What do you do when not facing mutant marvels and battling in wild mental planescapes in Legion? If you’re Dan Stevens, you apparently spend your time investigating old-timey cults that are proooooobably up to no good.
Shoko Asahara—the leader of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult behind the 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo’s subway that killed 13 and poisoned thousands—has been executed.
The Rajneesshee cult started building their utopian city of the future in rural Oregon during the early 1980s. And while it all began with peace and love, it ended with attempted murder, the exploitation of thousands of homeless people, and cult leaders who ordered the poisoning of an entire town by spraying salad…
American Horror Story’s latest venture is Cult, looking at what happens when an enigmatic personality goes a step too far and things turn deadly. It’s an interesting premise, especially considering it’s using the 2016 US presidential election as its starting point, but it’s not exactly unique.
In September of 1984, at least 751 people got violently sick in The Dalles, Oregon. At first, no one in the town could figure out why. Those sickened had all eaten at ten different restaurants in the area, but local health officials couldn’t find a common food that may have caused their illness. A year later, they…
We’ve been eagerly following the rise of Satanic TV, thanks to new shows like Lucifer and Damien. But it turns out there’s room for another sinister trend: cults! A just-announced, Jake Gyllenhaal-backed drama for A&E joins upcoming Hulu series The Path in delving into this scary subject.
I think Rob Rhinehart is trying to turn himself into some sort of creepy nerd messiah. Today he posted a giant essay to promote the release of Soylent 2.0, the next version of his sperm-esque food replacement drink. It was all about how he’s given up alternating current so he can get ready for his life as a space…
Pinterest—the mason jar lobby’s most effective propaganda apparatus—is an aggressively wholesome social platform. It’s The Container Store of social networks, but past the arrangements of DIY barn-wedding souvenirs, there’s another Pinterest, one focused on surviving doom.
The Blackburn Cult, also known by the far more mystically delicious moniker “Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven,” was dreamed up by a mother-daughter duo who got into the religion business in 1924, after having visions of angels ... and visions of dollar signs.
Paul Morantz knew Synanon would try to kill him. He just didn’t know how or when.
Every month, the bills get paid on time. The emails get answered, and any orders filled. Which, for HeavensGate.com, is positively extraordinary. Because as far as the public is aware, every last member of the suicide cult died 17 years ago from a cocktail of arsenic and apple sauce. A few stayed behind, though.…
Supreme court judges in the UK have ruled that Scientology is a "place of meeting for religious worship." Louisa Hodkin launched a suit after officials refused to register a Scientology chapel as a place for marriage. The judges said religions don't require a God — potentially paving the way for Jedi marriages.
In the past, we've examined some hilarious forms of body armor for both human and hound.But in terms of sheer flamboyance, it's hard to beat this suit of Roman crocodile armor from the third century, AD.
This week sees the big-screen debut of Sound of My Voice, the indie sensation centered around a mysterious cult leader (Brit Marling) who claims to be from the future.
What if you were introduced to a spiritual guru who claimed to have traveled back in time from the year 2054? What would it take to make you believe her? Those are some of the questions raised by The Sound of My Voice, the Sundance sensation that's coming to select theaters on April 27.
This is the 1980s toe-tapper "Cathy Don't Go" (lyrics and en Español), an earworm New Wave number that almost certainly ripped off Survivor's "Jackie Don't Go." Unlike Survivor's ditty, "Cathy Don't Go" was written by the evangelical doomsday cult The Family International about how the Antichrist is controlling us…
Chances are you're familiar with such Troma Entertainment flicks as The Toxic Avenger and Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD. Kitschy fun, right? Well, let's watch the infamous ending of the 1989 child cannibal flick Beware! Children At Play.
The besieged Mexican government has a new tool in the info war against drug cartels: animated, online propaganda comics set to electronic beats.
Before their sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, the Aum Shinrikyo cult released a series of bizarre anime recruitment videos starring their bearded leader Shoko Asahara levitating, phasing, and using other ridiculous supernatural powers.
