Disambiguation: This page is about the cult. For the episode, see The Forever People
The Forever People is an underground doomsday cult that appeared in the Season Ten episode of Criminal Minds, "The Forever People".
Background[]
At some point in or before 2012, The Forever People was founded in Boulder City, Nevada, by a charismatic, psychopathic man named Colton Grant, who took on a messianic role to his followers. The cult catered to disenfranchised men and women who needed help with their daily lives, and advocated that society was crumbling and only members of The Forever People would survive the ensuing chaos by freezing themselves, after which Grant would presumably resuscitate them. Outside of Grant, another member was Jon Kanak, who was assigned to raise the members' children who were forcibly separated from their parents (presumably as part of another ritual). In 2012, they received new members in Sarah Rhoades and her son Bobby, who they separated.
Also during 2012, another member, Tom Fallon, was hospitalized for severe frostbite and lost all of his fingers. Upon his release, the cult cut all contact with him and the law firm representing Grant, Kane and Associates, claimed that Fallon knew he was engaging in risky behavior and threatened his mother with a lawsuit for defamation if she raised charges against them or simply talked to law enforcement. Fallon himself, however, remained a firm believer and refused to give any information about the cult, as he was convinced that it would eventually come for him. One month prior, another man named Adam Lewis joined, and Rhoades phoned her former boyfriend and Bobby's father, Carl Mason, to help her and Bobby get out of the cult. They hatched a plan involving Mason joining the cult, but Rhoades was murdered by Kanak before Mason could see her or Bobby.
The Forever People[]
The cult is first seen welcoming Mason, unaware of his true intentions. Later, the cult members watch as Mason kneels before Grant and he kisses him on the head. Then, the cult members watch as Mason later helps Kanak pull out Lewis out of the freezer, and Grant revives him. Afterwards, while the cult members listen to Grant about fear being what truly consumes people, Lewis becomes nervous and breaks down. Then, two cultists take him out while Lewis says that he just wants to go home. Later, as the cultists listen to Grant about some of the members will advance to Level Three, the BAU show up and they take Grant and Mason separately for interrogation. Later, the cult members listen to Grant's lawyer giving them his message about the future of The Forever People. Then, the BAU arrive at the The Forever People's headquarters after they identify Kanak as the unsub. After Kanak is arrested, it is unknown what has happened to the cult after Grant was arrested for illegally harboring Bobby.
Modus Operandi[]
The cult holds a meeting.
The cult catered to disenfranchised men and women who needed help in their daily lives. They were fed a diet high on sugar and electrolytes but starve them from proteins in order to affect their reasoning process and brainwash them; instructed to cut contact with people outside the cult and to not tell anyone about its members and activities, claiming that they weren't worthy to know about them; and also to give monthly payments to the cult's front, a shell non-profit organization named the Global Warming Awareness Fund, which was also headed by Grant. As part of an initiation ritual, new members were left in a walk-in freezer until they nearly froze to death. Afterwards, Grant would resuscitate them, thus officiating their entry into the cult. There was a level system that members must work to ascend, though further details on that were not given. Tests included members holding trays of large pebbles, which Grant added, one pebble at a time. Any children brought with the members were separated from their parents and raised by Kanak, who would bring them to Grant's ranch intermittently, but never allow them to interact with the other adult members.
Profile[]
No official profile of the cult itself was given, as the BAU were more focused on Grant and then Kanak.
Real-Life Comparisons[]
Grant's cult has elements in common with different real-life cults:
- The gradation in levels that members must work to ascend and the infamous lawsuit threats of L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology.
- The sunglasses-wearing leader, and the practice of separating children from their parents to be raised communally and keeping them even after the parents have left the cult, of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple.
- The yoga classes, identical two-piece white suits and murders of members who wish to leave the cult, of Shoko Asahara's Aum Shinrikyo (with the difference that in the Forever People's case, these murders weren't actually approved by Colton).
Known Members[]
- Colton Grant (leader; incarcerated). Portrayed by Grant Show.
- Jon Kanak (incarcerated). Portrayed by Ptolemy Slocum.
- Carl Mason (infiltrated the cult to retrieve his son Bobby). Portrayed by Brian Gant.
- Beth Acosta (Colton's lawyer). Portrayed by Christina Edland.
- Sarah Rhoades and her son Bobby:
- Sarah Rhoades (deceased). Portrayed by an uncredited actress.
- Bobby Rhoades (rescued from the cult). Portrayed by Nicholas Keenan.
- Adam Lewis (deceased). Portrayed by Travis Lincoln Cox.
- Tom Fallon (expelled from the cult). Portrayed by Max Potesky.
- Greta Jacobsen (child; separated from her parents). Portrayed by Angelina Ganiere.
- Numerous unnamed members and children. All portrayed by uncredited actors and actresses.
Known Victims[]
- Unspecified dates: Numerous unnamed members (assaulted; all brainwashed and ritualistically frozen)
- 2012:
- Tom Fallon (attempted, but survived; was brainwashed and non-fatally frozen; survived, but lost all fingers to frostbite)
- Sarah Rhoades and her son Bobby:
- Sarah Rhoades (assaulted; brainwashed and ritualistically frozen)
- Bobby Rhoades (abducted; was rescued)
- 2015:
- Carl Mason (Sarah Rhoades's romantic partner and Bobby's father; assaulted; ritualistically frozen)
- Adam Lewis (assaulted; brainwashed and ritualistically frozen)