Spirals

Another important symbol that pops up throughout the show is that of spirals. These spirals appear when the detectives are physically close to (a part) of the cult. The first one is that on the body of Dora Lang. The second one is when Rust sees birds flying and (due to his drug use) he sees these birds form a spiral before stumbling upon a church with a mural related to the cult. When Rust investigates the repairman/ groundskeeper for the church schools (who is the “spaghetti man” and is Errol Childress), the camera pans out and shows Errol mowing in a spiral shape. There are scars on Reggie’s  and Errol’s backs in the form of a spiral. This spiral may be symbolic to Tuttle Cult, as it appears when instances of the cult are on the screen (24). This would make the symbol religious as it is an intrinsic cult. A link to real life is that of the pedophile symbol for little boys, as this is a spiral triangle (according to the FBI) (25). This is unconfirmed by the show, but the spiral could be for the cult, the pedophile symbol or both.