The Last BBS

Apocalypse Meow: How a Cult That Believes Cats Are Divine Beings Ended Up in Tennessee

You might rattle off a quick list of things that Columbia, Tenn., is known for, if prompted: It’s the home of James K. Polk, our 11th president; every April brings Mule Day and its parade and festival; you might even know about the race riots in the 1940s and the work of defense attorney (and later Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall.

It may also be home to an end-times cat cult.

The Rev. Sheryl Ruthven and a few dozen followers left Washington state three years ago, hoping to find a place where they could live in peace and quietly wait out the apocalypse.

Along the way, they hoped to rescue as many cats as possible.

Those cats, according to Ruthven’s writings and interviews with former followers, are divine creatures that will carry the 144,000 souls mentioned in the book of Revelation.

But the group’s unorthodox beliefs and controversial history followed it all the way across the country. In public, Ruthven’s followers, who run a nonprofit cat shelter known as Eva’s Eden, describe themselves as a peaceful group devoted to Mother Nature and living in harmony. They foster dozens of kittens in their homes and host cat adoption events in their air-conditioned mobile cat playground.

“Our call has always been to help ease suffering, and we are Eva’s Eden … bringing love to the world, one cat at a time,” they wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post.

But a group of former followers says Ruthven’s ministry is a cult of personality, devoted to its prophet, who they say claims to be a Divine Magdalene, a reincarnated messiah figure who will create a new Eden after the apocalypse. Those former followers say they once worshipped Ruthven, following her every command, even leaving their families for her sake. They now run a Facebook page aimed at exposing what they call an abusive cult.