Fringes

Damanhur is a micro-society in the hills of Northern Italy, founded in 1977, boasting its own language, religion, and currency, with over 600 citizens. They believe their leader, Oberto Airaudi Falco, travelled in time to the lost city of Atlantis and learned ancient healing practices. Each year, they host their annual birthday celebration, where Damanhurians from all over the world return to Damanhur, decked in white robes, and perform ceremonial rituals.

Cassadaga is a small town in Florida that's just like any other bedroom community - except that it's filled with psychics. Stroll down its streets and you'll bump into clairvoyants, mediums, and past-life shamans. But it's not all crystal balls and tarot cards - in fact, many of the psychics here don't use those materials at all. Established in 1894, Cassadaga was one of many camps that sprang up around the U.S. during the Spiritualist movement.

Off the coast of Thailand is an island where the Tantric community claim to have found sexual enlightenment. Travellers from across the globe come here to discover whether they can heal their trauma, experiment sexually and ultimately find bliss. VICE's Tir Dhondy spends a week going through a rigorous schedule of Tantric workshops to work through her own sexual trauma. Through her journey, she discovers that alongside the profound healing on the island, there is also an undercurrent of sexual abuse.

In July 2022, thousands of hippies convened in a remote Colorado forest for the 50th annual Rainbow Family Gathering. It started as a counterculture movement whose mission was to establish a utopian society that would last thousands of years. But 50 years later things have deviated from that plan. In recent times, the Rainbow Family has been plagued with crime, sexual assault allegations, and even suspicious deaths.