10 Cult Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True

Cult Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at 10 Cult Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True.

For this list, we’ll be looking at the most bizarre conspiracy theories about well-known cults and their existence that ended up being proven correct.

Did the aliens or a divine power hide any entries from our list? Let us know in the comments below.

Synanon

Synanon began as a drug treatment center, founded by Charles Dederich in 1958. The rehabilitation program soon morphed into an alternative community that practiced a truth-telling game, in which members were ridiculed as a form of therapy. This game quickly became a tool for Dederich to brainwash his members into slave labor, and unusual practices like shaving their heads and undergoing mass sterilizations. It didn’t take long for rumors from ex-members to filter out to the general public. The world at large learned about the cult when Dederich and some of his members were implicated in the attempted murder of one of their critics. Facing a long list of crimes, including tax fraud, Synanon shut its doors in 1991.

Aum Shinrikyo

In 1987, Shoko Asahara founded a yoga and meditation movement out of his one-bedroom Tokyo apartment. It grew so rapidly that it was registered as an official religion two years later. Aum Shinrikyo became known as a religion for the elite, attracting graduates from Japan’s top universities. Any warnings about its true nature as a doomsday cult were ignored by the police. That is, until a series of terrorist attacks with Sarin gas focused the world’s attention. In 1995, they carried out another onslaught, this time on five trains in the Tokyo subway. Thousands were injured and 13 people died. As a result, Asahara and 12 of his disciples were executed by the Japanese government in 2018.

Rajneesh Cult & Rajneeshpuram

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was an Indian mystic who gained a large following in the 1970s. Rajneesh and his followers settled in the U.S. in 1981, on a large ranch in Wasco County, Oregon. The compound grew into an incorporated city named Rajneeshpuram, which frequently clashed with neighboring towns. To the local Oregonian community, it seemingly became clear that this was a cult. In 1984, a radical sect of Rajneeshpuram carried out the largest bioterror attack in American history when they poisoned local restaurants and gave more than 700 people salmonella. It was part of a failed plot to take over the city government. Two officials of the group were convicted on charges related to the poisoning, while Rajneesh was eventually deported.

Order of the Solar Temple

The Order of the Solar Temple began as a New Age Spiritual movement in 1984, and amassed followers from Canada, Switzerland and France. The Order transformed quickly into a doomsday cult, raking in members and cash with their dark new philosophy. According to the group’s founders, Joseph di Mambro and Luc Jouret, the world was set to end sometime in the mid-90s. As a result, many of the members took their own lives or were killed during that period. In October 1994, police found bodies of the group’s followers in burnt buildings in Switzerland, France and Canada. In all, between September 1994 and March 1997, 74 members of the cult lost their lives.

Los Narcosatánicos

To the outside world, Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo was just another face in the crowd of the Mexican Gulf Cartel. The underworld, however, knew the truth: Constanzo and his followers were a dangerous group. In 1989, the world discovered that the Cuban-American crime lord led an occultic gang. Dubbed ‘Los Narcosatánicos’ by the media, Constanzo and his followers killed at least 16 people, including one American student, as part of a ritual sacrifice. Many of their bodies were discovered on his ranch. With the authorities on their tail, the gang fled to Mexico City, where Constanzo instructed one of his followers to shoot him. The rest of his group were arrested and sent to prison.

The Manson Family

Citizens of Los Angeles were aware of The Manson Family and dismissed them as hippies or a Hollywood curiosity. Their true nature was, however, much more insidious. Celebrities like Angela Lansbury had warned of the dangers of the group, after their children were almost recruited, but were seemingly ignored. By the late 1960s, Charles Manson had almost 100 followers, forcing amphetamines and LSD on most of them. Hippie culture papered over a Christian doomsday cult preparing for an apocalyptic race war. Manson radicalized his members into carrying out crimes ranging from vandalism to assault. Their spree culminated in 1969 with a series of murders, including the horrific killing of actress Sharon Tate.

NXIVM

NXIVM was a self-help organization that ultimately turned into a cult run by co-founder Keith Raniere. NXIVM quickly gained popularity, building its strength to around 700 members, at one point. Realizing their cult-like nature, some of those individuals left the group and reported their practices to investigative journalists. It would take a 2017 article by The New York Times to publicly reveal that NXIVM’s self-help brand was a front for racketeering and sex trafficking. Raniere and former “Smallville” actress Allison Mack enslaved female members and even branded some of them with his initials. The women were beaten and forced to provide kompromat to ensure their compliance. Both were sentenced to prison, although Mack was released in 2023.

The Branch Davidians

The Branch Davidians began as an extremist sect of Seventh-Day Adventism in the 1950s. By the early 1990s, after years of living below the radar, they finally drew the attention of the FBI. The feds had received intel suggesting that they were a doomsday cult. David Koresh, their Messiah, was stockpiling illegal weapons and holding underage “wives” at his compound in Waco, Texas. On February 28th, 1993, ATF agents raided the compound at Waco, but were met with heavy resistance. This kicked off a 51-day siege that ended in the ranch being engulfed in flames. Nearly 80 people died. The Waco siege gave birth to an extremist movement that inspired both the Oklahoma City Bombing and the modern-day American militia.

The Peoples Temple

Jim Jones founded the Peoples Temple in Indiana in 1954. It began as a progressive church; Jones supported civil rights and operated homes for the elderly and institutions for mental health treatment. The Peoples Temple was thought to be close to an egalitarian utopia. Rumors about its true nature soon began to circulate. In 1974, hoping to escape media scrutiny, Jones moved his community to ‘Jonestown,’ a compound in Guyana. Former members warned authorities that Jones was preparing a mass death. In 1978, Congressman Leo Ryan led a delegation with journalists and staffers to Jonestown. He and three of his delegates were murdered on the orders of Jones, who then fed a poisoned drink to his followers. Over 900 people were killed.

Heaven’s Gate

Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles founded a new church in 1974. Unlike other churches, Heaven’s Gate believed that they could get to paradise by hitching a ride on an alien spacecraft. In 1975, they convinced about 20 others to give up all their possessions, abandon their families, and disappear. Walter Cronkite covered the disappearance on “CBS Evening News,” giving the country a dire warning. The group vanished from thought and memory for years. They lived off the grid, traveling the country and camping. In March 1997, they made headlines for the first time in 22 years. Timed to coincide with the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet, the group assembled in a house in San Diego, where they all ended their own lives.