5 American Cults That Mesmerized the Nation

Cults: Far From Spirituality

Over the decades, several cults have become subjects of public fascination with their captivating stories. A cult is usually centered around a charismatic and unaccountable leader, whose main objective is to exploit its members, The Guardian reported. These groups have become popular subjects amongst the general public, because of the kind of control one individual or group practices on others. Stories of how a group of people, submit themselves by their free will, to a belief that eventually hurts them in most cases, make an enrapturing case study for the populace. There are many movies and shows, focussing on such groups, released to great acclaim on various platforms. Hulu's The Path and FX's American Horror Story: Cult are a few such examples. Here are five American cults that enthralled the public with their beguiling stories and unfortunate outcomes.

1. The Branch Davidians

According to the book Waco: David Koresh, The Branch Davidians and a Legacy of Rage, by Jeff Guinn, The Branch Davidians was led by David Koresh, NPR reported. He portrayed himself as a religious demagogue, who took on multiple teenage brides and preached that he and his followers would bring on a conflict that would cause the end of the world in their lifetimes. "David Koresh wanted to make sure that when the final battle occurred, his followers would be able to fight the way the Book of Revelation said they must," Guinn said. "It had to be an all-out battle. His people were going to die, but, obviously, they had to be ready to kill the agents of Babylon." The Branch Davidians entered national news in 1993 when a 51-day-long standoff occurred between the group and authorities near Waco, Texas. Initially, they were facing ATF and later the FBI took over. Almost 80 people, including four federal agents and at least 20 children, died in this conflict. Koresh also died in the face-off with a bullet at the center of his forehead, People reported.

2. The Manson Family

The Manson Family was a cult that was led by the notorious Charles Manson and shook Hollywood in the 1960s with their brutal activities, Smithsonian Magazine reported. Manson spent almost his entire youth in and out of institutions in the Midwest. After being released in 1967, he migrated to Berkeley and then San Francisco, where he amassed a following. In 1968, he came to Los Angeles with his followers to try his luck in the entertainment industry. He established a friendship with Dennis Wilson, the drummer for the Beach Boys. After Manson's dreams did not come to fruition, he turned to violence. He told his followers that the time had come for them to begin Helter Skelter themselves, committing savage crimes in upscale neighborhoods in an attempt to demonstrate to African Americans how the violence should be carried out. On August 8, 1969, Manson Family members Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Linda Kasabian drove to Sharon Tate and her husband's home. They killed eight-month-pregnant Tate, celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and Folger’s boyfriend Voytek Frykowski. Steven Parent, a teenage friend of the house's caretaker also died at the cult's hands. The very next day, the cult killed business executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. The killers along with Charles Manson were soon arrested by the police. Manson was sentenced to death, which was later changed to life imprisonment. He died in 2017 while serving his sentence.

3. Peoples Temple

The Peoples Temple was headed by cult leader Jim Jones. The cult initially operated in America and shifted its bases to Guyana, a former British colony in South America. Hundreds of members of the cult lived on 3,800 acres of jungle property called Jonestown. The settlement had 60 cottages on site, large kitchens and food storage areas, laundry rooms, an infirmary, and two schoolhouses, as well as an open-air pavilion where meetings could be held. The facilities in the settlement were not enough to handle so many people. Jim Jones arrived at the settlement in 1977. He reportedly confiscated medicines from every resident, announced every male except for himself to be a homosexual, broke apart families, forced people to do physical labor, and conducted night sieges. Public humiliation was doled upon people who dared to escape, and communication with the outside world was monitored. On November 18, 1978, U.S. Representative Leo Ryan, after multiple complaints went to investigate the settlement, HISTORY reported. The same day, Jim Jones allegedly ordered his followers to ingest a poison-laced punch. 900 people lost their lives in this way at Jonestown.

4. Sullivanians

Sullivanians was established by Saul Newton and his wife Dr. Jane Pearce in 1957, New Yorker reported. The objective of this cult was to create an alternative to the nuclear family system, which they believed was the root of social anxiety. Located in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the cult drew people in with a promise of sex and recommendations that allowed individuals to not participate in wars. Members were discouraged from having exclusive relationships with each other. Members as well as therapists slept with each other, freely. Children born out of such unions were sent to boarding schools and had little contact with their parents. Sullivanians garnered a bad reputation due to defections, custody battles, negative media attention, and investigations into professional misconduct. Many therapists in the cult lost their licenses. Newton's death in 1991 brought the group to an acrimonious finish, the New York Post reported.

5. Heaven's Gate

Heaven's Gate came into being in the 1970s through the efforts of Marshall Herff Applewhite and his partner, Bonnie Lu Nettles, HISTORY reported. The cult gave themselves the name, Class. Applewhite and Nettles preached that extraterrestrial technology would lead to salvation. The duo eventually called themselves aliens, that were sent to Earth with a special purpose. "They acted like a religion," says Benjamin Zeller, a scholar of new religious movements and author of Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion. "They had beliefs and practices, rituals and prayers, they talked about the meaning of life, the end of the world, and what happened after death. They looked like a religion, but like some other religions, they had teachings which I would not promote or accept." Nettles died of cancer in 1985. The manner of death spread the belief amongst the followers and the group that individuals would have to shed their imperfect selves to reach the "Next Level." The group created a website named "Heaven's Gate," talking about this theory. The 1995, discovery of the Hale-Bopp comet strengthened their belief that a spaceship was set to arrive on Earth and graduate them to the 'Kingdom of Heaven' and their exalted alien bodies. In 1997, 39 people, including Applewhite, poisoned themselves in a San Diego mansion in the hopes, that their souls would transcend to the heavens.