A disturbing new documentary has shed light on a cult and the unusual appearance of its leader, dubbed Mother God.
Most of us love a documentary, especially when the subject matter concerns a cult we haven't encountered before.
Viewers who delved into the HBO Max documentary, Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God, have been blown away by the intriguing narrative.
It follows Amy Carlson, known as the Mother God to her followers, who has concocted a series of conspiracy theories, asserting that her cult was guided by celestial beings referred to as "Galactics."
Check out the trailer for Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God below:These supposed entities included deceased celebrities such as Steve Irwin, Robin Williams, Carrie Fisher, and even the still-living Donald Trump.
The Love Has Won cult's peculiar journey reached its climax with the discovery of Amy, who believed she embodied the reincarnation of historical figures like Joan of Arc and Marilyn Monroe. In April 2021, her lifeless body, mummified and adorned with fairy lights, was unearthed in a Crestone, Colorado, residence.
The "horrifying" documentary captures Amy's final days, depicting her face turning blue - a reflection of her deteriorating health as she led her followers. The 45-year-old cult leader was believed by her followers to have "ascended" to a fifth dimension, having purportedly absorbed all the world's pain during her prolonged illness.
But why exactly was Amy's face turning blue?
According to a medical examiner in the documentary, it was revealed that Amy's demise resulted from organ failure linked to a protracted period of alcohol abuse, anorexia, and colloidal silver ingestion. The controversial alternative health remedy, colloidal silver, was peddled by the cult as a solution, despite being deemed unsafe and ineffective in treating diseases.
One glaring side effect of colloidal silver is argyria, a condition causing the skin to turn discolored, often appearing blue or grey.
Following the conclusion of the documentary, many of the cult members didn't return to a "normal" life despite their Mother God passing away.
The creator of the documentary, Hannah Olson, sat down with Variety where she answered a number of questions about her time investigating the cult.
"I think we expect that there’s some kind of deprogramming that can be done for cult members," she said. "But I think it’s actually very hard to do that. Who is going to pay for that? What does that even look like?
"Many of the members of Love Has Won do not have health insurance or disposable income, and there’s no mental healthcare in this country. So, in so many ways, the social circumstances that brought them down the wormhole persist."
When asked about the empathy she showed the cult members, Hannah replied: "The interesting thing about being around the members of Love Has Won, and what I hope the viewer finds interesting, is that at the same time that their beliefs are very far out, you know the social circumstances that created those beliefs are eminently relatable.
"So it was very important to me that at the same time that I was showing some of their beliefs that could be perceived as absurd, that I was also showing very relatable social circumstances."
Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God is available on HBO Max right now.