r/tifu
TIFU by maybe joining a cult
So I know this sounds really crazy. But I think I joined a cult.
I know that’s a really weird thing to say so let me explain. It’s not like a normal cult. It’s not a religion. But there is this underground society called The Latitude Society that my friend asked me to be a part of and I got a membership card and went through the “initiation” process, and it feels like a game (you go through a fake headquarters building that was obviously built just for this thing where you go through a couple weird rooms), but they make you agree to this really crazy contract that essentially says you can’t tell anyone about it and that they’re not responsible for anything that happens to you and that they can use anything you say or do however they want.
It seems like its just a game, but the longer I’ve done it the more it feels like not a game. Like when I started talking about it on the street my friend shhhh’d me and told me that we could get kicked out and that there were like “spies” and stuff, and I know some other people who say they are “more involved” but won’t tell me how, except it’s not like they’re pretending at all, and honestly one of them was really creepy about it.
I feel really weird about posting this because I’m afraid that this really is just a game and I’m ruining it for people by talking about it (I don’t know how that would do anything if its just a game but people keep saying that), but there’s seriously no way to tell because they don’t have a company website or something that explains what the hell is going on. I’m definitely breaking the rules by talking about it, and I’m worried about what they’ll do if they find out, which is why I’m posting it anonymously. Like I honestly feel like when they read this (which I’m pretty sure they will) they are going to come after me in some way, or out me on their forums like they’re kind of already doing to people, which is really freaky and totally not what I signed up for.
Ok, so in case this is NOT a cult and it really is just a stupid game and I’m freaking out for no reason, then there are some SERIOUS SPOILERS in here and if you want to do the game and live in sf then you should not read this. But, if you DON’T life in SF then I’m hoping you can help me figuring out what this is. I know it’s not like a cult in the traditional sense, but it’s creepy and secretive like a cult and has kind of made me scared and turned my friends into assholes, and no one who joins a cult ever actually thinks they are joining a cult until its too late, so here goes:
You join The Latitude Society when one of your friends gives you this white card with a bunch of zeros on it, and then it sends you to this website where you have to agree to the really scary contract that says you can’t talk about it. You sign this agreement and they ask you for all this information like where you live and your email and phone number and then you make an appointment to go to this building on Capp street that has a motorcycle shop in it, but there is this really fancy door on the side that you can only get in in a five minutes window or else you can’t get in and have to wait like a month or something to go back, which seems kind of mean but I guess they don’t want you do be late because other people have appointments too.
I got in the door though (go me), and there is this (really cool, honestly) slide you go down, so now you’re in the basement of the motorcycle shop. You crawl through this weird carpet tunnel kind of like what they have at the Exploratorium, and then you’re in this tiny room. There are books all over the walls, but they’re all the same book and they’re all glued in so you can’t take them out. Except one book, which is completely blank except when you open it this girl starts talking and a cartoon plays and tells you this story about the beginning of the society (there is this island city with a wall people tunnel through. it’s a long story and not important, but the people who tunnel through the wall start the society).
Anyways, it tells you this story and then you crawl on through to this bar. You are in this bar room and there are this photoshopped old pictures where they like reflect one part over the center, except this one big picture of a guy who is clearly the “leader”. There isn’t anything in the room really except some pictures and this gold skull that I think someone just thought was cool, but you can pick up this phone with one button that tells you where to go next. So then you go up some stairs, and you’re outside!
They already have your phone number (you give it to them when you sign the contract) and they start calling you and telling you to go places, but they pretty much just send you around the block once and you end up in this bar called The Sycamore. You get a coin there from the bartender that has a cat skeleton on it and they send you you go to this other weird building and go up some stairs into this room that has nothing but old arcade games in it (which is also pretty cool). All the games have the symbol for the society on it and a slot that just fits the cat coin. I put mine in and when I died this pixel monster appeared on the screen (there is a whole thing about monsters in the game. they look kind of like Frank from Donnie Darko and I don’t know what they’re for but on your walk around the block they like have a guy in a monster suit standing in a window and he waves at you). Anyways so I died in Tempest and then there is a monster on the screen. Honestly, I have no idea what he said. He was hard to understand. I don’t really know what was going on with it, but once he was done I got this call talking about my “flux”, which is this thing you have in the game that is kind of like mana, but so far it hasn’t mean anything.
After that call the initiation thing is pretty much over. You can keep playing games, but at some point the next person is going to come in too. I think the girl who came in after me thought I was part of the game or something and it was really awkward so I just left.
But so then (sorry this is so long!) you go back home and log back onto the website and the leader guy from the photo in the bar in the basement is in this video you can watch. And he talks to you about how he’s really glad you joined the cult and how it’s going to be great. The production wasn’t very good and he didn’t really say much and at the end of the video he like goes on a trip in a boat. I don’t know if he’s supposed to back yet but not much has happened while he’s gone.
So from then on you just wait. You can log onto the website and there is a forum and a “marketplace” where you can buy more cat coins and some other stuff. They have sashes and merit badges and a tshirt that says their catchphrase ABSOLUTE DISCRETION (that no offense makes no sense if you put it on a tshirt) and cards you can give to other people, which is how my friend got me mine.
There was some stuff on the forms but it seems like like it’s just other people in the society doing things like arranging brunches with one another, and also some kind of sketchy events people do (I think you have to be pretty weird to be invited to the cult game). There is a calendar of “official” events that was totally empty when I first started, but now I guess sometimes you can go to the basement and hang out with other people. But then one of my friends told me that they organized some animal-themed hike you could go on in the middle of the night, but they also said it was pretty sketchy and like not actually organized by the people.
I asked my friend what was going on but they didn’t know either. Someone else has given THEM a card (like amway) but apparently their friend said that they latitude people are actually a company that makes weird shit like this and before this they made this other thing called the Jejune Institute (it took us awhile to figure out how to spell that.) I looked it up and they made a documentary about it. (like the people who made the Jejune thing also made the documentary) and the guy who runs the company is named Jeff Hull. We played Google detectives for awhile and found out he’s part of some super rich politics family that used to have a trading company, which I guess makes sense because how can you afford something like this?
But this is why I’m asking because that just seems super weird. Like I was hoping this was part of Ingress or something or like a marketing campaign for a video game, but I think it’s actually just some weird rich dude whose made this like fake cult thing and I don’t know how long it’s been going on. Like, what if this is like a the truman show and all my friends are already part of it and I’m failing a test right now? Or like, what if this is like a scientology thing where next time you go to the bar they make you take one of those “personality tests”. I keep waiting for them to ask me for money but they haven’t and honestly that’s even more weird.
The reason I’m really posting though is that I know it’s not a real cult but it IS still a secret society that like knows where you live and your phone number and stuff and makes you sign this weird contract and does sketchy stuff that you’re not supposed to talk about and everyone in it seems really obsessed with keeping it a secret and are assholes to you if you don't, and, like, isn’t that the part of cults that is bad? Like usually the religion part is totally fine and its the weird conspiracy shit that ends up going wrong for people. And like, it seems just like a cult where instead of pretending to be a religion they’re pretending to be a game. So I’m asking if you think this is something I shouldn’t be doing or in case anyone knows wtf is up and also if like this actually is a cult that someone will be able to find the culprits when I go missing or something. I’m also really worried that this is actually just like, nothing, and I’m just totally overreacting and just part of a fake secret society where people don’t do anything but go to brunch with one another and talk about how great they are for being part of the society, but that seems really stupid and I don’t understand why people would be getting so weird about it unless something else is going on.
Thank you for your help with this. I’m sorry this post is so long and also kind of feel bad for writing about it because I’m not supposed to and I don’t want to ruin it for everyone, but its really freaking me out and I’d really appreciate some advise on what I should do. Especially if you’ve ever been in a real cult I’d love to know if this is something I should be worried about or if it really is just a game. Thanks.
61
320d, 10h
https://m.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/2t ... ng_a_cult/
