The 16 Most Terrifying Cults From Around the World

1. Jonestown

“Jonestown. It was really messed up and tragic. Over 900 people died, including children…” —QuothTheRaven713

2. Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

“FLDS. Basically, when Warren Jeffs took over he turned it from an ultra-conservative religious cult to a p—e cult. Men were marrying off their own daughters at age 12 and taking wives of the same age for themselves. Meanwhile, the boys were kicked out at age 13-14 so all the young girls would be available for the old men.”

3. Children of God

The Children of God cult. A p—lic polyamorous "Christian" cult most prevalent in the 70s and 80s. One of the members brought up in the cult, made to perform s-x acts, with his mother's approval, since the age of 3, killed himself at the age of 30.

4. The Westboro Baptist Church

“The Westboro Baptist Church. Not even because of their beliefs, but because of how they act on them. They claim to be a church (that is, to have all the usual trappings of a church), but when you see them out in the world, they are basically a cult of misfits (some of whom are not even Christians, and most of whom have very odd beliefs of their own) with a huge following. For example, as long as a few years ago they started a campaign to protest funerals that had military members in them. And the strangest thing is that they are pretty much on the fringe, yet somehow seem to be popular among Christians. They use every method of argumentation possible to try and make people feel bad about themselves and their lives, and to try and force them into some form of conformity. To top it all off, they have a lot of connections in high places in government (and yes, they are connected with the government. The reason they are so active is that they believe there is a war coming).” —Soemet

5. Multi-Level Marketing Schemes

“While there are plenty of cults guilty of abhorrent things, and those are the worst- I want to throw many of the MLMs into the mix here. They’re so egregious because they’re incredibly wide-reaching. The business model preys on those in financial hardship, yet only ultimately puts most in further debt. The essential oil ones are also so bad because they eschew real medicine in favor of using the oils- I have seen a thread with 20+ people telling a mother asking what to do for her child with a fever to put peppermint oil on their feet- NOT to use fever reducers or seek the help of a pediatrician/qualified medical personnel.” — Moon_Mistress

6. Twelve Tribes

“12 Tribes. What's not to hate? They have it all, really: child labor, racism, glorifying slavery, child abuse, appropriation of Jewish holidays, possibly causing the Marshall Fire, recruiting in their own restaurants...the list goes on and on.” —OtherThumbs

7. American Evangelicalism

“American Evangelicalism - Just the number of people I know who left these psychotic churches and the stories they tell me about not only how manipulative these people are but how physically and s—y abusive they can be… Yeah that’s a firm stay away from me.”

8. The Manson Family

“The Manson Family. The barbarity of their attacks is truly horrific. And then throw in Manson's own belief that it would start a race war, which he hoped the acts would start. Quite possibly the most unhinged Cult pre-Jonestown.” — Scotsgit73

9. Heaven's Gate

“Heaven’s Gate… ended with 39 people dead in a mass s—e which they believed would free their souls to leave the body so they could board an alien spacecraft. Look them up, it’s wild.” —KCLinD5N

10. Troubled Teen Schools

“Not a cult in the traditional sense, but worth mentioning are Residential Schools where parents send their "troubled" children to be "fixed." There's an astounding webcomic about one of them, the Elan School. By the end of it (although note that the author is still uploading chapters), you truly understand how the indoctrination happens, and just how fundamentally powerless the kids trapped in these schools feel. You also wonder who is more brainwashed, the kids, or their parents.” —itzsommer

11. QAnon

“The thing about Qanon that baffles me so much, is the eagerness with which they believe, and disseminate, bullsh—t that is blatantly, and provably, untrue. "A PRESIDENTS BIRTH CERTIFICATE IS PUBLIC RECORD! OBAMA SPENT MILLIONS IN LEGAL FEES TO HIDE HIS!" dude. No. Just no. Birth certificates are confidential documents given only to the name on record, or their immediate family members. Obama spent precisely $0 "hiding" his birth certificate ... the Hawaiian state registrar did that s—t for free. "HILLARY CLINTON IS KILLING CHILDREN AND MAKING PIZZA OUT OF THEM IN THE BASEMENT OF COMET PIZZA!" A—hole, That pizza joint doesn't even HAVE a basement. … All this stuff is SO EASY to look up. But the tidal wave of bulls—t on Facebook and NextDoor and other boomer-level social media is mightier than common f—king sense and simple facts.”

12. Snape Wives

“It was called Snape wives or Snape sisters or something, a group of women who just worship Snape” —Nattie_Pattie

13. Breatharians

“Breatharians aren’t the worst necessarily but pretty sick. They teach that you don’t actually need food to survive and can subsist off light. They specifically target people with eating disorders. Several people have died.” — ThatPancreatitisGuy

14. Scientology

“Scientology. It's part cult, part MLM scam. They are flat-out criminals, who require the one thing common to cults: shunning of family members who don't toe the line, or who reject the ‘faith.’ Were talking about ripping families apart. It's flat-out evil. And when it comes to dealing with people who question their practices, they use lawyers and private investigators to harass and intimidate people who speak out. They were so vicious in their harassment of IRS agents that were pursuing a case against their tax-exempt status, that the IRS basically gave up.” —niceoutside2022

15. The Branch Davidians

“My grandmother taught at a tiny school district outside of Waco. The Branch Davidian kids went to school there. She told me she always got an uneasy feeling from the girls specifically. She didn’t have any solid proof to do any mandatory reporting though. I’m going to say Branch Davidians.” —BrokenCowsSayWoof

16. Jehovah's Witness

“My girlfriend recently got out of this and it’s absolutely disgusting to me how her family shunned and disowned her. They threw her out like a piece of trash and made her feel like the guilty one. She still has night terrors about stories they told her about demons and the apocalypse. Oh and all her friends were married at the age of 17 to older men.” — TSM_PraY