Aum Shinrikyo targeted the Kasumigaseki station, in the area where many of Japan’s government offices are located, as part of what they thought would be an apocalyptic battle with the government. Koresh, born Vernon Wayne Howell in 1959 in Texas, was a high school dropout and musician who in 1981 moved to Waco and joined the Branch Davidians, a splinter group of the Seventh-day Adventists. By the 1990s, some members made money for the group by operating a web design and computer services business. On March 26, 1997, Applewhite and 38 other members of a cult called Heaven’s Gate were found dead in a mass suicide at a rented mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California. On March 21, 1997, the group went to a local restaurant for what is thought to have been its last meal together; everyone ordered the same thing. Anna LeBaron Anna LeBaron with her brother Eddie before she escaped the famous cult. In October 1994, Di Mambro and Jouret, along with 51 of their followers in the Order of the Solar Temple, an apocalyptic cult founded in Europe in 1984, committed suicide or were murdered in Switzerland and Quebec, Canada. Cult leaders’ charismatic personalities, fringe beliefs and lust for power have inspired hundreds to follow their unconventional philosophies — with often-tragic results. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. A lot of celebrities grew up in the cult : Christopher Owens from the band Girls , actor Rose McGowan (whose father headed the Italian branch), and Joaquin and River Phoenix. Anna LeBaron was not only born into the Church of the Lamb of God cult — she was fathered by its leader, Ervil LeBaron. Browse 988 cult leaders stock photos and images available, or search for marshall applewhite or sun myung moon to find more great stock photos and pictures. 10. The craziest cult leaders with the personality to influence thousands. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 2004 and was executed on July 6, 2018. Puputan, Bali Recruiting over 10,000 followers, Asahara believed he was destined to become Emperor of Japan and organized a deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. READ MORE: What Really Happened at Jonestown? The group members, who killed themselves by eating applesauce and pudding mixed with drugs, believed that a spaceship following the Hale-Bopp comet (which made its closest approach to Earth on March 22, 1997) would pick them up and take them to a higher plane of existence. Cults usually expect a large amount of time and money to be devoted as well. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. There have been many famous female cult leaders over the years. Eventually, Asahara began claiming he could read minds and levitate. Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates. They built weapons of mass destruction for him and were responsible for a nerve gas attack on a tokyo subway which killed 12 and injured 1,000. 8. This is a list of regimes of countries or individual leaders around the world which have been discussed in the media or academia as having created a cult of personality. However, for decades now, women have been stepping into the cult leader spotlight that was once only reserved for their male counterparts. READ MORE: Inside Jonestown: How Jim Jones Trapped Followers and Forced 'Suicides'. Koresh, who claimed to be a messiah, eventually became the sect’s leader. Following the October 1994 deaths of the 53 sect members, whose bodies were discovered at Solar Temple properties that had been set on fire in Cheiry and Les Granges sur Salvan, Switzerland, and Morin Heights, Quebec, investigators estimated at least 30 of the dead had been murdered—either shot or asphyxiated. Ex-convict and singer-songwriter Charles Manson was able to woo followers, especially women, into a non-religious cult that believed a race war known as "Helter Skelter" was imminent. The group lived a nomadic, secretive existence and subscribed to a philosophy that combined elements of science fiction and a belief in UFOs with biblical ideas. On April 19, 1995, the two-year anniversary of the tear gas assault, McVeigh detonated a truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which housed the ATF and other government agencies. Di Mambro, a shadowy figure born in France in 1924, founded the Order of the Solar Temple and made the charismatic Jouret, a homeopathic doctor born in 1947 in the Belgian Congo (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo), the organization’s public face. The five Solar Temple members who committed suicide in 1997 left a note indicating they believed their lives would continue on a new planet. A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance. Meet five 20th-century cult leaders whose influence led to deadly consequences around the globe. He was a self-proclaimed prophet. By the early 1990s, Aum Shinrikyo, which attracted members from some of Japan’s top universities, was stockpiling chemical weapons. Instead, the followers were subjected to harsh living conditions and punished if they questioned Jones’ authority. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Instead, a fire broke out, likely set by the Branch Davidians, whose compound burned to the ground. Balakrishnan sought to mold his female followers into an army of women soldiers through sexual degradation and violence. Within several months after the attacks, Asahara was found hiding out at his group’s compound near Mount Fuji and arrested. Cult leaders’ charismatic personalities, fringe beliefs and lust for power have inspired hundreds to follow their unconventional philosophies — with often-tragic results. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. The deaths of Di Mambro and Jouret didn’t bring an end to the violence: In December 1995, 16 more members took their own lives or were killed in France, while an additional five committed suicide in March 1997 in Quebec. Who Was David Koresh? Jim Jones was best known as the cult leader of the Peoples Temple who led more than 900 followers in a mass suicide via cyanide-laced punch known as the Jonestown Massacre. WATCH: Full episodes of The UnXplained online now. Here are nine of the most unnerving examples of … These were the larger than life personalities behind some of the world's most controversial organizations. A look into the acts of narcissistic cult leaders who hurt their followers. Cult leaders usually have a small following because it’s hard to find masses of people naive enough to follow their nonsense. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Indeed, the power of cult leaders is a terrifying reality. Here are 10 cults that have changed the way the world looks at cults. Jim Jones – The People’s Temple Image credit: Murderpedia. Charles Manson, David Koresh, Jim Jones, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and others have gained international notoriety for exposing the dark side of humanity. The explosion killed 168 people and injured hundreds of others. Marshall Applewhite pictured speaking on a video tape to members of his organiation, Heaven's Gate, 1997. © 2021 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. Aravindan Balakrishnan was a Maoist cult leader who threatened his followers with a supernatural force named "Jackie" that he said would wreak havoc on the world if he were disobeyed. Shoko Asahara was the leader of the most notorious religious cult in Japanese history, Aum Shinrikyo. There’s always spiritual revival on the way. Jonestown, in the South American nation of Guyana. Warren Steed Jeffs (born 3 December 1955) is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church), a polygamous denomination. READ MORE: The Waco Siege: 6 Little Known Facts. He started the Rancho Rajneesh commune in Oregon in the 1980s. Investigators later discovered that several months before the mass suicide, Applewhite and six of his followers had themselves surgically castrated as a way, they believed, to reduce unwanted earthly distractions. Ekpe Cult. The end is always just around the corner. Aum Shinrikyo, renamed Aleph in 2000, still exists, although its membership is smaller than it was in the mid-1990s. Indian cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh created the spiritual practice of dynamic meditation. In a related story, Timothy McVeigh, a U.S. Army veteran and supporter of right-wing survivalist groups, went to Waco during the siege and was outraged by the government’s actions. When the 1995 subway attack took place, the group was estimated to have some 10,000 members in Japan and more than 30,000 around the world, many of them in Russia. team leader showing the way | new biz - cult leaders stock illustrations. He eventually set up headquarters in San Francisco, where he had a large, racially diverse following and ingratiated himself with a number of political leaders by offering Peoples Temple members as campaign volunteers.