Some individuals possess such exceptional charm and grace that they are capable of manipulating entire groups, causing them to abandon their beliefs and values, and even lose their sense of morality. The tales of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse in notorious cults are enough to give anyone chills. However, there is an element of fascination in the group dynamics of cults and how seemingly good-hearted people can fall prey to such a detrimental ideology. In light of this, let us delve into the 25 Most Frightening Cults in History!
20) Black Jesus
Stephen Tari was initially studying to become a Lutheran pastor, but he abandoned his studies and journeyed deep into the mountains of New Guinea, where he established his own religion and declared himself “Black Jesus.”
Despite the use of “Flower Girls” – young girls selected to serve as concubines for Tari and other leaders of the cult – the group grew to include approximately 6,000 members. Tari boasted of having more than 400 Flower Girls at his disposal. In October 2006, Tari and members of his cult r*ped and m*rdered 13-year-old Rita Herman, who had been given up to Tari by her mother.
Outraged villagers handed Tari over to the police. Although he was found guilty of four counts of r*pe, he was never charged with m*rder, and he managed to escape from prison in 2013. Soon thereafter, he m*rdered a five-year-old girl and attempted to k*ll a teenager the following day. This time, the villagers decided to take matters into their own hands. They c*strated and beat Tari to death before burying him.
19) The Manson Family
Charles Manson employed his Helter Skelter ideology to manipulate his predominantly young, hippie followers. During his sermons, he prophesied a forthcoming race war and promised to protect his “Manson Family” by taking them to the desert to wait out the apocalypse. Manson also concluded that it was their duty to instigate the conflict.
This theory potentially accounts for the m*rders of actress Sharon Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski, and Rosemary and Leno LaBianca in their home. The plan was to make it appear as if the k*llings were carried out by African-Americans. Manson and his followers were charged with nine counts of homicide. Manson died while serving his sentence in prison in 2017.
18) Rajneesh Movement
In the 1960s, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the controversial Indian guru, gained notoriety for his opposition to mainstream religion and socialism. He was dubbed “the s*x guru” due to his beliefs in more liberal attitudes towards s*xuality. By 1981, Rajneesh had shifted his focus to the United States, where he founded Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon, resulting in clashes with the local community.
Numerous legal battles ensued over the ashram’s construction, leading up to a bioterrorism attack (the first of its kind in American history) and an attempted ass*ssination. As a result of the incident, Rajneesh was deported. He returned to India, where he recuperated and managed the Pune ashram until his death in 1990.
17) Honohana Sampogyo
Honohana Sampogyo was founded in Japan by Hogen Fukunaga, who asserted that the world was on the brink of catastrophe and that he would be the ultimate savior. He charged ill and vulnerable members of society, including cancer patients, for lessons in his cult, promising to heal them.
Fukunaga also claimed that he could read and forecast their futures by examining their feet. The cult, which eventually earned the nickname “Foot Reading Cult,” peaked with almost 30,000 adherents, and roughly $1 billion was stolen from its followers. The leader was ultimately sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud.
16) Angel’s Landing
During the early 2000s, Lou Castro and his disciples lived an unexplainably opulent life at the Angel’s Landing compound in Wichita, Kansas. His followers believed that Castro was a visionary and an angel who could prophesize the future. However, the “angel” was, in reality, Daniel Perez, a swindler who was found guilty of r*pe, exploiting children, fraud, and first-degree murder in February 2015.
Costly life insurance policies were purchased for individuals in Castro’s community, and when a member of the makeshift family “accidentally” died, supporters cashed in the policy. Perez was ultimately found guilty of 28 felonies and sentenced to 80 years in jail in February 2015.
15) Church of the Lamb of God
Ervil LeBaron, known as the “Mormon Manson,” established the Church of the Lamb of God in Chihuahua, Mexico. He claimed to have received direct communication from God and promoted the use of an abandoned Mormon doctrine, “blood atonement,” in which sinners could be k*lled to atone for their sins.
LeBaron considered himself to be a messenger of God and created his own rules regarding women and monogamy. Over his two-decade leadership, he amassed a following of hundreds and fathered 51 children with 13 wives. His followers allegedly committed over 20 m*rders on LeBaron’s orders. Despite his death in prison, his reign of terror continued for several years, as he left behind a hit list for his loyal subjects.
14) Church of Euthanasia
In 1992, Chris Korda, a self-proclaimed “antihumanist” and a concerned citizen, established the Church of Euthanasia in Boston. The cult’s philosophy was anti-people, with a single commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Procreate.”
Korda and her disciples believed that the world’s issues, such as climate change, water shortages, and species extinction, were caused by overpopulation, and the only solution was population reduction. The cult reached its peak during the early 1990s and was most known for its popular slogan, “Save the Planet, K*ll Yourself.”
13) Nxivm
The self-help organization Nxivm gained notoriety for its manipulative leader, Keith Raniere, who lured women into the group under the guise of personal growth. Raniere is alleged to have branded a symbol of his initials onto the pelv*ses of the women in the cult.
Women were forced to follow extreme diets and provide “collateral,” compromising information such as n*de photos, which would be made public if they attempted to leave or speak out against the group. Co-conspirator Allison Mack, known for her role on “Smallville,” recruited women and used blackmail to maintain control.
Mack received a three-year prison sentence after cooperating with authorities, while Raniere was found guilty of trafficking and forced labor conspiracy, resulting in a 120-year prison sentence.
12) Russian Underground Islamic Cult
Fayzrakhman Sattarov led a Russian cult consisting of roughly 70 individuals, with over a third being children, who resided in a catacomb. The cult was discovered during a routine inspection of Muslim communities in the village of Torfyanoy, near Kazan. Sattarov was considered by his followers to be the messenger of Allah and was revered as such. The group pledged to sacrifice themselves in front of any machinery that tried to destroy their subterranean home. Many of the children had never experienced sunlight due to the living conditions in the catacomb.
11) Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, a Ugandan cult, strictly adhered to the Ten Commandments and considered them as the words of God. They were taught that the V*rgin Mary and Jesus were always watching them, and failure to obey their biblical instructions would result in a curse and an impending apocalypse.
The cult’s followers believed that speaking would break the commandment of lying, so they maintained silence. However, over 1,000 members of the cult died in a fire under mysterious circumstances. Witnesses claimed that the cult members committed su*cide as they expected the Virgin Mary to appear that day. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
10) Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Warren Jeffs, the leader of a notorious cult, was sentenced to life imprisonment for s*xually abusing at least two underage girls he considered his wives. Many members fled the cult, often losing the only family they had known. Jeffs claimed to be a loving man and had a reported 80 wives and 50 children at the time of his arrest. He warned the group’s female members that if they refused him and his s*xual advances, God would reject them.
Recent interviews with former cult members reveal that Jeffs had control over the lives of almost all 15,000 members. The children in the group were denied education and socialization with anyone from the “outside world.” In 2008, a raid on the cult’s ranch revealed over 400 children.
9) The True Russian Orthodox Church
Pyotr Kuznetsov, the self-proclaimed messenger of God and leader of the True Russian Orthodox Church, led a doomsday cult whose members hid in a cave for six months in anticipation of the end of the world in the spring of 2008. While Kuznetsov was not present in the cave with his followers when they were discovered, they were eventually forced to leave due to a partial collapse of the cave’s roof and the stench of the bodies of those who had died during the winter. The cult members believed that they had the power to determine who would be sent to heaven or hell after death, and they threatened to commit su*cide if they were forcibly removed from the cave.
8) Matamoros Human Sacrifice Cult
Adolfo Constanzo, a notorious serial k*ller in Mexico City, founded the Matamoros Human Sacrifice Cult. As a young man, Constanzo worked with a priest who taught him to profit from evil, and he later made a vow to the devil known as Kadiempembe.
Constanzo claimed to have magical powers that made his followers bulletproof and invisible, making it easy for him to recruit members. He enlisted their help to perform ritual m*rders, including mut*lations, to protect their dr*g-sm*ggling business. The cult committed several gr*esome acts as part of their beliefs.
7) The Children of God
The organization, which was originally called Family International, was established by David Berg in 1968. Berg believed that Christians should live simply and follow the teachings of the First Century Church, dismissing all others as counterfeit.
One of the organization’s most controversial practices was the s*xual ab*se of children. Members were expected to engage in “free love,” which Berg defined as s*x that could not be confined to relationships or specific ages. Female members were also required to sed*ce and recruit non-members.
6) The Order of the Solar Temple
The International Order of Chivalry Solar Tradition, also known as the Order of the Solar Temple, was founded by Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro. The cult was based on the teachings of the Knights Templar, a religious and military order from the Crusades. They believed in an impending apocalypse in the mid-1990s and that they needed to prepare by ascending to a spiritual plane.
Jouret and Di Mambro were accused of coercing followers to provide them with money and convincing them that they must die by burning to secure their place in Heaven. The cult gained notoriety when its members were found burned to death in France, Switzerland, and Canada. Despite this, the cult continues to exist to this day.
5) Branch Davidians
The Waco religious sect is infamous for its v*olent end, the Waco Siege. Members believed that the return of Christ was imminent, and they spent almost every day in Bible study. David Koresh, their leader, emphasized that they were there to learn and serve, not to have fun.
The end came when the FBI obtained a search warrant for the compound on suspicion of illegal weapons sales. This led to a nearly two-month-long standoff, which ended with a federal agent raiding the compound. The details of the event are disputed, but about 80 people, including Koresh and 25 children, were k*lled due to gunshots or fires.
4) The Family
Anne Hamilton-Byrne, a yoga teacher who believed she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, founded The Family, one of Australia’s most infamous cults. Over several years, Hamilton-Byrne acquired 28 children who were gifted to her by her followers, with the intention of creating a “master race” that would survive the impending apocalypse.
Hamilton-Byrne claimed to be the birth mother of all 28 children, and other adults in the group were referred to as “aunties” or “uncles”. She subjected the children to physical ass*ults, starvation, and forced them to take LSD if they failed to meet her strict standards.
The cult went undetected for years because the children were instructed to hide whenever visitors arrived. However, in 1987, the cult’s headquarters was raided, and all the children were rescued.
3) Superior Universal Alignment
Valentina De Andrade
Superior Universal Alignment was founded by Valentina De Andrade, a Brazilian cult leader who claimed to have received extraterrestrial messages from divine cosmic beings. She preached her gospel since 1981 and believed that babies born after that year were evil and had to be slaughtered.
To accomplish her mission, she gathered several boys aged between six and fourteen years old, whom she intended to “eradicate.” The boys were tortured, r*ped, and st*bbed to death. The horrors didn’t end with death; their bodies were brut*lized, with g*n*tals and vital organs removed. The group was suspected of m*rdering 19 boys, and after an initial arrest, De Andrade fled the country.
2) Heaven’s Gate
One of the most infamous religious cults in history is the UFO cult that gained notoriety when 39 people were discovered dead in a San Diego suburb in March 1997. All the members were wearing identical black sweatshirts and sneakers.
The group committed mass su*cide in the hope of finding an alien spacecraft that they believed was following the Hale-Bopp comet. According to the cult’s belief system, their human bodies were keeping them tethered to Earth and hindering their spiritual progress. By shedding their physical forms, they hoped to reach the “Next Level.”
1) The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project/Jonestown
Jim Jones, who claimed to be a messiah, led the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, where cult members were subjected to physical and emotional abuse and coerced into surrendering their belongings to the Church. In 1977, Jones relocated nearly 1,000 of his followers to Jonestown, Guyana, where living conditions were appalling.
After US Congressman Leo Ryan arrived at the camp to investigate the situation, Jones ordered his followers to drink poison, and many were forced to do so at g*npoint. The tragic event occurred on November 18, 1978, resulting in the deaths of over 900 people, including approximately one-third of the victims being children under the age of 17.