These people are like your family.
You can’t just leave them.
And what would the leader think?
But you’ve given up all your money
and your real family.
You need to escape,
but how?
It won’t be easy,
but you can do it.
You're not the first person
to be lured into a cult,
and you won't be the last.
Cults are groups of people
gathered together by a common
ideological system.
They center on a charismatic leader
who claims to be the only one
who can help them to transcend
the imperfections of life.
Many of the most infamous cults
have involved terrible crimes
like sex trafficking,
fraud,
murders,
and even mass suicides.
According to Nancy Ammerman,
chair of Boston University's
Sociology department,
people who join cults are often
at a crossroads in their lives,
and they're experiencing
uncertainty and fear.
Just like many of us have felt
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Imagine that while you’re isolated,
feeling uncertain about your job
and your future,
you find an article
about the first cloned human baby.
Hmm.
Looks like the people behind it
have also started their own
"Happiness Academy".
Just what you need.
So you decide to give it a try.
Suddenly, you’ve fallen into Raëlism,
a cult founded in France in 1975
by Raël,
a former sports journalist
who assures his followers
that extraterrestrials
created all life on Earth,
and they sent him to build an embassy
for when they return.
But to do that,
he needs a lot of money and servants.
And now, my friend,
you’re one of them.
But don’t worry.
You’re not alone.
Cults often start like
regular churches,
personal coaching courses
or self-help communities.
But at some point,
they start distancing you
from your personal relationships,
family,
school or job.
The award-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix
spent part of his childhood
in the Children of God,
a cult that forced him
to beg on the streets for food,
embracing adultery
and incest.
When his parents realized
it was not a regular church,
the entire family left the cult.
So, no matter how compelling
you find Raëlism,
or any other cult,
don’t join anything
that makes you stay away
from your family and friends.
Australian Claire Ashman
was born into a fundamentalist
Catholic cult.
She grew up isolated from the world,
and she was forced to marry
at age 15.
Her husband took her
into the Order of St. Charbel,
a cult led by William Kamm,
then convicted for rape.
Eventually,
she and her eight children
were held by the cult.
But she managed to escape
when the sheriff served
an eviction notice
at the property where
she was a captive.
After that,
she had to learn how to live
a normal life
as a free woman.
So, be alert
and take any chance you have
to escape.
Seoyeon Lee’s mother
convinced her to live with her
in the Grace Road camp
in Fiji.
Soon, the South Korean woman
realized it was a violent
and abusive cult
that had taken all of her mother’s money.
The night before she escaped,
her mom took away Seoyeon's passport
to prevent her from leaving.
But she fled anyway.
Other cult members blocked her
and tried to catch her.
But fortunately,
she found a police car
that took her to the South Korea embassy,
where she managed to get
an emergency passport
and go back home.
She lost her entire family in the process,
but now she lives free and happy
in South Korea.
So, never lose sight
of your important documents.
Fortunately,
not all cults
keep their members captive
all the time.
So you may have an opportunity
to take some distance,
like Laura Johnston did.
She was part of a cult
called The People’s Temple
in California,
which moved cult members
to Guyana, South America,
after the cult drew attention
from the media,
after reports that people
were being forced to stay at the camp
against their will.
A U.S. delegation
led by California Congressman
Leo Ryan,
visited the Jonestown camp.
Gunmen from the cult
ambushed the delegation
and killed five people
as they were waiting to return home.
The cult's leader, Jim Jones,
ordered all of its members
to drink poison.
More than 900 people died that day.
But Laura was on a trip
out of the compound,
so she survived.
But she recognizes
that she might have died by suicide
if she was in the camp that day,
influenced by the leader
and the people she loved.
So, get some distance from the cult
and think by yourself.
Jessica Joan was first hooked
into the NXIVM cult
as she thought it was a self-help group.
But after she was required
to give them compromising photographs
and told to have an intimate encounter
with the cult’s leader,
Keith Raniere,
she started planning her escape.
But in the meantime,
she collected evidence
that led to Raniere’s arrest
and conviction.
Margaret Singer,
professor of psychology
at the University of California
at Berkeley,
estimates that there could be
up to 3 million cult members
in the United States.
So while you're planning your escape,
you can also help to stop the cult
from abusing other people.
Finally,
you found your way out.
But while you were in the cult,
democracy has fallen.
Now you live in a dictatorship
led by a crazy tyrant.
Don’t panic.