WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.359 It is Ryan here, and I have a question for you. 2 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:04.519 What do you do when you win? 3 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:05.040 Like? 4 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:08.199 Are you at fist pumper, a wooo, a handclap or 5 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:10.039 a high fiver. I kind of like the high five. 6 00:00:10.039 --> 00:00:11.839 But if you want to hone in on those winning moves, 7 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.119 check out Chumback Casino at chumbacasino dot com. Choose some 8 00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:17.839 hundreds of social casino style games for your chance to 9 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:21.640 redeem serious cash prizes. There are new game releases weekly 10 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:24.600 plus free daily bonuses, so don't wait. Start having the 11 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:27.359 most fun ever at chumba Casino dot com. 12 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:29.600 No, we'd necessary daily REVOI where everybody lost the terms 13 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:30.879 of conditions eating plus. 14 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:35.000 Step into the world of power, loyalty and luck. 15 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:37.679 I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse. 16 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:41.799 With family, canoli's and spins mean everything. 17 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:44.439 Now you want to get mixed up in the family. 18 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:49.479 Business, Introducing The Godfather at Champa Casino dot com. Test 19 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:52.520 your luck in the shadowy world at the Godfather slot. 20 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:55.520 Someday I will call upon you to do a service 21 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:55.799 for me. 22 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:58.759 Play the Godfather now at champacasino dot com. 23 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:01.119 Welcome to the family vdW group. 24 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:02.920 NOPERD is necessary if we were premitted by loss he 25 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:04.239 terms and conditions eighteen plus. 26 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:18.159 You are now listening to True Murder The most shocking 27 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.280 killers in true crime history and the authors that have 28 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:28.640 written about them Geesy Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker DTK. Every 29 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:32.359 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 30 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:36.640 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your 31 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:39.840 host journalist and author Dan Zupanski. 32 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:54.640 Good evening. What's scarier than a murderer? Someone with the 33 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:58.040 charisma that compel others to kill for them or to 34 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:02.400 kill themselves. Eat these cult leaders and get an inside 35 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:06.640 look at their beliefs and how they controlled others. Some 36 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:10.240 cults led by leaders like Charlie Manson, Jim Jones, and 37 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:14.560 David Koresh are notorious, but others are less well known, 38 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:19.159 such as Shoko Ashihara and his doomsday cult Amshimriko, who 39 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:23.240 orchestrated the seren gas attack on the Tokyo Subway, or 40 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:26.439 Joseph di Mambro and Luke Jerray, who founded the Order 41 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:29.639 of the Solar Temple, a doomsday cult that led to 42 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:33.599 the death of fifty one members by murder or suicide. 43 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:38.000 Then there is Marshall Applewhite, leader of Heaven's Gate, who, 44 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.800 along with thirty eight followers, killed themselves in the belief 45 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:43.439 that the hail Bop comets signaled the arrival of a 46 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:47.159 spaceship that would transport them to a higher plane of existence. 47 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:52.080 What makes cult leaders so compelling is their often unfathomable 48 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:55.879 power over their adherents. Why do people kill others or 49 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:01.400 themselves for a questionable set of beliefs? Tells the stories 50 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:05.840 behind both famous and unfamiliar cults and the people behind them. 51 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:09.719 Across a series of profiles, we learn the jow dropping 52 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:12.599 truth behind some of the most mystifying and deadly cults 53 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:16.080 and their leaders, all of whom led their followers down 54 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:20.080 the dark path. The book that were featuring this evening 55 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:25.000 is Killer Cults, Stories of Charisma, Deceit and Death with 56 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:28.680 my special guest journalists and authors Joyce and Steven Singular. 57 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:31.240 Welcome back to the program, and thank you so much 58 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:37.319 for this interview. Hi, thanks back, Thank you so much. 59 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:40.080 It's a real it's always a great pleasure to have 60 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:45.199 you both on talking about this latest book, Killer Cults. 61 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:50.039 Let's just talk about what is contained in this The 62 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:55.280 stories that we mentioned that both familiar and not so familiar. 63 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:59.879 Can you tell us what some of the chapters are 64 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:01.520 in this book? Nineteen of them? 65 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:07.599 In all right, Well, we start with Keith Rainier, who's 66 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:13.120 become quite well known and notorious with his Anxiom cult 67 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:19.040 that has had emerged in the last decade, and he'd 68 00:04:19.079 --> 00:04:21.240 gone to trial in New York and been convicted and 69 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:28.040 received a lengthy sentence. That story brought in several celebrity celebrities. 70 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:30.319 There were one was the Alison Mack who was a 71 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:32.519 TV actress, and then there was an heir to the 72 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:37.680 Seagram's fortune, Sarah Brownfman. So that we lead off with that, 73 00:04:37.959 --> 00:04:43.600 we go to an obscure cult called the Slavonians. I 74 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:47.040 particularly thought this was very fascinating because there's a tendency 75 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:50.879 to believe that maybe cults only draw in uneducated people, 76 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:54.079 people who aren't worldly, people who don't have many resources. 77 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:56.439 But this was a cult found that on the Upper 78 00:04:56.439 --> 00:05:01.480 West Side of Manhattan in the in the seventies, and 79 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:06.519 it was filled with very intelligent, very worldly people, people 80 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:10.720 with resources who were drawn into the idea basically the 81 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:14.800 fundamental ideas, how do we make better human beings? Basically 82 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:18.079 through psychoanalysis heavy and in that and in. 83 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:22.480 That particular cult. Even Judy Collins, the singer, was a 84 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:25.720 member for a while. So that's what we found fascinating 85 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:29.639 about and we had them. We asked the publishing house 86 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:34.360 to specifically put the Sulavanians right next to the next 87 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:38.480 cult that we profiled, a Magdalena Solise, a woman cult 88 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:41.879 leader in Mexico, because, as Steve said, we found it 89 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:46.720 fascinating from a psychological point of view that very well 90 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:54.199 educated people with resources from all socioeconomic groups would join 91 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:59.079 cults and to be, you know, and to be totally 92 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:03.079 on the opposite side, like in Magdalena Solis and you're 93 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:07.240 b Buena, Mexico in the sixties. These people were very insular, 94 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:12.560 isolated in a little mountain town in Mexico, uneducated, very 95 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:16.399 very poor. So we found, you know that across the board, 96 00:06:16.519 --> 00:06:19.480 people from all walks of life have been pulled into 97 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:24.040 cults throughout the history of the human race, apparently. 98 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:28.720 Right, and it's always what hits the deepest emotional needs, 99 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:31.920 and a number of the ones that we'll be talking about, 100 00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:35.240 there's this idea of improving the human race. That's one 101 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:37.120 of the themes that runs through a lot of it. 102 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:40.639 How to make people better how to deal with issues 103 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:43.800 like racism or poverty and things like that. So in 104 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:46.920 numerous cases they start out with high ideals and they 105 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:49.319 certainly don't end that way. The next one is Bogwan 106 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:55.160 Rajnie fascinating story that unfolded in the seventies and eighties 107 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:00.879 in Oregon. Raich was a spiritual leader in India and 108 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:03.000 he ran into some trouble there and decided to come 109 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:06.600 to the American West and bring his flock with him 110 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:10.399 and start over. And again it appeared that they had 111 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:13.560 good motives at least at one time, but he sort 112 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:16.759 of descended into somebody who wanted to have one hundred 113 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:21.000 rolls royce, a million dollar watch, all kinds of things 114 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:24.680 as he sent out his minions to do some really 115 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:29.360 nefarious things like trying to take over some towns through 116 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:32.759 voting roles by poisoning some of the local populations so 117 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:34.639 those people wouldn't be around to vote. 118 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:38.800 And that particular story was very well documented in a 119 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:44.800 Netflix documentary called Wild Wild Country, which I would highly recommend, 120 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:47.519 just to see the depths to which these people went 121 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:52.439 to control their group and then others around them, and 122 00:07:52.439 --> 00:07:55.199 to control the voting block in the towns that they 123 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:56.240 started occupying. 124 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.519 And again it was basically a woman who was running 125 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:04.639 this my name mas Sheila Brasny sort of backed off 126 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:07.079 and just lived this life of splendor or took a 127 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:11.199 vow of silence. But there were several very powerful women 128 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.600 who basically took over this cult and and did a 129 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:19.120 lot of the activities that we're talking about. The next 130 00:08:19.160 --> 00:08:23.240 one was Joseph de Maambre and Luxerie. As you mentioned, Dan, 131 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:28.439 they they decided to recreate the Cellar Temple in modern times, 132 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:32.600 and again it started out with sort of New Age 133 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:34.519 ideas and maybe New Age ideals. 134 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:37.279 Well it actually, I thought, started out with some occult 135 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.480 types of stories, like based on Rosicrucians and the Knights Templar. 136 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.919 That's another aspect we found very you know, compelling about 137 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:48.519 writing about all these different types of cults is that 138 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:54.039 it spanned from you know, offshoots of Christianity to Satanic 139 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:57.799 cults and New Age cults and occult cults, you know, 140 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:01.120 and it just there was just no you know, set 141 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:04.679 group that it seemed to prey upon. It infiltrates into 142 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:08.039 all aspects of religious. 143 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.320 Beliefs, right right. The next one is one people have 144 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:15.200 heard about Jim Jones, the People's Temple. Again, what I 145 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:17.720 found fascinating about Jones is that he started out in 146 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:21.039 the Midwest, I believe, in Indiana, and he was very 147 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:26.120 committed to civil rights, to racial equality, to to you know, 148 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:29.399 really some social ideals, and he wanted to do good 149 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:33.360 in the world. He eventually moved to California and started 150 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.480 recruiting members to his People's Temple. And that the strain 151 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:40.159 that you sort of find here is that once people 152 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:44.000 start to accumulate power, it has a very it often 153 00:09:44.039 --> 00:09:48.600 has a very corrosive and debilitating effect, and with him, 154 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:49.600 that's certainly true. 155 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:52.200 And I've also found that, you know, even though we 156 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:55.200 profiled some of these very well known cults like Jim 157 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:59.360 Jones and the People's Temple and Charles Manson and the 158 00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:04.759 Branch Division, I found in doing the research that we 159 00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:09.519 uncovered details that I had never really gone deeply into. 160 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:11.759 I mean, you know, when you heard the accounts of 161 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:15.399 these crimes being committed at the time, he mostly I 162 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:18.120 think most people just saw what was on television or 163 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:21.720 they heard on the media. But as we looked closer, 164 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:25.000 it was interesting to find. And what we've always been 165 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:28.919 interested in where religion intersects with violence. I mean, three 166 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:31.960 of the books that we've worked on have been primarily 167 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:37.679 that the BTK serial Killer, the Doctor Tiller assassination, Jennifer Reality, 168 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:41.720 a woman in Colorado Springs that was coerced by her 169 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:45.960 lover to kill his wife based on you know that 170 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:50.960 she would be forgiven and redeemed if she just embraced Christianity. 171 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:56.039 We've always found that particular. Oh in Emmy alan Berg book, right, yeah, 172 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:58.799 that one too, so so we've always found that an 173 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:05.120 interesting area to explore. And with the Jim Jones people temple. 174 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:09.799 An interesting fact on that one was that the congressman 175 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:14.120 that went that was murdered in on the on the 176 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:18.399 airstrip in Guyana when they went down to investigate, based 177 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:22.320 on the people in his district telling them that their 178 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:26.080 relatives were complaining about the living conditions down that Can 179 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:30.320 you remember his name, Steve? We always forget that. Well. 180 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:33.080 The interesting thing about that was that his aid was 181 00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:36.639 Jackie Spear, who was shot multiple times and now she 182 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:41.120 is a congressman congresswoman from California, and she has spoken 183 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:43.799 publicly about you know, what that was like to be 184 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.919 on that airstrip when they were when they were attacked 185 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:51.240 and ambushed by the followers of Jim Jones. Oh le 186 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:52.320 O'Ryan that was a. 187 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:57.919 Name, and again it just shows the power that Jones 188 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:00.440 head over these people. One of the things that struck me, 189 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:05.720 which I didn't know before writing this, was that he had, 190 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:09.639 i think three times previous to the actual mass suicide 191 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:13.919 that occurred in nineteen seventy eight, he had asked his followers, 192 00:12:13.960 --> 00:12:18.279 which were about a thousand down there, to drink something, 193 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:20.919 you know, drink a concoction which he said was poison, 194 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:23.559 just to see if they would actually drink the thing. 195 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:26.799 And it wasn't poison, but every time he asked, they 196 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:29.279 actually went ahead and drank it. So he had a 197 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.600 pretty good idea that, you know, that when the time 198 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.919 came to actually conduct the mass suicide, they would do that. 199 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:39.039 So again, a lot of these people held high ideals, 200 00:12:39.080 --> 00:12:42.279 a lot of them were educated, but they had this, 201 00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:46.080 you know, profound weakness and this desire to follow a 202 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:48.440 leader who was going to give them absolute answer. 203 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:50.799 And in many cases a charismatic leader. 204 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:55.120 Yep, yeah, yeah. He was an interesting looking man. You know, 205 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:58.159 he had the swoop of dark and well. 206 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:01.279 Spoken, spoke like a preacher, you know, had that ability 207 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:04.480 to draw people in. We also found that as a 208 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:07.600 parallel with some of the serial killers that we've written about, 209 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:12.720 like John Robinson, the man who entombed his victims in 210 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:17.360 fifty five gallon barrel drum barrels outside of Kansas City. 211 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:22.000 They just had an ability to be a real fast talker, 212 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:25.320 think fast on their feet, to know how to charm people, 213 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:26.559 to disarm people. 214 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:31.240 Yeah, if I were naming a quality of a cult 215 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:34.600 leader or trying to identify when in particular, it's somebody 216 00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:37.879 who can get people who've never engaged in criminal behavior, 217 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:41.960 people who would shun criminal behavior in most circumstances, to 218 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:45.200 commit crimes that they're behist I mean, they have that 219 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:49.480 ability to in case after case, they don't actually commit 220 00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:53.600 the crimes, but they get seemingly you know, normal people 221 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:54.200 to do that. 222 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:58.039 And they also get people to turn over their financial 223 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:03.240 resources and to associate themselves with their family, their core unit, 224 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:06.440 family unit. That seems to be one of the driving 225 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:10.679 principles with a lot of these cult leaders that we discovered. 226 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:14.039 And they also tried basically to take over their sex 227 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:18.399 lives or their sexuality in certain cases by determining who 228 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:21.320 can sleep with whom, who can marry home, you know, 229 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:23.440 who should have sex and at what time and in 230 00:14:23.559 --> 00:14:26.480 what circumstances. So I mean they go for the most 231 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:31.240 animate and vulnerable parts of people, their resources, their family, 232 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:32.879 and their sexuality. 233 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:36.279 But then continuing down the list, then the next person 234 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:39.480 on the list was James Arthur Ray, who was a 235 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:42.320 self help guru and he was featured in the book 236 00:14:42.440 --> 00:14:48.679 The Secret, which became huge bestseller worldwide. And interesting thing 237 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.399 about him was that, you know, he was touted on 238 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:54.799 both the Ellen de Generes Show and Oprah Winfrey, of 239 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:57.159 course that they didn't know at the time that you know, 240 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:00.679 what he was doing would lead to three people deaths 241 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:04.600 outside of Sedona, Arizona, in a kind of a Native 242 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:07.440 American sweat live ceremony. 243 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:08.240 Yeah. 244 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.759 Yeah, So he brought people there. It cost a lot 245 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:13.480 of money to go. He had some prior problems with 246 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:17.080 trying to put people in extreme circumstances to see if 247 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:19.600 they could endure them, apparently as a way of building 248 00:15:19.639 --> 00:15:25.080 their character, their endurance. And he had these people go 249 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:28.639 into a tent in Arizona and very hot at a 250 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:32.399 very hot time that the space inside the tent got 251 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:34.960 up to one hundred and twenty two degrees. People were 252 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:38.679 gasping for air, begging to get out, and he, you know, 253 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:42.120 essentially said they needed to go in. He was convicted, 254 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:45.080 not on murder but on lesser charges and served a 255 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:45.679 couple of years. 256 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:47.480 I think it was. Yeah, but the thing isn't that 257 00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:50.360 he got out and now he's trying to reinvent himself again. 258 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:54.480 Right, But again, these people were not unsophisticated at all. 259 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:58.679 You know, they were just willing to do whatever he said, 260 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:01.399 you know, right up to the point costing them their lives. 261 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:06.559 So one of the common threads though, is as well 262 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:11.919 as is offering these people this incredible advantage with whatever 263 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:14.879 the philosophy of the cult is as well. When you 264 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:17.039 mentioned James up the ray, I just had to mention 265 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:20.440 as well that he had the endorsement of people like 266 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:27.360 Oprah Winfrey, and so it's not It seems that one 267 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.559 of the common threads is that it's easier to attract 268 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:34.080 a celebrity, and then a lot of that recruiting is 269 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:36.600 done because of the celebrity itself. 270 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:43.799 That's definitely true in this case. You know, he again, 271 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:47.360 he was charismatic, he was good looking, he was successful. 272 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:51.200 He had the backing of those celebrities and again, people, 273 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:54.519 I mean, if there's any you know lesson here that 274 00:16:54.679 --> 00:16:56.480 runs through so many of them. I mean, at some 275 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.440 point you have to listen to yourself. You know, you 276 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:03.879 can't away your personal power to somebody who's charismatic once 277 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.920 they crossed that line into very questionable or even criminal behavior. 278 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.160 And he, you know, again, he had something of a 279 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:13.839 track record of putting people in dangerous circumstance. 280 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:18.559 Judy was boring. Hello, then Judy discovered jumpi Casino dot Com. 281 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:20.119 It's my little escape. 282 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:21.839 Now Judy is the life of the party. 283 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:24.000 Oh baby mama is bringing home the bacon. 284 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:29.039 WHOA, take it easy, Judy, The jumble life is for everybody. 285 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:31.680 So go to chumpacasino dot com and play over one 286 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:34.880 hundred casino style games. Join today and play for free 287 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:38.960 for your chance to redeem some serious prices jump JUMPI 288 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:42.240 Casino dot com. No, we're necessarily womitted my monkey plus 289 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:43.359 tims the condition to play what. 290 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:47.880 Every details and you know, ending up in a tragic situation. 291 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:51.680 So yeah, I mean you you have to pick your 292 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:53.519 guru very carefully. 293 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:57.799 And then the next man on the list is a 294 00:17:57.799 --> 00:18:02.599 man from Japan named Shoko Asahara. He grew up in 295 00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:07.319 Japan in a small village, started out selling Chinese medicine, 296 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:10.599 but he was eventually arrested for peddling fake drugs. Then 297 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:12.920 he traveled to Tibet and to Paul where he claimed 298 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:18.160 that he achieved enlightenment by studying Buddhism and Hinduism. He 299 00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:21.000 went back to Japan and he formed a group called 300 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:24.559 the almshin Rico and I hopeing I'm not mangling that name, 301 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:29.319 but where he combined Eastern philosophy with apocalyptic teachings. And 302 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.759 this is another thread that we've found through many of 303 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:36.720 these cults, this apocalyptic end of times, using that tactic 304 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:39.680 to scare people and to say, you know, this is 305 00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:41.960 when the this is where we're going to ascend into heaven, 306 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:44.400 or this is when the rapture is going to occur, 307 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:47.359 or this is when the great earthquake in California is 308 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.880 going to occur. And that was part of the driving 309 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:52.000 force as we were leading up to the year two 310 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:55.599 thousand and to twenty twelve, when the Mind prophecy and 311 00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:59.480 when the Mind Calendar supposedly ended, a lot of groups 312 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:03.000 were built up on that foundation and that fear. 313 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:07.319 Yeah. Yeah, especially the end of the millennium, that that's 314 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:10.480 the theme that runs through through much of this. Yeah. 315 00:19:10.519 --> 00:19:15.240 And with that, Shoko Asahara he is the one that 316 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:20.000 his followers at least saren nerve gas in the subway 317 00:19:20.119 --> 00:19:24.759 in Tokyo. And and was what I found interesting about 318 00:19:24.839 --> 00:19:30.920 him was that he had recruited again very educated chemists 319 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:35.759 and engineers and journalists and I mean people in the 320 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:40.599 legal system, telecommunications people that worked for that join that group, 321 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:45.119 at work for IBM in Japan, Toshiba, Hitachi, other major companies. 322 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:50.440 They gave thousands and thousands of dollars to his organization. 323 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:53.960 Yeah, and his plan in putting the nerve gas in 324 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.359 there was to kill thousands of people. That didn't turn 325 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:59.440 out that way. It was a much much smaller figure, 326 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:04.720 but the plan was for absolute mass destruction and it 327 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:08.279 was probably the biggest, well it was the biggest sort 328 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:12.839 of mass potential mass destruction event in Japan since the 329 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:15.400 end of World War two, and people were very, very 330 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:16.160 shaken by it. 331 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:20.240 Yeah. And besides, you know, sexual manipulation. He subjected his 332 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:24.920 followers to sleep in, food deprivation, sensory deprivation hallucinogens to 333 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:28.440 induce visions. We saw that in other sects and cults 334 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:33.200 exerting mind control. Sometimes people were allowed to leave the sect, 335 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:35.240 but only after they had agreed to turn over their 336 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:39.079 property to him, and the sum that refused to disappeared 337 00:20:39.160 --> 00:20:39.559 or died. 338 00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:45.319 Now yeah, yeah, so he, he and a handful of 339 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:49.599 his followers, I think about six or seven were eventually executed. 340 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:52.839 It took a long time to go through the Japanese 341 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:55.000 legal system, but when I. 342 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:56.400 Believe was eight years. 343 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:59.400 The child dire lasted eight years and he pretended or 344 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:02.839 actually been saying at that point, yeah, just talked a 345 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:04.119 lot of gibberish in the court. 346 00:21:04.279 --> 00:21:07.319 I think they executed him by hanging on in July 347 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:08.200 of twenty eighteen. 348 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:10.440 Yeah, they hung all of them, so that it wasn't 349 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:14.160 legally resolved until very recently. So to. 350 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:19.279 At the same time, it's it's interesting that at one 351 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:26.680 time Japan, Japanese government considered his this sect a religion. 352 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:32.200 So it's interesting to go from legitimacy to outright you know, 353 00:21:32.279 --> 00:21:36.559 being executed is interesting to say the least, and. 354 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:41.279 Also interesting, well maybe you know, maybe pretty understandable that 355 00:21:41.880 --> 00:21:48.200 absolute power, you know, just pollutes. Absolutely, it when when 356 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:51.519 somebody is given that much control and that many resources 357 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:55.079 they can they start to get corrupted, especially if they 358 00:21:55.079 --> 00:22:01.720 had any any bit of sociopathic or narcissistic psychopathic tendencies 359 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:02.440 to begin with. 360 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:06.640 But again, you think about sending you know, sending people 361 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:11.480 out to poison their fellow citizens, and people you know, 362 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.000 being willing to do that just to follow the orders 363 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:17.200 and go and you know, create the circumstances that could 364 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:18.559 have been far worse than they were. 365 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:23.480 Absolutely amazing to me that, you know, his net worth 366 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:26.839 jumped to like four point three million to one billion 367 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:31.759 dollars six years later. He had people throughout the world, Russia, 368 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:35.559 New York, you know, all over Japan. It's incredible that 369 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:38.519 he got he had that many followers at one time. 370 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:43.000 Right, and that people, I mean, there's just been this 371 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:46.200 hunger running through all of these stories of people to 372 00:22:46.279 --> 00:22:49.559 find somebody who can give them absolute answers to what 373 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:53.799 really are life's mysteries. I mean, if if that's the hook, also, 374 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:56.400 I don't have to think for myself. I don't have 375 00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:58.799 to solve these problems. In many cases, I don't have 376 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:02.440 to earn a living and make money or. 377 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:04.960 Maybe their family life wasn't that great, so they wanted 378 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.200 to join up with a better family, a larger purpose. 379 00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:14.200 Right. We interviewed someone who was in the Reverend Moon organization, 380 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:18.079 and he didn't participate in any criminal behavior or anything, 381 00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:21.039 but that's basically what he said. You know, he was 382 00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:24.559 looking for a family and this at that time was 383 00:23:24.599 --> 00:23:29.519 the best alternative for him until Reverend Moon decided to 384 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:33.240 decide to pick who he would marry, and that was 385 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:34.640 sort of the thing that pushed him out. 386 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:37.599 I really like his quote. He was in there for 387 00:23:37.640 --> 00:23:40.720 twelve years, and he said, I felt myself that loose ends. 388 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:44.759 I had a deep longing for connection, for overriding spirituality. 389 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:48.599 I gave myself completely to this extended nuclear family. We 390 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:51.559 wanted to make a better world. If I trusted in God, 391 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.319 it gave myself completely to it. What could go wrong? 392 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:58.640 I just thought that was really a pivotal quote to 393 00:23:58.680 --> 00:24:00.440 put at the very beginning of the book. 394 00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:05.000 Yeah, definitely, it's a mindset that runs through much of this. 395 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:09.920 The next Colt was it was in Massachusetts a fall river, 396 00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:13.599 just called the Fall River Colt. I thought it was 397 00:24:13.960 --> 00:24:17.200 really really interesting. It's it's one of the shorter entries 398 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:20.640 in the book. But it was basically just this group 399 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:24.519 of criminals sort of the underbelly of Fall River. 400 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:27.640 Who Tempson prostitutes, who. 401 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:32.880