Cults have at numerous times been the topic of discussion in news. Those who are part of it often find it difficult to get away as they don’t even distinguish them as cults. The dictionary defines “cult” as a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious, such as satanic ones. Another definition is in relation to a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing. In many of the more extreme cults, a charismatic leader charms, or brainwashes, members to follow an unconventional religion and set of rules.
Some of these groups are more extreme than others and are known to be exclusive, secretive, and authoritarian. There’s an expansive world of obscure cults and religions whose bizarre beliefs and rituals make things like alien worship, and even murder seem acceptable. Here are 10 of the most insane sects ever.
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10. Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
The church’s leader, Warren Jeffs, is currently serving a life sentence for molesting at least two underage girls, whom he considered his wives. Warren told female members of the group that if they rejected him they would be rejected by God. He was believed to have about 80 wives and 50 children.
According to recent interviews with cult members, Jeffs controlled the lives of almost all 15,000 members. The children in the group did not go to school or interact with anyone from the outside world. More than 400 children were found when the cult’s ranch was raided in 2008. Jeffs was arrested during a routine traffic stop.
9. The True Russian Orthodox Church
Members of this doomsday cult in Russia were hiding in a cave for six months, waiting for the world to end in the spring of 2008. The cult’s leader, Pyotr Kuznetsov, was a self-declared prophet, who established the True Russian Orthodox Church. He was not among his followers in the cave. They threatened a massive suicide if police authorities tried to force them out. Some eventually left because the snow was melting, which led to the partial collapse of the cave.
Members believed that after they died they would be the ones judging who goes to heaven or hell. The cave did not entirely collapse but members left due to the stench from the bodies of two people who had died there over the winter.
8. Matamoros Human Sacrifice Cult
The religious cult in Mexico City was founded by Adolfo Constanzo, a serial killer. As a teenager, Constanzo worked with a priest who was helping him learn how to “profit from evil.” He later vowed himself to Kadiempembe or the devil. Constanzo claimed to have magic powers that would make people invisible and bulletproof. He recruited people to perform the ritual murders.
He is believed to have orchestrated them, including mutilations, in the belief that the rites would protect their drug-smuggling ring.
7. Aum Shinrikyo
The Japanese cult was behind the fatal nerve agent sarin attack on the Tokyo underground in 1995. Its leader, Shoko Asahara, was executed in 2018. Members of this cult believed the world was coming to an end and everyone who wasn’t a member was going to hell unless he or she was killed by the cult. Asahara orchestrated the attack in an attempt to help the doomed. The group still exists, going by the name of Aleph.
6. Branch Davidians
The religious cult based in Waco, Texas, is mostly known for its end — the Waco Siege. Cult members believed Christ was about to return to the world and establish a kingdom, and they were attending Bible studies almost all day, every day. The group’s leader, David Koresh, told members they were there to learn and not have fun.
The FBI had obtained a warrant to search the cult’s headquarters because the agency believed the cult was selling weapons. What resulted was a standoff that lasted almost two months. Accounts of the events are somewhat disputed. In all, close to 80 members, including Koresh and 25 children, died of either gunshot or as a result of the fires that broke out.
5. Nxivm
The sex cult is known for its charismatic leader, self-help guru Keith Raniere. He used to lure women by marketing the self-help organization Nxivm. Raniere, who is awaiting trial for sex trafficking and forced labor conspiracy, is alleged to have branded the women in the group with a symbol resembling his initials.
Allison Mack, an actress known for her role in the TV series ‘Smallville,’ was an alleged co-conspirator. She recruited women to have sex with Raniere and used damaging photos for blackmail.
4. The Children Of God
The cult, formerly known as Family International, was founded in 1968 by David Berg. He believed Christians should live as simply as possible and according to the teachings of the First Century Church as he considered all others to be fake.
Female members were expected to seduce non-member men and recruit them. The organization’s most controversial practice was sexual abuse of children. Members believed in “free love,” which, as Berg explained to them, love was sex and it should not be limited by age or relationship status.
3. Jonestown
Jim Jones, a self-proclaimed messiah, was the leader of The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project. He and cult members physically and emotionally abused followers. He had even coerced many to transfer their possessions to the church. In 1977, he moved nearly a thousand of his followers to Jonestown, Guyana, where conditions were extremely poor.
The night after cult members killed U.S. congressman Leo Ryan who came to investigate conditions at the camp, Jones commanded his followers to drink poison, many forced at gunpoint. In all, over 900 people, one-third of them children under the age of 17, died on November 18, 1978.
2. Heaven’s Gate
The UFO religious cult is one of the most notorious religious organizations in history. In March 1997, the world was shocked when 39 people wearing the same black sweatshirts and sneakers were found dead in a house in a suburb of San Diego. The motive was to reach an alien spacecraft that trailed the approaching Hale-Bopp comet.
The cult believed the human body was holding them back by keeping them on Earth. They even believed that if they abandoned their Earthly containers they’ll move on to the “next level.”
1. The Manson Family
Charles Manson controlled his followers of mostly young hippies with his Helter Skelter philosophy. He was preaching that a racial war, started by the black community, was coming. He claimed to protect the “Manson Family” by taking them to live in the desert to wait out Armageddon. Manson believed it was his and his family’s responsibility to start the conflict.
This is one theory for the motive behind the murders of actress Sharon Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski, in their home, and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The idea was to make people believe the murders were committed by African-Americans. Manson and his followers were together charged with nine murders. He died in prison in 2017.
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