Cults and bizarre religious sects have a long history. But these fringe groups have increased dramatically in the Internet age, continuing to prey on society’s most vulnerable people.
24/7 Tempo has compiled a list of deadly cults that led to tragedy and terror using sources such as Cultfacts.com and History among other sources.
Cults take advantage of humanity’s basic need to be accepted, to be part of something bigger, to feel safe. Charismatic leaders capitalize on these vulnerabilities by manipulation, belittling people, physically abusing them, isolating them, and imposing control. Cult leaders will stop at nothing, including murder, to keep their members in line or assassinating and poisoning opponents.
Among a cult’s belief systems are preparation for the imminent apocalypse, free love, rejection of material things, arrival of space aliens, and fear of government.
Some cults such as Heaven’s Gate in California and Mount of Olives Church in Mexico used the lure of suicide as a path to salvation. Others such as the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea and Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Movement were outright fraud schemes.
While cults such as New Light of God (Nueva Luz de Dios) exploited the horrid poverty of a remote Panamanian village, the Order of the Solar Temple convinced well-heeled Europeans to sell their belongings and invest in the cult.
Cult leaders such as Sherry Shriner and Chris Cantelmo have taken advantage of social media such as Reddit to grow their cults. Both of them died even as their sects continued to expand. (Here is a list of the most powerful secret societies in the world.)
Here are the deadly cults that led to tragedy and terror:
Agape Ministries
- Location: Australia
- Number of members: 60
- Founder(s): Rocco Leo
- Time period of activity: 1980s-2010s
Australian authorities raided the property of Agape Ministries and found it was hoarding illegal weapons and training members to fight law enforcement. Former cult members said Agape Ministries had been planning to send members to Fiji and keep them there or kill those who disobeyed.
Aggressive Christianity (aka Army of God or God’s Army)
- Location: New Mexico
- Number of members: Unknown
- Founder(s): Jim and Deborah Green
- Time period of activity: 1981-Present
Founders Jim and Deborah Green were arrested for abuse and misconduct and sentenced to jail. Jim got 10 years behind bars and his wife received a 72-year prison sentence.
Alamo Christian Foundation
- Location: California
- Number of members: Unknown
- Founder(s): Tony and Susan Alamo
- Time period of activity: 1969-Present
Leaders Tony and Susan Alamo abused children and absconded with funds. After his wife passed away, Tony Alamo displayed her corpse for six months under the belief that she would rise from the dead.
Angel’s Landing
- Location: Kansas
- Number of members: Unknown
- Founder(s): Lou Castro (pseudonym for Daniel Perez)
- Time period of activity: 2000s
Lou Castro (born Daniel Perez) was a cult leader convinced that he was an angel who could tell you when you were going to die. He was accused of sexual assault and murder. He was convicted in 2015 and is serving life sentences.
Aum Shinrikyo
- Location: Japan
- Number of members: 40,000 at peak
- Founder(s): Shoko Asahara (pseudonym for Chizuo Matsumoto)
- Time period of activity: 1984-Present
Aum Shinrikyo was a powerful cult in Japan that authored several deadly subway gas attacks in the 1990s. Cult leader Shoko Asahara (pseudonym for Chizuo Matsumoto) was arrested and executed in 2018.
Beta Dominion Xenophilia
- Location: Maryland
- Number of members: 10
- Founder(s): Scott Caruthers
- Time period of activity: 1980s-2001
The doomsday cult believed that founder Scott Caruthers was a space alien who could save people from the end of times if they talked with cats. The cult planned to kill friends and former members from rescuing those who were still in the group.
Bishop Hill Colony
- Location: Illinois
- Number of members: 1,500
- Founder(s): Eric Jansson
- Time period of activity: 1844-1862
Swedish emigre Eric Jansson, imprisoned in his native country for his beliefs, escaped jail and fled to Norway and then the U.S. He tried to set up a “New Jerusalem” on North American shores but many of his followers died along the way.
Branch Davidians
- Location: Texas
- Number of members: About 100
- Founder(s): David Koresh
- Time period of activity: 1955-1993
The Branch Davidians considered themselves to be students of the Bible and lived in a compound in Waco, Texas. The federal government was concerned about allegations of child abuse and the cult’s stockpile of weapons. After a prolonged standoff, federal agents raided the compound. The violence that followed killed 75 people and changed the way people felt about the federal government.
Ca Van Liem
- Location: Vietnam
- Number of members: 53
- Founder(s): Ca Van Liem
- Time period of activity: 20th century
Ca Van Liem was a self-proclaimed blind prophet who convinced 53 followers that to enter paradise they had to kill themselves with primitive weapons such as flintlock guns. It was one of the largest mass suicides in history.
Cantelmoism
- Location: Online
- Number of members: 100,000
- Founder(s): Chris Cantelmo
- Time period of activity: 2019
Chris Cantelmo started the Reddit-based cult Cantelmoism in 2019. A Yale graduate and successful scientist, Cantelmo maintained that he survived cancer by taking hallucinogens. He used Reddit as a proselytizing tool and his beliefs included that laws of physics were incorrect and that aliens were already among us. He committed suicide even as the cult was at its peak.
Chad and Lori Daybell
- Location: Idaho
- Number of members: Unknown
- Founder(s): Chad Daybell
- Time period of activity: 2009-2019
Offshoot of Latter Day Saints, Chad and Lori Daybell led a cult that believed those who are “zombies” should be killed. Victims included their children and family members.
Children of God
- Location: California
- Number of members: 15,000 at peak
- Founder(s): David Berg
- Time period of activity: 1968-Present
Founded during the height of the counterculture movement in the late 1960s, Children of God drew on the message of Jesus to attract young followers. The group was founded by David Berg and they lived communally. But Berg gradually forced followers to isolate themselves from the world. His messages became more radical, such as having sex with strangers. Sexual abuse of children was also alleged. Berg was arrested but was not convicted.
Church of Sacrifice
- Location: Louisiana
- Number of members: Unknown
- Founder(s): Clementine Barnabet
- Time period of activity: Early 20th century
Early 20th-century cult was led by Clementine Barnabet that combined Christianity and voodoo in Louisiana. The cult leader believed human sacrifice was a way to immortality and killed entire families in the early 1900s. Barnabet disappeared and was never brought to justice.
Drenthe Hermits
- Location: The Netherlands
- Number of members: 3,500
- Founder(s): Gerrit Jan van D. (John Eagles)
- Time period of activity: Late 1990s-2019
Members of Drenthe Hermits, a cult that originated in the Netherlands, were beaten, had their hair pulled, forced to take cold showers, and were locked up in cages. Children were completely isolated and abused for nearly 10 years.
Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea
- Location: South Korea
- Number of members: 20,000
- Founder(s): Yoo Byung-eun
- Time period of activity: 1962-Present
Yoo Byung-eun had been accused of various fraudulent schemes but had escaped conviction. Among the other outrages linked to the church was the deaths of hundreds of children who drowned while being transported about a sinking ferry. The children were told by church officials to remain in place and they would be safe.
GD Blankenship
- Location: Maine
- Number of members: 1,000 online followers
- Founder(s): GD Blankenship
- Time period of activity: 2020-Present
Led by conspiracy monger GD Blankenship, his anti-government cult became so powerful in the Maine town of St. Agatha that cultists tried to take it over. They were eventually kicked out.
Garbage Eaters
- Location: United States
- Number of members: 60
- Founder(s): Jim Roberts
- Time period of activity: 1971-Present
This nomadic group founded by Jim Roberts rejects private property and eats out of dumpsters, hence the name. The cult, which believes the second coming of Jesus Christ is imminent, has been accused of abuse and murder.
Gloriavale Christian Community
- Location: New Zealand
- Number of members: 609
- Founder(s): Neville Cooper
- Time period of activity: 1969-Present
Cult from New Zealand known for strict adherence to Christian beliefs, founder Neville Cooper and other members were charged with sexual abuse.
Grace Road
- Location: Fiji
- Number of members: 1,000
- Founder(s): Shin Ok-ju
- Time period of activity: 2002-Present
After persuading members to move to Fiji from South Korea, founder Shin Ok-ju took members’ passports. Members endured abuse and did forced labor. Shin Ok-ju was arrested by the Korean government and served six years in jail.
Heaven’s Gate
- Location: California
- Number of members: 41
- Founder(s): Marshall Applewhite
- Time period of activity: 1974-1997
Heaven’s Gate members believed that an alien spacecraft hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet would convey them to heaven, but they had to leave their bodily “containers” to make the trip. In March 1997, 39 members all dressed in matching clothes and sneakers, took lethal doses of phenobarbital and vodka and committed suicide.
Lord Our Righteousness Church
- Location: New Mexico
- Number of members: 50
- Founder(s): Wayne Bent
- Time period of activity: 1987-Present
Founder Wayne Bent convinced followers that he was Jesus Christ and he moved his cult to New Mexico to await the apocalypse. Bent said God told him to sleep with virgins and lay in bed with naked children. Authorities got wind of his behavior and put him in jail. He was released in 2016 and wrote a book about his life.
Manson family
- Location: California
- Number of members: 100
- Founder(s): Charles Manson
- Time period of activity: 1967-1969
Aspiring singer-songwriter Charles Manson, who befriended members of the Beach Boys, took his cult down a dark path. He wanted to start a race war by murdering whites hoping African Americans would be blamed for the crime. The Tate-LaBianco murders shocked the nation. Manson and cult members were imprisoned for the crimes.
Mount of Olives Church
- Location: Mexico
- Number of members: Unknown
- Founder(s): Ramon Morales Almazan
- Time period of activity: 1987-1991
The cult practiced ritual killing of members from toxic fumes emitted from lamps. Members were told that the fumes from the poison were evidence of the presence of Christ. The last such mass accidental suicide occurred in 1991 when 30 people died.
New Light of God (Nueva Luz de Dios)
- Location: Panama
- Number of members: Unknown
- Founder(s): Mario González
- Time period of activity: 2019-2020
Nueva Luz de Dios arrived at the remote Panamanian village of Alto Terrón in late 2019. In the three months that followed, the cult, led by self-described messiah Mario González, subjected the poor people to torture under the guise of exorcisms and holy cleansing. The victims were tied up, beaten with machetes, and had their tongues burned with hot embers to try and expel the devil. After survivors got to a hospital, police raided the town and found a shallow grave containing the remains of a pregnant woman and her five children, ages between 1 and 17.
Nuwaubian Nation
- Location: New York
- Number of members: 3,000 at peak
- Founder(s): Malachi (Dwight) York
- Time period of activity: 1970s-Present
Nuwaubian Nation is a black supremacist cult started by Dwight York in the 1970s. They claim to be Native Americans descended from ancient Egyptians who will soon be whisked away by space aliens to extraterrestrial kingdoms. Child molestation accusations prompted the FBI to investigate the group in 1993. More than 1,000 counts of child molestation were committed by York, the largest such case in U.S. history. He is serving a 135-year prison sentence.
Order of the Solar Temple
- Location: Switzerland
- Number of members: 442 at peak
- Founder(s): Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret
- Time period of activity: 1984-Present
Suicide cult begun in 1984 by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret who convinced rich Europeans to sell their belongings and invest in the cult. Order of the Solar Temple members believe they are descended from the famed Knights Templar in a prior life. Its leaders have faked supernatural events. Di Mambro chose which women were allowed to have babies. A baby was killed because the cult said it was born without permission and that it was the Antichrist. Cult responsible for at least three mass suicides.
Peoples Temple
- Location: Guyana
- Number of members: 900-plus
- Founder(s): Jim Jones
- Time period of activity: 1955-1978
The Peoples Temple was founded by Jim Jones and began as a civil rights group. Jones convinced his mostly black followers to go to the remote jungles of Guyana to what he claimed was utopia. Stories of abuse led to a fact-finding visit by California congressman Leo Ryan and a group of his aides and journalists. When they tried to leave in November 1978, they were ambushed by cult members and killed Ryan. Later that day, Jones and more than 900 cult members committed suicide.
Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Movement
- Location: Philippines
- Number of members: 1 million
- Founder(s): Ruben Edera Ecleo Sr.
- Time period of activity: 1965-Present
The son of cult founder Ruben Edera Ecleo Sr. was accused of fraud and killed wife. Members stood by him when authorities came to arrest him. The powerful cult has infiltrated local government. Ruben Edera Ecleo Jr. became mayor of the town of San Jose. At its height, the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Movement had 1 million followers. Ecleo Jr. remains on the run.
Sherry Shriner
- Location: Ohio
- Number of members: 20,000
- Founder(s): Sherry Shriner
- Time period of activity: 2000s-Present
Sherry Shriner is a conspiracy theorist who leveraged the Internet and other media such as a traveling radio show to spread her anti-government beliefs. The beliefs became more extreme, including the belief that space aliens were coming to enslave humanity. Several members took their own lives or asked a loved one to kill them out of fear reptilian aliens were on their way. Shriner’s wealth grew until she died in 2019.
NXIVM
- Location: New York
- Number of members: About 18,000
- Founder(s): Keith Raniere
- Time period of activity: 1998-2021
NXIVM was led by convicted racketeer and sex offender Keith Raniere. NXIVM provided seminars for self-help, but it was more of a front for criminal activity. Some women in the group were branded with Raniere’s initials and forced to have sex with him. Strict diets bordering on starvation were enforced. After a New York Times story detailed NXIVM’s activities, the Justice Department investigated and arrested Raniere and Allison Mack, a former actor on the TV series “Smallville” who brought women into the cult. Raniere was convicted of racketeering, sex trafficking, and child pornography and sentenced to 120 years in jail.
The Circle
- Location: U.S. and Canada
- Number of members: Unknown
- Founder(s): Nathan Chasing Horse
- Time period of activity: 2000s-Present
Native American actor Nathan Chasing Horse (“Dances With Wolves”) founded a cult. He was accused of sexual abuse and banished from the reservation by the Fort Beck tribe in Montana.
The Family
- Location: Australia
- Number of members: 14
- Founder(s): Anne Hamilton-Byrne
- Time period of activity: 1964-Present
The Family is an Australian cult founded by Anne Hamilton-Byrne who thought she was a god. The group adopted children illegally and prepared them for the impending apocalypse. They wore the same clothes and their hair was dyed blond. The Family residence was raided by police in Victoria on Aug. 14, 1987, amid allegations of child abuse — beatings, cold showers, and isolated from society. All of the kids were removed from the grounds. Hamilton-Byrne was fined $5,000 for her crimes.
The Good News International Church
- Location: Kenya
- Number of members: 3,000
- Founder(s): Paul Nthenge Mackenzie
- Time period of activity: 2003-2023
Anti-education diatribes, apocalyptic themes and doomsday messages were imparted to followers by Paul Nthenge Mackenzie in person and on YouTube. The so-called starvation cult numbered more than 400 followers who starved to death willingly or were forced to starve to allegedly to meet Christ in 2023. In December, Mackenzie was sentenced to 18 months in prison for illegally distributing films and operating a film studio without a license.
The Lord’s Resistance Army
- Location: Uganda
- Number of members: 3,000
- Founder(s): Alice Lakwena
- Time period of activity: 1987-Present
Founded by Alice Lakwena and led by Joseph Kony, The Lord’s Resistance Army abducts children and compels them to become soldiers who commit atrocities. This is in the name of Kony, who has created a cult of personality. An international effort to stop the movement has failed to capture its leader.
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
- Location: Uganda
- Number of members: 5,000 at peak
- Founder(s): Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibweteere
- Time period of activity: 1989-2000
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was a doomsday cult in Uganda that believed the world would come to an end of the millennium. In early 2000, more than 900 followers of the movement died in a fire in a church and a series of poisonings and killings that were later determined to be mass murder.
The Way International
- Location: Ohio
- Number of members: 40,000 at peak
- Founder(s): Victor Paul Wierwille
- Time period of activity: 1942-Present
Founded as a biblical research organization, The Way International has long been an object of controversy. Among its controversial beliefs is the rejection of the Christian concept of trinity. Former members likened the education structure to a pyramid scheme that exercises greater control over its followers. Members have reported severe sleep deprivation, isolation from families, and other forms of control from church leaders, who have prophesied nuclear holocaust. Some ex-Way members have launched lawsuits against the organization.
The Work
- Location: Connecticut
- Number of members: 300 at peak
- Founder(s): Julius Schacknow/Paul Sweetman
- Time period of activity: 1970-present
Julius Schacknow founded The Work, which numbered 300 members at its peak, and built it into a business with more than $100 million in revenue. As Schacknow’s business declined, he became more erratic. He coerced women to share husbands and reportedly abuse children in the name of God. After he died, he was succeeded by Paul Sweetman, who was just as corrupt. Sweetman was sent to prison for bank fraud and released in 2004. He disappeared. In 2016, it was discovered that Sweetman was murdered and dismembered by cult members.
True Russian Orthodox Church
- Location: Russia
- Number of members: At least 30
- Founder(s): Pyotr Kuznetsov
- Time period of activity: Early 2000s-2008
In 2008, members of the suicidal doomsday cult finally emerged from a cave while awaiting the apocalypse. They were very sick from the conditions and its structural collapse. Two members died. Members had stockpiled food and weapons in the cave and threatened to blow it up if authorities entered the cave. Even founder Pyotr Kuznetsov could not convince them to come up.
Word of Faith Fellowship
- Location: North Carolina
- Number of members: 720
- Founder(s): Jane and Sam Whaley
- Time period of activity: 1979-Present
Jane and Sam Whaley founded Word of Faith Fellowship, which is notorious for strictly controlling the lives of its members. Ex-members said this includes citing every mistake as proof of a demonic presence. Cult members believe screaming and assaulting the alleged victim can exorcize the devil. Former members said Word of Faith Fellowship tries to isolate members from their families and friends. Stories of abuse have led to lawsuits and investigations.
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
- Location: Oregon
- Number of members: 5,000
- Founder(s): Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
- Time period of activity: 1984-Present
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was a bearded mystic who exported his cult from India to a sparsely populated part of Oregon in 1984. Rajneesh believed in free love and set about to create a utopia. The commune was involved with immigration fraud, assassination plots, and the largest bio-terrorist attack in US history. They infected 751 people with salmonella by contaminating restaurant salad bars. The attack was intended to make voters sick ahead of a local election. Rajneesh’s personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela received a 20-year jail sentence. Rajneesh died in 1990.