The Cult of Dark Tourism
Sounds Like A Cult
08/18/26
•65m
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This week, Amanda is joined by author and travel writer Sheila Yasmin Marikar (@sheilaym) to descend into The Cult of Dark Tourism, the booming travel industry built around vacationing where very, very bad things have happened. From Chernobyl excursions and serial killer pub crawls to war zone tourism, suicide forests, nuclear disaster sites, and the "haunted house" where people willingly sign up to be tortured, we’re asking what possesses someone to look at human tragedy and think: I should book a trip there. Helping us to unpack the cultiness is dark tourism legend David Farrier (@davidfarrier), documentarian and creator and host of Netflix’s Dark Tourist, to share what he learned after traveling to some of the strangest destinations on Earth. We discuss the bragging rights, rubbernecking, questionable ethics, and impressive mental gymnastics required to turn death and disaster into a bucket list. Because apparently, a beach vacation just isn’t enough for some people.
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Previous Episode
The Cult of Lush
August 11
•52m
Prepare to be love bombed by a bath bomb. This week, Iman follows her nose into the aggressively fragrant Cult of Lush with the Scam Goddess herself, Laci Mosley (@divalaci) . Beneath the glitter, naked packaging, and promise that an $18 Sleepy Bear can fix the economy, they uncover corporate “family” language, personality based group interviews, mandatory hand washing rituals, limited edition scarcity, alleged union busting, and enough employee horror stories to stain a tub permanently. So light a candle, protect your coworkers, and keep the bathwater out of your eyes. Is Lush a harmless cosmetic revolution, or is something murkier bubbling beneath the surface? One thing’s for sure: watch your back, wash your front, and for the love of God, wash your tub.
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Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
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Next Episode
The Cult of Celebrity Wellness Brands
August 25
•67m
This week, Reese dives into The Cult of Celebrity Wellness Brands, where skincare, mental health, spirituality, supplements, and good old-fashioned celebrity worship have melted together into one extremely Instagrammable belief system. From Goop and Rhode to Rare Beauty, Kardashian supplements, children's skincare, and the spectacularly messy rise and fall of Selena Gomez's mental health startup Wondermind, Marketing critic and Hoodwinked: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults author Dr. Mara Einstein (@drmaraeinstein) joins us to unpack parasocial trust, brand cults, wellness grifts, scarcity marketing, and why the most effective sales pitch is just convincing you that something is wrong with you first. Enlightenment is only a 12 step skincare routine, GLP-1-adjacent supplement, and celebrity approved app away.
The Cut: What Happened at Wondermind by Angelina Chapman
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Sounds Like A Cult is coming to you LIVE from The Elysian in LA on October 15th! Get tickets at soundslikeacult.com!
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