In the last post, we discussed how cults are able to spread their beliefs to a wide-ranging audience through various online platforms. But how did cults operate before the Internet became a widely available commodity for beliefs and information to spread?
At their core, cults are fundamentally driven by controlled human interaction. Individuals join organizations that are seemingly well-meaning, and become enveloped by the beliefs and behaviours the organization (and its leader) promote. Members encourage other members to conform through peer-pressure and by shunning all “non-believers” from their personal lives. The only way for a cult to be successful is if its members believe what the cult leader says, and bring new members into the organization by spreading information through word of mouth.
Two of the most prolific and destructive cults during the pre-internet age were the Manson Family, which operated in California during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, which existed for over two decades beginning in the mid-1950s. We’ll take a closer look at these organizations in order to discern how Charles Manson and Jim Jones were able convince their followers to commit destructive acts based on their “teachings.”
The Manson Family
Everyone has heard of the Manson Family, led by arguably the most notorious cult leader of the twentieth century, Charles Manson (1934-2017). This group of individuals consisted mostly of middle-class teenagers and young adults who were disillusioned with life in the late 60s, and embraced the emerging hippie culture of the time period. Manson provided these individuals with an outlet to vent their frustrations, affirming to them that they had been lied to by people in their lives and that only he could show them the way.
What was the way? Helter Skelter. This song by The Beatles came to represent everything Manson believed and espoused to his followers. The foundational belief of the Family was that Manson was a vessel for Jesus Christ, and could foresee an imminent race war that was brewing in society. This war, referred to by Manson as “Helter Skelter,” would be apocalyptic in nature, and the only survivors would be his followers.
How would this come to be? In 1969, with the Family now completely under his spell, “Manson instructed his disciples to commit grisly murders and craft the crime scene in a way that would incite a race war” (Aviram, 2020, p. 58). This led to the murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others in her home, plus several other murders, assaults and break-ins.
The Peoples Temple
The story of the Peoples Temple is significantly different. Jim Jones, a Reverend from Indiana, formed the organization which blended tenets of Christianity with communist and socialist ideals. One of Jones’ key tenets was racial equality, which is one explanation as to why a majority of the organization’s members were black. Jones believed in this so strongly that he “claimed to have a black soul, a black heart, and a black consciousness” and therefore he “identified himself as a black messiah advancing black liberation” (Chidester, 1991, p. xxi). The group moved to California in the 1960s, establishing its headquarters in San Francisco (the same city the Manson Family operated out of).
The Temple used several recruitment and fundraising strategies: bus tours, direct mailing, pamphlet distribution and music production. The Temple amassed hundreds upon thousands of dollars in donations after witnessing the bus tours and hearing Jones speak. Jones preached ‘spiritual healing’ to anyone who joined the organization, but his power was eventually called into question when the media began reporting negatively about him. Former members began speaking out against the organization, leading to intense media scrutiny in California.
As a result, the Temple leased a large plot of land in Guyana, and began setting up what Jones referred to as a “sanctuary” in the mid-1970s. The settlement, officially titled The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project but more commonly referred to as “Jonestown,” became home to over 900 members of the Temple. Jones believed strongly in communist principles, and believed the settlement is where he could bring his ideas to fruition.
On November 18, 1978, a United States Congressman travelled to Guyana to investigate the organization and was murdered by Temple guards. That evening, Jones ordered everyone at the village to fulfil a suicide pact by drinking cyanide-laced Flavour Aid. (Side note: this event is where the phrase “drank the Kool-Aid” originated from to describe someone acting crazy). 918 people died that day, including Jones who shot himself, in what was the single highest loss of American life by a deliberate act until 9/11.
The Manson Family and The Peoples Temple represent two of the most infamous cults in modern American history. These organizations operated long before the Internet existed, drawing people in and brainwashing them to hail the leaders as God-like individuals. While there are significant differences between the two organizations (at its peak, the Peoples Temple boasted thousands of followers, while the Manson Family only had 50 members), both Jones and Manson were able to recruit individuals into their organizations and convince their followers to commit horrible atrocities in the name of their causes.
In the next post, we’ll take a closer look at religion and new religious movements, and explore the differences between NRMs and cults.
Cheers!
References
Aviram, Hadar. Yesterday’s Monsters: The Manson Family Cases and the Illusion of Parole. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2020.
Chidester, David. Salvation
and Suicide: Jim Jones, The Peoples Temple, and Jonestown. Indianapolis: Indiana
University Press. 1991.
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