The Most Terrifying Cults to Ever Exist

let's start with the strange and slowly work our way towards the most terrifying ones on the list number seven the Russian doomsday cult the Russian doomsday cult would make international news in November of 2007 when around 35 of their members barricaded themselves inside of a small cave in Russia's Penza region and when authorities went down to investigate and remove them from the Cave the cult members would respond by threatening to blow themselves up with some of the members even bringing their children inside of the cave police were left with no option but to wait them

out but before I tell you how this all ends let's first cover the origins of this mysterious group and how they got to that point the cave dwellers were originally part of the Russian Orthodox church but they would end up leaving the church when a self-proclaimed Prophet named P ketov convinced them that the world would soon be coming to an end peor would refer to his new followers as the chosen ones which made them feel special p would ban his followers from eating processed foods watching TV or handling money they would also reject barcodes National

identification numbers and passports since PE convinced them that they all contained the mark of the beast but after some time had gone by his followers began to ask questions hey P yeah you know how you've been talking a whole lot about the end of the world and all uh yeah well me and the others been wondering well when when exactly is it well um what you mean M may may two May 2008 yeah May May May 2008 which was 6 months away the group was then instructed to enter a small cave and patiently wait for

the world to come to an end the cult members entered the cave in November 2007 but conveniently enough peer would not be joining them instead he had convinced his followers that since the world was ending they would no longer need their personal possessions with authorities speculating that he was busy selling off his followers belongings he was quickly arrested and taken into custody if only he could have predicted his arrest okay I I'll see myself out the cult members would oddly enough still remain inside of the cave and 5 months would go by with no one

entering or leaving but on March 28th 2008 seven women finally had enough exiting the cave and immediately seeking medical attention a few days later a portion of the cave would end up collapsing leading more members to rage quit and exiting the cave with some members still refusing to leave the police would have the brilliant idea of bringing peor down to the cave where he would instruct his followers to exit but they refused and on May 16th 2008 the last nine members of The Cult would finally emerge from the cave due to the toxic fumes produced

by two of the members who had died over the winter with authorities expecting their exit they greeted them with a cow since they refused to drink milk that contained a barcode as for peer authorities would discover that the man actually slept inside of a coffin further solidifying the fact that he was completely insane where he would end up inside of a psych ward number six Al Shin Ru probably one of the most infamous and dangerous cults to have ever existed in 1987 this cult would make themselves known to the world when a few of their

members orchestrated the deadliest domestic attack in Japan's history history leaving 13 innocent people dead and over 6,000 injured but before we get to that heinous attack let's first cover how this cult began the year is 1987 a man named chizuo Matsumoto began to distribute pamphlets claiming to have reached a new level of Enlightenment through meditation the pamphlet advertised a yoga class where you can come and learn about his amazing Discovery but during these classes he would spend his time preaching about the end of the world and that should have probably been your queue to up

dog your way out the class what's that nothing much man what's up with you I don't get it and over the course of a few years he managed to Garner dozens of loyal followers naming the group am Shinu which roughly translates to the Supreme truth and in 1992 chisu Matsumoto would gain even more followers when he released the book titled declaring myself the Christ which had a picture of him on the cross as the cover at its peak the cult would grow to over tens of thousands of members that spanned over multiple countries his followers

would even state that if people would just take a moment to listen to their enlightened leader they too would see the light but without warning on the morning of March 20th 1995 tragedy would strike when a total of five chemical weapon attacks took place in the Tokyo subway system killing 13 innocent people and injuring around 6,000 others the attacks would quickly backfire as the authorities began to arrest everyone involved including the cult leader these attacks were meant to initiate the apocalypse and once the world had collapsed the cult would rise to rule the world in

the way that they saw fit but instead the attacks led the leader and six high-ranking members directly to death row where they were held until their execution date which came on July ju 6 2018 number five Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate was an American religion movement that began to Garner a following in Southern California during the mid 1970s the group has been characterized as a UFO religion cult whatever the hell that means the followers of this cult believed that they could transform themselves into Immortal extraterrestrial beings once they rejected their human nature something that they would

refer to as reaching the next level which I guess they ultimately did but more on that later the group was started by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles who after confiding in each other would come to the conclusion that they were the two witnesses described in the Book of Revelation which would make them prophets fully convinced they would attend church groups where they would present themselves as the two and I can only assume how funny that must have been he broke the bread and gave it to them saying this is my body excuse me yeah sorry

to interrupt but I just want to let you guys know that well we are the two what does that mean like the two um I'm not following you know like what two the two from The Book of Revelations right get a load of this guy that's funny but somehow the two would begin to Garner a following when they began to hand out flyers advertising their seminars like this one claiming to be from The Next Level leaving their higher being self to come down to earth to help others and somehow they managed to recruit around 39

loyal followers now one of the strangest and most terrifying thing about this cult was the fact that all male members were required to be castrated which we can all agree is a wild thing to just throw out the group would first try to do the procedure in house almost killing one of their members so all future castrations would take place at the local hospital the group would be left in complete shock when one of the two founding leaders Bonnie Nettles would suddenly pass away this would cause the entire Colt belief system to collapse since they

originally preached that all members were to ascend alive inside of a UFO so Apple White made a few adjustments to their beliefs and would come to the conclusion that only the person's soul would be taken by the spaceship 12 years would go by and the members of Heaven's Gate grew tired of waiting and on March 26th 1997 the San Diego's County Sheriff's Department would discover a horrifying scene inside of a rented Mansion laid 39 lifeless bodies including the Colts leader bringing Apple White's revelation ations to fruition and in his own words the members of Heaven's

Gate had finally graduated number four the branch devidians this is one of the most insane Cults to have ever existed the branch dividian were an apocalyptic Christian cult founded in Texas in 1935 by a man named Victor howff and in 1957 the cult would purchased 9941 acres of land near Elk Texas where they would build a large community that would serve as their home and headquarters but things wouldn't really start to heat up until 1987 when a man named David Kesh would take over as the Colts leader and he was of course you guessed it

a self-proclaimed Prophet according to David he was appointed by God as a prophet with the task of bringing the day of judgment but David's downfall would start when he began to illegally collect and stockpile dozens of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition since he was preparing ing for the upcoming apocalypse and on February 28th 1993 federal agents would arrive at the Colt's doorsteps with a search and arrest warrant in hand but the dividian cult members had no intentions of allowing them inside or arresting their leader and within moments gunshots began to go off in

the gunfire four federal agents and six dividian would end up losing their lives but this was just the beginning the cult members would go on to barricade themselves inside of their compound for 51 days but eventually the FBI was given the green light to enter firing multiple tear gas canisters inside and shortly after the entire building would erupt in flames and to this day no one really knows who started the fire but after it was lit the standoff would end within the hour with 76 devidians and their leader perishing in the fire or by smoke

inhalation and for the high ranking cult members who managed to escape with their lives they would end up inside of a cell number three order of the solar Temple this apocalyptic cult would make National headlines on October 4th 1994 when two fires would break out in Switzerland one at a farm and the other in a chalet when the paramedics arrived at the scene they would discover a total of 48 burned bodies across both locations they had all been wearing white cloaks but strangely enough some of them also had a plastic bag over their heads they

were all laid out flat on the ground and in a circle one of the sites was even surrounded by mirrors and the cult symbols on arrival officers would also discover that the fires had been ignited with the remote control device and since this was the early 1990s they were clearly showing off but these fires wouldn't be an isolated incident in fact this was just the beginning one year later on December 15th 1995 in France 16 burned bodies would be discovered laying in the formation of a star then 2 years later on March Mar 22nd 1997

five more members would be discovered in Canada they were yet again set Ablaze by a remote controlled device now here's the terrifying part remember those plastic bags well apparently multiple cult members refused to drink the poison on the night of the sacrifice where they were then held down against their will and had plastic bags placed over their heads this was not a choice everyone had to participate the reason why these cult members took part in these rituals was because they believed that the end of the world was near and by leaving Earth their souls would

Ascend to another planet inevitably Escaping The Apocalypse number two movement for the restoration of the Ten Commandments of God could they not have thought of a shorter name now this will probably be one of the most tragic endings to a cult that you will ever hear but before I tell you how this all ends let's first cover the Cults rise and beliefs this was a religious movement that took place in Uganda from 1989 through the early 2000s the group would claim to be a religious movement garnering around 5,000 members at its peak however the rest

of the world would categorize this group as a doomsday cult the cult's beliefs were very simple members were strictly to follow the ten commandments they thought that by doing so they would escape the coming apocalypse they actually feared breaking the commandments so much that a lot of the members outright refused to speak and would instead communicate using sign language adapting the classic winning strategy of you can't lose if you don't play which is a strategy that I have been using for years making my friends absolutely jealous since they say stuff to me like you literally

don't even leave the house you don't do anything anymore and what happened to you but don't worry those are just words it's so much better to know that you remain undefeated the leaders of the cult would even claim to be able to directly talk to God and being told when the world would come to an end placing the date on December 31st 1999 as soon as this date was announced the cult members erupted in a frenzy selling their livest stock and all of their belongings for very cheap the leaders would then instruct their members to

give all of the money to the movement which they gladly did but eventually the date of Doomsday arrived and surprise nothing happened causing the leaders to push the date back to March 17th 2000 with the followers enraged and beginning to ask for their money back the leaders could not afford to be wrong this time around so on March 17th 2000 all 530 members were instructed to attend a party inside of a boarded of church but just moments after the last person arrived the party would quickly come to an end with the only entrance to the

church being shut the building quickly erupted in flame with no way out all 530 members would be trapped inside and slowly burned alive police would later discover that two of the five cult leaders never attended the party and just 4 days after the church fire police would investigate all of the Colts properties discovering an additional 395 bodies the bodies of members that had been poisoned just days before the party raising the total body count to over 900 the the two cult leaders that are believed to have orchestrated these attacks managed to escape the country before

being captured and to this day they remain free number one the people's Temple this cult would become one of the most talked about tragedies in all of American history with countless of documentaries made on the subject and word of a new movie currently in the works it really goes to show just how much of an impact this cult has had on society it would all begin in 1954 in Indianapolis Indiana when a communist man named Jim Jones opened up his own church attracting people by offering healing Services claiming to heal all sorts of diseases in

the coming years Jones would Garner thousands of loyal followers secretly using religion to further his political ideology after a while Jones would begin to get criticized for his views leading him to move to California in 1965 and by the early 1970s he had established the Temple's headquarters in San Francisco old members would be task with recruiting leading to massive growth and eventually they would reach thousands of members hey yeah what's up do you like Jesus what like our Lord and Savior Jesus yeah uh yeah I guess he's cool cool want to like him with us

um okay man thanks why I'm okay brother appreciate the offer though why uh just just keep it moving man why brother try someone else why all right man you're ridiculous just give me the flyer why okay I I can't do this but the next step would come in 1974 when Jones would acquire close to 4,000 Acres of remote land in Guyana in South America America a place he would call Jonestown slowly sending over members as they would begin to build homes and inhabiting the land he convinced his followers to move by selling them the vision

of paradise a place where they can live freely without the government getting involved for Jones creating a socialist society had always been his goal and it was finally taking shape by 1977 around 900 members lived on the compound and this would also be the same year that Jones would permanent joined them but the moment he arrived things quickly changed everyone was expected to work 8-hour days followed by classes at night where they would learn about socialism Jones had effectively begun to brainwash his followers even taking on the name father but everything would change on November

17th 1978 when a politician named Leo Ryan and his team arrived at Jonestown to investigate claims of abuse after the investigation was complete Ryan would be ambushed at the airst strip where he and three others would be fatally gunned down Jones knowing that the end was near had a few helpers prepare a giant tub of grape flavored drink adding to it a concoction of drugs and cyanide he would then instruct all of his followers to drink a cup not knowing what was in it his followers blindly followed his instructions and with that cup they had

all Bes sealed their fate more than 900 people including Jones would end up dying shortly after this incident would create the famous saying don't drink the Kool-Aid meaning to not blindly follow a leader or ideology without questioning or critical thinking or you just might end up like the people at [Music] Jonestown go