After chilling footage emerged of children being rescued from a US cult, we take a look at some of the most infamous groups
WORDS: FRANCES LEATE
Community, connection and meaning. As human beings, these are all normal things we crave, but they are also desires that can be played upon to lure ordinary and intelligent people into the ironically isolating and dangerous world of cults. Recently, shocking footage was released of two girls, aged seven and four, being rescued from a cult in the Utah desert in 2017. Wearing very little, they had been left in barrels in freezing conditions by cult leaders for more than 24 hours. But far from being just a US problem, experts believe there are around 2,000 cults operating in the UK. Woman’s Own asks why people join these groups and looks at some of the world’s most infamous cases…
THE MANSON ‘FAMILY’
It was against the backdrop of the hedonism and anti-establishment rhetoric of the 1960s that Charles Manson unleashed his campaign of influence over mainly young girls in San Francisco, recruiting them as lovers and members of his cult, dubbed the ‘Family’. The group of about 100 men and women eventually moved to a ranch in the San Fernando Valley where Manson convinced them he was Christ reincarnated.
To prove their commitment, the Family carried out several murders on his orders, including that of pregnant film actor Sharon Tate and four of her friends in 1969. It’s not known exactly how many people were ultimately killed, but Manson spent the rest of his life in prison for murder, dying of natural causes aged 83 in 2017.
PEOPLES TEMPLE
Jim Jones, a man obsessed with religion from a young age, opened his own church in Indianapolis 1956, and became famous for his spectacular faith healings where he’d appear to cure people of illness and disease. In the early 70s he started building his own settlement, Jonestown, in Guyana, South America, and in 1977 flocks of people came to live there. Conditions were basic and followers were effectively held hostage, with 24-hour armed guards patrolling the area.
In November 1978, following concern from relatives of his followers, California congressman Leo Ryan visited Jonestown to investigate. But Jones ordered armed supporters to shoot Ryan as he was leaving. Back on the compound, Jones managed to convince hundreds of his followers to drink a sugary drink laced with cyanide and those
