The Cabin at the End of the World

Content Warning: This section of the guide references death by suicide.

Apocalyptic cults, also known as doomsday or millenarian cults, believe that an imminent catastrophic event will lead to the world’s end. Members are typically fervent in their convictions and willing to take radical action in anticipation of an apocalypse. The allure of doomsday cults stems from a combination of factors. Members are often psychologically vulnerable and seek meaning, purpose, and a sense of belonging. Cults typically center around a charismatic leader who claims to have exclusive insights into the impending catastrophe. Cult leaders may present themselves as prophets, messiahs, or chosen ones, offering followers a sense of purpose and salvation in the face of perceived impending doom. The driving narratives often include themes of divine judgment or a cleansing of the world to make way for a new and better order.

Characteristics of apocalyptic cults include strict adherence to the leader’s teachings, a sense of urgency about the predicted event, and a belief in the necessity of radical actions to prepare for or trigger the prophesized outcome. Cult members often withdraw from mainstream society, isolating themselves from friends and family who don’t share their beliefs. This isolation creates a heightened sense of group identity, reinforcing the cult’s insular worldview.

Doomsday cults have been responsible for various instances of violence and mass suicide. One infamous example is the People’s Temple, led by Jim Jones. The cult’s activities culminated in the Jonestown Massacre of 1978 when Jones convinced more than 900 followers to die by suicide by ingesting cyanide. Similarly, the Heaven’s Gate cult believed that a UFO would transport them to a better life on another planet, leading to a mass death by suicide ritual in 1997. Dressed in identical outfits, the cult’s 39 members asphyxiated themselves by securing plastic bags over their heads.

Social scientists have attempted to explain why some cult members remain committed to their beliefs after their prophesized events fail to occur. While some group members lose faith, others commit more fully to the group’s aims. Cult leaders often set a new date for the world’s end, or members may convince themselves that their actions averted or delayed an apocalypse (Festinger, Leon, et al. When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group That Predicted the Destruction of the World. University of Minnesota Press, 1956). Ultimately, when followers zealously dedicate themselves to their convictions, maintaining these beliefs “allows them to avoid the embarrassment of how wrong they were in the first place” (Abelson, Robert P., et al. Experiments with People: Revelations from Social Psychology. Routledge, 2003).

In The Cabin at the End of the World, Tremblay’s depiction of a group with apocalyptic beliefs takes inspiration from real-life doomsday cults. Leonard and his companions cut themselves off from society to follow their ideology. Their matching outfits, the sacrifice of their members, and the ceremonial use of masks over their faces recall the actions of the Heaven’s Gate cult. Leonard’s size affords him a powerful physical presence as the group’s leader. His understated aura of assurance causes others, including Wen, to instinctively trust his judgment. Tremblay illustrates the group’s rigid mindset through their determination to see world events such as tsunamis, epidemics, and air disasters as the materialization of their predictions. By employing multiple narrative perspectives, the author shows that although most of the group’s members experience doubts, they’d rather sacrifice themselves than acknowledge that they were wrong. The revelation that Leonard and his followers met online underscores the role of web forums in cultivating extremist groups.