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Have you ever heard the saying "don't drink the Kool-Aid?" While it may be used as a figure of speech, often light heartedly, it has a dark origin.
Jonestown Massacre
Over 40 years ago, more than 900 people in died in a mass murder suicide, later referred to as the Jonestown Massacre. The victims were members of a California-based cult called the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, run by the reverend Jim Jones.
" [Jim Jones] made a fruit cocktail laced with cyanide and valium, and didn't use Kool-Aid, but rather a cheaper alternative called Flavor Aid to hide the bitter poison," Insider Magazine reports.
"Cult members were made to poison their children first, then themselves. Many found with bent needles in their arms suggest they were murdered by followers who forcibly injected them."
Now, another deadly cult has sent shockwaves across the country and globally.
Shakahola Massacre
The death toll is steadily rising, now surpassing 90, as police continue recovery efforts in Kenya's coastal town of Malindi following suspected cultic teachings that led members to starve themselves.
The tragedy has been dubbed the Shakahola massacre as bodies of the deceased have been found in shallow graves in Shakahola forest. The tragedy has infuriated citizens and led to calls for the cult's suspected leader, the controversial Pastor Paul Mackenzie to be charged with genocide.
"The security operation aims to locate survivors among Mackenzie's followers, as well as exhume the bodies of those who starved to death and were buried in mass graves in the area. The government has established a public information, tracing, and support center at the entrance to Chakama Ranch in Shakahola village, located about 70 kilometers from Malindi town at the turnoff from the Malindi-Sala Gate highway," The Standard reported on April 27.
Kanungu cult massacre
A similar tragedy struck at neighbouring Uganda over 20 years ago, leading to the deaths of more than 700 people.
The cult-related murder-suicides took place in Uganda's Kanungu District in the year 2000.
"The dead were members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God - a doomsday cult that believed the world would come to an end at the turn of the millennium," BBC reports.
The report notes that two decades later, no arrests have been made in connection with the horrific deaths.
"The faithful had been drawn by the charismatic leaders Credonia Mwerinde, a former bartender and sex worker, and ex-government employee Joseph Kibwetere, who said that they had had visions of the Virgin Mary in the 1980s. They registered the Movement as a group whose aim was to obey the Ten Commandments and preach the word of Jesus Christ."
After years of the dangerous cult operating, victims were locked in the church, and it was set ablaze, trapping cult members and horrifically burning them alive.
Heaven's Gate cult
Another notorious movement which convinced members that the end of the world was near is the Heaven's Gate movement.
The religious cult taught members that God is an alien, later convincing them to take part in a mass suicide in order to "enter an alien spacecraft" to leave earth.
Like in most cults, victims were brainwashed, isolated and taken advantage of.
Insider Magazine reports: In the early '70s, Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles went on a road trip across America and found a group of people they dubbed "the crew."
The report adds that cult leader Applewhite told his followers that he was the second coming of Jesus Christ and that the end of the world was upon them.
"He encouraged them to give away all their money and cut off contact with their families. Cult members were also put on a Master Cleanse diet of lemonade, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup, in order to get rid of sexual thoughts. Eight men volunteered to be surgically castrated."
The Heaven's Gate cult reached its deadly end in 1997, when Applewhite and 38 of his followers "drank vodka and ate applesauce and pudding that contained barbiturates and put plastic bags over their heads to suffocate themselves."
Waco Massacre
While The Heaven's Gate cult had members relocate to Colorado for the movement's activities, another cult-related massacre took place in Texas.
Eighty people died in 1993 after the sect in Waco, Texas set their wooded fortress ablaze following a siege by federal agents.
Vox, a lifestyle website reports that the massacre was led by cult leader David Koresh, who "exerted power on his fellow Branch Davidians via mind control."
"For 51 days federal agents camped outside the compound, paralyzed by their own ineptitude, while this notorious liar and con man was permitted to broadcast his incoherent message to the world."
The Waco Massacre sparked discussions about the mental state of cult victims, with the sensationalized coverage of the tragedy coming under fire.
Oprah Daily reports that a cult can easily sneak up on anyone, and urges readers to be vigilant and cautious even as they seek to exercise their religion and faith.
"If you think it could never happen to you, then you're the most vulnerable," Mind Control expert Steven Hassan tells the publication.
The report adds: "While no two cults are exactly alike, there's significant overlap in the methods they use to burrow into people's lives and become their primary influence. Based in research and theory from leading expert psychologists and scholars who've studied brainwashing, "BITE" stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control."
