I think by now, we can agree that the earth is round. Or if you really want to be technical, we can call it an oblate spheroid. But in some quarters, people are convinced that we live on a pear-shaped planet that is completely hollow. The same crowd say the entrance to hell can be found in the North Pole. Sorry, Santa.
Then there are those who claim to survive on air an sunlight alone. Food and water, they say, is useless. Hollywood actress Michelle Pfeiffer has previously admitted to once being involved in a so-called ‘Breatharian’ cult. And while some of this stuff might sound like it comes straight out of a movie, sadly, it’s happening all over the world.
Someone asked, “What are some lesser known cults that are around nowadays?” and a creepy and somewhat disturbing discussion followed. From the woman who declared herself the Queen of Canada, to the guy who says all life on earth was created by aliens, here are some of the most interesting responses.
#1
Raëlism. He’s still alive, and still has followers.
He’s French. He claims he has been in contact with aliens and that all life on earth was created by aliens. Every few years he pops up in the news with some story or other.
Image source: mechant_papa, Kmarinas86
The word ‘cult’ is often thrown around rather loosely. But the VeryWell Mind site defines it as “a social group or movement centered around extreme devotion to a charismatic leader, specific belief system, or ideology, often using manipulative and authoritarian tactics to control its members.”
Dr Alexandra Stein, a social psychologist, writer and educator who specializes in ideological extremism and dangerous social relationships, warns that most people don’t realize they’re in a cult until they leave, or are on their way out.
The cult expert says that some of the key signs of a cult include isolating members from the outside world, controlling relationships within the cult (i.e. the leader has final say on relationships with family and friends), engulfment within the cult, and, usually, shunning of those who leave (unless they stay useful in some way).
#2
My favorite modern cult leader is Romana Didula, the Queen of Canada. She declared that the Canadian military recognized her as Queen of Canada and that her followers don’t have to follow unlawful orders (Covid stuff) or pay bills.
Image source: bbb26782
#3
Falun Gong is a cult run by a Chinese guy who got banned from China for making this new religion, so he built a compound in upstate New York for his followers. They’re the ones who put on that Shen Yun touring dance show you see ads for. That’s how he funds the cult and spreads his message, among other ways like their own newspaper.
Image source: Jon__Snuh, Joffers951
Stein adds that often, cult leaders will strike fear into the members, and make them believe that the cult is the only safe place.
“The leader sets in motion processes of brainwashing or coercive persuasion designed to isolate and control followers,” explains the expert. “As a result followers are able to be exploited, and potentially become deployable agents, demonstrating uncritical obedience to the group, regardless of their own survival needs.”
#4
Rainbow Warriors, they are mostly drifters, but they come to my reservation and others some times and get chased away because they preach that as Native Americans we have lost our way and so our “real souls” are being reborn into other races (ie mostly just white people) and they are the “inheritors of our fires” and so they are through reincarnation the real Natives, while we have lost our souls.
Image source: tombuazit, Jonathan Sanchez
#5
In Columbus Ohio there is a cult that is currently called Dwell, but was previously called Xenos. I have some family in this cult. They hang around OSU and throw fun parties to get the students indoctrinated. Then they stuff them into communal housing past the actual occupancy limits. We’re talking a dozen or more kids in a normal single family home.
Then they completely control their lives. You are encouraged to only have friends and relations inside of the cult. If you have mental health problems, you will be shunned and berated. There are tons of reports of students in this cult who end up hurting themselves.
I mean, FFS, they even changed their name from “Xenos” to “Dwell” because the Xenos name got too much attention for being a weirdo cult.
Image source: vibraxis, Luan Cabral
#6
La mission de l’esprit saint (The mission of the holy Spirit) is based in Québec, Canada, but has splinters elsewhere. They’re a christian charismatic leader cult founded by Eugène Richer dit La Flèche (who passed away in 1925) and all have names derived from his. They’re deeply isolationists, marry children to adults, keep kids out of school, think women only goal in life is to pop one baby after another, etc. They also believe the earth is pear shaped, that hell’s entrance is on the north pole and that stars are the light from hell reflected on a giant ice dome that’s around the earth.
You can’t make that up…
Image source: Kashyyykk, Luan Cabral
#7
Braco is a guy who heals people by just standing and not saying anything while people gaze at him. People pay money to stare at him for its healing effect.
Also theres an organization called Hyperianism that is based around unlocking spiritual truth through mathematics, run by a guy called Morgue that people claim is a cult. If you try to look them up on YouTube theres a battle between them and other YouTubers that make videos trying to warn people not to join or leave.
Image source: WingerRules, Oliver Tacke
Patrick Ryan and Joseph Kelly work as cult interventionists. Basically, they help people leave cults.
The Philadelphia-based duo has handled dozens of international cases over the past 40 years. According to the Guardian, they’ve even been hired by government agencies, and “some cults they have investigated have left them genuinely afraid for their lives.”
So how does it work?
#8
I think Breatharians are still a thing. They are anti-food and think you can live on air and light.
Image source: Sapphire_Dreams1024, wirestock
#9
There’s one I’m familiar with called the Golden Drum based in Brooklyn and the Catskills of New York. Basically it’s a bunch of hippies gardening, playing homemade musical instruments, eating vegan, doing psychedelic ceremonies in the forest, and treating their leader guru guy like a god. Not the worst cult in the world, by far.
Image source: PotentPrepotente, vefimov
“Their method goes something like this,” reports the Guardian. “A family reaches out about their daughter, husband, nephew or grandchild. Ryan and Kelly conduct an assessment that can take anywhere from a day to a week… Then, over months or sometimes years, they work to create the conditions in which a person might begin to question the beliefs their life has been built on.”
Ryan and Kelly reportedly charge around $2,500 for the assessment, and $250 per hour after that.
#10
Hope Church in Tempe felt very cultish to me. They invite freshman on a freshman sports camp up north and get real close with everyone and hang out and build friendships. They have teams based on which dorms you’re in. They gave cheers and chants to build teamwork. They do a bunch of physically intense, competitive games. Then at the end of the camp their pastor comes and gives a talk to all the groups. The leaders of each group from camp hang out and walk around campus with a backpack and hang with college kids like they’re a junior or senior but are actually 30 and look young. They keep pressuring people to go to church and event guikt trip for not hanging out with them. You then feel ostracized from the friends you just gained and spent a lot of bonding time with. And the leaders encourage the ostracization, likely in the hopes you will come back to their events. They were even banned from campus at one point but snuck in as “guests” of students often anyway. They even had students book public locations in dorms and libraries for hangouts. Idk but it gave me a creepy vibe all the time and I’m Christian.
Image source: HACKMASTER13, Hope Church Movement
#11
Grace Road Church in Fiji is a wild one. They think that Fiji is the center of the world and everyone should come here for the apocalypse. They own a bunch of restaurants, grocery stores and clinics around the island and take advantage of the god fearing, Christian locals.
Image source: GangstaGrillz30, Coverly
#12
House of Yahweh in Abilene Texas. They’ve been around since the 80s. Started by an ex-Abilene cop. He passed away in 2021 but I think it’s still going. He arranged marriages for his followers and supposedly had over 20 wives himself. I managed a Dominos Pizza back in the late 80s in Abilene and I had a couple of his followers work for me. They had moved to Abilene from Pennsylvania after seeing an ad in The National Enquirer, I kid you not. They were genuinely nice people. One of them tried to convince me to come to a service. He was about mid20’s and his wife was chosen for him.
Image source: talontachyon, prostooleh
#13
The International Churches of Christ (ICOC). I went through their Bible study series, and what concerned me was how much pressure there was to let the church dictate your personal life. I witnessed pressure around dating within the church and heard a campus minister encourage prioritizing ministry activities over academics.
My roommate even used the parable of the sower to suggest I was spiritually falling away because I wanted to spend time with a girl I met in class rather than prioritize church relationships. Ordinary choices about school, dating, and friendships became tests of my commitment to God.
I can only speak to my experience, but that kind of control through guilt is why I think they deserve more scrutiny.
Image source: 257m, JamieBrown2011
#14
Theres this lady who started a church in LA she goes by Apostle Katherine. Watched a video where she “cured cancer” onstage it was pretty hilarious. Shes also got a bunch of videos where shes doing book signings and people are just throwing themselves on the floor and screaming the funniest things ever. Honestly though. Every religion is a cult just been told some are more acceptable than others by society.
Image source: LexiiBeear, Apostle Kathryn Krick
#15
Couple years ago, my nan passed away and I was wandering through the park quite visibly distressed. Two ladies stopped me and asked about praying together, and I just went along with it. They took me to their “church” and showed me a video about how there’s not only God, but also “God the Mother”? I went home and Googled it and it turns out they think God is a South Korean aunty, something weird about stained glass windows being blasphemous because they inspire sun worship, and only X amount of people can go to Heaven so you gotta convert more to up your chances. It was so weird it jolted me out of my mourning a little, so thanks I guess…?
#16
I might not be getting the details super correct, but there’s a fast (ish) spreading cult online called Spiralism centered around AI. Basically it’s people who become convinced that their LLMs are either alive or channeling the spirits of the deceased, and they prompt the LLMs into confirming and reinforcing those beliefs. Something about the training data of popular public LLMs gets fixated on spiral shapes as some kind of mystical thing, which is where the name comes from. .
Image source: Jedi_Talon_Sky, rawpixel.com
#17
I AM – Ascended Masters. Founded in the 1920s by a guy who claimed to meet St. Germain on Mt. Shasta. Sucked in my great-grandmother back in the 60s and was an integral part of my childhood.
They’ve had some high ranking members with access to political figures (great grandma got an invite to Reagan’s White House).
In her house, we had to listen to “decrees,” surrounded by pictures of Father Godfre and Mother Lotus, having to wear certain colors on certain days (no black or red ever), eat vegan, know what Master ruled what planet, and stay on top of the dates that a portal would open and the Elohims would descend to earth disguised as humans.
Wikipedia doesn’t say anything inherently negative about them but leaves out the fact that they impose strict rules and bleed their members dry financially, encouraging them to give all their assets to the organization, not their relatives or even children. .
Image source: LadyEmeraldDeVere, Unsure
#18
Black hebrew israelites. essentially, african americans who think they are the “real jews” from the bible. in some places, they preach on the streets in these purple and gold vestments. there are many sects and some are extreme, like violent, cause they think jewish people took their lineage from them.
Image source: snorlz, Elvert Barnes
#19
This is probably going to get a lot of pushback, but it’s 100% true even if you don’t like it.
Best Friends Animal Society has a crazy wild history and is absolutely a cult. They are right there in your town most likely contracted out by your city government to run your animal shelter.
Best Friends Animal Society, one of America’s largest animal rescue organizations, has a history that sounds almost unbelievable. Its origins trace directly to the Process Church of the Final Judgment, an apocalyptic religious cult founded in London in 1966 by two former Scientologists. Members wore black robes, followed authoritarian religious leaders, and embraced a bizarre theology involving four divine figures: Jehovah, Christ, Lucifer, and Satan. The group believed the world was approaching an apocalypse, and former members have described disturbing practices, including separating children from their parents and demanding unquestioning obedience to leadership. The organization was widely characterized as a Satanic cult, although its founders disputed that description.
After the original group fractured in the 1970s, its remaining members gradually abandoned the Satanic imagery and repeatedly changed the organization’s name, first becoming the Foundation Faith of the Millennium and later the Foundation Faith of God. Eventually, they abandoned their religious mission and established an animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, in 1984. That organization ultimately became Best Friends Animal Society. Remarkably, many of the same individuals involved in the original cult were instrumental in founding and operating the animal charity. This isn’t some internet conspiracy theory; the organizational history is documented by journalists, former members, and academic researchers. However, while the institutional connection is real, the modern charity has abandoned the cult’s religious beliefs and operates as a secular animal welfare organization.
I personally don’t even think they “abandoned their religious mission”, they now follow their lord and savior- the pit bull.
Image source: imnottheoneipromise, wirestock
#20
Ramtha. From my hometown. Pretty big following including folks like Selma Hayak.
I dated a girl who turned out to be one of her followers. Super kooky. Jz knight / ramtha was in that new agey psuedoscience movie “What the Bleep?”. She claimed to channel some 35000 year old enlightened being, pushing notions that your thoughts alone can create your physically reality (and not requiring action to bring those into fruition). One of her main disciples, a chiropractor called Dr Joe Dispenza, used some of her same teachings and techniques to start his own cult following for spiritual energy based healing. Ramtha ended up suing him, allegedly because she saw it as stealing her intellectual property. Dispenza attempts to frame his work as legitimate science, talking about things like the placebo effect, presenting himself as a doctor without mentioning he’s only a chiropractor, cherry picking anecdotes and misrepresenting studies to fit his woo narrative.
Image source: hummus_is_yummus1, Richard David Ramsey
#21
The 12 tribes keeps getting kicked out of Chattanooga, and yet still makes its way back. They operate the Yellow Deli here, it’s basically on campus grounds for the college, and they heavily try to recruit the college students. Undoubtedly someone will come here replying to my comment saying they’ve never seen any evidence of a cult there and the sandwiches are great, they are 100% cult members.
Image source: Waylandyr, freepic.diller
#22
I know you talk about lesser known ones, a lot of cults fly under the radar as religions. I don’t care if people disagree, but Jehovah Witnesses are one of the biggest cults.
Image source: nonymau5, wirestock
#23
The church with no name, also known as the two by twos.
I’m not 100% sure they are a cult, but they are really strange, and nobody knows about them. They have big international conferences and the members I’ve known just say they are Christians and that they go to church. When you ask them “what church?” is when it gets weird, they will just keep repeating “church” when you ask what they believe it’s just “the Bible”
They don’t have any written documents and their pastors are itenerant and stay with families in their church. They do not acknowledge ANY doctrines or any names for their group. They are just the church and they believe the Bible.
They are weird, but seem harmless.
Image source: 5YOChemist, KNeal
#24
There’s the International Community of Christ, or the Jamilians: they’re like sun worshippers outside of Reno, Nevada and I grew up hearing that they have a bunch of land in the desert where guys in white Jeeps will chase you off
Their wiki page mentions a “1,200-acre desert sanctuary north of Reno” and is pretty wild in general.
Image source: thispartyrules, jcomp
#25
I dated a girl who was into Advocare and went to their big convention in Fort Worth. Definitely a cult.
Kneel_Before_Non:
I worked at a hotel that hosted a bunch of Advocare folks for their convention one year. Started getting emails on my personal email from one of them trying to recruit me.
I never gave them my personal email.
Image source: MitchellG83, Drazen Zigic
#26
Shincheonji Church of Jesus — A South Korean apocalyptic Christian movement that has expanded internationally. Former members have alleged deceptive recruitment tactics, pressure to devote significant amounts of time to the organization, and restrictions on outside information. The organization disputes the cult label.
The Kingston Group (also known as The Order) — A relatively obscure fundamentalist polygamous community in Utah. Former members have brought civil lawsuits alleging coercive marriages and exploitation. Those allegations should be distinguished from claims established in court.
Image source: Dry-Cardiologist3617, 최광모
#27
Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) aka Church of Christ. They are global and all over the place. It’s a Filipino cult believing that anybody who is not a member of their church they donate to twice a week goes to the ring of fire. If you google they are all over and you wouldn’t know.
I dated one girl from there. She was nice but very naive. They don’t care that their church is run like a business and their thousands of dollars they donate each year is siphoned back to their cult leader or head family, the Manalos. The church owns a Philippine arena. They use it for worship and rent it out for concerts. Lots of hypocrisy. I did love her but it was a trap. Unfortunately because she grew up in the cult, it was her core identity so as much as she loved me, she couldn’t leave. It’s sad. The irony is most of the people are miserable in there, you can see it on their faces. Any time you have “trouble” with other members, even if it’s illegal, you’re to handle it within the church. Think of it like going to arbitration instead of a real court proceeding.
I do hope the people trapped in this cult can see through the lies they have been told or grew up with some day.
Image source: MarkPeacecraft, Arius1998
#28
The Rod of Iron Ministries. It’s a schismatic offshoot of the Unification Church (aka the Moonie church) and was founded by two of Sun Myung Moon’s kids, Sean and Justin. They literally worship the AR-15 rifle, believing it represents the “rod of iron” mentioned in the Book of Revelation that Jesus would use to assert his authority during end times. Justin is also the founder of Khar Arms, a handgun manufacturing company that also owns Magnum Research (the Desert Eagle .50 AE handgun makers) and Auto-Ordnance Corporation, which made the original Tommy Gun used by Great Depression era gangsters. They make a semi-auto clone these days.
Image source: Bigred2989-, wirestock
#29
The Medical Medium cult.
Basically a guy named Anthony Williams has convinced thousands of people that he has a special link to a ghost that gives him secret knowledge to save humanity through eating practices. He claims his blueberry smooth is a heavy metal detox, these rigourous cleanses are beneficial, and celery juice has amazing life changing benefits. Lately he has delved into more spiritual topics like angels and meditations.
To me it’s a clear cult because it relies on a single source figurehead who is the source of all truth, and constantly portrays a persecution complex. His truth is the only truth; dont believe doctors or medicine. Only trust him. If you don’t agree with him you are part of the sinister cabal trying to take him down.
He preys on people who are sick and in a bad place to convince them to spend thousands on his books, supplements that he gets kick backs from, and people he partners with. These people get so entrenched they focus solely on listening to his podcasts and maintaining their food rituals that they push anything not related him to the side leading to more social isolation and further co-dependency on him.
I’ve lost one friend to that cult. Her divorce put her in a bad place followed by some losses in her family sent her into a spiral to try to find answers and it led her to him. Now her life is honestly awful, she spends upwards of 5 hours a day prepping food to complete her food rituals leaving absolutely no time for her friends. She became a huge anti medicine person; wont get vaccinated or take medication when she is clearly unwell. She has become proudly anti-intellectual and wouldn’t listen to reason.
I sadly had to walk away because so many of our conversations became toxic (ironic) because I would not buy into her beliefs and she refused to even have a conversation about her beliefs.
Image source: LuckyCanuck13, benzoix
#30
In the uk and northern ireland we have “the brethren”. The plymouth brethren christian church is the most hardline cults of all the exclusive brethren church groups. They all bow down to the elect vessel called Bruce Hales, from down here in Australia, where their members have recently been busted for trying to interfere in the most recent federal election (they failed, epically).
The Hales have used the proceeds from their many cult members to own tens of millions of dollars worth of property and mansions.
Bruce himself is mostly kept from public eye by the church. Some say it’s because he’s such a holy and special person, and so close to god he can hear god’s heartbeat.
I think he’s kept behind closed doors most likely because he’s a racist, ignorant, dumb old fart.
Image source: olibum86, magnific
#31
Great Commission Churches (GCC), which was started by Jim McCotter.
It has gone my many names and they keep changing it to make sure no one finds their history.
In the past they’ve gone by:
– The Blitz
– Great Commission International (GCI)
– Great Commission Association of Churches (GCA)
– Great Commission Ministries (GCM)
They mainly recruit on college campuses, pretending to be a “normal” Christian group or Bible study. But once you’re in, they make you go to all their events and become part of a “growth group” where you share secrets that are then taken to the leader to be used against you.
Their main recruiter/lightning rod is Campus preacher and GCC legacy leader, Tom Short.
Image source: Ornery-Prior2242
#32
The Art of Living. They are a money hungry meditation groups that blindly follows a self proclaimed guru. The practices have been found to cause brain damage.
Image source: Rana_catcher
#33
Check out Jack Hickman and the Shoresh Yishai cult. There are some bloggers who have detailed their experiences growing up in this cult and ended up breaking free. They started out as a Lutheran church and this guy Jack went off the reservation and converted everyone to Jews. Then, he convinced these people that the world was going to end, so they all moved to Maine and started building survival camps. It appears very harmless and benign, but this cult has generational control of its members, arranged marriages. Funny thing is, this guy Jack passed like 20 years ago, and there was a big upheaval in the 70s that almost broke the group up, but a few key people carried on the tradition and it’s pretty sad. As far as I see, this is a pretty unknown group that should have some better visibility because it’s very corrupt, the cult members are required to tithe 10% of their earnings to the cult, and I think that money just goes to real estate and investments for the cult leaders. I have acquaintances that have gotten out and told me the crazy stuff that goes on there, and it’s been around since the 70s.
Image source: Kweetus
#34
The intense health and wellness programs that charge so much money for week long retreats offering people very unrealistic results.
For example, the Monroe institute that sells the idea that people will experience out of body experiences through their meditation process. They tell people that if they are able to master their meditation system that they will be able to continue living after passing in a different reality. The kool-aid the Monroe institute pushes is that once you have achieved the out of body non-physical form then you will be able to move into that form after dying and then find a new physical body to be reborn.
Their weekly virtual seminars are $2500+ depending on skill levels.
It’s insane.
They target older people who are afraid of dying and want to believe they can live in this other reality. Very scummy to target vulnerable people.
Image source: AB_7361
#35
Ok, so check this out: pretty much guaranteed you have never heard of this one: The Shoe.
It is so fringe that it is hard to find evidence of. Basically, it is a place along a touristy route here in South Africa. They have a cute little guest house that is shaped like a shoe with a cutesy origin story behind it.
But then, the ‘artist’ that started it, made the place the headquarters of his ‘religion’. He follows and preaches a theology called ‘the Line’ and his headquarters is called the Shoe Ministries. On the property is also a man-made cave, with dark depictions of hell and that kind of fun stuff. Honestly, that is the cool part of it.
Again, it is hard to find information, and they seem pretty harmless, but there are definitely odd vibes going on there. It is so small that it goes under the radar of most investigative programs and things, so they just keep existing there.
Quote from the website:
>Through using the divine revelation called ‘THE LINE’ we are now all able to divide between the power of self (Soul) and the power of God (Spirit) in our lives. With the use of Ron’s unique artistic tools we can teach everyone how to pray and be in contact with our Father in Heaven.
Image source: atalossofwords
#36
AI is definitely sounding like a cult….
Image source: Single-Stage2734
#37
The order, an incestious polygamous fundamentalist offshoot of Mormonism. They are sometimes known as the Kingston clan as that is the main/top family who are on their 4th or 5th generation of incest atp.
Image source: loongpig
#38
There is a cult in NWI called Fair Haven. They have a whole compound and everything. I used to live near them and all of their members are nuts and go out of their way to push their religion on everyone. For example they empty out “little libraries” and refill them with religious books and bibles.
Image source: aspect-of-the-badger
#39
Happy Science cult in Japan. It’s basically Japanese Scientology. They also made a bunch of insane anime movies.
Image source: chowderbags
#40
I have a parent in the Modern Mystery School cult. They seem to be structured pretty similarly to Scientology and while it’s primarily a new age cult it’s got aliens in there somewhere.
Image source: Left_Eye9481
#41
I discovered this thing called Celebrate Recovery that seems mildly cultish. It‘s like a step program, religion and group therapy combined. It did seem helpful for people struggling but I was raising an eyebrow at some of it. Felt kind of like if AA were an MLM for lack of a better way to describe the vibe.
Image source: ElectroShockRevival
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