"We were invisible. We had to be. We took an oath of absolute secrecy.
We never even told our immediate families who we were. We went about our
lives in New York City. Just like you. We were your accountants, money
managers, lawyers, executive recruiters, doctors. We owned your child's
private school and sold you your brownstone. But you'd never guess our
secret lives, how we lived in a kind of silent terror and fervor. There
were hundreds of us."
Right under the noses of neighbors, clients, spouses, children, and
friends, a secret society, simply called School--a cult of snared
Manhattan professionals--has been led by the charismatic, sociopathic
and dangerous leader Sharon Gans for decades. Spencer Schneider was
recruited in the eighties and he stayed for more than twenty-three years
as his life disintegrated, his self-esteem eroded, and he lined the
pockets of Gans and her cult.
Cult members met twice weekly, though they never acknowledged one
another outside of meetings or gatherings. In the name of inner
development, they endured the horrors of mental, sexual, and physical
abuse, forced labor, arranged marriages, swindled inheritances and
savings, and systematic terrorizing. Some of them broke the law. All for
Gans.
"During those years," Schneider writes, "my world was School. That's
what it's like when you're in a cult, even one that preys on and caters
to New York's educated elite. This is my story of how I got entangled in
School and how I got out."
At its core, Manhattan Cult Story is a cautionary tale of how hundreds
of well-educated, savvy, and prosperous New Yorkers became fervent
followers of a brilliant but demented cult leader who posed as a teacher
of ancient knowledge. It's about double-lives, the power of group
psychology, and how easy it is to be radicalized--all too relevant in
today's atmosphere of conspiracy and ideologue worship.
