Inside the Chilling Rituals a Doomsday Prepper Childhood Forced Her to Endure—You Won’t Believe What They Made Her Do to Survive Armageddon
Ever wonder what it’s like to ditch the buzz of civilization and prepare for the apocalypse like it’s your family’s full-time job? Meet Kelsey Vanderm — raised miles away from the comforts of electricity, running water, or cell service, smack dab in the wilds of Montana, where her dad built a cabin with his own two hands. But this isn’t your average back-to-nature story; her folks were convinced the world was about to call it quits. So, instead of panic-buying canned beans or hiding in bunkers, they drilled survival skills—including packing go bags and, believe it or not, wrangling llamas. Kelsey’s tale brushes the line between off-grid adventure and unwavering doomsday readiness, all while juggling the usual childhood duties like milking goats and homeschooling fear of SWAT teams. It’s a wild ride pondering whether your next day might really be your last—talk about living on the edge!
A woman who was raised outside of civilization has revealed what her parents did to prepare her for what they believed would be the end of the world.
Despite growing up with relatively normal lives, Kelsey Vanderm’s parents made the radical decision to take their children and move far away from civilization, with electricity, running water or any connection to the outside world.
The family initially lived in a teepee-style tent in the mountains of Montana, while her father hand-built a wooden cabin which would later become their home.
Kesley lived in the wilderness throughout her childhood (Dan Becker Podcast/YouTube)
The decision to go off-grid came after Kelsey’s father began researching into biblical prophecies and eventually became convinced the world was going to end.
Kelsey was the first child to be born inside the cabin, with her father going on to have a total of 20 children with several different woman, all living together in the woods.
All of the children grew up doing practical jobs on the land, such as milking goats, chopping wood and gathering food from their gardens.
The main function of their lifestyle was to live completely independently, meaning if doomsday did come, they would not necessarily be impacted by food supplies being destroyed or society collapsing on itself.
However, the family didn’t partake in many activities often associated with prepping for the end of the world, like building bunkers or stockpiling food.
Kelsey recently appeared on the Dan Becker Podcast, where she revealed her father would have her and her siblings running drills to prepare for the end of the world.
“We’d have to pack our go bags and our survival kits and pack our llamas and like just practice if the world was ending,” she explained.
This intensified when Kelsey made the decision she wanted to step away from their lifestyle and attend high school.
“When I went to school, he would always just sit me down and say, ‘Okay, you got to sit by a window. Make sure you’re watching. If you see like army men SWAT team coming around like you got to get head for the hills.’
“So I just feel like there was so much fear already cuz he’s like for sure we’re going to get taken over and so all the time I always thought like the world’s ending tomorrow, the world’s ending.
“I grew up my entire life always believing the next day is going to be your last the next day is going to be your last.”
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