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DISTURBING CULTS YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF 😱 | Shocking True Stories · The conspiracy

0:00
Speaker 1: What motivates people to give up their lives, their wealth,
0:04
Speaker 1: and even their identities to a charismatic leader? How do ordinary,
0:08
Speaker 1: everyday individuals become trapped in manipulative, often dangerous belief systems?
0:14
Speaker 1: And when the illusion of a perfect world begins to break,
0:19
Speaker 1: what then? Throughout history, cults have risen and fallen, leaving
0:23
Speaker 1: behind dark stories of control, deception, and tragedy. But some
0:27
Speaker 1: of the most disturbing cases remain largely unknown to the public.
0:32
Speaker 1: So we're gonna dive deep into the rise and collapse
0:36
Speaker 1: of three such cults, each led by figures who promised enlightenment,
0:41
Speaker 1: but delivered something far, far more sinister. Crime, conspiracy, cults,
0:47
Speaker 1: serial killers, and murder, all things that I love to consume,
0:50
Speaker 1: and I know you do too, you sick, twisted, lovely... beautiful,
0:55
Speaker 1: intellectually-minded freak. So today we are talking about just that, cults!
1:00
Speaker 1: Three of them, three of which I don't think you've
1:03
Speaker 1: heard of. And if you have, well, I don't know,
1:05
Speaker 1: don't listen. Yeah, you should listen anyway. But without further ado,
1:08
Speaker 1: let's unbuckle our seatbelts, go Mach 5 down the highway,
1:11
Speaker 1: slam on the brakes, and bust through this windshield into
1:14
Speaker 1: these three disturbing cults together. So the first cult we're
1:32
Speaker 1: going to be talking about today is Angel's Landing. Sounds nice, right?
1:37
Speaker 1: It's f * * * ing not. It's not. It's
1:39
Speaker 1: the furthest thing from nice. It should be called the
1:41
Speaker 1: Devil's Landing. It's probably my worst joke. The jokes will
1:45
Speaker 1: get up from here. Go up from here for sure.
1:53
Speaker 1: And the first joke I will mention is the man
1:56
Speaker 1: named Daniel Perez, the cult leader, if you will. And
2:00
Speaker 1: he was born in Aransas Pass, Texas in 1959. And
2:05
Speaker 1: he was somewhat of an enigmatic figure with early info
2:08
Speaker 1: on his life largely undisclosed. It was difficult to find
2:12
Speaker 1: information on what he was like as a little kiddo and,
2:15
Speaker 1: you know, and like what he was like as a
2:16
Speaker 1: young adult, what job he had, did he work at McDonald's?
2:19
Speaker 1: I don't know. The guy is a bit of a,
2:21
Speaker 1: he's a bit of a mystery, but I don't really
2:23
Speaker 1: care because he's a giant piece of shit. But into
2:27
Speaker 1: his adulthood, he did work in Texas prisons, aviation, and
2:31
Speaker 1: maintained airplanes in the Navy. And in 1996 to 1997,
2:36
Speaker 1: he was also accused of sexual crimes against two young men. Yeah,
2:41
Speaker 1: it gets bad right out the gate with this guy.
2:44
Speaker 1: This guy is like mega POS. And these girls were
2:47
Speaker 1: only 11 and 14. But these specific cases would be dismissed. Why?
2:53
Speaker 1: You ask? Because he was reported dead. but he actually wasn't.
2:59
Speaker 1: In reality, he just changed his name to Lou Castro
3:03
Speaker 1: and moved out of state. You can't do that shit now.
3:06
Speaker 1: You can't do that shit. That's crazy. I wonder how
3:08
Speaker 1: many people did that just to like wipe their slate
3:10
Speaker 1: completely clean. It's just sick. But this is when he
3:13
Speaker 1: would start to build Somewhat of a following, not necessarily
3:17
Speaker 1: a cult at this point, but a bit of a following,
3:20
Speaker 1: a commune, if you will. So he allegedly traveled with
3:23
Speaker 1: members of his commune for several years across multiple states
3:27
Speaker 1: before finally settling into their home of Angel's Landing, Devil's Landing.
3:33
Speaker 1: And the states they would move to was Texas, the Dakotas, Missouri, Kansas,
3:37
Speaker 1: and eventually Tennessee, but that was after Angel's Landing. So
3:41
Speaker 1: Perez or Lou Castro at this time claimed to be
3:46
Speaker 1: a seer with the ability to see the future, you know,
3:50
Speaker 1: like that's so Raven. And you know, that seems pretty
3:53
Speaker 1: standard as a cult leader. They all claim that The
3:56
Speaker 1: doomsday is coming. They know the future because they're profit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
4:00
Speaker 1: But he would also claim that he would need young
4:03
Speaker 1: girls to sustain his life and wanted regular access to
4:09
Speaker 1: his followers. His followers being a lot of young girls.
4:13
Speaker 1: And by access, you can draw that conclusion. Just sick.
4:17
Speaker 1: He's just a giant sicko. And there are some just
4:21
Speaker 1: heartbreaking quotes from some of the girls that endured this...
4:25
Speaker 1: asshole after the fact like after he got caught and
4:28
Speaker 1: they were they were quoted saying while other 10 year
4:31
Speaker 1: old girls were riding bikes or playing with dolls I
4:34
Speaker 1: was laying naked in bed with a pillow over my
4:37
Speaker 1: head just waiting for it to be over and she
4:39
Speaker 1: would go on to say while other 13 year old
4:42
Speaker 1: girls were getting boyfriends and holding hands I was holding
4:45
Speaker 1: on to my secret and losing the people I loved
4:47
Speaker 1: one by one when other 16 year olds were experiencing
4:51
Speaker 1: their freedom I of learning how to drive and planning
4:54
Speaker 1: parties with their friends. I was planning my own death
4:57
Speaker 1: every day when I drove to school. Just heartbreaking, heartbreaking stuff.
5:02
Speaker 1: Like this guy is just a waste of oxygen. And
5:05
Speaker 1: on top of being able to see the future or
5:08
Speaker 1: claiming to be able to see the future and taking
5:11
Speaker 1: advantage of young girls, he also claimed to be a
5:15
Speaker 1: thousand year old angel himself.
5:18
Speaker 2: Lou used to tell us that he was a thousand
5:21
Speaker 2: years old and that he was an angel himself. Lou
5:24
Speaker 2: Castro had all of his followers believing that he was
5:27
Speaker 2: centuries old and that his body was inhabited by angels.
5:31
Speaker 1: What? Listen, I know everybody that, not everybody, but a
5:36
Speaker 1: lot of people that join cults are usually very lost.
5:40
Speaker 1: They have nowhere to go. They don't have a sense
5:43
Speaker 1: of self, a sense of worth. But if a f
5:46
Speaker 1: * * * er you know, little came up to
5:49
Speaker 1: me saying he could see the future, takes advantage of
5:51
Speaker 1: like young girls and says he's a thousand year old angel.
5:55
Speaker 1: I would punch him in the throat. So for future reference,
5:59
Speaker 1: do that. Do that if some guy comes up to
6:01
Speaker 1: you and says all this stuff. This is, but it's
6:02
Speaker 1: like crazy. Just another prophet. He is a prophet of
6:06
Speaker 1: some sort. He is the middleman from whoever's up there
6:12
Speaker 1: to whoever's on earth. And on top of all that,
6:15
Speaker 1: he said he could make it rain and not money,
6:18
Speaker 1: which he could do money too. We'll get into that.
6:21
Speaker 1: but literally make it rain. He could heal people and
6:25
Speaker 1: he could use his future seeing powers to tell you
6:28
Speaker 1: you were going to die, but because of him, you
6:32
Speaker 1: would come back after death. So basically he was like,
6:35
Speaker 1: oh yeah, yeah, you guys are going to die like
6:38
Speaker 1: on Tuesday at three o'clock by getting hit by a bus,
6:40
Speaker 1: but don't worry. Uh, 16 years after that, I'll bring
6:44
Speaker 1: you back. It's gonna be some crazy zombie apocalyptic shit.
6:47
Speaker 1: It's crazy. Don't worry, I'm a thousand-year-old angel, okay? I
6:50
Speaker 1: can see the future. Alright. But he basically made death
6:52
Speaker 1: feel like a very normal thing, regularly telling his followers
6:56
Speaker 1: that the goal in life was to be on the
6:59
Speaker 1: other side, and the other side being... the afterlife.
7:02
Speaker 2: Lou talked about death frequently and how going to the
7:05
Speaker 2: other side was the ultimate goal.
7:08
Speaker 1: And this commune was made up of a small group
7:10
Speaker 1: of people with very diverse backgrounds, all vulnerable in some
7:14
Speaker 1: way that Perez or Lou Castro would take care of.
7:18
Speaker 1: He also made sure that all of the members of
7:20
Speaker 1: Angels Landing had their needs met. Members of the Angels
7:23
Speaker 1: Landing cult had been living really well.
7:25
Speaker 2: But there was always a price to pay for that stuff.
7:29
Speaker 1: He would actually make sure that everyone on the compound's
7:32
Speaker 1: needs were met, and not just met, because they would
7:36
Speaker 1: live very extravagantly. And this is, this is like, not
7:40
Speaker 1: like a lot of other cults. I mean, usually you
7:42
Speaker 1: find that the cult leader is the only one living extravagantly,
7:45
Speaker 1: but he made sure that everybody was kind of even keel,
7:48
Speaker 1: like everybody had stuff. But there's a reason for that,
7:52
Speaker 1: and it's really f * * * ing So the
7:54
Speaker 1: compound itself was located at North Oliver near the town
7:58
Speaker 1: of Ketchy, Kansas. What a fun name. And they would
8:01
Speaker 1: have two fairly large houses and a swimming pool. And
8:04
Speaker 1: all of the members, like I said, and all the
8:07
Speaker 1: members had pretty expensive vehicles, and Perez himself reportedly drove
8:12
Speaker 1: a lot of Corvettes. Very discreet cult leader. And Perez
8:16
Speaker 1: would make use of his different personas of angels inhabiting
8:19
Speaker 1: his body to control his followers. Those angels being Daniel, Arthur,
8:24
Speaker 1: and Amber. And he would open life insurance policies for
8:29
Speaker 1: commune members and set up other commune members as the
8:33
Speaker 1: beneficiaries of those policies. See where the money's coming from.
8:38
Speaker 1: You'll see it gets bad. Oh, I forgot. I needed
8:41
Speaker 1: to tell you something. What was it? What was it?
8:44
Speaker 1: What was it? I can't remember what it was. What
8:46
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Speaker 1: back to it. So we have basically directed how the
10:33
Speaker 1: policies were to be written. He had a very specific
10:35
Speaker 1: way of writing these policies. And then he would convince
10:38
Speaker 1: his followers that those who died would come back, as
10:42
Speaker 1: we know, zombie apocalypse shit, manipulating them to carry out
10:46
Speaker 1: his fraud, basically, because he's, you know, putting other people's
10:50
Speaker 1: names on the policies, like people that aren't related to
10:52
Speaker 1: these people, or himself, his name on these policies, just
10:57
Speaker 1: to be able to get the money after these people
11:00
Speaker 1: die but chris how would he get the money he'd
11:02
Speaker 1: have to wait for people to die he'd have to
11:05
Speaker 1: wait like you know 50 60 70 years now now
11:10
Speaker 1: when money got tight in the commune one of his
11:12
Speaker 1: followers would just mysteriously die when the rent had to
11:17
Speaker 1: be paid he would just off somebody which is So insane.
11:22
Speaker 1: And then obviously when that person died, a very large
11:26
Speaker 1: life insurance check would benefit the commune amounting to millions
11:31
Speaker 1: of dollars. So on top of his insurance death scheme,
11:35
Speaker 1: he was obviously exploiting these young girls as well. Like
11:38
Speaker 1: he's just bad at every angle, just a scum of
11:41
Speaker 1: the earth at every angle. And he would tell the
11:44
Speaker 1: girls in order to keep them quiet by him doing
11:47
Speaker 1: what he was doing, it would fix them because he
11:50
Speaker 1: is who he is. He's a thousand-year-old angel. He has
11:54
Speaker 1: all these powers. So he said all this stuff to
11:58
Speaker 1: basically just keep them quiet. So in 2001, Mona Griffith,
12:02
Speaker 1: a member of the commune, would die in a plane
12:05
Speaker 1: crash in South Dakota with her boyfriend and 12-year-old daughter.
12:09
Speaker 1: This one wasn't actually procured by Perez. Obviously, he didn't
12:13
Speaker 1: make a plane crash. It was just a relief. up coincidence.
12:18
Speaker 1: So Perez or Lou Castro, it was the one listed
12:21
Speaker 1: as a brother at the obituary and on the life
12:25
Speaker 1: insurance policy, which was $ 700, 000. And he would get that $ 700, 000
12:32
Speaker 1: over her other child who he had one child that
12:35
Speaker 1: died in the plane crash, but she had another child
12:36
Speaker 1: that didn't die in the plane crash. So he would
12:38
Speaker 1: just take all of that money and not give any
12:41
Speaker 1: to the kid. And then on June, 2003, Patricia Hughes,
12:44
Speaker 1: a member of the commune as well, would die from
12:47
Speaker 1: what was believed to be an accidental drowning in the
12:51
Speaker 1: commune pool. So a funeral would take place in South Texas,
12:54
Speaker 1: and it's been reported that Perez told commune members that
12:57
Speaker 1: attended the funeral not to tell anyone in Texas that
13:00
Speaker 1: he was in Kansas because he doesn't exist, remember? He's dead.
13:05
Speaker 1: On paper, anyway. And then in March 2006, Brian Hughes,
13:09
Speaker 1: Patricia's husband, and also a member of the commune, would
13:13
Speaker 1: die in South Dakota while working underneath a vehicle.
13:17
Speaker 2: Brian was a diesel mechanic. I remember Lou telling Brian,
13:22
Speaker 2: you will someday get your chance to go to the
13:24
Speaker 2: other side. Brian was so safety conscious that day, somehow
13:29
Speaker 2: that jack slipped.
13:31
Speaker 1: Very suspicious. And then in 2008, Jennifer Hudson, not that
13:36
Speaker 1: Jennifer Hudson, different Jennifer Hudson, a real estate agent and
13:40
Speaker 1: a member of the commune would die when her vehicle
13:43
Speaker 1: crossed into oncoming traffic and would hit a truck. head on. Again,
13:48
Speaker 1: very suspicious. And Sarah McGarth, her daughter and also former
13:53
Speaker 1: member of the commune, would open up about her mom's
13:55
Speaker 1: death in 2008. And she would have crowned that her
13:58
Speaker 1: mom went to work that day and she tried calling her,
14:01
Speaker 1: but her mom never answered.
14:02
Speaker 2: Lou comes downstairs and he says Jennifer's been in an accident.
14:06
Speaker 2: He said she's dead, isn't she?
14:07
Speaker 1: But Perez wouldn't really give her a straight answer and
14:10
Speaker 1: that made the daughter really, really mad.
14:12
Speaker 2: He wouldn't answer me. And that really pissed me off.
14:16
Speaker 2: So I go running behind him and I said, what
14:18
Speaker 2: did you.
14:18
Speaker 1: Do to my mom? I mean, the people in the commune,
14:20
Speaker 1: you know, they're not stupid. They know that, you know,
14:23
Speaker 1: these events that are happening might be caused by Perez
14:26
Speaker 1: because they're going to come back later. It doesn't matter
14:29
Speaker 1: if they die and we collect money because they're going
14:30
Speaker 1: to come back. Remember? Remember? But this started to lose
14:35
Speaker 1: its luster after so many people were dying. Because Trish
14:39
Speaker 1: and Brian had died, they were other people in the commune,
14:42
Speaker 1: and they hadn't come back yet. So the daughter obviously
14:45
Speaker 1: believed that her mother wasn't going to come back, at
14:47
Speaker 1: least anytime soon either. So investigators would start to catch
14:51
Speaker 1: on to this scheme. A lot of life insurance policies
14:54
Speaker 1: were being paid out to like one specific person or...
14:58
Speaker 1: These specific people in this commune and people were dying
15:01
Speaker 1: left and right. And who was this guy? Who was
15:04
Speaker 1: Lou Castro? They didn't know. So Sedgwick County Sheriff's Detective
15:08
Speaker 1: Ron Goodwin, along with other investigators, compiled 500,000 pages worth
15:12
Speaker 1: of documentation of what Perez was up to which spanned
15:17
Speaker 1: over 20 years and multiple states as we know and
15:20
Speaker 1: Goodwin devoted nine years to figure out who Perez was
15:25
Speaker 1: and where the hell he got all his money because
15:28
Speaker 1: Perez was living like a king and he had no
15:33
Speaker 1: job he had no job this entire time but he's
15:36
Speaker 1: driving around a bunch of Corvettes, he has houses, he
15:39
Speaker 1: has a pool, he has all these things. So it
15:41
Speaker 1: just didn't add up. So he became suspicious of Perez,
15:45
Speaker 1: at this point still known as Lucastro. In April 2003,
15:48
Speaker 1: when he noticed Perez's group had multiple $ 40, 000 to $ 50, 000 vehicles.
15:52
Speaker 1: Very suspicious. suspicious and their compound had the two houses
15:58
Speaker 1: and a very nice swimming pool as well so all
16:00
Speaker 1: this unexplained wealth was starting to look pretty nefarious a
16:05
Speaker 1: lot of nefarious activities look like they were happening so
16:09
Speaker 1: goodwin was on the case so if you remember june
16:12
Speaker 1: 2003 a member of the group patricia hughes would die
16:16
Speaker 1: in the commune swimming pool accidentally for those of you
16:20
Speaker 1: listening i'm I'm making very obvious, you know, quotes, winking. Accidentally.
16:25
Speaker 1: And this was one of the cases that drew the
16:27
Speaker 1: attention of Goodwin to look further and discover that Castro
16:31
Speaker 1: may not be who he says he is. And Castro
16:34
Speaker 1: had no apparent records and was not easily identifiable. And
16:38
Speaker 1: he had basically no identifiable past either. Because the guy
16:41
Speaker 1: didn't f * * *. exist. So he would do
16:44
Speaker 1: a little song and dance and claim that he came
16:46
Speaker 1: from oil wealth and he was an inventor or that
16:49
Speaker 1: he was a cattle seller, just spewing bullshit to investigators.
16:53
Speaker 1: And none of which could be verified, so it didn't
16:55
Speaker 1: hold up very long. But all of the members in
16:57
Speaker 1: the commune were identifiable through databases, but Lou Castro was not.
17:02
Speaker 1: So that was looking suspicious, suspicious, even more. But Goodwin
17:06
Speaker 1: did find that Castro had a South Dakota ID card,
17:10
Speaker 1: and this would lead to the discovery of Mona Griffith's
17:13
Speaker 1: death in 2001, on top of her boyfriends and her
17:18
Speaker 1: daughters where Castro was listed as the brother of Griffiths.
17:22
Speaker 1: So he was just raking in the dough after all
17:25
Speaker 1: three of these people died. So in 2004, Goodwin would
17:28
Speaker 1: enlist the help of FBI agent John Sullivan to help
17:31
Speaker 1: identify Castro. And they had worked together before on other
17:34
Speaker 1: drug cases and Sullivan was unable to find a photo
17:38
Speaker 1: or description matching Lou Castro. So not even the FBI
17:42
Speaker 1: could find out who this guy was. And Goodwin would
17:45
Speaker 1: do everything he could to get fingerprints. He would follow
17:49
Speaker 1: Castro around and gather trash from the compound. He even
17:52
Speaker 1: got permission from a manager to collect glasses and silverware.
17:55
Speaker 1: This is some like movie shit. But no fingerprint to
17:58
Speaker 1: identify Castro was ever found. So the case would slowly
18:01
Speaker 1: become cold. So Goodwin would drive to Angel's Landing over
18:05
Speaker 1: the next couple years every once in a while. because
18:07
Speaker 1: he would just wake up every night just wondering who
18:10
Speaker 1: the hell Castro really was and what the hell was
18:13
Speaker 1: he up to. And in 2006, Goodwin would learn about
18:16
Speaker 1: another death. And this one was Brian Hughes, Patricia Hughes'
18:20
Speaker 1: husband who was crushed under that car in South Dakota.
18:23
Speaker 1: And he heard about it due to a custody case
18:25
Speaker 1: involving the Hughes' daughter And at this point, there were
18:28
Speaker 1: five deaths from three fatal accidents in just five years,
18:32
Speaker 1: all associated with the same commune. So in late 2006
18:35
Speaker 1: and early 2007, Goodwin requested for the U.S. Attorney's Office
18:40
Speaker 1: to open a case to review the commune's finances. Now
18:44
Speaker 1: we're getting somewhere. And around the same time, Goodwin was
18:47
Speaker 1: assigned to a task force to go after the Crips,
18:50
Speaker 1: a street gang located in Wichita. Wichita. Crips. Wichita. Those
18:55
Speaker 1: are two fun words to say. And it's here that
18:57
Speaker 1: he began working with Clint Snyder. Cool ass name. And
19:01
Speaker 1: would tell him all about Castro. And Snyder became very interested,
19:06
Speaker 1: but they were too busy with the Crips at this point.
19:08
Speaker 1: And then in 2008, as we know, Jennifer Hudson, no
19:12
Speaker 1: not that one, would die in an apparent traffic accident,
19:15
Speaker 1: bringing the total commune deaths to six. And in response,
19:18
Speaker 1: strategies to trick Castro to giving prints were thrown around.
19:22
Speaker 1: Goodwin went with another detective to Angel's Landing under the
19:26
Speaker 1: guise of looking into the area for home break-ins. So
19:29
Speaker 1: they gave Castro glossy images of suspects, quote-unquote suspects, asking
19:35
Speaker 1: if he knew any of them. And Castro would only
19:38
Speaker 1: touch the images with the palms of his hands. Bastard.
19:41
Speaker 1: And would move them on a table using his fingernails.
19:46
Speaker 1: The guy... He was a shifty. And Castro would give
19:50
Speaker 1: his name, but claimed that he didn't have an ID around,
19:53
Speaker 1: so he couldn't give one to them. And he also
19:54
Speaker 1: provided a false social security number on top of that.
19:58
Speaker 1: So in late 2009, the Cripps case cools off a
20:02
Speaker 1: bit now. And Goodwin and Snyder are assigned to the
20:04
Speaker 1: US Attorney's Office, with the focus on the financial investigation.
20:09
Speaker 1: And Goodwin would receive a call from Sullivan, the FBI
20:12
Speaker 1: agent from before, asking if there's a fax machine nearby,
20:16
Speaker 1: because he wanted to send over an email from the
20:18
Speaker 1: boyfriend of a young woman who had been part of
20:21
Speaker 1: the commune. And he was very suspicious of Castro. And
20:25
Speaker 1: at this point, Castro had moved to Columbia, Tennessee in
20:29
Speaker 1: early 2010. So after the FBI received this email, the
20:33
Speaker 1: agents started to watch Castro's house. And he was currently
20:36
Speaker 1: living with five people at that point. And Castro at
20:39
Speaker 1: this point had also changed his name again to Joe
20:43
Speaker 1: Venegas upon moving to Tennessee. And he would be caught
20:46
Speaker 1: on camera showing his new ID to open a bank account.
20:50
Speaker 1: And that is when he would be charged with aggravated
20:52
Speaker 1: identity theft and fraudulent use of a social security number.
20:56
Speaker 1: We got him! Woop woop, we got him! And on
20:59
Speaker 1: April 21st, 2010, Goodwin, Snyder, and Sullivan would go to
21:03
Speaker 1: Tennessee with a search warrant of Castro's home. So he
21:07
Speaker 1: was arrested and got fingerprinted, finally. But no match would
21:11
Speaker 1: be found in the federal database. And other investigators were
21:15
Speaker 1: interviewing witnesses through all of this time. But the members
21:18
Speaker 1: of the community weren't really giving up much info. They
21:21
Speaker 1: were all pretty loyal. to Castro at this point. So
21:24
Speaker 1: Goodwin and Snyder just talked to basically anyone who would
21:27
Speaker 1: talk to them about this commune and everything that was
21:29
Speaker 1: going on. And they would interview about 85 people. And
21:33
Speaker 1: Castro during this whole thing would just stay completely silent,
21:35
Speaker 1: giving them the complete silent treatment. But he would plead
21:38
Speaker 1: guilty to one of the two charges brought against him
21:41
Speaker 1: in the federal case. And he would just go to
21:43
Speaker 1: federal prison as John Doe, because they still didn't know
21:46
Speaker 1: who this guy was. So during his sentence, Goodwin and
21:49
Speaker 1: Snyder worked to build the best case they had against him.
21:52
Speaker 1: And they discovered from Patricia Hughes' mother in Beeville, Texas,
21:56
Speaker 1: that Patricia had dated a man named Daniel Perez. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
22:02
Speaker 1: But had since heard that he was dead. So they
22:04
Speaker 1: followed that thread to find an old booking mug and
22:08
Speaker 1: fingerprints that matched Castro's. And boom, they found him. So
22:13
Speaker 1: they picked up copies of the police reports on Perez
22:15
Speaker 1: from Beeville, including that dismissed case from 1996 to 1997
22:18
Speaker 1: mentioned in the beginning. with the girls who were 11
22:23
Speaker 1: and 14. And the case, as we know, was dismissed
22:25
Speaker 1: because Perez was presumed dead. And as Perez was away
22:29
Speaker 1: in prison, his commune began to open up more and more.
22:32
Speaker 1: They began to be sick and tired of Perez's bullshit.
22:35
Speaker 1: And one young woman would recount an incident in which
22:38
Speaker 1: Perez made her break a computer hard drive with a
22:41
Speaker 1: hammer and toss it into the lagoon in Angel's Landing.
22:44
Speaker 1: And the hard drive would actually be recovered after Cedric
22:48
Speaker 1: County firefighters drained the entire body of water to find it.
22:52
Speaker 1: And eventually one of his followers became the big break.
22:55
Speaker 1: She revealed that Perez was described as someone capable of
22:59
Speaker 1: seeing the future and needed a young girl to live.
23:02
Speaker 1: And she would describe all of his crimes that he
23:06
Speaker 1: did throughout all of the years. And she would also
23:08
Speaker 1: reveal that Perez had forced her to give a false
23:10
Speaker 1: story about Patricia Hughes when authorities arrived. Patricia Hughes being
23:15
Speaker 1: the one that accidentally drowned in the Commian pool. And
23:18
Speaker 1: this girl was supposed to say that Hughes slipped and
23:21
Speaker 1: fell and drowned in the pool. But what she actually
23:24
Speaker 1: experienced was screams and splashes leading to Perez seemingly out
23:29
Speaker 1: of breath and completely wet. he had drowned her. And
23:33
Speaker 1: with the testimony, they finally had enough for a murder case.
23:36
Speaker 1: Thank God. And on January, 2012, Sedgwick County prosecutors filed
23:41
Speaker 1: murder and dozens of other charges against Perez while he
23:45
Speaker 1: was still in prison. And on February, 2015, Daniel Perez
23:49
Speaker 1: was convicted of 28 charges by the jury. One count
23:53
Speaker 1: of first degree murder, eight counts of grape, seven counts
23:57
Speaker 1: of aggravated criminal sodomy, three counts of aggravated assault, one
24:02
Speaker 1: count of exploitation of a child, eight counts making false information,
24:07
Speaker 1: and he received two life sentences plus 406 months on
24:12
Speaker 1: lesser charges with no possibility for parole for at least
24:16
Speaker 1: 80 years. So the guy's gonna die in a rotting
24:21
Speaker 1: jail hole. Thank the Lord. But my Lord, like this guy,
24:25
Speaker 1: I mean, just, I can't, I don't know how many
24:27
Speaker 1: times I say it, just scum of the earth. Like,
24:30
Speaker 1: I am so glad he got caught and these officers
24:32
Speaker 1: were just on him for as long as they were.
24:35
Speaker 1: And I hope all of the victims involved are living
24:38
Speaker 1: much better lives. But just incredibly sad. Incredibly sad. But
24:41
Speaker 1: that brings us to our next cult, which is Love
24:44
Speaker 1: Has Won. So born on November 30th, 1975 in McPherson, Kansas,
24:58
Speaker 1: Amy Carlson was unfortunately born. Subject of HBO miniseries, Love
25:04
Speaker 1: Has Won the Cult of Mother God. Carlson's early life
25:08
Speaker 1: appeared Pretty conventional. She was raised in a middle-class family,
25:12
Speaker 1: excelled in school for the most part, and even participated
25:15
Speaker 1: in the school choir. But her parents would divorce during
25:18
Speaker 1: her childhood. And this would lead her and her sister
25:20
Speaker 1: Tara to split their time between their mother's home in
25:23
Speaker 1: Kansas and their father's home in Oklahoma City. Then following
25:27
Speaker 1: allegations of a by their stepmother, the sisters moved in
25:31
Speaker 1: permanently with their mother and stepfather. And the family would
25:34
Speaker 1: later relocate to Dallas, Texas when Carlson continued her education.
25:38
Speaker 1: And in the mid 2000s, Carlson became deeply involved in
25:42
Speaker 1: new age philosophies and would frequently post on a forum
25:46
Speaker 1: called lightworkers.org. And I went on that site, it's just,
25:49
Speaker 1: it's gone now, so. I guess we'll never know. But there,
25:53
Speaker 1: she connected with a user named Amaryth White Eagle, the
25:57
Speaker 1: original Father God, who convinced her of her own divinity. Oh, no.
26:04
Speaker 1: Or should I say, oh, God. And as an adult,
26:07
Speaker 1: she would work as a manager at McDonald's. You know...
26:10
Speaker 1: as the Divine Mother of God does. And she would
26:13
Speaker 1: go on to have three children, each with different fathers.
26:16
Speaker 1: And in late 2007, Carlson left her third husband, children,
26:21
Speaker 1: and job, severing ties with most of her family completely.
26:25
Speaker 1: Mother of the year. And she would join White Eagle
26:28
Speaker 1: in Colorado. And together, they founded a group initially known
26:32
Speaker 1: as Galactic Federation of Light. The Galactic Federation of Light.
26:37
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a pretty cool name. It's a pretty
26:39
Speaker 1: cool name. I'll give them that, some Star Wars shit.
26:41
Speaker 1: But this later would evolve into Love Has Won. And
26:44
Speaker 1: Carlson would profess to be a 19 billion year old
26:49
Speaker 1: deity having lived 534 previous lives. She's got a couple
26:56
Speaker 1: up on Perez at this point, the thousand-year-old angel. She's like,
26:59
Speaker 1: I'll take your thousand-year angel and raise you a 19
27:03
Speaker 1: billion-year-old deity who's lived 534 lives, different lives. What the
27:09
Speaker 1: f * * *? And these lives, if you were wondering,
27:12
Speaker 1: included the life of Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc, and
27:17
Speaker 1: Marilyn Monroe. Just like, All the coolest people ever, basically.
27:22
Speaker 1: I wish she did like Elvis Presley too, but that
27:24
Speaker 1: would mess up her timelines. That wouldn't be legit, you know?
27:26
Speaker 1: And she asserted that she could heal ailments such as
27:29
Speaker 1: cancer with the powers of love. The powers of love.
27:33
Speaker 1: So similar to Perez saying he could heal all this shit.
27:36
Speaker 1: It's just the same with all of them. At least
27:38
Speaker 1: be original. Like Jim Jones did the same shit. He
27:40
Speaker 1: said he could see into the future. He could cure cancer. Yada, yada, yada.
27:44
Speaker 1: I would like them to be original at some point.
27:46
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. I don't want to see any more
27:47
Speaker 1: cult leaders. I'll tell you what. And under Carlson's leadership,
27:51
Speaker 1: Love Has Won combined elements of new age spirituality, conspiracy theories,
27:56
Speaker 1: and mainstream religions. The group conducted daily live streams to
28:00
Speaker 1: recruit members, solicit donations, and promote spiritual healing services. I
28:05
Speaker 1: love spiritual live streams where you can... donate bits to
28:10
Speaker 1: cult leaders. They're my favorite. But Love Has Won operated
28:13
Speaker 1: under a unique spiritual framework that combined various religions and
28:19
Speaker 1: mystical elements. Amy Carlson being the mother of God. She
28:23
Speaker 1: was basically seen as the only conduit for spiritual enlightenment
28:27
Speaker 1: and Ascension. And the Father of God was basically just
28:31
Speaker 1: a rolodex of male figures in her life. Throughout her leadership,
28:35
Speaker 1: Carlson took on multiple fathers of gods. Male consorts, who
28:40
Speaker 1: she claimed were incarnations of divine masculinity. And these individuals
28:44
Speaker 1: often became key enforcers of her control over her followers.
28:48
Speaker 1: So then there was the Galactic Federation and Ascension beliefs,
28:51
Speaker 1: which was that the cult believed that the world was
28:53
Speaker 1: in the process of great transformation. And Carlson was the
28:58
Speaker 1: only entity capable of leading humanity into the fifth dimension.
29:02
Speaker 1: Fifth dimension, okay. All right, not quite as, you know,
29:05
Speaker 1: you know, there were space with Applewhite or whatever the
29:08
Speaker 1: hell his name was. And Scientology's got his own thing,
29:11
Speaker 1: but fifth dimension, I gotta say, it is original. It's
29:14
Speaker 1: more original. But the followers were required to relinquish their ego.
29:18
Speaker 1: and fully submit to Carlson's teachings. And any deviation from
29:22
Speaker 1: her doctrine was seen as a resistance to spiritual growth.
29:26
Speaker 1: And the love has won integrated elements of various conspiracy theories,
29:30
Speaker 1: as I was saying, including ideas of extraterrestrials, 5D consciousness,
29:35
Speaker 1: and global government corruption, which like, she's got some points.
29:39
Speaker 1: She's got some points. there, but most of it's ridiculous.
29:42
Speaker 1: And the cult used several methods to attract and retain members,
29:46
Speaker 1: because you're like, how does a woman just walk up
29:49
Speaker 1: to you on the street and say, ah, I'm a
29:50
Speaker 1: 19 billion year old deity that's lived 534 other lives,
29:55
Speaker 1: including of which is Jesus Christ. June of Arc and
29:58
Speaker 1: Marilyn Monroe, would you like to join my little cult?
30:01
Speaker 1: People are just like, All right. I just don't see
30:06
Speaker 1: that happening. So how did they do it? They did
30:08
Speaker 1: it with social media and daily live streams. This is
30:12
Speaker 1: not looking good for social media right now. Love Has
30:14
Speaker 1: Won gained traction through frequent online broadcasts. And Carlson and
30:18
Speaker 1: her followers discussed their beliefs, solicited donations, and recruited new
30:23
Speaker 1: members that way. And recruits were often those experiencing hardships,
30:27
Speaker 1: which we find with pretty much every cult I've ever
30:30
Speaker 1: covered and just every cult in history. Just vulnerable people,
30:34
Speaker 1: including those that have financial instability or health crises as well.
30:38
Speaker 1: And the cult just offered them a sense of community
30:41
Speaker 1: and purpose and healing. And many members were drawn to
30:45
Speaker 1: Carlson's promises of spiritual enlightenment and physical healing from diseases
30:50
Speaker 1: such as cancer, through etheric surgeries. What? These are also
30:55
Speaker 1: sometimes called psychic surgeries. In other words, surgery that uses
30:59
Speaker 1: psychic or spiritual means to avoid physical contact. So there's
31:03
Speaker 1: like those people that like move their hands over people's
31:06
Speaker 1: bodies and then the people under it are like moving
31:10
Speaker 1: and shit. And it's just all like, placebo kind of effect.
31:14
Speaker 1: That's kind of what they're talking about. I grew up
31:16
Speaker 1: watching thousands of people at revival conferences claim to be
31:19
Speaker 1: healed of everything from arthritis to cancer. But again, living
31:23
Speaker 1: in this cult required complete devotion to the mother of
31:26
Speaker 1: God and a very strict adherence to her rules. And
31:29
Speaker 1: living in this cult was not that glamorous. Members would
31:33
Speaker 1: live in very cramped quarters and they often did not
31:36
Speaker 1: have adequate food or heating and they shared a communal
31:39
Speaker 1: space in colorado where they expected to serve carlson without
31:43
Speaker 1: any question so in their daily life the followers would
31:46
Speaker 1: participate in online broadcasts to spread the group's message and
31:50
Speaker 1: solicit donations and this would be their main source of
31:53
Speaker 1: income and the members would have to refer to carlson
31:56
Speaker 1: as mom and constantly praise her had a praise gank
32:00
Speaker 1: Let's just be real. Believing that she was working to
32:03
Speaker 1: save humanity. And those who deviated and displayed ego or
32:07
Speaker 1: disobeyed orders were humiliated on live streams or subjected to
32:11
Speaker 1: verbal and physical abuse. My vision was chicken parmesan. So
32:16
Speaker 1: the f * * * ing Adams turn around on
32:18
Speaker 1: me and get me meatballs. I didn't say meatballs. And
32:22
Speaker 1: to maintain power over her followers, Carlson implemented a series
32:26
Speaker 1: of manipulative and extreme control tactics. She would force fasting,
32:31
Speaker 1: having members often deprived of any food, as a means
32:34
Speaker 1: of spiritual cleansing and control, basically. And Carlson herself reportedly
32:39
Speaker 1: went without eating for extended periods of time, encouraging others
32:43
Speaker 1: to do the same. Which, like, I don't believe her.
32:44
Speaker 1: She's sneaking Pop-Tarts, like, late at night, I know it.
32:47
Speaker 1: And she would also sleep deprive them, similar to Jim Jones.
32:50
Speaker 1: Be original, Carlson. But the followers were kept in a
32:53
Speaker 1: state of exhaustion, limiting their ability to think critically or
32:57
Speaker 1: question the group's practices. Because sleep deprivation, I mean, it's real.
33:01
Speaker 1: It's a torture tactic. Like, if you're sleep deprived, you're
33:04
Speaker 1: a zombie at that point. You are a brainwashed zombie
33:07
Speaker 1: or have the potential to be. And then just full-on
33:09
Speaker 1: isolation from the outside world. Again, just be original. Just
33:14
Speaker 1: same shit. Any communication with outsiders was completely discouraged, reinforcing
33:19
Speaker 1: dependency on the cult. Everything's about separating and then brainwashing
33:25
Speaker 1: and just having full control. And then, of course, we
33:27
Speaker 1: had threats of punishment. One man was reportedly found after
33:31
Speaker 1: group members discussed how his energy wasn't right during a
33:35
Speaker 1: livestream and that he was on the wrong side of
33:39
Speaker 1: the mountain. So they would basically stick him out in
33:41
Speaker 1: the wilderness alone, naked and dehydrated with cactus needles in
33:46
Speaker 1: his feet and be forced to look up into the
33:49
Speaker 1: sun until his eyes were burned. Oh my God. what
33:53
Speaker 1: and naturally as many cults do members were required to
33:57
Speaker 1: surrender their financial assets to the group because it's communal
34:01
Speaker 1: everybody everybody is equal here everybody can put their money
34:05
Speaker 1: in and just never see it again and don't worry
34:06
Speaker 1: i'm not buying pop-tarts with them i swear so there
34:09
Speaker 1: was the financial manipulation the isolation from families a practices,
34:14
Speaker 1: claims of divine healing, miraculous transformations, literal torture tactics. It
34:19
Speaker 1: is just hell on earth for these people, but they
34:21
Speaker 1: felt like this is where they needed to be. I
34:24
Speaker 1: love me both.
34:25
Speaker 3: But I didn't f * * * ing say that!
34:27
Speaker 1: I get f * * * ed up every f
34:29
Speaker 1: * * * ing moment by you f * *
34:31
Speaker 1: * ing motherf * * * ers. and shove it
34:33
Speaker 1: up your ass. I'm gonna take another Tiva shot. I'll
34:36
Speaker 1: do that shit. And on top of all this, Carlson
34:39
Speaker 1: would claim that this wasn't a cult. This isn't a cult.
34:42
Speaker 1: This is just fun. This is, we're just having a
34:43
Speaker 1: good time. I was Jesus Christ in a past life.
34:45
Speaker 1: Don't question me. It would even be featured on Dr. Phil.
34:48
Speaker 3: They're very peaceful here at the moment. Things are often
34:51
Speaker 3: not peaceful around you because I've, I've. seen some of
34:54
Speaker 3: your streams i've seen some of the things that videos
34:58
Speaker 3: where you seem to be upset a lot yelling and
35:01
Speaker 3: screaming and calling names and all.
35:05
Speaker 1: What is it that upsets you the most well you
35:07
Speaker 1: know a lot of those are taken out of context
35:09
Speaker 1: but time would go on and carlson's health would decline.
35:14
Speaker 1: And her belief system impacted her physical condition. She obviously
35:18
Speaker 1: adhered to very unconventional health practices, including the ingestion of
35:23
Speaker 1: colloidal silver, which the group promoted as a cure-all remedy.
35:28
Speaker 1: It was even purchasable on their website, which is obviously
35:31
Speaker 1: no longer available. And in the months leading up to
35:34
Speaker 1: her death, Carlson appeared very weak, with thinning hair and
35:38
Speaker 1: discolored skin, indicative of severe health decline. And prolonged consumption
35:43
Speaker 1: of colloidal silver can lead to argyria, I'm sorry if
35:49
Speaker 1: I'm saying that wrong, a condition causing blue-gray discoloration of
35:53
Speaker 1: skin and may result in seizures and organ failure. Maybe
35:57
Speaker 1: don't eat silver. Just a thought. I actually don't care.
35:59
Speaker 1: You're kind of a piece of shit. The combination of
36:01
Speaker 1: heavy booze, lack of eating, intense fasting, and the colloidal
36:05
Speaker 1: silver wreaking havoc on her body, it was just a
36:08
Speaker 1: recipe for death. And that is what would happen. She
36:12
Speaker 1: would die. And in April of 2021, Carlson's mummified body
36:18
Speaker 1: was discovered in the group's Colorado headquarters. And just a
36:22
Speaker 1: little trigger warning, this is... Very strange. Her body was
36:28
Speaker 1: found in a sleeping bag wrapped in Christmas lights with
36:32
Speaker 1: her face covered in glitter and her eyes missing, suggesting
36:37
Speaker 1: a makeshift shrine. I have no words. I have no
36:41
Speaker 1: words for that. And the seven members of the Love
36:44
Speaker 1: Has Won were obviously arrested and charged with the b
36:47
Speaker 1: * * * * * * of a corpse and
36:49
Speaker 1: also child b * * * * * *. because
36:50
Speaker 1: two children were present in the home where Carlson's body
36:53
Speaker 1: was found, which is horrifying to think about. And there
36:56
Speaker 1: were initial plans to upgrade the charges to tampering with
36:59
Speaker 1: a deceased human body, but all the charges would later
37:01
Speaker 1: be dropped. So what remains of Love Has Won? Well,
37:05
Speaker 1: following her death, the group faced increased scrutiny, obviously, leading
37:09
Speaker 1: to its eventual soft ending, though splinter groups remain. And
37:13
Speaker 1: co-leader Jason Castillo, which was one of the fathers of God,
37:17
Speaker 1: formed a new group called Joy Reigns. And other former
37:21
Speaker 1: members would rebrand their online presence to FD Full Disclosure,
37:26
Speaker 1: launching a new website to continue spreading their beliefs. And
37:29
Speaker 1: this website is crazy. I kind of want to sign up.
37:32
Speaker 1: Should that be a video? Should I sign up? Tell
37:34
Speaker 1: you guys what happens? I'm just kidding. I'm not going
37:36
Speaker 1: to do that. That's crazy. The brainwashing that happened in
37:38
Speaker 1: this and the aftermath, just brutal. But that brings us
37:42
Speaker 1: to our final cult, which is Rajneesh Param. So Bhagwan
37:53
Speaker 1: Sri Rajneesh was born on December 11th, 1931 as Chandra
37:58
Speaker 1: Mohan Jain in Kushwara. I'm sorry if I'm saying these wrong.
38:03
Speaker 1: I'm trying my best. It was a small village in
38:06
Speaker 1: central India's Madhya Pradesh state and was the full-on subject
38:11
Speaker 1: of a Netflix documentary, which I'm sure you've seen if
38:14
Speaker 1: you like watching me, which was Wild Wild. country. He
38:17
Speaker 1: was the eldest of 11 children in the Jaina family.
38:21
Speaker 1: And a Jaina family is one that practices the teachings
38:24
Speaker 1: of Jainism, which was an ancient Indian religion focused on
38:28
Speaker 1: non-violence and separation from attachment to worldly possessions. And he
38:33
Speaker 1: would spend most of his childhood with his maternal grandparents.
38:36
Speaker 1: And they allowed him considerable freedom, fostering his independent and
38:40
Speaker 1: and inquisitive nature. And his father, Baba Lal Jain, was
38:44
Speaker 1: a cloth merchant. And he demonstrated a highly developed intellect
38:48
Speaker 1: and a rebellious spirit from a very young age. This
38:51
Speaker 1: is Bhagwan I'm talking about, the cult leader, the kid
38:53
Speaker 1: that's growing up. Sorry, it's not the father I'm talking about,
38:56
Speaker 1: it's the kid. And he would regularly question established norms
39:00
Speaker 1: and beliefs. And in 1951, he began his studies in
39:03
Speaker 1: Hitkarini College in Jabalpur. But he would be later asked
39:07
Speaker 1: to leave due with conflicts with his instructor. And he
39:10
Speaker 1: then transferred to D.N. Jain College, where he would complete
39:14
Speaker 1: his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1955. And at
39:17
Speaker 1: the ripe old age of 21, he would experience what
39:20
Speaker 1: he called a spiritual awakening. And this had a major
39:24
Speaker 1: impact on his later teachings. And in 1957, he would
39:27
Speaker 1: earn his Master of Arts in Philosophy from the University
39:30
Speaker 1: of Cigar, graduating with distinction. And after completing his postgraduate studies,
39:36
Speaker 1: he secured a teaching position at Rapier Sanskrit College. However,
39:40
Speaker 1: his unconventional ideas led his vice chancellor to request his transfer,
39:44
Speaker 1: deeming him a threat to the students morally and religiously.
39:48
Speaker 1: And he would later become a lecturer in philosophy at
39:51
Speaker 1: Jaipur University in 1958 and was promoted to professor in 1960.
39:57
Speaker 1: So I guess they were chill with whatever the hell
39:59
Speaker 1: he was trying to do. And during his academic tenure,
40:01
Speaker 1: he traveled extensively across India, engaging in public speaking opportunities.
40:06
Speaker 1: And he was a very outspoken critic of socialism, Mahatma
40:10
Speaker 1: Gandhi's philosophies, and institutionalized religions, advocating for a more individual
40:15
Speaker 1: approach to spirituality. And in 1970, he introduced the practice
40:19
Speaker 1: of dynamic meditation and initiated his first group of disciples
40:23
Speaker 1: known as Neosaniacins. Okay. And dynamic meditation was characterized by
40:29
Speaker 1: fast breathing, and celebration with music and dance. So just
40:33
Speaker 1: me having a panic attack, basically, with like tunes bumping, just.
40:43
Speaker 1: And this movement encouraged followers to embrace a celebratory lifestyle,
40:47
Speaker 1: pursuing physical pleasures. Oh no. And in 1974, he established
40:53
Speaker 1: an ashram in Pune, India, which became a hub for
40:56
Speaker 1: spiritual seekers from around the world. And an ashram is
40:59
Speaker 1: a place dedicated to spiritual practices, often found in very
41:03
Speaker 1: remote areas. And the ashram offered various therapies and workshops,
41:07
Speaker 1: lending Eastern spirituality with Western psychotherapy techniques. And he was
41:11
Speaker 1: known in the West as the, uh, school-roo. All right.
41:17
Speaker 1: And he would attract many Westerners through promises of enlightenment, freedom,
41:22
Speaker 1: and belonging. Again, be original. So he would denounce traditional
41:26
Speaker 1: religion and promote self-actualization by means of meditation, free love,
41:31
Speaker 1: and communal living. Because if everyone's on the same grade,
41:34
Speaker 1: much easier to control. But by the late 1970s, Rajneesh's
41:39
Speaker 1: teachings and rapid following attracted significant attention. This guy's got
41:43
Speaker 1: a lot of names. I'm just going to call him
41:44
Speaker 1: Rajneesh from here on out. And this created tension with
41:47
Speaker 1: Indian authorities and traditional religious groups. His progressive views on...
41:52
Speaker 1: and criticism of established religions made him a very controversial figure.
41:56
Speaker 1: So seeking a location to expand his commune with no interference,
42:01
Speaker 1: Rajneesh and his secretary, Manan Sheela, identified the United States
42:05
Speaker 1: of America as a suitable destination. Land of the free.
42:09
Speaker 1: A little too free. in this scenario. And the vast
42:13
Speaker 1: lands and promise of religious freedom presented an opportunity to
42:17
Speaker 1: establish a new community aligned with their vision. And facing
42:20
Speaker 1: increasing pressure from Indian authorities due to the controversial teachings,
42:25
Speaker 1: he relocated to the United States in 1981. And the
42:28
Speaker 1: Rajneesh Foundation International purchased 64,229 acres in Big Muddy Ranch
42:36
Speaker 1: near Antelope, Oregon, with the intent to build a large,
42:39
Speaker 1: self-sustaining commune. And the commune would become known as Rajneesh
42:44
Speaker 1: Param and was the center of various legal and social controversies. What?
42:49
Speaker 1: More on that later. The commune transformed the ranch into
42:52
Speaker 1: a thriving city, basically, constructed of essential infrastructure, including residential buildings,
42:59
Speaker 1: a public transport system, a sewage treatment plant, a reservoir,
43:03
Speaker 1: and even an airstrip. I mean, in the cult communes,
43:07
Speaker 1: this one, This one's up there. I mean, by nice,
43:10
Speaker 1: I mean terrible, but I mean, you know, yeah, you
43:11
Speaker 1: know what I mean. But the goal was to create
43:13
Speaker 1: a self-sufficient community capable of supporting thousands of residents. And
43:17
Speaker 1: they would be incorporated as a city in May of 1982,
43:20
Speaker 1: home solely to followers of Rajneesh. Now, Sheila served as
43:25
Speaker 1: Rajneesh's personal secretary from 1981 to 1985. And she managed
43:30
Speaker 1: commune operations and acted as the primary spokesperson of the movement.
43:35
Speaker 1: Her very assertive and often bleak, confrontational demeanor made her
43:40
Speaker 1: a prominent and polarizing figure in the community. Sheila was
43:43
Speaker 1: basically an instrument in the commune's development. She oversaw all
43:47
Speaker 1: the land acquisition, infrastructure projects, and legal strategies. And her
43:51
Speaker 1: leadership style was marked by decisiveness as she maintained strict
43:55
Speaker 1: control over the commune's affairs. In the small town of Antelope,
44:00
Speaker 1: with a population fewer than 60 residents, became a focal
44:03
Speaker 1: point of conflict. The rapid influx of Rajneesh's followers led
44:08
Speaker 1: to cultural clashes and fears among locals about the commune's intentions.
44:13
Speaker 1: And an activist group known as the Thousand Friends in
44:15
Speaker 1: Oregon actively worked to prevent the growth and legitimacy of
44:19
Speaker 1: the commune. And the establishment of Rajneesh Param led to
44:22
Speaker 1: numerous legal battles over land use. We got a Yellowstone
44:26
Speaker 1: situation happening. And incorporation legitimacy and alleged violations of state
44:31
Speaker 1: and federal laws. And these disputes would attract national attention.
44:34
Speaker 1: And residents of Rajneeshpuram viewed the surrounding Oregon communities as bigots.
44:40
Speaker 1: So in 1984, members of the commune under the direction
44:44
Speaker 1: of Sheila cultivated salmonella bacteria in their medical laboratory. And
44:49
Speaker 1: they then contaminated salad bars at 10 local restaurants in
44:53
Speaker 1: the Dalles by spreading bacteria over food items, which is
44:57
Speaker 1: so wrong and disgusting. And the deliberate contamination led to
45:03
Speaker 1: 751 reported cases of salmonellosis, marking the largest bioterrorist attack
45:11
Speaker 1: on US soil, which is crazy. And they aim to
45:14
Speaker 1: influence local elections in favor of Rajneesh's by suppressing voter
45:19
Speaker 1: turnout in Wasco County through incapacitation by food poisoning, which
45:23
Speaker 1: is Oh, f * * * ed up. But it
45:25
Speaker 1: ultimately had the opposite effect, as local residents were enraged
45:29
Speaker 1: by the suspected Rajneeshi involvement. They showed up in even
45:33
Speaker 1: greater numbers, as they should. And to gain political control
45:36
Speaker 1: over Waisco County, Rajneesh param leaders initiated the share a
45:41
Speaker 1: home program. They would bring in thousands of homeless individuals
45:45
Speaker 1: from across the United States. And the intention was to
45:48
Speaker 1: register these individuals as voters in the county, thereby swaying
45:52
Speaker 1: election results in favor of Rajneeshi-backed candidates, which is like,
45:57
Speaker 1: The amount of planning is wild. Wild country, I get
46:02
Speaker 1: it now. But local officials would recognize these tactics as
46:05
Speaker 1: an attempt of voter manipulation. And the Huesco County clerk
46:08
Speaker 1: enforced regulations requiring new voters to provide proof of residency
46:12
Speaker 1: and qualifications. So this effectively prevented the newly arrived homeless
46:17
Speaker 1: individuals from participating in the elections. And a federal judge
46:20
Speaker 1: upheld the measures which ruined the Rajneeshee's plan to influence
46:24
Speaker 1: local governments through fraudulent means. So the Rajneesh Param community
46:29
Speaker 1: engaged in widespread immigration fraud to facilitate the illegal entry
46:34
Speaker 1: and residency of foreign disciples. And this included setting up
46:38
Speaker 1: sham marriages between US citizens and foreign nationals to circumvent
46:42
Speaker 1: immigration laws. In 1985, federal authorities indicted several commune members
46:48
Speaker 1: for their involvement in the fraudulent activities, marking one of
46:52
Speaker 1: the largest recorded marriage fraud schemes in the United States.
46:55
Speaker 1: So not only were they one of the largest bioterrorist
46:59
Speaker 1: attack groups, they were also the largest marriage fraud scheme
47:03
Speaker 1: in the United States. They're just hitting all the world records.
47:05
Speaker 1: or United States records at least, you know? Gotta commend
47:08
Speaker 1: him on that. I'm just kidding, don't do that. But
47:10
Speaker 1: in September 1985, Sheila abruptly left the commune with several
47:14
Speaker 1: close associates. And the sudden departure was unexpected and raised
47:18
Speaker 1: suspicions among the remaining members. And following her exit, Rajneesh
47:22
Speaker 1: publicly accused her and her team of numerous criminal activities,
47:26
Speaker 1: including the attempted murder of his personal physician, the poisonings
47:30
Speaker 1: of public officials in Oregon, wiretapping and bugging within the
47:34
Speaker 1: commune in Rajneesh's own residence and of officials outside the commune,
47:39
Speaker 1: and the bioterror attack in the Dalles, which, so he's just,
47:42
Speaker 1: she's just putting it all. He's like, she's gone. She's gone. Okay,
47:45
Speaker 1: she did it all. It was her idea. It was
47:47
Speaker 1: her idea. She's not here to answer for it, so
47:48
Speaker 1: it's her idea. Crazy bitch. So the FBI and the
47:52
Speaker 1: other federal agencies then launch extensive investigations into the activities
47:57
Speaker 1: of Rajneesh Baram. And they would confirm the criminal acts
47:59
Speaker 1: previously alleged by Rajneesh, including the bioterror attack, assassination plots, embezzlement,
48:05
Speaker 1: and illegal surveillance operations. And these actions were just part
48:08
Speaker 1: of a broader strategy to maintain control over the commune
48:12
Speaker 1: and suppress dissent. And key figures in the commune, including Sheila,
48:16
Speaker 1: were convicted on charges of immigration fraud, wiretapping, and conspiracy
48:20
Speaker 1: to tamper with consumer products. And Sheila's conviction for her
48:24
Speaker 1: role in the Salmonella bioterror attack led to her imprisonment
48:28
Speaker 1: and eventual collapse. of Rajneesh Param, though Rajneesh was very
48:32
Speaker 1: quick to point the finger. It would not prevent him
48:35
Speaker 1: from his own arrest. On October 28th, 1985, Rajneesh was
48:40
Speaker 1: arrested aboard a rented jet in North Carolina. Supposedly, he
48:44
Speaker 1: and his group were headed to Bermuda to avoid prosecution,
48:47
Speaker 1: and he would face a 34-count indictment primarily focusing on
48:51
Speaker 1: immigration violations, including the arrangement of the sham marriages mentioned earlier.
48:56
Speaker 1: And to avoid extended legal battles, Rajneesh entered a Alford plea,
49:01
Speaker 1: acknowledging that sufficient evidence existed for a conviction without admitting guilt.
49:05
Speaker 1: So the plea deal resulted in a 10-year suspended sentence,
49:09
Speaker 1: five years of probation, a $ 400, 000 fine covering penalties and
49:14
Speaker 1: prosecution costs, and an agreement to leave the United States
49:18
Speaker 1: of America and not return for at least five years
49:21
Speaker 1: without explicit permission from the U.S. Attorney General. So following
49:24
Speaker 1: the plea agreement, Rajneesh would leave the United States. And
49:27
Speaker 1: he then faced entry refusal from 21 countries before eventually
49:31
Speaker 1: returning to India where he resumed his spiritual teachings at
49:35
Speaker 1: the poon ashram and after the collapse of rajneesh param
49:38
Speaker 1: and many followers just dispersed globally some distanced themselves from
49:42
Speaker 1: the movement while others continued to practice and promote rajneesh's
49:46
Speaker 1: teachings independently and rajneesh rebranded himself to osho upon his
49:51
Speaker 1: return to india he's pulling a daniel perez and he
49:53
Speaker 1: would continue to attract followers until his death in january
49:57
Speaker 1: 19th of 1990. And the movement adapted accordingly, with the
50:01
Speaker 1: main ashram in Pune transforming into the Osho International Meditation Resort,
50:06
Speaker 1: attracting visitors worldwide. And Osho's teachings have influenced various New
50:10
Speaker 1: Age practices, and continue to attract a global audience. And
50:14
Speaker 1: the movement emphasizes specifically meditation, mindfulness, and personal transformation. However,
50:19
Speaker 1: despite its ongoing appeal, the movement has faced allegations of abuse.
50:24
Speaker 1: Former members have come forward with accounts of misconduct within
50:27
Speaker 1: the communes during the 1970s and the 1980s, leading to
50:31
Speaker 1: renewed scrutiny and discussions about the movement's legacy altogether. And
50:35
Speaker 1: this was all including the account of from a woman
50:38
Speaker 1: whose mother brought her into Rajneesh's community at the age
50:42
Speaker 1: of nine. And she describes life as a very young
50:45
Speaker 1: girl navigating a free love community and dealing with the
50:48
Speaker 1: advances of much older men. She would quote to say,
50:57
Speaker 1: only to ignore me for days as I watched him
51:00
Speaker 1: pursue adult women and, in time, my peers. At the
51:03
Speaker 1: same time, other men circled, and eventually I gave in,
51:07
Speaker 1: as sleeping around and being liberated was the norm that
51:10
Speaker 1: was modeled to me. As time passed, I felt increasingly
51:13
Speaker 1: worthless and angst-ridden, and took my bad feelings to mean
51:17
Speaker 1: I was flawed. We were to be positive, not negative,
51:19
Speaker 1: so I didn't speak of my pain and confusion. When
51:22
Speaker 1: the commune collapsed in 1985, we were all flung back
51:26
Speaker 1: into the world unprepared. I was 16, disoriented, broke, and
51:30
Speaker 1: unsure of who I was. The trauma of my upbringing
51:33
Speaker 1: haunted me, but I couldn't yet name it. As the
51:36
Speaker 1: years passed, I came to see it for what it was,
51:39
Speaker 1: and came to see how Osho's teachings tilled the soil
51:42
Speaker 1: for b * * * *. Under the guise of
51:44
Speaker 1: spiritual freedom to boot, it sickened me. I distanced myself
51:47
Speaker 1: from the movement, from the teachings, and forgot a life
51:50
Speaker 1: of my own. So, like, everything that we talked about
51:54
Speaker 1: was just riddled with this. All the fraud and bioterrorism,
51:59
Speaker 1: it was all, you know, a means to have this
52:03
Speaker 1: group of people that Rajneesh could just control and do
52:07
Speaker 1: whatever he wanted with, which we see with all of
52:11
Speaker 1: these cult leaders that we're talking about and a lot
52:13
Speaker 1: of other ones that I've talked about. And it's just,
52:15
Speaker 1: it's horrible and so heartbreaking, especially with kids. I mean,
52:18
Speaker 1: they don't know better. They don't know how to protect themselves,
52:22
Speaker 1: how to go about life. If an adult is telling
52:25
Speaker 1: him to do something, you're going to do it. So
52:27
Speaker 1: it's just horrible, horrible. And I'm glad he's dead. But
52:30
Speaker 1: that is it for the three cults that we discussed today.
52:35
Speaker 1: I know it was a lot, but a lot of
52:37
Speaker 1: you guys asked for a cult video, so I gave
52:41
Speaker 1: it to you. But if you have any other video ideas,
52:42
Speaker 1: let me know down in the comments below. And I
52:45
Speaker 1: hope you stay very, very safe and I will see
52:48
Speaker 1: a beautiful face in the next video. Okay. Bye.