The only difference between a cult and a religion is longevity. Every major religious group in the world started as a small, controversial group of followers anchored around a novel belief system. What matters, however, is if the group stands the test of time and outgrows its cult status. While thousands of cults currently operate around the United States to varying degrees of controversy and success, some of them become the most horrifying religious cults in American history.
For a cult to become deadly, it doesn’t matter what they believe or how they attract followers. What matters is if they increase control tactics to a fever pitch, which often results in abuse, bloodshed, or even murder. While many of the most horrifying cults followed an apocalyptic belief system to its bitter end, others maintained power through compartmentalization, esoteric in-group rhetoric, and severe consequences for unruly followers. In this article, we will explore the most horrifying religious cults in American history.
(For more obscure groups, learn about the most destructive cults you’ve never heard of. )
To compile an article on the most horrifying religious cults in American history, 24/7 Tempo consulted a range of entertainment, news, and history publications including Rolling Stone Magazine , CBS News, and Teen Vogue. Next, we selected American cults with a history of violence, sexual abuse, or other illegal acts. After that, we confirmed aspects of our research using sites like Britannica and FBI.gov.
Heaven’s Gate
After Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite met in 1972, they embarked on a spiritual journey. This led to the pair identifying as figures in the Bible, the two witnesses of Revelation. Within a few years, the pair had attracted hundreds of followers to their burgeoning religious group. By the end of the 70s, however, the group consolidated to a few dozen members and instituted a more rigid, pious lifestyle.
Called Heaven’s Gate, the cult believed in a mixture of Christian millenarianism, New Age ideas, and ufology. Besides linking passages from the bible to imagery of aliens and UFOs, the group strongly believed that they could transform themselves into immortal extraterrestrials by rejecting their human body and nature. However, when Nettles died in 1985, her lack of ascension brought skepticism to the group. In response, Applewhite updated the playbook, so to speak, suggesting that their bodies were merely containers for consciousness that would ascend to the next level upon death.
Though Heaven’s Gate is one of the most horrifying religious cults in American history, no one knew about it until it was too late. On March 26, 1997, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department descended on a mansion in the swanky enclave of Rancho Santa Fe. There they discovered the bodies of 39 cult members including Applewhite. An investigation found the group committed mass suicide to coincide with the passing of the Hale-Bopp Comet, presumably so their souls could hitch a ride. The image of the cult members’ bodies donning matching tracksuits and Nike sneakers became a classic image of cult activity in popular culture.
Branch Davidians
Like many cults, the Branch Davidians formed as a splinter group to another extremist, apocalyptic religious organization. Led by David Koresh (birth name Vernon Howell), the group came to believe Koresh was the Lamb of Biblical fame. Seeking to start a new lineage of world leaders, Koresh led his followers to build a compound outside of Waco, Texas. All the while, Koresh raised the stakes, suggesting his presence was a foreshadowing of the second coming of Jesus Christ. In the end, they would become one of the most horrifying religious cults in American history.
As the compound grew, so did rumors about sexual abuse and gun trafficking within the cult. After Koresh and some followers reportedly sold some illegal weapons to undercover ATF agents, the agency attempted to execute a search warrant for the compound. Upon entering the compound, church members shot and killed several ATF agents. This was the catalyst for a defining moment in modern American history.
Due to the firefight and subsequent stalemate, other Federal agencies got involved and formulated a siege of the Waco compound. After negotiations faltered and more incoming agents and outgoing cult members were killed, the government staged a final siege of the Branch Davidian compound on April 19, 1993. While attempting to use tear gas to flush out the cult members, the compound caught fire, killing 76 people including Koresh. In the aftermath, many criticized the government for its violent overreach of religious rights, and for using bloody means to execute a relatively simple search warrant.
The Manson Family
While the Manson Family may be the most famous religious cult in American history, it was also one of the most horrifying. Its leader, Charles Manson, spent most of his life in and out of prison. Upon release in 1967, he made his way to San Francisco where he began attracting various acolytes and followers. Upon gaining a sizeable following, Manson and his followers moved south, taking up residence at the Spahn Movie Ranch outside of Los Angeles.
There, Manson used his Svengali-like influence over a growing set of followers to convince them he was a manifestation of Jesus Christ. With the group’s heavy amphetamine and LSD use, Manson’s claims grew bolder. He prophesized a coming race war that would destabilize the United States. In the late summer of 1969, Manson directed a group of his followers to a house in Benedict Canyon, commanding them to kill everyone inside. There, they killed actress Sharon Tate and a couple of her friends. A day later, a group of Manson Family followers to a house in Los Feliz to commit another pair of murders.
Eventually, evidence led police to Manson and his followers. Upon matching fingerprint evidence, police charged Manson and a few others with the murders. As the trial endured, other Manson family members caused serious disruptions to the proceedings, appearing in court with shaved heads or swastikas emblazoned on their foreheads. While all tried were eventually found guilty and sentenced to prison, the case became an enduring image in the public consciousness. Besides a wide range of conspiracies regarding the Manson Family, its activities symbolized an end to the 1960s and marked a dark turn of the hippie movement.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
While the history is too long and complicated to get into here when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints banned polygamy in 1904, many church members felt differently. As a result, groups like the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints split off from the mothership and continued practicing polygamy and plural marriages. For decades they went under the radar. That is, until Arizona State Police raided the church on July 26, 1953, arresting the entire congregation including 236 children.
However, the church continued. After a series of different leaders, Warren Jeffs became the group’s leader in 1986. Jeffs and his group’s commitment to polygamy raised more than one eyebrow over the following years, resulting in various excommunications, law enforcement investigations, and lawsuits. Upon receiving a call from a teenage member claiming physical and sexual abuse in April 2008, police raided the Church facilities. Within three days, 439 children under the age of 18 were rescued from the church’s clutches.
This led to several male church elders including Jeffs being charged with various sexual crimes including sexual misconduct with minors, incest, and rape. Though Jeffs’ Utah conviction was later overturned, the state extradited him to Texas where he was found guilty of a litany of sexual offenses. Though he currently serves a life sentence in prison, the Church still exists, albeit in a much smaller form.
(For other creepy cults, discover 17 of history’s most terrifying cults. )
People’s Temple
By all accounts, the People’s Temple started with good intentions. Jim Jones founded the religious organization in 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attracted followers by combining elements of Christianity with socialist and communist concepts, anchoring his belief system in adherence to racial equality. Upon gaining a small following, Jones led his followers to San Francisco where the church set up various organizations and curried favor with left-wing groups.
By this time, the People’s Temple had grown into a sprawling organization, with various facilities and up to 20,000 members. Meanwhile, Jones started increasing control over his followers, encouraging them to live communally and share possessions. While Jones did some good for the community, including fighting against the evictions of black tenants in San Francisco, the church grew more chaotic. As the People’s Temple drew increasing media scrutiny, Jones led his followers to the small South American nation of Guyana.
There, they attempted to construct a socialist paradise, creating a self-sustainable community deep in the Guyanese jungle. Claims of abuse came to light, however, which led U.S. Representative Leo Ryan to visit the community, now called Jonestown. Upon entering Jonestown, many followers approached Ryan wishing to go home. When Ryan attempted to fly back to the States, however, People’s Temple security caught them on the runway and opened fire, killing Ryan and his associates. Anticipating the end, Jones ordered all of his followers to drink the cyanide-laced Kool-aid that night. This led to the deaths of 918 followers, including 276 children as well as Jones himself. While the church started well-meaning, it devolved into one of the most horrifying religious cults in American History. Until the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it stood as the greatest single loss of American life in a deliberate act.
Rajneesh Movement
Another one of the most horrifying religious cults in American history, the Rajneesh movement, started in India. Thanks to his mystical teachings, a man named Osho began attracting followers. Osho expressed hostility to Hindu morality, however, which led to his group being banned from the country. Upon moving to the Soviet Union, the group faced further controversy for their unconventional aims and tactics. Eventually, the group relocated to rural Oregon, forming a community called the Rajneeshpuram.
Followers quickly drew notice for wearing all orange and their adherence to a quasi-Buddhist, quasi-communal belief system. Tensions grew as the Rajneeshees attempted to slowly take over the town of Antelope, Oregon as well as the county seat of The Dalles. Eventually, an elite circle of Rajneesh members were arrested for a mind-boggling variety of crimes. These included the attempted assassination plot of U.S. Attorney Charles H. Turner, wiretapping operations, and other political subterfuge. Remarkably, the group also committed the first recorded bio-terror attack in America. The group poisoned hundreds of people using Salmonella-laced salads in an attempt to influence local elections.
In response, the American government took swift action. First, they deported Osho from the United States. After that, they arrested, tried, and convicted his right hand Ma Anand Sheela for her role in the bioterrorism attacks. Though the group’s Oregon headquarters were destroyed in 1985, the group experienced a resurgence in the 90s and into the new millennium after the death of its leader Osho.
The Nation of Yahweh
Another one of the most horrifying religious cults in American history is The Nation of Yahweh. Hulon Mitchell Jr. founded the cult in Miami in 1979. He formed it as a splinter group of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, adopting the name Yahweh ben Yahweh. Operating with a plan to move African Americans to Isreal, who he considered the original Israelites, Yahweh attracted hundreds of followers in intervening years. Over time, it grew from a small religious cult into a powerful organization, counting followers in dozens of cities and a war chest of $250,000,000.
Compared to other Black Israelite groups, the Nation of Yahweh remains distinct as it considers its leader Yahweh ben Yahweh the true son of God. Nevertheless, the Nation of Yahweh received criticism from the start for what many considered hateful and violence-inciting rhetoric. Over time, ex-followers surfaced decrying the cult for its abusive and violent practices. Many followers said that anyone who tried to leave the group was threatened with violence, assaulted, or even killed. Members still operating within the cult, weren’t safe either, however, as they received violent punishments if they failed to meet money-collecting quotas. Reports also suggested Yahweh ben Yahweh controlled followers’ food, clothing, and sex lives.
Eventually, the cult’s leader ran afoul of the law. Between 1990 and 2001, Yahweh ben Yahweh served 11 years in prison on a RICO Act conviction regarding murders related to the group. Furthermore, Yahweh was eventually linked to 14 murders, though former NFL player and cult follower Robert Rozier confessed to seven of the murders. During his imprisonment, the Nation of Yahweh retreated into obscurity. After Yahweh ben Yahweh died in May 2007, however, the group returned to public life espousing a less violent and apocalyptic religious rhetoric.
The Church of Scientology
Before he became one of the most well-known religious leaders in American history, L. Ron Hubbard worked as a science fiction writer. In 1950, however, Hubbard invented a set of quasi-religious psychological training programs he called Dianetics. As Dianetics grew in popularity, Hubbard established an adjoining religious organization called The Church of Scientology.
It’s hard to say exactly what The Church of Scientology believes. It uses pseudoscientific devices and practices to expose, root out, and heal people from past traumas and emotional burdens. While this belief system attracted thousands of followers over the decades, including many high-profile celebrities, it remains mysterious, obscure, and veiled under the Church’s maze-like structure. As the group came under fire for its practices, members embarked on a series of offenses as an insurance policy against criminal consequences. This includes Operation Snow White, a plot to surveil various government agencies in what became one of the largest infiltrations of the United States government in history. For her part in the plot, Hubbard’s wife Mary Sue served prison time.
Whatever the extent of its crimes, the Church of Scientology earned religious tax exemption status not long after Operation Snow White. Since then, the group has continued to grow, buying up heaps of property and entrenching its labyrinthine corporate-like structure. Though it stands as one of the most horrifying religious cults in American history, the Church rebukes such labels. Nevertheless, ex-members still routinely surface in the press decrying the Church’s widespread abuse, manipulation, and other illegal activities. The Church, however, is notoriously litigious, so any mention of them treads carefully.
(For a more general exploration of crime, discover the darkest crime in each state’s history. )
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