What is it about cult leaders that make their followers fall victim to the ideals of their sect?
Throughout history we’ve been subjected to cult leaders, who through their own ideas have been able to control people to do whatever they want.
STORY: We Pray! North Carolina Man Shoots 4-Year-Old Boy He Thought Was Gay
Most recently, in Durham, North Carolina, police charged cult leader Pete Moses with first-degree murder in the deaths of 4-year-old Jadon Higganbothan and 28-year-old Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy.
Authorities say that Moses led a religious group of women and children who called him “Lord” and obeyed his every command out of fear.
Once operating out of Colorado, the sect moved to a home on Pear Tree Lane in southeast Durham in 2012 after Moses killed Jadon and Antoinetta.
A woman who left the group informed police that Moses killed Jadon in October 2010 because he thought the child was gay after he became concerned that the young boy had touched one of his sons inappropriately.
According to prosecutors, after Moses suspected Jadon was gay, he took him to the garage and shot him with a .22-caliber handgun.
The informant also told police that Moses ordered that McKoy be killed two months later when he learned she couldn’t have children, wanted to leave the group and knew that he killed Jadon.
The group in question? Moses was a member of a religious sect known as the Black Hebrews, which believes it descends directly from the ancient tribes of Israel. The group also frowned upon homosexuality, which is why Moses killed Jadon.
Moses disposed of both bodies by burying them in trash bags.
This is yet another disturbing story, one among too many stories of cults and their unhinged tyrannical leaders. But how do these cult leaders rise to power?
Is it that they are so adamant about what they’re saying that their followers have to obey? Assertiveness in their convictions and those who are willing to listen and be convinced seems to be how many of these cult leaders come to power.
From 1970s cult leader Jim Jones to serial killer Charles Manson, men like this have been able to turn women and children into personal slaves that obey their every command – ultimately always ending in mass deaths.
Keep reading to find out more about the most deadly and disturbing cults in recent history.
Above: Peter Lucas Moses appears in Durham court. Photo credit: Pete James Copyright 2012 Capitol Broadcasting Company.
[pagebreak]
“The Manson Family” waged terror in the 1960s, lead by Charles Manson.
In 1967, Manson moved to San Francisco and lived with 23-year-old student Mary Brunner, convincing her to allow other women to join their hippie movement. Eventually eighteen other women were living with them and thus began the family. In 1968, Manson had established a home for the “family” at a ranch owned by George Spahn.
In 1969, Manson told Family members “now is the time for Helter Skelter.” That evening the family, under the direction of Manson, would commit the famous murder of Sharon Tate, leading to other murders over the two day period.
[pagebreak]
83-year-old cult leader Ken Dyers was charged with 22 sex offenses against two teenage girls in 2001 and 2002. Dyers was the co-founder of the self-styled spiritual healing group Kenja and committed suicide in 2007, as more investigations into his sex assaults commenced.
[pagebreak]
918 people died after Jim Jones led his followers, The People’s Temple, to their deaths in the community he created known as Jonestown.
[pagebreak]
Former leader of Japanese doomsday cult, Aum Shinri Kyo Shoko Asahara, was sentenced to hang for masterminding the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 12 and sickened thousands.
[pagebreak]
The Church of Bible Understanding, aka the Forever Family, was a destructive cult started in 1971 by former atheist and vacuum repairman Stewart Traill in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Drawing on the weaknesses of young teens, the cult targeted many as young 13.
Members of the cult lived in a commune and donated 90 percent of their income to the cult. Traill became a wealthy man, owning four planes and a half million dollar mansion.
Former members say that Traill would control every aspect of members’ lives through harsh criticism, shame, and public humiliation.
[pagebreak]
David Koresh and the Branch Davidians made international headlines in 1993 when their compound near Waco, Texas was raided by federal authorities, which resulted in the deaths of eighty-two of the church’s members, including head figure Koresh.
Koresh practiced polygamy with underage brides, physically abused children, and stockpiled illegal weapons, according to legal authorities who investigated these charges.
[pagebreak]
The California based Heaven’s Gate cult believed that doomsday was evident, as 21 women and 18 men voluntarily committed suicide in three groups on three successive days in March of 1997.
Combining elements of Christianity with unusual beliefs about the nature of UFOs, the cult would interpret passages from the four gospels and the Book of Revelation as referring to UFO visitation.
They look upon earth as being in the control of evil forces, and perceived themselves as being among the elite who would attain heaven. They held a profoundly dualistic belief of the soul as being a superior entity, which is only housed temporarily in a body.
