The Krotona Institute of Theosophy, a residential community and spiritual center that has been in Ojai, California, since the 1920s. The Manson Family can be seen as a communal religious cult dedicated to studying and implementing religious teachings drawn from science fiction. He led the mass suicide of over 900 followers on November 18, 1978, before dying of a gunshot. They give up their jobs, family ties, and money all to belong to an organization that promises eternal salvation. Members of the group believe the ancient world holds the key to unlocking the mysteries of the universe. His group adopted bizarre, unorthodox beliefs. Members of the group, which was founded in the mid-50s, believe in aliens and past lives, and used to make trippy films that were shown on local public access television. And how does someone know if the faith they are following is harmful? Self-professed guru and alleged bank robber Jim Baker (aka Father Yod and Ya Ho Wha) used his popular health food restaurant as a vector for spreading his cult. In 1973, Lewis Bostwick founded the Church of Divine Man and its subsidiary, the Berkeley Psychic Institute. One of the most high-profile former cult members is actor Joaquin Phoenix, whose family traveled with the cult around South America. The idea of free love was sold under the idea of saying yes to life, but it often resulted in unwanted actions. Married to a Mexican woman, Money was a quack doctor, an economic theorist, and the founder of the first cult in the region. On state occasions, she always appeared in the costume of an admiral of the fleet while the lay members of her entourage wore natty nautical uniforms. The Diamond, in Chicago. His loss of vision and claim of being able to read minds gained him a lot of followers. Paper hanger, stock salesman, and promoter, Ballard had been obsessed, since his childhood in Newton, Kansas, with visions of gold and jewels. With such a wide rooting, Ashara claimed he could transfer spiritual power to his followers while taking away their sins and bad deeds. When Mrs. Ballard was later convicted of mail fraud in the Federal court in Los Angeles, an audit of the books revealed that over $3,000,000 had been collected in sales, contributions, and love offerings.. If David Tormsen had to choose, he would definitely go with the Source Family. Karen Zerby, the current leader as of 2016, has been accused of sexually molesting children. As an eccentric, however, he was in advance of his time, an exceptional figure. "When I used my knife, it brought psychological relief. He was born in the US and was a musician, career criminal, and cult leader. The Bohemian Club's all-male membership includes . It seems like just a random house in a wealthy neighborhood was picked. In 1894 a visitor reported that two thousand Easterners were spending their winters in Pasadena; that they were all regular church communicants; and that there was not a grog shop in town.. Members of the Manson Family. Little did they know this would culminate in self-immolation and poisoning. He lost his vision due to an illness, which changed his outlook on the world. A few days later, a great memorial meeting was held for Sister at Angelus Temple, at which $35,000 was collected. While devotees worked at a local tomato-packing shed, their paychecks were collected by Blackburn and her husband. During these years, New Thought studio-lecture rooms sprang up throughout the city and the Metaphysicians May Day Festival became an annual civic event. Because he had so much free time, he reckoned he could spread his thoughts through public speaking at the Sarva Dharma Sammelan conference. He called himself Je Vam Marc Sus Pire and named one of his sons Jeva, a portmanteau of Jesus and vampire. The cult broke up when two nieces returned with relatives to retrieve their children. A magnificent sense of showmanship enabled her to give the Angelus Temple throngs a sense of drama and a feeling of release that probably did have some therapeutic value. Jim Jones, byname of James Warren Jones, (born May 13, 1931, Crete, near Lynn, Indiana, U.S.died November 18, 1978, Jonestown, Guyana), American cult leader who promised his followers a utopia in the jungles of South America after proclaiming himself messiah of the Peoples Temple, a San Francisco -based evangelist group. Their name was derived from the word symbiosis, which referred to a union of classes and races in this case. That is to say, the attack was in anticipation of Armageddon, which was believed to be a nuclear attack by the United States on Japan. There was a worldwide warrant for his arrest until it was overturned by Interpol. The first major prophetess of the region was unquestionably Katherine Tingley. To link to this article in the text of an online publication, please use this URL: https://historycooperative.org/six-of-the-most-famous-cult-leaders/. One reporter from SFGate reported that he went to the Berkeley Psychic Institute for an aura healing and ended up with a male healing session in which he was asked nonchalantly if he wanted his balls drained. Old ties have been loosened, old allegiances weakened. Cult leaders must be dynamic, charismatic, and convincing because their goal is to brainwash their members and acquire monetary or power-related advantages. Once this revelation was made, writes the biographer of Annie Besant, theosophists all over the world turned their eyes toward California as the Atlantis of the western sea. Bonnie Nettles, Leader of Heaven's Gate. But the real genesis of Ojai as an occult center may be traced to the publication, in the early twenties, of a magazine article by Dr. Ales Hrdlika predicting the rise of a new sixth sub-race. It seems that psychological tests given in California schools had revealed the existence of a surprising number of child prodigies; ergo, California was the home of the new sub-race. Rabbi Capers C. Funnye - rabbi of Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, Ill. Rev. Cult leaders are so charismatic, they have the ability to brainwash people into doing almost anything. He earned himself the title "Jack the Ripper" after a letter was written by a person claiming to be the famed serial killer. Some identify him with the rising number of tulkus (living Buddhas), who are granted certification for their enlightenment by bribing religious officials. This magazine has been fully digitized as a part of The Atlantic's archive. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. Indeed, only his followers would be able to truly understand. There might have been even more people since the cult often hid how many members there actually were. Following an anonymous tip, police enter a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive suburb of San Diego, California, and discover 39 victims of a mass . Expert advice on how to deal with slow repairs and weird move-out notices. This time, Charles Manson joined himself because the murders from the previous day werent frightening enough. Both humans and nonhumans have prostrated to H.H. Great emphasis is placed on words such as energy, wealth,jewels, riches, and power. The faithful are promised power by which they can acquire wealth, gold, radios, hotels, automobiles, jewels, and innumerable luxuries. THE outstanding cult movement in Southern California in the twenties, the Four Square Gospel was succeeded by still fancier cults in the thirties, By any standard the I AM cult is the weirdest mystical concoction that has ever issued from the region It is a witchs caldron of the inconceivable, the incredible, and the fantastic. Meanwhile, cult members worked long hours in cult-owned hotels, ranches, and shops for minimal pay. Crimes and sacrifices have been made in worship and honor of her, including those of serial killer Silvia Meraz, who murdered three people between 2009 and 2012. Read on to find out about some of the most notorious, infamous cults in history. Fantastic as this revelation may sound, Unveiled Mysteries began to sell like hot cakes at $2.50 a copy. In 1997, 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult killed themselves in San Diego, California, with the goal of catching up to a UFO following the comet Hale-Bopp. (One man had been tortured to death. Cults are led by charismatic leaders whose personalities draw people to them. 9 The Source Family Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults | Official Trailer | HBO Max. Although sex is taboo in the I AM creed it tends to divert divine energy it would be difficult to imagine a ritual in which sexual symbolism figured as prominently as it does in Master Saint Germains revelation. The Glendale, California, headquarters of the Ann Ree Colton Foundation of Niscience. He opened a sandal shop, followed by two health food restaurants. Although mass suicide was practiced many times, there was no set date for it to be conducted. They were once served to Ronald Reagan and at the Ritz-Carlton Hotels restaurant in San Francisco. Using the principle of the ray machine, power plants would be created capable of exterminating a million people at a single blast. Bell taught that only when 200 million people accepted the Mankind United plan would the sponsors emerge from hiding. IN SUCH an environment it was, of course, foreordained that a messiah would some day emerge. And to Ojai she brought Krishnamurti, the new messiah., Throughout the twenties, the annual encampments in Ojai were widely reported in the Southern Californian press, as thousands of people, mostly elderly neurotic women, trouped to Ojai to worship the messiah. To cite this article in an academic-style article or paper, use: Maup van de Kerkhof, "Six of the Most (In)Famous Cult Leaders", History Cooperative, December 26, 2022, https://historycooperative.org/six-of-the-most-famous-cult-leaders/. And if you needed deliverance, you just had to attend a Jim Green service. Under such headlines as Outrages at Point Loma Exposed by an Escape and Startling Tales from Tingley, sensational stories began to appear in the Los Angeles Times. Here, he would attract a devoted group of followers. Throughout a network of affiliated organizations the Universal Service Corporation, the International Institute of Universal Research, and the International Legion of Vigilantes the leaders of Mankind United received $97,500 in 1930 from the sale of Arthur Bells revelation. The following are examples of the most famous female cult leaders: Anne Hamilton-Byrne Anne Hamilton-Byrne claimed that she was Jesus Christ. Source: Getty Images. One of the first couples to settle at Point Loma, Dr. and Mrs. George F. Mohn, lived for some years in the Homestead before Mrs. Mohn first suspected that the Purple Mother was exerting a powerful influence on her husband. Here she built Angelus Temple at a reputed cost of $1,500,000. Because of his followers, Ashara was able to run for parliament in 1990. However, in 1972 capital punishment would be abolished by the state of California. One group has been praying for 118,260 hours. Jones' teachings were similar to liberation theology and socialist beliefs. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Gods of Death By 1920 Hollywood had begun to encroach upon Krotona, and Dr. Warrington decided to lead the faithful to the Ojai Valley, a section of Southern California thoroughly impregnated with occult and psychic influences. Several allegations were aimed at demolishing Joness power, but none of them resulted in anything significant that caused his downfall. While scouting for land for the group in Montana, they were picked up by a driver who talked to them about Christianity, and they felt the drawing presence of Jesus.. With already quite the following, Jim Jones and a thousand members of the Peoples Temple decided to flee the allegations and immigrated to Guyana. 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