10 Killer Cults You Should Know About

10 Killer Cults You Should Know About

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re discussing 10 Killer Cults You Should Know About.

For this list, we’ll be looking at some of the most dangerous religious sects in history. We won’t be including instances where people took their own lives unless murders were also involved.

Have you heard of all of these cults? Let us know in the comments.

Order of the Solar Temple

In 1984, Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro founded the Order of the Solar Temple in Switzerland. Their practices were allegedly inspired by the teachings of Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Ordo Templi Orientis, as well as Christianity’s Knights Templar. Like many cults, they believed in the fast-approaching second coming of Christ or the “solar God-King.” In September 1994, Di Mambro ordered followers in Quebec to kill fellow members Antonio and Nicky Robinson Dutoit along with their young son who he accused of being the antichrist. Then in October, 53 OTS members in Switzerland died by being poisoned, shot, or smothered with plastic bags, some voluntarily, others involuntarily. By 1997, 21 more members died in France and Quebec.

Los Narcosatánicos

In the 1980s and 90s, Matamoros, Mexico was home to a drug-smuggling, Satanic cult headed by Adolfo Constanzo and Sara Aldrete, whose beliefs were a mix of religions, mainly Palo Mayombe and Santería. The cult performed and sold “magical” good luck and protection spells to drug cartels and other wealthy, powerful figures. Constanzo believed the spells would be stronger using live human sacrifices rather than animals and bones collected from graves. They ritualistically killed rival cartel members as well as strangers, and on March 13, 1989, they abducted American college student Mark Kilroy. Among the discoveries at Constanzo’s desert home/ranch were weapons, drugs, and 15 corpses, though it’s suspected there were many more victims. The media dubbed them “Narcosatánicos,” or Satanic Drug Dealers.

The Vampire Clan

On the night of November 25, 1996, four teenagers from Murray, Kentucky — Dana Cooper, Scott Anderson, Charity Keesee, and Roderrick Ferrell — went to Eustis, Florida and killed Richard and Naomi Ruth Wendorf. The couple’s daughter Heather allegedly told Ferrell, who believed he was a 500-year-old vampire, that she was mistreated by her parents. And hours before their death, she was initiated into their blood-drinking “Vampire Clan.” While Ferrell and Anderson entered the home, Ferrell alone attacked Mr. Wendorf while he was asleep, beating him to death with a crowbar. When his wife walked in on the grisly scene, she met the same fate. Heather was never charged but the others were convicted of first and third-degree murder. Ferrell was sentenced to death at just 17, becoming the nation’s youngest death row inmate. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

The Chicago Ripper Crew

In the early 1980s, Chicago had a series of abductions and ritualistic murders committed by a four-man cult led by Robin Gecht, who oddly enough once worked for serial killer John Wayne Gacy. In October 1982, two young women who survived horrific encounters with the crew were able to identify their attackers, leading to the arrests of Gecht and Edward Spreitzer that month and brothers Andrew and Thomas Kokoraleis in November. All but Gecht confessed to abducting and performing unspeakable acts on more than a dozen women before killing them. Spreitzer was also charged with an unrelated shooting of two men. He and Gecht will be in prison for life, while Andrew was executed in 1999. Shockingly, Thomas was released in 2019.

The Kirtland Cult

After Missouri native Jeffrey Lundgren was excommunicated from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) in 1988, he started his own radicalized sect. As they were allegedly preparing for the Second Coming, Lundgren declared that the Avery family were disloyal and “spiritually unclean.” On April 17, 1989, Dennis and Cheryl Avery, and their three daughters, were invited over for dinner. Lundgren shot and killed all five of them in a barn and then left their bodies in a pit. It wasn’t until January 1990 that Lundgren and his family were found and arrested. That year he was convicted of five counts of murder and kidnapping and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in October 2006.

The Fall River Cult

As “Satanic Panic” swept the nation in the late 70s/early 80s, three young women — Doreen Levesque, Barbara Raposa, and Karen Marsden — were ritualistically murdered in Fall River, Massachusetts. All three were sex workers tied to a satanic cult allegedly led by local pimp Carl Drew. Robin Murphy testified that Drew made her kill Marsden as a sacrifice to the Devil. Murphy also accused fellow cult member Andrew Maltais of killing Raposa, his girlfriend, for which he was found guilty. Drew was sentenced to life for Marsden’s murder. For testifying, Murphy was charged with second-degree murder and given life with the possibility of parole. As of November 2022, no one has been charged with Levesque’s murder.

Aum Shinrikyo

Founded by Shoko Asahara in 1987, Aum Shinrikyo, a yoga class turned doomsday cult, mixed various religious beliefs including Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity. Asahara’s thousands of followers believed he possessed god-like powers like mind control and healing. Once Asahara allegedly prophesied the end of the world, the cult stockpiled weapons and manufactured drugs, made political assassination attempts and chemical weapons attacks, though some were unsuccessful. They carried out the murder of a fleeing member, as well as the murders of anti-cult lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family. In March 1995, Aum was behind the fatal Tokyo subway sarin attack which killed 13 people and injured over 5,000 others. Asahara and 12 of his followers were executed in July 2018.

The Branch Davidians

In 1981, Vernon Howell joined an offshoot of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists in Waco, Texas, called the Branch Davidians. By 1990, Howell changed his name to David Koresh, and became their leader. He claimed God told him he was the “chosen one,” and according to former members, had at least 20 wives. Koresh was controlling and encouraged followers to severely punish children. He constantly preached about the impending apocalypse and stockpiled a large number of firearms and ammunition. Their possession of illegal weapons led the ATF to raid the compound on Feb. 28, 1993, beginning a 51-day siege. By April 19, four ATF agents and 82 Davidians were killed, including Koresh.

The Manson Family

Charles Manson and his “Family” are one of the most widely known cults in history. The Family, primarily made up of impressionable young women and girls, were regularly given drugs and told about a race war Manson called Helter Skelter. On August 8, 1969, allegedly under Manson’s instruction, followers Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel brutally killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four guests in her Los Angeles home on Cielo Drive. The next night, Manson had Leslie Van Houten join Watson and Krenwinkel in murdering Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. At both scenes, victims’ blood was used to write sayings like “Death to pigs” to implicate the Black Panthers. Family members were famously convicted of murder along with their leader.

Peoples Temple

Jim Jones established the Peoples Temple in the 1950s and by the 1970s, he had amassed thousands of followers. On the surface, Jones was an advocate for racial equality and social change. But soon people realized he was manipulative, power-hungry, and cruel. In 1978, some moved from California to the Guyanese compound named Jonestown, a place their leader claimed was a utopia. On November 17, Congressman Leo Ryan and a group of journalists came to investigate alleged mistreatment. The next day, over 900 people died after ingesting cyanide-laced Flavor Aid, with some being shot for resisting, including Ryan and members who tried to leave. Many were injected with cyanide against their will, including hundreds of children.