10 of the Most Terrifying Cults in History

by Binupriya Tomy3 years ago

6 The International Chivalric Order Solar Tradition is a doomsday cult formed in 1984 by Luc Jouret and run by Joseph Di Mambro who convinced the members he was part of the 14th-century Knights Templar. They promised a life after death on a different planet that revolves around the star Sirius. Many murders and suicides surrounded the cult during solstices and the equinox. 
The Chivalric Order Solar Tradition
Image Credit: bizarrepedia.com

The order convinced the members that they will help them lead their life after death on another planet orbiting the star Sirius. The cult regarded death as an illusion and believed life continues on other planets. They followed a mix of Christianity and New Age Philosophy with homeopathic medicine. 

Various governments have pursued the order for rumors about suicides and murder along with financial mismanagement. Things took a dark turn when an infant of three months was killed on the orders of Di Mambro as they believed the kid was the Anti-Christ. Many suicides with notes expressing their desire to “see another world” were found where 13 adults and three kids were found dead in Southeast France. (source)

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7 Angel’s Landing was a 20-acre compound in Wichita, Kansas where Lou Castro and his group lived extravagantly in the early 2000s. Castro was believed to be an angel who can look into the future. Due to the death of a member every two years, investigations started, and this revealed many secrets of the commune that eventually led to him being sentenced to 80 years in prison. 

Angel’s Landing
Daniel Perez (Image to the left); Perez preyed on the young, including Sara McGrath, who later helped bring him to justice.  Image Credit: NBC/dailystar.co.uk, Oxygen/dailystar.co.uk

Lou Castro convinced his followers that he was a centuries-old angel. The commune was a support system and everybody was close. He was first suspected after a member turned up dead in 2003, and her husband died in 2006. This led to investigations on the luxurious lives of Angel’s Landing members. 

It was found later that he was sexually abusing minors and many young girls. More horrors occurred behind the doors, and the FBI was involved in the case due to a complaint filed by a husband of one of the members exposing the financial crimes that happened in the cult.

It was found that six accidental deaths over a span of seven years led to the group getting millions of dollars in insurance payouts. The leader had 28 charges filed against him, was found guilty, and was given two life sentences. (source)

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8 The Rajnesh Movement are people who followed Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who is an Indian mystic who combined Western philosophy and modern psychotherapy. He introduced the Neo-Sannyas International movement. In 1984, the group was associated with a bio-terror attack. 

The Rajnesh Movement
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Image to the left); Jill Franklin, also known as Ma Satya Bharti, at far left, seated with Bhagwan at an ashram in India, circa 1977. Image Credit: oshofriendsinternational.com, Jill Franklin/glamour.com

Also known as “Osho,” Rajneesh started a controversial movement in the 1970s and 1980s that came to be known as “Rajneeshees” or the “orange people.” His “free love” commune grew as an international community that had very hostile views on traditional moral values. 

The commune members were arrested for several crimes including an attempt at assassination on a U.S. attorney. Rajneesh was deported from the United States after his followers were caught attempting the first-ever bioterror attack in the United States, where they poisoned local restaurant products with salmonella bacteria.

After the deportation, he was banned from entry in several countries, and the commune in Oregon was destroyed by 1985. A few followers are still around the world in India, US, UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. (source)

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9 The Creativity Movement is a White supremacist movement founded in 1973. Their beliefs are around survival, advancement, and domination by the White race. They believe in a racial war between White and non-White races. 

The Creativity Movement
Image Credit:splcenter.org

The Nazi-like belief system that they followed attracted White supremacists. They believed the White race is the highest in civilization, and others were considered subhuman or “mud races.” They were committing violent hate crimes believing that a “racial holy war” is expected between Whites and other races. 

By 1992, the cult faced several legal problems relating to conspiracies, illegal possession of firearms, and firebombing a building in Washington. After the death of Ben Klassen, who originally formed the group, the new leader, Matt Hale, regrouped it into a cult of racist people. This led to the development of criminal violence among the members. They stand for White supremacy and call themselves the elite class. (source)

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10 Terri Hoffman was an American religious leader known for her cult “Conscious Development.” The cult gained attention after her husband’s and fellow associates’ untimely deaths after making Hoffman the sole beneficiary of their will. 

Conscious Development
Terri Hoffman (Image to the left); Followers of Terri in 1978. Image Credit: dmagazine.com , Imgur.com

Terri Hoffman became Dallas’s metaphysical guru after founding a metaphysical group in the early 70s with thousands of followers. A mix of Eastern and Western philosophies with a focus on freedom, perspective, and balance was taught to them. It came to be known as “Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul” where she was selling consultations in private. 

Suspicions began when Hoffman’s second husband wanted out of the cult along with a divorce. He died five days after the divorce was finalized, and the sole beneficiary to his will was Hoffman. Three more of her close associates died after leaving everything to her in their wills. A criminal investigation was launched after these deaths because of the suspicions around how rich she got from the deaths.

Hoffman later revealed that she and two other members visited her late husband a few hours before his death. This led to followers believing that she was involved in the death and she lost many of her followers. A mystery still lingers around the mystic and the deaths. (source)

Also Read:
10 of the Craziest Cults of All Time

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