I recently unlocked a new lifetime achievement level: I met my first cult leader. But why do people join cults?

As a charismatic woman who makes friends easily, I’ve always joked about making a great cult leader someday. I listen to a lot of true crime. I often binge-listen to deep investigative journalism podcasts late at night, tumbling down rabbit holes with Delia D’Ambra. I’m not sure what fascinates me more, cult leaders or serial killers. I swear I’m a mostly-normal person.

At 39, I’ve been facing some personal demons. Without my husband, I’m not sure how I’d handle things that have come to light about my childhood on my own. I can see where it may be tempting to lean on someone who appears to be a good listener and offers a solution to coping with the darkness in the corners of my conscious.

I’d like to think of the things that linger there, the ones that I can’t quite grasp, as those little puffy dust bunnies in the children’s anime Totoro. Those little dust bunnies creep in when it’s dark. You aren’t quite sure if they’re really there. Just when you’re about to reveal one—it’s gone. Was it ever there at all?

That movie, and the original 1982 dark fantasy film The Dark Crystal featuring a cult, shaped my young psyche. Maybe it was because I watched them as a way of tuning out other things, wanting them to be more real than the things I was going through. I recently re-watched The Dark Crystal with my youngest son and was shocked to realize it was based on an evil alien cult that brainwashed and killed innocent people and creatures in order to live forever. Yup. It’s a children’s movie, I swear.

I’m not afraid of the dark. I remember the thrill of running through the woods alone at night as a child. I would pretend something was chasing me just for the thrill. But I am afraid of people. Animals live on instinct and to fill their biological necessities. People hide things, lie, and pretend to be things they are not.

On a recent trip to Hawaii, I personally witnessed the allure for both shepherds and lost sheep to a focused area of the Big Island. Maybe it’s the life-for-today aspects of living on an active volcano on the most remote islands in the world. Young people looking for acceptance, free love and community flock to that part of the tropical island to stay in spiritual retreats as smoke still rises from open fishers from recent lava flows only miles away. It’s also an area with land that is more affordable, which means those with limited finances flock there too. So why do people join cults? People are often looking for a new start, and maybe struggling. Here is a flyer I saw in town.

I saw a lot of naked hippies, and stayed in a home with literally no part offering privacy. There were windows between the bedroom walls and in the bathroom in front of the toilet and tub. A shower stall abutted the living room wall and had a glass panel. Both outdoor showers had only three walls, and one was directly in front of the downstairs doorway. My husband and I did our best to blend for a week, to just have fun with it, but we bailed on the last day when I’d been invited to stay in the home of the cult leader himself. That was too close.

It could be way worse. Let’s talk about extremist, disturbing cults that prey on people’s vulnerabilities in deeply sinister ways. In Kenya’s Shakahola Forest the bodies of over 400 emaciated bodies were found, including children. They had died of self-starvation because a man told them they would live eternally in an imaginary place. Accept for the children. They hadn’t started themselves to death—their own parents had watched them slowly die. They tortured their own children. And for what? How could they not see the evil they had become?

Cult leaders find ways to isolate cult members from their family and friends, control their thoughts and actions, and often drain them of their assets—or even their lives.  

Why do people join cults and how do cult leaders find followers?

The required ingredient for a cult is people experiencing life crises like divorce, job loss, or the death of a loved one are particularly susceptible. They’re often seeking meaning, purpose, or a sense of belonging. Loneliness can make individuals more receptive to joining a group that promises community and acceptance. Young people, in particular, are often drawn to idealistic ideologies. Cults can capitalize on this by offering a utopian vision of the world.

Cults are masters of manipulation. They use tactics to gain control over members with affection and attention to foster dependency. Cutting members off from loved ones back home stops them from leaving. Cult members feel they have burned bridges beyond repair, and aren’t welcome back. Small commitments escalate into increasingly outlandish demands. Punishments meet those whom dare to question the cult’s beliefs to reinforce loyalty.

The famous Kool-Aid cult: The Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones, ended in the mass suicide and murder of 918 Americans in 1978.

They willingly died in a cult compound on 3,800 acres of isolated jungle in South American. It was called Jonestown—because of course it was— which was a utopia built for his huge California-based congregation.

Heaven’s Gate was a UFO-obsessed cult with 39 members killed who themselves in 1997 to board a spaceship behind a comet.

Heaven’s Gate had two members stay behind to keep the website running. It is still up and looks straight from the 90’s: www.heavensgate.com There are some of the other members in bunk beds.

Probably the most famous cult was the The Manson Family led by Charles Manson who orchestrated a series of gruesome murders in the late 1960s, highlighting the dangerous potential of cult indoctrination. You may have noticed I’m not showing any leader faces here—that’s what they want. I’m not giving them that, dead or alive.

Are cults illegal? It depends on their level of extremism. Law enforcement agencies struggle to intervene in cult activities due to complex legal issues and the challenges of prosecuting charismatic cult leaders.

Top 20 cults active in 2024

The Brethren • Brothers and Sisters • The Road Ministry

This cult formed in 1971 by Jimmie T. Roberts who thought churches at that time had become materialistic than spiritual. His goal was to form a group of modern traveling disciples like the disciples who followed Jesus in the New Testament. At times, the nomadic group was seen in dumpsters looking for food.

Congregation for the Light

Also known as Manhattan’s Secret Cult, the Congregation for the Light started in the 1960s. Members are told to keep their practices and teachings private from outsiders. First hand accounts say that everyone in the Congregation must prioritize weekly meetings above any other obligation. Additionally, they believe that past karma directly affects if people get sick or suffer other bad consequences. Members have reacted negatively to lgbt+ initiates, discourage women from attending college outside of New York and enforce physical punishment to young members. Since congregation leaders don’t write much down, many of their specific tenets remain shrouded in mystery.

Apostles of Infinite Love • The Order of the Magnificat of the Mother of God

After seeing a vision from god, cult leader Michael Collin formed a Catholic-based group that merged with another religious group in Canada to form Apostles of Infinite Love. When police tried to investigate reports that young people were being mistreated in the 60s, the authorities found it hard to locate the vulnerable victims. A former member named Germain Currier claimed adults in the group actively kept him from being discovered. The Apostles of Infinite Love, is now known as The Order of the Magnificat of the Mother of God and are still around.

Love Has Won

Love Has Won members believe their cult leader Amy Carlson is nearly 20 billion years old since being reincarnated countless times. Members have been made to feel guilty for transgressions committed in past lives put in their heads by this truly manipulative cult leader. Followers also spend hours being criticized by their peers. Their food and sleep schedules are controlled by their leader. When Carlson fell ill, her followers didn’t seek medical attention due to her own teachings. Following her death, the group splintered into The Joy Rains and 5D Full Disclosure cults.

Kashi Ashram

Kashi Ashram was founded in 1976 when Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, born Joyce Green, in a Florida commune. The cult leader was found at the center of scandal for underage marriages in the cult. Cult followers were strongly encouraged to produce children by Ma Jaya. The founder’s name was found on birth certificates of infants outside of her family. The religious leader forced one of her own daughters marry. There were also numerous accounts of people of all ages being physically assaulted for not doing what Ma Jaya commanded. Her organization still continued to move forward after the leader’s death in 2012.

Word of Faith Fellowship

There are conflicting reports as to whether people in this organization follow a list of rules that range from asking permission to buy cars to having to ask what their college major will be. But the Word of Faith Fellowship has definitely stirred up a lot of controversy. According to former members, congregants who didn’t follow rules were subject to physical or mental torment. Known as “blasting” within the organization, members were allegedly punished for their sexual orientation, impure thoughts, acting out in school and more. Over 40 members once came forward to the Associated Press to detail horror stories about what happened to them. To this day, founders Jane and Sam Whaley continue to insist that the Fellowship is free of wrongdoing.

The Nuwaubian Nation

When Dwight York A.KA. Malachi Z. York started what would become The Nuwaubian Nation in New York, his followers were instructed to give up material possessions. They were also expected to raise a certain amount of money or face physical punishment. After attracting more followers, York moved his organization to Georgia and built an Egyptian themed headquarters. After claiming he lived in a sovereign state, local officials arrested him for the reports of what happened there. York was charged with over 100 counts of mistreating young people that were a part of The Nuwaubian Nation. He was sentenced to 135 years in prison for his various crimes. However, York’s followers still kept the belief system alive.

Unification Church

This Christian organization was started by Sun Myung Moon, a man who would eventually declare himself as a new Messiah. Throughout the 20th century, the Unification Church’s push for members to make expensive donations that were coined as “Spiritual sales” was criticized. This religious movement also drew ire because of its anti LGBT+ stance and ties to several political causes. The latter criticism came to the forefront in the wake of a major 2022 incident. After a man named Tetsuya Yamagami saw his mother go bankrupt to support the group, he targeted high ranking members. He assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe because the politician had associations with the Unification Church. The crime drew more attention to the already controversial organization.

The Nation of Yahweh

A religious movement begun by Yahweh ben Yahweh became the source of serious acts of violence. After the group was criticized for promoting violent Black supremacist ideals, multiple incidents suggested that members were taking lives. Additionally, multiple people who tried to leave the group were either threatened with violence, brutally assaulted or even killed. Those who stayed within the group weren’t safe from punishment. Members who failed to meet quotas to collect money were subjected to physical torment. In 1991, Yahweh ben Yahweh faced jail time for his involvement in 14 murders. His incarceration eventually caused the group to retreat for two years before it returned and continued. While current leaders have moved away from the violent teachings, the movement’s dark history still remains.

The Church of Bible Understanding

American members who left this group reported that their time with this church was exceedingly difficult. Founder Robert Traill pushed for followers to completely disconnect from their old lives. Once inside, members were expected to give the majority of their earnings to The Church. While Traill and the organization profited, they lived in overcrowded and sometimes pest-filled places. Cult members were cut off from the outside world and told not to marry. The cult continues to operate orphanages in Haiti with horrible conditions which government officials have had little luck in doing anything about.

The Rajneesh Movement • Osho

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a controversial philosophy scholar and professor, founded his cult in the 1960s based on free thought, meditation and sexual freedom with an influence from communist literature. Rajneesh moved his facility to Oregon in the 1980s following a controversy in India, only to find the same hostilities in the US. The cult carried out a mass salmonella poisoning and tried to kill a US attorney. He was deported and reestablished his commune in India in 1985 before dying in 1990. The cult, now called Osho, is still active.

Order of the Solar Temple • International Order of Chivalry Solar Tradition

The Order of the Solar Temple was founded in Geneva in 1984. The Order took its influence from the Knights Templar which had been reformed into several factions in 1805. In its heyday, the Order had a presiding council, as well as multiple “lodges” around the world, in which they would perform initiation rites and ceremonies. The Order believed that an apocalyptic event would occur sometime in the mid-90s, and that in order to survive, they had to achieve a higher plane of existence. In the mid-nineties, over seventy of its members were murdered or took their own lives, with more to follow. Despite this, the group is still thought to have between 140 and 500 active members.

Raëlism • UFO Religion

Though its classification as a cult is sometimes debated, Raëlism was (or is still) at some point in the cult category. It’s essentially what’s called a UFO Religion, and was founded in France by Claude Vorilhon in 1974. They believe that an alien race known as Elohim created humans; the Elohim have been mistaken for gods, historically, and any prophetic figure (such as Jesus or Muhammad) was created by them. Vorilhon, known as Raël, is the fortieth and final prophet. Followers believe that the world is in an “age of apocalypse,” and that new technologies must be developed, after which time the Elohim will return to Earth and share their extraterrestrial knowledge with us. Current Raëlian members were counted at around 18,000 in 2017.

Aleph • Aum Shinrikyo

Aleph was founded in Japan in 1987 by Chizuo Matsumoto, who changed his name to Shoko Asahara. This doomsday cult’s beliefs combine aspects of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, Christian Millenarianism, yogic practices and the prophecies of Nostradamus. It started off fairly tame, a lot like what I saw when I visited Hawaii in 2024. The cult became notorious for committing extortion, murders, attacks, and forced memberships. They manufactured sarin gas, and attacked a Tokyo subway in 1995 injuring 1,000 people going about their day. Some prominent members were executed in 2018, but they are still thought to be active.

Twelve Tribes

Founded in Tennessee during the evangelical Jesus movement of the 1970s, the Twelve Tribes looked like a simple, wholesome community. It aspires to recreate the original Christian church as depicted in the Book of Acts. The cult leaders exerts authoritarian control including corporal punishments that led to child abuse accusations. Followers are taught that Jews are cursed for murdering Jesus, gay people should be killed, and Black people are born servants. The group has often flown under the radar, but there’s a lot more going on beneath the smiling and folk dancing. Folk dancing really is a culty thing, I’m not sure why.

Happy Science

Founded in 1986 by Ryuho Okawa, Happy Science focuses on a four-fold path to happiness. Cult members attend seminars and training in order to climb the group ladder. They worship El Cantare, a being born over 300 million years ago on Earth and reincarnated as their cult leader Okawa himself. The organization can cure the pandemic with spiritual vaccines. Okawa’s son left the group, denouncing his father. Happy Science claims to have eleven million followers, however a former member has said it’s closer to 30,000 cult members.

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

The LDS church spawned some fundamentalist sects when the core religion renounced polygamy and branched off as Mormon-based sect. An entire FLDS community was arrested in Colorado City in 1953, Arizona and most of them lost their children. A Texas cult commune was raided in 2008 following allegations of child abuse. Over 400 children were taken from the compound and placed in CPS custody. Leader of FLDS Warren Jeffs remains in his position despite being in prison for life after acts against minors. The cult has between 6,000 and 10,000 active followers.

Superior Universal Alignment • Lineamiento Universal Superior • UFO cult

Founded by Valentina de Andrade in 1981 after she received messages from aliens telling her the world was gong to end. If, however, she shared their warnings with others, she and her followers would be saved. The cult believes Jesus was an alien messenger, and that males born after 1981 are evil, and should die as offerings to the superior beings. Between 1989-1993, nineteen Brazilian boys were mutilated and left to die in the jungle. Some cult members are imprisoned, but the cult leader was acquitted.

The Family International • The Children of God

The Children of God was founded in 1968 by David Berg by using sex to lure cult members. Berg called this method of recruitment Flirty Fishing. They established 130 colonies in 70 countries. The Family International frame their beliefs on the teachings of the Bible by loving Jesus through sexual interaction. There have been a lot of child abuse allegations raised against them. Celebrities such as River and Joaquin Phoenix, and Rose McGowan, were raised in this cult before eventually leaving. The cult is active with 1,450 members.

Executive Success Programs • NXIVM • The Vow

NXIVM started a self-help group in 1998 by Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman when they began offering Executive Success Programs. In 2017, former members urged authorities to investigate, initially for a sub-group within NXIVM called The Vow, a group of women branded with Raniere’s initials and on a rotation to have relations with the founder and recruit members, in a pyrimid sex scheme. In 2018, Raniere and five female members were charged for several crimes including extortion, sex trafficking. Raniere got 120 years in prison.