#1 The Manson Family
We’ll start off with a classic, The Manson Family. Nearly 50 years after his most terrible deeds, the name Charles Manson is still synonymous with “cult leader.” He formed his group of followers in San Francisco in 1967 and later that year relocated to Los Angeles where he unsuccessfully attempted to promote himself as a musician.
The Manson Family, unlike other cults, did not have a strong religious component, but Charles Manson did experiment with Scientology and Satanism and had strange, quasi-religious beliefs.
Additionally, he foresaw a bloody race war in which African Americans would win but would later need to look to white survivors for leadership. He intended for his Manson family to go into hiding during the race war and then come out to seize power once it was over. This race war was named after the Beatles song “Helter Skelter”.
He sent some of his disciples to a Benedict Canyon home in August 1969 and instructed them to execute everyone there. In addition to celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, the victims included actress Sharon Tate, who was then wed to director Roman Polanski.
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I found this article to be very well written, with fascinating revelations!
It is a little disappointing, however, that there is no mention of the Jonestown massacre. Any information about James Jones’ cult is excluded.