Choosing the 11 Most Infamous Cults and Cult Leaders in American History is hard — the United States is a breeding ground for cults and there’s a lot of competition. Most cults include a charismatic leader who sweeps vulnerable people up into a group effort to build separatist communities, disengage from society, or even plan terrorist acts. They resemble abusive relationships on a large scale.
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Almost every cult on our list has a prominent criminal history. Some tried to poison people with gas, some attempted or completed group suicide, and others have been violent toward women or children. Cults are populated with extremists, but they do tend to form in communities with a lot of religious energy, so you may also want to check out the 10 most religious cities in America.
Our ranking of infamy includes murders or attempted murders and the cruelty of the cults’ ideologies and rituals. The leaders of the most “successful” of these groups were so convincing that academics still debate their levels of sincerity.
11. The Vampire Clan
Leader Rod Ferrell was deeply convinced he was a 500 years old vampire called Vesago. Ferrell confessed to the brutal murder of two people, and for two years he was the youngest inmate ever sentenced to death in the United States.
10. Fall River
The town of Fall River, Massachusetts hosted a Satanic cult led by serial killer Carl Drew, who was suspected of at least three ritualistic murders and other crimes against women. He was convicted of one murder and is in prison today.
9. Jeffrey Lundgren’s Farm
Jeffrey Lundgren and his cult were found guilty of killing five people as what they claimed were sacrifices to God to atone for the sins of mankind. He was betrayed by a dissatisfied former member.
8. The Manson Family
Charles Manson formed The Manson Family in 1968, but his development into a charismatic mover of minds dated back to a troubled childhood. Because of his powers of persuasion, Manson leveraged a small number of members into a very large criminal impact. He wanted his followers to be the catalyst of a race war in the United States and tried to frame the Black Panthers for the murder of actress Sharon Tate and several guests at her home in 1969.
Manson and few of his followers were sentenced to death penalty for this crime, but in 1972 the state of California abolished the death penalty and Manson’s sentence was commuted to life.
7. Superior Universal Alignment
This sect, led by an older woman named Valentina de Andrade, operated in Altamira, Brazil. She believed that children born after 1981 were evil and rounded up boys between 6 and 14 to begin “eradicating” them. The group members were accused of killing 18 boys, but were convicted only for the six bodies that were found.
6. Branch Davidians
In 1990, David Koresh became a leader of the Branch Davidians. His preachings included “spiritual weddings” which enabled him to have a variety of sexual relationships with women and girls of all ages. He was also building an “Army of God” and began stockpiling weapons.
Koresh’s group is synonymous now with the town of Waco, Texas, and the 1993 shooting and eventual siege of their compound that left over 80 people dead, including four U.S. agents and Koresh himself.
5. The Ripper Crew
Established in Chicago and led by Robin Gecht, this Satanic cult was suspected for murdering over 18 women in grisly rituals that included sexual assault and torture, which is why it is among these Most Infamous Cults and Cult Leaders in American History.
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4. Lamb of God
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints outlawed polygamy in the late 1800s, and this decision caused a number of extreme fundamentalist groups to spin off and move to isolated areas of the American Southwest or Mexico. The Church of the Lamb of God has murdered over 20 people under the direction of polygamous Mormon fundamentalist Ervil Morrell LeBaron, who began the group by murdering his own brother over an inheritance and leadership dispute. He dispatched group members to kill his enemies and dissenters and was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Before dying in prison, he wrote a hitlist for members to continue to pick off one by one.
3. Rajneeshpuram
This Oregon commune was founded in 1981 by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. At first they seemed benign, but there were land disputes, cross-cultural conflicts, and other issues, culminating in the creation of an armed militia. In 1984, Rajneesh’s followers tried to win a seat in state government, but their attempts failed even after they bullied 2,000 homeless people to vote for their candidate. Instead, members intentionally contaminated local salad bars with salmonella to suppress the vote. 751 people fell ill and 41 were hospitalized.
2. Heaven’s Gate
Founded by leader Marshall Applewhite and mystic Bonnie Lu Nettles, Heaven’s Gate combined elements of Christianity with a belief that UFOs would provide followers with new bodies. The group’s infamous mass suicide in 1997 included matching Nikes. Curiously, Applewhite had thwarted musical ambitions like those of Charles Manson.
1. Jonestown (Peoples Temple)
The cruelest of the 11 Most Infamous Cults and Cult Leaders in American History is Peoples Temple, founded in 1955 by Reverend Jim Jones. In 1978, they moved from California to Guyana, where they began building a planned utopian community. After many complaints of abuse in this commune, Congressman Leo Ryan and three journalists traveled to Guyana. Peoples Temple members threatened them almost immediately and Ryan decided to end the trip early and return home with any followers who wished to leave.
But Jones sent armed guards who shot and killed Ryan and four others before they could leave. Jones told his followers that this crime made it impossible for any of them to ever return to the United States and prompted them to complete mass suicide as an act of protest. Over 900 members of Peoples Temple drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, eventually spawning the figure of speech “drank the Kool-Aid” to refer to brainwashed followers. Jones shot himself in the head.
