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Dive into the dark history of some of the most infamous cults that have faded away but left a lasting impact. From doomsday prophecies and mass suicides to shocking crimes and secret rituals, these groups shocked the world and sparked intense media and legal attention. Discover the stories behind Love Has Won, NXIVM, The Manson Family, Heaven’s Gate, and more, as we explore their rise and dramatic falls.
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00:00Tell us what you know about this particular cult.
00:02This cult was the movement for the restoration of the Ten Commandments of God.
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're exploring the most controversial and notorious cults in history that aren't around anymore.
00:15We will be including groups whose followers formed splinter cults following the main one becoming defunct.
00:20After all these years, he still believes in their leader, David Koresh, who was one of the many killed at
00:26the compound.
00:28Love Has Won
00:29We're 2,020 years since the birth of Christ, so 14,000 years you've been on this earth before Christ.
00:42That's correct.
00:43After finding a New Age Forum and becoming convinced she was a deity, Amy Carlson left her three children, her
00:49husband, and most of her family to join a cult.
00:51Around 2014, she formed Love Has Won.
00:54Carlson stated that she had lived hundreds of lives, including being Cleopatra, Gaia, and Harriet Tubman.
01:00She also claimed she could cure serious diseases such as cancer.
01:04She can take a brain out spiritually and heal the brain and then put it back in the body.
01:12Spiritually, I mean, she's not saying she actually physically takes the brain out of the skull, correct, Amy?
01:19Yes.
01:19However, Love Has Won wasn't as peaceful as the name suggested, as the group was accused of being abusive.
01:26In 2021, the police discovered Carlson's mummified body at the cult's residence.
01:31She had passed away weeks before from a mix of reasons.
01:34Well, we learned today that police found 45-year-old Leah Carlson's mummified body in the bedroom of a home
01:38in the tiny town of Moffett in Swatch County.
01:41While the main cult ended, some followers continued with new groups, including Joy Reigns and 5D Full Disclosure.
01:48They disappeared from the live computer screen, but now some are back.
01:53It appears the cult has changed its name, calling itself 5D Full Disclosure.
01:59NXIVM.
02:00NXIVM seemed to be a safe space where we were surrounded by, like, really good people, because for so long,
02:07like, I just, it felt so right.
02:09Founded by Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman in 1998, NXIVM, on the outside, seemed like a multi-level marketing scheme
02:16with its self-help classes.
02:17Yet deeper into the organization was a sinister abuse cult.
02:20She really made it sound like she had the answer.
02:23Like she had exactly what I needed.
02:28The cult sets up a system where people can have a little success at the beginning, and then it stalls.
02:34Known as DOS, the group had Raniere as a, quote, master over women.
02:39This included branding the inductees and blackmailing members.
02:42One of the higher-ups in the cult was actor Allison Mack, who helped Raniere recruit members.
02:47She's very remorseful.
02:48Mack says she takes ownership for all the wrongs she did during her time with NXIVM, but maintains she didn't
02:56set out to hurt people.
02:57In 2017, whistleblowers, including actor Sarah Edmondson, went public with what NXIVM was hiding, causing the cult to face severe
03:05legal consequences.
03:06This included Mack, who turned witness against Raniere, being sentenced to three years.
03:11Salzman received 42 months in jail, and Raniere was sentenced to 120 years.
03:15Today, a judge sentenced him to 120 years. For hours, the court heard impact statements from 15 of Keith Raniere's
03:24victims.
03:25The True Russian Orthodox Church.
03:27About 30 followers of a religious cult called the True Russian Orthodox Church have voluntarily gone underground.
03:34Also known as the Pienza Recluses and the Heavenly Jerusalem, the True Russian Orthodox Church was formed by Belarusian Pyotr
03:41Kuznetsov, who broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church.
03:44After walking across Russia, informing everyone about the upcoming apocalypse, followers began to join Kuznetsov's mission.
03:51As long as they avoided processed food, didn't touch money, and didn't watch TV.
03:55With the nighttime lows dropping below 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the people may freeze to death in unsanitary conditions.
04:02In November 2007, up to 35 members of the cult entered a cave in Nikolskaya, Russia, to pray and await
04:09the end of the world.
04:10When the authorities attempted to get them out, the cult threatened violence.
04:13It wasn't until May 2008 when the last members left the cave after multiple had perished within.
04:19Kuznetsov was sent to a psychiatric hospital in the aftermath.
04:22According to some estimates, there may be up to 800,000 active members of various cults in Russia.
04:28Rajneeshpuram
04:29In 1981, after decades as a controversial spiritual leader in India, Rajneesh, also known as Osho, took his movement to
04:36Wasco County, Oregon.
04:38The community, known as Rajneeshpuram, soon began to clash with its neighbors.
04:42We just heard that this cult had bought a... or it wasn't... they didn't call it a cult then, did
04:48they?
04:48No, no.
04:49A bunch of people had bought an agricultural commune.
04:52The cult members planned to take political power in the Dalles, something they had been successful with at nearby Antelope.
04:58However, when Rajneeshpuram believed they wouldn't get the votes, they took action to reduce the number of voters.
05:04In 1984, the members poisoned food at several restaurants with salmonella.
05:09This caused over 750 people to be infected.
05:12I had these creepy feelings in me.
05:16I don't know what it is.
05:18Something is wrong.
05:20Many of the members fled the country to avoid prosecution.
05:23However, after being publicly condemned by Rajneesh, many of the members were extradited back to the U.S. and sentenced
05:29to jail for years.
05:30It amuses me immensely.
05:35It is our whole entertainment.
05:39The Manson Family
05:40Attracted by the hippie communal living, around 100 people joined the Manson Family, which was formed in 1967.
05:47Yet once there, the members quickly fell under founder Charles Manson's sway.
05:51What do you think those last moments were like?
05:54Oh, it must have been terrifying for these people, you know.
05:59They were just slaughtered.
06:02Charismatic and known to famous people in California, he convinced his followers that they were the original Christians, making them
06:08believe he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
06:11Manson, inspired by the Beatles song Helter Skelter, prepared his followers for an apparent race war.
06:16In 1969, the Manson Family began taking lives, at least nine altogether.
06:22The victims included stuntman Donald Shea, actor Sharon Tate, and hairstylist Jay Sebring.
06:27Polanski was out of the country working on a film, while Tate was home with friends awaiting the arrival of
06:33her child.
06:34Following many arrests and the trial beginning in 1970, several members were sentenced to jail, including Manson, who died in
06:422017 while imprisoned.
06:44Manson never admitted to ordering the killings, and in this interview with Diane Sawyer, put the blame on his band
06:49of followers.
06:50I never told anybody to do anything other than what they wanted to do.
06:55The Order of the Solar Temple
06:56They're all believed to be members of the Solar Temple cult.
06:59It's the second time in 14 months that members of the cult have perished.
07:03Led by Joseph de Mambrot with Luc Jauré second-in-command, the Order of the Solar Temple was formed in
07:08Switzerland in 1984,
07:10advertising themselves as an extension of the Knights Templar with New Age ideas.
07:14It's estimated that the cult grew to over 440 members at its peak across the world.
07:19However, the temple fell out of favor after several scandals, including purchasing illegal weapons and faking apparitions during ceremonies.
07:27In 1994, de Mambrot sent out letters encouraging followers to take the lives of, quote,
07:32within the cult, and their own to transition to the next life.
07:36Three children managed to escape at the last moment.
07:39They're the only survivors of a tragedy that killed 74 people.
07:42In multiple events between 1994 and 1997, there were massacres in Canada, France, and Switzerland,
07:49where over 70 people lost their lives, including de Mambrot and Jauré.
07:54The man police say is the mastermind behind the Order of the Solar Temple.
07:58Swiss Radio reported today de Mambrot's body is among those found in Switzerland.
08:04The Branch Davidians
08:05Formed in 1955 by Benjamin Roden after splintering from the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists,
08:11the Branch Davidians came into power struggle when he passed.
08:14As the Messiah, he should generate a new population of people to inherit the kingdom of God,
08:22and to do that, all of the women in the group belonged to him.
08:26One of the followers, David Koresh, believing himself to be a prophet,
08:29splintered off and formed his own group.
08:31In 1987, his followers forcefully took over the Branch Davidians compound,
08:36Mount Carmel Center in Texas, also incorporating the movement's name.
08:40He had uncommonly powerful capacities to manipulate people and instantaneously decay souls.
08:49After reports of abuse and the cult stockpiling weapons,
08:52in February 1993, the authorities attempted to serve a search warrant.
08:56Instead, they were met with armed resistance that became known as the Waco Siege,
09:01despite taking place outside of the Texan city.
09:03The standoff lasted until April, when a fire broke out at the compound.
09:07Altogether, over 80 perished, including Koresh.
09:10People have been coming here at the former Branch Davidian compound
09:15just to take pictures and kind of reflect on what happened back in 1993.
09:20The movement for the restoration of the Ten Commandments of God.
09:23Well, the leaders of that cult had told followers that doomsday would come
09:27during the millennium year and promised to deliver them to heaven.
09:30In 1989, after separating from the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda,
09:35Joseph Chibuetere and Kudonia Muirinde formed the movement
09:38for the restoration of the Ten Commandments of God.
09:41With a fanatic approach to the Ten Commandments,
09:43the MRTC later took up an apocalyptic approach,
09:46claiming the end of the world was on December 31, 1999.
09:49Because they promised, they promised heaven on earth, you know.
09:54They promised miracles.
09:57They encouraged their members, who were estimated to be thousands,
10:00to sell their possessions and give the money to them.
10:03However, when the apocalypse didn't happen, the members were furious.
10:06The MRTC chose a new date, March 17, 2000.
10:10While partying that day, the building was set ablaze.
10:13Further bodies were found elsewhere, with over 900 people killed.
10:17The leaders, including Chibuetere and Muirinde, escaped, and their whereabouts are unknown.
10:22Passed on in a blaze, the cult members are suspected of setting the building alight,
10:28and they were never found.
10:29Over 700 deaths reported.
10:32Heaven's Gate.
10:33Unfortunately, very little of the human element across the globe
10:36is even interested in this information.
10:39In 1974, Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles formed Heaven's Gate.
10:43With a mixture between Christianity, New Age, and ufology ideologies,
10:48the group believed they'd ascend to heaven, or the next level, with aid of an alien spaceship.
10:53And you would go physically on board a UFO, and sail physically into heaven.
10:59What they would call the next level.
11:01The cult resonated with many, bringing in a couple of hundred followers,
11:05with dozens in the core group.
11:07However, after Nettles passed away in 1985, Applewhite shifted Heaven's Gate's doctrine.
11:12Instead of physically moving to the next level,
11:15their souls would transfer to new bodies in the afterlife.
11:17Believing their souls would board a spaceship following a comet,
11:21taking them to another level of existence above human.
11:24In 1997, with comet Hale-Bopp approaching the Earth,
11:28Applewhite believed a UFO in its wake would transition them to the next level.
11:32Nearly 40 people took their lives at a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California,
11:36including Applewhite.
11:38Makes me want to cry.
11:39Because I think, what a waste.
11:42All of those 39 people, what a waste.
11:45The People's Temple of the Disciples of Christ.
11:47In 1955, Jim Jones, armed with left-wing racial equality and Christian ideologies,
11:53formed the People's Temple of the Disciples of Christ.
11:56The message resonated with many, as thousands became members.
11:59He used to say, when I go, I'll be the most hated man on the planet.
12:02You know, my name will be on everybody's lips.
12:06Guess what?
12:08It was.
12:09However, after clashing with the government and fearing a raid on their headquarters by the police,
12:13Jones relocated his base from San Francisco, California to Guyana,
12:17where he created Jonestown.
12:19In 1978, U.S. Representative Leo Ryan and multiple journalists
12:23arrived at Jonestown to investigate allegations of abuse within the cult.
12:27They had been victims of racism.
12:29They were victims of poverty.
12:31Jim Jones came along and offered them something.
12:35They trusted him and they believed him.
12:39However, as Ryan and his group attempted to leave with defectors,
12:42Temple followers opened fire, taking their lives, while several managed to escape.
12:47Shortly after, Jones ordered his followers to drink a fatal concoction.
12:51Over 900 perished, including Jones.
12:54He had become their father, their mother, their sister, their savior.
13:00He got you so far in, you couldn't imagine getting out.
13:04Are there any infamous cults that don't exist anymore that you can think of?
13:07Let us know in the comments.
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