- Oh, is he taking out his tooth? - It looked like he was pulling
one of his teeth. - (React) He is holding
that man's tongue with pliers and has a hammer at his neck.
- (gasps) - Oh! Wow!
- (React) Today, we'll be exploring the wicked world of cults
by looking into some of the strangest and most bizarre cults we could find.
- OMG. - Jim Jones, Mormons...
- (coughs) Scientology. - (coughs) R. Kelly.
- "This cult went viral on TikTok, inciting creators to venture
to their base, looking for answers." - They get people to go there
that are lost. - (Tree) I'm gonna give you a tour
of The Garden. This is how we end climate change.
Grow your own food. - Oh, okay! So, it's a communal living.
- Come on, man. You're one of my own kind.
Why are we doing this [censored]? - (Tree) Astro, what do you do
at the commune? - (Astro) I live, love, learn.
- (woman) Hello. This is the women's cabin.
- "I look dusty as [censored]." - Why would anyone wanna go there?!
- (Tree) Another TikToker has just arrived for a tour.
And you are also welcome to come here.
The address is in the description. - That part is weird.
- Wait. I mean, I can just go-- "Cat killer."
"Y'all, they eat cats"? - There's so many vibes
going on that I'm very confused. - (woman) The Garden,
that intentional commune all over the For You page,
is most likely a cult. - (man) They have an open door policy.
It's really not safe. Please don't go there.
- (woman) Many people involved in this cult are [censored] QAnoners.
- Ugh. - (woman) ...girl made the cat
into a hat. - What did you do to a [censored] cat?
- (woman) Update: I was just on the cult leader guy's live,
and they admitted to killing and eating a cat.
- You're growing food, dawg. What are you eating a cat for?
- Domesticated animals, those are off limits, buddy.
- (Patrick) Our guiding principals are equality and autonomy
and earth stewardship and sustainability.
- And so-- and that-- cats. - (Patrick) Oh, no!
- No one's gonna say yes to that. - (Patrick) Like, "That's what
a cult would say." (laughs) - I don't like the way
that he did that. He went-- like he--
the chip in his brain turned on. - I don't know.
That just looks crusty musty! Like all living toge--
they look like they don't take showers. I'm sorry.
- Definitely not. - It is scary how much people
we can reach nowadays because of social media,
but I don't think that's the culprit. Instead of being the blame,
it's just the reality of our situation nowadays.
- "This cult was started by the father of a college student..."
- "Who became close with his daughter's friends
before brainwashing, recruiting, and abusing them."
- (anchor) Cult justice. The chilling, bizarre story
that's been unfolding in a federal courtroom
here in New York about what can only be described
as a sex cult on a college campus. - Sex cult! Ay!
- He put the hard S on "sex." - He did.
- (anchor) Run by the father of one of the students.
- Not the father. - (anchor) Larry Ray.
- Ew. - Ew, he's so creepy.
- (anchor) Jury has now found him guilty on all counts for what...
- That man... - (anchor) ...was the use of his sway
over his daughter's friends... - Wow.
- Aw, that is so sad. - (anchor) ...brainwashed them.
- Even the men? He didn't discriminate?
- (anchor) Shocking videos from inside a college cult.
- Looks abusive as [censored]. - God. Oh my god!
- Oh, [censored]. - Yo!
- Oh! - He's not even afraid
that they're just filming him? - (anchor) College students beaten.
- Oh, is he taking out his tooth? - (React) He is holding
that man's tongue with the pliers and has a hammer at his neck.
- (gasps) - I'm just shocked that this
is even being able to be filmed. - Right?
- (anchor) All coming out in court... - Oh my gosh!
- (anchor) ...in the trial of an alleged cult leader,
who targeted his daughter's campus friends,
using mind games to control them.
- A literal dad. - Where's mom at these days?
- It doesn't feel like he was convincing them of anything.
I think they were just too afraid to not do what he was asking.
- As a college student, we obviously know how dark
and depressed you can get at a certain point.
I can see why people were looking to do something else,
but then get trapped in situations like these.
- It's crazy because you think about cults, and it doesn't start
with someone doing something like that,
so to also think about what they had to endure psychologically
to even get to that point is really traumatizing.
- "This cult utilized an indie game based around Kanye
to get personal information..." - "And physical communication
permissions from its players." - (narrator) Kanye.
- "Kanye." - (narrator) Quest.
- I knew it! I was gonna ask if it was Kanye Quest.
- What is that? - It's like Pokemon,
but instead of Pokemon, you fight rappers.
- This feels like a Game Theory episode.
- (narrator) Critical acclaim and a sudden onslaught
of cult conspiracies. A few of the passwords
that are required to progress: Jagatai, Petuntze, and Eyen,
to be exact. - What? I am so confused.
- (narrator) Curious, he googled them
and encountered something notable: a 72-page unfiction investigation
covering an ominous YouTube video. - (React) They googled words
that are used to progress in the game. - Yeah.
- (React) All of those words lead to Ascensionism,
which is a cult that has been preexisting.
- Ohhh! - (narrator) ...that involved
something that we're quickly becoming very familiar with,
a subject curiously titled... - That's weird.
- (narrator) "Ascensionism." You're given a six-blank-space prompt,
where you can put in any character. - "What do you want to do?"
- Oh my god. - "Ascend."
- (narrator) Ascend. - And then what happens?
The game glitches. - I'm scared!
- (narrator) And little did they know, this would be the beginning
of a [censored] storm. - I'm scared.
Am I about to get jump scared? - (voice-over) You have proven
your worth once again. - Whoa!
- (voice-over) You have ascended. - This is grade A cult material.
- 100%. - This is so creepy.
- (voice-over) So, please close this program by...
- Oh, I love the music. It's helping.
- (voice-over) Or selecting the "No" option above.
By selecting the "Yes" option, you agree to...
- I'd click Yes. - Oh, and that's where...
- (voice-over) ...interact with your possessions.
- "Grant us permission to interact with your possessions"?
- I got a lot of possessions I would like to keep.
- I bet you a lot of people probably were just like,
"Oh, this is a funny part of the game."
- (voice-over) Would you like to participate?
Over the following two-week time period...
- This is a funny part of the game.
- (voice-over) ...in several ways. Keep an eye out,
as some of these ways may be subtle.
- What?! - (voice-over) Others may not be.
- Your address?! Oh, hell no!
- "Please enter your address details below."
- Hell no! - What the [censored].
- That's not subtle at all. - Might as well give them
social security at this point. - (voice-over) Please wait.
Thank you. Enjoy the next two weeks
and await instruction. - I don't like this.
- You guys ended it on a creepy [censored] note right there.
That was good. - It's weird that somebody
would hide this weird ascension thing within a video game.
- You're just playing a game. Nothing is real until it's standing
in your face and saying, "Hey, yeah, you did give us
your address." - "While once seen
as a harmless group, this cult participated
in a mass murder/suicide and are suspected to have
sacrificed an infant child"?! - Is this the Jim Jones one?
(buzzer) - (presenter) Officially known
as the Ordre du Temple solaire, was founded in Geneva, Switzerland
in 1984 by founders Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro.
Luc and Joseph started to prepare for their, quote,
"transition" to another world. While they prepared
for this transition, they also decided to take revenge
on some of the former members of the cults.
Members of the Solar Temple cults arrived at the Dutoits' apartments
and proceeded to stab
their three-month-old baby... - Oh my god.
- Oh my god! - (presenter) ...after Joseph
identified the child as the antichrist.
- What?! - I'm not surprised.
I feel like this is grade A cult [censored].
- (presenter) On the fifth of October, 1994,
23 people were found dead in a burning chalet
in Cheiry, Switzerland. 18 of these were found
in a room with their bodies
arranged in a circle... - Oh, no.
- (presenter) ...as if they were the spokes...
- Great. - Did you see Midsommar?
- Yeah! - (laughs)
- (presenter) Less than an hour later, 160 kilometers away,
25 more bodies were discovered... - How do you get this many people
to kill themselves?! - Less than an hour later.
- (Jayka) That's so insane. - Holy [censored]!
- (presenter) All of these deaths followed the same pattern,
with the majority of the bodies being tranquilized
before being shot. It was later concluded
that out of the total 52 that had died,
only 15 were suicides. - Oh my gosh.
- (presenter) And it was only those 15 people
who knew what was going to happen to them
during these transition ceremonies. - (Sabrina) Oh my god.
- Wow! - What in the Midsommar?
- (presenter) The other 37 people involved were unaware
that they were going to die... - Ugh.
- (presenter) ...and thought they were just taking a drug
that would make them more receptive to the transition.
- So, they thought they were taking DMT.
- This is very similar with Jim Jones because everyone in that
was a suicide because he told them that if they drank it,
they would ascend from their human bodies
and they would all go to heaven. - Other people just wanna believe.
And you know, when you're looking for something to believe in
and things are down, you'll turn anywhere,
especially if some dude's hyping you up.
- "This nudist cult has a history of participating in anarchal activity,
such as burning/bombing a group of public buildings,
while nude, of course." - This is just weird.
I'm like, "What the heck?" - This feels like
a very white activity. - (presenter) After the czar's
persecution in Russia... - Russia?!
- (presenter) ...antimaterialist Christians referred to...
- It's a lot. - (presenter) ...as spirit warriors...
- That's even more... - Spirit warriors.
- (presenter) ...fled the country and came to Canada
in the 20th century. - How did it get from Christians
to nudists? - (presenter) While many were happy
to just live freely off the land, a section of the group grew unhappy
at the Canadians for asking them to attend school and enlist
in the military. - Not school!
- (presenter) This group called themselves the Sons of Freedom,
or Freedomites. They were most famous
for their dislike of materialism and would often show this
by protesting in the complete nude. - Nah, y'all just wanna
swing your [censored] around. - (presenter) They didn't simply
protest in the nude, though. They took to another,
more violent outlet: arson, burning down many buildings,
including homes... - Nah, y'all got public exposure kink
and a fire kink. - (presenter) This led to
the persecution of the entire group, including the peaceful ones
who hadn't been involved. - I wonder why.
- (presenter) ...wiped out of the country.
- That is so insane. - Jeez.
And they all got deported. (laughs) - If you naked, where you keepin'
all the stuff to light these fires?
You ain't got no pockets. - That's why they're called
the Sodomites! - Oh my god! It's in their butts.
- "This cult was started by a man with no professional training
or medical experience offering false medical advice
and care to his following." - This Dr. Oz?
No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. - (narrator) In September of 1999,
Benhayon claims that while he was sitting on the toilet,
he suddenly received what he calls an energetic impression.
According to Benhayon, these impressions gave him
all the knowledge on how the body works,
the real causes of disease, and methods of healing the body.
- What? - I just love the fact that
he found this out while he was dropping a deuce.
- I also get my best ideas on the toilet.
- Yeah. Yeah. - (narrator) Benhayon established
his company as Universal Medicine in Sydney, Australia,
and begins practicing his teachings, although he has
no medical qualification. - (scoffs)
- Nice. - (narrator) Benhayon also began
to publish books... - "Author, philosopher, presenter."
- (narrator) ...and traveled around giving lectures all while gaining
a bigger following. In July of 2012,
media outlets began to investigate the group when former members
told them about the esoteric breast massages
the group performed. - Uh, what the heck?!
- (narrator) Benhayon claims that they prevent
and cure breast cancer. - Yeah, let's prey on people
who are literally at their most vulnerable,
not just cancer, but also in a very private personal area.
- (narrator) And even the group's website stated that one of the causes
for breast cancer is to push for greater equality...
- WHAT?! - (presenter) ...because it causes
women to take on masculine energy.
- (Jayka) Oh my-- - What the [censored]?!
- Okay, this guy just seems like a woman hater to me.
- How is that legal? - (narrator) 2019, the group
was forced to shut down their Girl to Woman Festival
because of Rocket's findings that it was being used
as a recruitment strategy for underage girls.
- Oh my god. - I'm losing brain cells.
- (narrator) The group is still very active today in Australia
and the UK, recruiting and... - What?!
- (narrator) ...publishing books. - Why?
- That's so scary. - How? Who's buying them?
- (narrator) It's believed there are a few thousand members
of Universal Medicine today, with most of them being female.
Till this day... - Most of them are literally female.
That's what's sad because it just said that they literally
prey on young girls. - I feel like when you prey,
I guess, on a minority group in this sense, which is women,
women depend on other women. I feel like that's how
he gained his power. - This is completely reminding me
of back in the day when doctors would get off girls
to cure them of depression. It was just such a common thing
to sexually assault women in the name of the medical profession.
- Yeah, it was literally called getting frog marched.
- When you have power over somebody,
you tend to abuse it. - We have a big problem
with mental illness, especially in the US,
that is just not dealt with. We don't have any solutions
for these people. So, they are, a lot of times,
ending up homeless or, you know, being preyed upon.
- Just a bunch of people that like to play golf
or just a bunch of people that like to talk about
movies on the internet. - Yeah.
- And then, there's a bunch of people that like
to move to the wild and skin cats. - Hey, you have depression?
Here's a vibrator. I mean, granted, that's also
what I'm doing in 2022, but...
- (chuckles) - I'm sorry.
- Thanks for watching this episode. - Join us.
- By subscribing to our channel. - And leave a like if you enjoyed
this episode. - (both) Bye!