the cult of natureboy s01e01

NovaVisionMedia

2 hours ago

Transcript

00:21If you want to know what I've been doing for the last four years, I was in a cult, man.

00:29In 2017, there was a lot of Caucasian male killing a lot of black people.

00:36A lot of black people seem to be dying all the time at the hands of people that were supposed

00:40to be protecting us.

00:42You know this is not how life's supposed to be. Get to the sun.

00:48Nature Boy definitely made it seem like what he had for the black community was a utopia.

00:53We are Melanation. We are here to show you who you are.

00:58The end-all be-all solution for every single black person in the world.

01:03Known as Nature Boy.

01:05Nature Boy.

01:06It was like waking up in paradise.

01:09There were a ton of people coming from all over the world.

01:12The beautiful nature places that he would go to.

01:16Oh my goodness, everybody wants to experience that.

01:18Melanation is out here for you.

01:20Nature Boy's use of social media seemed to bridge the gap between an online influencer and a street creature.

01:30Log on, Melanation TV.

01:32Nature Boy was going live on Instagram a lot. It was clear to see that he wanted to build the

01:36following.

01:37Is this thing working?

01:39We took an oath to become leaders of the black community. It's going to heal my people from slavery.

01:46He was obsessed with filming himself.

01:49We got the police out there. They can't fuck with us.

01:52He has no understanding that he's filming his own demise.

01:58It's cult leader 101. I'm God. You should listen to me.

02:02I'm here forever. I am the black man. I am God.

02:05Fight!

02:33We're going to give y'all a pan around.

02:34We're in the middle of the river, man. I'm going to teach you how to become pure,

02:39get away from negative ass people. The key is to isolate yourself. Remember, this journey is your own.

02:49The first post that I saw of Melanation was a video of Nature Boy himself sitting on a rock in

02:58the

02:58middle of a river in Costa Rica. Look at how beautiful your people is.

03:02Some of the initial things that I heard Nature Boy say were things like, just simple, like,

03:08let's get back into nature. That was huge for him.

03:11Squad in the building. You?

03:13He would have videos where he would be in nature.

03:16We are the heroes of the black community. We are the pioneers in the beginning of this.

03:21Nature Boy definitely made it seem like what he had for the black community was a utopia.

03:27He would make it look good online. The beautiful nature places that he would go,

03:32oh my goodness, everybody wanted to experience that.

03:34Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful and green places that you could live.

03:40I thought I was joining a group that was desiring to leave the commotion of the city life,

03:51of, you know, the hustle and bustle, the nine to five.

03:55Your bills are basically what you're working for. You get caught up in this trap.

03:59A group that wanted to be more simple, more natural, more sustainable. A group that was

04:08that was about health, that was about solving issues non-violently.

04:13We don't need to be violent. We don't need to be angry. All we need to do is become one

04:20with nature.

04:33I was born and raised in Butler, Georgia. Racist, segregated.

04:40My prom was the first prom where black people and white people went together.

04:46They are making history with their school's first integrated prom.

04:50If you want to be successful in this world, then you have to do well academically. So that's what my

04:56theme was. Straight A's all the way throughout school. 18, graduate, go to college. Went into the

05:05military shortly after that, 2009. Once I left the military, it's like, what do I do now?

05:14There was a void present because the military provided me a sense of belonging for eight years.

05:20Brotherhood, brotherhood, network, huge. For the first time in a long time,

05:27I felt like I didn't belong anywhere.

05:32This is a movement.

05:35Y'all better get here and hurry up, baby.

05:44When I first heard about Melanation, it was about 2017.

05:50The president-elect of the United States, Donald John Trump.

05:55The Trump thing going on a lot in America around that time. There was a lot of cops killing a

06:02lot of black

06:02people. Of course, it was easy to believe that we're supposed to be separated from society,

06:08because that was happening a lot in our community.

06:11Get out of the car! I will light you up! Get out! Now!

06:20Hey, bro, put your fucking hands on the car!

06:26All of these things collectively provided an avenue for me to be like, I'm done with America.

06:35Reflection, listen to me. Don't let nobody stop you from manifesting what you want.

06:412017 was the first time that YouTube recommended me a Nature Boy video.

06:48Y'all ready to go deep again? I'm the master teacher. None of y'all can fuck with me, homie.

06:53I speak actual facts.

06:55The master teacher drops Never Before Her Information video. It had 500,000 views on it.

07:01Nothing dies in nature, because it's immortal. It feeds off itself. It sustains itself.

07:07I'm like, wow, there's a lot of people that are watching this, so it must mean that this

07:14must have some truth to it. I'm thinking that because it has 500,000 views, that that equates to

07:20500,000 people. And so that was a major part in my indoctrination process of continuing to watch

07:29more and more videos.

07:34We are Melanation. We are here to show you who you are. You can't tell me I ain't home.

07:41Everything online seemed cool. This is Costa Rica right here. We at the market,

07:46bailing our food out of jail. Coconut gang. Mango, mangoes.

07:51It was about peace. It was about nature. It was about the sun. It was about

07:55living healthy and simple. Like, that's what it was being presented as. They're cool people.

08:11My name is Velvet Marquez. I am from New Orleans, Louisiana. When I was younger, my parents never

08:18took me outside of my community. We weren't in more gentrified places of New Orleans where rich

08:25people live. In our community, people who are of the minority, we experience extreme poverty.

08:34We do not have access to adequate housing, adequate food sources. I just didn't want to be depressed

08:43anymore. I didn't want to feel lonely anymore. I felt invisible. Like, I was just so different from

08:49everybody else and didn't have a place in the world. I was deep into college, and I found social media

08:56to

08:56be a place for me to express myself. Nature Boy was in my feed, and so I started to look

09:03at the tribe. Melanation is the perfect group to join because you're going to be around that melanin.

09:11Melanin is what creates the pigment in your eyes, ear, and skin. Melanation was geared more toward

09:19the idea that if you had more melanin, then you were closer to the earth. We are all reflections and

09:28refractions of the sun. This was a group of African Americans, darker-skinned people,

09:38what we would call melanin people, coming together for our cause. So this was revolutionary to me.

09:46I felt immediately like, wow, this is a group of people where I can express myself and I could

09:53potentially be heard. This could be where my life changes for the better.

10:01What's going on, y'all? I'm OMEC. You can find me on Facebook at OMEC the Ancient.

10:06After watching many of the videos, I decided to reach out to one of the people in the group,

10:12who I thought I would have a natural, genuine, pure connection with. His name is OMEC.

10:22Two weeks went by. Through our exchange of conversation, ideas, the mind, the heart,

10:30on a very spiritual level, I thought I found the love of my life.

10:35My mind was just like, gotta be with you, gotta be there, gotta be close to you. I want to

10:42see how

10:42this evolves in real life. I had never left the United States. I did not have a passport.

10:50So I put one foot in front of the other to get my passport. And I was like, I'm gonna

10:55go.

10:57I just absolutely knew that I was not coming back. I knew that this was the end of me ever

11:04experiencing being in the States ever again.

11:19Flying to Costa Rica and meeting OMEC for the first time was one of the most beautiful experiences I've ever

11:28had in my life. As we were driving from the airport, the scenery outside of the vehicle

11:38was just mountains on top of mountains for stretches of miles. Me and OMEC were so wrapped

11:46into each other. My world disappeared. I remember thinking to myself, like, my romantic desire, dream,

11:53dream has come true.

12:01When we finally arrived, OMEC introduced me to Nature Boy. When he first opened his mouth

12:09was when my world got dark.

12:29The nature boy was 34 years of age when I initially met him. Physically, his appearance was very attractive.

12:37But outside of his physical attractiveness, to me, he just was like a father. I just pictured him as a

12:45father.

12:46Like, his demeanor, like, all of his mannerisms was just, like, dad vibes. And that's how I saw him.

12:53I looked at him as like a guru. You know, so I had a lot of respect for him. It's

12:57like having respect for God in a way.

13:05As we started getting into the more detailed parts of their everyday life, I thought it was cool.

13:12It was different. You know, they lived out of tents at the time. They had a home.

13:21Nice kitchen. This is so good. Huge yard. It was like waking up in paradise every day.

13:32Going from a place where it was hard and just depressive to a place of liberation, being free.

13:44I just literally felt like I was inhaling life.

13:51phone calls.

13:54These people are from Louisiana, New York, they're from all over the states,

14:00and so there's a level of familiarity involved. It's like, oh man, these people, you know,

14:06come from where I come from. They understand the racism, injustice that I've experienced in America,

14:13You know my name is Chantel I go by the T on YouTube and I was introduced to

14:28Melanation via Nature Boy aka Elegio I would watch him all the time Melanation

14:36is out here for you I'm gonna show you how EJ is cultivating the land it was

14:41appealing probably to people who were looking for community or looking for to

14:47live off-grid but what it looks like to someone like me is Elegio just selling a

14:55dream a pipe dream anybody that got any common sense can feel that something's

15:03coming he felt that this is where I belong because I have autonomy out here I

15:10make the rules I call the shots and if people want to follow me they can

15:17once anybody joins Melanation you have no choice but to change your name usually

15:22your name comes from him you're not a number you're not a social security

15:26number you're not a birth certificate you're not your last name you're a

15:29cosmic being with a sign there was a belief that your name as far as it

15:35pertains to your birth certificate social security number IDs those things

15:40were an illusion I refuse to be called velvet because that is not me stop

15:44calling me velvet when he would call upon that name he would call upon the

15:48character that's in his mind that you are

15:52all right so everybody tell me your name reflection my name is Key I'm EJ I'm Omec you can find

16:00me on Facebook at Omec the Ancient

16:03he would express on multiple occasions that if he had named you he had some

16:07type of power over you he needed to call me something else so that he can feel

16:13like he was the creator and orchestra of who I was to him in that moment the

16:19name changes were really just nature boy flexing his muscle asserting his power

16:24and dominance over these people we are all doing witchcraft so what someone

16:28calls you is summoning and invoking who you truly are

16:37we were only able to eat certain items and we only was able to eat things outside

16:43of what he originally told us to eat if he had consented nature is the way you got

16:48to eat from the earth you got to eat organic it was really a like strict diet

16:54that he wanted us to follow because he wanted the public to believe that his way

17:00of life and his regimen behind eating was the healthiest so that was another way

17:05he implemented structure

17:09we call this the pot this is not shit poop no it's very sacred the government is

17:16taking this and putting it in a toilet and disconnecting you from the universe

17:24in the yard everybody had their own tent that they would rest in at night

17:30we were not allowed to use the restroom in the house we were all ordered to use the restroom

17:37outside nature boys reasoning behind it he wanted to limit the usage of the plumbing system because

17:45it wasn't healthy and it was contaminated on water so I was thinking to myself how am I

17:51going to execute my first restroom experience I woke up in the wee hours of the morning my first night

18:02there

18:03and I had to use the restroom so bad I actually made a decision to go into the house and

18:14use the toilet

18:18I let it loose and I flushed the toilet like twice that next morning we congregated and there was a

18:29talk about who went to the bathroom last night

18:34I denied it the following day of course I had to use the bathroom so then I started experiencing using

18:42it outside and then eventually I grew a tomato plant from my own poop

19:01it was like this extreme connection to nature they would be talking about you know living off the land and

19:10using the bathroom in the woods instead of in the toilet because it connects them with nature

19:15that's what a watermelon look like I want to show them something I'm always eating watermelon so I empty my

19:21pot over here this is where I empty my pot

19:23here you see the black seeds from the watermelon I eat it's coming out right here see and look at

19:30this

19:31look at this coming out of my soil watermelon

19:35some people will look at it and be like wow this is some of the most bizarre nonsense I've ever

19:40heard but a lot of people will see that and be like this guy knows what he's talking about

19:45and I should give up my life and join him

19:58come on ladies where y'all at y'all want a real man he's intelligent he's a Virgo

20:03that's a good man right here he about 6'3

20:06he recruited his members utilizing his current members so he would have his male members attract

20:13women women would reach out to them they'd be in their inboxes trying to get them to come there

20:19and he utilized those men to recruit them into the group they need wives we need some good women that's

20:26in tune with nature they need goddamn wives I never had dated a dark-skinned guy until I met

20:32Omak this is EJ the ancient this is Omak's wife that's his direct nature boy kept asking me questions

20:40like are you sure you want to be with Omak do you sure you want to be with him do

20:43you sure you want

20:44to be in a relationship with him it came across creepy to me but I didn't take that personal but

20:50it became uncomfortable for me because I was in a relationship so Ligio you don't want any of those

20:59women to be with any of the guys there he wanted them all for himself

21:15I'm Alex I'm from Toronto Canada my family's from Portugal had a very beautiful family big family

21:24as I got older I just really loved sports which kind of led me into fitness and becoming a bodybuilder

21:35my story kind of starts back in 2016 I was watching all these documentaries about

21:42factory farming and why we shouldn't eat meat and I kind of fell really deep into that the first video

21:54I seen of nature boy he was in his apartment and he was showing his grocery haul and that's kind

21:59of

21:59what intrigued me seeing what he was eating this is what I eat every day I don't use refrigerator so

22:07drink my water water in here pistachio this is my transition before I go into nature and move out

22:15of the country his charisma really pulled me in it was like this guy's like some spiritual gangster

22:25welcome back reflection I was like slowly building a relationship with nature boy online

22:33and he was treating me like a brother so I got a sense of this guy likes me he likes

22:38who I am

22:39come on in reflection nature boy was going live on Instagram a lot on YouTube

22:46listen to nature boy right now I'm about to show you how sex works how your body works the process

22:53of

22:54going from a viewer to actual involvement in the cult was gradual I went from a viewer to a commenter

23:04now I'm getting actual responses back from them so the engagement level has increased this is a new

23:11level then the next level was actually speaking to them in real time right here we do this salute it

23:19was clear to see that he wants to build the following follow him on Facebook right now he wanted people

23:24to

23:24know who he was and he wanted his message to get out there whatever you take give back and life

23:31will be

23:32full of blessings share the video when I was watching online I'd never seen any white people but he did

23:39also say that being white is not a disadvantage that you can build this up you can tan you can

23:44get

23:44darker and then Kayla showed up I'm really starting to get settled in here and that was the first white

23:51person I'd seen with nature boy so that whole stigma of oh this is only for black people kind of

23:56changed

23:56we start tonight with the bizarre story about a corner broke woman who's now in Costa Rica living in

24:02what she calls a cult I host a podcast called the nighttime podcast which covers unique and offbeat

24:09Canadian stories Kayla Reed left corner broke under the guise of attending a church conference in late

24:15February then she was reported missing so I was watching the story of the disappearance of the

24:22missing person Kayla Reed when the revelation came out that she appeared in the background of a Costa

24:29Rican preacher's YouTube channel yeah I've never been so happy I'm becoming happier and happier every

24:38day here really feeling like I'm with my family I started watching the story and trying to understand

24:44how a young woman from Newfoundland ended up across the world in a YouTube video so this is the things

24:51that he would have his members do before they can join leave your family you have to separate yourself from

24:57your own family isolate yourself and only listen to me attachments have been given to you that you

25:04must overcome stop the illusion of family I'm your family I was almost speechless at just how intense he

25:14was it certainly left me with concern over the people with him because it was clear that no part of

25:22this was an act you know this is not how life's supposed to be get to the sun I could

25:28only imagine

25:29how concerned her parents were they put out nature boy to be some kind of criminal a cult leader but

25:38my

25:38but they never tell you what my coat is about what really stood out to me was how much power

25:47nature boy or

25:48Elijah Bishop had within that group within that tribe I'm a culture and the culture is to live in

25:55harmony with nature the media in Canada was using the term cult and he was defending himself saying we

26:01are not a cult we're a culture I think from my experience in everything I saw it would fit that

26:08stereotypical definition of cult cult leader is a person who recognizes vulnerabilities that every

26:15human being has and exploits those vulnerabilities to manipulate people to get them to do what they

26:23want them to do did I call you like hey come join us be here with us am I controlling

26:30your manipulating your

26:31mind her family started to get involved because they noticed that it was in fact the cult wait there's a

26:38nature boy a prejudice isn't he racist how does he have white people there her family involved the

26:46consulate they involved the government they involved everyone that they could think of to make enough

26:52noise and get enough people involved and in their plight to get her home well Elysio Bishop is a 34

26:59year

27:00old from Atlanta Georgia in our conversation he was adamant Reed traveled to Costa Rica on her own

27:06accord and had not been brainwashed Bishop adds that Kayla is free to go whenever she wants to leave yeah

27:13I'm going back to

27:14Canada the first interview that I did with Kayla was days after she returned to Canada you are tuned to

27:26the

27:26night time podcast now here is your host Jordan bonepot how did you feel hearing that you know people

27:34were looking for you when I first seen the news like I just thought it was kind of just ridiculous

27:40can you tell me about why you left we had a meeting and nature boy had decided that I should

27:47head back

27:48because of all the uh all the hype Kayla brought the attention national attention to this group people

27:56started really watching who this cult leader is and what ideology he's spreading so I really couldn't

28:02fathom at the time like how big it was I just was like oh shit we ended up on the

28:07news it spread like

28:08wildfire I got my one way to Costa Rica they called themselves Melanation young people claiming to

28:20understand the truths of the world I'm the cult leader I'm nature boy what do you think of the

28:24people saying it's a cult I think that uh Canada is a cult like the U.S. is a cult

28:31he's a blessing

28:32that rare breed my inbox jam-packed with the one question how do I join it was just further

28:39spreading his message deeper into social media and across multiple social media platforms

28:45somewhere along the way that turned into a large group of followers who hung off his every wish and

28:51command when I speak to you I speak with authority what I'm doing is beyond Martin Luther King I love

28:57myself no some of y'all need to hear this shit my mindset at that time was to go to

29:04Costa Rica and

29:05literally never come back when I first got to Costa Rica it was really such an amazing experience I'm in

29:21a new country the air smells different the fruit tastes better but maybe going here to where Nature Boy is

29:27that's that's where I'll find my truth big mistake though I head up to this mountaintop where he was

29:36living the trip was really cool we were like driving up a mountain the views were impeccable like

29:44incredible I think I was just super excited ready to meet Nature Boy it was like a big

29:57bro like big hug shook my hand and it was a good feeling like it was cool felt like I

30:03was meeting

30:03someone that I was meant to meet by the time I got to the group there was 13 of us

30:10for me it was very

30:11exciting everyone was super friendly it was a very warm welcome day one bags are checked what you brought

30:22with you and I think this is the first moment where I was kind of a bit alarmed because they

30:27were asking

30:28for me to give my debit card to the card holder for everyone's debit cards and finances I was kind

30:36of

30:36like whoa is this good to do like is this all right to hand over my debit card everybody puts

30:42money into

30:43the pot we give everything that we have to our group he initially started out utilizing money from his

30:50barbershop business which he had sold he started to get donations as well from a lot of people that

30:56wanted to follow him three hundred thousand dollars that was the biggest lump sum he's ever received

31:04if you truly gonna heal it's gonna cost you and you're gonna need every fucking penny

31:12the financial support came from people legitimately go to Mellon Nation and willingly give their finances

31:21because they believe in what it is that he's saying they believe in him I was one of the people

31:27who came

31:28with roughly 3,000 left over from my college tuition and I was like here you can have it nature

31:34boy calls

31:35it putting in the pot which means like we all pool resources to keep afloat we all want frequency we

31:41want family we put our chips together any money that any member had access to it was it was his

31:49what

31:51he would tell them is that I provide for the group but I'm gonna keep a portion for myself too

31:57I was like

31:59oh we're a family we all pitch in I'm still gonna eat I'm still gonna be able to go on

32:04these

32:04adventures so just go for it then a lot of weird stuff started happening in terms of purchases

32:19we went to the mall one day and for some reason we bought a ping-pong table with my credit

32:24card which

32:25was eight hundred dollars I was like why do we need this but I didn't want to question it because

32:31we

32:31were all very scared to question things nature boy was somebody who wanted to start a movement make it

32:42go worldwide make it go viral and just bring in people to control their money to control their body to

32:51control their mind and to control their life and every aspect that's what a code is to me listen to

32:59me very fucking carefully move to Costa Rica there was definitely an aggressive side to him very

33:08egotistical side to him where he was the leader and no one could overpower that there are laws demands

33:15things that you must obey if you didn't do what he said to do you were quickly humiliated you were

33:23quickly devalued amongst the group it became do what he tell you to do or else you will obey the

33:33laws of

33:33nature or you will perish

33:48we decided to go on a on a drive to limon we were driving in the van and we reached

33:58this police stop

34:00that we had passed already but this time we got stopped nature boy starts a live video

34:13we were well over six months worth of passports not being stamped nature boy encouraged all of us

34:23to not get the passports stamped because he didn't want to be a slave of the United States he found

34:30that to be a way to be revolutionary and make a statement we're not these people they'll beat you

34:36them names don't mean nothing that's not our names we don't we those are the corporations names they

34:41belong to a bank we don't belong to a bank we belong to the earth I'm not getting off this

34:45bus and we

34:46ain't getting off this bus we've been moving as a unit they try to make us separate we're not

34:50separating bro when nature boy started to riot over the internet this made the police angry because they

34:57didn't want to force us to do anything they just wanted to understand why we weren't stamping our

35:04passports they say you can't sign the document each one what they want to make you sign and you can

35:08go

35:08free that is not no problem we don't want to sign no papers nature boy encouraged all of the

35:15Melanation members to not get off the bus and fight for our rights I'm still on this bus bro I'm

35:21on the

35:21office I told y'all but you might have to kill me up in here and I just want you

35:24to know I die I love

35:25every motherfucking one of y'all I did this for you he's basically telling us we're gonna die for

35:30the truth tonight and that just scared the shit out of me they can't fuck with us I want you

35:35to know

35:35you have to stand up and not be a slave all of you if you can imagine just like a

35:42drum beating in your

35:43heart like boom boom boom boom like I I just didn't know what you know what's gonna happen

35:48no no no no no no Aligio would always make it a point to live stream these moments these events

35:58he

35:58was doing so not only for the purpose of garnering sympathy from the public but also I believe trying

36:07to attract new members as well damn this video is fucked I just went right under the bus seat to

36:20protect myself I think after that video went live a lot of people even from my own friend group and

36:27family they seen it and they were very alarmed and they were trying to contact me if I was okay

36:33and I

36:34think just that whole video was the breaking point for me watching it back and seeing just it was it

36:41was very horrifying the ending of that video and it's something that I have to this day a hard time

36:49watching because those screams at the end they kind of haunted me by resisting they complicated the

37:01situation but we always handled it with the necessary force to control the situation and at no time was

37:08there any kind of abuse or offense against them they beat us down reflection it beat us down he calls

37:17that it happened for no reason it happened because nature boy directed his followers to break the law

37:24that's why they were bruised up it had to be pulled from the van

37:30the van cops pulled me into their office and they said you are free to go and I was just

37:40like okay what

37:42the hell just happened I'm allowed to leave I'm in a hospital in Costa Rica I'm just laying low for

37:53now

37:55I'm letting things settle but I'm no longer a part of that whatever melanation was I no longer want

38:01anything to do with it I think what changed for me was just being put in a situation where I

38:08literally

38:08felt like I was going to die and be put in danger which I felt was so unnecessary because we

38:14didn't have to

38:14go through all that we could have just got off the bus and dealt with what the cops wanted instead

38:19of creating a

38:20whole commotion but I think that's what his intention was so that it can get a bunch of views and

38:25people can find out who

38:40this guy was when I came back to regular life I just wanted to shut it all off I deleted

38:45all my

38:45social medias I don't want anything to do with nature boy that time their tourist visas and legal

38:55stay in the country had expired so they were deported

39:07they had just got kicked out of Costa Rica we are safe we are okay he was saying how they

39:14were

39:14treated they treated us like slaves like slaves slaves slaves and what they were subjected to

39:22they scared of the black man we're strong we're tall and we're black oh they'll take our woman they

39:30love our music but the black man is a motherfucking threat by now I'm watching the lives like consistently

39:37he would say like that we were in hell if we stayed in America if you were not able to

39:43sacrifice your life

39:44for what is righteous then you will be in hell forever and so I was ready to get out of

39:50hell

39:50I packed one backpack and put like whatever clothes I could fit in there I bought my ticket and I

39:57didn't

39:57tell anyone a thing I blocked all my family members numbers

40:04and I just got on the flight y'all better be glad they didn't kill me

40:11because my work is not done yet I am the truth I am God I can't be killed

40:29I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth

40:31I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth

40:32I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth

40:34I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth

40:35I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth I am the truth

40:41I

40:49Transcription by CastingWords

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