Part One: Elan School: The Worst 'Troubled Teen' Facility | BEHIND THE BASTARDS

[@BenjaminGlatt]

People will do literally anything to avoid actually parenting their children.

[@Bustermachine]

While also wanting supreme parental authority.

[@sourgreendolly7685]

As well as avoiding the therapy they need (the parents)

[@darwinism8181]

Never underestimate how far bad parents will go to avoid confronting the fact that they are bad parents

[@ATTACKofthe6STRINGS]

When this title finally clicked in my mind, I had to sit and watch. I came across the Elan school on Reddit, and read an online comic that one of the victims was in the process of writing.

[@theundergroundlairofthesqu9261]

The online comic is complete!

[@J3nJ3nl0llip0p]

Elan got shut down, but plenty of others still operate today, September 8, 2023. Still. STILL. Turnabout Ranch. Phoenix House. While only 2, of many, a lot of companies (let's be honest) run facilities across the country. It's so fucked...

[@MrJohndoakes]

The history of "tough love" "troubled teen" therapy schools/camps in the US is littered with defunct places and organizations like CEDU (had Synanon ties, was a chain), The Seed (got money from the National Institute of Mental Health), Straight, Inc. (full of ex-Seed people as staff, it became the Drug Free America Foundation after getting sued into the ground), the "Kids of..." chain* (staff was full of ex-Straight and ex-Seed people, leader was sued for millions, he ran away and became a Greek Orthodox priest), the Buffalo Soldiers (fell apart after kid died in their care), etc. There are far more dead ones than working ones, and it's getting less popular to do this to kids outside of upwardly mobile Fundamentalist Christian circles (and those kinds of people are fading away.) *So you have "Kids of El Paso" and "Kids of Bergen County". Each outlet was name after the town or county they were in. They were in California, Utah, Texas, and New Jersey.

[@jamesbronkema9785]

Wow man you really blew my mind with this everything you’re speaking of is it accurate as hell!! I was the longest resident ever to attend Elan ..because of my actions of rebelling. I was there from 1996 to the year of 2000 listening to your podcast actually has made me understand how much I interpret life still like a Elan! honestly, this podcast has helped me a lot the trauma that I have endured there. I never really realized how much this shyt still haunts me !I have always acted like it doesn’t bother me anymore it was absolutely horrible being there the way they belittle you and make you feel like the smallest thing in the world I could tell you stories that would make your stomach hurt

[@David-wc5qb]

Did you know a Jeremy Dean or a matt Webb?

[@angiep2229]

These places and those families make me so angry. I'm a parent, and one of my kids has struggled with suicide attempts, and we were in and out of emergency rooms and psychiatric hospitals. Never once, never ever, did I force my child into anything. I cannot freaking imagine. (And fwiw my child is doing a lot better at this time.) I just... if I treated my child the way these families did, I have doubts my child would still be alive. These poor kids.

[@TheWinterscoming]

Ever since the cynanon episode I was hoping you would do one on the Elan school. Read the webcomic about it a few years ago.

[@buttlord4204]

New installments of that are STILL coming out. I was reading it weekly years ago too but, I lost interest, and now I have no idea where to jump back in to get caught up again. But yeah, it's written by "Joe Nobody" I believe, that and the subject should be enough to track it down, for anyone interested. He was in the program in it's later years, when it was tamer than the "cancer room" early years, the years where S.A. was one of the weapons used to keep these CHILDREN in line. Stories of early Elan School residents are truly wild. 12 year old girls tossed into the cancer room to be S.A.ed and starved for literal days on end. Leaving the room with STDs so virulent that they stink up the entire room... and having to deal with that, on top of the trauma of being tortured and starved for days, only getting water to drink by the grace of, their abuser. This happening to girls who were send to the school for TALKING TO BOYS when their parents thought that was inappropriate.

[@ZGGuesswho]

joe vs the cult is really good supplemental, wonderful firsthand comic

[@rrrrrrrrr1774]

Yeah except for the fact it's almost certainly a wild embellishment. The book is laughable. I love the protagonist always positions himself like he's a massive threat and deadly weapon because he learned Army Green Beret style violence at the Elan School and is quick to use it to stamp his authority on people -- it's like, sure buddy, you and a bunch of other zit-faced teenagers screamed at each other all the time and somehow that makes you Jack Reacher? And then the whole bit about him tramping around Europe. LOL.

[@chrisblake4198]

Lifelong Mainer having a laugh at the description of Elan as 'the middle of nowhere' It was

[@akumakorgar]

Well look at all that crazy shit that went on in Derry, Maine without any attention from the outside world

[@J3nJ3nl0llip0p]

@@akumakorgar - slow clap*

[@mainstreetmafia6605]

​@@akumakorgarokay but actually though, this makes me wonder what kind of horrid shit Stephen King might've seen or went through with how many of his stories being small town horror in Maine

[@theendisoverdue]

Sounds like Maine is a fucked up place and lobster sure as hell doesn’t make up for it

[@chrisblake4198]

@@theendisoverdue You should check your own state's history before making a broad assumption. Most states have very similar cases when it comes to institutional care for the disabled. I just happened to have studied the subject in Maine.

[@Buddy.Devine]

I was a troubled teen industry survivor for six years at five schools and this school definitely seems like one of the worst ones warms my heart Reddit helped take it down we will take success stories where we can

[@Eli-su6ql]

"if it helps, this is much worse than WWE" said Robert, before covering Vince McMahon

[@ChannelMath]

my childhood best friend was abducted and went to one of these "schools". Not sure if you mentioned it, but another weird thing was group cuddling sessions while sharing feelings (all while anything supposedly sexual is forbidden). I saw Paris' article around the same time she described to me what happened, and my respect for Paris took a literal 180. My friend killed herself a decade later.

[@andrewibhunt]

It’s so interesting hearing this story having worked at a military school in Oregon in the 2010s which used many of the same punishments (minus the fight club and juice) as the Elan school. Robert if you ever want to cover a school in Oregon (beyond Chemawa which I can only assume has the worst history), hit me up and let’s talk, it would make for a fine episode.

[@009013M3]

Normal parent: (absentmindedly thinking of all the different heroic ways he could turn literally anything in the house into a weapon to protect his children from a home invader, because he loves them so much that he would rather die than significantly inconvenience them) Affluent parent: (thinking of hiring a home invader to traumatize his child because loving them would significantly inconvenience him)

[@Ziegrif]

Robert is basically the Harry Du Bois of podcasting.

[@durianaleria7919]

And goes by Tequila Sunset

[@yourlocalnerd7788]

He should open an episode with "I dont want to be this kind of animal anymore!"

[@zacharyhughes2950]

I wonder how long it would take these “patients” to eventually realize that they’re being pitted against one another and respond accordingly

[@andycruz7319]

As someone who got sent to kids prison. This shit wasn’t even close to what I went through. I did go through some shitty problems but this was fucked up.

[@J3nJ3nl0llip0p]

"WTF did you just say???" (to the description of Elan in the beginning) is the appropriate response.

[@davidmcmanus9022]

Robert that was the best intro ever.

[@ChannelMath]

the "confessional" stuff around 1:03:00 sounds less Catholic and more Cultural Revolution

[@TheNotoriousBTG]

That is exactly where my mind went. To the struggle sessions in China's Cultural Revolution. Thank you Liu Cixin for teaching my uncultured American ass something.

[@EmmaBonn96]

After watching the most recent bastards episode on the wilderness version of these schools I needed to listen to this just so I can hear a complete story where hopefully some of these people experience consequences

[@Batgirl219]

lol. Being in high school at 21 is literally a nightmare of mine. I still have dreams where I learn I didn't fulfill all my requirements and I have to go back and take a couple of classes. 😂

[@wendynerd1199]

Same! It seems like a common dream.

[@somebodyoncetoldme6360]

Haven't listened to the episode yet, but I really recommend the elan school webcomic if they didn't mention it.

[@buttlord4204]

It's written by Joe Nobody if anybody wants the info to find it easier. Joe attended Elan in it's later years, when it was far tamer than how it started. Though it was still a complete nightmare

[@HolyDeviant1]

Absolutely hand-crafted panopticon of total and complete abuse at every level. This should be studied, like, as a case for what not to do.

[@adricklynn8882]

My fetish is to imagine that the people involved with these types of places listen to this podcast and hear a bunch of normal, well adjusted people mocking them relentlessly. I imagine the people involved crying and pearl clutching, trying to convince themselves that it wasn't all a horrible mistake.

[@tepidtopic4979]

oh man, I went to a troubled teen facility and this episode hits different

[@jutley5296]

I mean, killed by a rattlesnake, in the mailbox is a hell of a Clue guess.

[@sigidaly9950]

33:29 tbh this hypothetical show is just the natural evolution of Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil

[@celebacy6262]

We call nighttime abductions getting "goonied" in the biz. Most kids have the most trauma from that in their treatment experience is what they tell me.... -Cook at your local treatment center.

[@theendisoverdue]

Get a different job or you’re part of the problem

[@TheWinterscoming]

27:46 a school for boys call PINS, Im sure that name helped with those kids

[@Judgewrath1]

I mean, it *sounds* fine, until you just spell the acronym.

[@rrrrrrrrr1774]

This was a good episode and well done but I must point out that I'm disappointed Robert thought the graphic novel Joe vs. Elan School was good when it's so plain and clear that it's a wild embellishment and made up story. More skepticism should have been shown, because some of the books' obvious lies were retold (like the protagonist escaping to NYC and being captured and brought back, that is incredibly unlikely).

[@kristinfrostlazerbeams]

The similarities between this crazy place's psychological torture and the stuff Scientology does to their free labor is freaky.

[@Dimo-lt4tw]

ok, best intro ever

[@_NewtonMeter]

Relatable 2:38 people need to really start asking this question to people

[@ZorroinArkham]

Mike David from Redbar was sent this the exact Elan school in Maine because he ditched school.

[@nimi-nae]

Don't apologize for your intros. Double-down. Own it. We are here because we love your personalities as well as your content, so be yourself.

[@crocoshark4097]

So, it finally makes sense why Stephen King sets so many stories in Maine. If this is the kind of thing found in the woods of "middle of nowhere Maine". If I could choose between one of Stephen King's stories coming true and this place being real, I'd probably choose Stephen King.

[@J3nJ3nl0llip0p]

Ugh. GYFO Guy-Foe That recording brought back too much. It was genuine, I've been through it. Not at all staged. The loud inhale is to accentuate it

[@ZorroinArkham]

Shout outs to Redbar!

[@SesshyLover777]

So in Oklahoma you age out at 21 to this day. Special needs students can stay longer with exceptions, I knew some who did, but working at my high school taught me that one!

[@noop1111]

"sit around in a room and scream abuse at each other" Isn't that what everyone does?

[@Jakeurb8ty82]

"whats up my aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatoneholes!"

[@wargriffin5]

Am I the only one laughing at the recording from "The Game?" It sounds like the person screaming is trying to come off angry or threatening, but they can't even control themselves enough to keep from wheezing every other word. 😂

[@BeastNationXIV]

I hear Elan is quite a musky place.

[@buttlord4204]

I've listened to KZbin interviews of people who went to Elan in the 70s who spoke about, young (as in, 12 years old) girls tossed in the cancer room to be SAed for days on end, leaving with such virulent STDs that they would stink up the entire building.

[@buttlord4204]

Oh dude, I am finally getting it I was just thinking, "oh yeah, there was some old cologne, Elan "Musk," I remember seeing magazine ads for that as a kid! I was even able to picture the bottle, memories of seeing dirty old discarded empty bottles of Elan Musk, kicking around in the woods, just off the side of the road circa 1991. I pushed the voice activate button on my phones Google search and said "Elon Musk" and then was like, uhhhh.... Ohhhhhh yeah! Don't even ask me how it took so long to register. Also, I think I was thinking of Jovan Musk

[@VooshSpokesman]

Love from a HunterAvalone and Vaush fan!

[@elliott614]

"I'm actually the victim in the robbery " that garbage makes addicts look bad. What about people who can afford it, which would be the case with legalization? Fentanyl is insanely cheap. And even with desperation a lot of people can still have enough empathy to suffer themselves and not put the suffering onto others) addicts refuse to hurt people around them solely bc of their personal issues. It's an excuse though. Lack of access to Healthcare that could help can lead people to have to do things just to eat. This is true without drugs, and regular poverty. I have been homeless and never asked anybody for money and managed to make it tho. But also our safety net is way too austeritized. But screw terrible people using addiction to justify terrible behavior. I mean I somewhat get it bc it can feel like that sometimes... just like having no food can make understaffed Wal marts with self checkouts where the corporation is itself inherently evil on so many levels seem a certain way ... but there is such a difference between hurting people you are close to or even fellow working class people you don't know

[@SubjectNate]

Sounds awfully like the Cultural Revolution in China.

[@FullmetalSP1]

Is this the school that Adam Eget what to?

[@theundergroundlairofthesqu9261]

He went to CEDU, and talked about it on the Joe Rogan podcast.