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Doomsday predictions. Religious doctrines. Extraterrestrial orders. What really goes on inside a cult? Step into the minds of those who led and joined the most controversial organizations in history. Cults is a Spotify Original from Parcast.

Cults

Mystery. Manipulation. Murder. Cults are associated with all of these. But what really goes on inside a cult? More specifically, what goes on inside the minds of people who join cults and leaders who start them. Every Tuesday we take a psychological approach to analyzing a cult and its founder. Cults premieres Tuesday September 26th. Here is a sneak peak. 
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Welcome Trailer!

In the first episode of “Cults” Greg and Vanessa explore the life of Charles Manson: how he turned from a troubled “callous and unemotional” child into an infamous cult leader, where Manson got his inspiration, and what psychological factors molded a murderer so charismatic and manipulative that his murder weapon of choice was not guns, knives, or axes, but other human beings.
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“The Manson Family” - Charles Manson

Before, during, and after the Manson Family Murders, Charles Manson used psychological warfare to control his “Family.” But who was drawn into this “Family” and how? Greg and Vanessa explore several of Manson’s techniques, including mystical manipulation, group LSD trips, and the way Manson would break members down psychologically until they were terrified of leaving--so terrified, they would commit murder to stay in Manson’s good graces. 
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"The Manson Family" Pt. 2 - Charles Manson

Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettle believed their bodies were merely hosts for extraterrestrial angels, and that they would one day ascend on a UFO to the “kingdom-level-above-human.” How did they come to believe this? Greg and Vanessa dig into the early lives and first meetings of “the UFO Two”, comparing Applewhite's nomadic, musical Christian background to Nettles’ New Age Spiritualism, and then recounting the Near Death Experience that eventually led to 39 suicides. 
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“Heaven’s Gate” - Marshall Applewhite & Bonnie Nettles

Members of the Heaven’s Gate UFO cult believed they were meant to shed every scrap of humanity they had. Paradoxically, they ran a promotional website and made videos promoting their beliefs. Greg and Vanessa dig into the minds of members who joined and later left the cult, as well as those who followed cult leaders Nettles and Applewhite’s shared delusion from the 1970’s until the cult’s dark end in 1997--the largest mass suicide on US soil. 
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“Heaven’s Gate” Pt. 2 - Marshall Applewhite & Bonnie Nettles

In a country torn apart by civil war, Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibwetere were united by their desire for power and reverence. Claiming that they were messengers of God called upon to save the world from its impending apocalypse, Mwerinde and Kibwetere preyed upon the vulnerable and passionately religious in Ugandan society. Greg and Vanessa investigate the lives of these cult leaders, and how they began to build what would become one of the deadliest cults in history. 
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Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God

Over a thousand people were lured into Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibwetere’s cult, believing that Credonia had spoken to the Virgin Mary herself. Once they joined, guilt, isolation, and even the fear of AIDS kept members psychologically trapped within the Movement’s compounds. Greg and Vanessa examine the leaders’ manipulation tactics and study the horrific destruction inflicted when the cult became too much for Credonia to handle. 
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Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God Pt.2

All Anne-Hamilton Byrne wanted was a family, with children. Unfortunately, she would stop at nothing to get it, even if it meant starting an abusive cult. Greg and Vanessa dig into Anne’s rough childhood, eastern religious influences, and powerful charisma. How was Anne able to amass over 500 followers, and quietly kidnap 28 children? 
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“The Family” - Anne Hamilton Byrne

Anne Hamilton’s “Family” commonly called The Great White Brotherhood of Initiates and Masters - operated for 30 years, raising stolen children, planning for the apocalypse, and taking LSD. This week, Greg and Vanessa dig into the cult’s crimes, specifically the abuse the Family’s “perfect” children endured and how the harrowing actions of one of these children led to this cults downfall. 
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“The Family” Pt. 2 - Anne Hamilton Byrne

The Ant Hill Kids, one of the most notorious cults in Canadian history, was lead by Roch Thériault. Believing the world was coming to an end, Roch lead his followers into the woods where he brutally mutilated and tortured his followers and their children in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The master manipulator, he was even able to convince psychiatrists and psychologists that he was sane. Greg and Vanessa track Roch’s evolution from a boy who loved to read to a brutal cult leader. 
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“The Ant Hills Kids” - Roch Thériault

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi is the founder of the Sahaja Yoga Movement, a form of meditation meant to help practitioners unlock an inner awareness. She began with good intentions, as an activist in the Indian independence movement of the 1940s. As she gained a reputation for healing the sick, she grew in prominence as a spiritual leader. How did this spiritual role model turn into the leader of a cult? 
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Sahaja Yoga Movement - Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

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