- Joined
- Sep 30, 2018
Update: Narvin Lichfield, younger brother of the WWASPS founder Robert Lichfield, either badly faked his death and came back the very next day or someone put up a fake obituary on the day this documentary dropped due to being outed as a child torturer, scammer, and terrible singer. His own daughter apparently had a restraining order against him in 2018 as well. See this post for details.
Update 2: It has come to light that two staffers, a woman on the girl's side, and a man on the boy's side, did the majority of the grooming, molesting and sexual assault - Amy Ritchie and John Free. See this post for details. Multiple people on a Facebook survivor group have implicated Amy as the groomer mentioned by Alexa, with one providing a messenger conversation, and still more discussing how Amy made girls dance for her in her office. John Free was not just named but an essay written by a child who was at AIR detailed how John abused him and raped him in the shower at night. Additionally, Sissy, who was interviewed in the documentary, and also accused of sitting on girls in the documentary, is said to have been notorious for giving full strip searches and smug about admitting it. Still more names are coming forward but survivors are quick to delete the posts soon after being written given how shameful and humiliating this is for them. Keep in mind this is just one program out of nearly 20 in WWASPS - among hundreds all over the USA - and it's only been a week.
Update 3: Tom Nichols was caught fucking "Nurse Tammy" Harradine, dirty-talked about his Beef Strokin' Off, and feared future incrimination from dirty talking a small town nurse over the Ivy Ridge email system. Tammy copes on facebook about "two sides to every story" and Tom Nichols from the Atlantic asks that we not harass him for what WWASPS Tom Nichols did. Check here for screenshots.
Update 4: NATSAP, a WWASPS-like organization that helps programs market themselves and defend themselves from lawsuits and scrutiny, released a statement expressing support of the documentary(archive), and also stating they have never had anything to do with WWASPS and the Lichfields. However three years ago, they were outed on Twitter (by Paris Hilton, no less)(archive) for stating on a leaked conference call that they help member programs stifle and stonewall investigations and records requests. Also, NATSAP openly states that member programs include Provo Canyon School, the program where WWASPS founders first started, and many former WWASPS programs that changed names and reopened in the same building with the exact same people. Finally, in Montana, NATSAP supported a state law that appointed staff from programs to a state board overseeing program safety, which included Spring Creek Lodge, a WWASPS program notorious for forced labor in a gravel pit, two suicides, and locking children in a shack called "The Hobbit" with no heat in Montana winters as isolation, which spent tens of thousands of dollars in lobbying expenses. Check this post for details.
Update 5: A survivor of one of Narvin Lichfield's programs, Carolina Springs Academy, came forward with detailed accounts of how Narvin Lichfield groomed and raped her and countless other high level girls, detailed descriptions of his tacky house full of taxidermy, and detailed accounts of the seminars, due to keeping all of the homework assigned, including hallucinating during the towel beating phase.
Update 6: The American Bar Association says that there are 120,000 to 200,000 kids in programs in the USA at any given time. The ABA and Caroline Cole say that the industry makes $50 billion dollars a year, with about half coming from medicare, medicaid, and other local, state, and federal programs; some facilities make up to 90% of their revenue from such programs, up to $800 a day. The case example, Sequel, makes $200 million a year in revenue off of the torture of children. Sequel is also well documented here as just as bad as the rest of the industry. (Archive)
Update 7: Emails turned up detailing how Jason Finlinson (Owner of Ivy Ridge) emailed Ken Kay (WWASPS money man/lawyer), Narvin Lichfield (Gigafaggot, younger brother of Robert Lichfield, owner of Carolina Springs, cheepskate, pedo, and trafficker) and Robert "Bob" Lichfield (Narv's dad, owner of WWASPS, arch-demon) about butter, the legal status of WWASPS and their programs, why not to put any profit into improving the facilities of Ivy Ridge, how cheap Narvin is, and how Bob gave him a refund. Also, advice from a PR firm WWASPS reached out to in the past was found. Surprise, the advice was to clean up their act and not be abusive. WWASPS didn't act on it.
Update 8: A Tranquility Bay survivor details a forced abortion, being mocked for the forced abortion, being sexually assaulted in the seminar that followed, and seeing a girl's underwear inspected to ensure it was the same dirty pair for a month straight.
Update 9: Sketchy Minecraft Mod makes a plea on behalf of a friend who was in a series of programs, sharing her abuse and experiences in them, and finally relates "She hopes you guys will bring the same kind of hell to the TTI that has been brought to the zoosadists." Information pertaining to the profit model of programs, and how it ties into "Benefits Trafficking" also came to light, including evidence of programs starting to market to children with gender issues, in addition to the existing pivot to issues pertaining to autism, actual psychiatric issues, and of course kids who are in diversion programs and foster care. Additionally, the pricing model of WWASPS programs, per a mid oughts PDF, was found, as was an affidavit from a woman who worked at a WWASPS program that had children as young as seven years of age, detailing abuse, lack of supervision given their harmlessness, and horrific sanitation conditions. Finally, a mixed bag of old documents includes sketchiness from WWASPS' "R&B Billing" company, Tom Nichols calling MySpace a hate site for letting survivors meet and speak there, Nurse Tammy showing what a horrific cunt she is, and finally a case study of one Cassie Robinson, a former Casa by the Sea (WWASPS) 'therapist' who then moved to Diamond Ranch Academy, another defunct program that recently closed for letting a girl die from untreated peritonitis over the course of a few months, that is trying to reopen from a new name.
Update 10: The Sun publicly outs Amy Ritchie as the prevailing abuser on the girl's side at Ivy Ridge. See post for details. Do note that Amy was opportunistically abusive toward boys, too.
Update 11: Pictures of a gaunt young man leaving isolation in Midwest Academy (MWA) has surfaced, in addition to many accounts of abuses at MWA including being starved and left in isolation "to die" until a FBI raid came, starvation of kids not in isolation, self harm in isolation, cleaning blood off walls, a digital pelvic exam to look for a piercing to harass and humiliate kids, and having to walk by a blood stain left from a girl jumping down a stairwell in a suicide attempt, and more info relating to the trial of the owner of MWA, who is presently incarcerated.
Also, Robert Lichfield publicly spoke in a tone deaf, condescending manner to defend himself, and a high profile survivor did a drama with another high profile survivor.
Update 12: OP is gay: Narvin's the younger brother of Bob, not his son. Whoops.
Update 2: It has come to light that two staffers, a woman on the girl's side, and a man on the boy's side, did the majority of the grooming, molesting and sexual assault - Amy Ritchie and John Free. See this post for details. Multiple people on a Facebook survivor group have implicated Amy as the groomer mentioned by Alexa, with one providing a messenger conversation, and still more discussing how Amy made girls dance for her in her office. John Free was not just named but an essay written by a child who was at AIR detailed how John abused him and raped him in the shower at night. Additionally, Sissy, who was interviewed in the documentary, and also accused of sitting on girls in the documentary, is said to have been notorious for giving full strip searches and smug about admitting it. Still more names are coming forward but survivors are quick to delete the posts soon after being written given how shameful and humiliating this is for them. Keep in mind this is just one program out of nearly 20 in WWASPS - among hundreds all over the USA - and it's only been a week.
Update 3: Tom Nichols was caught fucking "Nurse Tammy" Harradine, dirty-talked about his Beef Strokin' Off, and feared future incrimination from dirty talking a small town nurse over the Ivy Ridge email system. Tammy copes on facebook about "two sides to every story" and Tom Nichols from the Atlantic asks that we not harass him for what WWASPS Tom Nichols did. Check here for screenshots.
Update 4: NATSAP, a WWASPS-like organization that helps programs market themselves and defend themselves from lawsuits and scrutiny, released a statement expressing support of the documentary(archive), and also stating they have never had anything to do with WWASPS and the Lichfields. However three years ago, they were outed on Twitter (by Paris Hilton, no less)(archive) for stating on a leaked conference call that they help member programs stifle and stonewall investigations and records requests. Also, NATSAP openly states that member programs include Provo Canyon School, the program where WWASPS founders first started, and many former WWASPS programs that changed names and reopened in the same building with the exact same people. Finally, in Montana, NATSAP supported a state law that appointed staff from programs to a state board overseeing program safety, which included Spring Creek Lodge, a WWASPS program notorious for forced labor in a gravel pit, two suicides, and locking children in a shack called "The Hobbit" with no heat in Montana winters as isolation, which spent tens of thousands of dollars in lobbying expenses. Check this post for details.
Update 5: A survivor of one of Narvin Lichfield's programs, Carolina Springs Academy, came forward with detailed accounts of how Narvin Lichfield groomed and raped her and countless other high level girls, detailed descriptions of his tacky house full of taxidermy, and detailed accounts of the seminars, due to keeping all of the homework assigned, including hallucinating during the towel beating phase.
Update 6: The American Bar Association says that there are 120,000 to 200,000 kids in programs in the USA at any given time. The ABA and Caroline Cole say that the industry makes $50 billion dollars a year, with about half coming from medicare, medicaid, and other local, state, and federal programs; some facilities make up to 90% of their revenue from such programs, up to $800 a day. The case example, Sequel, makes $200 million a year in revenue off of the torture of children. Sequel is also well documented here as just as bad as the rest of the industry. (Archive)
Update 7: Emails turned up detailing how Jason Finlinson (Owner of Ivy Ridge) emailed Ken Kay (WWASPS money man/lawyer), Narvin Lichfield (Gigafaggot, younger brother of Robert Lichfield, owner of Carolina Springs, cheepskate, pedo, and trafficker) and Robert "Bob" Lichfield (Narv's dad, owner of WWASPS, arch-demon) about butter, the legal status of WWASPS and their programs, why not to put any profit into improving the facilities of Ivy Ridge, how cheap Narvin is, and how Bob gave him a refund. Also, advice from a PR firm WWASPS reached out to in the past was found. Surprise, the advice was to clean up their act and not be abusive. WWASPS didn't act on it.
Update 8: A Tranquility Bay survivor details a forced abortion, being mocked for the forced abortion, being sexually assaulted in the seminar that followed, and seeing a girl's underwear inspected to ensure it was the same dirty pair for a month straight.
Update 9: Sketchy Minecraft Mod makes a plea on behalf of a friend who was in a series of programs, sharing her abuse and experiences in them, and finally relates "She hopes you guys will bring the same kind of hell to the TTI that has been brought to the zoosadists." Information pertaining to the profit model of programs, and how it ties into "Benefits Trafficking" also came to light, including evidence of programs starting to market to children with gender issues, in addition to the existing pivot to issues pertaining to autism, actual psychiatric issues, and of course kids who are in diversion programs and foster care. Additionally, the pricing model of WWASPS programs, per a mid oughts PDF, was found, as was an affidavit from a woman who worked at a WWASPS program that had children as young as seven years of age, detailing abuse, lack of supervision given their harmlessness, and horrific sanitation conditions. Finally, a mixed bag of old documents includes sketchiness from WWASPS' "R&B Billing" company, Tom Nichols calling MySpace a hate site for letting survivors meet and speak there, Nurse Tammy showing what a horrific cunt she is, and finally a case study of one Cassie Robinson, a former Casa by the Sea (WWASPS) 'therapist' who then moved to Diamond Ranch Academy, another defunct program that recently closed for letting a girl die from untreated peritonitis over the course of a few months, that is trying to reopen from a new name.
Update 10: The Sun publicly outs Amy Ritchie as the prevailing abuser on the girl's side at Ivy Ridge. See post for details. Do note that Amy was opportunistically abusive toward boys, too.
Update 11: Pictures of a gaunt young man leaving isolation in Midwest Academy (MWA) has surfaced, in addition to many accounts of abuses at MWA including being starved and left in isolation "to die" until a FBI raid came, starvation of kids not in isolation, self harm in isolation, cleaning blood off walls, a digital pelvic exam to look for a piercing to harass and humiliate kids, and having to walk by a blood stain left from a girl jumping down a stairwell in a suicide attempt, and more info relating to the trial of the owner of MWA, who is presently incarcerated.
Also, Robert Lichfield publicly spoke in a tone deaf, condescending manner to defend himself, and a high profile survivor did a drama with another high profile survivor.
Update 12: OP is gay: Narvin's the younger brother of Bob, not his son. Whoops.
The Multi-Billion dollar industry that tortures children into compliance:
The Troubled Teen Industry (also kids as young as 5)
At this very moment, 120,000 to 200,000 children (The American Bar Association)(Archive) are being held in hellish conditions, very literally tortured and brainwashed by design, killed through neglect, and often raped (2008 GAO hearing to the 110th Congress, Archive), by shady for profit organizations that keep them as long as they can in the name of 'treatment' and make $50 billion per year among the entire industry, with $23 billion coming from federal, state, and local programs. (Youth Today)(Archive) Furthermore, the ABA adds that, for example, Sequel(Archive), infamous for killing a recently orphaned, not otherwise "troubled" kid for throwing bread crust in Riverside Academy in 2020, makes $200 million a year in revenue among its facilities, and 90% of it comes from Medicaid, Medicare, and some 500 or so additional federal, state, and local programs. Sequel collects as much as $800 per day per child from these government programs.
As a brief aside, Riverside Academy, ran by Sequel was filled with graffiti accusing them of rampant rape and sexual assault (see the last of the headline pictures) after closing down in the aftermath of killing the kid who threw bread crust. Kansas Department for Children and Families detailed "frightening levels of indifference to children in pain" in an investigation in 2018(Archive). Riverside Academy had been cited 38 times in four years by Kansas officials for neglect, abuse, excessive force, poor supervision, and under-qualified staff.
What is a "Program"?
The common term for such a facility that brainwashes kids into what is best described as "Stepford children" for profit. They take any kid for any reason, and will change the lie about what they are to tailor their pitch. The same program is simultaneously a drug rehab, a 'reform school', a normal boarding school, a 'therapy school', or a foster program for orphans, depending on who is signing and paying.
What do you mean by "Torture"?
Being bound, caged, or both, or forced into stress positions:
The first two pictures are from High Impact. The latter two pictures are of the same girl from Paradise Cove, showing stress positions and rope burn from being hogtied.
Seclusion for days to months at a time:
Being pepper sprayed, tased, beaten, or slammed on the floor
Left: pepper spray burn from Tranquility Bay. Right, a telltale chinscar of being slammed on it, also a Tranquility Bay victim
Strip searching as punishment, placement in isolation rooms for months on end, physical restraint on gurneys, extended time in cuffs or shackles, and being locked in cages; forced exercise, stress positions, beatings, painful joint-damaging restraint, constantly hearing someone enduring any or all of this, constant fear of that being inflicted upon one's self; intense, constant humiliation for any slight, any mistake, any past transgression before being sent to the program, and even any made up sin or flaw that will be repeated until it is true. Being forced to rat out other kids to move up in the program and be treated better, being forced to become unpaid "junior staff" to graduate including being made to restrain lower level children one's self, and being subject to the whims of violent predators and pedophiles at almost every single facility, often including the owners.
I honestly don’t remember much. I was an upper level at the time. It was around Christmas. It was me and 5 other girls. We were at first told he was taking us to a basket ball game. Then the story changed and we were going Christmas caroling. Neither happened. He took us to habachi and then to his house. Laly was there. I think she’s his family of some sort. I remember his house had a cabin feel. There was taxidermy all over the walls. When I walked in, I remember the kitchen being to the left. And I remember a big open living space ahead of me. And to the right was a family room which is the last place I remember going. There was a big bean bag chair and a tv mounted to the wall. He put on a movie and I don’t remember anything after that.
I’ve reached out to the other girls who were there with me, and they remember as much as I do. I’ve also spoken with someone who was brought to his house in the summer, before me. She said she remembers swimming in his pool and waking up from a nap and that’s it. Weird. Idk if it’s just us really suppressing memories. But the whole thing is bizarre. Staff knew we were being taken to his house I’m sure and let it happen. Did our parents know about this?? Probably not. I also spoke to one of the girls who was taken there to clean his house. When I described what I remembered, she said I was spot on.
MY ESSAY [redacted]
I miss my mom and sister. They can't help
me when I'm hurt by John Free. I hate
SHOWER TIMES because he keeps me back
and makes me do bad things that HURT.
I will be a good boy. I want to go home.
I will follow the program so I wont
have to hurt anymore. I feel scared
because we have to shower at night
but I am always told I am a pig and need
more showertime. I get in trouble when
I say no or try to run. I want my mom.
I want to go home. My program will help
me go home, but it hurts to sit down and
I'm not allowed to cry or I'll hurt more.
I wish I was never born. John Free told
me mom never loved me and that he
can do what he wants but that's not
true, mom loves me. He touches me
in places not supposed to touch. I want
to go home. I will follow my program
and be a good boy so I can go home.
I will not be bad or lie or cause
disturbances. I will not hurt my [cut off]
[cut off ]myself [redacted]
I miss my mom and sister. They can't help
me when I'm hurt by John Free. I hate
SHOWER TIMES because he keeps me back
and makes me do bad things that HURT.
I will be a good boy. I want to go home.
I will follow the program so I wont
have to hurt anymore. I feel scared
because we have to shower at night
but I am always told I am a pig and need
more showertime. I get in trouble when
I say no or try to run. I want my mom.
I want to go home. My program will help
me go home, but it hurts to sit down and
I'm not allowed to cry or I'll hurt more.
I wish I was never born. John Free told
me mom never loved me and that he
can do what he wants but that's not
true, mom loves me. He touches me
in places not supposed to touch. I want
to go home. I will follow my program
and be a good boy so I can go home.
I will not be bad or lie or cause
disturbances. I will not hurt my [cut off]
[cut off ]myself [redacted]
As bad as that is, what every survivor says was the worst part was the 'Attack therapy', 'Encounter sessions', or 'Large Group Awareness Trainings", which are used by almost all programs in some fashion to break and mold children into drones. These are directly comparable to "struggle sessions" from communist states and can be directly linked to Synanon's Game. Shorter sessions happen daily at almost every program, while some feature long marathon sessions that completely destroy a sense of reality in the mind of those made to participate and leave people with lifelong emotional scars.
Where's your proof?
The 2007 Governemnt Accountability Office report on Residential Treatment Programs.(See attached pdf GAO REPORT if this goes down) The GAO Hearing from 2008 (Archive) Extensive, consistent survivor(A) testimony from(A) the past 30 years(A). And, yes, personal experience in a program, in addition to working with survivors for 20 years.
The recording of the hearing on YouTube is a trip. It was held back in 2008, and direct comparisons between this peograms and Abu Ghraib and Gitmo were made. Sadly, congress did nothing.
What's the big deal about WWASPS?
We know enough about it to study it, and with that, figure out the industry and other programs and program networks.
WWASPS went too far for its time, even among peers such as this industry, and has been sued enough for legal discovery to yield a lot of information that explains the inner workings of this industry, and serves as the best case study we have to date. While WWASPS per-se is no more, almost all of the same programs with the same people are just hidden under other shell companies with new names. Others joined NATSAP, which is basically just WWASPS 2.0. Still more operate independently.
WWASPS was also big - there are a lot of survivors, with estimates starting at 36,000 victims, enough for there to be a few who actually remember everything and saved their receipts for us to work with. Indeed, The Program on Netflix is about the documentarian herself surviving Ivy Ridge, a WWASPS program sued by the State of New York for fraudulent diplomas, which has since been implicated in enabling pedophiles to groom and rape children, most notably Amy Ritchie and John Free, who is spoken about in greater detail in the linked to post.
This can't be real.
Read on. Suffer with me. Do something about it and you'll feel a little better.
Netflix has just released a survivor's documentary called The Program, detailing her survival of a hellish, cult-like scam masquerading as a school called Academy at Ivy Ridge, one of many former 'schools' of the now defunct WWASPS network (World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools), before going into the WWASPS network itself, and the greater industry as a whole, including how corrupt politicians protect and profit from it. You can find it here The Program, but this thread isn't about the documentary, it's about the subject matter itself. And, increasingly, Narvin's lolcowing as he tries to cover his ass, in addition to former staff of Ivy Ridge being outed as pedos or having affairs, complete with emails!
Okay, so what is this?
In so many words, this industry is a cross between a cult and an MLM, with each facility pretending to simultaneously be a normal boarding school, reform school, and residential therapy, or otherwise whatever would get the kid and the money coming. They are not schools, they do not provide therapy, they do not help or fix any child there in any way whatsoever. They exist to make money by manipulating parents and the government, all while controlling children so they can't tell the world what is really going on within. The most recent big report on this was in 2008, with the first dating back as far as 1974 (see pages 14–15, p. 23, p. 633 , for what's related to The Seed in particular.)
They are cult-like in how they suckers in parents, cult-like in how they brainwash and control children; MLM-like in how the business revolves around referrals and how parents are goaded into providing them, and MLM-like in how graduates are often goaded into working for programs if the Koolaid hasn't worn off.
Where did this come from?
The source of this is indeed a well researched cult, called Synanon, which started out as a weird mix of new religious movement, expression of the human potential movement, alternative psychotherapy, and drug rehab. The industry it spawned is indeed still all of that, except far more profitable, and largely Mormon-owned.
A bit later, a related group called The Seed started up which lasted until 2001. This was itself directly about drug rehab, but what is most notable is the fact that a 1974 senate report (pages 14–15, p. 23, p. 633 , or text search for The Seed, and the attached report starting with Individual rights) found its practices to be on par with North Korean brainwashing techniques, but then promptly did nothing, 34 years before it did nothing in 2008. Nevertheless, after the senate report, The Seed declined dramatically, and only the original Fort Lauderdale location was left at the end of 2001.
Expansion and the drug war connection.
Where things got bigger and worse was when a 501(c)(3) was founded in 1976 (only two years after that senate report!) as a successor to The Seed called the Drug Free America Foundation (see a pattern? drug use is the oldest justification for this) started before renaming itself Straight Inc, then The Straight Foundation, and finally Drug Free America Foundation again in 1995. When it was known as Straight in the 1980s, it set the stage for an industry centered around trafficking and brainwashing children to stop or prevent future bad behavior. While ostensibly about treating drug use, children could be placed here for no reason at all, or out of fear that they might start using at some point in the future, because in the 1980s the USA was hysterically retarded about drugs.
Straight Inc was so long ago that not much remains other than accounts and some very very old archival footage. There is not much to say except it was 18 hours of constant humiliation and mind games, all day, every day, where one had to sit in blue chairs and flail their limbs like you were having a seizure to be called on to then humiliate yourself or tear into some other person. The use of singing nursery rhymes to drown out someone screaming from being restrained or beaten up is also notable as is the fact that they billed the equivalent of $3000 per child in today's money. (See straight inc cost in attached pdfs if this ever goes down)
A related program called Kids helping Kids (Kids for short) held a woman from the age of 13 to 26 for a fabricated addiction. Warning, boomer-tier article that's really old. A trial resulted in a settlement of 6.5 million dollars for being a captive for 13 years and made to be watched when wiping herself when using the toilet lest she be 'touching herself'. Phil Elberg, featured in the Netflix documentary, helped with this.
The other root of this monstrous tree, Provo Canyon School, started up in 1971. Oh, huh, a coincidence. You may have heard about PCS when Paris Hilton of all fucking people came out as a survivor of PCS, demonstrating how unbelievably fucked up they are as demonstrated by how she's lived her life ever since, how bad her publicity staff are at serious documentaries, and how effective a CPTSD mask can make an attractive woman money off of thirsty men. Another notable coincidence is that ex PCS staff Robert Lichfield, Karr Farnsworth, and Brent Facer would later go on to found many other other programs, notably the notorious WWASPS network, starting with Brightway Adolescent Hospital.
Mother Jones made the first graphic linking it all in 2007. The second one is from the documentary.
Diving into the WWASPS nest.
WWASPS is worth its own fucking subforum, not just a thread. WWASPS was an umbrella over 20 some odd programs, collecting monthly fees per child (or "units", as they internally referred to their victims) that handled marketing referrals (that is, networks of ed-cons, aka cons, who would lie and prey on stupid or scared parents) shitty scammy loans, and even the escorts (kidnappers) who would transport kids and be yet one more billable service.
While an exhaustive post about the head honchos of WWASPS would stretch on for days, I will instead leave my fellow farmers with some "top hits":
WWASPS programs killed many students via neglect, direct abuse, or suicide, and got away with it. Valerie Heron and Karlye Anne Newman are the most well known.
Please note the wider industry has killed a lot of kids. Here is an incomplete list(Archive); no official statistics are kept.
WWASPS higher ups are directly involved with Mitt Romney and many politicians in Utah as well as the Mormon Temple.
Robert Lichfield, the owner of WWASPS, raised about 300K for Romney in the oughts! (See PDF titled LICHFIELD GAVE ROMNEY 300K if this link goes down)
A hack of WWASPS's internal emails has a treasure trove of information (Look for 2000 WWASP Hacked Parent Emails under TYPE at the right, not sure how to archive this with ALL OF THOSE LINKS AND PDFS)
Randall Hinton, a WWASPS insider, was accused of the following in a lawsuit (see Turley Lawsuit in attachments if this is ever lost):
a. Placement in isolation for long periods of time, and at times, including being locked in small
boxes and cages, and locked up in basements, and forced to assume distorted and painful
physical positions for long periods of time;
b. Unsanitary living conditions;
c. Denial of adequate food;
PLAINTIFFS’ FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - PAGE 39 OF 228
d. Denial of proper medical and dental care and treatment;
e. Denial of an even minimally sufficient education;
f. Exposure to extreme (hot and cold) temperatures for long periods of time;
g. Forced physical exercise beyond their physical capacity;
h. Kicked, beaten, thrown and slammed to the ground;
i. Bound and tied by hands and/or feet;
j. Chained and locked in dog cages;
k. Forced to lie in, or wear, urine and feces as one method of punishment;
l. Forced to clean and scrub toilets and floors with their toothbrush;
m.Forced to sleep on cold concrete floors, boxspring, or plywood used as a bed with
no bedding or linens or with just a tattered and torn sleeping bag;
n. Forced to carry heavy bags of sand around their neck or logs throughout the day over many
days;
o. Forced to eat their own vomit;
p. Sexual abuse, which included forced sexual relations and acts of fondling and masturbation
performed on them;
q. Emotional abuse by subjecting student Plaintiffs to near-total parental and societal isolation.
Personal visits, correspondence, and telephone calls were either forbidden or discouraged;
r. Because of the near-total isolation from the outside world and lack of education, many
student Plaintiffs were totally unequipped to enter outside society;
s. Forced to work many hours a day, at an age below the applicable minimum age requirements
of the child labor laws of the jurisdictions in which the schools are located, and without
compensation for shoveling manure, house construction, hauling, landscaping, kitchen work,
farm work, and moving bricks;
t. Threatened severe punishment, including death, if they told anyone of their abuses and poor
living conditions;
u. Confiscated and/or kept students’ U.S. mail;
PLAINTIFFS’ FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - PAGE 40 OF 228
v. Deprived from using the toilet, and as a result, urinated or defecated on themselves;
w.Verbally abused by lying that their parents knew what was happening to them and
were supportive of it all;
x. Subjected to buddy system where older students were allowed to physically, mentally, and
sexually abuse younger students and manage them as part of a “cleansing” process;
y. Deprived of sleep;
z. Forced to wear the same, unwashed clothes for weeks at a time;
aa.Denied any religious affiliation, except for the Mormon faith;
bb.Forced to eat raw or rotten food;
cc.Poked and prodded with various objects while being strip searched;
dd.Forced to write false confession letters to parents to justify being sent to the
WWASPS school;
boxes and cages, and locked up in basements, and forced to assume distorted and painful
physical positions for long periods of time;
b. Unsanitary living conditions;
c. Denial of adequate food;
PLAINTIFFS’ FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - PAGE 39 OF 228
d. Denial of proper medical and dental care and treatment;
e. Denial of an even minimally sufficient education;
f. Exposure to extreme (hot and cold) temperatures for long periods of time;
g. Forced physical exercise beyond their physical capacity;
h. Kicked, beaten, thrown and slammed to the ground;
i. Bound and tied by hands and/or feet;
j. Chained and locked in dog cages;
k. Forced to lie in, or wear, urine and feces as one method of punishment;
l. Forced to clean and scrub toilets and floors with their toothbrush;
m.Forced to sleep on cold concrete floors, boxspring, or plywood used as a bed with
no bedding or linens or with just a tattered and torn sleeping bag;
n. Forced to carry heavy bags of sand around their neck or logs throughout the day over many
days;
o. Forced to eat their own vomit;
p. Sexual abuse, which included forced sexual relations and acts of fondling and masturbation
performed on them;
q. Emotional abuse by subjecting student Plaintiffs to near-total parental and societal isolation.
Personal visits, correspondence, and telephone calls were either forbidden or discouraged;
r. Because of the near-total isolation from the outside world and lack of education, many
student Plaintiffs were totally unequipped to enter outside society;
s. Forced to work many hours a day, at an age below the applicable minimum age requirements
of the child labor laws of the jurisdictions in which the schools are located, and without
compensation for shoveling manure, house construction, hauling, landscaping, kitchen work,
farm work, and moving bricks;
t. Threatened severe punishment, including death, if they told anyone of their abuses and poor
living conditions;
u. Confiscated and/or kept students’ U.S. mail;
PLAINTIFFS’ FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - PAGE 40 OF 228
v. Deprived from using the toilet, and as a result, urinated or defecated on themselves;
w.Verbally abused by lying that their parents knew what was happening to them and
were supportive of it all;
x. Subjected to buddy system where older students were allowed to physically, mentally, and
sexually abuse younger students and manage them as part of a “cleansing” process;
y. Deprived of sleep;
z. Forced to wear the same, unwashed clothes for weeks at a time;
aa.Denied any religious affiliation, except for the Mormon faith;
bb.Forced to eat raw or rotten food;
cc.Poked and prodded with various objects while being strip searched;
dd.Forced to write false confession letters to parents to justify being sent to the
WWASPS school;
Here's a video with two High Impact Survivors. If you don't want to watch, it's about being beaten up, suffocated in toilet bowls, and watching other kids marched until they shat themselves and not being able to clean off or change clothes. Yeah, this shit sucks. Child torture sucks. Being put in a dog cage for not eating bones or your own vomit sucks.
The day to day of WWASPS is walking on eggshells, being punished for anything and nothing, being torn down by your 'dorm mom' or 'dorm dad' for your infractions, being humiliated by other children, having to join in it upon others, and trying to avoid being physically restrained, beat up, and put into isolation. No talking was allowed, at all, until you drank the koolaid for months and went to the higher levels, where you were expected to rat out other children below you and even in the higher levels with you. Note that any physical injury was covered up and even debilitating injuries were rarely treated - "Jaw Girl" needed multiple reconstructive surgeries after being slammed on her face in Tranquility Bay in Jamaica, which is the second worst WWASPS program after High Impact.
[ISACCORP.ORG is gone so this text file I saved is it, sorry.]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20040828145431/http://isaccorp.com/ A spotty archive exists, but they were sued into going away by WWASPS and partially got their stuff taken off archive.org This document is from after that lawsuit.]
Tranquility Bay Statement E: From the Mother of a Former Student
[Name withheld by ISAC] was 15 when I saw the ad in a magazine. It advertised structure, excellent education while addressing issues of adolescents. I was 38, a single mother [identifying information withheld by ISAC].
Little things had started to happen after I was diagnosed. [My daughter] skipped school a few times, was involved in a car accident where another teenager was killed was drinking and driving, staying out and sneaking out.
I made the call from the magazine and discussed with my son then a freshman in college. He looked on the internet, called them and as a father figure in her life thought it was a good program and education.
We were familiar with Jamaica as a traveling family and felt like she would adapt and be happy in the enviroment. But, we didn't tell her we were going to take her to TB. After touring the island for a week, we dropped her off there at a prearranged time. Jay and Randall met us as soon as we pulled into the compound.
[My daughter] didn't realize what was happening or even why when she was placed in handcuffs and finally a straight jacket. Jay assured me this was normal and also reminded that I had chosen to "deliver" her. He wanted to have her scooped from her bed in the middle of the night by strangers and whisked to JA to TB. But, I wanted to see this highly "regarded program" about education and structure.
We did the paper work, I gave them $33,000 cash, US. They took her passport, school documents, books, clothes, etc.
We could hear her screaming and then she stopped. Randall said she stopped because she was with the other "students" and they were having lunch.
I ask to see her room and felt it was a long shot from what had been described as a dorm to me. But, I knew she was spoiled and could use a dose of reality. My son too felt it was time for her to have the structure I couldn't give her.
We were then told that we couldn't talk to her "anytime" as we had been told in the telephone interviews. But, that she would earn those rights based on behavior. How long I ask, "oh it could be six weeks or longer. It depends on her."
We didn't leave Treasure Beach for two days as I wanted to find out more. I tried to talk to guards as they would leave the main road, but they refused to talk as cameras "where everywhere."
We drove to Port Antonio and met with our friends [names withheld by ISAC]. [He] had family in [withheld by ISAC] and he felt he could find out more for me. I went to Kingston and talked to the Embassy, US and the Jamaica officials. There were no reports of anything that was alarming they said. I researched the newspaper archives for articles, still nothing.
We returned to the US. We were appointed a contact, a very nice Jamaican lady that would call me at my expense every week. After 3 weeks and no calls I started call TB every day and sometimes 3 to 4 times per day. I was taking chemo, trying to parent and keep our home and worrying myself to death.
Finally a lady called me, (I don't have her name as those records are in storage) She said [my daughter] was settling into the program quite well but that she had continous yeast infections "from the heat."
I ask for them to take her to the doctor. They didn't for a long time until she bled when she urinated. The doctor turned out to be a paid off quack that worked for TB and kept quiet.
I mailed her prescriptions for the yeast infections. She then became constipated and they said it was because she refused to eat. Soon, I would discover that she was fed so little that a bowel movement only happened rarely.
Finally I was able to talk to her, even though she had not received enough levels "because she needs to hear you say you will not remove her and that you can't!" I checked all the paperwork and couldn't find anything I signed that said that.
When I talked to her it was obvious we were monitored. She did't ask to come home and answered everything as "fine." She sounded so calm and even said, "this is what I need."
By then [my friend in Jamaica] was finding out information from his family.
So, I flew to JA and went with [my friend] to see [name withheld by ISAC] and told her what I knew and how sick [my daughter] was all the time. She told me that she knew several guards and would have them check on [my daughter]. Two days later she called [my friend] and told us that [my daughter] was kept in solitary confinement most of the time. That when she wet herself she had buckets of water poured over the top of the 4x4 booth that she was shackled in. She was given one bowl of cornmeal mush a day and sometimes a piece of fruit and water from a tin bucket.
I called and demanded to speak to Jay or Randall. I went to the site but was refused entry. I drove to Kingston to the embassy and filed complaints. I went to the police headquarters and filed complaints. I can't begin to tell you the hell that I was going through and I will never know all that [my daughter] was going through.
Finally the embassy advised TB to let [my friend] in to see [my daughter], but that I should be kept at a distance so [my daughter] would not see me and "cause problems."
[My friend] was allowed to sit across from [my daughter] in an outside gazebo. She kept her eyes down and barely spoke. Her mouth was covered with blisters and her wrists were bruised. A guard stood close enough to hear and watch everything. [My friend] tried to hug [my daughter] hello but she screamed and stepped back, even though she had known him for several years. I stood on the upper terrace of the dorms and could see she didn't carry herself the same and that she sat with her hands under her legs. She didn't have on any of the clothes that I had sent, but long pants and a man's shirt, even though it was over 100 degrees. She ask [my friend], "how bad to I look? We are not allowed to see in a mirror or even look into the water for a reflection." He said you look a little sad and sick. She didn't answer, but tears slid down her cheeks. She looked bloated. When she arrived six weeks before she was a 5'5" student, with beautiful shiny long hair and weighed 120 pounds. She had been a ballerina most of her life.
Now, she limped, slumped, slurred, and had large bald spots. I later found out they pulled out her hair to make her look as ugly as she really was.
The entire time I am watching her and [my friend], I was surrounded by Randall, two upper level students, and 2 guards.
In about 10 minutes the meeting came to an abrupt end and [my daughter] was led away. She looked up and I thought she saw me, but didn't let on.
I knew that I would get her out, I just didn't know how.
I flew back to the States but no attorney wanted to become involved because of "lack of evidence and no physical evidence."
Five days after I was back into the US, TB called. The call came from Randall on behalf of Jay. [My daughter] was in a clinic and very ill. She had been caught taking food from the night shift along with 3 other girls. "She became so upset that she has made herself ill."
I flew the next morning to Kingston and was met by [my friend].
When I went to the clinic she was not there. the "doctor" would not give me her records or info. He just said, that he "didn't know how she had lived this long." The doctor was in a small town nearby.
We drove to TB. They would not let our car or hand bags through the gates, but they let me go alone. [My friend] stayed with the car. I found her in an unairconditioned room, with no windows, open door no screen on a mat. She could not talk but her eyes were open and dry. Her mouth was matted with blood and her entire body was covered with blisters. She was so filthy that I couldn't stand the stinch. No one was with her. No one came with me. Someone took one bag of her things and threw them over the gate to [my friend].
I picked my child up in my arms and she flinched. She was in rags and I would not have even known her in another enviroment. I saw the lady that was suppose to be my contact. She mouthed, "i'm sorry."
I had just completed a series of chemo and had traveled back and forth 4 or 5 times to JA. But, [my daughter] was so bloated but weighed so little that even at my weight of 105 and sick she was easy to carry. They opened the gate just enough to get her through. [My friend] helped me load her in the back of his car. Someone threw a sheet over the fence.
We drove to Treasure Beach Hotel and I got a room. We put her on the bed and I undressed my child. The smell of the blisters was like rotten flesh. Her hair was full of lice and her sores had magots in them. Her blood pressure was so low we couldn't get a pulse.
We had something like gatorade and forced it down her with a straw. I put her in the tub in cool water but she only stared.
[My friend] went into the village a bought antibiotics and creams and things that I had not brought with me. [My daughter’s] fever was raging.
The next day we drove to Kingston, but the hospital refused to see her when they found out where she had come from. We drove on to Port Antonio and even [my friend’s] doctor, a friend was very guarded in treating her.
She would have to be quaranteened becaused no one knew what she had. But, I soon found out she had been raped, sodomized, beaten, starved, forced to bath in an infested river, wash her clothes in the same river and drink the same water.
I stayed in [Port Antonio] with her for 3 weeks. We slowly started to see an improvement and finally she agreed to go to the Beach for the day. She was afraid of the guard at the Beach and cried. She had to sleep with me. I had to cut most of her hair off to get it free of lice.
Her mouth and teeth were so unkept that she couldn't eat much. I left her there for three additional weeks because I wanted to go to the US first to find out where I should take her. The doctors said she might have "ganga"?
She talked a little to [my friend], but slept on the floor outside of their room. I called every day and finally felt as if she was strong enough to travel and well enough that she would not be put in quaranteen.
When we took off from Montego she started crying and didn't stop for days.
My daughter is now 22, a student and lives in [withheld by ISAC]. She is strong, resourceful, loyal and beautiful.
We now talk about all that happened to her, sometimes in the middle of the night she calls me and sobs.
I can't tell her story because it is hers. It's a story about a young girl and has grown into a strong woman, years older than 22.
My child is alive because I did't give up and because I had insight contacts. I will never forgive myself for my lack of judgement or forgive my government for lack of assistance or knowledge of these programs. And please don't forget, in the magazine ad it was approved with the "Good Housekeeping" seal of approvement.
This is the story of a mother that will never let the world forget what our children have endured.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20040828145431/http://isaccorp.com/ A spotty archive exists, but they were sued into going away by WWASPS and partially got their stuff taken off archive.org This document is from after that lawsuit.]
Tranquility Bay Statement E: From the Mother of a Former Student
[Name withheld by ISAC] was 15 when I saw the ad in a magazine. It advertised structure, excellent education while addressing issues of adolescents. I was 38, a single mother [identifying information withheld by ISAC].
Little things had started to happen after I was diagnosed. [My daughter] skipped school a few times, was involved in a car accident where another teenager was killed was drinking and driving, staying out and sneaking out.
I made the call from the magazine and discussed with my son then a freshman in college. He looked on the internet, called them and as a father figure in her life thought it was a good program and education.
We were familiar with Jamaica as a traveling family and felt like she would adapt and be happy in the enviroment. But, we didn't tell her we were going to take her to TB. After touring the island for a week, we dropped her off there at a prearranged time. Jay and Randall met us as soon as we pulled into the compound.
[My daughter] didn't realize what was happening or even why when she was placed in handcuffs and finally a straight jacket. Jay assured me this was normal and also reminded that I had chosen to "deliver" her. He wanted to have her scooped from her bed in the middle of the night by strangers and whisked to JA to TB. But, I wanted to see this highly "regarded program" about education and structure.
We did the paper work, I gave them $33,000 cash, US. They took her passport, school documents, books, clothes, etc.
We could hear her screaming and then she stopped. Randall said she stopped because she was with the other "students" and they were having lunch.
I ask to see her room and felt it was a long shot from what had been described as a dorm to me. But, I knew she was spoiled and could use a dose of reality. My son too felt it was time for her to have the structure I couldn't give her.
We were then told that we couldn't talk to her "anytime" as we had been told in the telephone interviews. But, that she would earn those rights based on behavior. How long I ask, "oh it could be six weeks or longer. It depends on her."
We didn't leave Treasure Beach for two days as I wanted to find out more. I tried to talk to guards as they would leave the main road, but they refused to talk as cameras "where everywhere."
We drove to Port Antonio and met with our friends [names withheld by ISAC]. [He] had family in [withheld by ISAC] and he felt he could find out more for me. I went to Kingston and talked to the Embassy, US and the Jamaica officials. There were no reports of anything that was alarming they said. I researched the newspaper archives for articles, still nothing.
We returned to the US. We were appointed a contact, a very nice Jamaican lady that would call me at my expense every week. After 3 weeks and no calls I started call TB every day and sometimes 3 to 4 times per day. I was taking chemo, trying to parent and keep our home and worrying myself to death.
Finally a lady called me, (I don't have her name as those records are in storage) She said [my daughter] was settling into the program quite well but that she had continous yeast infections "from the heat."
I ask for them to take her to the doctor. They didn't for a long time until she bled when she urinated. The doctor turned out to be a paid off quack that worked for TB and kept quiet.
I mailed her prescriptions for the yeast infections. She then became constipated and they said it was because she refused to eat. Soon, I would discover that she was fed so little that a bowel movement only happened rarely.
Finally I was able to talk to her, even though she had not received enough levels "because she needs to hear you say you will not remove her and that you can't!" I checked all the paperwork and couldn't find anything I signed that said that.
When I talked to her it was obvious we were monitored. She did't ask to come home and answered everything as "fine." She sounded so calm and even said, "this is what I need."
By then [my friend in Jamaica] was finding out information from his family.
So, I flew to JA and went with [my friend] to see [name withheld by ISAC] and told her what I knew and how sick [my daughter] was all the time. She told me that she knew several guards and would have them check on [my daughter]. Two days later she called [my friend] and told us that [my daughter] was kept in solitary confinement most of the time. That when she wet herself she had buckets of water poured over the top of the 4x4 booth that she was shackled in. She was given one bowl of cornmeal mush a day and sometimes a piece of fruit and water from a tin bucket.
I called and demanded to speak to Jay or Randall. I went to the site but was refused entry. I drove to Kingston to the embassy and filed complaints. I went to the police headquarters and filed complaints. I can't begin to tell you the hell that I was going through and I will never know all that [my daughter] was going through.
Finally the embassy advised TB to let [my friend] in to see [my daughter], but that I should be kept at a distance so [my daughter] would not see me and "cause problems."
[My friend] was allowed to sit across from [my daughter] in an outside gazebo. She kept her eyes down and barely spoke. Her mouth was covered with blisters and her wrists were bruised. A guard stood close enough to hear and watch everything. [My friend] tried to hug [my daughter] hello but she screamed and stepped back, even though she had known him for several years. I stood on the upper terrace of the dorms and could see she didn't carry herself the same and that she sat with her hands under her legs. She didn't have on any of the clothes that I had sent, but long pants and a man's shirt, even though it was over 100 degrees. She ask [my friend], "how bad to I look? We are not allowed to see in a mirror or even look into the water for a reflection." He said you look a little sad and sick. She didn't answer, but tears slid down her cheeks. She looked bloated. When she arrived six weeks before she was a 5'5" student, with beautiful shiny long hair and weighed 120 pounds. She had been a ballerina most of her life.
Now, she limped, slumped, slurred, and had large bald spots. I later found out they pulled out her hair to make her look as ugly as she really was.
The entire time I am watching her and [my friend], I was surrounded by Randall, two upper level students, and 2 guards.
In about 10 minutes the meeting came to an abrupt end and [my daughter] was led away. She looked up and I thought she saw me, but didn't let on.
I knew that I would get her out, I just didn't know how.
I flew back to the States but no attorney wanted to become involved because of "lack of evidence and no physical evidence."
Five days after I was back into the US, TB called. The call came from Randall on behalf of Jay. [My daughter] was in a clinic and very ill. She had been caught taking food from the night shift along with 3 other girls. "She became so upset that she has made herself ill."
I flew the next morning to Kingston and was met by [my friend].
When I went to the clinic she was not there. the "doctor" would not give me her records or info. He just said, that he "didn't know how she had lived this long." The doctor was in a small town nearby.
We drove to TB. They would not let our car or hand bags through the gates, but they let me go alone. [My friend] stayed with the car. I found her in an unairconditioned room, with no windows, open door no screen on a mat. She could not talk but her eyes were open and dry. Her mouth was matted with blood and her entire body was covered with blisters. She was so filthy that I couldn't stand the stinch. No one was with her. No one came with me. Someone took one bag of her things and threw them over the gate to [my friend].
I picked my child up in my arms and she flinched. She was in rags and I would not have even known her in another enviroment. I saw the lady that was suppose to be my contact. She mouthed, "i'm sorry."
I had just completed a series of chemo and had traveled back and forth 4 or 5 times to JA. But, [my daughter] was so bloated but weighed so little that even at my weight of 105 and sick she was easy to carry. They opened the gate just enough to get her through. [My friend] helped me load her in the back of his car. Someone threw a sheet over the fence.
We drove to Treasure Beach Hotel and I got a room. We put her on the bed and I undressed my child. The smell of the blisters was like rotten flesh. Her hair was full of lice and her sores had magots in them. Her blood pressure was so low we couldn't get a pulse.
We had something like gatorade and forced it down her with a straw. I put her in the tub in cool water but she only stared.
[My friend] went into the village a bought antibiotics and creams and things that I had not brought with me. [My daughter’s] fever was raging.
The next day we drove to Kingston, but the hospital refused to see her when they found out where she had come from. We drove on to Port Antonio and even [my friend’s] doctor, a friend was very guarded in treating her.
She would have to be quaranteened becaused no one knew what she had. But, I soon found out she had been raped, sodomized, beaten, starved, forced to bath in an infested river, wash her clothes in the same river and drink the same water.
I stayed in [Port Antonio] with her for 3 weeks. We slowly started to see an improvement and finally she agreed to go to the Beach for the day. She was afraid of the guard at the Beach and cried. She had to sleep with me. I had to cut most of her hair off to get it free of lice.
Her mouth and teeth were so unkept that she couldn't eat much. I left her there for three additional weeks because I wanted to go to the US first to find out where I should take her. The doctors said she might have "ganga"?
She talked a little to [my friend], but slept on the floor outside of their room. I called every day and finally felt as if she was strong enough to travel and well enough that she would not be put in quaranteen.
When we took off from Montego she started crying and didn't stop for days.
My daughter is now 22, a student and lives in [withheld by ISAC]. She is strong, resourceful, loyal and beautiful.
We now talk about all that happened to her, sometimes in the middle of the night she calls me and sobs.
I can't tell her story because it is hers. It's a story about a young girl and has grown into a strong woman, years older than 22.
My child is alive because I did't give up and because I had insight contacts. I will never forgive myself for my lack of judgement or forgive my government for lack of assistance or knowledge of these programs. And please don't forget, in the magazine ad it was approved with the "Good Housekeeping" seal of approvement.
This is the story of a mother that will never let the world forget what our children have endured.
It was an open secret that predators could groom anyone they pleased. The most common approach was to give affection and love bomb someone who was broken from isolation, shun them, then demand sexual favors for predatory care and affection. This disgusts me too much to go into further detail.
The Seminars/LGATs
The last thing I want to cover, because I can't possibly cover everything, is the mental abuse that underlies every program. While physical brutality is obvious, and rape is certainly never acceptable, the hardest thing for many people to understand, and what all survivors say was the worst thing to endure, was the personal, gruesome, psychological torment they had to go through. In any program, one must walk on egg shells, brace ones self to endure constant humiliation (while being forced to participate as the victim, AND attack other kids when it's their turn on the hot seat), admit to things they did not do, and wear blank expressions or vapid smiles during it all. While this is bad enough, WWASPS and Straight took this to a whole new level.
Straight did "raps." 18 hours a day of constant screaming, flailing, false confessions and humiliations. Merely describing this does not do it justice. If you can't imagine spending 18 hours a day humiliating people until it's your turn to be torn down into nothing, and singing nursery rhymes to drown out a screaming person being beaten or restrained on the floor, consider yourself lucky.
WWASPS did something that was in many ways worse. Completing the circle, someone from the more businessy side of the human potential movement fork of Synanon, David Gilcrease, was a "Lifespring" trainer who developed the WWASPS model of control and WWASPS Seminars. Lifespring did what is called "LGATs", that is, Large-Group Awareness Training. Looking into this can be expansive, and looking into William Erhard's shit is worth a few documentaries in itself, but instead I'll just talk about what WWASPS did to kids under the tutelage of Gilcrease:
- Dehydration and exhaustion from 18 hour marathons with few bathroom breaks, barely any water, and constant physical exertion.
- Every single personal detail known about every child there was twisted to be used against them, even the death of a parent who died when the child was a toddler or infant or otherwise completely out of the child's control - they would be forced to admit guilt in front of everyone.
- Every child was profiled by the program and made to wear signs that would hurt them the most. The Netflix doc talks about "trashy mistake" and such; victims of sexual assault were literally labeled "slut", and worse.
- The mind games got worse as exhaustion set in more. One of the least bad ones was "nine dots" where you were told to 'think outside of the box' after being a completely controlled drone in a cult and mocked and screamed at while sobbing and trying to draw a line through the 3x3 grid.
- The worst one that anyone remembers is called "lifeboat." In lifeboat, after your mind had completely lost itself, soft music was played and you were made to pretend you were on a ship and relaxing. They would then make very loud noises, throw chairs, turn on the lights as bright as they could, and force the children to pick only three people out of the hundred or more who were allowed to survive by making them individually stand on a chair and beg to live and justify their life, after being torn down for multiple days, and too tired to think, as every other child and staffer shouted "Die!" in their face. They would then of course do it to everyone else.
- To make boys "vulnerable" since they couldn't be as often beat up for surviving sexual assault or being hurt by being called a slut, they were often made to dress in drag.
- Boys and girls (dressed the same...) would be made to perform dances, in costume and makeup, to music. Right Said Fred's "I'm too sexy" and "Santa Baby" were included, and sexual assault victims dressed in 90s or 00s Christmas slut costumes lap dancing on male laps was widely reported.
If at any time you weren't "working the seminar" you "chose out", which meant you were put into "breakpoint", which was even worse. I've heard of much more grueling processes than the "palms up down together apart" shit from the Netflix doc, but accounts are so spotty I can't speak in much greater detail than it being an interrogation.
It is important to understand that this is still ongoing, constantly evolving, and even if WWASPS per-se does not exist, hundreds of places just like it cover the USA. The same people who owned WWASPS programs in the past just reopened under new names with new umbrella LLCs! I focused on this because it is so well documented, and it hurt so many people for so long that we have tons and tons and tons of information to use, and, the documentary springboarded using WWASPS to explain the industry. But that's a depressing note to leave you on. How about I mock the meme-man of the industry?
Narvin Lichfield, younger brother of Robert "Bob" Lichfield, owns and operates programs, has abused thousands of children, and likes to sing Sinatra at Club 90 in Ogden, Utah, and was crashed by Katherine Kubler who badly sang "One Way Or Another" by Blondie and personally trolled him so hard he called himself a victim on his Facebook.
(Please refrain from breaking any laws while telling Narvin Lichfield that he's fat, a bad singer, that we know he raped scores of girls in South Carolina, grooms young women to this day, and you would not have sex with him.)
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