History WebOriginal / TheCarnEvilCult

The premise is that in the late 1990's, there was a bizarre and violent militant cult that was dedicated to the darker side of Celtic paganism, active mainly in the Midwestern United States, the narrator was recruited into the cult as a young adult and lived on a compound in Iowa. The narrator claims that two members of the cult worked on the game {{VideoGame/CarnEvil}} at Midway games and tried to hide a series of messages of occult significance and coded references that only members of the cult would fully understand.

The thread focuses on a few things and emphasizes several elements, the first being the violent and abusive nature of the cult. The second is that they actively sought to recruit outcasts (namely gamers and anime geeks, both of which were seen as more unusual in TheNineties when compared to today) and the third is the cut or hidden stuff in the game itself, as well as the abandoned attempt at a console version of the game (supposedly outsourced to a small third-party company that was a front for the cult before getting cancelled)

!!The [=CarnEvil=] Cult contains examples of:

!'''The [=CarnEvil=] Cult contains examples of'''

* ZombieApocalypse: The cult uses this as a code for a "Shit Hits The Fan" scenario like a massive natural disaster or a second civil war and even watch zombie movies as part of their conditioning.

* DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale: Averted hard. The narrator states he was more or less coerced into sex with male cult members and was also raped as part of his initiation. It is not treated as humorous and is very much stated to be horrifying, with the narrator mentioning nightmares and a self-loathing sense of guilt, both being common symptoms of PTSD.

* AdultFear: The entire story seems plausible and has no real supernatural elements aside from the cult's vaguely defined beliefs and ideology. Extremist groups and cults often recruit from the socially outcast and those from broken homes in real life, and often try to infiltrate legitimate businesses for financial gain or to spread their message more effectively.

* SatanicPanic: The narrator states that the cult was likely trying to get into video game development as a way to brainwash new recruits (or broadcast messages to the cult) and they even talked about the old Satanic Panic of The80s but it's also subverted when the narrator says that the cult dismissed the Satanic Panic as nonsense, but believed that gaming could be used as a tool for mind control.

The premise is that in the late 1990's, there was a a bizarre and violent militant cult that was dedicated to the darker side of Celtic paganism and active mainly in the Midwestern United States and the narrator was recruited into the cult as a young adult and lived on a compound in Iowa. The narrator claims that two members of the cult worked on the game {{VideoGame/CarnEvil}} at Midway games and tried to hide a series of messages of occult significance and coded references that only members of the cult would fully understand.

* AxCrazy: The Michigan branch of the cult is heavily implied to be this, and that even other cult branches are creeped out by them
* AncientConspiracy: Explicitly defied and averted. The cult was founded by gang members in the 20th Century, most likely in TheSeventies or TheEighties

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Subverted. {{VideoGame/CarnEvil}} is stated to have cult members working on it, but the game's creator and lead designer Jack E. Haeger is explicitly stated to not be a cult member and is more or less oblivious to the fact that people on his team are part of a violent cult
* BloodMagic: The cult definitely practiced this and the narrator personally saw (and is implied to have took part in) animal sacrifices. There are rumors that one of the cult's chapters in Michigan have even done acts of HumanSacrifice but the narrator doubts it

* LeftHanging: We never know what happened to the cult and whether or not they are still active or if they disbanded completely. It's also theorized the cult as he knew it fell, but reformed into another organization or were absorbed by a larger and more powerful group.

* OccidentalOtaku: Several of the cults recruits are these, and several of them move ranks by physical and psychological conditioning that separates them from their fandom and more towards the cult's ideology.

** ShownTheirWork: The gangs mentioned were all closely allied in real life and all are or were part of the wider People Nation alliance (which also contains more well-known African-American gangs like the Vice Lords and the Bloods and Latino gangs like the Latin Kings)

* WesternTerrorists: The narrator leaves the cult partly because he's worried that they will be labeled as this following the events of 9/11.

* NothingIsScarier: We don't fully know why the cult was infiltrating the video game industry and what the cultists were exactly hoping to achieve with their involvement in making CarnEvil. The narrator's memory is fuzzy and he isn't quite sure if it was meant as some sort of bizarre electronic ritual for Samhain or if it was some kind of recruitment tool or coded message for new cultists. All are given as potential motives, but none are confirmed as being the actual truth.

''The [=CarnEvil=] Cult'' is a creepypasta that was first posted to 4chan's /x/ board by an anonymous user on June 13, 2020 and was intentionally done in the style of the early video game creepypastas from the late 2000's and early 2010's. An incomplete YouTube recap of the thread can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD-wqYsn8g8&t=52s here]]