,

or be a mean, old lady.

She did this stuff
because she cared.

And I wish that you would be
more loving before you

judge Sherry on some of
these deeper things,

and spend some more
time researching it,

and just ask yourself, are you
being honest with yourself?

I didn't agree with
everything Sherry said.

But, if you don't have the
capacity to ask hard questions,

you're a slave,
whether you know it or not.

♪

[laughs]

♪

Barbara Rogers is facing one
count of criminal homicide,

and trial is expected to
continue into tomorrow.

When you put the gun
to someone's forehead,

like this, that's murder.
- [gun shot]

If the gun was held at
all by Barbara Rogers,

it was held with the
deceased's own hands

over her hands.

[gun shot]

We didn't know if Sherry
would be a witness, but...

I emailed her, expecting
to never hear from her.

She emailed me back,
I think the same day.

If they want to take this to
trial, it's gonna come out.

I'm not afraid of any of 'em.

They want to fight,
I'm ready to fight.