Obscure Cults

Seattle had a group called the Love Family for many years -- I've known people who were members. One of the leaders was the son of a famous TV personality whose name escapes me at the moment...

If international cults help, I just thought of Japan's Aum Shinrikyo (the one guilty of the sarin gas attacks).

Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo

They seem to share common traits with the other cults you've mentioned, including isolation, stockpiling of weapons, and very rigid groupthink and control.

"Golden Dawn" is the grand daddy of them all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetic_Order_of_the_Golden_Dawn

Aleister Crowley broke off and founded "Ordo Templi Orientis". That's a cult if there ever was one.

And there's "Illuminates of Thanateros" a more modern version.

Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross, an old masonic one. The most famous is probably Adam Weishautpt's "Illuminati".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati

You might want to check up on the "Righteous Harmony Society". Fits your bill for a cult. But ended up having millions of followers in China and started a chain of events that eventually led to the fall of the Chinese imperial dynasty. It is called the Boxer rebellion today. It came to heavily influence Chinese communism. It's very cultish IMHO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteous_Harmony_Society

You've got Discordianism. The worship of chaos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism

I love crazy cults. I love crazy conspiracy theories about cults too. Good material for stories.

Most of the cults that fly below the radar do not self identify as either a cult or a religion. They don't put anything in writing. They go to church, temple, mosque etc and pretend to be part of the local predominant scene. When they get home, their patriarch (usually) is the conduit to their god and fills their heads with other stuff on top of the local religion. Nobody the children attempt to date is ever good enough unless that person is easily swayed by the cult leader. Neighbors tend to describe them as a "close knit family." Just like a cult though, the only way anyone leaves is by running away and often changing their name.

My personal favorite is Demeter Cult
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demeter

For some reason, it is rather popular in Belgian comic books for adults (not porn, but not aimed at children).

It does have echoes in the Lancelot myths as well

What was the cult that Timothy McVey was associated with?

Synanon - Founded by Chuck E Dederich as a drug treatment centre, it quickly (and by quickly, I mean quickly) devolved into a cult. Got some funding from MKULTRA and a few experiments were run there. More closely aligned to what you are asking for as there was considerable isolation of youth despite parent's wishes, as well as adults who were told that they could not leave voluntarily.

CEDU - Chuck E Dederich University. Founded by a follower of Chuck E Dederich, CEDU is meant to more resemble a school. It closed in 2005 and its schools were bought by one conglomerate, which was then bought by Bain Capital (re: Mitt Romney.)

WWASP - Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs. Founded by the Lichfield brothers (one of them, Robert, was the head of finance for Romney's 2008 campaign.) Known for whisking children away from programs without parent's consent and stringing the parents along to extract money from them. Maybe more just private prison/concentration camp than a communal living.

There's this site, I don't know why they took it down (and then linked to the archive.org copy - maybe they didn't want to keep paying for hosting):
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/
The introduction and main page (in the archive site - these links may load slowly) are here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060907005952/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/relmove/
This is the list of groups they've studied, which looks pretty comprehensive, and was close to up to date about 10 years ago when the site was active. Scroll down through here and read the names - many are sure to be familiar to you:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060902...ments.lib.virginia.edu/profiles/listalpha.htm
This site really discusses everything, from major religious groups to small fringe groups, without saying whether such a group is a "cult." That's a derogatory word that virtually no group would use for itself, though from reading some of the writings on that site, a century ago the word had no more negative connotation than sect.

The list also includes multi-level marketing groups, both generally and a few specific ones. The list calls them para-religious groups abd direct sales organizartion, but informally I'd call them "business cults" as opposed to religious cults. Amway, for example, would be a business cult because of the way it operates and the beliefs it promotes - specifically regarding how to get rich - even though the founder was a strong Christian and there may be some Christian theology in the founder's and group's writings).

I read through a lot of that site about ten years ago, and have read quite a few books on cults. Be aware that what gets called a cult and why can vary quite a bit between different authors, as the word in its derogatory definition quite nebulous. Definitions have been derived from the thought that "I know it when I see it. Some might say "such and such can't be a cult because it doesn't have a living leader (I've seen an "expert on destructive cults" use this definition online), but that' not necessarily so. Perhaps the best way to decide is to make a list of the specific characteristics of groups that are widely known to be destructive and that many agree are "cults" and then see how many of these characteristics apply to a group in question. The more characteristics that apply, the more easily it is to label it a cult.

One more thing, this 12-minute film is a hoot. It doesn't name names, but it describes a LOT of common techniques. But watch out, that music is gonna hypnotize you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnNSe5XYp6E

Ben, the film... GAH!

The music... it... won't... stop... ye gods!

Make... it... stop!

You were right!

Disturbing is an understatement.

This guy was one of my favourites and might be along the lines you are talking about . .

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...xKS0CA&usg=AFQjCNG-5Ly0omw09tXIn6_kIyb7pPPAtA

Culthlep might be a good resource for you, and there are a lot of modern resources for helping people who might be locked in a cult. When you google, try looking for resources for getting out of a cult. That may bring up new resources.

Edit: could I possibly use "resources" a few more times? Jeez.

bethanythemartian said:

Culthlep might be a good resource for you, and there are a lot of modern resources for helping people who might be locked in a cult. When you google, try looking for resources for getting out of a cult. That may bring up new resources.

Edit: could I possibly use "resources" a few more times? Jeez.

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Not all such "resources" are good ones, in fact I strongly suggest being very cautious for anyone seeking help this way. People who've been in one "high-demand, coercive group" and leave it often fall into another one, often in an attempt to "recover" from the first.

Here's an example of such a "resource" that may have been helpful at one time (it was founded in response to the Jonestown deaths in hopes of preventing another such incident), but which got sued numerous times and whose name and records (including names and phone numbers of people who had called it seeking information or help) are now owned by one of the groups it was investigating:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_Awareness_Network

This writing is about speaking to a member of a specific group, but it's quite applicable to many or most such groups just by changing some keywords:
http://www.xenu.net/archive/infopack/16.htm

benbradley said:

There's this site, I don't know why they took it down (and then linked to the archive.org copy - maybe they didn't want to keep paying for hosting):
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/

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I actually wrote two of the articles on that website -- the ones on Wicca and Druids. The site was pioneered by a professor who has since died. It may be that his replacement wasn't as interested in new religious movements.

Heaven's Gate (Marshall Applewhite)
Ervil LeBaron (renegade Mormon polygamist serial killer)
Jeffrey Lindgren (renegade Mormon polygamist mass murderer, which is the Kirkland cult you mention, or part of it)
Rajneeshees.
In the 19th Century, the Millerites, in the U.S., and the thuggee, in India.

Some would accuse Opus dei and the Jesuits of being cults.

Oh, and:

Amway.

caw

blacbird said:

Heaven's Gate (Marshall Applewhite)

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The Heaven's Gate people passed through Alta, Utah, where I worked. They worked a short time at a neighboring lodge. They were a bit odd, but seemed to be quite pleasant people. Never dreamed what it would come to,

benbradley said:

Not all such "resources" are good ones, in fact I strongly suggest being very cautious for anyone seeking help this way. People who've been in one "high-demand, coercive group" and leave it often fall into another one, often in an attempt to "recover" from the first.

Here's an example of such a "resource" that may have been helpful at one time (it was founded in response to the Jonestown deaths in hopes of preventing another such incident), but which got sued numerous times and whose name and records (including names and phone numbers of people who had called it seeking information or help) are now owned by one of the groups it was investigating:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_Awareness_Network

This writing is about speaking to a member of a specific group, but it's quite applicable to many or most such groups just by changing some keywords:
http://www.xenu.net/archive/infopack/16.htm

Click to expand...

Since the OP is trying to find out information about cults in general, either type of resource could prove useful. However, this is a good point.

And then there's the Hindu/hippie variants.

There's the Sri Chinmoy cult.

http://www.srichinmoy.org/

A close friend of mine grew up in the cult and ended up going on a crusade against him. He uncovered a mess of sexual misconduct from Sri Chinmoy and found that the cult even had their own hitmen of sorts. Really weird. My friends crusade and website is over and gone today. But here's some surviving scraps.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/srichinmoy/srichinmoyvisitor.html

Sai Baba cult.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba

He was constantly flooded with accusations of molesting boys.


And then there's Osho.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osho_(Bhagwan_Shree_Rajneesh)

I can't help but like Osho. He made no pretences about that he liked living in large with limos, luxury wine and group sex. How couldn't you like a guy like that? But the fact remains that it's still very much a cult.

blacbird said:

Some would accuse Opus dei and the Jesuits of being cults.

Oh, and:

Amway.

caw

Click to expand...

And barbershop singers.

Shakers.

They banned sex and one of their goals was for them (and all humanity) to die out.

Although a few were still around when I was a child, I think they reached that goal. Far as I know there are no more Shakers, though their furniture remains a favorite with interior decorators looking for simplistic design.

Edit add: There is a community in ME with three (female) members. I would assume they are all elderly.

jaksen said:

Shakers.

They banned sex and one of their goals was for them (and all humanity) to die out.

Although a few were still around when I was a child, I think they reached that goal. Far as I know there are no more Shakers, though their furniture remains a favorite with interior decorators looking for simplistic design.

Edit add: There is a community in ME with three (female) members. I would assume they are all elderly.

Click to expand...

That's a description of early Christianity as well. Probably the kind of Christianity at the time of the, alleged, life of Jesus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thecla

She was one of the three most venerated saints, Mary and Jesus topping her. She's the saint of abstinence. Early Christians believed that women could be promoted to the rank of men if they remained virgins their whole life. Life long abstinence was the ideal for both men and women. It caught on and became a movement, which the Roman government saw as a threat to the economy and army. So they repressed it until it vanished. Obviously a movement like this is likely to die out all on it's own.

Early Christian gender theory rested on the theories of Galen. Man is perfect, and woman is the result of some sort of sickness or trauma during pregnancy. So they're inherently flawed. It's not in the Bible, but if one is familiar with Galen and then read it, it's pretty obvious it's implied.

That was a lot of digressions. When I came across Thecla and her position in the early church I was fascinated as to why Thecla had been kicked out as a saint. I ended up researching it and nothing else for a week.

I also came across the apokalypses during this research. It's connected to the abstinence ideal. Since the world was about to end it really didn't matter if one had babies. So sex had no place in the soon-to-end Christian world. Loads of apokalypses were written in the early period. The reason the apokalypse of Jon was included in the Christian canon (ie Book of Revelation) was because it'd already come true. It's all about Nero and his fall. We don't even need to guess what the allegories meant. They were well defined and well known back then. And we know what it all means today.

So it's funny about all these Evangelicals today trying to figure out alternative interpretations for the Book of Revelation. We really don't need to guess.

Tom of Sweden,
Come on, man, why stir up trouble?

...at the time of the, alleged, life of Jesus.

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Billions of people believe that the man existed. You may not. You might be passionate in your disbelief. You may think a lot of negative things about Christians.

But there's such a thing as tact, tolerance, gentlemanliness. This site is about writing. This section is about Story Research, not P&CE. We're trying to help writers, not insult whatever belief systems they may hold.

BillPatt said:

Tom of Sweden,
Come on, man, why stir up trouble?



Billions of people believe that the man existed. You may not. You might be passionate in your disbelief. You may think a lot of negative things about Christians.

But there's such a thing as tact, tolerance, gentlemanliness. This site is about writing. This section is about Story Research, not P&CE. We're trying to help writers, not insult whatever belief systems they may hold.

Click to expand...

He might be refering to something else like the hypothesised dates of his birth and death, which is more likely the case than saying that Jesus is unlikely to have existed.

Just today, I saw this fascinating story about Aum Shinrikyo, the cult that perpetrated the poison gas attacks in the Tokyo subway. While they're not obscure -- certainly not now, anyway -- the document goes into intricate details about how the cult's mindset changed from religious enlightenment to wackadoodle apocalyptic terrorism.

http://www.scribd.com/Silendo/d/611...rists-Develop-Biological-and-Chemical-Weapons

Xelebes said:

He might be refering to something else like the hypothesised dates of his birth and death, which is more likely the case than saying that Jesus is unlikely to have existed.

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I would agree with you, had I not seen a similar provocation in another one of his posts, which I don't have time to look up at the moment.