When it comes to our childhoods, we all have certain memories or aspects that are a little out of the ordinary.
But we’re pretty sure our stories don’t hold a candle to those told on TikTok by 19-year-old Merlin Blackmore.
The teen from Canada has gone viral on the social media platform after revealing that he was born into and raised in a ‘polygamous cult’.
According to his videos, some of which have millions of views, his dad had 27 wives and has 150 children – 78 girls and 72 boys.
Merlin, who is from Bountiful, British Columbia but now lives in the US, has explained what life was like in his very large, religious family and shared details about his many siblings – with the oldest being 44 and the youngest just one-year-old.
In one of his first videos, he admits that he’s wanted to talk about his family for years, but wasn’t able to do so while he still lived in the “community” for fear of being attacked.
He’s since moved away from his home and finally feels ready to share his life.
“I’ve wanted to talk about this for years. Now I’m in a position I can, everyone is going to know, the world is finding this s**t out” he proclaims.
In another clip, Merlin shows a picture of a man sitting with 21 babies and says: “I was born into a polygamous cult in Canada and I have 150 siblings.
“This picture right here that you see, that’s my dad and 21 babies, that was me and my whole age group and the one above, 12 in my age group and nine in the one above.
(Image: TikTok/merlins.life)
“That little boy that’s on his lap, that’s me and you wanna know what’s crazy? All the babies in my age group all start with the letter M, that’s how it happened and the one above us, they all start with the letter R. That’s how it is in polygamous groups, there’s too many kids, that’s how they keep track of you.”
According to Merlin, he’s a ‘triplet’ as two other babies were born on the same day as him, however, they all have different mums.
He stresses that he loves his family and it was “amazing” to have so many people around, but there were also some downsides.
“There were also some bad things that came with it. For one, it was extremely hard for me to get the support that I needed from my parents, so I had to turn to my older siblings. I was raised by my older brothers.
“My mum definitely played a big role in my life though, she may not have been around all the time, but she helped me with as many things as she could. My dad was never really there for me.”
Merlin also spoke about trying to remember all 149 of his sibling’s names, admitting that off the top of his head he wouldn’t be able to list all their names, but when he sees them in person he can easily put a name to a face.
When it came to educating all of the children, he claims the family had their own school, known as Mormon Hills School and his classes were full of his own relatives.
“From grade K to grade 10, I went to this school with my brothers, my sisters, my cousins, my nieces, my nephews, it was just all family,” he explained.
“When I was in grade 11 I went to a home school, called Home Links, I would just go in there, get my work and do it all at home.
“I always wondered what it would be like to go to a public school and I wanted to throughout all of my years of high school, but I wasn’t allowed to as they were deemed ‘bad’.”
Today Merlin claims he remains in contact via group chat with about 30 of his siblings, but is only “personally close” to about five of them.
He claims this is due to people moving on, getting married and starting families, so everyone has their own lives.
A few of Merlin’s siblings have also made TikTok accounts to share their own experiences of growing up in such a big family.
There’s Muray, who is also 19 and Warren who is 21.
In Warren’s videos, he explains more about their living situations, saying: “Typically there would be two mums and their kids per house, one on the top floor and one on the bottom.
“There was two groups of three different sisters and there was four groups of four different sisters from another family.”
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