Cult, Memoir, Diaries
Date Published: June 26, 2025
A Historical Account of Fear, Control, and Escape
“When you’re raised to fear the world, you never question the
cage.”
Before she ever knew what freedom felt like, she documented captivity.
Told through the actual journals and letters written while trapped inside one
of America’s most quietly dangerous religious cults, Diary of a Cult
Girl is a chilling first-person account of life under the rule of Bill
Gothard’s teachings—what many now recognize from the “Shiny
Happy People” movement.
Raised in rural Alabama, in poverty, with church at home, school at home, and
six younger siblings to raise, Crystal Ball’s childhood was shaped not
by freedom, but by an addiction to control. Not drugs. Not alcohol. But
military-grade submission, inside a cult franchise that gave abusers unchecked
authority in God’s name—a system that weaponized fear, shame, and
guilt like narcotics to keep women and children quiet and compliant.
In the spirit of The Diary of Anne Frank, this is not just a
memoir—it’s evidence. A record of indoctrination. Of blind
obedience mistaken for faith. Of a young girl awakening to the unbearable cost
of survival.
Alongside her firsthand accounts, Crystal introduces the 3P
Framework—Personal Psychological Perceptions—to examine how
control systems form in the mind and how they keep victims psychologically
trapped, even long after physical escape.
This is the tragic story of a beautiful mind locked in the chains of
repression, desperately longing for a better life she was told didn’t
exist—until she found the courage to leave it all in the red clay
Alabama dust that almost choked her.
religious cult, to the top 5% of earners as a self-made entrepreneur. Her
journey spans the gritty aisles of the convenience store industry to
high-level real estate deals, with stops in journalism, public speaking, and
personal reinvention along the way.
Crystal writes with brutal honesty and piercing insight, drawing from years of
painful isolation, spiritual control, and emotional suppression. Her work
offers a raw, eye-opening perspective on the lasting damage of authoritarian
belief systems—especially in a world where right-wing extremism is on
the rise.
Now living her dream life in Panama City Beach, Florida, Crystal is the proud
mom of two incredible sons. Her mission is to spark courageous conversations,
dismantle shame, and champion the power of self-liberation—one story at
a time.
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Set in the same world as the New York Times bestselling Jane Yellowrock novels, an all-new series starring Nell Ingram, who wields powers as old as the earth.
is a great start to a new series! This is a spin-off of the Jane Yellowrock series. I have not read a book by Faith Hunter that I did not like. I don’t think she could write a bad novel! Rick LaFleur shows up on Nell’s doorstep per Jane’s referral. His clues to the where about of the Nashville Blood Master. It has led him to the cult that Nell had once belonged to not far from her property that she lives at. I love the characters in this book, and seeing Lafleur and the others that are with him. When I started this book, I could not put it down. If you have not enjoyed a Faith Hunter book, I urge you to go out and get your copy today. You will not be disappointed. I give BLOOD OF THE EARTH 5/5 STARS.
