Talk:List of purported cults/Merged
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The following is a list of "cults" whose members killed themselves, each other, or others.
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[edit] Killed themselves or each other
Main article: Cult suicide
- In 1978, 914 American followers of Jim Jones died in a mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. The dead included 274 children. Alternative theory alleges the CIA in mass-murder.
- In 1997, 39 followers of the Heaven's Gate cult died in a mass suicide. Some male members of the cult underwent voluntary castration in preparation for the suicide.
- Between 1995 and 1997 74 members of a cult called the Order of the Solar Temple died in mass murder/suicides.
- Ugandan Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments. A breakaway group from the Roman Catholic Church in the late 1980's. In 2000, around 300 followers died in a fire in what was considered a mass suicide or. Investigations conducted after the fire discovered mass graves, raising the death toll to more than 1,000.
[edit] Killed others
Some destructive cults have been known to engage in murder.
- Charles Manson, inspired by a bizarre misinterpretation of the Beatles' song "Helter Skelter", led a group he called "the Family" to murder several people including Sharon Tate, the wife of film director Roman Polanski.
- Aum Shinrikyo murdered 12 subway passengers with sarin gas in a Tokyo subway on 20 March 1995. Over 5000 others suffered injury. The group still operates and has over 7,000 members, though it has changed its name to "Aleph" (see Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway).
[edit] Got killed
- On April 19, 1993, over 70 Branch Davidians, followers of David Koresh, died in a fire in Waco, Texas following a lengthy siege by United States federal law enforcement officials. Some alleged they were deliberately murdered by the law enforcement.
[edit] Alternate definitions
Steven Hassan classifies "cult groups" into "destructive cults" and "benign cults". By "destructive" he apparently means that they exploit their members, not that they're likely to commit crimes such as murder or suicide. [1]
