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The Curious Case of… episode titled The Doomsday Cat Cult is set to explore the story of Sheryl Ruthven and the cat-worshipping cult she created over the years. The cult named themselves Eva's Eden, which, on the surface, was a cat foster home.
The cult mainly provided shelters for cats and held adoption events. However, soon the former members of Evas's Eden exposed the stern ideals under which Sheryl Ruthven ran her organization.
The new episode of The Curious Case of… titled The Doomsday Cat Cult explores the complete journey of Sheryl Ruthven and all the events that contributed towards her creating Eva's Eden. The episode was released on February 17, 2025, on Investigation Discovery.
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How did The Curious Case of… episode subject Sheryl Ruthven started her preaching journey
As per a Nashville Scene article published on September 8, 2016, Sheryl Ruthven began preaching in a Pentecostal church back in the 1990s. Michelle Lamphier, one of her followers, revealed the irresistible attraction she had in her personality.
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As per Lamphier, Ruthven had the gift of prophecy and often could mesmerize her followers with her way of preaching. As per The Curious Case of… The Doomsday Cat Cult, Ruthven soon began to gather a group of dedicated followers of her own.
Notably, it was during the early 2000s that Ruthven, along with her dedicated followers, split from the congregation and established a church of her own named Freedom Fire Ministries.
Sheryl Ruthven began imposing her own rules into the congregation
In Ruthven's cult, cats were divine creatures. She pointed out that in the book of Revelation, it was written that cats would carry 144,000 souls after the apocalypse. Ruthven's cult supplied its followers with the promise of a New Eden, with cats rescuing their souls.
Any member failing to disobey Ruthven's rules was banished. Listening to Ruthven's instructions, two of her followers even went to the extent of disowning their teenage daughter when she was caught drinking.
As her followers began growing, Ruthven started bringing major changes to the ideals of her church. The celebration of Easter and Christmas was stopped, and instead, Jewish holidays were focused.
As per The Curious Case of… The Doomsday Cat Cult, in 2005 the cult changed its name to Moriah Ministries. Ruthven soon implemented chakras, tai chi, and Buddhist meditations in her teachings.
The cult eventually renovated and settled in a former Mosaic Hall in the city of Blaine, Washington. This is when Ruthven's rules were taught almost like sermons. She was put on the pedestal as the reincarnation of Mary Magdalene.
As per The Curious Case of… The Doomsday Cat Cult, Sheryl Ruthven, transformed herself into almost a godlike figure. The followers of Ruthven were made to drink grape juice from the communion cup, mixed with drops of her blood.
The downfall of Sheryl Ruthven's cult
As per an article in The State, published on September 12, 2016, Ruthven and her cult followers moved from their location in Blaine, Washington, in 2013. They settled in in the city of Columbia, Tennesse, where they began operating a cat shelter with the name of Eva's Eden.
The group described itself as a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering stray cats. They would often hold cat adoption events, which soon began to receive popularity. However, the previous followers of Sheryl's cult opened a Facebook page and began exposing them.
The followers accused Ruthven of operating a cult and luring its followers with the hope of redemption. Back in January 2013, reporters from the Nashville Scene reached out to Eva's Eden through email. They replied, describing their cat foster home as,
“Eva’s Eden is not a social gathering hour,” she wrote in a January 2013 email. “It is the Temple of God. You are to enter with the reverence of what is sealed within its foundation and walls and wiery single Feline. You are to enter with Awe. You are to see each customer in there with discernment ... are they a Chosen?”
On the surface, Eva's Eden appealed to the public as an adorable, harmless cat shelter. However, Sheryl Ruthven was indulged in a legal feud with her ex-husband, Marc Walker. Slowly, the cult members also began to protest against Ruthven's ideals and were either banished or willingly left the cult.
As per The Curious Case of… The Doomsday Cat Cult, Eva's Eden, slowly began to receive major criticism. It was in August 2013 when the Nashville Scene reached out to Georgia Snow, the group’s treasurer who is also Ruthven’s mother.
Snow expressed exhaustion due to the public scrutiny and said,
“Maybe we are tired of the persecution because it’s all a bunch of lies and not true. We do nothing but good and yet we have people who try to destroy that.”
She added that her daughter is no longer a pastor and their sole focus is rescuing cats.
On August 11, 2013, shelter manager Nicole Walker told the Nashville Scene that she would reach back as soon as possible but never did. The very next day, the Facebook page and website for Eva's Eden were closed down.
