Shortly before Joe Biden was inaugurated, Sams mother began stocking up on food in a panic. He didnt know why, but he knew it probably had something to do with QAnon .

The 19-year-old started to notice changes in his mothers behavior around the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic . She had always been a nervous woman: She stopped flying after 9/11 and had hovered closely to Sam and his two younger siblings for their entire lives. But during the COVID-19 crisis, his moms paranoia spiraled from quirky to deranged. It has turned her into someone he hardly recognizes.

Though she didnt used to be very political, she now fears the president is a pedophile who stole the election. Shes scared of radiation from the 5G towers in her neighborhood and, as a white woman, she told her son, shes afraid of being harmed by Black Lives Matter protesters a movement she once supported. She worries that Sams brother and sister are being indoctrinated at their public high school and wants to move them to a Catholic one. Shes also refusing to get them immunized against COVID-19 as false rumors swirl that the vaccine contains a secret location-tracking microchip. (She was initially terrified of the virus but now considers the lockdowns an affront to her freedoms.)

She wasnt always like this, Sam said. It just keeps getting worse.

Sam moved back into his moms Michigan home last March when his college campus shut down. His dad, whod been divorced from his mother for many years, had recently died, and it was nice to be back around family. But Sam quickly noticed his mom was spending almost all of her time online. For hours into the night shed be on Facebook and, later, Parler, obsessing over articles from obscure, ultraconservative websites that traffic in fake news. Shed send posts to Sam pushing political claims that were risibly false, and theyd get into furious arguments over dinner as he tried to debunk them.

As his mom grew increasingly irritable and combative, Sam spent more time hiding out in his bedroom. It was disturbing to hear his mother rattling off such brazen and hateful falsehoods, unwilling to listen to reason. She seemed angry all the time and was suddenly gravely concerned about things like pedophilia. So a few months ago, Sam decided to look into #SaveTheChildren , a hashtag shed been using a lot on social media. It led him straight to QAnon. And at once, things started to make sense.

QAnon, as Sam learned, is a far-right conspiracy theory movement centered on the idea that Donald Trump is championing a shadow war against a deep-state cabal of liberal elites who rule the world and run a global child sex trafficking ring. QAnon adherents are convinced that anyone and everyone is out to get them: the government, the media, Big Tech and Big Pharma no one can be trusted save for Trump and Q, their anonymous online leader (and supposed government insider) who has fed them coded intel via the message board 8kun. Theyre endlessly waiting for a prophesied day of reckoning known as The Storm, during which all the evildoers will be rounded up and executed.

Sams mom had found a community that not only validated her fear, but also encouraged her anger. Its hard. I dont know what to do, he said. I do feel like Im losing her.

The teen often feels alone, but hes far from it. Although theres limited data on the issue, researchers believe QAnon has ensnared millions of Americans and is especially popular among baby boomers who are struggling with digital literacy . The formerly fringe movement gained explosive traction in 2020 by seizing on fear and confusion stemming from the pandemic and exploiting political tensions surrounding the election and nationwide racial justice protests. It played a major role in inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 through its months-long deluge of propaganda amplifying and embellishing Trumps false claim that the election was fraudulent.

The result is a disinformation crisis of unprecedented scale with countless fraying families on the frontlines, blindly trying to pry their loved ones from a cult.

HuffPost spoke to nine children of QAnon believers in seven states, ranging in age from 19 to 46. Some are desperately trying to deradicalize their moms and dads an agonizing process that can feel maddening, heartbreaking and futile. Others believe their parents are already too far gone and have given up trying to help them. A few have made the painful decision to cut off contact entirely, for the sake of their own mental health. (Unless otherwise noted, each person in this article is identified by a pseudonym to protect their familys privacy.) All are sharing their stories in hopes of providing comfort to the myriad others experiencing the same heartache behind the scenes.

Elaina, a 28-year-old graphic designer from Missouri, has struggled to watch as her moms obsession with QAnon damages her life in potentially irreparable ways. Shes sinking deeper and deeper into debt, convinced that it will all soon be forgiven under a new financial system called NESARA a bogus theory, revived by QAnon , that stems from a set of economic reforms that were proposed in the 1990s but never introduced before Congress. After Elaina and her husband bought a house last year, her mother told them to skip their mortgage payments.

Its hard to even talk about this because its just so ridiculous, Elaina said, choking up. You dont want to believe that someone you love is this disconnected from reality.

Elaina lost her mom to QAnon three years ago, not long after Qs first post on 4chan, an 8kun predecessor, in late 2017. What started as idle curiosity is now a full-fledged addiction. Her mother spends hours every day watching YouTube and BitChute videos discussing things like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mutilating children and drinking their blood to get high off a drug called adrenochrome a QAnon theory known as frazzledrip, which she believes to be true.

She has told me before that and its wild saying this out loud but that if I dont believe in this stuff, then Im not going to ascend or be part of the next world, said Elaina, who is identified by her real first name and whose attempts to challenge her mothers claims have only ever pushed her away.

Its like trying to convince someone of their religion being wrong.

Elaina has a hard time finding the words to express the pain that comes from watching the woman who raised her unravel before her eyes. She doesnt understand how her own mother could believe in the kind of crazy conspiracy theories that her friends make fun of online. Thats often the hardest part for people in her situation. How could someone so close to them especially a parent buy into something so ludicrous?

But QAnon doesnt recruit followers outright with tales of Satan-worshipping cannibals. Its proponents are conditioned to believe their rights are being infringed upon Silicon Valley is silencing them, the press is lying to them, Democrats are cheating them and they should do something about it. This sense of profound aggrievement is familiar to Trump supporters, but for those like Elainas mom, it then becomes easier to consider that this could all be part of one big conspiracy encompassing far more sinister elements.

What could be more sinister than the atrocities that QAnon claims are happening to children at the hands of the deep state? Its false stories of little kids being preyed upon in the most horrific ways imaginable play into many QAnon believers parental instincts.

[My mom] will always say, Whenever I think about whats happening to the children, it just makes me sick, Elaina said. I mean, she really does believe it.

Her mother was outraged by Bidens supposed theft of the November election and counted down the days until he would suffer retribution, which was supposed to happen on Inauguration Day. Q had led her and others to believe that Trump would declare martial law, upon which the military would swoop in and haul Biden and his cronies away before he could take his oath of office.

When that didnt happen, Elainas mom, like so many believers , broke down. Yet again, The Storm, or The Great Awakening, as its often referred to, had failed to transpire. Elaina felt a cautious glimmer of hope that maybe this time her mother would realize QAnon was a hoax. But as usual, members of the QAnon community quickly came up with a rationalization to prolong their shared delusion: The newscast of Bidens inaugural ceremony was merely a prerecorded video produced by the deep state to con the public into thinking hes actually in power, as Elainas mom later explained.

It all just makes me so sad, Elaina said. Honestly, the only reason my mom and I still talk is because I guess Ive convinced myself that I can help her.