It's near impossible to summarize the entire QAnon conspiracy theory, as it’s fluid and ever-changing. The nuts and bolts are that a secret government insider, the titular Q, has taken to the internet forum 8chan of all places to drop clues (known in the community as Q Drops breadcrumbs) about how U.S. President Donald Trump is taking down the deep state. The conspiracy takes some twists and turns into the occult, an ever-present cabal of pedophiles, possible executions, and the idea JFK Jr. may have faked his own death and is cosplaying as an old guy who goes to Trump rallies.

One of the most disheartening signs of our advancing hellworld are the thousands of people who wholeheartedly believe in the deranged conspiracy known as QAnon.

I decided to seek them out. I found a woman whose husband became so obsessed with YouTube conspiracy videos he would follow her around the house and force her to watch them, someone who avoids their mother because of Q, and someone who was dumped by the man she loved because she actively attempted to debunk QAnon. Here are their stories.

No one knows how hard it is to break through a bubble one creates around themselves than loved ones. While maybe it’s funny for those outside peering in, what is it like for those who are close to them, the people who experience their loved one's brain being rotted by YouTubers breaking down 8chan posts in real time?

And because it's unfolding online, "it becomes hard to [penetrate],” Ross said. “[Followers] spend all their watching time Q material on YouTube, dialoguing with different people online, and becoming consumed by that world online. ”

While the QAnon conspiracy often feels like an elaborate troll, an online community of real, actual people has built up around it. There’s been a lot written about how lonely these people are, how they will cut themselves off from their family (and eat sad sandwiches during holidays ), and poking fun at the whole thing. Rick Ross, a cult deprogrammer and executive director of the nonprofit Cult Education Institute, says the community bears a lot of the hallmarks of a cult: the main character is infallible and everything is part of a greater plan.

Faith was her answer to me. Follow the plan, and you'll see when the mass arrests happen and Trump is the unsung hero that is going to save the world. I'd found it more plausible if she said the aliens are going to land on the White House lawn and take over the United States.

I've tried and tried to show her facts, only to have fake news thrown in my face. How do you disprove anything when everything that's different from what the Q cult says is considered fake news? I asked her how she could believe someone who doesn't even use his real name. How can you believe someone who has to have everything he says decoded by people you don't know anything about?

My mother is in her mid-60s and a Q cult member. It has made dealing with her mental issues that much harder. She had a hard time anyway dealing with the real world, and now the world is so much worse for her because of all the horrible things the cult deals with: devil worship, sex trafficking, children being tortured and eaten or used as sex slaves. It's with tears in her eyes she describes the horrible world we live in now and frustration that I don't believe her.

Deb told VICE that her mother had always suffered from mental health issues, but it wasn't until recently that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a personality disorder, and PTSD. Deb's parents' belief in QAnon started when her parents decided to get rid of cable TV and start watching YouTube a few years ago.

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity. Names have been changed for the protection of both the sources and their loved ones.

My father follows Q too. He's not as pushy about it as my mother is. He's been doing a lot better now that I've found him a hobby. Not being on YouTube 24/7 has also helped.

It's the ones with the deep mental disorders that really stick with it.

I can't really spend any time with my mother, because all she'll want to talk about is Q, and I refuse. We used to go swimming at the lake, go shopping, have lunch, or just talk like a mother and daughter should, but that doesn't happen much anymore. I dread talking to her. I avoid her. I love her and care, but this Q cult crap has driven a wedge that is there even when we don't talk about it.

I've done my research. I've watched the videos, and my conclusion is that this person who claims to be Q is nothing more than a LARPer [live-action role player] who couldn't come up with an original thought if they tried. Everything is taken from other conspiracies or straight from movies and TV shows. All this LARPer had to do was add in a little bit of truth, a dash of the occult, a few villains, and a hero—and we have QAnon.

We can't ignore the danger that QAnon poses for the upcoming elections; you better believe each and every one of Q's followers will be voting, including my mother who hasn't voted in an election since Nixon. They'll be voting with information that they got from a LARPer, and in my mind, that's worse than Russian interference.

If I could get my hands on the piece of shit that started QAnon, I might end up in jail. This person has made my mother's life sadder, and my relationship almost nonexistent.

Jane

Jane had been with her husband for eight years and had just bought a house together. Then, one day in late 2017, he started bringing up Q and the deep-state conspiracy. Jane says she’s not positive where it all stemmed from but it may have come from his friendship with a coworker. From the moment Q was introduced, the relationship changed drastically and her husband was unrecognizable.

I feel like a ground-zero patient. My husband must have caught on to QAnon very early. It started with an argument one night that came out of nowhere. I was sitting in our kitchen having a smoke before bed. Everything up to that point that night was very quiet. But then he came in full throttle. He came at me freaking, berating me, attacking me about this thing I’ve never heard of, this QAnon stuff.