Cults that Kill: Shocking True Stories of Horror from Psychopathic Leaders, Doomsday Prophets, and Brainwashed Followers to Human Sacrifices, Mass Suicides and Grisly Murders

by Wendy Joan Biddlecombe Agsar

What happens when true believers go too far?

Thousands of religious, political and self-improvement cults are active around the world, and an estimated 2 to 5 million Americans have been involved in a cult at some point. Not all cults are destructive, but members’ unwavering faith in an absolute leader and an intense devotion to a cause often lay the groundwork for criminal acts to take place—even murder and mass suicides.

• The Manson Family
Hippie devotees turn violent to manifest God’s race war

• The Peoples Temple
Hundreds of utopia seekers meet their end in the Guyanese jungle by ingesting a cyanide-laced drink

• The Vampire Clan
Teenagers consume blood and bludgeon an unsuspecting Florida couple to death

• Heaven’s Gate
Nike-adorned disciples commit suicide to transport onto a spaceship approaching

• Earth Silvia Meraz Moreno’s Santa Muerte
Cult Members collect sacrificial blood by slicing open victims’ veins while their hearts are still beating

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, Cults

201 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 18, 2018

Reviews

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 3 out of 5]

An estimated 2 to 5 million Americans have been involved in a cult at some point. That is one scary number. Cults recruit more educated and high-powered career people than you would think. One way they successfully recruit is by having team building programs that employers use. I always knew my employers had ulterior motives behind those exercises. I am dropping someone the next time I am made to do the "trust fall". 😂 This book covers:

Earth Silvia Meraz Moreno’s Santa Muerte
Heaven’s Gate
The Vampire Clan
The Peoples Temple
The Manson Family

[Jasmine Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was at the library, readily available...and with such an enticing title. I couldn't resist. I was so intrigued by the Jonestown cult survivor book that I read awhile back, that I had to give this one a try. It wasn't as well-written and engaging as I thought it was going to be. It felt like a Google search disguised as a book. I could be using the countless true crime podcasts that I listen to regularly as an unfair standard, however, with a title like this one I was expecting a little bit more. More than just a book divided into chapters that have the cult's name as the title followed by a brief overview. I think the cults themselves kept this book interesting, not the actual writing. That's not to say it wasn't a comprehensive, researched presentation of information but there were no bells and whistles here folks.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

“An estimated 2 to 5 million Americans have been involved in a cult at some point.”

Cults That Kill provides a preliminary background to some of the world’s most infamous cults. Each chapter goes into a brief introduction of the cult leader’s life, how they got to their positions of power and the destruction the cult’s have caused.

I found the book to be extremely informative as I have wondered myself about how some of these leaders were able to impact and control so many people. The author includes tactics from cult leaders as well as demographics that are targeted the most.

The details are a bit gruesome and there is a warning at the beginning of the book, but I think this is a good starting place for anyone who would like to learn about the power of cult’s and just how lethal these manipulators can be.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the cults that are mentioned in this book were self-harming and didn't go about murdering people at random. The two most familiar to most people were the Manson Family and the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo. The others are apocalypse believing groups that were looking for a way to ascend to the 'next level' of consciousness.

The one thing that all these groups appear to have in common, was a leader (under lots of names) who had ALL the answers if you just followed his/her dictates. They all seemed to want to control their adherents both economically and sexually. Some of these cults existed for over twenty years, but at some time they all decided it was time to check out. So they either got their believers to take poison or to poison or shoot those who didn't agree.

[Matthew Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend let me borrow this book and I mean, who isn't interested in how cults work? This book takes you on a trip through a series of different cults throughout history and provides a pretty basic background on each. If you wanted more in depth study or information on any of the cults outlined in the book, or on cults in general, then this one probably isn't for you. It's a very quick read and basically gives a short story version of the cults included. It is, however, incredibly entertaining and informative. It it rather gruesome and detailed at times, but I could see this leading me into looking up and reading more into some of these cults and how they operate.

[Clay · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone enticed by a good crime story, I grabbed this book off the library display immediately.
Unfortunately I was disappointed with the result. Though several of the cults themselves were intriguing, I found the structure and themes of the writing formulaic and repetitive.
The book could have been strengthened by either a more diverse group of cults and outcomes to explore, or by differentiating how the cults were discussed.

[Frank Kohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author carefully researched and documented five cults from the 1960's through the 1900's. I felt the book fell short about cults in more modern times and did not offer suggestions or ideas to protect the reader from falling under a cult's influence.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read

Interesting read if you’re into cults and true crime. Nothing too in-depth, just an overview of a few cults from the past few decades.

[Barry Pagano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cults that kill

This book. Was very informative I truly learned a lot of new information. Check out this really fine piece of work today

[Christina Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hard read due to the subject matter. It was interesting to see the similarities in the leaders. It was also unnerving to hear survivors accounts of how easy it was to fall for it all.

[Arjun · Rating 4 out of 5]

🔖 fin