TRUE-LIFE
With up to 2,000 cults suspected to be operating in the UK, we look at the world’s most shocking…
The Manson ‘Family’
It was the swinging 60s, a time of hedonism and sexual revolution.
Anti-establishment thinking was all the rage.
And against that backdrop, the now notorious Charles Manson unleashed his campaign of influence over young people in California.
Recruiting them as lovers and members of his very own cult, dubbed the ‘Family’.
The charismatic, self-styled guru’s young followers – a collection of runaways and other lost souls – would routinely prove their commitment by taking hallucinogenic drugs and breaking into local homes.
Manson lured around 100 men and women into his cult.
And, during ‘two nights of mayhem’ in August 1969, three of his followers invaded the home of eight-monthspregnant Valley of the Dolls star Sharon Tate, murdering the actor, three of her friends and a young man visiting the property’s caretaker.
The next night, a wealthy grocer and his wife, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, were slaughtered in their home.
It’s not known exactly how many people the Manson Family ultimately killed.
But Manson spent the rest of his life in prison for murder, dying of natural causes aged 83 in November 2017, after serving almost 50 years in jail.
Buddhafield
The ‘cult for beautiful people’, as it became known, was led by charismatic former actor and ballet dancer Jaime Gomez.
He established the commune Buddhafield in the 1980s in Hollywood.
Gomez, who originally moved from Venezuela to the USA to become a movie star, encouraged his followers to live a strict and carefully controlled lifestyle.
This involved a glutenfree, vegan diet and regular meditation.
Some followers described him as an ‘emperor’.
He was also known as Andreas, or The Teacher, and was sometimes called Reyji, meaning god-king.
The guru encouraged all his devotees to look their best, which included having plastic surgery.
After 20 years, Gomez had gained 120 members.
But following a bombshell email from an ex-member in 2006, accusing Gomez of being a sexual predator, many members lost their faith in the leader and left the commune.
Now in his 80s, Gomez denies all the claims made against him and has reportedly moved the last of his loyal disciples to Hawaii.
Children of God
This secretive religious doomsday cult was founded by David Berg in America in 1968.
It eventually spread all over the world, including the UK.
The disturbing cult encouraged child sexual
