According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on April 25, a cult leader in eastern Kenya was recently accused of instigating believers to go on hunger strike, advocating the fallacy that "if you starve yourself, you will go to heaven to meet Jesus", the police have found at least 58 bodies, and it is estimated that more hunger strike victims have not been found. In addition to this cult, there have been many cases of cults around the world that have caused large-scale deaths of believers, including the "Gate of Heaven" and the "People's Temple Sect".
Homicide detectives and forensic experts from Kenya's Criminal Investigation Department examine bodies dug up from several shallow pits that appear to be the remains of cult members after starvation to death. Source: EPA-EFE
According to Kenyan police on April 24, the leader of a cult called the Good News International Church in Kenya has tricked believers into starving themselves to death in the name of "going to Jesus", and at least 58 people have died on hunger strike because they believe in this set of false reasoning.
According to a police statement, 11 bodies were previously found in the Shakahola forest area, not far from the town of Malindi on the southern coast of the country. Forensic experts and rescuers are continuing the search for bodies and survivors.
Malindi police earlier received reports from the public that a local pastor's devotee died of a hunger strike in the Shakahela forest near Malindi in order to ascend to heaven to see Jesus. The next day, police found 15 cult members in a remote area of the Shakahra forest, six of whom were in critical condition, who had been extremely weak as a result of a hunger strike. According to police, four of them died during rescue operations. Police then continued to expand their search in the Shakhahra forest.
On April 17, Mackenzie Nthenge, who was implicated, was arrested as a cult leader, and police suspected him of being the owner of the woodland.
In addition to the large-scale unnatural death of cult believers in Kenya, there are other notorious murderous cults around the world, the inventory is as follows:
1. The 1978 American cult "People's Temple" jungle disaster: 914 believers died
On November 18, 1978, from the depths of the tropical jungles of Guyana, a small South American country with less than ten years of independence, a tragic news shocked the world: 914 members of the American cult "People's Temple" (People's Temple) "committed suicide" en masse under the leadership of its leader Jim Jones! This is one of the most egregious mass murders and suicides in modern history.
Jim forced the followers of the "People's Temple" to commit "revolutionary suicides," ordering them to drink highly toxic drinks and urging parents and children to poison. Believers who tried to flee were shot or forced to pour lethal venom.
Jones had transferred his followers from San Francisco to Guyana to escape capture by American authorities. He had been shot in the head and died when he was found by the police, and it has not yet been determined whether he committed suicide or homicide.
Jim Jones, leader of the People's Temple, photographed in Jonesttown, Guyana, November 1978. Source: Associated Press
2. In 2000, the Ugandan cult "Restore the Ten Commandments of God" mass self-immolation tragedy: more than 700 believers died
In 2000, a cult-related massacre in Kanungu district of southwestern Uganda burned alive more than 700 members of the Movement for the Restoration of the 10 Commandments of God.
The Ten Commandments Movement, convinced that the world would end at the turn of the century, was locked in a church with nails nailed to the outside of doors and windows, and then the church was set on fire, killing all 530 believers inside. Subsequently, Ugandan police exhumed the bodies of hundreds of slain believers in the area. More than 778 believers have been murdered, including nearly 200 children. The incident shocked the world.
The whereabouts of the five cult leaders suspected of causing the arson murder are still unknown. There are two theories about the whereabouts of the five cult leaders, one saying that the five leaders died in the fire along with 530 believers, and the other saying that they fled to other countries with huge amounts of property.
3. The 1993 "David Tribe" Waco massacre in the United States: nearly 80 people died
The Waco massacre began on February 28, 1993, ended on April 19, and lasted 50 days. Initially, the ATF attempted to execute a search warrant at the Branch Davidian camp at Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas. On February 28, a fierce gun battle broke out in the area, which lasted for nearly two hours. In this armed firefight, four law enforcement officers and six members of the "tribe of David" were killed. The ATF failed to execute the warrant, after which the FBI launched a siege. In the second exchange of fire, the camp was destroyed by fire and the siege ended. During this time, 76 people were killed in the fire, including 20 children, 2 pregnant women and cult leader David Koresh.
David Koresh is the leader of the "Seventh-day Adventist Branch of David" (D-SDA), which split from the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
U.S. authorities accused the cult of illegal possession of weapons and obtained arrest warrants for Koresh and a search warrant for the camp, leading to a tense standoff that erupted for weeks.
The fire engulfed the "Branch of David" camp near Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993. Source: Associated Press
4. 1994 Swiss "Temple of the Sun": more than 70 deaths
On 5 October 1994, 23 bodies dressed in ceremonial clothes were found on a fire farm in the town of Cheiri in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. Around the same time, 25 bodies were also found in a burning wooden house in Salvan, Valais, Switzerland. The bodies were all members of the Solar Temple Sect, including Luc Jouret, one of the founders of the Solar Temple Sect.
From 1994 to 1997, more than 70 believers of the "Sun Temple" died collectively and mysteriously in France, Switzerland, Canada and other places. Notes left by some members suggested mass suicide, but investigators said as many as two-thirds of the dead may have been murdered.
5. 1997 "Heaven's Gate" cultists in the United States mass suicide: 39 deaths
The Heaven's Gate cult, also known as the Heaven's Gate, is a cult that emerged in the United States in the 70s of the 20th century, closely related to Comet Hale-Bopp comet and UFOs. In 1997, on the occasion of the appearance of Comet Hale-Pope, 39 members of the "Heaven's Gate" cult in San Diego, California, thought it was a signal that they were leaving Earth, and collectively poisoned themselves. The dead included the cult's leader, Marshall Applewhite. The cult's other founder, Bonnie Nettles, died of cancer in 1985.
6. 1995 Japanese "Aum Shinrikyo" Tokyo subway sarin gas case: 14 people died, more than 6,000 injured
Japan's apocalyptic cult Aum Shinrikyo was behind the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas case, which caused a sensation in Japan and the world, and its members released sarin nerve agent in Tokyo subway cars, killing 14 people and injuring more than 6,000.
At Aum Shinrikyo headquarters near Mount Fuji, Japanese police discovered a sarin gas factory that produced enough poison gas to kill millions.
Thirteen key members of Aum Shinrikyo, including the cult's leader, Shoko Asahara, were executed in 2018.