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This was the guy responsible for Brazil’s biggest cult, Universal Alignment. Valentina believed that children born after 1981 were evil and needed to be eliminated. After twenty young men in Brazil, the Altamira region went missing, the country’s attention was captured and authorities started looking into Valentina de Andrade and her organization. It is said her powerful connections enabled her to successfully escape prosecution especially after six bodies were found and five castrated victims managed to escape and whistleblow on what was happening at the organization. She allegedly fled Argentina after being acquitted but her associates like Dr. Anisio Ferreira de Sousa were convicted for their roles in the cult.

6. David Berg

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I’m sure you have heard of ‘Children of God.’ It was a very messed up and twisted hippie sex cult that was popular in the late sixties. The leader, David Berg, known popularly by his alias, Moses David, adopted a very sick angle to religion and sexual impropriety. He glorified and even encouraged pedophilia according to ABC News. Many of the cult’s victims came forward and candidly talked about how twisted it all was and hence why it got such limelight. This cult was described as highly sexualized since David Berg would encourage female members to bring men in through prostitution. He called it ‘flirty fishing.’ When all is said and done, he was a sick old man who took advantage and didn’t see anything wrong with it. It is unfortunately still in operation under the name Family International and they have since denounced any adult-child relations.

7. Michel Rostand

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Michael Rostand is responsible for Buddgafield. The name evokes feelings of peace but the ex-members of this cult felt anything but peace while in the cult. The cult was actually the subject of the 2016  film known as ‘Holy Hell’ and it was directed by Will Allen, an ex-member of the cult. Allegedly there was a history of sexual abuse within Buddgafield and why many ex-members felt without looking back.  Of course, Michael kept denying the group is a cult but members who escaped beg to differ.

8. Marshall Applewhite

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Marshall Applewhite grabbed the attention of the headlines thanks to his cultic group, The Heaven’s Gate. They became famous all through the world in 1997 when news of their mass suicide first became known. Applewhite was a devotee of the 70s mysticism who founded the group together with nurse Bonnie Nettles. After her death, Applewhite became emotionally unstable and this instability was reflected in the cult’s belief that the “Hale-Bopp Comet was a key to the ascension from an earthbound existence to one in outer space.” The cult’s final video became quite famous also, especially with Applewhite in particular who has such an arresting image of the cult in that video.

9. Joseph Di Mambro & Luc Jouret

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These two cult leaders were the founders of the Order of the Solar Temple in 1984.  They were responsible for a series of murders, mass suicides, and fires during the 90s and claimed roots with secret societies like The Knights Templar and The Rosicrucians. This cult group believed the second coming of Christ was some sort of apocalyptic unification. Di Mambro and Journet possessed a big sense of influence over their followers to the point that Joseph was accused once of ordering the death of a baby he believed was the antichrist. The pair eventually died in fires that were intentionally set within two Swiss OST buildings in 1994.

10. Charles Manson

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They say you always save the best for last, right? In this list, Charles Manson takes the cake. He has been the subject of films, books, even songs and television programmes and his sinister reflection of hippie’s dark side made him the most well-known cult leader in the world. He promoted and instigated a race war in which he had convinced his followers he would emerge as the victorious leader. He went overboard when he got connected to the Tate- LaBianca murders where in 1969, he ordered members of the Manson family to kill the actress, Sharon Tate, and four others. These murders shook the nation and led the authorities to look more seriously into Manson. He eventually ended up in prison, serving a life sentence until 2017 when he died due to natural causes.

Cultic movements are disastrous. Nothing good ever comes out of them and it is quite sad to see followers give these misguided individuals in the name of leaders, time of their day.