Tag: cults

What in the World Happened at Jonestown, Guyana on November 18, 1978?

Iam Laurie Efrein Kahalas, survivor of the Peoples Temple. I never lived in Jonestown, but I held a key position in the States up through the time of the tragedy on November 18, 1978. I am also the author of the “In Plain Sight (IPS)” project, the documented deconstruction of the Port Kaituma airstrip massacre (where Leo Ryan was killed), which preceded the deaths at Jonestown. Hard to deconstruct what was accepted as “history” in just this single article, but the IPS project fills that out. 

I realize that, from out of the deep dark jungle, headlines ablaze. From them all the public retains to this day is “drink the kool-aid.” For years following, it was even “a bizarre murder/suicide ritual.” Twin tragedies: Congressman Leo Ryan murdered—a foremost CIA critic and sponsor of the Ryan Hughes amendment requiring the president to report all covert operations to Congress sent to investigate the People’s Temple in Guyana—and then close to a thousand deaths at Jonestown. Not just that you can’t have one without the other, but that the same party must have been guilty of both.

That was never true; but there was never any investigation, just blaring headlines. I was in D.C. personally a year after, when congressional aides admitted that they had the on-site NBC film footage (NBC had accompanied the congressman). But when I demanded that they blow up the faces and bring in survivors to identify the so-called “Temple killers,” they adamantly refused. Even though that would have been Burden of Proof 101, especially in the face of massively contradictory so-called “eyewitness IDs”! 

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What Happens When a QAnon Cult Leader Moves Into Town

TATAMAGOUCHE, Nova Scotia – The QAnon Queen of Canada leans so close to the windshield of her motorhome her face is almost pressed against the glass when she screams into her walkie-talkie. 

“Ignore them!” her voice crackles over the radio. “Ignore them!” 

The small collection of Romana’s Didulo’s ragtag group of cult followers-turned-servants who populate a rural Nova Scotia property look at me with a mix of horror and apology. One man, wearing a security hat straight out of a dollar store costume section, tries to take control and meekly tells me I need to leave the area. Another follower, a bit bolder than the security guy, coldly says “absolutely not” when I ask if we can speak to their so-called “queen.” 

There are three motorhomes strewn across the front lawn of the property and our conversation has to be loud in order to hear over the cacophony of the dozen or so dogs barking and fighting. Here is where Didulo and her followers, who have been proselytizing her unique brand of QAnon conspiracy-cum-alien stuff-cum-soverign citizenship beliefs  across Canada for the better part of a year, stayed over the winter. Here is where Didulo made her most loyal followers sleep on the floor of RVs so her dogs could sleep on the bed, and made people sit in their filth for weeks, eat expired food, and face torrents of abuse. 

Marching from the motorhome housing their spiritual leader, Didulo’s second-in-command comes storming towards us. Pointing her phone at us she begins to take control of the situation.

“No comment,” she screams repeatedly. “No comment!”

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Danny Masterson’s lawyers leaked discovery material to Church of Scientology

The ex-lawyers of “That ’70s Show” actor and convicted rapist Danny Masterson were sanctioned Wednesday for leaking confidential discovery material about his victims to the Church of Scientology — which has been accused of harassing the women for several years.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo ruled that defense attorneys Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum sent discovery from Masterson’s criminal case to Church of Scientology lawyer Vicki Podberesky in violation of a court order and a law protecting victims’ personal info, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Podberesky is representing the church in a civil suit filed by Masterson’s victims, former members of the church who say they were threatened by the organization’s officials not to report their attacks.

The discovery materials contained sensitive information about the sexual assault victims, including their addresses and correspondence with police.

Masterson, a practicing Scientologist, was convicted last month of raping two of the women at his Los Angeles home in the early 2000s.

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The Leader of the Gun Church That Worships With AR-15s Is Now a MAGA Rapper

The leader of a controversial religious sect that worships with AR-15s has been taking notes from the niche but growing music subgenre dubbed “MAGA Rap.” 

Pastor Hyung-Jin “Sean” Moon, the flamboyant figurehead of the Rod of Iron Ministries (also known as The Sanctuary Church) has a YouTube channel where he’s spinning his far-right sermons into rap videos. (YouTube removed the channel shortly after VICE News reached out for comment). 

Moon’s rap name is “King Bullethead,” and like others in the genre, he’s looking to spread far-right ideological positions through questionable rhymes and low-budget, bombastic music videos, often while taking aim at the LGBTQ community. 

In “Eggplant Emoji,” Moon appears in a rural setting, clad in camouflage, wearing reflective Oakley-esque sunglasses, a crown of gold bullets balanced atop his bald head. He wears skeleton gloves and waves around a gold-plated AR-15. 

A group of heavily-armed church members dressed in patriotic colors stand behind Moon, as he fast-raps about how children are being brainwashed into joining the LGBTQ community and praises conservative women who discriminate against trans women. “They got no shlong, ding dong, hot dog, johnny eggplant emoji/ they got no thang swinging between their legs and making them horny,” he raps. “Conservative women knows that only God can make ‘em man and women/ Love Jesus, family, guns, USA they be lovin’.”

In “Big MAGA 20,” Moon appears at the same desk where he usually delivers his rambling hours-long sermons (these days, they’re uploaded to Rumble since the church was kicked off YouTube years ago for spreading election and COVID-19 disinformation). 

“They can’t stop us so they silence, censor and act like Communists,” he raps. “Politicians lie to get their power and form their little cliques/Politics is a combination of the words ‘poly’ and ‘ticks’/‘Poly’ means more than one, a few, a group of cliques, and ticks are parasites that suck your blood until the very last drip.”

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Number of bodies exhumed from suspected Kenyan cult graves jumps to 47

Kenyan police have now exhumed the bodies of 47 people thought to be followers of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death.

Police near the coastal town of Malindi started exhuming bodies on Friday from the Shakahola forest.

“In total, 47 people have died at the Shakahola forest,” detective Charles Kamau told Reuters on Sunday.

The exhumations were still ongoing, Kamau said.

Earlier this month, police rescued 15 members of the group — worshippers at the Good News International Church — who they said had been told to starve themselves to death. Four of them died before they reached hospital, police said

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Sympathy For The Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment

“Google ‘The Process Church of the Final Judgement’ and you’ll discover a long list of conspiracy theories. Only now, former members reveal the truth about the misunderstood group once dubbed ‘One of the most dangerous Satanic cults in America.'”

What life was really like inside the doomsday cult run by the paedophile known as ‘Little Pebble’

His devotees call him Little Pebble; his victims know him as a paedophile.

William Costellia Kamm is the self-appointed leader of a notorious doomsday cult that formed its headquarters in 1987, based in a secure compound in Cambewarra, just outside Nowra on the NSW South Coast.  

At its height, thousands of pilgrims from around the world travelled to the bush setting for a spiritual experience like no other.

On the 13th day of each month, the Virgin Mary would appear to William – her apparition only visible to him – and he would pass on her messages and warnings to the gathered and devout crowd.  

He declared his compound the Holy Ground, a new promised land for his followers for when the apocalyptic second coming of Christ would wipe out most of mankind.

At the time, Kamm was married and had four children but unknown to his wife, this self-proclaimed Messiah was planning on creating a royal harem, filled with 12 queens and 72 princesses – 84 mystical spouses to bear his children to repopulate the earth. 

Little Pebble claimed God chose who his brides would be but as Detective Chief Inspector Peter Yeomans from the State Crime Command puts it, it was Kamm who did all the grooming, and his preference was under-age girls. 

“He was using religion in such a way that just split families. So, it was just awful and it continued for many many years. I see it as grooming with the families to get to these children and it’s just terrible,” he says. 

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Neo-Nazi Pedophilic Cult Member Allegedly Coerced Minors to Make Child Porn

A neo-Nazi affiliated with a satanic pedophilic cult gave himself away on social media, including posting a photo of himself, wearing a T-shirt that read “kiddie diddler” in front of a swastika, police say. 

He has since been arrested and charged with sexually exploiting minors and possession of child pornography, among other alleged crimes. 

After being tipped off to disturbing social media posts, FBI agents raided the home of Angel Almeida, 22, in Queens, New York, in Nov. 2021 and seized a handgun along with occult texts and memorabilia that show his affiliation with Order of Nine Angles (O9A), a satanic group that pushes its adherents to commit depraved acts, including sexually abusing minors. On two separate occasions, Almeida spent months coercing two minors into partaking in sexual activities to create child porn, according to the Department of Justice. 

Almeida was initially indicted on charges relating to the handgun in Dec. 2021 but was indicted on child abuse charges Tuesday. 

On social media, Almeida posted images of himself boasting about his alleged sexual crimes, as well as pictures of dead animals, and a firearm (despite being a felon), according to the feds. 

The FBI was initially tipped off to a Facebook account under the name “Sargent Grey,” that had images of Almeida wearing a skull mask, a signifier of neo-Nazi accelerationist groups in front of an O9A flag. This led authorities to a second account under the name “Necropedocell,” with images of a child bound and gagged and a photo of a handgun with the caption “for the 2k pedophile haters.”

On yet another account, this one on Instagram under the name Stain_Lord_352, the FBI found the picture of Almeida wearing the T-shirt with “kiddie diddler” written on it. The image also included a sign that read, “I am addicted to hardcore child pornography.” The account posted another photo with the caption “no limits evil” alongside a photo of a bloody cat that had been stabbed with a knife. This account also contained several references to O9A. 

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Scientology Strikes Back — and News Org Knuckles Under

Last week, I wrote about the media’s abject failure to tell the true story of Scientology and its relationship with Lisa Marie Presley, who lived most of her life in the notorious cult before breaking away. She died January 12 at age 54.

This week, I received an interesting email from Dodge Landesman — an anchor for KYMA, the  Yuma, AZ, NBC and CBS TV station — who also covered the Scientology angle in the Presley story. He told me that he has been fired. Like me, he wrote about Presley and her role as a possible witness against Scientology in a criminal trial for rape against another celebrity, Scientologist Danny Masterson. 

After the story aired, Landesman explained, Scientology contacted the reporter, as well as his bosses, who bounced it to the conglomerate that owns the station — and threatened to sue them.  The company pulled the story and fired Landesman. 

In place of the original article is this mysteriously vague notice:

Editor’s Note: In an exercise of editorial discretion, NPG of Yuma-El Centro Broadcasting, LLC has elected to unpublish this piece. After careful review, and given information that came to light after the piece was published, NPG of Yuma-El Centro Broadcasting, LLC has determined that it can no longer stand behind the piece because, among other things, it contained aspects of opinion by the author.

If Landesman had written something false — as proven by “information that came to light after the piece was published” — it’s odd that the editor didn’t publish a correction notice. 

KYMA News Director Ernesto Romero declined to discuss the matter, saying, “Our company does not comment on personnel matters and the editorial note included in the article speaks for itself.”  

Although the original report has been taken down, we can still view it here — with the tantalizing headline “Lisa Marie Presley was planning Scientology takedown before her death.” 

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Gloria Trevi Sex Cult Claims Revived in New Lawsuit

NEARLY TWO DECADES after a judge abruptly cleared pop diva Gloria Trevi of charges she lured minors into a secret sex ring in Mexico, the singer is facing a new civil lawsuit in Los Angeles that revives claims she procured underage girls for her ex-producer Sergio Andrade.

The new complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone, was filed shortly before the Dec. 31 deadline for a three-year “lookback” window that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on childhood sex assault claims in California. Neither Trevi nor Andrade are specifically named in the suit, but it’s clear they’re the top two Doe defendants based on details including concerts Trevi played in the 1990s and albums she recorded.

According to the filing, two Jane Doe plaintiffs allege they were 13 and 15 years old respectively when Trevi approached them in public and lured them into joining Andrade’s purported music training program by promoting it as an elite star-making opportunity. The victims says Trevi groomed them to become sex slaves to Andrade, and that much of their abuse happened in Los Angeles County.

By the time the Jane Does were recruited, Trevi and Andrade already had reached international fame with a series of hits showcasing Trevi’s edgy lyrics and rebellious persona, the lawsuit states. Trevi was dubbed Mexico’s version of Madonna while Andrade was credited as her behind-the-scenes production ace. It would be several years before the once-celebrated duo would seemingly disappear ahead of a flood of sex cult allegations from multiple former protégées. The claims would explode into an international scandal, with Andrade painted as a violent serial pedophile and Trevi his willing accomplice. The two would be arrested in Brazil in January 2000 after an international manhunt.

Trevi, now 54, spent four years in pre-trial detention but was ultimately acquitted when a judge said there was insufficient evidence to support the rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors charges filed against her by Mexican prosecutors. After spending four years awaiting trial, Andrade was convicted of rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors, but ended up spending only one more year behind bars.

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